A/N: Pokey, I'm really fighting with myself over the dumbass Ron. I guess I want this to be more of a moral fight than just a "oh, he's a bastard let's move on to the better-look there's Harry!" sort of deal, like I've read a lot. I just can't see Ron being that type of dumbass bastard. I dunno. Hope you aren't terribly disappointed.
Rodsqueak, it's absolutely killing me to do this to Ron! My heart goes out for him in this chapter though. Glad you loved his singing (or lack of)!
Eliza, sorry about the cliffies. I love them!
Khermione85626, it's no prob. I love getting reviews, but it's pointless if I don't read them and answer questions now isn't it?
Usha88, that certainly IS a brilliant movie.
Goodygirl, you're question about Ginny's loyalty will be answered in this chapter. I absolutely loved what I did with her, and if you guys don't it's totally understandable. It's quite bitchy what she does. But I can so see Ginny doing something of this sort...
Harryloveshermione2003, haha yes, men and their madness..
KypDurron, let's hope I answer those questions soon!
Thanks to spaz141, Draco's Gurl, Katakali, LiZz, Creepy Susie, luvfordanielandtom, Jenna Kathleen, Muirin, LuckyStar, and sweetkiki456 for all your supporting comments.
Thanks to all you anonymous reviewers as well!
As a side note, I just have to say this...but God are you guys vicious towards Ron! I find it absolutely hilarious, but still, the poor bloke...
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My Best Friend's Wedding
Chapter Five: Truth
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(Hermione)
Harry and I returned to our table among applaud and cheers, a feeling of self satisfaction coursing through my veins.
"Did you see?!" I nearly screamed to Ron. He smiled back at me, but I noticed that it didn't reach his eyes. His eyes pierced through my soul; they were cold, bitter, and as hard as granite. My smile faltered and I swallowed, suddenly feeling a sense of foreboding.
"Yeah," he said, his eyes staring into mine. "Brilliant." Harry laughed, catching my eye and smiling. I smiled back, but kept my attention on Ron.
Something had happened.
Ron got up from the table, downing the last of his drink and saluting to Harry.
"I, uh, have things to do. Just...came up. Sorry. You two have...fun." With that he turned around, grabbing his jacket and shrugging it across one shoulder as he lugged out of the karaoke bar.
Harry stared at his retreating back, his eyebrows raised. I grabbed his arm and pleaded with him, biting my lip nervously as I waited for his answer.
"Go ahead," he said, and for once, he didn't seem remotely jealous that I was about to chase after Ron. He looked as if he wanted to run after him as well.
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(Ron)
I whisked out of that place, needing time to collect my thoughts. As I turned a corner I heard footsteps behind me, and I instantly regretted not apparating.
"Ron!" Hermione screamed after me. I stopped, remaining where I was until she caught up with me. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I snapped. I refused to look her in the eye. As she reached out a hand to cup my cheek I turned my head stubbornly, and I felt rather than heard her whimper.
"Ron," she begged, withdrawing her hand and letting it fall uselessly to her side. I shook my head, my eyes trained on the ground as I thought of what to say.
"He loves you," I finally croaked out, and I saw Hermione tense up. She stared at me with her wide eyes, her mouth agape. "Harry." I swallowed then, risking it all by raising my eyes to look into hers. "But you knew that."
"I.." She fished around for words, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to do just that.
"I just have a question," I interrupted, continuing to look into her eyes. "There's a reason you're marrying me, right? Or am I just some second best trophy for you to set on a dusty shelf 'cause you couldn't win the blue." I waited patiently for her answer, the blood pounding in my ears.
"I..." Hermione began, her eyes watering up with tears. As I saw her wipe them away tenderly my heart broke, that bubble of hope I had in me deflating.
"It's fine, Hermione," I muttered, raising my wand to apparate.
"No, Ron!" she yelled, latching onto my wand hand as she quickly pulled it down. I looked at her sadly, my mouth suddenly dry as I realized that Hermione had always loved Harry.
"Ron, I love you," she whispered, looking at me. I felt her hand tremble on mine and I sighed, dropping my wand as I nervously scratched the back of my neck. Hermione hesitantly bent over to grab my wand, holding it tenderly in her fingers as she nervously looked at me.
