Getting Use to Change

Furious! That's how Ron Weasley felt! Completely and utterly furious. How else would one feel if they caught their best friend snogging their baby sister?

~Flashback~

Ron Weasley had come in the Gryffindor common room after eating lunch with Hermione in the Great Hall, where all the rest of the Hogwarts students were except for two, Ginny and Harry. So here comes Ron walking into the common room and--BAM!--there's Harry Potter, sitting on the couch, tongue halfway down Ginny's throat.

Ron's first instinct was to cover his eyes, which he graciously did; then, he was overcome by fury. What the bloody hell does Harry think he's doing with my sister! This is absolutely absurd, I'll kill him. Then, without warning, Ron exploded on the unexpected pair, "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?"

Ginny quickly pulled away from Harry and averted her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at her brother, but Ron wasn't paying attention to his sister. Oh no! His eyes were set on Harry, and, in his mind, he was plotting evil and horrible things to do to him!

"Now Ron," Harry stammered trying to get up from his sitting position on the sofa, "before you say anything let me explain!" Harry was pleading now, but Ron didn't care, he walked over to Harry and punched him in the face; then just as quickly he walked out of the dormitory.

~End Flashback~

Now Ron found himself pacing the halls outside the Headmaster's office. Normally Ron didn't go to talk to the Headmaster, that was Harry's bit. Ugh, but the thought of Harry made Ron sick right now.

He just really needed someone to talk to and as if an answer to his prayers from around the corner came Hermione, looking frazzled. Ron's face broke into a grin, in all the mass of confusion he'd forgotten that he still had another best friend, on who hadn't betrayed his trust.

Hermione on the other hand didn't look too happy to see Ron. She walked up to him briskly and slapped him on his right cheek. Ron gaped in bewilderment and tried not to pay attention to his stinging cheek.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" Hermione shouted with a stern look on her face, "WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU PUNCH HARRY?"

"Come on Hermione, you are overreacting," Ron said dismissing her comment with the wave of his hand. This only irritated Hermione further, "I don't think so," her tone was a harsh and biting one, "Harry had to go see Madame Pomfrey! He has a broken nose Ron, and he was bleeding profusely! Madame Pomfrey had to do a charm to stop the insistent bleeding! He wouldn't tell me what was going on, but I assume this has to do with Ginny because she was there with him!"

"Well, his nose wouldn't be bleeding if he wasn't a bloody GIT! He deserved it," Ron spoke maliciously.

"You caught them snogging didn't you?" Hermione asked blatantly.

Ron turned on her with fire in his eyes, "Did you know about this too?" he accused.

"I did Ron!" Hermione admitted her voice faltering a little before she regained her confidence, "What are you going to do hit me too?" Ron just fumed pondering what he should do; he wanted to run away from it all, he wanted to finish Harry off. He wanted people to be honest with him and tell him when things like this were happening. He wanted to shout, scream, cry, and just be held all at the same time. Why was he freaking out about this...didn't he want his best mate to be happy? Wasn't this what his sister had wanted since she was eleven? Still Ron couldn't except it. It was different, foreign, something he didn't feel like putting up with at the moment.

"Of course I'm not gonna hit you Hermione," Ron stated trying to calm himself down, "I'm just...I just...you see..." he couldn't find the right words, why wouldn't they just come? Maybe because in his heart he knew that he didn't know what he wanted to say.

"What Ron?" Hermione's tone had taken on a soothing quality, almost motherly. She carefully approached Ron and touched his shoulder lightly, but Ron pulled away; the fire was back in his eyes.

"Just tell me how long!" Hermione didn't answer him right away, "How long Hermione?" he demanded now. Hermione mumbled something that was barely audible.

"I beg your pardon?" Ron asked incredulously. Hermione looked up to him tears now brimming her beautiful eyes, her lip was trembling, "I wanted to tell you Ron, really I did, but they made me promise not to tell! If it were up to me you would have known the whole time! You've got to believe m--"

Ron held up his hand, he was beginning to get really agitated, he hated being lied to, but more importantly he hated seeing Hermione cry, "How long Hermione?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Since June...they had been owling each other for quite some time. Calculating that time to now it's about..." Hermione gulped, she knew she was just helping to ignite this ticking bomb that was about to blow, "umm...six months..." Hermione squeaked. She brought her delicate hands to her face to hide the waterfall of tears pouring from them.

Ron just looked at her in disgust. Six months...SIX MONTHS! They had kept this from him for six months. How could he have been so blind? How many people had known? Why didn't anyone tell him!? He wanted to hurt them all so much right now; he wanted to hurt them like they had hurt him by not trusting him. They should have told him! All he could do was stare at Hermione, he whispered, "six months?" before running down the corridor. Hermione sunk to her knees and held her stomach. The pain was too much; keeping that secret from Ron was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. She wanted to tell him everything and to be completely open with him, but Harry and Ginny had pleaded with her not to tell Ron for fear of how he would react. Now Hermione sat in the middle of the corridor wishing she had done differently.

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