This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Word Count: 750

Title: The Man By Her Side (has driven her to insanity)

Note:

Warnings: cheating, suggestive content

Quidditch League:

[Team]: Pride Of Portree

[Position] Captain

[Theme]: Procrastination Thread

[Prompts]: [pairing] Ron/Lavender

[Theme] Book Club

[Prompts] [title] The Man By Her Side (has driven her to insanity)

[Theme] Pokemon

[Prompts] (character) Ron Weasley, 264. Linoone: Write about someone having trouble changing their direction in life.

Hogwarts

Assignment 9: Men's History: Notable Kings of England: Task #4 - Edward VII (reigned 1901-1910): Write about a male character who gets a lot of girlfriend/boyfriends.

Ron was on the couch, and Harry was trying to get him up. "Come on mate," Harry said. "It isn't worth it."

"Easy for you to say," Ron muttered, tossing a pillow at his friend's head. He had been down in the dumps for days now. He had gotten into a fight with Lavender, he hadn't been very subtle with his indiscretions, and he felt like her finding that black thong in his room was probably the reason he had lost his chance to make things up to her, to have her finally trust him despite the rocky start they had.

His mind pictured that night again and wondered where it all went wrong.

"Whose is this?" Lavender asked, her face contorted with fury as she picked up the offending object from the floor, tossing it at Ron's face.

"Yours," Ron insisted, straight-faced, although they both knew that Lavender didn't wear that sort of underwear, she preferred lacy, frilly undergarments, and that was black, plain, and easily a couple of sizes too big for her.

"You know I don't wear black," she spat venomously, each word punctuated with a sharp smack on his shoulder, making him retreat backwards out of his room.

"Lave, honey," Ron attempted in vain. She looked like she was about to hex him, and he went quiet again.

"Ron, this is too much, I can't take this anymore." Lavender's fury had dissolved and given way to tears, Ron wasn't sure which was worse. Lavender was an ugly crier, and her skin always turned red and blotchy. He didn't know how to handle her when she was crying, at least when she was angry, Ron knew how to avoid her hexes. "You have a serious problem, and you need to deal with it before… before we can be together."

He watched her walk out of the door of his apartment and slammed the door behind her.

Ron had no idea who the underwear belonged to, and as such, a list of his recent conquests ran through his mind one by one... There was Millicent, Padma and Parvati (both separately and together), Pansy, and that one time when he met up with Cho. Looking at the underwear, he guessed it was probably Millicent's, but women tended to be sensitive about these things, even if one was upfront about one's intentions, so he shoved it into a drawer where he kept his socks, and with a sigh, he left his bedroom. It had taken a few hours before the implication that Lavender could really have left him registered. She had been mad at him before, but every time she had come back to him.

Did she really mean it that she was leaving for good this time?

"Do you love her?" Harry asked, and he was pulled from his musings about that night.

"Who?"

"You just proved my point, if you need to ask, why is it so difficult for you to just move on?"

"Because Lavender is the only one that really understands me," he complained, flopping down onto the couch again.

"So it is still about Lavender then?" Harry asked, there was a curious look on his face.

"Of course it is."

"Oh, I thought you were seeing Pansy now."

"Informally," Ron said.

"Whatever that means," Harry responded. He didn't understand how Ron could see a string of girls, and not really love any of them.

"We have an arrangement," Ron said light-heartedly. "We aren't exclusive."

"And is that what you want then?"

"No." Ron didn't say more.

"What do you want?"

"I— I'm not sure…"

"Well, that is probably worth figuring out before trying to get Lavender back, 'I'm not sure' won't cut it this time, mate."

"Harry, are men this complicated?" Ron asked, peering from under his one arm at his best friend.

Harry laughed, running a hand through his hair. "Draco Malfoy is ten times more complicated than any woman, but I wouldn't have it any other way." Ron saw the loving gaze in Harry's eyes, something he imagined he had seen in some of the ladies he went out with, or stayed in with, in Pansy's case. But none of them had ever managed to awaken that level of adoration, frankly, he wasn't sure he was capable of more than lust. But he knew that he wanted to try, perhaps if he could stop the string of ladies through the apartment, he could prove to Lavender that he was really intending to change.