Title: Opposite of Nice (2/?)
Series: The Destruction Series
Disclaimer: Not mine. The world and characters belong to JKR while the challenge belongs to Jasper. I'm just filing in the blanks.
Couple: Draco/Hermione (in mention)
Spoilers: None
Summary: Ron seeks to deal with the realization that Hermione and Draco are dating. And he goes to his brothers to find some comfort. Insanity ensues.
Author's Notes: This story is in response to Jasper's Life's Little Destruction Book challenge #440: Refuse to have a nice day. It's to be 500-5000 words in length. And have I mentioned how clever I think these little challenges are? Very clever.
I had written another challenge from this same book about Draco and Hermione. So when I was thinking of this one, I thought it might be fun to write a sequel to that story. Then I thought that perhaps I would write a series of stories using these challenges specifically. So I'll call the series the Destruction Series. An apology to those sites where I put (1/1) on the last story (Woman of Action). So if you're confused by the (2/?) by the title, the first story is called Woman of Action and can be found on Cauldron Chronicles. It will be on my web page soon, but if you can't find it, just email me and I'll send it. :)
Also, in case it wasn't clear in the first story, this story is taking place well into the future of the books. The trio is out of Hogwarts and working for the Ministry of Magic.
Please email me if you want to put this or any of my stories on your website. I never say no, but I like knowing which sites are supporting my writing. Thanks!
*~*~*
Ron just stared at the side of his cubicle in disbelief. He didn't seem to really be putting two and two together right now. He just let the noise of the place flit over him as he tried to get a handle on what he had just witnessed.
The office was bustling with activity and gossip but Ron didn't try to listen to any of it. Instead he glanced over his right shoulder to find Harry Potter leaning up against the wall of his cubicle.
"What?" Ron snapped at the look Harry had on his face.
"She's a grown woman, Ron." He knew what Ron was upset about and what he meant, so no explanation was required. Still, Harry's words seemed to irk him more.
"He's Draco bloody Malfoy," Ron said slowly, as if this was reason enough for Hermione to have her adulthood privileges yanked from her.
"Yes, I know," Harry said. He grabbed the stool he commonly sat in when he visited Ron's workspace and sat on it, watching him warily. And with good reason too.
Ron looked at the papers thrown all over his desk and noticed that his keyboard was sitting in his waste can, although the contents of the waste can were strewn all over. The poster he had on his wall of his favorite Quidditch team was torn and the players were trying to dodge the tear as they continued to pass the Quaffle to each other. He scowled at a picture of Hermione, Harry, and himself as it sat on his desk, all smiles. He was contemplating tossing it over the barrier to Malfoy's cubicle when Harry spoke up again.
"Ron, maybe you should take the rest of the day. I'll floo you if anything comes up that I can't handle. I'll take care of this place. I'm sure Hermione will understand."
Ron almost bit out a sarcastic remark, but he held it back. This wasn't Harry's fault. Besides, he didn't want to be here when Draco and Hermione came back. He looked at Harry, his anger draining for a moment, to stare at his friend bleakly.
"How long.?" He trailed off the question but Harry seemed to know what he meant.
"I don't know, Ron. I would have told you, I swear."
Ron nodded. Harry was a good friend. And he probably would have told Ron if he'd known.
"I just don't get it."
It wasn't a secret to anyone with eyes that Ron had a lingering crush on Hermione. During their sixth year at Hogwarts they had started dating exclusively and everyone had thought they would wind up together. But sometime in the seventh year, they had broken it off. No one really knew why and Ron liked to keep it that way. He hadn't even told Harry the whole story.
Really, it was his own fault. Ron had no illusions that he was the smart kid in the family. Percy had always filled that slot. Even Bill and Charlie were bright. But they were different. Bill and Charlie were both smart and athletically good-looking. Life was easier for them. Things just came to them naturally. Percy had been real smart but not very good- looking at all. His demeanor was much smaller and he was too weak for any real athleticism. Fred and George were average looking blokes, but they had this charisma about them that just bowled people over. Their strong personalities more than made up for any plainness in their looks. And they were pretty smart to boot, although they never took anything very seriously. Ginny was smart, although not smart like Percy. And she was pretty, when she wanted to be. She was a little like Bill and Charlie. Things were simpler for her. Being the only girl in the family meant that she got special treatment and an easier time. Ron had the athleticism and after he had grown out of his awkward stage, he filled out in the chest and arms very nicely. His voice was deep and his freckles were less noticeable. But he struggled with everything scholastic. It wasn't so much his lack of studying, despite what Hermione said, but rather his fear to be wrong or to look stupid.
