The Wrath of Ron

I went all day Tuesday without speaking to Ron – in fact I only saw him 3 times outside of our one lesson together; Defence Against the Dark Arts, in which I worked with Ginny to practice our wordless magic which was successfully explained and demonstrated by the new teacher, Professor Elisabeth Dawlish – sister of John Dawlish who works as an auror for the Ministry of Magic.
When I entered the lesson and saw Ron sat next to Harry and I knew Draco wouldn't be in the class because he's off for a few days my heart sank and I didn't know where to turn, but lucky Ginny waved me down to the front of the class – then all I had to deal with was his eyes burning a hole in my back.
I specifically ate in my dormitory and had an early night so as to avoid him in case he exploded on me.

Wednesday however, I had 3 lessons back-to-back until 3:30, so I had to go down to the great hall to eat because the elves would be too busy to allow me to help myself down there.
I walked from Astrology slowly, apprehensively, and when I got to the hall I sat next to Ginny, a few seats up from Ronald so I wouldn't have to look across at him awkwardly.
I had a portion of cottage pie at a brisk pace followed by a pumpkin bakewell and a cup of tea. Ginny was asking about what happened between Ron and I, and to avoid arguing with her I didn't go into deep girly details on the Draco front.

"Well, you know as well as I do that Ron and I haven't been working out since this summer and, basically, Draco had walked me back up to the tower after Potions because I was attacked by peeves in the morning; he was just trying to be a friend – and he gave me a hug." She looked at me with her eyebrow raised. "Nothing else!" I added quickly then kicked myself internally for lying to my friend. "But, Ron came out right at the wrong moment and assumed it was more than that and he started fighting him. I just couldn't do it. I've not been happy with him for a while and this just finalised it." I shrugged sadly and she nodded sympathetically.

"I understand. Don't worry though, things will get easier over time, and nothing's changed with mine and Harry's feelings towards you; you're still our sister." She smiled at me and I smiled back appreciatively.

"Thanks Ginny, you're a really great friend." I sighed and stood up "I'm going to head up to the library and do some research on my assignment for Astrology, I'll see you in a bit." I waved and walked briskly down to the doors then headed up to the library feeling much more relaxed.

When in the library I was able to find plenty of books on the movement of celestial bodies over the past 200 years and history books based on how people have changed; the assignment is to discuss the possibility of celestial movement affecting how society has changed using references and official evidence.
I headed straight to the back of the library with my stack of books to the quiet area – I just sat myself in a beanbag between stacks of books which are rarely visited; this had been my study spot since the first week being here.

An hour later Madam Pince shooed me out of the library to close up so I put the books back and rushed out before she had a fit. I went the main way back to the tower hoping to avoid peeves, which turned out to be a terrible idea.
When I reached the staircase, I was half way up when it moved, so I had to go down the 6th floor, and as I rushed down, I noticed someone move at the end of the corridor. I stopped dead hoping it wasn't peeves when I realised I was hoping for the wrong thing; Ron stepped forwards into the light and was looking at me angrily.

"We need to talk." He said, louder than necessary due to feeling angry and hurt.

I sighed, hating myself "Can we not do this here Ron…"

"Na," Ron said, looking around and walking towards me slowly. "No one's here to interrupt or judge, it's perfect for a little chat." I could hear anger becoming more and more prominent in his voice despite his relatively calm words.

"What do you want me to say?" My words came out as a whisper and I looked down at my finger nails.

Ron suddenly yelled "I want you to look at me and tell me why! Why you kept me hanging on like a dog just to do that! And with him! Or is it that you're just a nasty slut and you're only just showing you're true colours?!" The words hit me like a knife and tears immediately sprang to my eyes at how harsh he was being.

"Nothing happened between Draco and I!" I choked out, lying. "And I didn't mean for any of this to happen and you know it! I wanted things to be okay between us but too much has changed…"

"Oh yeah? Stuffs changed? Like the fact that you're now a lying whore. Or maybe you were just using me and now there's a richer guy for you to use! You're a fucking waste." His voice was full of hatred and venom but I could hear the pain and hurt still.

A tear leaked out of my eye and I sniffled more back.
"Oh here come the water works!" Ron yelled, throwing his arms in the air. "You seriously think that crying is going to help your case?! I don't care if you cry! You deserve to cry. After everything we've been through, you suddenly leave me for Malfoy?!" His voice caught towards the end, his anger flailing slightly.

I wiped my cheek with my sleeve and shook my head. "Stop it. You know we weren't working. All we did is argue, we were better just being friends. You'll see that when you've had time. Just please stop, what is making me feel even worse going to prove?" Another tear fell down my cheek.

