#harryjamespotter | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mastermindmiko · 7 months

Text

You're in love

Pairing: Ron Weasley + fem!reader

Word count: 8502 (DAMN)

Summary: A (LONG) one shot inspired by Taylor Swift's song you're in love from 1989.

Warnings: none, I believe, but let me know.

hey, if you think this doesn't completely suck, check out my masterlist

The music was blasting loudly all over the room, they would’ve been scared to get caught if professor McGonogall wasn’t too happy herself. The room was dim, and the disco lights (that some muggleborn had conjured up) were the only light source available. Everyone was dancing, except for me, I was looking for someone.

The Quidditch team was surrounded by everyone, giving them pats on the back and telling them how good they played. We did play well today, after all we did win the cup, but no one patted me on the back because I was too busy, I was looking for someone.

I scan the room again from on top of one of the couches, I get a better view of the room from up here. The fifth years and above all had red cups in their hands, filled with alcohol, I could smell it. The people that were younger than fifteen had similar red cups except that they were filled with soda instead. I should’ve had one myself, but I was looking for someone.

“You did really well today.” Harry interrupts my search as he looks at me with a smile. I smile back and hop off the couch. I say, “We all played really well.”

“You scored a lot of goals.” He says, and I shrug my shoulders at the attention and say, “It wouldn’t have mattered if you hadn’t caught the snitch.”

“It was a team effort.” A new voice says from behind me, and I feel a hand on each of my shoulders. Fred and George are standing behind me and they look at me before asking, “Mind if we steal Harry for a bit?”

I shake my head, and they look at Harry with a mischievous look in their eyes. Harry’s eyes go wide with fear, before Fred lifts him up on his shoulders. The room goes wild again as Fred leads Harry to the centre of the room. A small smile cracks on my face as I watch everyone celebrate again.

I look around the room again, and I try to find him, but I can’t see anything because why were seventh years so tall? I turn around and hit someone flat in their chest. I look up to find George looking at me. He says, “He’s across the room, on the other side.”

“Who is?” I ask, and he gives me a pointed look with a smirk, as if he can’t believe that I don’t think he knows. I do know that he knows, I think everyone but him knows. George leans down, so I can hear him better. He says, “The one you’ve been looking for all night, and won’t celebrate without.”

I feel a blush coating my cheeks, but he’s right, every word. I have been looking for him all night, and I haven’t celebrated at all despite our victory because I’ve been looking for him all night. I mutter, “Thank you.”

George seemed satisfied because he gave me another teasing grin before he left to go into the middle of the common room to join the celebration and probably help Fred lift Harry up. I make my way to the other side of the room, but it’s hard to see with the dim lighting and the sheer amount of people in this room.

I push through several people and I try to make my way between them, but with all the dancing and jumping, it makes the easy task much harder. I see a wall, or at least I think I do, and I walk towards it. I reach the end of the common room, and I press my palm to the wall, as if to make sure that it’s real, like I’ve actually made it.

I see him, then. I recognise him as soon as I see him, despite not being able to see nearly anything, maybe it’s because of the distinctive red hair, or maybe it’s because the way my heart nearly went out of my chest at the sight of him. He has a cup in his hand, that he’s taking a few sips from and another in his other hand, that he hasn’t touched. He’s leaning against the wall. He’s looking around, just like I was a few minutes ago.

A smile blossoms on my face, and I walk to him. A couple footsteps, and he notices me when I’m only a few inches away. He smiles, just like me, and he meets me halfway. I feel nervous. He extends the untouched cup to me and I take a sip, it’s my favourite soda.

I look at him, and it’s different. I wonder if he knows that it’s the look I give to him and only him. I wonder if he notices that when his smile widens that I realise that I like him. I wonder if he realised that he liked me at the same moment. He says, “Hi.”

***

No one ever really told me how fast time goes by when you’re at Hogwarts. That one second you’re taking your first ever potions lesson and the next you’re getting ready for your NEWT potions. That one second you’re at a party realising that you have a crush on someone and the next thing you know you realise that you’ve been in love with Ron Weasley for three years.

This year hasn’t been easy, definitely one of the easier ones to take in, of course, but with NEWTs it's been near impossible to be caught up with work. That’s even harder when the guy you’ve been in love with just kissed another girl a week ago and right now is no doubt getting ready to go on a date with her.

The common room was quiet. Everyone was already at Hogsmeade and the people below third year were too busy getting a little bit extra sleep. The only thing I could hear was the fire crackling from the fireplace and the sound of pages turning as I studied Transfiguration for the upcoming test, but I couldn’t study because of the aching feeling in my chest.

