Hayloft - ron weasley

4

as the next two days passed briar went to her detentions. and ron was waiting there in the common room for her, to change her bandages.

they didn't talk much when he would bandage her up.

but the silence was comfortable.

the past two days eased briar's anxiety and sadness from cedric's death.

it started to feel as if everything would be ok.

until potions class.

she forgot how much she loathed that class and that teacher.

but of course she was reminded very quickly.

she was in potions, making her potion, the usual. when draco malfoy decided to do the thing he does best, run his mouth.

"no, of course he's not back." he laughed, "only a dim witted person would believe anything that comes out of potter's mouth!"

briar chose to ignore his antics and keep stirring her potion.

but then he spoke again, "cedric? oh no. he must have died of shock with the fact that potter won over him. imagine him going back to his house, idiotic that would be, he would be an embarrassment to the hufflepuff name itself-"

before briar even knew what she was doing she was on her feet, pressing her wand into draco's neck, "you better shut your mouth."

draco was a blubbering mess in a matter of two seconds.

"you are nothing but a coward. you wouldn't last ten minutes in that tournament. so you shouldn't speak on things you know nothing about-"

someone pulled briar back from draco, "bri stop, you're gonna get in trouble."

"i don't care." she tried to release herself from ron's grip, but he had become much stronger over the summer. it didn't look like it from the outside but by the way she was struggling to free herself, it showed.

she took a deep breath, "fine."

briar began to slowly walk back to her seat.

"just wait till my father-"

she cut him off yet again by whispering a non audible spell sending draco flying backwards into the wall.

once she heard his body crash against the wall she turned around, stunned at what she just did. it seemed like everyone else had the same reaction too.

thank merlin snape wasn't in the room at the moment, or else she would be toast.

she was sure draco would tell the whole school about what she did but for now, she needed to leave.

grabbing her bag she ran out of the classroom, stopping at the field near hagrid's hut, sitting on the ground she stuffed her head into her hands, then let her hands glide over her scalp down to the crook of her neck.

"you're making it snow."

she jumped back making some kind of noise between a yelp and a shudder, "im sorry, did i ask you to follow me?"

it was obvious that she was upset.

"no." harry mumbled. he sat down next to her without saying anything else.

briar didn't hesitate to glare at him, "well if you're not leaving, then i guess i will."

before he could say anything else she walked away quickly, running into ron when she turned the corner.

"why were you with harry?" he asked worriedly.

"i was, for like two seconds, then i left." she huffed, picking up her pace.

"are you ok?"

"oh yeah. i'm great. hearing draco shit talk my dead best friend didn't strike a nerve at all."

"i'm sorry about that bri." he reached out for her shoulder, but on impact she shrugged him off.

"alright, fine. i'll leave you alone then." ron started walking down another hall before briar yelled to him, "wait! i'm sorry."

he slowly turned around smirking, walking back towards her.

"i'm just upset..."

her demeanor instantly changed from upset to looking down shamefully asking for forgiveness.

"it's ok. i would be acting the same way you are, probably much worse to be honest." he chuckled dryly.

she sent back a tight lipped smile, not knowing how to respond to that.

ron soon realized she wasn't going to say anything so he spoke again, "you were brilliant back there."

she playfully scoffed and rolled her eyes, "he deserved it."

"he did."

~

that night briar tossed and turned in her bed.

the same thing kept happening, cedric would be yelling at her for his death and she was sobbing into her hands apologizing endlessly.

she couldn't take much more of it, running up to the astronomy tower.

she grabbed onto the railing, letting herself release everything she was holding in.

after a couple of minutes she sat on the floor staring up into the sky.

when she was young she heard that whenever someone passed away, they became a star in the sky.

briar looked up at the stars, tears streaming down her face, wondering which one is cedric.

she heard footsteps just seconds later, she began to wipe the tears from her eyes and attempted to slow down her breathing.

"you don't have to do that."

she looked over to see ron sitting next to her, "it's ok, i won't judge."

she looked so sad. her eyes were small with tears streaming down her cheeks, her nose coated with red, her lips puffy and wet, and the hairs that fell into her face stuck to it.

at that she couldn't control her tear ducts, releasing fully, embarrassed of how much vulnerability she was showing at that moment.

as if he read her thoughts ron said, "you don't have to be embarrassed."

it was silent for a moment, the only noise being briar's soft cry and the wind blowing on their faces. then she spoke, "i just feel so bad. it's all my fault."

he looked down to her with a confused look on his face, "it isn't you're fault at all. and it's ok to feel happy after his death. and even though i didn't know him much, well at all, i think he would want you to be happy. he wouldn't want you to be crying over him. you don't have to feel guilty for feeling good. everyone grieves differently."

she looked up to him smiling slightly, "when did you get so poetic?"

"over the summer. read tons of poetry, don't you know?" he teased.

it got silent again, the comfortable silence.

"thank you, for saying all of that." she squeaked as she laid her head on his shoulder.

i kind of hate this lol😆 but i had that last scene in mind and i kinda KINDA like the way it played out.