Ron and Harry spent the rest of the evening at the Burrow, the tension that had been evident at dinner time was absent between the two friends. They sat in a companionable silence watching the TV that Hermione's parents had given to the Weasley family as a Christmas gift last year, a gift the Weasley's had been absolutely intrigued by and Arthur had immediately attempted to disassemble with the intention of 'putting it back together' again.

It was only when an hour had passed by that it occurred to Harry that neither of the girls had returned. He had been concerned by Hermione's behavior since Molly's comment earlier but hadn't known how to broach the subject with Ron.

"So erm…your mum dropped a bit of a bombshell at dinner didn't she?"

Harry could see Ron tense up slightly and unconvincingly try to appear unaffected by the question. He ran a hand through his flop of red hair and stifled a yawn. "What do you mean mate?"

"Well…you know, the whole girls leaving your bedroom thing? It was a bit of a revelation to be honest mate; you never said you were serious with anyone?" He attempted to make eye contact with Ron who was quite obviously avoiding meeting his gaze.

He shrugged his shoulders and peered sheepishly at Harry, meeting his eyes for the first time. "It wasn't anything serious Harry"

"Then what was it?" He was surprised by Ron's straightforward admission; he had anticipated that Ron would be more secretive.

"It was sex Harry, I don't know…what do muggles call it? A one night stand? That's all it was"

If Harry was honest he was quite surprised that Ron was having one night stands. Harry knew Ron better than anyone else, and no matter how other people perceived him, Harry felt Ron held the most traditional ideas about women and romance. His utter conviction that Hermione was a 'Scarlett' woman because of rumors of her seeing Krum and then Harry were just one example. However there were many other times where Harry had seen it. Ron hadn't grown up watching TV and seeing films where more modern attitudes towards dating and sex were widely tolerated. He was traditional in every sense of the word, and yet, here he was admitting to having slept with some girl who he was not even in a relationship with in the Burrow of all places right under his mother's watchful eye. It was almost like he wanted to be caught.

"What do you mean 'that's all it was'?"

"Exactly what I said!" Ron's face was beginning to heat up, and Harry was aware that if he didn't redirect from this chain of questioning, Ron was likely to explode. Despite this awareness Harry soldiered on.

"…But Ron, this is you, you're not the type of guy who sees girls as 'just sex', you're the type of guy who would get nervous about shagging his own wife under his mum's roof!"

"God you're painting a really pathetic picture there Harry! Well why don't you tell me what type of guy I am ey?"

Harry considered the question, but found himself spluttering for an answer. In truth Ron had never really had another type of view towards girls. He wasn't like Seamus and Dean who were always eyeing up pretty girls and making rude comments. He didn't flirt with girls or share his fantasies with his friend. As far back as Harry could remember, Ronald Weasley was the kind of boy who was in love with one girl. So eyeing up other girls or saying he would like to shag any of them was out of the question because the girl he was eyeing up and the girl he would really have liked to shag was right there, in his circle of friends.

Ron was staring at him intently, he eventually broke the silence. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that I'm the kind of bloke who was in love with Hermione"

Harry remained silent, he did not wish to confirm nor deny the inevitable truth.

Ron continued. "I'm right aren't I? That's what everyone thought, all through Hogwarts. I was just the pathetic loser who was stuck on one girl who wouldn't give him the light of day". He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs, his palms rubbing his eyes.

For one fleeting moment, Harry thought Ron might be shedding a tear but he released a sigh of relief when Ron looked up dry eyed.

Harry nodded. "Yeah I suppose that's what I did think, but you're acting like it's a bad thing and it's not"

Ron stood up and walked to the mantle and began perusing the many photos that were proudly displayed there. His voice was softer this time around and Harry felt they had moved away from the infamous 'danger zone' that was Ron's brewing temper.

"I never thought much of it in Hogwarts, I was in love with Hermione and that was that. I didn't want any other girl and I didn't have any desire to join in on conversations about who the fittest girls were in the castle. To me, Hermione would always come out number one so I kept quiet. At the beginning it drove me mad, but I was young, I thought I'd grow out of it, stop being so into her." He turned to look at Harry and shrugged. "It just got stronger and stronger, then when it got so strong and I knew, I just knew that it wasn't something temporary, I noticed her reciprocating the feelings. You know, during the horcrux hunt. Everything had changed, and I suddenly thought, well actually I knew, that she felt similarly. Turns out I didn't know anything at all."

"I don't get what you mean Ron? Nothing's changed since then".

Ron eyes drifted over the various frames and stopped on a photo of the trio, specifically at Hermione's smiling face. "Course it has", his voice was almost hoarse. "…I…I thought something would happen and it never did, and I'm sick of waiting for her and Harry actually I'm sick of feeling this way! I'm sick of being in love with and actually feeling hopeful sometimes when we're together and I feel a little spark, a little something, a moment, and I cling onto that, I have hope that something more will happen. Then two weeks pass and I don't hear from her." His voice was trembling now, and Harry was positive this time that there were tears in Ron's eyes. Through a clenched jaw he continued to speak. "She…-" He said almost viciously his eyes darting to Hermione's face in the photo frame, "-…doesn't love me, and she never will, but I can't seem to stop myself from loving her and I hate it Harry, I don't wana feel this way anymore…"

Harry didn't quite know what to say, he had not been expecting that. He slowly started to stand up. "Ron…I…" He paused trying to gather his thoughts and say something remotely helpful, he decided that honesty really was the best policy. "Hermione does love you, but she has reasons…reasons that I don't understand, and they're stopping her from being straight with you"

Ron shook his head, "What's stopping her? Here I am wearing my heart on my sleeve, being available for her, always for her!" he began to pace. "I melt when I see her Harry, it's like she could ask me to do anything and I'd do it, but I'm angry at her too, angry that she doesn't feel the same way".

"…and what are you doing about it? I mean…how is shagging truck loads of random women gona help?"

"I thought it might invoke some other feelings, maybe I'd feel some attraction, or some affection for the women I sleep with, but I don't. I never meant for her to find out".

"Well she has, and I have no doubt that she's heartbroken!"

"Well good! She can finally feel a fraction of what I've had to feel!"

Harry shook his head. "You don't mean that"

Ron groaned in despair. "No! of course I don't…I just…I don't know what to do, I just want to be able to have her and if I can't have her I want to be able to move on, get on with my life, get a girlfriend…be normal…" His voice cracked a little and he finally sat down in a heap.

Harry suddenly felt for his friend. It was true that since the war Ron had been quite obvious with his feelings with Hermione. He would always pop over to her flat and make a fuss of her if she was working too or if she fell ill. He was always proud of her accomplishments, when she was on the cover of the prophet for having her act on werewolf rights passed. Maybe Hermione had failed to notice, there had been stuff going on with her parents and her career. As he watched Ron's despair, Harry hoped that his friends hadn't missed their divine timing altogether.