Sorry this is a short one! The next few lines will really get the ball rolling though, I promise.
Do I have to spell it out for you or whisper in your ear?
Ron couldn't believe he had just told Hermione he was having lunch with Lavender. For one thing, that wasn't even remotely true. And for another, he'd already eaten lunch with Harry in their office and he hadn't talked to Lavender since the night at her flat. He didn't know what had made him say it. Maybe he wanted Hermione to think that she wasn't the only one seeing someone else, or maybe he wanted some sense of revenge for how she had made him feel.
Although he had been heading toward the lavatory on his floor, Ron got on the elevator instead leaving a stunned Hermione in the hallway. He rode the elevator down to the main floor and then back up again in hopes that she would be gone, and she had. He figured he had royally ruined things this time, but Ron couldn't control the anger he felt over Hermione being with some other bloke. Especially someone Ron considered to be his friend.
Dropping back into his office chair, Ron heaved a great sigh as he contemplated the confrontation he'd just had with Hermione. Could he blame her for seeing other people when the first thing he did was run to Lavender? Maybe not, but he still did. He resented any other bloke she might see that wasn't him. He was the one she was supposed to kiss in nothing except a towel in her kitchen.
Before Ron even had a moment to continue that train of thought, Harry walked back in and slammed a file down on his desk.
"Snap out of it!" Harry yelled as the files thwacked the desk.
Ron jumped out of his daze and pretended to be busy. He wasn't sure why as Harry knew he probably wasn't actually doing anything useful.
"You alright?" Harry asked as Ron started filling out forms for their cases.
"Yes, just busy," Ron said.
"Since when are you busy? Just an hour ago you were complaining about all the paperwork we have to do before we can go back out to the field."
"These papers aren't going to fill themselves out, are they?" Ron said turning his back on Harry. He didn't know why he was taking his frustrations about Hermione out on Harry. Maybe because it was Harry who let Ron know Hermione had slept with Neville.
After a few minutes of attempted work to dodge talking to Harry, Ron threw down his quill, grabbed his cloak, and left without a word. He couldn't handle sitting in the office another minute. He didn't want to talk to Harry about what happened and he didn't want to risk running into Hermione again. His anger at her was already on the edge, and he feared if he saw her again while caught off guard he could end up saying something that would cause him to lose her forever.
mmm
He needed to go to a place to think, and settled for Flooing home hoping it was the one place he could truly be alone. The moment he stepped into his flat he made his way to the kitchen to pour a glass for Firewhisky to settle his mind.
After getting out a glass, he took a long swig straight from the bottle. In his haste the bottle slipped and crashed to the floor in a burst of glass and liquid all over the kitchen. Swiftly, he picked up the empty glass he was unable to even use yet and threw it as hard as he could against the wall. The glass smashed into a million tiny shards that lay along the floor with the spilled liquid and previously broken bottle.
Ron felt like he couldn't win. He couldn't even do the smallest things right anymore. Taking a few deep breaths, he used his wand to clean up the mess and unbreak the glass. He used a spell to pour the liquid into the newly formed glass and took his drink back to his bedroom.
He placed the glass on his dresser and laid back on the bed to finally relax and think for a moment. But even that was no use. All he could think about was her. What they had done in that very bed. The way he felt seeing her with another man. Hermione plagued his mind and no matter how many glasses of Firewhisky he drank, he couldn't shake her.
This was no new feeling for him though. Although he had tried dating other girls over the years, he found he never felt the same about anyone else. No one challenged him the way that Hermione did. She wasn't afraid to call him out and stand up to him. She kept him honest and encouraged him to be more. He loved her. Did he really have to spell that out for her? He thought he already had.
As day turned to night and back to day, Ron realized what he had to do.