We all saw it when Lavender kissed him after we’d won the match, but only a few people saw me run off after that. An even fewer amount were with me when I started crying, and only Harry knew what happened afterwards. I saw him talking with her a few mornings ago, deciding that they’ll go out today to Hogsmeade, no doubt to madam puddifoot’s. I look at the same page I’d been staring at for who knows how long, trying to understand anything that is written.

“Hello? Is anyone down there?” I hear him say, and a few seconds later, He walks down the stairs, and my breath hitches when I see him. He’s gotten all dressed up for this date, and I can’t deny that he looks absolutely beautiful.

He says my name and he stays there for a moment. He’s late for the date, I know that he knows that, and I’m sure Lavender who’s probably standing alone in front of the tea shop knows that. I feel uneasy, looking at him, knowing he’s going to another girl in a few minutes.

He clears his throat and gestures to his unbuttoned coat, he says, weakly, “Would you mind helping me? I can’t close the buttons, they're too small and the holes for the buttons are just invisible to me.”

He chuckles, but it’s out of nervousness. I can tell, I know his happy laugh, his sad laugh, I thought I knew everything about him, but apparently I don’t because I thought he knew how I felt. I don’t say anything, but I close the book and place it beside me on the couch.

I stand up and walk towards him, he meets me halfway. I fix his coat by the long collar and I trace my hands to the buttons, I can hear his breath hitch, and the silence between is deafening. I mutter, “You look good.”

“Thank you.” he replies, and I’ve buttoned half of the buttons when I pause to look into his eyes. He’s already looking at me. I look at him the way I always do, a look filled with everything that I can’t say, a look that’s meant just for him. He’s done something different with his hair, I don’t know what, but it makes him look absolutely irresistible, more than he usually is, at least to me anyways.

“It’s like we’re a married couple.” He laughs, and I can imagine exactly what he’s saying. Me helping him get ready in the morning while he goes off to work when it’s snowing outside and needs his coat. I let out a chuckle, before I said, “Wouldn’t that be something.”

After that the room is charged with something I can’t quite put my finger on, and it makes my heart beat faster and faster with every second that I push each button into its hole.

I take more time buttoning up the last button, and I pause my hands there. On my way to look into his eyes, I notice that the top part of the coat is wrinkled, so I press my hands to his chest and smooth the fabric of the coat out. I leave my palms there a bit longer, feeling the way his chest moves up and down and the way I can feel his heartbeat under my fingertips.

I lift my hands from his chest and in a second, he grabs both my wrists and holds them close to him. I look at him, and he’s got a look that I can’t decipher. I wonder if he can tell that I’m miserable just thinking about where he’s going, or the fact that he’s going there with someone else.

He opens his mouth, and it takes him a few seconds before he says, “I’m not going on that date.”

For the first time in days, I feel my chest stop constricting, I feel like I can breathe again, but it doesn’t make any sense. I lick my lips before asking, “Why?”

“You know why.” That’s his only answer, and he doesn’t say anything as he slowly drops my hands, and goes back up the stairs. I’m left down there with my thoughts.

***

“Are you sure Mr Weasley allowed you to do this?” I ask as I hold on tightly to the handles of the door. I look out the window and stare down as I can see the tops of the buildings getting smaller and smaller by every second.

“I’m an adult now, of legal age, he can’t tell me what to do and what not to do.” Ron said, with confidence as he started out into the road-sky. I look at him with a pointed look, unconvinced by his speech. He clears his throat and says, “He said yes.”

“You’d think that after second year’s incident that he would be more cautious about letting you use this thing.” I say, grinning, remembering the way Ron broke his wand and almost got expelled. Something good came out of it though, Ron became my wand partner and we spent more time together. He laughed, “He said that if I scratched it, he would kill me. I think we made an unbreakable vow or something.”

I laughed at his words, and looked out the window. I wondered how long his small talk can last before we start getting to the subject that we’ve been tiptoeing around these past few months. I wasn’t talking about the war, we all knew that was coming sooner or later. I was talking about us.

“Thank you for picking me up.” I said, looking at him. He shrugged his shoulders as if travelling several hundred kilometres back and forth was no big deal, he explained, “You had to come here someway. Fleur would’ve killed me if she found out that you weren’t coming to her wedding.”

Even after his words, a small part of me hoped that he wanted me to come. He grips the wheels tighter and every few seconds he would rub his hands over his jeans to wipe away the sweat. I take a breath before I courageously grab his hand into mine. I keep them both in my lap, and he looks at me baffled. I ask, “Do you need it to drive?”

“No, I don’t.” He says and he looks back quickly in front of him. I smile as I see the tiny pink tinge to his cheeks, matching mine exactly. I look out the window and I see the sun setting, by the time we’re there it will no doubt be midnight.

