In Too Deep

***In Too Deep***

They tell me I am getting in too deep.

They tell me I am stupid, damn bloody stupid, to get involved with Draco Malfoy's fiancée. Hermione never curses, of course, but she always has this fearful, dreading look in her eyes when Kate's name came up in conversation. Makes me wonder why, really. She never feared Draco Malfoy when we attended Hogwarts, and I don't see how this is any different.

Lord knows how my mum found out. Maybe Hermione mentioned it to her, out of concern, but I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she confronted me on the matter. Her disappointment was wounding, and that surprised me, for I never cared much what she thought of my "escapades".

"You make sure you know what you're doing, Ronald Weasley. You make sure that this girl is worth it," she said, and my father, behind her, nodded quickly to show her his support.

Ah, my dad...He was the only one not to seem disheartened by my "affair". I believe that, perhaps, he saw the relationship I had with Kate as a victory over the Malfoys. Her distaste in the family is obvious, and the fact that she should choose a Weasley instead of their son must make him proud. Fred and George seem to share the same mentality, but I knew better than to expect approval from Percy the Prude.

How would I explain my relationship with Percy? Well, after my fifth year, it was anything but trusting. In fact, if our mum had never visited at his small, cramped London flat in the October of my sixth year then I doubt he would have ever spoken to us again. His pride had been wounded too much to consider asking for our forgiveness, and even now, though his trust in the Ministry has been deeply shaken, his loyalties lie mainly to them.

When Percy heard that I was seeing Ms. Kaitlyn Lowell he was mortified. "Fudge still respects, even admires, Lucius Malfoy. Should it get out that my little brother is flouncing about with Draco Malfoy's fiancée then it could affect my future at the Ministry! It's bad enough that you're pursuing this whole "quidditch scout" thing. Feel free to destroy your own future, but over my dead body will you ruin mine!" He had been wise enough to storm off at that point, and then he had taken to avoiding me for the next three days, until finally he approached me with an apology. "Just be careful, Ron," he had advised me. "You have no idea the extent of You Know Who's power, and the power of those he favors. It's not just your career you put in danger when you see this girl, it's also you life."

I laughed off his serious words. My life in danger because of Kaitlyn? Even now the idea amuses me. Dear, sweet, lovely Kate could never be of any danger to anybody, least of all me.

Oliver Wood even seems to understand my love for her. That can only be because he still loves Josephine Lowell. He never tells me that Kate might one day leave me too, like Josephine did to him, though Hermione seems to think that the sisters are so much alike that Kate will feel inclined to sooner or lter.

I know that my boss, Cho Chang-Jordan, feels much the same. Oh, yes, Cho makes sure that Lee never mouths off too much, but each time he makes a wisecrack about Kate her eyes burn with agreement. Maybe she too is afraid of the Malfoy's power.

We're getting married, you know, when Kate returns from her voyage with Malfoy. Harry says that I'm getting in too deep, running off with her. He says I'm abandoning my family, my beliefs, for this woman. I laugh at that too. Harry has only ever known the safe, warm, fairy tale love of Hermione.

He has never known the thrill of being with the fiancée of your enemy. Like Eve so many years ago I take the forbidden fruit with the utmost passion. He can't possibly understand how it's buned me these past years, watching Malfoy strut around with his new, flashy, expensive broomsticks and dressing in designer robes. Harry's as rich as Malfoy, maybe even richer, so he can't fathom what it feels like to be poked at because you have nothing!

And now I have something!

Something that's supposed to belong to Malfoy, to be more exact. Kate's love is something Malfoy can't ever buy. Harry can't begin to imagine how good it feels to kiss the lips, to feel the body, of the woman that is promised to Draco Malfoy. I now have something that he'll never have.

Harry will never know how good it feels to know that someone so wonderful, so beautiful, so high-class as Kaitlyn Lowell can come to love me, Ronald Weasley, the sixth, invisible Weasley. Somehow, if only in my eyes, being with Kate makes me different, more unique. Never has my family, and those around me, been more interested in me than when they found out about Kate. She makes me feel more alive, more special, every times she kisses me.

I don't think anyone can ever understand that. I know it'll take time for people to accept Kate. Maybe by the time things cool down, when we return, my family and friends will greet us with open arms. And if they don't? If they scorn me and my future wife? I can only tell them this: "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

Only time will tell how deep I truly am, but time will never change my love for Kate.

True love never lives happily ever after, for true love has no ending.