Rain

8. PEOPLE CHANGE

And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain

(Guns N' Roses, November Rain)

"What are you doing?" When I figured that George wasn't listening to me, I turned to Fred. "What is he doing?"

"Drooling," was Fred's answer. "Can't you tell?"

As Harry (or rather Ginny) had adamantly protested a Stag Night, the twins decided to take Harry and me out on the night before the wedding. "So that we can all get to know each other better," had been their excuse, but I knew that this outing had nothing to do with our limited knowledge of one another.

Now I was sitting in a Muggle club with Fred, George, and Harry, feeling so out of place. I had followed George's glance until it landed on a dark-haired man, who had more in common with a raven than a human. "But that's a bloke," I realized.

Fred shrugged. "I reckon so."

I turned to my best friend. "Harry, that's a bloke, right?"

Harry made a small unpleasant sound. I was afraid that he was choking, but he quickly explained, "George's, uh, scoring for the other team, Ron."

My eyes widen in surprise. "Since when?"

"Since the day he was born!" Fred shrieked. "Where have you been?"

"But the Yule Ball--he, uh--" Now that I thought on it, George hadn't been in attendance at the Yule Ball. "He likes blokes?"

Fred nodded slowly. "Likes shagging them too," he said.

Harry paled. Then I remembered how Harry was around the topic of sex. Unfortunately for him, George chose that moment to rejoin the conversation. "He fancies me," he had observed about the man he had been glancing at.

"Must be your charming face and your alluring expression," Fred deadpanned.

"He looks exactly like you!" I said to Fred as Harry growled. Poor bloke! If he had been uncomfortable being around me at lunch, he was thinking about a Vanishing Charm right about now.

"Which is why I'm complimenting him," Fred said as he turned to poke his twin. "Go on, George; you know you want to."

George licked his lips seductively as he met the eyes of the dark-haired bloke. "In a minute," he said. "I want him to want me."

Beside me, Harry made a gagging noise and spluttered his drink all over his lap. It really was a pitiful thing to watch. He was getting married, for heavens' sakes! How was he going to talk about the Birds and the Bees with the four children that Ginny had planned for him?

The twins ignored Harry's spill. "He's already undressing you with his eyes!" Fred told George, without as much as a glance in Harry's direction.

"But is he shagging me yet?" George returned.

"This is a very disturbing conversation, innit, Harry?" I turned to find the space next to me empty. "Harry?" I whirled my head around to see Harry disappear in the crowd.

"Wanker!" Fred called after him as he and George snickered.

I raised an eyebrow. Harry? Wanking? Harry couldn't even talk about shagging without losing all the blood in his face! "What makes you think--"

Fred glanced at me in wonderment. "Ron, what planet are you from?" he asked seriously. "Harry wanks so much; I'm surprised that he still has little Harry."

"Imagine how little 'little Harry' must be," kidded George and they laughed again.

That made no sense. "But Ginny--"

"Ron, you don't even want to know," Fred cut in. "George and I have seen them. Shagging like bunnies. Their flat must be contaminated!"

George took a sip of his drink. "Speaking of bunnies--"

Fred gasped. "I will kill you!"

"Fred has a bunny," George said quickly.

I blinked. "A what?" I asked.

Fred grunted in frustration. "George, do you want to die?" he wanted to know.

George darted a look at his twin. "Sorry," he mumbled before turning to me. "Fred had a bunny."

I was definitely lost. "What are you on about?" I inquired as Fred slapped his forehead vigorously.

"You tell him," George said, turning his attention back to The Raven Man, who was already heading in our direction. "I'm in the middle of a bonging expedition."

"I'm not telling him!" Fred yelped.

It hardly mattered, for when The Raven Man came to a stop at our table, George promptly stood to his feet and began chatting animatedly, completely ignoring the fact that we were present.

"I'm not telling you!" Fred said to me before rising from his seat, leaving me alone and confused.

I was lost. What exactly had I missed in all the time I had been away from my family? I felt like everyone had some sort of inside joke. Harry and Ginny actually shagged. George liked blokes. Fred had an interest in . . . rabbits?

I swallowed my beer.

* * * * *

"Ron, you're married!" Fred said the last word as if it was a disease.

"Shh!" I warned. I nodded towards the girl who was currently hanging on my arm, fawning over me. "She doesn't know that."

She glanced at me in surprise. "You're married?" she repeated.

I made a face. "Damn it, Fred; she knows now."

Fred ignored me as he turned to the girl. "Excuse my brother for being an arse," he said. "He's rather daft, isn't he?"

She giggled. "He is, but then he's had a bit much to drink," she said. She smiled lovingly at my brother. "Are you married also?"

Fred looked disgusted. "Oh, please. I'm too much for one woman."

Were they flirting? Right in front of me?

As she giggled again, I cried, "I'm right here!"

"Not anymore," Fred said, as he pulled me out of the seat. He blew a kiss at the girl before turning on me with a frown. "What were you thinking?"

"You all left me all alone," I wailed. Ten drinks after George, Fred, and Harry had vanished from sight, I had decided to take matters into my own hands--and ended up on the other side of the club with a bird that looked so much like Hermione, they could have been sisters. "Harry never returned from the loo, George and Raven disappeared--"

"Raven?" Fred snorted. "Ron, don't try to learn their names. It'll only make it harder when George chucks them." He scoffed. "What kind of name is Raven anyway?" he wondered aloud.

I didn't try to explain that Raven was just the name I had bestowed upon George's new buddy, because Fred didn't give me a chance. "So you tried to chat up a bird?" he said disgustedly. "Did you ever think that maybe you couldn't invite her home?"

"Why not?" I asked, clueless. The alcohol had definitely fogged my brain. "She looks just like Her--Her--my--nee, doesn't she? Maybe they're related."

"I'm sure Hermione wouldn't want to know." He came to a full stop, causing me to halt too. "Ron, seriously, even if you're tankered, don't you love and respect your wife?"

"Of course I love her!" I shouted over the sound of the music. "I just don't know if she loves me."

Fred swallowed suddenly at the revelation. He stared hard at me before declaring, "she does."

"Maybe she did," I said, wondering why I was suddenly feeling clear-headed. What was the purpose of drinking alcohol if it didn't make you forget? "People change."

"Ron, are you listening to yourself!" my older brother asked.

I rolled my eyes. "That's your job!" I spluttered. "Don't you know how conversation works?"