A/N: This is an angsty chapter. I've held back up until now, trying to keep this story light-hearted. But there are many emotional issues to address, and that will begin here.
There is also sexual content in this one. Not much (I know, I'm disappointed too) but enough for me to ask any readers to proceed with a bit of caution. This chapter took me a long time to write and I'm so embarrassed by how short it is. It was difficult to do because of (as I mentioned above) all of the emotions and events surrounding them that I had to capture. Writer's block doesn't help either, but I was able to scrounge this up and I think it's a good bit of writing. Disagree? Tell me so in a review. I appreciate the feedback.
Again, these characters (except Gretchen) are not mine. They belong to rich people.
…
"Oh, Gretchen! I've made a mess of everything!" Luna whined later on, after telling Gretchen of the encounter she had had with Ronald. Gretchen was surprisingly unsympathetic.
"I told you it would be a bad idea. Didn't I tell you?" Gretchen demanded. Luna cursed Gretchen for her insensitivity, but soon remembered that Gretchen did, after all, have a crush on Ronald Weasley.
"You were right, Gretchen. I'll never associate myself with another boy again until I'm well away from Hogwarts!" Luna exclaimed. In fact, the idea of joining that cult of witches in Edinburgh who swore off relations with males for life was starting to sound pretty good.
"Now don't be so dramatic, Luna. Perhaps if you just apologized to him, you two could coexist again just as before," Gretchen tried to comfort.
"But I don't want things to be as they were before! I was bloody miserable before and I'm bloody miserable now. I just can't win."
"I'm finding it more and more difficult to put up with your constant whining lately, so I say this out of love, dear. Shut it!" Gretchen said. The students walking behind and ahead of them in the hall turned to look at them. Cheeks crimson, Luna hid her face behind her still-loose hair while Gretchen patted her shoulder gently.
"I've never seen you react this way to unwanted attention, Luna. You've always been so-unconcerned with everything and anyone around you. What's wrong?" Gretchen asked softly. Luna avoided eye contact with her friend so she couldn't see how much that question affected her. She forced her tone to become light when she answered.
"Nothing is wrong! I suppose it's just that time of the month for me, you know? Over-emotional and all that. I've no interest whatsoever in Ronald Weasley," Luna explained, making a note to herself in her mind not to ever show so much emotion to her friend again. She had known Gretchen for a while, but did not know how well she could be trusted with such feelings.
"Yes, of course. That time of the month," Gretchen said quietly, not quite believing her.
…
Ron had skipped his first class of the day, complaining to Harry of a sore stomach and burying his head underneath his pillow. Accepting this, Harry had left him alone that morning. Ron wasn't sick physically but felt rather head sick and had needed some time to himself to think things through. He needed to come up with the perfect approach but alas, kept coming up short. How could he possibly make things right without risking the last inch of his pride in the process? Who could he talk to that knew more about apologizing to women than anyone else?
Seamus Finnigan, begin again.
Certainly Ron wouldn't take his advice again verbatim but he could modify it to suit his needs. Common sense, my friends. Common sense.
Feeling much better about everything, Ron nearly hopped out of his bed and into his pants. He put on the sweater that his mum had knitted for him two years back. It had been too big for him then so now it fit him a bit tightly. Unconcerned, he jogged out of the dormitory and into the hallways knowing exactly where his fellow Gryffindor might be.
There was a shadowy corner in a forbidden hallway that Seamus liked to frequent with his many conquests. He had bragged about his exploits there many a time while they changed clothes for bed. Ten girls a day, mate. When I bring them to that one spot they can't keep their skirts straight.
Ron also knew from the same source that Seamus frequented that spot pretty routinely. If he wasn't in class, he was there. So Ron opted to look there first, instead of bringing unwanted attention to himself by poking his head into a classroom. He quietly and cautiously made his way there, staying close to the walls so as to blend with the shadows in the empty corridors. The cold stone against his cheek made him shiver. Finally he arrived at the spot that Seamus had claimed as his own, assuming this was it simply by the descriptions he had been given and the low moans that reached his ears from the darkness.
