Obligatory Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter universe or any of the recognizable characters living there. I am just borrowing them to tell this story.
Summary: Harry and Hermione corner Ron and try to talk some sense into him.
Thanks for the read & don't forget to review. :D
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As per the plan, Harry and Hermione went directly to Professor Dumbledore's office. Knowing that his students would be skipping lunch to talk to Ron, Dumbledore had a platter of sandwiches and a pitcher of iced pumpkin juice sitting on his desk when they walked in. Upon seeing the food Harry heard his stomach give a long grumble; skimping at breakfast had caught up with him and he realized that he was ravenous. Hermione was just as hungry, but she was glad that her stomach chose to be quiet.
"Ah, Harry, Hermione, please help yourselves to some sandwiches and juice. Dobby tells me that he prepared them especially for his favorite witch and wizard. He also asked me why you haven't been down to the kitchen to visit with him like Wheezy has. It seems that Mr. Weasley has been visiting the kitchen twice a day since this all began. At least we don't have to worry about HIM starving." Professor Dumbledore went on to talk about non-important things while Harry and Hermione were eating.
As was normally the case, Hermione finished first and asked Dumbledore to demonstrate the unlocking charm that she and Harry would need when they were ready to leave. This gave Harry the extra few minutes that he needed to finish. Once they had finished Dumbledore cleared the food and dishes away.
"Are you two ready?" Both students replied that they were. Dumbledore walked over to the fireplace and tossed some powder into it. Immediately the fire roared to life, then Dumbledore stuck his head into the flames. Having both witnessed this method of communicating in the wizarding world, neither Harry nor Hermione were the least bit surprised by it. Although they could no longer see his head they had no trouble hearing what he said. "Minerva, I wonder if I could see Mr. Weasley in my office for a moment?"
"Certainly, Albus. He'll be there momentarily," came the response from Professor McGonagall. Harry had a little trouble hearing her since he was sitting on the opposite side of Hermione from the fireplace. He had no problems, however, hearing the slamming of a door just before Dumbledore broke the connection with McGonagall.
* * *
Once the connection with Professor Dumbledore had been broken, Professor McGonagall retrieved the owl that she had borrowed from the Owl Post office in Hogsmeade. She attached the phony Ministry letter to its leg and released it out the window. She hoped that she gave Ron enough time to get to Dumbledore's office.
* * *
Ron could hardly believe his luck. Not only had he received detention for later tonight, he was being summoned to the headmaster's office. This cannot be good. He suspected what it was about, his recent behavior shift. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he couldn't behave like he'd been and not get into trouble eventually.
He could tell that something like this was coming. He had seen the look in Harry's eyes each time he had tried to talk to him. Instead of facing Harry, like he should have, he avoided him. He'd also been avoiding Hermione, but for different reasons. Harry had said that she had been waiting for him to ask her out for a long time. He had missed his chance. If only he hadn't kept chickening out and making excuses to be elsewhere when they were alone. He couldn't begrudge her for giving up and moving on. Harry, on the other hand, he couldn't forgive. Harry had known all along that he was interested in Hermione as more than friends and he went and asked her anyway.
Harry had everything that Ron didn't. Harry didn't have to buy used school supplies because he was bloody rich. He was on the Quidditch team and would have been Captain this year if he hadn't turned it down. He was made a prefect and would most likely become Head Boy in seventh year. Harry was famous. Every person in the wizarding world knew who he was. Why did he have to have Hermione as well?
Before Ron knew it he was standing in front of the statue of a griffin that marked the entrance to the headmaster's office. He gave the password and proceeded up the stairs that were revealed as the griffin turned around. At the top of the stairs he knocked on the only door and was admitted into the office.
The first thing that he noticed was that Professor Dumbledore wasn't alone. Sitting in the two chairs directly in front of his desk were the two people that he didn't want to see, the two people that he had called friend since first year, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. He avoided looking at them when they turned in his direction, choosing instead to look at Professor Dumbledore.
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" he asked without bothering to conceal his annoyance at being here.
"Yes, I did, Mr. Weasley. I wanted to talk to you about . . ." At that moment an owl flew in the window and dropped a letter in front of him before flying back out the window. He looked at the letter and feigning a look of urgency, ripped the letter open. Keeping the same look pasted to his face, he pretended to read the letter. Once he reached the end of the letter, he folded it up and started for the office door. Pretending to remember that he had guests in his office, he turned and told them that he had to send an immediate response to the Ministry and would be back in a few minutes. With that said, he turned and exited the office, closing the door on his way out.
