Hey you guys! Thank you so much for staying with my story, it makes me so happy! Okay, I have an important note to make: I said in chapter one that Hermione and Ron dated in their fifth year, but I realized that, for the story to make sense, one of two things would have had to happen:
Either they would be in their sixth year now, or
They would have dated in sixth year.
It may not make sense as to why this would be now, but you'll get why in the next couple chapters. I've decided that since I like the way they are now, in this level of maturity, and to help the story stay that way, they dated in sixth year, not fifth. Does that make sense? I hope so. I hope I haven't upset anyone with this new choice. If so, I'm sorry, but it works better this way. SIXTH year. Hehe. Just making sure. Anyway, here's the next chapter for you, hope you likey!
Lauren
Disclaimer: Harry Potter (or Ron!) does not belong to me!!! Dammit!
Chapter Three
No one knew what a broken heart felt like better than Ron, though Harry came in a close second. After all, Harry was the only one Ron really talked to about it, and for the first time he could remember, Harry felt not particularly glad but depressed that Ron confided in him. Every time Ron would talk about it, Harry felt like it had happened to him as well.
For almost two months, Ron was a mess. A complete mess. In the beginning, he would sit up late at night, unable to sleep. He would wake up early in the morning, looking for something, anything to do that would distract him from her. But no matter what, his mind refused to leave her alone. It was like adding insult to injury; first, she broke his heart, and now she was there to haunt him.
No matter how much he would have liked to find a reason to be angry, he couldn't, for some reason, put the blame on her. She had hurt him terribly, but he still missed her. For the rest of the term, before summer started, he would see her in the halls, laughing, smiling, just existing peacefully, and he would wonder how she did it. Did he really mean that little to her, that she could just dump him and not even blink an eye? Maybe that was what changed Ron. Because it was now painfully obvious to Hermione: Ron had definitely changed.
For one thing, he seemed distant. Hermione could remember how they used to be a lot closer. Not that they weren't close now, but it seemed as though he appreciated her more when they were together. Now, she got the feeling that she didn't really mean that much to him any more, though she figured it probably came with the consequences. After what she did, why should he care for her? But even though she knew she was to blame, it still hurt her that he had moved on. Of course, she didn't know this, but it had taken Ron the entire summer trying to get over her. And even more that she didn't know was that it killed him inside that he hadn't even succeeded.
Which is where the other part of his change comes in: in an effort to distract himself from Hermione, (whether it was a conscious effort or not was uncertain to his friends at the time) he began flirting with anything that moved. And it drove Hermione crazy. He had done it so often over the summer that now it just came naturally to him. And boy, did other girls notice it. No, not just notice, they reveled in it. Point in case: one Lavender Brown. Now, Ron had never really shown any interest in Lavender before. But recently…maybe he didn't even particularly like her, but the fact that she was a girl and she was attractive made it all the more easy to do it. And the fact that he flirted with her naturally sparked a reaction on her part. Harry and Ginny knew it was definitely not characteristic of Ron, but what could they do? They knew it was like a painkiller for him. They just had to let him do what he had to do to move on.
Hermione, of course, could only go by what she saw. And what she saw was not to her liking at all.
"Hermione, are you okay? Is there any particular reason you're glaring daggers at a certain someone over there, or is it just a coincidence that it happens to be Lavender?"
Hermione blinked like she had just been smacked in the head. Indeed, she had been staring directly at Lavender and Ron, who were on the other side of the library, with such an intensity that that instant she could feel a headache coming on. She rubbed her temples gently and looked over at the smirking Weasley that had just caught her in the act.
"Hmm? I wasn't glaring at anybody! I was trying to figure out this Arithmancy problem. I guess I just got a little lost in thought in the process," she said, not able to look Ginny in the eye. She was both too embarrassed and too angry, and couldn't risk revealing either of these emotions.
"Hermione--"
"Just so you know, I'm not jealous. Not one bit. Actually, I could care less. So what if her likes her, good for him…she's probably really good for him. Better than I was anyway…" she said with a sigh. She closed her books and shoved them back into her bag.
"I'm going back upstairs, I'll see you later." She got up and threw her bag over her shoulder, faking a smile as she looked back at Ginny.
