The Houses Competition
House: Ravenclaw
Class: Herbology
Category: drabble
Prompt(s) chosen: [Action] buying sweets, [Object] Corned beef sandwiches
Word Count: 985 (wordcounter net)
Disclaimers/triggers: none. Characters are all appropriately aged up throughout all events.
Additional AN: takes place in a small town, Southern US, Highschool AU, to which several characters adapted surprisingly well. (Lavender Brown would absolutely get way into the country aesthetic and have twine decor at her wedding.) Based heavily on my hometown and experiences. Characters do not put a name on their sexuality, and I would appreciate if you don't either.
x Harry x
"So I heard you kissed Cho," Ron says, and I shrug.
He's got his leg over mine on the couch. This coffee shop serves milkshakes and soup and sandwiches, and there is a rainbow painted in the doorway. We're on a couch by a spinning rack of tourist socks.
He's drinking my hot tea, and his hand is really close to my shoulder. I'm eating his corned beef sandwich. I think he orders them out of habit.
"Yeah," I say, and move his hand onto my shoulder.
"Cool. How was it?"
x X x
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley have known each other since they were toddlers. Their mothers, Molly Weasley and Lily Potter, arranged playdates and sat drinking sweet tea as their children fought to the death for control of the playground swings. Then they sent them off to school together, in matching sweaters and backpacks, with tradeable snacks of Lily's homemade applesauce and Molly's corned beef sandwiches. They both fussed when they entered highschool and took pictures of their dates to their first school dance. They worried together about when their sons would start to drive. They planned future grandchildren and how their two families would always grow together.
Harry and Ron first kissed in the eighth grade, and their mothers did not plan on that.
x Ron x
"You're an idiot, Ronald," Hermione tells me, still picking over her notes. It's not for school. She's in some club. She's just studying for fun. It's ridiculous.
"What?" I ask, and I honestly have no clue what she's talking about. We haven't said a word in the last ten minutes. I've been flipping through some manga about archery and gay love triangles, and she's been reading about… botany. Huh.
"You're an idiot," she repeats.
"Yeah, I heard that. But why?"
"Lavender just cheated on you," she says, and I nod, because it's true. "And you don't care."
"Yeah."
"While I greatly appreciate how calmly you are approaching this, I'd like to point something out. Remember when we were fourteen and I went to the school dance with another boy?" Hermione has that funny expression on her face, like she's making a point. I do not like it.
"Christ, Mio, don't bring that up," I say, thinking of that uncomfortable period when I decided I must like Hermione because, well, I just decided I should, really. We were such good friends, so I figured I must.
"No, listen. You're just acting very mature and healthy about this whole cheating thing, but a few years ago, I went to a single dance with Viktor and you thought I had betrayed you. You're the jealous type, don't deny it. Why aren't you upset about Lavender?"
Because she never meant that much to me, I fill in for myself.
I like girls, but Lavender was never it for me. I'd be more upset by a brand discontinuing a snack I like.
Because you're already in love with Harry, I fill in further, and now know why she called me an idiot.
x Ron x
I can't look Harry in the eye for a week. I already knew how I felt about him. I have since we first started touching three years ago.
Putting a name on it changes it.
When he told me he liked Cedric, I didn't mind, even though we had just kissed for the first time a week before. When he liked Cho at the same time, I thought it was funny.
Now I just think, what about me?
x Ron x
He doesn't go out with Ginny. I should probably feel sorry for her.
I don't.
x Harry x
"go on a date w me?" I ask Ron out over text.
Five seconds later, he responds.
"Yea, sure."
A thumbs up emoji.
Dots bounce. I wait.
"was just abt to ask u."
I smile. I feel warm all over. I already know which sweater to wear.
I stole it from him.
x Harry x
We go downtown, like it's just normal hanging out. We go to the coffee shop, and Ron gets cheesecake. We go to the county store, and try soda flavours of butter and cucumber and cookie dough. None are good, but there's free ice cream.
There's a chocolate shop, the fancy kind that mom likes. They have chocolate hearts, chocolate frogs, chocolate baby carriages and fudge. I buy her a rose and a lily. Mother's day is coming up. Ron gets gelato, and we both sample tiny squares of fancy fudge.
We climb a tree in the park. There's a good view of the skating ramps, and we point out every fall. There's a girl in a crop top with braids, and Ron thinks she's pretty.
I kiss him, and we nearly fall out.
x Ron x
Harry looks good in my sweater. I'm a dumbass.
x Ron x
Harry looks even better out of it. I am a bigger dumbass.
x Harry x
Mom likes her chocolates.
x Harry x
"Okay, but seriously, what was it like to kiss Lavender? I'm curious," I ask, because I am. Lavender has pretty curls and she cries too easily. I like her headscarves.
Ron shrugs. "It was fine. I never did it while she was crying, which I think helped."
I hit him, and he nearly falls off the wall we're sitting on outside a library. Hermione is inside, dropping off books. We're driving to watch fireworks by a river. It will be a picnic; we have a basket and everything. Hermione has already tried a corned beef sandwich. I think it's all she's eaten today.
When we stop laughing, he tells me more about Lavender.
x X x
Harry and Ron first kissed in the eighth grade, and their mothers did not plan on that.
Harry and Ron, though, do not plan to stop.
Luckily, their mothers don't mind.