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Ron pushed the heavy wooden door open as carefully as possible. Trying not to signal Lavender that he had arrived, despite her knowing he was on his way to meet up.
She stood with her hip popped out and her hands across her chest–this was her sour mood pose.
He felt he deserved this posture from her.
“Pretty brave of you to show your face after this. Or just stupid.” She said, her tone cold and cruel.
He did not feel he deserved the name calling.
Being called stupid was his trigger. Lavender knew that. It was one of the many confessions he had shared with her while tucked away in a dark corridor.
“Don’t call me stupid.” he said, his voice uncertain–because maybe he was stupid .
“So brave? Sure, if you say so Ronald.”
“I came to explain what happened–while I was unconscious. I didn't know I was saying her name,” he argued, only to be interrupted by his girlfriend. Ex girlfriend? He wasn't sure.
Maybe he was stupid.
“Hermione's name, Ron- ald .” she argued, “Hermione. The girl you promised me meant nothing to you. The girl you promised me you didn't care about. The girl you told me I didn't have to worry about.”
“I–I lied. I should have been honest with you. Hermione means the world to me. I care about her deeply. And–”
“Tell me the last part isn't true Won Won,” she begged, her tone shifting dramatically from strong woman to begging girl, “Tell me I don't need to worry about her getting in between us.”
Ron took a step closer to Lavender, despite knowing the words that hung from the tip of his tongue. Honest words, words he didn't even know were true until he cried out for Hermione in a poison induced coma.
“Lavender, I wish that part was true. But I didn't realize it until I almost died. I didn't know when I told you not to worry about her that I was in love with her. I didn't realize until you did.”
Ron watched as Lavender's heart broke, it was clear in the way her shoulder trembled and the way her tears fell effortlessly from her pink cheeks, and the way she said nothing at all–because Lavender always had something to say.
It took Ron Weasley breaking one girl's heart, to realize his own beat for another.
Maybe he was stupid.