Very embarrassed by the obvious moans of pleasure, Ron kept silent and averted his eyes until they died down. Seamus' cries reached his ears and Ron's stomach wrenched. He thought of leaving it for another time, but knew that if he didn't do this now he never would. Plus, he feared his retreat would gather the couple's attention. Ron loathed ruining an obviously ecstatic moment for Seamus, and it wasn't as if he had never heard the sounds of lovemaking before. His parents hadn't let middle age stop them and they lived in rather cramped living quarters.
Finally, blessedly, the grunting stopped. When he heard the zippers and quiet whispers of two people awkwardly dressing themselves again, he pushed away from the secrecy of the wall and made his presence known.
"Oh. Is that you Seamus? I didn't know you would be here.." Ron started, but his sentence trailed off into oblivion when the couple stepped into the scarce light. It was Seamus, for sure. But his partner was not who Ron expected it to be. She wasn't a fellow Gryffindor girl or even a Slytherin girl with a bad reputation.
He was a-he.
Seamus stared at Ron with wide eyes, like a deer in the headlights of his father's muggle car. He looked as pale as if he were looking at a ghost. If Ron weren't so disturbed by the entire scene, he would have laughed at the sight of Seamus standing there as white as a sheet, with his pants gaping open and his school sweater put on backwards.
"Uh-I have to go," Seamus' partner said before taking off out of the corner and running past Ron. He bumped Ron's shoulder in his hasty retreat and Ron recognized him as a seventh year Huffelpuff named Terrence Red. Seamus was left alone with Ron now, babbling nonsense.
"It's not what you think it looks like. I-we-"
"Save it, Finnigan," Ron interrupted, feeling a little sorry for his peer and not having the heart to let him continue. Seamus exhaled slowly and cast his eyes down to look at his feet in shame.
"I don't know what's wrong with me, Ron," he said softly, putting his clothing to rights then leaning against the wall.
"Why did you brag about all those girls? Why did you have to lie?" Ron asked, keeping his tone softer and non-accusing. Seamus cringed visibly and raked his hand through his dark hair. He slid down until he was sitting on the cold floor, his back supported by the wall and his hands covering his face.
"I don't know why I lied. I guess I just wanted to convince myself more than anyone. When my father found out, he beat me until I couldn't move. He read my journals, you see. He was waiting for me when I got home and he threw me against the wall and broke the lamp. He put his hands around my neck and told me I wasn't his son anymore. My mum had to stop him from killing me. Do you know what that feels like, Weasley? Do you know what it feels like to have your mum's body shielding your own so your father can't damage your face permanently?" He demanded, his eyes now boring into Ron's. Ron looked away, not knowing how to answer that yet imagining the terrible scene.
"No. No, I don't know what that feels like. Although I imagine my da' has wanted to do the honors a few times before," Ron answered matter-of-factly. When he looked back at Seamus he was smiling slightly. Ron held his hand out to Seamus.
"Nobody else needs to know, Finnigan. Get up. You'll be late for your next class," Ron said. When Seamus looked up Ron took a hold of his hand and shook it firmly. As if they were sealing a deal. Seamus sprang up into a standing position again, still hanging onto Ron. Finnigan pulled his hand away and slapped Ron on the back without a word. Ron stayed behind in the shadows for a few long moments, deciding he couldn't really go to class that day and he'd have to do without friendly advice.
…
Minutes later, Ron stepped out of the forbidden corridor (the smell of sex pervaded his senses and he couldn't think any longer) and continued on toward his dormitory. He needed to lie down before the events of that day started to sink in.
No such luck.
"Ronald? Ronald Weasley!" He heard someone call from behind him. He didn't recognize the voice, but it was distinctly female. Interested in the development, he turned around. It was the girl who hung about Luna everyday. What was her name? Gastrich? Gorpa? She ran toward him, holding her long robes so she wouldn't trip over the edges. Her long brown hair was in her face and she self-consciously swept it out of her eyes. She was rather pretty, much more so by herself than when she was standing next to Luna. When she reached him, out of breath, she held out her hand for him to shake and introduced herself.
