Chapter 6
The next morning Ron wasn’t found snoring in his bed as usual, or snoring at his desk in his office, but pacing up and down by a table in the Hog’s Head. He stopped every so often to stare intensely at the door for a few minutes before resuming his pacing. This was rewarded, eventually, when a girl walked in, saw him and smiled, but to her dismay he did not return it.
“Ron? Are you alright?” she asked anxiously, instead of greeting him with a regular ‘hello‘.
“Yes. No. Maybe.” Now that she was here, suddenly he wasn’t so sure of what to say, though he‘d been rehearsing it all morning. “Listen, I’m not sure how to say this, but...”
“Ron, you know you can always tell me anything!” she said, sitting down opposite the still pacing Ron. “Besides, I need to talk to you too...Ron! Stop pacing! It’s annoying!”
“Sorry,” Ron muttered, pulling out a chair. “Anyway, what was I saying?”
“I don’t know, you had something to tell me…” She looked up expectantly at Ron, who in turn was trying to evade her glance at all costs.
“Well, you see, I, uh…” he mumbled inaudibly.
“Just spit it out, Ron!”
He could tell she was beginning to get exasperated. Not that it really matters, not anymore… he thought. Then again, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… Or something that means girls can get scary when they’re angry…
“Well,” he tried again. “I, um, don‘t think we should see each other anymore.” He looked up, slightly afraid, but her eyes were surprisingly calm, if somewhat steely. “It’s not you, it’s me!” She did not reply. “Um, I don’t want to ruin our friendship?”
“I think it’s a little late for that,” she pointed out. Ron hung his head, but nodded in agreement.
“I’m really sorry - “
“Just tell me one thing,” she interrupted suddenly. Ron looked up attentively. “Was there - is there - someone else?” Ron couldn’t conceal the trace of a smile that entered his face.
“No. Well, maybe. I mean - oh, I don’t know. I guess there always was. It was always her…” he trailed off into reverie, before being briskly awoken from his trance by the scraping of her chair against the wooden floor.
“I knew it,” she said bitterly. “It’s Hermione, isn’t it?” Ron nodded. A look crossed Claire's face, as if she knew it was inevitable and always had, before she left without another word.
When she walked in, Ron was slightly more composed. 'Slightly' being that he had cleared up the third mug of butterbeer he had knocked over, almost completely gotten rid of the stain the pumpkin pasty had left on his elbow and his hair was nearly under control.
Hermione, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Her clothes and general appearance were fine, but her expression said otherwise. Ron didn’t think he had seen her look so nervous since the day they received their Charms results.
“Hi,” he said simply, as she sat down. “So…”
“So, I have something to tell you,” Hermione said, wringing her hands anxiously. “Listen, it’s about me and Terry - “
“Wait, I have something to tell you too, about me and Claire,” Ron interrupted, wanting to get it over and done with. Hermione didn’t look at all upset at not being able to finish, so he carried on. “We broke up.” At that, Hermione really did look upset, though Ron wasn’t sure why. He had never really had the impression that she particularly liked Claire - in fact, he would have said the exact opposite.
“Oh no! Ron, I’m so sorry! It wasn’t - it wasn’t because of me, was it?” Ron was really surprised at that, how could she have known? Well, this was Hermione; she did know a lot, but that? He hadn’t even told Harry that he was going to break up with Claire, let alone why. In fact, Claire was the only person he had told.
“Well, sort of…” Ron trailed off, not sure of how to explain without his ears turning redder than his hair from the embarrassment.
“Oh Merlin! I’m so sorry! Ron, I swear, I’ll fix it! I’ll talk to Claire!” Ron was completely mystified, though he wasn’t sure if it showed on his face, as Hermione just ploughed straight on. “I’ll explain to her that it was just a mistake! A slip of the tongue!” Now Ron was really confused. Since when had Hermione’s tongue slipped…”I knew she wasn’t Angela, and you haven’t seen Angela since you broke up! I’ll tell her - “ Ron laughed out loud when he realised what Hermione meant. “What? Why do you find this funny?”
“Because - oh it doesn’t matter! I didn’t really like her anyway, I was glad of any excuse to break up with her to be honest. So, uh, what was your news?” Ron asked, still laughing slightly, though bringing the conversation back to the topic he was dying to find out the answer to. He had been wondering about it ever since the owl had come, as he had constantly been reminded by the twins.
“Oh. Yes, that. You see, Terry and I…”
Ron noticed how uncomfortable Hermione looked. Surely it couldn’t be that hard, he thought. I mean, they’re only words! Besides, if she’s going to say what I think she’s going to say…
“We’re engaged.”
They may only have been words, but those words hurt worse than when he had had to burp slugs (for Hermione, he thought bitterly), worse than when he had been poisoned from the butterbeer in Slughorn’s office (though at least Hermione started talking to me again, he thought, almost with a smile), worse even than when he found out it had all been a trick, Voldemort had escaped once again, that the war wasn’t over. The ringing of those words, just churning round and round repeatedly in his ears hurt so much he might have missed the sound of his heart breaking.
“I should really go now,” Hermione said, looking down as she rose to leave. Ron nodded, looking down also.
“Hermione!” he called suddenly, making her pause before she reached the door and turn round. “Congratulations.” No, Ron thought. That word hurts the most.
When Is Too Late? by Oppungo
Chapter Notes: Loads of thanks and praise to my beta, songbook99! Sorry this has taken so long to get up - I promise updates will come faster now.