Ron was standing about halfway between the door and the desk. He turned around, looked at the door, looked back at the desk, and looked at the door again. "Let me guess, he just locked me in here with you."
After the briefest look in Harry's direction, Hermione got out of her chair and started toward Ron, stopping when he started backing away. Harry followed suit and stood next to Hermione.
"Yes, Ron, he did. Harry and I asked him to. The three of us need to talk and this was the only way to ensure that you wouldn't run away again." She gestured back towards the desk and the chairs that they'd just vacated and asked Ron to sit down. Ron told her that he'd rather stand.
"We're not leaving until you hear us out and that might take awhile." Harry returned to the desk and propped himself on the edge closest to the chairs. Hermione returned to her chair and again indicated that Ron should sit in the other.
Seeing no other choice, Ron came over and sat in the chair heavily. He glowered at them for a few moments before saying, "Bloody say what you're going to say so I can leave."
Once again Harry and Hermione glanced at each other as if to ask who should start. With a slight nod, Harry decided to start. "Ron, first I want to apologize for what I did the other week in the common room. I lost control and I could have seriously hurt you. I promised Dumbledore that I wouldn't use those gifts without his supervision, but I wasn't thinking clearly that night and could have killed you. I can't tell you how sorry I am.
"I was so tired from Quidditch practice and engrossed in my potions essay that it took a few moments for my brain to start processing what you were saying. And once it caught up, I did something that I shouldn't have done, I lost my temper. I couldn't believe that the guy that I've considered my best friend for nearly five years was saying such things to me. I expected things like that from Malfoy, but never from you. The things that you said about me really hurt but I was willing to let you vent your anger. I hoped that once you said what you had to say that we would sit down and talk about them. I didn't want a repeat of the Goblet incident.
"When you said what you did about Hermione, I completely lost all reason. I couldn't believe that you would say that about her. She'd been nothing but nice to you since day one and you went and said those awful things. I wanted you to shut up and knew that I had to make you be quiet. I didn't consciously do it; it just happened.
"It wasn't until I returned to my room and started to calm down that I began to realize just how close I came to doing you serious harm. I lost it. I dropped to the floor, started shaking uncontrollably, and started crying. I cried because you were upset with me. I cried because I didn't know how bad I'd hurt you. I cried because I wasn't sure if I'd get the chance to tell you how sorry I was. As Hermione can attest, I was out of it for a while. I hadn't even realized that I had transported her or my stuff when I left. It wasn't until I started to feel someone rocking me gently that I realized just how much I wasn't in control.
"I wanted to go back to the common room and talk things out, but I knew that I was in no condition to carry on a rational conversation. Between the two of us, Hermione and I decided that it would be better to wait until the next morning. We figured we see you at breakfast and we'd talk through it. Only you never showed up at breakfast. We tried to talk to you in class, but you wouldn't sit with us. Every time we tried to talk you'd disappear.
"Then you became a whole different person. You became friends with Malfoy, which Hermione and I still can't figure out by the way. You seemed to take pleasure in tormenting us. And if that had been the extent of it, we could've overlooked it. But then you started to disrupt classes, talking back to professors, and starting fights with younger students. That was when we decided that we needed help in getting you to listen.
"As I am sure McGonagall has told you, she's been considering expelling you from Gryffindor, and if that didn't help, from Hogwarts entirely. We're your friends Ron, and we're worried about you. We just want to help in any way we can."
Ron sat quietly through the entire thing. He could almost see things from Harry's point of view. He knew that Harry was telling the truth about how it had affected him. He was almost willing to forgive him except for one thing, Hermione. "That's all well and all, but I still want to know why. Why did you have to go and ask Hermione out for? You knew how I felt, but you ignored it. Why?"
Harry looked to Hermione for help explaining this part. Hermione leaned forward and placed her hand on Ron's knee for a moment to get him to look at her. Up until this point Ron had been avoiding looking at either one of them. Once he looked her directly in the face she began. "Ron, there's something that you need to know before we get to that. I've known for a while now that you wanted to ask me out. At first I was flattered and even considered asking you out first. But as time went on and you never asked, I started to really think about it. I thought about how I felt about you and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I think of you as a brother. I've spent so much time around your family that it's become like a second family to me. Once I realized how I felt, I started to dread the day you would ask. I didn't want to hurt your feelings by saying no, but I also knew that I couldn't go out with you.
"When I mentioned to Harry what I suspected, he confirmed it. I told him about how I felt about you and about not wanting to hurt your feelings. We talked for hours about what I should do. Finally, we decided that I needed to talk to you about it and explain it to you. Harry started giving us opportunities to talk privately, but every time he left us alone you'd give some excuse and disappear. I was at a loss as to what I should do. Harry and I decided that we'd talk to you together, but whenever we tried to bring it up you'd change the subject or avoid us altogether.
