In the Space Between

I Can't Even

Ron was pacing up and down the sitting room fuming.

Does Harry James Potter want to date of my sister after what he did to her? He hurt her horribly. Breaking up with her right after Dumbledore's funeral. Then be snogs her right before Bill and Fleur's wedding. He Doesn't even talk about her let alone think about her when we're off searching and destroying Horcruxes. He can't just barge in here after weeks of not talking to everyone. 

Ron pushed away from one wall and tried to distract himself with a Chudly Canons book that he must have read at least a hundred times before. Then the voice he was trying so hard to quite, in his brain returned.

He claims he loves Ginny. No, he just wants her. Not to date, just her body. I saw that way he was looking at her. Disgusting. He says he only brought her up to her room. How do we know he didn't do more. He took forever.

The small voice in the back of Ron's head said. This was a side of Ron he didn't even know existed. And he was scared of it. This was his best friend and yet, he couldn't seem to stop villainizing him. He told you he was making her a sandwich. Ron pushed this thought away once more. He then sat on the couch and began to fiddle with his deluminator. But his thoughts always seemed to travel back to the same subject.

 I have to do everything in my power to stop him. He's my best mate and I still care about him, but I can let him have my sister. Not after what he did to her. What if she loves him? Are you even actually thinking about her right now? Or are you thinking about her through yourself? 

Ron was on a roll now, he couldn't stop.

Maybe I should talk to Hermione. She always knows what to say, or do. But then again she might tell me that Harry and Ginny are their own people. I have to protect her. I am her closest brother. She needs me. She can't manage on her own she's just seventeen. 

Once again Ron pushed it away. He scratched at the needlework on an armchair when he heard footsteps.

George walked in and at the sight of Ron, a smirk danced across his face. "Something sorting you out little brother?" He said lightly as he grinned at Ron's disheveled demeanor.

"None of your business," Ron muttered and he began to storm out the room.

George threw out his arm stopping Ron from leaving. Ron fought for a moment and gave up he sat down in the nearest armchair.

"It's about Ginny." He sighed.

"What about her?" Asked George " I noticed that she's not in the garden, so that means she must be resting."

"That's the problem." Ron sighed, tired of people not understanding.

"Problem? I daresay Ginny was working herself to depletion. If she had kept that up, not drinking water, or eating, or sleeping, she would have worked herself to death. And you're telling me that this is a problem?" George was glaring at Ron.

"Well, it's not her resting itself. It is how she came to be resting. Harry made her." Ron explained.

"I'm glad he did. Harry is the few people Ginny might listen to." George said, trying to bring reason to his brother's mind.

"No George! You don't understand! Harry hurt her! Don't you remember what happened during the war? He can't come waltzing in here and just magically start making Ginny listen to him. He must have done something. I don't trust it." Ron sneered.

"Did you ever take into account that Ginny might love him?" George stated obviously.

"Impossible. After what he did to her never. When we were away be never even talked about Ginny. He-"

"He may not have talked about her," Said Hermione as she entered the room. "But that doesn't mean he wasn't thinking about her or stopped loving her."

"And how would you know?" He asked skeptically.

"There were some nights when Harry couldn't sleep and he would just sit at the table. Well, one night after you left I couldn't sleep either and I got up to see what Harry had been doing all those nights when he was just sitting at the table. He was looking at the Marauders Map, he was watching Ginny's dot."

George raised his eyebrows at the mention of Ron leaving. "You left them? In the middle of the war?"

"It doesn't matter now," Hermione said. "He came back and we won. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Sounds like a pretty big mistake," George mumbled under his breath. 

Ron shot him a look. "Then how come he never talked about her?" Ron spat.

"Because he knows it would just set you off," Hermione said keeping her cool.

"I'm still not letting him near her. She deserves better." Ron said cooling down a bit.

"Ron, Ginny is seventeen, she can take care of herself." Hermione walking back out of the room.

"I knew you were going to say that." Ron groaned.