Chapter Text
“My gosh Ron do you ever stop shoving food down your throat!?” Hermonie exclaimed, grossed out at Ron’s horrible table manners. However, Ron just rolled his eyes and continued eating as he always does. He was hungry so he was going to eat, end of story.
"Can you just leave it, Hermione? Not everyone needs to eat like you do, alright? I’m hungry Hermione, leave me alone!” Ron said with an annoyed tone as began shoveling a spoon full of food into his mouth.
"Well, I’m not telling you to stop eating, but honestly, Ron, it's getting a bit ridiculous! The least you could do is slow down a bit and at least try to be respectful when eating!?” Hermione shot back, her nose wrinkling at the boy’s lack of table manners. “My goodness does he ever stop?” Hermione thought with a sigh.
“Sorry, Hermione, but it’s just too good!” Ron said with a teasing tone, however, he did tone it down a bit.
However, Ron noticed he was getting…well, chubby. It was clear he had gained weight and Harry had noticed too. When they were getting into their Quidditch uniforms, Harry had teased him, his voice lighthearted and playful.
“Blimey, Ron, your stomach pokes out a bit, doesn’t it?” Harry said as he poked at Ron’s now slightly protruding stomach.
It made Ron a bit self-conscious even though he knew Harry was only teasing him but…it really got to him. However, Ron chuckled, deciding to take it as a joke and attempted to tease Harry about his appearance too, but sort of failed and just kept quiet with a smile on his face.
“If Harry knew how he felt about his body, would he have still said that about him?” Ron thought, now somewhat questioning their friendship. Ron found out he was a lot more hurt at Harry’s words than he initially thought as he was so concentrated on what Harry had said about his body, he didn’t even know they had won the Quidditch match, in fact, he wasn’t even excited about it all that much. He just put on a fake smile and went about the party.
Ron snuck away to the bathroom, taking off his shirt and looking at his body in the mirror. His body was lanky, long limbs and hands that didn’t seem to match his body at all, and now the extra fat on his stomach, giving him a small curve to his waist…he felt, awkward. No, more than awkward, disgusting. He felt uncomfortable even looking at his own body after his weight gain. He decided to put on his Hogwarts robes and grimaced at the sudden tightness of them, it made him feel guilty about gaining weight, his family didn’t have enough money to afford new robes for him just because he decided it would be a good idea to eat so much.
Ron dug his nails into his arms, hard, in frustration and sadness as he quickly left the bathroom and ran to his shared dorm. He got into his bed and cried. Tears of frustration about causing his family more financial issues about his robes not fitting anymore, tears of frustration at himself for causing his body to look like this, he felt disgusting. After a few hours of crying and self-loathing he went to sleep on the tear-soaked pillow beneath him.
Ron decided to start working out moderately, but after a few weeks he felt defeated, when he was happy, he’d overeat, when he was sad, he’d overeat, when he was bored, he’d overeat. Ruining the progress he’d been trying to make for about 5 weeks now, he looked the same, hell, not even the same, he looked fatter than before!
“What in Merlin is going on!? Every time I try something, exercise, eating less…it’s just…calling me, the food.” Ron thought as he looked in the mirror, grabbing his chubby stomach in his hands. He was about to cry, he grabbed his hair in frustration, he sunk to the floor and started sobbing to his knees. “Merlin, I need some food…” and after that he headed to lunch, shoveling food into his mouth, as the norm with him now.
After a few days of just doing the same old thing, stuffing his face at mealtimes, his robes had grown too tight for his liking and it made him panic, if it ripped, he wouldn’t be getting any new robes anytime soon and his body looked worse and worse every day. It was a normal breakfast, he was stuffing his face to the brim with food, trying to ignore how bad his situation was, he quickly excused himself from the Gryffindor table and ran off to the bathroom.
“Sorry guys, I got to go to the bathroom!” Ron said in a hurry, causing Harry and Hermione to wave goodbye.
“Alright, see you in class Ron!” Harry said not seeing anything wrong, Hermione added, “Don’t be late!” in her warning tone.
Ron closed the door and made sure nobody else was in the bathroom before he looked into the mirror for the umpteenth time that day, he shook his head and focused on what he was here to do, get rid of this feeling.
He opened the stall door and with shaking hands, Ron shoved two fingers down his throat, a familiar gag reflex immediately following. The sound of his body rejecting the food he had just eaten echoed in the stall, the force of it coming from deep in his gut, sending a violent wave through his stomach. His breath hitched as he felt the nausea rise. His eyes watered, and he gripped the edge of the stall to steady himself, knuckles white. The acid burned in the back of his throat, leaving a horrid taste in his mouth as he wheezed a bit, wiping his eyes of the tears forming in his eyes.
“Blimey! That was horrible!” Ron thought as he rubbed his throat in discomfort, it felt so dry and sore all of a sudden. “I have to make it stop. I just need to feel better, just for a second.” Ron thought as he clutched his head, he felt lightheaded and he felt guilty, he knew this was wrong, but he didn’t stop. He leaned over the toilet again and he stuck his fingers down his throat again, wanting to make sure his stomach was completely empty of his big breakfast.
After he finished purging, he looked around cautiously, making sure nobody was still not in the bathroom, and he nodded to himself when he heard no one.
Ron flushed the toilet and stepped back, his heart racing. closed the stall door, walking over to the sink and the…dreaded mirror. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes refusing to meet the mirror. But as always, his gaze was drawn to it, unwillingly. He stared at his reflection, feeling the familiar wave of discomfort wash over him. His body... still softer than he liked. Still imperfect. He pulled at the waistband of his pants again, relieved to feel the slight loosening. “It worked, I guess. But it’s never enough…still tight, but better than before.” Ron thought as he inspected his body a little more, of course he was still disappointed at the softness, but his eyes glanced at the clock and quickly rushed out.
“Damn, I’m going to be late! Ten minutes until class starts and I’m all the way on the other side of the school!” Ron said as he passed students in a dash, his heart pounded as he didn’t want Hermione to be mad at him, not right now. But he was also trying to outrun the feeling in his stomach. He was late yes, but his mind was racing, he wanted to avoid it all. Ron panted as he soon found Harry and Hermione peacefully walking together, Hermione rambling on about potions class.
“Woah! Slow down there Ron!” Harry said as he caught Ron’s wrist before he was about to slip, he rested a hand on Ron’s back, but he quickly got out of Harry’s grasp, not wanting Harry to feel the fat of his overeating. He smiled at Harry and Hermione, holding his hand up as he panted, since when was he so out of shape that he was panting from sprinting for 2 minutes?!
“S-Sorry guys, I went to a farther bathroom then I thought!” Ron said with a small chuckle as he finished panting, he was still a little self-conscious, panting after 2 minutes of sprinting.
“It’s fine! Come, class is starting.” Harry said as the 3 continued walking to 1st period.