It was nearly midnight when we got there. Mrs Weasley was the only one who was still up, waiting for her son to get home and waiting to greet me. She had a smile on her face, tired, but still as wide as always. I didn’t need her to point me to the direction of the room I’ll be staying in, I already knew.

I enter the room and place my bags on one of the beds, I notice Hermione and Ginny already sound asleep. I change into my pyjamas, brush my teeth and get ready to go to sleep. The place is warm and the perfect atmosphere to fall asleep in, but when I tucked myself into my covers, I couldn’t fall asleep for the life of me.

I kept sighing as I turned to either of my sides trying to fall asleep. Changing the pillows from one side to the other, tossing and turning until I decided that I’ve had enough. I rub my tired eyes and see that the clock had struck twelve. I sigh and get up.

I headed down stairs in my fuzzy slippers, I tried not to make any sound, but the creaky stairs weren’t helping me. I made it to the bottom where the kitchen was. I opened the door and was hit by the smell of fresh coffee, just what I needed. Ron was sitting on the table with a cup in his hands.

He turned to see who had just entered the kitchen. Upon seeing me, he stands up, nearly dropping a bit of coffee from his mug in the process. He breathes, “Hi.”

I return the greeting, as I move towards the cupboard where the mugs are. I know where everything is, having helped Mrs Weasley enough times to know. I felt his eyes on my back the entire time, and I grabbed my mug, everyone had their own mugs, even me. I turned and gestured to the coffee pot, I asked, “Do you mind?”

He shakes his head, and he looks at me as I add the milk and sugar. He looks at my every move and it makes me feel lightheaded, in the way that makes me feel like I’m going to float to the moon. I turn to the table and he’s already beat me in pulling out a chair. I sit down and give him a grateful smile. I wrap my fingers around the mug, and lift my feet to the chair, resting my head on my knees.

He’s looking at me. We’re the only people who do that. We never say anything, but I can hear what he wants to say. It was our thing being able to feel everything in the silence. I wonder if from these looks he can tell just how much I love him, or maybe, how long I’ve loved him for.

“Why are you up?” he asks, after a beat, and I take another sip before replying, “I couldn’t sleep, you?”

“Same thing, but I had to get up in a couple of hours to help with setting up for the wedding anyway, so I made the coffee.” he explains, and I nod my head at his words. I don’t say anything else, but the air is heavy. How long can we go on like this? With everything that I feel between us, that I know he feels too, left unsaid.

He takes both our mugs and places them into the sink. He waves his wands and they start washing themselves. He tightens his grip on his wand and he pauses before saying, “Do you want to go somewhere?”

***

Muggle London was still alive, or at least more alive than any other wizarding establishment. It wasn’t that far either, so it was the perfect place to go, and that’s where we were. I was walking on the sidewalk and he was walking beside me. My arms were swinging and I kept thinking what would happen if I just reached over and grabbed his hand.

There weren’t many cars passing by, just one or two every few minutes. Neither of us knew a lot about Muggle London, but we knew what not to do in front of muggles, so we kept our wands hidden and kept the magic chatter away.

“Your brother is getting married tomorrow.” I sigh, Fleur is getting married too, it only seemed like yesterday when I was just meeting her after she stepped off the flying carriage.Time really does fly by, doesn’t it. Ron sighs, wistfully, “Yeah.”

“I think it’s great that they’re doing this.” I say, and I kick a pebble in front of me, then I add, “Especially at a time like this, I think that we all need a bit of cheering up, don’t you think.”

“Yeah.” He replies, and it makes me feel confused. He wasn’t very talkative tonight. He looked very deep in thought, it made me nervous. I stop walking and turn to him, I ask, “Ron, are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He replies and I quirk up an eyebrow and he chuckles, “Yes, I am.”

I shrug my shoulders and continue walking, it’s best with Ron not to press on things. He’ll tell me when he’s ready. What could possibly be on his mind? We all know that the war has been making everyone unnerved, but this felt different. Ron and I tried not to talk about these things, I didn’t want to express my fears of something happening to him, especially since he was so close to Harry. I shake my head at the thoughts, and try to lighten the mood.

“Does Bill know about how you liked Fleur?” The teasing question brings Ron to a screeching halt. His cheeks turn as red as his hair, and I start laughing. He stutters, and it only increases my laughter. I hold my stomach and lean forward, laughing.

“He-he doesn’t know, so let’s not remind anyone of it. The last thing I need is Fred and George remembering and telling him.” Ron stutters before he folds his arms over his chest and pouts. I pause for a second to pretend that I’m thinking, I tap my chin and furrow my eyebrows. I say, “That’s actually not a bad idea.”

