Break it Up (Ron Weasley)

10. Discoveries

Ron stared back at me while he held my face in his palms, tears continuing to rush down my face. "Shh. It's okay. I'm here."

"Ron, oh my god, I'm so sorry," I cried, hardly embarrassed at how pathetic I must have looked at the moment. "I'm so sorry," I repeated.

"It's okay," he said, reaching out to pull me in for an embrace. "It's okay," he said again, lifting his hand up to stroke my hair comfortingly while he hugged me tightly.

"You didn't deserve that," I said into his shoulder. "I should've told you as soon as it happened. I should've-"

"Shh," Ron said again, continuing to stroke the back of me head.

I sniffed loudly and pulled my face away from him to sit up. "Why are you here?" I asked, glancing at the clock behind him. "It's 2:30 in the morning."

He looked down at his hands awkwardly. "I thought we should talk," he admitted quietly, wringing his hands. "You know, by ourselves, and not in the middle of the hall."

"At 2:30?" I asked again, tilting my head.

"Yeah, you know, couldn't sleep," he replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah," I sniffed, wiping the remaining tears off my face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be such a... mess."

"Don't apologize," he said soothingly. "Did you have a bad dream?" he asked, resting his hand on mine comfortingly and looking directly into my most definitely puffy and red eyes.

"Was I saying something out loud?" I asked, suddenly very aware of what my nightmare had been about.

"Well," he started, sucking in a deep breath before continuing. "I heard you screaming from outside your door. When I walked in, you were already awake and shouting, 'I didn't mean to!' over and over."

"Oh Merlin," I breathed quietly, embarrassed. "Can I go first?" I asked, quick to change the subject. "If we're talking, I mean."

He nodded and leaned back on his hands, looking at me intently and fully ready to listen to what I had to say.

I am so in love with this boy.

"I am so sorry, Ron. You didn't deserve any of that. I should've told you immediately after anything happened, and instead I just lied because I was afraid of hurting you." I paused to glance up at his face, which remained unfazed. "Obviously, I was just being stupid, because I ended up hurting you more."

He kept a straight face after I apologized, staring at me for a moment in silence. "Yeah," he said finally, on the brink of laughing. "That was pretty stupid."

I couldn't help but laugh a bit myself at his remark. "I understand if you can't forgive me," I began, holding back the urge to cry once more. I'm sure Ron had seen enough of that already today. "But I just want you to know how sorry I am. And I know how awful it was of me to not only keep a secret, but to lie to you."

Another moment of silence passed between us as Ron processed my apology. I couldn't quite make out his reaction to it based on his expression, and it was making me more nervous.

"You don't lie to someone you love," I added quietly.

"You do when you think you're protecting them," he replied softly, meeting my gaze and giving me a small smile. "Merlin, y/n, I didn't mean to lash out at you like that," he stated, running his hand through his red hair. "The thought of you and Malfoy just... boiled my blood."

We both laughed softly at his comment before he continued.

"And of course I forgive you," he added. "You also can't stay mad at someone you love."