"I'm Gretchen! But you already knew that. I wanted to-talk to you," she said, all smiles. Ron, quite curious, let her lead him away into an empty classroom nearby. She babbled on incessantly, obviously nervous. Ron found this quite funny, as he saw no reason for anyone to be nervous around someone like him.
"I'm sorry I kicked you a couple days ago. I was just looking out for Luna, you know? She rarely defends herself, so I sometimes need to take the initiative. I just moved here not too long ago. Everybody here talks strangely, but they all think I have a strange accent. Nobody really associates with me, except Luna. I had a lot of friends in America, but here I just have her. She's a good friend though. You have great friends too. What's it like to hang around Harry Potter?" she continued on and on, stopping for breath only once. Ron tried to answer her but she interrupted him.
"He's as cute in real life as in the papers. Is he interested in someone? Not that I care, really. Just curious. Are you-interested in Luna?" she finally asked, pausing to let him answer for once. And therein lay the motivation of their conversation. Or rather, her conversation.
Ron genuinely did not know how to answer her. For the second time that day he was at a loss for words and very embarrassed.
Was he interested in Luna? He had to admit that he found the girl rather fascinating, and she had been plaguing his thoughts (and dreams) for some time now. Perhaps if she had asked "does your stomach do flip-flops when you notice her walking out of a classroom?" or "does your brain freeze up like you've just eaten a gallon of ice cream in three seconds flat when she talks to you?" he would have been able to answer affirmatively. But the word "interested" or Gretchen's definition of it was not in his dictionary and he needed to save as much face as possible in light of recent events.
He opened his mouth to tell her so but was rudely interrupted by her lips suddenly seizing his own.
She was kissing him. Rather well. She obviously had experience and he did not. Her hand grasped his arm to hold him in place and her hair tickled his neck when she tilted her head to slant her lips across his. Her small breasts pressed against his chest and he imagined her curves beneath her loose robes. He hadn't been expecting to receive his first kiss today. He had thoroughly assumed that her intention was to gather information to bring back to her friend but Luna was obviously the furthest thing from her mind.
Ron almost passed out when he felt her tongue snake between his lips and sweep the inside corner. He tried to push her away from him but her technique was-persuasive.
"Aren't you going to kiss me back? Shall I just stand here and hold my breath until you find the knack?" she asked, pressed so close to him that her thighs touched his and the heat of that contact made his blood rush to a certain part of his anatomy. Strangely enough, even in his blind arousal, the image of Luna and the dreams he had had of her flashed in his mind. And that went quickly out the window when he felt the warmth and slight pressure of Gretchen's hand on his arse.
"I've liked you for a while now, Weasley. You and I could be good together," she whispered, her hand moving in circles along his body until it eventually rested on his hip. Rather close to the part of him that ached for even the slightest touch
"W-what about Luna?" he managed to say around her lips.
"Yeah. What about Luna?" a voice from the doorway sounded and Ron pulled away from Gretchen to see the source.
Luna stood in the entryway of the classroom, her face red with embarrassment or maybe anger. Ron was a dead man. His mum would have one less mouth to feed at Christmas dinner. He didn't know why the sight of her induced a fluttery panic in the pit of his stomach. What did she care if he was being kissed by her one and only friend? They weren't dating and it was safe to say that Luna despised him, yet the sight of her standing there staring at them made him feel so ashamed of himself. He guiltily stepped away from Gretchen, putting a safe and modest distance between them.
Gretchen smoothed her robes down and primped her disheveled hair. She didn't seem concerned in the least, only vaguely annoyed by the interruption. Gretchen looked up at Luna and crossed her arms over her breasts, obviously waiting defiantly for Luna's reaction. Ron fidgeted awkwardly, not wanting to get between two young women, yet at the same time he did. He and Gretchen both waited anxiously for Luna to speak again but after a long moment she simply turned around and walked calmly away. Ron looked over at Gretchen and noticed that her cool exterior had cracked a bit. Her face was pale and her breath shook a little. She didn't seem to notice that he was still in the room.