Ron’s eyes go wide and he lifts his pointer finger and threatens, “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I’m on my way to tell them right now.” I say, before turning around the other way and starting to run. Ron runs after me and he’s calling out for me and telling me to stop, I can barely hear anything over the sounds of my own laughter.

Suddenly, my chuckles stop as I feel something, something like air, pulling me back very quickly. I stop when I feel Ron’s chest behind my back. He tucks his wand away and I turn to scold him, “Ron! You can’t use magic here!”

“There’s no one around.” Ron says, and I turn around to look and there’s only a few people around. No one is actually paying attention to us. I look back at him and he’s got his hand hovering near my face. It’s all so sudden to me the way the atmosphere changes, the way he’s looking at me with those eyes, identical to the ones that I give him.

I don’t move, and he takes it as a sign to move his hand forward. He tucks a strand of my hair behind my face, and he cups my cheek. My breath hitches. He whispers, “It wouldn’t have been good ammunition against me anyway.”

“Why not?” I whisper, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, but I can’t bring myself to care about that now anyway. I might have been mistaken, but I see Ron’s eyes flicker to my lips, it’s just for a second, but it ignites everything within me, including a pinkish colour to my cheeks. I lick my lips anyway, and this time I’m not mistaken because he definitely looked at my lips this time.

“Because everyone knows there’s only one girl I’ve ever liked.” Ron says, and it makes butterflies swarm in my stomach, my heart beat out of my chest, all those romantic feelings. I don’t need to ask who because I know, and because I know. I lift my heels from the group and kiss him.

***

“It’s a really pretty view, isn’t it?” I hear him say from behind me, I’d recognise that voice anywhere. I turn to look at him with a smile, I don’t know how I didn’t notice him coming before. I fixed my gaze back at the tent where the wedding was happening. Fleur and Bill are husband and wife so now everyone is celebrating. I reply, “The prettiest”

“It better be I worked really hard to make it that way.” Ron huffs and it makes me chuckle. He sits down on the grass beside me, looking at the tent as well. I sigh, with all that’s happening in the world I don’t think that there’s anywhere I’d rather be. I can hear the faint sound of the music from up here on the hill, and it feels peaceful.

I can hear the birds chirping and the sounds of laughter. It was really, very pretty. I feel a hand touch mine, and I look at Ron who looks like he’s just been caught stealing, maybe stealing my heart, but he’s already taken that a long time ago. I smile and shuffle closer to him to hold his large hand with both of mine. I rest my head on his shoulder, and I hear him let out a breath before he rests his head on mine.

If I was given the opportunity to stay like this forever, then I would have, of course, I’d see if there was a way to kill Voldemort first, then I’d stay like this. We haven’t talked about the kiss, but Ron’s been much more affectionate since then. A part of me was afraid that he’d chicken out and say that it was simply the cause of sleep deprivation. The other part of me was terrified that he would give me all his love then end up dying in this war.

The idea brought a shudder down my spine. Losing Ron is the last thing I can take, especially when I’m so close to finally having him. I’ve been afraid to try and kiss him after the first time because what if I get too attached and something happens to him? What will I do with myself then?

“I have something to tell you.” Ron breaks my train of thought, and the feeling of him lifting his head off of mine, prompts me to do the same. I look at him and he has a grim look on his face that only makes me worry even more. I ask, “What is it?”

He doesn’t answer, and my mind reels with the possibilities, each one worse than the one before it.I squeeze his hand and suck in a deep breath. I say, “Ron?”

“I’m planning on leaving.” he replies, and I furrow my eyebrows confused. Where would he be going at a time like this? Why would he leave in the middle of the war? I say, trying to make my voice even but it comes out shaky anyway, “Leaving where?”

“We’re going to find the Horcruxes and destroy them, Harry, Hermione and me.” he explains. Ah yes, the Horcruxes the pieces of Voldemort's soul and the key to killing him. Ron told me all about them after Harry told him. I hoped that Dumbledore would be taking the lead on this ordeal but as soon as Ron explained, Dumbledore was dead.

Why does it have to be Ron that goes to do this extremely dangerous mission? Does it have to be my friends too? I feel my eyes beginning to water, so I look away. I can feel Ron’s gaze burning into the side of my face. I blink the tears away because I know that Ron’s going anyway. It’s the Gryffindor side of him. I ask, “Is there any other way?”

“No.” he replies, shortly and straight to the point. I sigh, even though I knew it. The leaves rustle and the wind strengthens around us. It makes me shiver, Ron takes off his jacket and hands it to me. He wraps it around my shoulders and tugs it around me, making sure that I’m covered. He looks at me then he says, “You can’t contact me when I’m away.”