It became a commonplace thing to start to measure himself up to Hermione. It never really bothered him that she was so smart before, but suddenly it did. It was intimidating. She constantly got higher scores on her exams and on her papers. She always seemed to know just what books to read and just what to write. She got exemplary marks in her classes and by far more O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s than he did. Now, no one else was surprised by this and Ron knew he shouldn't be either, but he had started to kill himself to out perform her, only to fail each time. And when he failed he became moody and angry and in the end he started to take that anger out on her.
At first she had tried to be soothing and tried to tell him that she liked him the way he was. But that only equated to 'I like you stupid' to him. Instinctively she started to slack off in school to try to give Ron a head start, but that only pissed him off more. He didn't want to get better grades than her because she was trying to let him win. He wanted to win because he was smarter. It meant everything to him and quite suddenly their relationship turned very uncomfortable.
When Hermione told him she needed to talk to him the day she broke up with him, he had known it was coming. He thought he accepted the break-up quite gracefully. He knew what she was saying was true and that he had put undo stress on her for something so stupid as his own ego. He would have taken it all back if he could, but by then the damage had been done and she just wanted to be friends. He thought he was getting a pretty good deal out of this if she wanted to be his friend still, so he didn't push it.
But the mere fact that they stopped being boyfriend and girlfriend did not mean that he stopped caring for her. He tried desperately to get good grades in the remainder of his classes in his seventh year partially to prove to himself that he could, but secretly he was still trying to impress her with his brain. And when Hermione had quite naturally out-performed him, he smiled and hugged her and congratulated her, trying to show her how mature he could be about it. She seemed grateful for the maturity, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle. Nothing he did now could erase the way he had undoubtedly made her feel in the past when he made her feel bad for being smart.
The only good thing about his mucked up experience with Hermione, is that he developed better study habits and had gotten far more O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s than he probably would have otherwise. It was an easy thing for him to graduate Hogwarts and become an Auror, like he had wanted to be. That Hermione was his boss was something he had to adjust to. In the beginning there was some weirdness, but for the most part, she treated them fairly and her experience with them left her trusting them to the really difficult cases. He and Harry were good at what they did and they were getting a reputation for being some of the best Aurors in this batch.
The only thing that took the fire out of becoming and Auror and getting to work with Harry and Hermione was the fact that he also had to work with Draco Malfoy. Ron had never expected Malfoy to become an Auror and actually if he were asked Ron would have thought that Auror was the last thing Malfoy would willingly do. But there he was, in living color, mucking up Ron's experience by just being there. Ron had secretly hoped he'd fail, but Malfoy could be smart when he needed to. It was some sort of sick luck that his workstation was right across from Ron's.
Even more intolerable were the times that Hermione asked Harry and Ron to work with Draco. This usually only happened on special cases, so it wasn't often, but once was too many times for Ron. Harry had seemed to come to some sort of understanding with Malfoy, and they were civil to each other when they were working together, but Ron couldn't be so civil. After all, not only had Draco Malfoy made his Hogwarts life hell at every chance, but his father, Lucius Malfoy, had made Ron's family's lives miserable at every chance as well. It wasn't something one could forgive so easily. As a matter of fact, Ron had gleefully planned to never forgive the gits.
All in all, life wasn't so bad until now. Ron had realized his newfound maturity and hoped that he could impress Hermione with it. He had been hoping that since she had been turning down dinner invites from other co- workers, she had maybe harbored some deep hope that they'd get together again as well. But now, he knew why she wasn't dating anyone: because she was too busy dating Malfoy.
As his thoughts turned back to the two of them dating, Ron's face got stormy and his anger returned. His eyes focused on Harry, who was just watching him.
"Yeah. I think I better go."
Harry nodded and seemed relieved. He patted Ron on the shoulder. "I'll clean this up."
"Thanks, Harry," Ron mumbled as he yanked off his wizarding robe and put a jacket on over his white shirt and blue tie. He stuffed the robe into his bag and without glancing one way or another he headed towards the lifts to get out of here. People around him stopped talking long enough for him to pass by and then resumed with a flurry of whispers once they had his back, but he didn't care.
When he reached the lobby of the Ministry of Magic and he was almost out, he spotted Hermione and Draco. They stopped, spotting him at the same time. Ron didn't know what to do. He didn't know what he was supposed to be feeling here. He looked at Hermione's face, trying to make his impassive, but he knew his feelings were too fresh for that. Hermione looked at him with what seemed to be sorrow. Ron's eyes flickered to the blond beside her. To his credit, he didn't wear a smirk or a smile. That would have been too much for Ron. Instead he looked slightly uncomfortable, like he had stepped in the middle of something he shouldn't have. And well, he had as far as Ron was concerned. Still, even as he wasn't smirking in triumph at Ron, Malfoy still held the hand of Hermione in his.
