Harry walked up the stairs toward Ron’s room. He did not know what would
happen if he went in, but he had told Mrs. Weasley that he would at least try. He knocked on the door. He heard nothing from inside, so he turned the knob and entered. Ron was still lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He showed no signs that he even knew Harry was there. Harry sat down on the bed opposite him.
“Ron, I promised your mum that I would try to convince you to come down for dinner.” Ron said nothing. The silence made Harry uncomfortable, so he tried again. “Come on. Ron. You can’t stay like this forever,” Harry sighed. “You know I miss her, too,” he said quietly. There was more silence, but this time it was broken by Ron.
“You didn’t let me go back for her!” He yelled at Harry, without looking at him.
“Ron, you don’t understand. I couldn’t.” Harry tried to keep his voice calm.
“Oh, I understand!” Ron continued to yell. “You love her, she loves you. I saw you two together in the sitting room the night before she disappeared. You can’t hide it from me!” Ron was on his feet now, still yelling. “You couldn’t stand the thought of someone else acting the hero, especially for her!” Ron stopped yelling abruptly and sank back onto his bed with his head in his hands. Harry was staring at Ron, his eyes wide. He looked hurt, but there was also a trace of compassion on his face.
“Ron, I don’t know what you saw, but it wasn’t what you think.” Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Harry continued without giving him a chance. “Listen, I stopped you because I had no choice. I promised Hermione.” Ron looked confused but still Harry continued. “That night, she came to me and told me she wanted to talk in the sitting room. I thought it could wait, but she took my hand and insisted so earnestly that I didn’t have any choice but to follow her.” Harry’s eyes were glistening with tears. He stood and walked around so that Ron wouldn’t notice. “When we were inside the sitting room, she turned to face me and took a deep breath. She took both of my hands and told me she had an important favor to ask. I told her that I was her friend and I cared about her so I would do anything for her. She looked up at me and through tears asked me to promise that I would not let you be harmed in anyway during the mission. It was more important to her than anything else that you were safe. If anything happened to her, she needed me to promise her not to let you do anything that would endanger your life. No matter what happened, she needed you to make it back.” Harry chanced a look at Ron who looked like someone had just stuck a knife in his chest. “I promised her, I guess deep down I assumed that nothing could happen to her. I mean she’s Hermione, right? She’s the most intelligent person I’ve ever met.” Harry eyes started glistening again and he turned away. Ron didn’t seem inclined to say anything, so Harry continued. “Tears ran down her face as she thanked me and gave me a hug. She told me how much she cared about me and that she wanted me to be careful during the mission. Before she left, she told me that she was finally going to tell you how she felt about you, awkwardness be damned. I told her that it was about time you two stopped skirting the issue. She thanked me again and then . . .” Harry’s voice broke and tears rolled down his cheeks. He paused a moment to compose himself and finished his sentence. “And then she leaned in and kissed my cheek.” He sat back down on the bed and looked at Ron. Harry saw that his face was covered in silent tears. Ron had felt agonizing guilt about what he had said to her before, but now it was so much worse. The tears came and he didn’t even try to stop them. After several minutes, Ron started to calm. Harry felt that he was intruding and got up to leave.
“Harry, please stay.” Harry nodded slightly at Ron and sat back on the bed again. “I was so mean to her that night. I treated her so terribly. How can I live through this? It hurts so much I can’t breathe.”
“Ron, you can’t beat yourself up for one selfish moment. You loved her for so long. You can’t just throw all of it away because of one moment.” Ron looked at Harry.
“That’s just it. I had her for so long and I filled that time with arguments and clumsiness. I assumed there would always be another time that I could tell her. I wasted every opportunity and I didn’t treat her the way she deserved to be treated.” Ron lay back on the bed with tears on his red face. They heard Mrs. Weasley’s voice calling them from the kitchen below. Harry got up and moved to the door.
“I’ll tell your mum you’re not coming. Do you want me to bring you anything?” offered Harry.
“No.”
So, with this, Harry headed downstairs to dinner.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Harry saw that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and the twins were already at the table which was full of food. There was an air of mourning as there had been every moment since Hermione disappeared.
“Ron’s not up to leaving his room,” Harry said as he took his seat. Mrs. Weasley looked perplexed.
“I don’t understand. We all loved Hermione, maybe not as much as you and Ron, but he hasn’t eaten, slept properly, or spoken to anyone since. . . What is it?” Fred looked at his mother incredulously.
“Mum, how dense can you be?”
“He was in love with her,” added George.
“And she with him,” Fred added further.
“What?” Mrs. Weasley looked shocked. “Ron and Hermione! I always thought it would be Harry and Hermione that would become a couple. But those two, they are . . . well . . . very different people.” She thought for a minute as if trying to picture them together and asked, “How long were they together?” The twins, Ginny, and Harry looked at each other not sure how to respond. Finally, Ginny spoke up.
“Well, Mum they were never really going out.” Mrs. Weasley looked as if she didn’t understand. “What I mean is they were never really a couple.” Mrs. Weasley still looked confused, so Ginny tried harder to explain. “Everyone knew they cared about each other, even they knew, but they never really did anything about it. I don’t think they ever even talked about it together.” Mrs. Weasley looked as if she was pondering these things. Her face saddened.
“How sad, what a load of wasted time,” was all she said.
“I agree,” Ginny whispered and she couldn’t stop herself from looking up to meet Harry’s eyes. Everyone started to eat and the discussion ended there.
Ron mother’s voice carried very well through the house. When he heard Hermione’s name mentioned, he walked to the door listening. At this last comment from Mrs. Weasley, the pain and the tears swelled again and he returned to his bleak vigil.
A/N: Thanks to my BETA mugglemomjackson for her hard work.