"Ron? What are you doing here?" Lavender is puffy-eyed and scowling, her blonde hair billowing in the breeze, and Ron has never felt more uncomfortable in his life. And that's saying something, considering he shares a dorm with Harry. He can't believe he's here. But he has something to say.
"I made a promise, and I'm not going to break it," he says, shifting on his feet. "I told Hermione I'd talk to you."
Lavender's scowl deepens and Ron curses himself. Lavender is triggered by anything remotely related to Hermione.
"I wanted to apologize," he says, but before he can say anything else —
Lavender slams the window closed. "Come back when you want to apologize," she shouts angrily, her voice muffled by the glass, "not because Hermione tells you to." She storms off.
Ron's hands go slack on his broom handle. "Girls," he sighs, rolling his eyes, and angles his broom downward. The air rushes past his face as he zips to the ground, where Hermione is waiting for him, eyes narrowed.
"Well?" she asks, pushing her bushy hair out of her face.
Ron just shakes his head.
A year later, after the war, Ron finds Lavender in the hospital wing, her beautiful face marred by claw marks and teeth marks on her light skin. She doesn't look like Lavender anymore, but she is Lavender, and she still is beautiful in spite of the ugly red weals on her body.
"How're you doing?" he asks, swallowing back the bile rising in his throat. Merlin, he's exhausted, but he'd wanted to see her first. He'd seen Greyback crouching on her, his disgusting teeth sunk into her, and —
And that was something you couldn't forget easily.
"Feel like shit," she croaked. Ron manages a smile. "You came?"
"Of course I did," he says. "I came to check on you and apologize."
"Apologize?"
"Remember last year? I came to apologize and you told me to come back when I wanted to apologize."
Realization dawns on her face. "You want to?"
"Yeah," he said, kneeling next to her bed and gently takes her hand between his two. "I'm sorry that I treated you horribly last year. You deserve so much more than I gave you. Don't get me wrong, you were a fantastic snogger — " She smiled. "— but I wasn't ready for anything more than that, and besides, I think that's when I started fancying Hermione. I used you to prove a point to her and that was wrong of me. I'm sorry."
"Wow." She exhaled slowly. "I never thought — thank you for apologizing. I think I might've been too clingy and jealous of your relationship with Hermione. I also wanted to prove a point, that I was the perfect girlfriend so that more boys would want to date me. Looking back on that, that seems very childish. I used you too, so I'm sorry too."
"Don't worry about that," he tells her, squeezing her hand. "We've both gone through a lot since then and I think it's time we put that behind us, yeah?"
"Yeah," she agrees, "we were young and inexperienced. I think everything since then has changed us a lot." She winced. "Thank you for coming, Ron."
"It wasn't a problem." For a second he feels that familiar spark between them — like something could've bloomed between them if they'd both wanted it to. He could've loved this girl. She was strong, sweet, and pretty — but she wasn't Hermione.
583 words
Founder Says - Helga - 5. "[Name]? What are you doing here?" / "I made a promise, and I'm not going to break it."
All Aboard - Red Train: Characters - 1. Lavender Brown
Honeydukes Hoarder - Sour Candy - 4. Ron/Lavender
1000 - 413. (pairing) Ron/Lavender
366 - 171. Jealous