Ron swallowed a lump in his throat. His eyes glanced back at Hermione and noticed she looked as if she would approach him. He knew he couldn't talk to her right now. Quickly, he turned his face away from them and locked his eyes to his escape route. Glad for his long legs, he was able to carry himself out quickly. He thought he heard Hermione call his name from behind him, but he didn't stop to find out.
The cool breeze of a mild summer's day hit him in the face but he barely noticed the pleasant weather he had been so happy about earlier. Earlier things were much simpler. Earlier he didn't know about Hermione and Malfoy.
Absently he walked to the park bench where he and Harry had seen Malfoy and Hermione snogging. At first, Harry and Ron had both assumed that Malfoy was attacking Hermione. Ron had tackled him to the ground and was ready to beat the life out of him for it, but he had known pretty quickly afterwards that there was more to it. When Hermione came to Malfoy's defense, Ron's mind quit working. The only reason he was able to leave was because Harry pushed him away, annoying him with comments that Ron was sure was supposed to calm him. In truth, Ron didn't need the calming then. He was too numb to do anything. But when he had gotten back to the Ministry, his workspace paid the price of not having vented his anger sooner.
Ron stood, staring at the offending bench, his hands in his pockets. He needed to talk to someone. He needed advice.
It was an easy thing to find an alley where he would not be seen apparating. In no time at all he was standing on a street in Hogsmeade in front of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. He smiled a little at the exterior of the building. It was painted gaily and with dynamic advertising on the doors and windows it depicted the kind of shop that it was.
Ron pushed the door open and walked inside.
"Welcome to Weasley's Wizard-oh.it's just you," Fred finished dully. Ron glared at him.
"What brings you to our humble shop?" George asked as he put a box down on the counter. Ron was thankful for the large name signs they used to distinguish themselves, although he rather suspected that Fred was wearing a name tag saying 'George' and vice versa. They never tired of that trick. "Did Mum send you here as a spy?" Both their eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"You don't think mum knows what you two clowns are up to?" he asked heatedly. The twins grinned and looked at Ron with a new light in their eyes.
"What's your problem?" Fred asked.
It was on the tip of Ron's tongue to tell his brother to mind his own, but he didn't. He had come to them for advice and he wasn't going to get it if he didn't ask. He looked at the both of them and nodded. He opened his mouth to speak when a customer came to the counter.
"Oh, good choices," George said, eyeing some of their purchases. He rang them up while Fred smiled and commented on his favorites and Ron stonily watched them do business.
"Have a nice day!" Fred called after the boy when he left with his goods. Fred turned his attention to Ron. "Come on then, out with it."
"It's about Hermione," Ron started. Immediately the twins grinned ear to ear. The gesture was expected but it still ticked him off a little more. "If you two jokers can't be serious I'm not telling you." He crossed his arms in front of him. He knew he was being childish, but it was impossible not to be when faced with the ultimate childishness of the Weasley twins.
The twins immediately donned a non-smiling face. It wasn't a serious face, but it was better than the grins. Ron sighed and rubbed his face with his hands in frustration.
"Is she dating?" George asked softly, almost compassionately.
Ron nodded. He watched the twins as their faces suddenly became more serious.
"I'm sorry, mate." George said. It was about as real as Ron ever remembered him.
"Yeah, but you knew she would eventually, right? I mean, have you seen her lately?" Fred nudged George and gave Ron a look that made him want to reach across the counter and pop his head right off his shoulders. But he was right.
"Yeah, I knew she would. But it's not just that she's dating. That I could handle." He ignored the doubtful looks the twins gave each other. "It's more who she's dating."
Fred gasped in surprise. "Not Harry?"
"No," Ron said as if Fred had lost his marbles. He hesitated to tell them who, and ignored Fred all together and looked into the face of George, who was taking this quite seriously. "Draco Malfoy," Ron muttered miserably.
It was as if time stood still for a moment. Then it slowly began to move as George's serious face turned into one of astonishment and Fred's astonished face turned into one of laughter. Suddenly time sped to catch up with Ron as Fred was howling with laughter and George was trying to shut him up. Ron shook his head. It was a mistake to come here. Even if George was being sporting about it, Fred was not helping.
Ron exchanged a look with George and turned to leave him to deal with their brother who was laughing so hard he was holding his side.
"Have a nice day!" Fred yelled at him through laughter.
For whatever reason, something within Ron snapped. Have a nice day. He froze. He just came here to tell his brothers that the girl of his dreams was dating the lowest life form in England. Have a nice day. He had just watched as his best hopes of happiness walked through the lobby of the Ministry of Magic hand in hand with his worst nightmare. Have a nice day? He had seen Malfoy getting the attention he only dreamed of now a days while sitting in broad daylight in the park. Have a nice day? Ron turned to face his brothers. George was watching him with curiosity while Fred was grinning stupidly at him as if he knew what Ron was thinking. Ron saw red.