"You didn't answer my question, Hermione." She shook her head, her eyes trained on the ground as she bit her lip nervously.
"I...I know. I'm just...trying to find the right words."
I sighed then, swallowing. I always had to be fucking optimistic. Harry had every right to want to be with this glorious, wonderful woman. To love such a girl. But I couldn't help feel like...like she belonged to me. When Harry was frustrated and pissed off and ignored us all, who was the one who comforted her? Who was the one who held her close and wiped away the tears? It had been bloody me.
I knew I was being stupid. Selfish. But I was a man in love with a woman, and I held that love too importantly to my heart to just let go of it in an instant. Yes, if Hermione truly, deeply loved him, I would do it. Not because it wasn't important, not because I felt that Harry should be with her. I would do it for her, because I loved her that deeply that I would do anything to make her smile. Even give her up to another man.
But then it hit me. We had gotten together in the time when Harry had ignored us, when we held onto each other because we had lost a link in the trio.
Maybe...maybe she had been with me because he hadn't been there.
And now, now he was here.
"Ron?" she asked timidly and I raised my head. My eyes, I knew, were red rimmed. Tears had escaped as I contemplated these thoughts, the idea that everything I loved, that the two people who I held closest to my heart, were about to betray me. I knew it wasn't their fault. Love is something that one can't control, and I knew that Harry, nor Hermione, could control something as powerful as that. But all the same...
"Yeah?"
"I-I love you," she croaked out, taking a step closer. "But-"
"But you love Harry more," I finished for her, lowering my eyes to the ground again as tears splattered the ground. Hermione looked down at my fallen tears, clenching her eyes shut as more tears shimmered past her lashes.
"I honestly don't know." I raised my eyes to hers again as she opened her eyes to look at me.
"You...don't know."
"I love you, Ron. I really do. You make me feel loved, you ignite a feeling of happiness I haven't felt since childhood. But Harry...he..."
"I don't have to know," I quickly said, not wanting to hear the effects Harry had on Hermione. She bit her lip again, turning away as I swallowed. "So...what do we do now."
"Does Harry know you know?"
"No."
"Oh."
"This is between me and you."
"But it involves him, Ron."
"No, it doesn't."
"Yes, actually, it does."
"I don't fucking care what he feels about you, Hermione! What he feels about this!" I nearly yelled, sadness creeping up my throat as I tried to contain my tears. "I don't give a damn about him right now! What I care about most is what you feel about me! Have you...have you always loved him? Is that it? That you just thought you were over him and turned to me, but now...you..." I turned away from her then, clenching my fists as I rested them against the brick wall behind me.
"Ron, I-"
"No, let me finish." I turned around then, sighing as I whispered, "If you love me, Hermione, I want to marry you. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone...and if you ch-choose Harry, then..." I looked up at the night sky, a tear trickling down my cheek as I finished, "then the two of you deserve your happiness." I looked at her then, smiling as I whispered, "Don't worry about me, Hermione. I'll be fine. You just...choose, allright? By yourself. I don't want you to marry me because I'm crying."
Hermione nodded, handing my wand back to me as I nodded back and raised my wand, apparating home.
The last image I saw before my feet touched the familiar soft carpet was Hermione's tear stained face twisted in sorrow.
And the only thought I could think was how god damn beautiful she was at that particular moment.
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(Ginny)
"Hermione?"
"I did something awful, Ginny," Hermione whispered, her tear stained face looking into mine. "I lied."
"Oh? Well, a little white lie isn't really-"
"This isn't some stupid thing, like me telling you that you look good in a dress that you look absolutely horrible in. Or telling Harry that his soup did indeed taste absolutely brilliant, when it really tasted like my mum's burnt shoes."
"What did you lie about, Hermione?"
She swallowed, clenching her jaw before turning back to me and whispering, "I lied to you about Ron and Harry."
"Oh...that."
"But you knew that."
"Of course. I'm not that stupid, you know."
"Yes. Not like I am."
"Hermione..."
"No, I really blew it this time. I convinced myself that I love Ron. And you know what? I know that I do. I love him, and if he had been the only one in my life, I would've been blissfully happy. But..."
"But he's not the only man in your life." Hermione sighed and rubbed her arms, trying to bring the warmth that evaporated the moment she saw Ron's eyes.