“Yeah, I gathered that.” I say and chuckle to hide the fact that it is the complete opposite of what I am feeling. What I’m currently feeling is a whole bunch of emotions that don’t even remotely come close to happiness. I chuckle, though I’m sure he knows that I’m not kidding at all, “Well then, promise you’ll come back in one piece.”

“I promise.” he says, and he smiles, but we both know that it’s not up to him. He presses a kiss to my forehead, and i close my eyes, trying to take in the feeling, in case I don't get it for a long time, in case i don’t ever get it again, it’s a morbid thought, but it’s possible. I sigh, “When are you leaving?”

“I don’t know, Harry and Hermione are deciding.” Ron says, and I nod my head. I wonder if there’s any way Harry can forget about Voldemort and all the death eaters drop dead with something like food poisoning. I promised myself that in the last moments that he’s here before he leaves I’ll let go of all of my fears and all of my ghosts to spend these moments with him.

“I have something to show you.” he says, and his frown is replaced by a slight grin, he’s brought me a gift to soften the blow, he knows me too well. The thoughts are still in the back of my mind, but I push them away and focus on him, while I excitedly say, “What is it?”

He waved his wand and a square shaped box appeared. It drops from the air to his hands and he gives it to me. I waste no time in taking off the wrapping which disappeared as soon as I did, and lifting the lid off the box. My breath gets caught in my throat as soon as I see it. I push my hair away from my face. The wind makes it impossible for me to see it clearly. I look at the tiny figurine that matches me, or me three years ago, it’s hard to believe that it was that long ago.

It was a snow globe and inside it were tiny figurines of Ron and I dancing. The snow falls over us just like it did the moment when this was taken. The tiny me and the tiny Ron only move in a circle but it’s perfect. I look up at him and realise, he’s perfect, maybe not in every way, but at least he’s perfect for me.

My lack of answering must have made him panic because he’s started rambling, “I made it a few days ago because I didn't know I just wanted to give you something to remember me by- or something equally as cheesy. It’s fine if you don’t like it-”

“I love it, Ron.” I cut him off, holding his hand with mine that isn’t occupied. I smile, and he does it back. He rubs the back of his neck, no doubt embarrassed by the amount of attention I’m giving him. He mutters, “Oh, I’m glad you like it.”

“It’s us by the way at the-”

“At the Yule ball.” I beat him to it, did he seriously think I wouldn’t remember? I was Harry’s date because Ron was too chicken to ask me out, and I would’ve asked him out, if I didn’t want to teach him a lesson, and maybe a small part of me was scared of rejection as well. Harry didn’t dance the whole night and neither did Ron. I spent the whole night dancing with my friends and their dates, until when almost everyone was off of the dance floor, Ron asked me to dance. He says, “Yeah.”

“How’d you make it?” I asked, looking at the snow globe, closely. I was very intrigued by the mechanism of it, It looked nearly identical to the actual event. I was wearing the same dress down to the pearls around my neck and everything. Ron explains, “I give them a memory of mine in a vial and you know- they make that-”

He gestures to the globe in my hands, and I nod my head at his words. I shake it again to make the snow fall over tiny me’s head. I smile looking at it, remembering the wonderful night. I hear the sounds of the people instead the tent turns more quiet and I look at the tent, curiously. Ron says, "Look up.”

I do just that and as if on queue the fireworks start around the tent. There were several murmurs of exclamation at the sight from the tent, and I couldn’t help but agree. It was beautiful. Seeing the colour shoot one after the other, purple and blue and yellow and red, each one exploding then fading into the sky. It was a wonderful sight.

Our shoulders brush and I look at Ron to find him looking at me. He looks at me with that look again. The look that I gave him back in third year in a dark room, that made him see my love for him even with the lights out. The look that I give him when I have a hundred words to say, but I can’t say them, and he just knows what I mean. The look that I gave him when we were driving to the Burrow that made him feel what I meant.

The light reflects on something and it pierces into my eyes, I notice that it’s a chain around his neck. The chain that I gave him as a present only a few months ago. He was in the hospital wing after he almost got poisoned, I couldn’t sit still that day, I even had to leave the castle. That’s when I stumbled across it, it wasn’t much, but I knew that Ron would like it. I say, “You kept it?”

“Of course.”

I find myself leaning closer and closer to him. My breath is hitching as I’m filled with the anticipation of our second kiss. Not saying anything was our thing, I hoped that with this kiss, he would feel what I wanted to say. I love you, I love you, I love you, I hoped he would feel it and maybe even return it before he left.