"No."
"No what?" Fred said with incredulity.
"No, I will not have a nice day."
Fred cracked a smile at the lunacy of this statement. Ron knew it was crazy, but he didn't care. He would not have a nice day.
"Yes you will," Fred decreed.
"No, I will not," Ron said, his teeth gritted together.
"Fred," George said quietly, as if to warn his brother.
"No, you will have a nice day, because I said so," Fred said with a triumphant smile.
Ron took a few steps towards Fred, murder in his eyes. "I will NOT have a bloody nice day!" he yelled. Ron could see from the corner of his eye a customer who backed out of the store.
"You're scaring away the money," George said to his twin.
"I don't care. He's going to have a nice day if I have to force him to," Fred said, obviously getting into the spirit of Ron's insanity.
Ron couldn't help it. He completely lost his ever-loving mind. He yelled at the top of his lungs while he leaped over the counter and tackled a smirking Fred.
He didn't know what came over him, but suddenly nothing was more important than seeing this person pulverized. His fist slammed into Fred's face once, twice, a third time before Fred pushed him down and flipped over so that he was covering him and pushing his face into the carpet of the shop. Fred grabbed Ron's right arm and twisted it painfully behind his back.
"Give!" he shouted into Ron's ear.
"Have you two lost it?" George shouted. Ron got the idea that he was on the other side of the counter, away from the scuffle.
"Give!" Fred shouted again and tugged Ron's arm up painfully. With all the strength Ron had he got to his knees and slammed his back, Fred still attached, to the wall behind him. Joke candies, toys that popped loudly, and other merchandise rained down on their heads. "Ow!" Fred yelled as something big struck his head. But he hadn't let go of Ron's arm so Ron leaned forward and slammed him back again, harder. This time he was freed.
Scuffling around to get to a position to where he could fight again, Ron turned on his hands and knees, but wasn't quick enough as Fred tackled him to his back, making him hit his head against the floor, hard. Fred had his forearm at Ron's neck and was smiling like he was having the greatest time, even though his nose was bleeding from Ron's earlier punches. Ron couldn't help but smile back as he brought his knee up hard, making Fred's smile not only disappear but pain crease his face. Suddenly Ron's smile became maniacal as he pushed Fred off and punched him in the stomach.
He lifted his hand to punch Fred in the face again, when he felt it grasped. Suddenly he was being pulled up and over the counter and far away from Fred by George, who looked like he had had quite enough of this. Ron struggled a moment, but realized his brother was warily keeping his limbs pinned so he could strike back. Fred was struggling to get to his feet. Finally, Ron relaxed.
George pushed him towards the door. "Go on now. And don't come back until you're sane!"
Ron looked passed George to Fred. In spite of his injuries, he was able to be on his feet. Blood ran down his nose and the side of his lip. He held his stomach and crouched over, still feeling the pain between his legs. Ron nodded with satisfaction.
"I will not have a nice day," he said with finality before he turned and left the store.
He knew from the looks he was getting from the people passing by, he must have looked like he'd just been roughed up. He tried smoothing his hair down, but then didn't bother with making himself look nice. He apparated to his apartment, a little two bedroom flat that was not far from the Ministry. He took his jacket off and let it sit on the floor where it fell. He went to the kitchen and grabbed himself a bottle of ale and took it to the living room to his favorite chair. Sitting down and taking a big swig of the drink, he realized his lip was split, probably from when Fred had struggled to get his face to the ground. The salt in the ale stung the lip, but he didn't stop drinking and he didn't try to cover his lip. He just let himself feel the pain and stared at the wall while he finished his ale.
Despite his utter wishes to feel miserable, he knew that the fight with Fred had actually cheered him. With insight, he realized that Fred probably knew he needed to work out some aggression and pushed him until his aggression flowed. With a sigh, Ron picked up the phone and dialed the number to his brothers' shop.
"Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, this is Fred," came the cheerful voice of his brother.
"It's Ron."
"So it is," he heard. Ron smiled. "Can I talk to Fred?"
"How do you know I'm not?"
"Because I think you guys switched your name tags today."
"Smart lad," he said and Ron could hear the phone exchanging hands.
"George here."
"It's Ron."
"Ah, scheduling round two?" came the cheerful voice of Fred.
"No. Just calling to say thanks."
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
"You owe me an ale," Fred said finally.
"Done."
"Good. Have a nice day!" he practically yelled before slamming the phone down. When Ron heard only the sound of a dead line he growled and slammed his phone down to the receiver.
