Break it Up (Ron Weasley)

18. Weekend Getaway

"Morning," I heard from behind me.

I rolled over to see Ron standing and staring at me.

"Hi," I groaned while still trying to adjust to waking up.

"Sleep well?"

"Very," I responded, pushing back the sheets and slipping out of the warm bed.

Then I realized — last night I didn't fall asleep in a bed. I fell asleep on the ground. Outside. With Ron.

"How did I-" I began to ask, but Ron cut me off.

"I couldn't let you sleep on the grass," he explained. "I aparated you up here."

I looked around to soon recognize that I was in Ron's room once again. "Oh," was all I could think to say. "Thanks."

I looked down to see that I was still in Ron's sweatshirt, and I had no plans to take it off anytime soon.

"So, I just talked to my mom," he said, walking over to the other side of the room. "Ginny told her about you."

I froze. "Oh no. Is she mad?" I worried.

Ron just laughed. "Mad? No, no, no. Quite the opposite actually," he remarked, sitting in the window frame. "She wants to meet you."

"Oh," I said, sighing with relief.

"She wants you to come stay at the burrow for the weekend," he continued, gazing out the window. "She wants us to head over right now."

It was Saturday morning, so I guess the weekend started now. "Are we going now, then?" I asked, beginning to scramble around the room. "I have to get packed."

"Do you want to go?" he asked, fiddling with his hands. "I mean, I just never thought that we'd have to trick my mom into believing we're dating."

Shoot. It had completely slipped my mind again that this was a fake relationship. That seems to keep happening. And did I want to lie to Ron's mom? I mean, don't moms know everything about their kids? Can't they tell when they're lying?

"Right," I answered, playing with the zipper on Ron's hoodie. "What do you think?"

He took a deep breath before replying. "I mean, if we don't go, I think she'll be suspicious. So I feel like we should go." He paused. "But only if you're comfortable with that. If not I understand."

I smiled. "No, I'm fine with it. Just wanted to make sure you were."

"Okay, then it's settled. Go pack," he said, shooing me out the door. "She wants us there two minutes ago."

I laughed and walked into the Gryffindor common room similarly to how I had the first night we began the plan. At least it was a Saturday and everyone was sleeping instead of gawking at me.

I arrived back at my room and quickly threw a bunch of my things into a duffel bag. On my way out of the Hufflepuff dorms, someone called my name.

"Y/n!" I stopped and turned around to find Cedric. "Hey, going somewhere?" he asked, pointing to my bag.

"Oh, yeah. I'm staying at Ron's for the weekend," I said calmly. He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, fun," he answered. His face then filled with concern. "Listen," he began. "Next time you're free, let's hangout. We haven't in a while."

I looked up to see that he looked genuinely looked upset that we've been spending a considerably less amount of time together than we usually do.

I smiled up at him. "Of course. I'm looking forward to it," I replied.

He smiled back. "Well, I don't want to make you late. Have fun this weekend!" he exclaimed, waving and running away.

I waved back and began my hike back over to Ron's room.

Cedric was so genuine and kind. He cares about me and my well-being, and even noticed that this year has been so different from the previous ones for the two of us. And I did miss hanging out with him. He was my best friend, after all.

Before I could think about it more, I arrived back at Ron's room.

"Ready?" he asked, and I nodded in response. "Let's see if I can do this properly the first time," he remarked while grabbing my hand. The touch between the two of us sent butterflies straight to my stomach and I couldn't help but crack a small smile.

Suddenly, without warning, we were whisked away. The next thing I knew, I was standing in a very nicely staged living room with the overbearing aroma of coffee filling my nose.

"You're home!" I heard from behind Ron and I. We were still holding hands.

"Mum!" Ron exclaimed, turning around to hug Molly. I smiled at their interaction.

"And you must be y/n," she said after letting go of Ron. "I'm Molly. Nice to meet you, dear." She extended her arms for a hug and I embraced her.

"You have a lovely home," I said, glancing around the new space. Something about it just instantly felt comforting; like I've called this place home before.

"Why, thank you dear," she responded, hurrying past us to the kitchen. "I bet you two are starving. Here, have some breakfast." She handed us two large plates of chocolate chip pancakes with two glasses of orange juice next to them.

"Mum!" Ron exclaimed, already sitting down to dig in. "You forgot the syrup!"

Molly rolled her eyes and looked over at me. "Maybe you can teach him a thing or two about manners. Merlin knows I've tried," she said, running over to the pantry to get Ron syrup.

I laughed and sat down next to him at my plate. "This looks delicious, thank you," I said, picking up a fork and knife unlike Ron, who was shoving food down his throat as fast as he could.

Molly smiled. "I just have to grab something from upstairs. I'll be right back." She turned around to walk up the very long and steep wooden staircase.

"Classy," I said while watching Ron stuff his face. "What?" he asked with a mouthful. "I'm hungry."

I laughed and Molly returned to the kitchen. "I have something for you," she said, standing on the opposite side of the table. "I usually give one to my kids at Christmas every year, but I just couldn't wait to give this to you," she said, handing me a box wrapped neatly in brown paper.

"Oh my, thank you," I said in shock, taking the box from her. I untied the bow around it and opened it to reveal a red sweater with my first initial stitched on to the front.

"Oh my Merlin! I love it!" I exclaimed, holding it up. "Thank you so much!" I couldn't help but feel a little guilty too. This lovely woman knitted a whole sweater for her son's fake girlfriend.

Molly just laughed and shrugged it off, like it was no big deal. Ron looked at her with a confused face and then back at me.

Before Ron could say anything he'd probably regret, Molly sat down in front of us. "So, I want to know everything," she said, patting the table. "How did you two meet?"

Ron and I exchanged worried glances, but then I remembered this question was easy. "Well, we've always known each other in school," I started, looking back at Ron. "But this year, we sat next to each other in potions."

Ron nodded along as I explained to Molly how he didn't even want to sit next to me that fateful day.

"Ronald Weasley! Why would you behave like that in class!" she scolded after hearing about his scene.

"I don't know Mum! I wanted to sit with my friends," he answered defensively.

"Well, I bet you're grateful your friends sat without you now," she remarked, smirking at the two of us.

I blushed and Ron looked down at his food. I was trying not to look, but I think he might've been blushing too.