But he doesn’t. We’re torn apart by the sounds of screams coming from the tent. Ron jumps up to his feet and one hand holds his wand while the other holds mine. He starts running in the opposite direction and he pushes me into a shed. I can’t question him about how absurd he’s being pushing me into a shed, but I don’t have time. He’s already got one hand on the door, and he says, “Stay here you’ll be safe.”

I want to complain, I want to go fight with him, but I didn’t because he was already closing the door to the shed, but before he does, from a small crack between the door and the shed’s walls, he says, “I’ll be right back.”

***

Except he didn’t come back, he didn’t come back for a while actually. When I heard the screams and the noise coming from the tent stop, I came out. Everyone was ( to a certain extent ) okay, but Ron was nowhere in sight. His family were all frightened of course, and I hated to be the one to inform them about the news.

My parents fled the country opting to go to America instead because it was safer, I refused. My whole life was here, I needed to stay in England to protect it. I didn’t go back to Hogwarts that year, not with the staff being changed, not with Snape as headmaster. The death eaters had warned that all students should return to Hogwarts, but I lived with Bill and Fleur under the assumption that Bill was teaching me how to become a curse breaker.

I didn’t want to burden them with my existence by staying with them, considering that the only money I had was in the vaults, but I couldn’t go and get them, not while death eaters were around. Bill told me that we were valuable to the death eaters, considering that we had a close connection to Ron and hence Harry. He told me that we should stay hidden for a while.

It wasn’t easy, but I spent my time with Fleur. She taught me bits of French when we were bored, and we kept to the garden most of the time. Sometimes, members of the Weasley family would come to visit at the Shell Cottage, but they never stayed for long. I barely spent any time inside at all, I wanted to leave Bill and Fleur alone together, after all they were newlyweds, I didn’t want to impose, despite their arguments, saying that I was not imposing.

I spent most of my time thinking about Ron, how he was. I kept listening to the radio, the station that Fred, George and Lee had made, under code names. I prayed every time that I wouldn’t hear the names of anyone I loved. Harry, Ron and Hermione left so suddenly, I wondered if they had anything prepared with them at all. I know Hermione did, but did the rest of them. Clothes, food, water, did they have what they needed?

I know that Ron is doing this to save the world and everything, but couldn’t he just take a break from saving the world, and just spend a little time with me. It was selfish, I knew that, but it didn’t stop me from wishing for just that.

I wake up one day, close to noon, like I always did nowadays. It was November and the air was chilly, so I kept a blanket around my shoulders. I had a room for myself, it was the guest room, but I turned it mine after living here for so long.

I brush my teeth and my hair. I wobble down the stairs, and I see Bill and Fleur’s backs. I furrowed my eyebrows, it was an odd sight. Usually, in the mornings, Bill would be outside placing protective charms while Fleur stayed inside and prepared breakfast, or read one of her favourite books. I ask, “What’s going on guys?”

They step aside and I see what I didn’t expect, Ron. He looked dishevelled and tired, and something else that I couldn’t place. I didn’t want to analyse his expressions at the moment, I just wanted to hug him. I whispered his name like I couldn’t believe he was here and I rushed down the last few steps and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“I can’t believe you’re here, I missed you so much.” I say, and I tighten my grip around him. It takes me a few seconds to realise that he wasn’t hugging me back. I pull away from him and I ask, “What’s wrong?”

I lift my hand to cup his cheek, to hopefully get him to look at me. I don’t understand what’s got him acting this way, especially after I didn’t see him for months. As soon as my hand touches his cheek, he turns his head away, like I burned him. He takes a step away and he asks, “Did you sleep with Harry?”

My blood runs cold, and I feel Bill and Fleur looking at me expectantly. This was the last thing I expected him to ask me, ever, and definitely not the first thing I wanted him to say when I finally saw him. I stutter, “I-what?”

“You heard me. Did you sleep with Harry?” he shouts, and I scrunch my face up and close my eyes. I can’t believe that we’re doing this now. I was going to tell him, I was, but not when everything was going wrong around us, I didn’t want us to go wrong too. I try, “Ron, calm down.”

“That’s not an answer!” Ron shouts, and I press my lips tightly together and I avoid his gaze, looking down at the floor. I hear him scoff and I can hear Fleur’s tiny gasp. Bill grapes his wife’s hand and they leave the room, and they go upstairs. I can’t imagine what they must think of me now. I sigh, “I really wanted to tell you, Ron.”

He huffs and starts to walk outside into the garden. I follow him without question and I try to reason with him, “I couldn’t tell you with everything that was going on. Too much was already happening, I didn’t want to add to that.”