Series: The Destruction Series
Disclaimer: Not mine. The world and characters belong to JKR while the challenge belongs to Jasper. I'm just filing in the blanks.
Couple: Draco/Hermione (in mention)
Spoilers: None
Summary: Ron seeks to deal with the realization that Hermione and Draco are dating. And he goes to his brothers to find some comfort. Insanity ensues.
Author's Notes: This story is in response to Jasper's Life's Little Destruction Book challenge #440: Refuse to have a nice day. It's to be 500-5000 words in length. And have I mentioned how clever I think these little challenges are? Very clever.
I had written another challenge from this same book about Draco and Hermione. So when I was thinking of this one, I thought it might be fun to write a sequel to that story. Then I thought that perhaps I would write a series of stories using these challenges specifically. So I'll call the series the Destruction Series. An apology to those sites where I put (1/1) on the last story (Woman of Action). So if you're confused by the (2/?) by the title, the first story is called Woman of Action and can be found on Cauldron Chronicles. It will be on my web page soon, but if you can't find it, just email me and I'll send it. :)
Also, in case it wasn't clear in the first story, this story is taking place well into the future of the books. The trio is out of Hogwarts and working for the Ministry of Magic.
Please email me if you want to put this or any of my stories on your website. I never say no, but I like knowing which sites are supporting my writing. Thanks!
*~*~*
Ron just stared at the side of his cubicle in disbelief. He didn't seem to really be putting two and two together right now. He just let the noise of the place flit over him as he tried to get a handle on what he had just witnessed.
The office was bustling with activity and gossip but Ron didn't try to listen to any of it. Instead he glanced over his right shoulder to find Harry Potter leaning up against the wall of his cubicle.
"What?" Ron snapped at the look Harry had on his face.
"She's a grown woman, Ron." He knew what Ron was upset about and what he meant, so no explanation was required. Still, Harry's words seemed to irk him more.
"He's Draco bloody Malfoy," Ron said slowly, as if this was reason enough for Hermione to have her adulthood privileges yanked from her.
"Yes, I know," Harry said. He grabbed the stool he commonly sat in when he visited Ron's workspace and sat on it, watching him warily. And with good reason too.
Ron looked at the papers thrown all over his desk and noticed that his keyboard was sitting in his waste can, although the contents of the waste can were strewn all over. The poster he had on his wall of his favorite Quidditch team was torn and the players were trying to dodge the tear as they continued to pass the Quaffle to each other. He scowled at a picture of Hermione, Harry, and himself as it sat on his desk, all smiles. He was contemplating tossing it over the barrier to Malfoy's cubicle when Harry spoke up again.
"Ron, maybe you should take the rest of the day. I'll floo you if anything comes up that I can't handle. I'll take care of this place. I'm sure Hermione will understand."
Ron almost bit out a sarcastic remark, but he held it back. This wasn't Harry's fault. Besides, he didn't want to be here when Draco and Hermione came back. He looked at Harry, his anger draining for a moment, to stare at his friend bleakly.
"How long.?" He trailed off the question but Harry seemed to know what he meant.
"I don't know, Ron. I would have told you, I swear."
Ron nodded. Harry was a good friend. And he probably would have told Ron if he'd known.
"I just don't get it."
It wasn't a secret to anyone with eyes that Ron had a lingering crush on Hermione. During their sixth year at Hogwarts they had started dating exclusively and everyone had thought they would wind up together. But sometime in the seventh year, they had broken it off. No one really knew why and Ron liked to keep it that way. He hadn't even told Harry the whole story.
Really, it was his own fault. Ron had no illusions that he was the smart kid in the family. Percy had always filled that slot. Even Bill and Charlie were bright. But they were different. Bill and Charlie were both smart and athletically good-looking. Life was easier for them. Things just came to them naturally. Percy had been real smart but not very good- looking at all. His demeanor was much smaller and he was too weak for any real athleticism. Fred and George were average looking blokes, but they had this charisma about them that just bowled people over. Their strong personalities more than made up for any plainness in their looks. And they were pretty smart to boot, although they never took anything very seriously. Ginny was smart, although not smart like Percy. And she was pretty, when she wanted to be. She was a little like Bill and Charlie. Things were simpler for her. Being the only girl in the family meant that she got special treatment and an easier time. Ron had the athleticism and after he had grown out of his awkward stage, he filled out in the chest and arms very nicely. His voice was deep and his freckles were less noticeable. But he struggled with everything scholastic. It wasn't so much his lack of studying, despite what Hermione said, but rather his fear to be wrong or to look stupid.
