Defining Secrets // Ron Weasley

Chapter Twenty One: A Cause For Betrayal and One Hell Of A Ball

Chapter playlist:

Sara, Smile, by Daryl Hall and John Oats
The Way You Look Tonight, by Elton John
Can't Take My Eyes Off You, by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons
Something Stupid, by Frank Sinatra
Get gone, by Fiona Apple
I love you, I'm sorry, by Gracie Abrams
Life Goes On, by The Cranberries
Lilac Wine, Jeff Buckley

***

Elise's POV:

A bobby pin digging into my scalp pulled me from my anxiety filled daze. I winched.

"Sorry." Ginny grimaced. This time she was careful when pinning another strand in place.

"How many more of those do you need?" Hermione asked.

"Until I'm nothing but pins and hair, apparently."

"And that's my que."

Ginny tucked the last bobby pin into my mess of hair and handed Hermione her container back. She stared down at the three lonely looking pins and scowled.

"Ginny-"

"Don't you start," she said.

"How can I?" Hermione asked. "You've taken all my pins!"

"Well- El's hair is really thick!"

Her mouth went agape. "So is mine?!"

"Well, you..." she glanced at Hermione's hair, "have less."

"I do not."

"With how much you're stressing, you might as well have."

Hermione stood up and Ginny hid behind me. I looked back at her, mouth agape at the betrayal. Hermione rolled her eyes at us. She came closer, I gulped, only for her to pull out a separate draw and reveal Ginny's box of bobby pins.

We each sighed in relief, expecting a bloodbath. But today, Hermione was strangely calmer. Well, maybe not calm. Less frustrated. She'd been nervously twitching all day and kept gnawing at that corner of her lip.

It was obvious who it was that was making her anxious. Fred. Considering he was her date to the ball, it didn't surprise me. And even if I didn't really believe the two of them, it didn't change how happy I was for her. Hermione hadn't smiled this much since Viktor. Hell, even more so. Ginny was a little sick at the idea, but I thought it was adorable.

But something inside me was still wrong. Something was gnawing at me. Painful and slow. And if it wasn't this situation with Fred and Hermione... then what was it?

Even I had to admit to myself that I was beginning to have weaker moments. Last night was a particularly bad night - one of the worst.

I was once told a strong woman shouldn't beg. But that night I looked to the sky and did just that. Begged for leniency. Patience. Love.

Praying that in this universe, just this one, for things to turn out okay. Maybe there was a way for me not to avoid Ron. For the nightmares to disappear. Or that I wouldn't need to see that look on people's faces if I finally told them.

But even the universe seemed against me. I went to bed that night with my friend's faces etched into my nightmares. Their expressions morphing from shock, to confusion, to anger. I woke up in tears instead of screams.