“Why the bloody hell would you sleep with him anyway?” Ron shouts back at me and I rush over to grab his shoulder and stop him. He doesn’t look at me, but I don’t let him move away from me. I say, “Could you stop running away for a moment and just let me explain?”

He doesn’t reply, and I can see him clench his jaw, but he sits down on the grass anyway. I sit in front of him, cross legged and I hold his hand. He still wasn’t looking at me, but after a beat, a take a deep breath in then begin to explain, “When you kissed Lavender, it was kind of like the whole world just threw me off for a second, because you were this guy that I liked for years, and I just assumed that you liked me back even though there wasn’t much proof, but it was enough for me to just keep on liking you back.”

I took another breath and then continued, “I realised that we weren’t really anything, and you obviously knew that because you had your tongue shoved down someone’s throat. I was really hurt, I felt miserable and that continued on for days after, but at the moment I wasn’t really thinking. I had to get out of there because everyone was cheering and I couldn't breathe.”

His hand relaxes in mine a bit and I feel the weight on my shoulders loosen a bit as I keep going, “Hermione and Harry were the only ones who noticed I left, so they followed. They comforted me, and when Hermione left, Harry told me that everything was going to get better. He knew that because that’s the way he felt when Ginny was with Dean. I needed someone and he needed someone, and we were both there.”

I didn’t bother continuing because he knew what happened next. He pulls his hand from mine, and he shuffles away from me. I feel a knife going into my chest, but I know that it must be nothing compared to the knife in his back. I don’t say anything else, and I wait for him to say something. He asks, “Did you sleep with anyone else?”

I knew the answer was going to dig my hole even deeper, but I couldn’t lie to him. I knew it was just going to make it worse, so I brace myself for the impact and I sigh, “No.”

“Oh that’s just great. I thought that if you were some kind of whore then it would’ve been better, but no, you had to pick Harry.” He mutters, angrily, and I feel my eyes begin to water, but I look to the side to blink them away. He adds, “Even after knowing the way he makes me feel-”

He cuts himself off with a sigh, as he covers his face with both his hands. I knew what he meant. Ron has always felt inferior to everyone in his family and especially Harry. A part of Ron always hated Harry because he was the chosen one, and the boy who lived, and he was just his best friend. I always tried to make him feel like he was the best person on the planet, but my words only did so much.

“I really am sorry, Ron.” I say, and I feel my eyes start to burn again. I purse my lips and hope to stop the tears from flowing but they do anyway. I chuckle bitterly, “This is not how I imagined this would go at all.”

I can see his expression falter, no doubt taken aback by hearing the change in my voice. He knew I was crying, but he still didn’t look at me. I say, “I know that you’re hurt, and I’m sorry, but I know that- that you know that you’re the only person I’ve ever liked.”

“I love you, Ron.” I say it for the first time, my feelings are out, and he hears them. I don’t have to share them with him with glances and small touches. He now knows for sure how I feel. I sniffle, “If by some chance, at some point, you don’t hate me, then come talk to me, okay?”

He doesn’t reply, so I wipe away the few stray tears, and I stand up and go to my room. I wondered if Bill and Fleur would let me stay with them after knowing this piece of information. Once I close the door to my room, I can’t stop the tears from flowing freely. Just as soon as I had him, I lost him, and it wasn’t because of the stupid war.

I sit on my bed and I cover my face with both my hands. I didn’t want it to be like this, I wanted him to come back and he’d tell me that he missed me, and he’d kiss me. He did keep his word though, he came back in one piece. All I wanted was him.

The door to my room opens and I’m quick to wipe my face as I look up and find Ron entering the room. He closes the door behind him and he leans against it. I watch him closely. Ron huffs, “It’s unfair- it’s unfair that as soon as you cry, you can get me to do anything you want.”

I don’t say anything, and for the first time since what feels like forever he’s looking at me with something other than hate. This isn’t the first time Ron and I fought, but this was the biggest fight. Like every fight, after it, we talk. He takes a few steps and sits on my bed with me, except that he stays as far away from me as possible.

“I’m sorry I called you…that.” He says, and I know what he’s talking about. I’ve been insulted before, like every person on the planet, but it always hurts the most from the person you least expect it from. I sniffle, “It’s fine, I deserved it.”

“No, you didn’t. I overreacted-”

“Which is totally understandable.” I cut him off, and I feel him warming up to me. The silence between us is heavy, but in a way, it’s more comfortable. He runs a hand through his overgrown hair and he says, “This isn’t how I wanted this to go either.”

“How- how did you want this to go?” I ask, carefully. He doesn’t reply, but he answers as he leans forward to embrace me. He wraps his arms around my body in a big, warm hug. It’s the best feeling in the world. I squeeze my eyes shut and grip him tighter.