It became a commonplace thing to start to measure himself up to Hermione. It never really bothered him that she was so smart before, but suddenly it did. It was intimidating. She constantly got higher scores on her exams and on her papers. She always seemed to know just what books to read and just what to write. She got exemplary marks in her classes and by far more O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s than he did. Now, no one else was surprised by this and Ron knew he shouldn't be either, but he had started to kill himself to out perform her, only to fail each time. And when he failed he became moody and angry and in the end he started to take that anger out on her.
At first she had tried to be soothing and tried to tell him that she liked him the way he was. But that only equated to 'I like you stupid' to him. Instinctively she started to slack off in school to try to give Ron a head start, but that only pissed him off more. He didn't want to get better grades than her because she was trying to let him win. He wanted to win because he was smarter. It meant everything to him and quite suddenly their relationship turned very uncomfortable.
When Hermione told him she needed to talk to him the day she broke up with him, he had known it was coming. He thought he accepted the break-up quite gracefully. He knew what she was saying was true and that he had put undo stress on her for something so stupid as his own ego. He would have taken it all back if he could, but by then the damage had been done and she just wanted to be friends. He thought he was getting a pretty good deal out of this if she wanted to be his friend still, so he didn't push it.
But the mere fact that they stopped being boyfriend and girlfriend did not mean that he stopped caring for her. He tried desperately to get good grades in the remainder of his classes in his seventh year partially to prove to himself that he could, but secretly he was still trying to impress her with his brain. And when Hermione had quite naturally out-performed him, he smiled and hugged her and congratulated her, trying to show her how mature he could be about it. She seemed grateful for the maturity, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle. Nothing he did now could erase the way he had undoubtedly made her feel in the past when he made her feel bad for being smart.
The only good thing about his mucked up experience with Hermione, is that he developed better study habits and had gotten far more O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s than he probably would have otherwise. It was an easy thing for him to graduate Hogwarts and become an Auror, like he had wanted to be. That Hermione was his boss was something he had to adjust to. In the beginning there was some weirdness, but for the most part, she treated them fairly and her experience with them left her trusting them to the really difficult cases. He and Harry were good at what they did and they were getting a reputation for being some of the best Aurors in this batch.
The only thing that took the fire out of becoming and Auror and getting to work with Harry and Hermione was the fact that he also had to work with Draco Malfoy. Ron had never expected Malfoy to become an Auror and actually if he were asked Ron would have thought that Auror was the last thing Malfoy would willingly do. But there he was, in living color, mucking up Ron's experience by just being there. Ron had secretly hoped he'd fail, but Malfoy could be smart when he needed to. It was some sort of sick luck that his workstation was right across from Ron's.
Even more intolerable were the times that Hermione asked Harry and Ron to work with Draco. This usually only happened on special cases, so it wasn't often, but once was too many times for Ron. Harry had seemed to come to some sort of understanding with Malfoy, and they were civil to each other when they were working together, but Ron couldn't be so civil. After all, not only had Draco Malfoy made his Hogwarts life hell at every chance, but his father, Lucius Malfoy, had made Ron's family's lives miserable at every chance as well. It wasn't something one could forgive so easily. As a matter of fact, Ron had gleefully planned to never forgive the gits.
All in all, life wasn't so bad until now. Ron had realized his newfound maturity and hoped that he could impress Hermione with it. He had been hoping that since she had been turning down dinner invites from other co- workers, she had maybe harbored some deep hope that they'd get together again as well. But now, he knew why she wasn't dating anyone: because she was too busy dating Malfoy.
As his thoughts turned back to the two of them dating, Ron's face got stormy and his anger returned. His eyes focused on Harry, who was just watching him.
"Yeah. I think I better go."
Harry nodded and seemed relieved. He patted Ron on the shoulder. "I'll clean this up."
"Thanks, Harry," Ron mumbled as he yanked off his wizarding robe and put a jacket on over his white shirt and blue tie. He stuffed the robe into his bag and without glancing one way or another he headed towards the lifts to get out of here. People around him stopped talking long enough for him to pass by and then resumed with a flurry of whispers once they had his back, but he didn't care.
When he reached the lobby of the Ministry of Magic and he was almost out, he spotted Hermione and Draco. They stopped, spotting him at the same time. Ron didn't know what to do. He didn't know what he was supposed to be feeling here. He looked at Hermione's face, trying to make his impassive, but he knew his feelings were too fresh for that. Hermione looked at him with what seemed to be sorrow. Ron's eyes flickered to the blond beside her. To his credit, he didn't wear a smirk or a smile. That would have been too much for Ron. Instead he looked slightly uncomfortable, like he had stepped in the middle of something he shouldn't have. And well, he had as far as Ron was concerned. Still, even as he wasn't smirking in triumph at Ron, Malfoy still held the hand of Hermione in his.