"It was about three weeks ago, when you'd run off somewhere, that Harry and I started talking about how we felt about each other. By the end of that conversation we had decided to start dating, but we kept it secret from everyone. We wanted to talk to you about everything first before anyone else found out. We didn't want you to find out from someone else and get angry because we didn't tell you personally.
"We managed to keep it secret for about a week, but someone figured it out. Before we knew what happened you found out and decided to confront Harry.
"Ron, I'm sorry that I can't return your feelings, but I don't think of you that way. I wish there was some way that I could express just how sorry I am." Hermione wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall and looked to Harry, seeking his support. He held out his hand to her, which she took into her own just long enough for her to regain her composure. They didn't hold hands very long for fear of upsetting Ron even more.
Harry spoke again. "Ron, we never meant to hurt you in any way. We want so very much for us to be friends again. Not having you around has been so very discomfiting. We miss not having you there to tell your bad jokes or to do your impressions of the professors. We miss the unique way that you look at things. I even miss getting beat at wizard's chess. We forgive you for that night and we hope that you can forgive us."
No one spoke for several long minutes. The tension that filled the room was almost palpable. Harry and Hermione kept glancing at each other as well as at Ron, while Ron just stared straight ahead.
Without warning Ron got up from his chair and headed to the door. As soon as he reached the door he turned and looked back at them. "You've said your peace, now let me out." There was just a hint of impatience in his voice. Harry and Hermione didn't know what to do. They'd hoped that they could get through to him, but it looked as though that wasn't possible. Then Ron spoke again. "Please, I need some time to think." This last part was said without the impatience of the first. He sounded almost overwhelmed.
Hermione removed the locking charm from the door and allowed Ron to step through the door before she told him, "You know where to find us when you're ready." He simply nodded and headed down the stairs. Harry came up behind her and put his arms around her, offering Hermione all the love and support he could give. She leaned into his embrace. "Do you think we got through to him, Harry?"
"I honestly don't know. He's a different person now. We'll just have to wait and see." Harry bent down and kissed the girl that he loved more than anything and tried to pour as much of that love into the kiss as possible.
Summary: Harry and Hermione corner Ron and try to talk some sense into him.
Thanks for the read & don't forget to review. :D
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As per the plan, Harry and Hermione went directly to Professor Dumbledore's office. Knowing that his students would be skipping lunch to talk to Ron, Dumbledore had a platter of sandwiches and a pitcher of iced pumpkin juice sitting on his desk when they walked in. Upon seeing the food Harry heard his stomach give a long grumble; skimping at breakfast had caught up with him and he realized that he was ravenous. Hermione was just as hungry, but she was glad that her stomach chose to be quiet.
"Ah, Harry, Hermione, please help yourselves to some sandwiches and juice. Dobby tells me that he prepared them especially for his favorite witch and wizard. He also asked me why you haven't been down to the kitchen to visit with him like Wheezy has. It seems that Mr. Weasley has been visiting the kitchen twice a day since this all began. At least we don't have to worry about HIM starving." Professor Dumbledore went on to talk about non-important things while Harry and Hermione were eating.
As was normally the case, Hermione finished first and asked Dumbledore to demonstrate the unlocking charm that she and Harry would need when they were ready to leave. This gave Harry the extra few minutes that he needed to finish. Once they had finished Dumbledore cleared the food and dishes away.
"Are you two ready?" Both students replied that they were. Dumbledore walked over to the fireplace and tossed some powder into it. Immediately the fire roared to life, then Dumbledore stuck his head into the flames. Having both witnessed this method of communicating in the wizarding world, neither Harry nor Hermione were the least bit surprised by it. Although they could no longer see his head they had no trouble hearing what he said. "Minerva, I wonder if I could see Mr. Weasley in my office for a moment?"
"Certainly, Albus. He'll be there momentarily," came the response from Professor McGonagall. Harry had a little trouble hearing her since he was sitting on the opposite side of Hermione from the fireplace. He had no problems, however, hearing the slamming of a door just before Dumbledore broke the connection with McGonagall.
* * *
Once the connection with Professor Dumbledore had been broken, Professor McGonagall retrieved the owl that she had borrowed from the Owl Post office in Hogsmeade. She attached the phony Ministry letter to its leg and released it out the window. She hoped that she gave Ron enough time to get to Dumbledore's office.