A few knocks on the door are heard when the door opens and we hear the hinges squeak. Fleur and Bill poke their heads in and they smile at the sight of us both in a tight embrace. Bill says, “We’re going to Mom’s, do you want to come?”

“I think I’ll just stay here, but say hi for me.” Ron replies to his older brother and Bill nods, then he leaves the room. As soon as the door is shut, Ron holds my face with both his large hands, and he says, “Merlin, I missed you so much.”

“You have no idea.” I reply, and he presses a kiss to my forehead, and I rest my head back in the crook of his neck. He mutters, much to my dismay, “I’m going to have to go back.”

I know where back is. Back where Harry and Hermione are, back where he was fighting dark wizards and back where he was hunting Horcruxes. Ron’s always been the perfect mix of a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor, of course he was going back to his friends. I sigh, “I know, but can you stay, just for a little while, at least.”

It takes him a second, and I know that he’s thinking about it. He squeezes me tighter and that’s how I know he’s got his answer ready. He whispers, “Okay.”

That’s when we decide that for the short time that he’s going to be staying here that we’re going to make the most out of it, and we do. In the middle of the night, after the previously occurring events, he looks at me, and I grin at him. I thought he fell asleep. He looks at me with a strange look on his face. He pauses, then says, “You’re my best friend.”

I know that was his way of telling me that he loved me too.

***

I wake up to the smell of something burning and Ron not beside me. I groan as the bright sunlight hits my eyes first thing in the morning. I can hear the birds chirping and I wonder if Bill and Fleur were back, I assumed that they weren’t because neither of them would ever burn anything.

I sit up and I stretch, feeling the cold autumn chill hit my naked body, making me want to curl up under the sheets for a little while more. I see Ron’s shirt on the ground, and I grab it as well as a fresh pair of underwear.I brush my teeth, and head downstairs, and I see a very pretty sight.

A shirtless Ron in only his boxers, cooking breakfast, or at least trying to. I chuckle at the sight of the three burnt toasts on a plate on the kitchen counter. It alerts him of my presence, and he turns around quickly. He sees me looking at the toast and he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. He says, “I was trying, okay?”

“I didn’t say anything!” I laugh, and I walk around the kitchen island to get to him. I wrap my hands around his torso and I hug him tightly, and he does the same as much as he can with a spatula in one hand. I lean back and I get a perfect view of his bare chest and I just want to say ‘thank you, quidditch’.

“I’m just going to wait here, until you’re done making-” I lean forward to see what he was making in the pan on the stove, and I see something yellow, so I detect that it’s eggs, but it didn’t look quite right so I continue, “scrambled eggs.”

“It’s supposed to be an omelette, but okay.” Ron says, with an annoyed tone, but it makes me chuckle anyway. I sit down on the kitchen island, and when Ron’s finished, he sets the plates beside me. I take it as an opportunity to wrap my hands around his neck and pull him in for a kiss.

He sets his hands on my waist, and he pecks my lips a couple times before trailing down to give a few kisses to my jaw and neck. He begins to suck on a certain spot, and I pull away. I give him a threatening look and I warn him, “You gave me enough of those already last night, no more.”

He laughs and presses a quick kiss to my lips that makes me smile just as wide as he is. His eyes trail down and he notices the shirt I’m wearing, his shirt. He grabs the material between his two fingers. He gives me a look, “This is mine.”

A firm statement, it’s his shirt, I know it, he knows it. I feign an innocent look, and look down at the shirt, like I’m just noticing that I’m wearing it in the first place. I furrow my eyebrows in fake confusion and tilt my head to the side. I say, “is it?”

“Yes, it is.” Ron replies, with a grin on his face. I shrug my shoulders and hum, “hmm, didn’t notice. I’ll give it back to you when it’s time for you to leave.”

“Nah, keep it.”

Ron ended up staying a lot longer than just a little while. Hermione and Harry were very mad at him because of that, but it didn’t matter because in only a few months after a very big battle, all was right in the world again. We had lost so many people, but in the end, we won.

We returned for our last year at Hogwarts as 8th years. I studied to become a curse breaker, I guess it wasn’t a lie after all, and Ron became an Auror. Every once in a while Ron would help out Fred and George with stock and inventory and all things shop related. They even gave him his own office. I was pleasantly surprised to find a picture of me on his desk.

All I can say is that the wait was worth it because I was very much in love with Ron Weasley and he loved me too, so despite everything despite all the longing glances, the fights and the bloody war, we made it, and nothing is better than when you’re in love.

474 notes · View notes