Ron swallowed a lump in his throat. His eyes glanced back at Hermione and noticed she looked as if she would approach him. He knew he couldn't talk to her right now. Quickly, he turned his face away from them and locked his eyes to his escape route. Glad for his long legs, he was able to carry himself out quickly. He thought he heard Hermione call his name from behind him, but he didn't stop to find out.
The cool breeze of a mild summer's day hit him in the face but he barely noticed the pleasant weather he had been so happy about earlier. Earlier things were much simpler. Earlier he didn't know about Hermione and Malfoy.
Absently he walked to the park bench where he and Harry had seen Malfoy and Hermione snogging. At first, Harry and Ron had both assumed that Malfoy was attacking Hermione. Ron had tackled him to the ground and was ready to beat the life out of him for it, but he had known pretty quickly afterwards that there was more to it. When Hermione came to Malfoy's defense, Ron's mind quit working. The only reason he was able to leave was because Harry pushed him away, annoying him with comments that Ron was sure was supposed to calm him. In truth, Ron didn't need the calming then. He was too numb to do anything. But when he had gotten back to the Ministry, his workspace paid the price of not having vented his anger sooner.
Ron stood, staring at the offending bench, his hands in his pockets. He needed to talk to someone. He needed advice.
It was an easy thing to find an alley where he would not be seen apparating. In no time at all he was standing on a street in Hogsmeade in front of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. He smiled a little at the exterior of the building. It was painted gaily and with dynamic advertising on the doors and windows it depicted the kind of shop that it was.
Ron pushed the door open and walked inside.
"Welcome to Weasley's Wizard-oh.it's just you," Fred finished dully. Ron glared at him.
"What brings you to our humble shop?" George asked as he put a box down on the counter. Ron was thankful for the large name signs they used to distinguish themselves, although he rather suspected that Fred was wearing a name tag saying 'George' and vice versa. They never tired of that trick. "Did Mum send you here as a spy?" Both their eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"You don't think mum knows what you two clowns are up to?" he asked heatedly. The twins grinned and looked at Ron with a new light in their eyes.
"What's your problem?" Fred asked.
It was on the tip of Ron's tongue to tell his brother to mind his own, but he didn't. He had come to them for advice and he wasn't going to get it if he didn't ask. He looked at the both of them and nodded. He opened his mouth to speak when a customer came to the counter.
"Oh, good choices," George said, eyeing some of their purchases. He rang them up while Fred smiled and commented on his favorites and Ron stonily watched them do business.
"Have a nice day!" Fred called after the boy when he left with his goods. Fred turned his attention to Ron. "Come on then, out with it."
"It's about Hermione," Ron started. Immediately the twins grinned ear to ear. The gesture was expected but it still ticked him off a little more. "If you two jokers can't be serious I'm not telling you." He crossed his arms in front of him. He knew he was being childish, but it was impossible not to be when faced with the ultimate childishness of the Weasley twins.
The twins immediately donned a non-smiling face. It wasn't a serious face, but it was better than the grins. Ron sighed and rubbed his face with his hands in frustration.
"Is she dating?" George asked softly, almost compassionately.
Ron nodded. He watched the twins as their faces suddenly became more serious.
"I'm sorry, mate." George said. It was about as real as Ron ever remembered him.
"Yeah, but you knew she would eventually, right? I mean, have you seen her lately?" Fred nudged George and gave Ron a look that made him want to reach across the counter and pop his head right off his shoulders. But he was right.
"Yeah, I knew she would. But it's not just that she's dating. That I could handle." He ignored the doubtful looks the twins gave each other. "It's more who she's dating."
Fred gasped in surprise. "Not Harry?"
"No," Ron said as if Fred had lost his marbles. He hesitated to tell them who, and ignored Fred all together and looked into the face of George, who was taking this quite seriously. "Draco Malfoy," Ron muttered miserably.
It was as if time stood still for a moment. Then it slowly began to move as George's serious face turned into one of astonishment and Fred's astonished face turned into one of laughter. Suddenly time sped to catch up with Ron as Fred was howling with laughter and George was trying to shut him up. Ron shook his head. It was a mistake to come here. Even if George was being sporting about it, Fred was not helping.
Ron exchanged a look with George and turned to leave him to deal with their brother who was laughing so hard he was holding his side.
"Have a nice day!" Fred yelled at him through laughter.
For whatever reason, something within Ron snapped. Have a nice day. He froze. He just came here to tell his brothers that the girl of his dreams was dating the lowest life form in England. Have a nice day. He had just watched as his best hopes of happiness walked through the lobby of the Ministry of Magic hand in hand with his worst nightmare. Have a nice day? He had seen Malfoy getting the attention he only dreamed of now a days while sitting in broad daylight in the park. Have a nice day? Ron turned to face his brothers. George was watching him with curiosity while Fred was grinning stupidly at him as if he knew what Ron was thinking. Ron saw red.