He didn't deserve this. He deserved someone who loved him unconditionally, who would give everything to see his smiling face and passionate eyes. Can you do that, Hermione?
"The thing is, Harry is just a fantasy. I don't know why I've kept up this escapade. The moment Harry kissed me...I can admit, I felt things I never thought I could feel. Everything I had kept locked away for him, from him...they just burst out of me. But the second I said his name I knew I had done something wrong. You know why? Because it was Harry's name that escaped my lips, not Ron's."
"Should it be Ron's?"
"It should. But was it? No. And Harry...why now, of all the bloody times this could've happened to me?!"
"Hermione, do me a favor." Hermione looked at me then, her eyes wide as she suddenly realized that there was another person in the room. Looking at me sheepishly she nodded, and I took in a deep breath before I said the one thing I knew could hurt her most. "Do what's best for you. But also take into account...that I will not allow you to marry my brother if I know that you could turn to Harry at any moment after swearing your life to him." Hermione stared at me, obviously speechless. "Haven't you ever wondered why I pushed Harry to kiss you? Why I've been wanting this entire thing to happen?" Hermione shook her head, apparently too surprised to speak. "Well, I love Ron. I love all of you, but Ron's my brother. He's my flesh and blood. And I probably know more than anyone what he deserves in life. He deserves the best. And you, Hermione, you're the best to him. He deserves to have you in his life and to love you undeniably. But what he doesn't deserve is to have a scheming, backstabbing woman who'll screw around with his best friend behind his back while he believes everything is perfect."
"Ginny, I wouldn't ever-"
"Don't you tell me that," I replied, reaching for a book as I turned my attention away from Hermione. "Because you're the one who kissed his best friend behind his back."
"Th-that wasn't my fault! You even said so yourself, Ginny, you told him-"
"Me telling him has nothing to do with you giving into Harry's ministrations," was my reply. Hermione glared at me then, probably thinking of the worst cuss words known to the wizarding community.
I did what I had to.
"Look, I want you to be happy," I said, crossing my arms. "I really do. But if you're going to convince yourself that you're going to be with Ron just because he was the one who got to you first, don't go there. Because I know as well as you do that your feelings for Harry, if you do do that, won't go away. And you will be the scheming, backstabbing bitch that I said you could become. So don't make this decision based on the thought that you pity my brother." I turned back to my book then, smiling slightly as I saw Hermione close her mouth and process what I had just said. "Because if there is anyone in the world who doesn't need pity, it's Ronald Weasley."
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(Ron)
When I apparated home, I bloody forgot who I bloody share a bloody flat with.
"Ron? What're you...what's wrong, mate?" Harry had just noticed my red rimmed eyes, I figured. Snorting, I shrugged off my jacket and walked to the kitchen, ready to get myself a drink. "Ron?"
"What," I said wearily, exhausted from the events that had happened today.
"What happened?"
"Nothing, Harry," I replied as I poured Firewhiskey into a glass. "Allergies." Harry's eyes narrowed.
"Ron, you can't really expect me to believe that shit, do you?" I shrugged. "Really, what is it?" I sighed then, giving up. Harry might as well know.
"Me and Hermione are reconsidering our marriage," I muttered as I let myself sit in one of the leather chairs, the seat magically expanding to fit my long legs.
"Y-you are?" He asked, and I couldn't help but hear the sliver of hope embedded in his voice.
"Yeah."
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(Harry)
"Oh...what for?" I asked, frowning. Bloody hell, they might not get married!
"Well..." Ron's eyes closed as he leaned back, obviously exhausted. "I love her more than anything, you know that."
"Yeah, I do." We both love her.
"But...she might not love me."
"She...what?"
"She might love some other bloke."
"A...what?!" Hermione loved someone else?!
"Yeah." Ron raked his fingers through his hair then, and it was with this final movement that I scrutinized his face. Tear stains. Misery. Exhaustion. Almost...almost ready to give up. Who was the bloody bastard who did this to him?
"Who the bloody hell?" Ron looked at me then, and it hit me. I choked on the gulp of water I had taken waiting for his answer. All of a sudden all the noises of the city was blocked out, all my sense drowned in that moment; all I could hear, smell, feel, was Ron's eyes driving into mine as I realized who had turned my best friend's life upside down.
I was that bloody bastard.
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