✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

16 | B U L L E T P R O O F

... and now I just sit in silence.

   "WE WILL LEAVE by sunrise", Harry told Ember after dinner. They sat alone in the living room in front of a dying fire. "Don't worry too much, it's kind of bulletproof. We have Bellatrix' wand. Hermione hates it, of course. But I guess Ron's right, it will help her get into the role, you know?" Ember said nothing, but she didn't have to. "Bill and Fleur know we're leaving. Unlike you, they don't know where we're going. You can't tell anyone."

   "I know."

   "I want you to stay here", Harry said. "Remus will check on you every now and then. You won't try to find us, promise me. No matter what will happen, you will stay here. It's safe."

   "Sure."

   Ember had always thought, things would get easier for her as soon as she would know what Harry was up to. Now that she knew, she wished she didn't. Voldemort probably knew now that Harry was trying to find the pieces of the Dark Lord's crippled soul. Security measures must have been drastically raised. If it was impossible to get those Horcruxes before, now it was nothing but a deadly mission.

   "We can't return here if we'll make it", Harry spoke on, his voice trembling. "But be sure we're alright."

   Ember opened her mouth for one desperate try to talk all of this out of Harry's head, even though she knew it was pointless. But in that moment, the door opened and Ron stepped into the living room. He exchanged a gaze with Harry, who nodded, before he squeezed his sister's shoulder and got up from the couch.

   "I see you in the morning", he said and walked out of the room, leaving Ember alone with Ron.

   Ron, for a long moment, kept standing leaned against the doorframe. Ember refused to look at him, but she felt his eyes burning on her face. He finally moved, stepping closer, and at least he sunk into the cussion next to Ember.

   "How do you feel?", he asked, his voice a little higher than usual.

   Ember snorted, rolling her eyes. "Oh Ronald, spare us the small talk. We both know what you want to do, so don't talk around the bush."

   "Y—you know?"

   "Well, it's quite obvious. You've been avoiding me for weeks now. I assume you don't want to make it that hard for me when you won't return and all that nonsense Harry once told your sister. So fine. Do it. Ditch me."

   "Emmie it's — it's not — I think you get something wrong ..."

   One eyebrow raised, Ember turned towards Ron, who's ears were glowing red.

   "You were gone", Ron finally said. "Dead. And even though I refused to believe it, there was still that option that it's true. I left Harry and Hermione to look for you, but I couldn't find you. And after a while, I returned to the two of them. We went through a whole lot of stuff. And there was always this throbbing feeling that we — that I have lost you."

   "So what is it? You forgot about me? Moved on and now you no longer want me?"

   "Not exactly ...", he muttered. "Emmie, I had a crush on you for forever, and chances had always been low that this could actually happen." He took a deep breath. "But that's what it was. A crush."

   Ember felt like all of her blood had left her body and a part of her was falling through the ground.

   "Just a crush?", she whispered, trying to ignore that burning sensation in her eyes.

   "Not just. You're also my friend", Ron quickly replied, raising his hands in defence. "A part of my family. I should have known better, but then we kissed, and I really fell for you ... But — but it's not enough." He paused, turning his eyes toward his shoes. "And it's not enough for you either."

   "It has always been enough for me —"

   "No it's not", he cut her off. "Ember, didn't you — Well, I know you did at some point had a feeling for someone else, and I guess it was confusing as hell, because I saw it in your eyes, and it wasn't that long ago, I again saw it."

   "I have no bloody idea what you're talking about", Ember hissed, shifting away from Ron. "If you want to end this — whatever it was — then do it, but don't try to put the blame on me."

   "I'm not blaming anyone, it would have ended like this anyways." Ron frowned at her, and her own face turned cold. "I know it, because I feel the same as you do, I just ... noticed it a little bit sooner."

   She couldn't believe her ears, nor did she want to. "So that's it? You guess I'm in love with someone else — which is utter rubbish — and therefore you dump me?"

   He shook his head, before burying his face in his hands.

   "Emmie, you can't spent month on the run with someone and go through all of this stuff without — without —" He swallowed and looked back at her. "There's always been that kind of tension. I have always been a bit uneasy around her. I just didn't know what it meant. But now ... now I do. It is her, Emmie. It has always been her."

   "You have to be kidding me ..."

   Slowly it dawned on Ember, what Ron was talking about. All their little talks lately, those stolen glances and small touches. Him always holding the door for her, his ears turning red whenever she was looking at him — like they used to when it had been Ember throwing him glances not too long ago ...

   "Hermione?", she said, her voice cracking. "Hermione it is then?"

   And Ron's nod was enough to smash her heart with a sledgehammer.

   "I heard her screaming when she got tortured, and I knew it. I just knew it." He now stared into the last tiny flame. "I would have done anything in that moment to stop it. I would have given my life for her. That's when I knew."

   "Great", Ember muttered and stood up. "Just great. Well ... I wish you the best then." He stared at her. "Really, I do."

   "You aren't mad at me?"

   "Oh, Ronald, you bet I am!"

   With those words, she started walking away, her fingers already around the doorknob, halfway through the threshold —

   "That's okay", Ron said, and as she turned around, she could see a sad smile on his face. "I know you will forgive me one day. The day you will find out, what I was talking about. There will come a moment you will know and that's when you'll forgive me."

   And Ember closed the door behind her back. 

—