"No."
"No what?" Fred said with incredulity.
"No, I will not have a nice day."
Fred cracked a smile at the lunacy of this statement. Ron knew it was crazy, but he didn't care. He would not have a nice day.
"Yes you will," Fred decreed.
"No, I will not," Ron said, his teeth gritted together.
"Fred," George said quietly, as if to warn his brother.
"No, you will have a nice day, because I said so," Fred said with a triumphant smile.
Ron took a few steps towards Fred, murder in his eyes. "I will NOT have a bloody nice day!" he yelled. Ron could see from the corner of his eye a customer who backed out of the store.
"You're scaring away the money," George said to his twin.
"I don't care. He's going to have a nice day if I have to force him to," Fred said, obviously getting into the spirit of Ron's insanity.
Ron couldn't help it. He completely lost his ever-loving mind. He yelled at the top of his lungs while he leaped over the counter and tackled a smirking Fred.
He didn't know what came over him, but suddenly nothing was more important than seeing this person pulverized. His fist slammed into Fred's face once, twice, a third time before Fred pushed him down and flipped over so that he was covering him and pushing his face into the carpet of the shop. Fred grabbed Ron's right arm and twisted it painfully behind his back.
"Give!" he shouted into Ron's ear.
"Have you two lost it?" George shouted. Ron got the idea that he was on the other side of the counter, away from the scuffle.
"Give!" Fred shouted again and tugged Ron's arm up painfully. With all the strength Ron had he got to his knees and slammed his back, Fred still attached, to the wall behind him. Joke candies, toys that popped loudly, and other merchandise rained down on their heads. "Ow!" Fred yelled as something big struck his head. But he hadn't let go of Ron's arm so Ron leaned forward and slammed him back again, harder. This time he was freed.
Scuffling around to get to a position to where he could fight again, Ron turned on his hands and knees, but wasn't quick enough as Fred tackled him to his back, making him hit his head against the floor, hard. Fred had his forearm at Ron's neck and was smiling like he was having the greatest time, even though his nose was bleeding from Ron's earlier punches. Ron couldn't help but smile back as he brought his knee up hard, making Fred's smile not only disappear but pain crease his face. Suddenly Ron's smile became maniacal as he pushed Fred off and punched him in the stomach.
He lifted his hand to punch Fred in the face again, when he felt it grasped. Suddenly he was being pulled up and over the counter and far away from Fred by George, who looked like he had had quite enough of this. Ron struggled a moment, but realized his brother was warily keeping his limbs pinned so he could strike back. Fred was struggling to get to his feet. Finally, Ron relaxed.
George pushed him towards the door. "Go on now. And don't come back until you're sane!"
Ron looked passed George to Fred. In spite of his injuries, he was able to be on his feet. Blood ran down his nose and the side of his lip. He held his stomach and crouched over, still feeling the pain between his legs. Ron nodded with satisfaction.
"I will not have a nice day," he said with finality before he turned and left the store.
He knew from the looks he was getting from the people passing by, he must have looked like he'd just been roughed up. He tried smoothing his hair down, but then didn't bother with making himself look nice. He apparated to his apartment, a little two bedroom flat that was not far from the Ministry. He took his jacket off and let it sit on the floor where it fell. He went to the kitchen and grabbed himself a bottle of ale and took it to the living room to his favorite chair. Sitting down and taking a big swig of the drink, he realized his lip was split, probably from when Fred had struggled to get his face to the ground. The salt in the ale stung the lip, but he didn't stop drinking and he didn't try to cover his lip. He just let himself feel the pain and stared at the wall while he finished his ale.
Despite his utter wishes to feel miserable, he knew that the fight with Fred had actually cheered him. With insight, he realized that Fred probably knew he needed to work out some aggression and pushed him until his aggression flowed. With a sigh, Ron picked up the phone and dialed the number to his brothers' shop.
"Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, this is Fred," came the cheerful voice of his brother.
"It's Ron."
"So it is," he heard. Ron smiled. "Can I talk to Fred?"
"How do you know I'm not?"
"Because I think you guys switched your name tags today."
"Smart lad," he said and Ron could hear the phone exchanging hands.
"George here."
"It's Ron."
"Ah, scheduling round two?" came the cheerful voice of Fred.
"No. Just calling to say thanks."
There was silence on the other end for a moment.
"You owe me an ale," Fred said finally.
"Done."
"Good. Have a nice day!" he practically yelled before slamming the phone down. When Ron heard only the sound of a dead line he growled and slammed his phone down to the receiver.