He realized then that she had used him to hurt Luna for some obscure reason.
"You're a disgusting whore," Ron said in a calm monotone, stating a fact. She did not look back at him but he noticed that her brown eyes were shining with the beginnings of tears. He didn't wait for them to fall, however. By then he was well on the way to his bed.
…
Luna did not return to her classes or to her dormitory.
She left the heinous scene and headed straight for her spot by the lake. She was relieved to find that no one was in sight, and she sat alone at the edge.
Why? Why had Gretchen done that? That morning after their first class, she had asked Luna to meet her in that classroom for some last minute studying before the holiday break. It was as if she had planned the scene meticulously, as if she had wanted Luna to find them together. Gretchen couldn't be stupid enough to make a mistake like that. It had to have been planned. But why?
Luna turned over every stone in her mind, trying to remember what exactly she had done to inspire such malice. When she came up empty, she tried to wrap her brain around why this concerned her so much. It was only Ronald Weasley, the boy she had professed to hate only yesterday.
So why was she now quietly sobbing by the lake, alone?
…
In a school where the only scandal that ever occurs revolves around one Harry Potter, the young students will clamp their teeth upon any tiny morsel of a rumor that involves someone else. And that's just what they did.
That very evening Ron was slapped on the shoulder, congratulated and asked every detail of his love life by teenage boys from all four houses. He couldn't catch a break and at one point he had inhaled a piece of corn when a burly Ravenclaw surprised him by giving him a hearty slap on the back. He didn't know how they had found out and wondered briefly if Gretchen had spread the story all around just to humiliate him, but she was nowhere in the dining hall. Neither was Luna.
"I heard about your escapade into adulthood, Weasley. We can all breathe easier now," Ron heard from behind him.
Draco.
Ron didn't feel up to rising to his taunts, so concentrated on his bowl of soup instead. Harry and Hermione gaped at him from across the table. He had never been able to ignore Draco.
"Didn't you hear me, muggle lover?" Draco asked, sounding a bit peeved that Ron wasn't taking his bait. Ron only continued to stir his soup.
"Well, I know Hermione is relieved. We were all starting to think that you and Potter were more than just mates."
Ron couldn't help looking up and casting his eyes toward Seamus at the end of the table. Finnigan's attention was on Draco and Ron could see the deep flush in his face. Ron looked away quickly and glanced at Hermione. If it were possible for one's ears to steam, hers would have been.
"Did I strike a nerve, Princess? I'll have to ask dear Gretchen what the American muggles call your kind. I believe it's 'fag-hag'," Draco taunted Hermione. The comment was absolutely ridiculous, but the reaction was quite serious. Before anyone could move, Seamus Finnigan had Draco pinned and was pummeling him in the face. By the time Harry and Dean Thomas pulled the crazed Finnigan off of Draco, the blonde Slytherine had a bloodied nose and a fat lip.
"What the devil is going on here?" Dumbledore demanded from the edge of the fray. Seamus continued to struggle out of Harry and Dean's grasps, while Draco picked himself up off the floor. Ginny stood near him, looking torn between giving him a black eye to match the rest of his face or kissing his injuries all better. Ron would have gagged, but the scene that Seamus made held everyone's attention. Dumbledore whispered something and Seamus stood absolutely still, his limbs frozen in mid-struggle. Harry and Dean took their hands off of him and stood back, and who could blame them? Dumbledore looked angrier than any of the students had ever seen him.
"Ronald Weasley and Draco Malfoy, you will both report to my chambers immediately," Dumbledore bellowed before hurrying out of the hall, a defenseless Seamus Finnigan floating in mid-air behind him. As Ron followed in their wake all eyes were on him and he heard their whispers behind secretive hands. But he didn't care about them, because out of the corner of his eye he noticed Luna from across the room. When he blinked, she was gone.