Ron sat down at the school computer, his back sweaty against the cold, bumpy plastic of the chair. He made sure to wipe his hands before reaching for the mouse - couldn't risk getting sick, after all.
He clicked the browser open and signed in to his email account. Directly above his account on the login screen was Cho Chang's account. A thumbnail of an owl sat across from her name, written in a clean, sans serif font.
He flashed back to last month, remembering what happened at the Valentine's party. She'd been with Harry at the time, but there was just something magnetic between them. Soon, looks had turned to kissing, and kissing had turned to, well...
Let's just say you can do a lot in a cupboard under the stairs.
Clearing the memory of Cho's fingers from the buttons of his polo shirt, Ron hammered in his password (PercySucks), breaking the S key while doing it. He had a sort of quiet strength to everything he did, which resulted in a lot of things getting broken. Quite often, those things were hearts.
Ron's email slid open in a display of sexy, modernized convenience. Still no message from Seamus - he'd been waiting for the other boy to send him his half of the Agrippa research project.
He opened his daily email from Lavender - a love poem too embarrassing to repeat, paired with an illustration of Ron as an anthropomorphic fox - and quickly shut it again. He loved Lavender, but she could be a little too sappy sometimes. Then again, he had cheated on her with Cho, so maybe he could cut her some slack.
Cho. Ron wasn't dreaming it. He had an email from Cho Chang. The two hadn't spoken since the night of the party.
He smiled to himself like a player. He was pretty much his own wingman at this point. Girls just can't resist this ginger cookie, he thought.
The email had no subject line, so he opened it with caution. If he was lucky, maybe it'd be a little risque. He checked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was in the library. The only person he saw was Vincent Crabbe, deeply engrossed in another computer. He spared himself the thought of what kinds of unspeakable things Crabbe probably did on the Internet. Turning his head back to the computer, he was met with a nasty surprise.
The email read as follows:
Hi, Ron.
I wasn't sure how to say this, but I'm pregnant. I think you know how it happened.
Listen, I know you can't pay child support, but I need something from you. You did this. Unless you can part ways with some money monthly, I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell the school what happened. I don't like waving this over your head, but I know you won't commit anything otherwise, not without the threat of losing your best friend and your girlfriend over this. Because yeah, I don't think Harry would take kindly to knowing who I cheated with.
Anyway, write me back with an offer.
-Cho
Ron's pulse quickened. How could this have happened? Well, okay, that was obvious. But he had no money, no way out. He just had to give up. Unless...
He emailed Cho back.
Hi, Cho.
I'm broke - you know how the Great Recession affected my family - but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this up to you.
- Ron
He exhaled and looked around the library again, feeling like gallons of viscous sweat must be pouring from his hairline. Crabbe was still there, but otherwise the library was empty. A ping from the computer sent his head spinning back to the screen.
Hi, Ron.
Anything?
- Cho (sent from iPhone)
He emailed back.
Hi, Cho.
Yeah.
- Ron
He waited tensely for the next ping. It came after an excruciating minute.
Hi, Ron.
I want you to doxx my old boyfriend Michael. I'll text you with more details. Ciao.
- Cho (sent from iPhone)
He stared back before logging out as quickly as possible. Was he being blackmailed? What had he gotten himself into? All this for a one-night stand? He stood up a bit more abruptly than he meant to, then rushed out the library door.
The real question was, was this task all it took, or was this only the tip of the iceberg?
***
Luna Lovegood, head journalist for the Goswarth Times, emerged from behind a bookshelf. Ron had clearly been in some kind of distress. He didn't have the usual zoned-out look of a kid using the computer to look at memes or porn. This had to be good.
Slipping into the chair he'd been in - and noticing the slick sweat coat on the back - she pulled up his email. Thanks to how hard he'd tapped the keys, she knew exactly what the password was. It opened like a dream.
She read the email chain like a tiger hunting prey. Nothing tasted as good as hot gossip if you were a journalist, and this was a full three-course meal's worth of tea. She brushed her stringy blond hair behind her ear, jiggling her pink plastic sunglasses in the process.
Wow, Ron, you've gotten yourself into a sticky situation.
She took a few quick pictures on her phone, then closed the email and logged out. Then she texted the snapshots to Cho.
So you've got Weasley under your finger?
Yep, Cho responded a minute later. How'd you get those?
I have ways you can't even dream of, said Luna. I'm an agent of the free press.
So what do you want? Cho queried.
I want in.
Luna hit send one final time, then slid out of the library, fast as lightning in the clouds of the brewing gossip storm.
YOU ARE READING
Lockers Full of Thorns
Fanfiction{Harry Potter - High School AU} It's Harry's junior year at Goswarth High, and things are going well - he's got a girlfriend, he's set for life with riches from his dad's hedge fund, and his band is taking off. But with great success comes great res...