"I'll see you at dinner?" she said, more as a statement than a question. Ginny sighed. "Yeah, at dinner…" she said to herself. She looked back over at the subject of Hermione's hatred and sighed. Ron, you stupid git, why don't you just drop the act and get over yourself? She's hurt enough already…
Ginny was in a difficult situation. As Hermione's closest female friend and Ron's little sister, she had been witness to everything that happened that summer. So she could sympathize with both of them, but she would have rather been able to choose one side than swing in between the two like a pendulum. It was as though she had become a pensieve for not just one but both of them, which only resulted in an overflow of the thoughts and feelings of three people. Still, Ginny tried as best she could to be there for both of them. Her head, on the other hand, was begging for something to give.
At that moment, who would happen to walk over but the wonder boy himself? He looked around the table, looking like he expected something, but at the lack of that something, he reluctantly sank into Hermione's empty chair and rested his chin on his hand.
"Where's Hermione? I thought I saw her in here just a second ago…" he said, his eyes roaming the library, expecting her to pop out of one of the aisles at any moment. Ginny looked over at the door and saw Harry walk in. She flashed him a smile as he walked over. Ron, thinking it was Hermione, nearly gave himself whiplash turning around, but alas, his face fell when he discovered it was only Harry.
"Well it's nice to see you too Ron!" he said, dropping his bag on the table and taking a seat next to Ginny.
"Oh, well, you just missed her. She went back to the common room," Ginny replied monotonously, holding back her frustration. Harry could tell she was strained, but didn't mention it.
"Really? Oh, well I guess I'll go follow her then…" he said with a simple grin. Harry shook his head and rolled his eyes as Ron left the room. Even he was getting annoyed by the way Ron acted sometimes. Sure, he knew the reasons behind it, but there was a limit to which it was understandable. Of course, Ron had left it about fifty feet behind him.
"Harry, why doesn't he just realize that he's still crazy about her?" she asked, hitting the table violently and attracting concerned stares from around the room.
"Well, he's just being…careful, I guess," he answered, wondering the same thing.
Hermione was sitting in a chair in the corner when Ron walked in, too absorbed in her studies to notice. It was only when he sat down in front of her that she looked up.
"Hey," she said, an inevitable grin spreading across her face. What?!? A minute ago I was angry at him!
"Hi. What are you doing?" he asked, the Weasley charm seeping from his pores. But this time, Hermione noticed, it didn't seem intentional, which made her grin a little bigger.
"Oh, just doing the Potions reading. What brings you here?" she asked, fighting back the (very strong) urge to ask what could have possibly torn him away from Lavender.
"Oh, you know, it was a little noisy in the library, and I have some Divination work to finish, so…mind if I join you?" he asked with a sweet grin.
Like she could really resist.
They sat there in comfortable silence, working on their studies, Hermione finding it hard to wonder what could possess him to voluntarily do school work at the same time as trying to read about the effect of wolfsbane mixed with monkwood on the occurrence of the solar eclipse. Suddenly Ron looked over at her from the corner of his eye. Hermione, feeling herself being watched, looked up in frustration, partly from being interrupted, partly from the feeling of her cheeks turning pink from the attention, only to find he was looking at his book. Confused, she went back to reading, when she got that feeling again. But as soon as she looked up, he was back to his book. Okay then… she thought, returning to her book. Once more, she had that feeling.
"What is it, Ron?" she asked, a little more impatiently than she had intended.
"Nothing. I'm just really glad we're friends again, that's all." He grinned that perfectly lopsided grin of his and, after holding her glance for a moment, returned back to his Muggle Studies. Hermione gulped as she grinned uncertainly. Well, don't I feel stupid?
"So am I Ron, so am I," she said. That being the only comprehensible thing she could find to say.
Okay you guys, I'm not too sure of how that chapter was, so tell me what you think! I definitely have big plans for the upcoming chapters, so don't worry. It was just establishing a few things first that had me stumped, so…review! Please!
Oh, and as a little inspiration, I thought I'd let you know that I won't review until I get a certain amount of reviews, so…heehee, I'm cruel, I know. Review! Tell your mom and your friends and your dog to review! Just do it!