* * *
Ron could hardly believe his luck. Not only had he received detention for later tonight, he was being summoned to the headmaster's office. This cannot be good. He suspected what it was about, his recent behavior shift. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he couldn't behave like he'd been and not get into trouble eventually.
He could tell that something like this was coming. He had seen the look in Harry's eyes each time he had tried to talk to him. Instead of facing Harry, like he should have, he avoided him. He'd also been avoiding Hermione, but for different reasons. Harry had said that she had been waiting for him to ask her out for a long time. He had missed his chance. If only he hadn't kept chickening out and making excuses to be elsewhere when they were alone. He couldn't begrudge her for giving up and moving on. Harry, on the other hand, he couldn't forgive. Harry had known all along that he was interested in Hermione as more than friends and he went and asked her anyway.
Harry had everything that Ron didn't. Harry didn't have to buy used school supplies because he was bloody rich. He was on the Quidditch team and would have been Captain this year if he hadn't turned it down. He was made a prefect and would most likely become Head Boy in seventh year. Harry was famous. Every person in the wizarding world knew who he was. Why did he have to have Hermione as well?
Before Ron knew it he was standing in front of the statue of a griffin that marked the entrance to the headmaster's office. He gave the password and proceeded up the stairs that were revealed as the griffin turned around. At the top of the stairs he knocked on the only door and was admitted into the office.
The first thing that he noticed was that Professor Dumbledore wasn't alone. Sitting in the two chairs directly in front of his desk were the two people that he didn't want to see, the two people that he had called friend since first year, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. He avoided looking at them when they turned in his direction, choosing instead to look at Professor Dumbledore.
"You wanted to see me, Professor?" he asked without bothering to conceal his annoyance at being here.
"Yes, I did, Mr. Weasley. I wanted to talk to you about . . ." At that moment an owl flew in the window and dropped a letter in front of him before flying back out the window. He looked at the letter and feigning a look of urgency, ripped the letter open. Keeping the same look pasted to his face, he pretended to read the letter. Once he reached the end of the letter, he folded it up and started for the office door. Pretending to remember that he had guests in his office, he turned and told them that he had to send an immediate response to the Ministry and would be back in a few minutes. With that said, he turned and exited the office, closing the door on his way out.
Ron was standing about halfway between the door and the desk. He turned around, looked at the door, looked back at the desk, and looked at the door again. "Let me guess, he just locked me in here with you."
After the briefest look in Harry's direction, Hermione got out of her chair and started toward Ron, stopping when he started backing away. Harry followed suit and stood next to Hermione.
"Yes, Ron, he did. Harry and I asked him to. The three of us need to talk and this was the only way to ensure that you wouldn't run away again." She gestured back towards the desk and the chairs that they'd just vacated and asked Ron to sit down. Ron told her that he'd rather stand.
"We're not leaving until you hear us out and that might take awhile." Harry returned to the desk and propped himself on the edge closest to the chairs. Hermione returned to her chair and again indicated that Ron should sit in the other.
Seeing no other choice, Ron came over and sat in the chair heavily. He glowered at them for a few moments before saying, "Bloody say what you're going to say so I can leave."
Once again Harry and Hermione glanced at each other as if to ask who should start. With a slight nod, Harry decided to start. "Ron, first I want to apologize for what I did the other week in the common room. I lost control and I could have seriously hurt you. I promised Dumbledore that I wouldn't use those gifts without his supervision, but I wasn't thinking clearly that night and could have killed you. I can't tell you how sorry I am.
"I was so tired from Quidditch practice and engrossed in my potions essay that it took a few moments for my brain to start processing what you were saying. And once it caught up, I did something that I shouldn't have done, I lost my temper. I couldn't believe that the guy that I've considered my best friend for nearly five years was saying such things to me. I expected things like that from Malfoy, but never from you. The things that you said about me really hurt but I was willing to let you vent your anger. I hoped that once you said what you had to say that we would sit down and talk about them. I didn't want a repeat of the Goblet incident.
"When you said what you did about Hermione, I completely lost all reason. I couldn't believe that you would say that about her. She'd been nothing but nice to you since day one and you went and said those awful things. I wanted you to shut up and knew that I had to make you be quiet. I didn't consciously do it; it just happened.
"It wasn't until I returned to my room and started to calm down that I began to realize just how close I came to doing you serious harm. I lost it. I dropped to the floor, started shaking uncontrollably, and started crying. I cried because you were upset with me. I cried because I didn't know how bad I'd hurt you. I cried because I wasn't sure if I'd get the chance to tell you how sorry I was. As Hermione can attest, I was out of it for a while. I hadn't even realized that I had transported her or my stuff when I left. It wasn't until I started to feel someone rocking me gently that I realized just how much I wasn't in control.