"It doesn't have to prove anything. It's just nice to let you know how much of a slut you've turned out to be and how much everyone will hate you when they find out.
Oh, and here." He threw something at the ground between my feet and slunk off around the corner.

I bent down, allowing the tears to fall freely now, and picked up the pieces of pictures he had thrown at me, all tied together with a rubber band. They were all the pictured we'd had together, ripped up separating me and him in each of them. And where our faces were once smiling and laughing were now emotionless and hard.

I ran off blindly with the pictures in my grasp and went into the first classroom I saw. I threw myself into the corner and started sobbing hysterically. I couldn't handle his harsh words and the pain I am causing him. I feel horrible, like a monster, like a dementor who swooped into Ron's life and ate his happiness.

As I wept in the classroom, I could feel the cold from outside as the window had been left open, so I weakly picked myself up to shut it, but when I looked outside I was almost positive I saw Draco running towards the castle, however when I rubbing my eyes clean of tears and fixed my blurry vision I saw no one outside, and pulled the window shut, new tears already leaving their marks on my face. I dropped back down to the floor and thrust my face into my knees so as to stifle the sound of my sobs.

I sat there for a while – I wasn't sure how long, but my bum was getting numb. Just then I heard the door creak open and I prayed whoever it was would just walked away again to save me sobbing on some stranger while they feel awkward and want to leave.
They came running over to me however and knelt at my side "Hermione," I felt a soft hand touch my hair and my heart lifted to the familiar voice whispered in a soothing way "Hermione, what's wrong?"

I looked up; searching for his face through my tears, but all I could make out was a blonde blur.
Draco's presence made me happy for a second, but that just lead to me sobbing harder, so I threw my arms around him and buried my face in his shoulder.

"Hey, hey," He said quietly "What's up? A beautiful girl shouldn't cry like this." He picked up my face softly with his finger under my chin. I held back more tears as he wiped away the trails on my cheeks with his thumb. When he successfully dried my face and I choked back more tears, he kissed my nose softly and held both my hands in his – I felt like a child with his big hands around my tiny ones. "Do you want to tell me what's gotten you so upset?"

I sniffled and breathed a few steady breaths before speaking "Just – Ron." My voice cracked and I could barely manage words. I felt Draco tense when I said who had made me upset. "he had every… right – to be upset." I managed before another tear escaped my grasp.

"What did he do?" Draco asked through his teeth.

I glanced up at him and shook my head "He was just saying horrid things – don't do anything." I added; seeing the hatred in his eyes. I sniffled again and rested my cheek on his shoulder.

We sat in silence for a while when I suddenly realised it was Wednesday "Draco, I thought you weren't going to be here until tomorrow evening…"

Draco cleared his throat. "I'm not. I just had to come and pick something up from Slughorn's office. I was just heading there when I heard you crying in here." He suddenly shifted quickly and sat more alertly, looking outside.
"Hermione, what time is it?"

I looked at my watch "Quarter to six, why?"

He sighed and stood up before holding his hands out to pull me up. He kept hold of me and pulled me into a tight hug as he whispered. "I have to go." And kissed my forehead, making me feel butterflies flutter around my stomach.

"Right now?" I asked sadly, pulling my head back to look at him properly, he looked so unwell and as though he hadn't slept for days. "Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I'm just sort of against the clock." He glanced outside again, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Okay." I said sadly, feeling like crying again, I looked down.

Draco lifted my chin again and made me look at him; his eyes were sympathetic. "I'm sorry, but I'm all yours tomorrow." He said, giving me that familiar cheeky smile and wink. We walked out onto the corridor and he looked at me intently, close to my face. He rubbed his nose against mine and whispered "No more tears angel." And kissed me softly on the lips. Butterflies were battering around this time as I kissed him back and said goodbye.

I headed up to the Gryffindor tower feeling a little better, but I was still swimming in the harshness of Ron's words and knew I wouldn't sleep tonight knowing Draco was keeping something from me on top of that. When I got to the common room Harry and Ginny were sat in the corner, with Ron nowhere to be seen. They gestured for me to join them, so I walked over and took the last remaining seat. Ginny put her arm around me. "How are you? Ron came storming in earlier and no one knew where you were; I assume he did something.

I shrugged feebly "I feel worthless and horrible"

"Don't. You know you're not; everyone knows you're not. "Harry spoke up "you're a great person, and a great friend, and a great witch. Ron's just acting out because he's upset, thing's will blow over."

"Thanks Harry but I don't think that's likely to happen anytime soon; he hates me."

Neither of them said anything so I shrugged and excused myself, to have a bath and go to bed.
Of course I barely got a wink of sleep, I just spent the whole night switching between anger, crying and worrying.