"I wanted to go back to the common room and talk things out, but I knew that I was in no condition to carry on a rational conversation. Between the two of us, Hermione and I decided that it would be better to wait until the next morning. We figured we see you at breakfast and we'd talk through it. Only you never showed up at breakfast. We tried to talk to you in class, but you wouldn't sit with us. Every time we tried to talk you'd disappear.
"Then you became a whole different person. You became friends with Malfoy, which Hermione and I still can't figure out by the way. You seemed to take pleasure in tormenting us. And if that had been the extent of it, we could've overlooked it. But then you started to disrupt classes, talking back to professors, and starting fights with younger students. That was when we decided that we needed help in getting you to listen.
"As I am sure McGonagall has told you, she's been considering expelling you from Gryffindor, and if that didn't help, from Hogwarts entirely. We're your friends Ron, and we're worried about you. We just want to help in any way we can."
Ron sat quietly through the entire thing. He could almost see things from Harry's point of view. He knew that Harry was telling the truth about how it had affected him. He was almost willing to forgive him except for one thing, Hermione. "That's all well and all, but I still want to know why. Why did you have to go and ask Hermione out for? You knew how I felt, but you ignored it. Why?"
Harry looked to Hermione for help explaining this part. Hermione leaned forward and placed her hand on Ron's knee for a moment to get him to look at her. Up until this point Ron had been avoiding looking at either one of them. Once he looked her directly in the face she began. "Ron, there's something that you need to know before we get to that. I've known for a while now that you wanted to ask me out. At first I was flattered and even considered asking you out first. But as time went on and you never asked, I started to really think about it. I thought about how I felt about you and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I think of you as a brother. I've spent so much time around your family that it's become like a second family to me. Once I realized how I felt, I started to dread the day you would ask. I didn't want to hurt your feelings by saying no, but I also knew that I couldn't go out with you.
"When I mentioned to Harry what I suspected, he confirmed it. I told him about how I felt about you and about not wanting to hurt your feelings. We talked for hours about what I should do. Finally, we decided that I needed to talk to you about it and explain it to you. Harry started giving us opportunities to talk privately, but every time he left us alone you'd give some excuse and disappear. I was at a loss as to what I should do. Harry and I decided that we'd talk to you together, but whenever we tried to bring it up you'd change the subject or avoid us altogether.
"It was about three weeks ago, when you'd run off somewhere, that Harry and I started talking about how we felt about each other. By the end of that conversation we had decided to start dating, but we kept it secret from everyone. We wanted to talk to you about everything first before anyone else found out. We didn't want you to find out from someone else and get angry because we didn't tell you personally.
"We managed to keep it secret for about a week, but someone figured it out. Before we knew what happened you found out and decided to confront Harry.
"Ron, I'm sorry that I can't return your feelings, but I don't think of you that way. I wish there was some way that I could express just how sorry I am." Hermione wiped away the tears that were threatening to fall and looked to Harry, seeking his support. He held out his hand to her, which she took into her own just long enough for her to regain her composure. They didn't hold hands very long for fear of upsetting Ron even more.
Harry spoke again. "Ron, we never meant to hurt you in any way. We want so very much for us to be friends again. Not having you around has been so very discomfiting. We miss not having you there to tell your bad jokes or to do your impressions of the professors. We miss the unique way that you look at things. I even miss getting beat at wizard's chess. We forgive you for that night and we hope that you can forgive us."
No one spoke for several long minutes. The tension that filled the room was almost palpable. Harry and Hermione kept glancing at each other as well as at Ron, while Ron just stared straight ahead.
Without warning Ron got up from his chair and headed to the door. As soon as he reached the door he turned and looked back at them. "You've said your peace, now let me out." There was just a hint of impatience in his voice. Harry and Hermione didn't know what to do. They'd hoped that they could get through to him, but it looked as though that wasn't possible. Then Ron spoke again. "Please, I need some time to think." This last part was said without the impatience of the first. He sounded almost overwhelmed.
Hermione removed the locking charm from the door and allowed Ron to step through the door before she told him, "You know where to find us when you're ready." He simply nodded and headed down the stairs. Harry came up behind her and put his arms around her, offering Hermione all the love and support he could give. She leaned into his embrace. "Do you think we got through to him, Harry?"
"I honestly don't know. He's a different person now. We'll just have to wait and see." Harry bent down and kissed the girl that he loved more than anything and tried to pour as much of that love into the kiss as possible.