Week One Challenge

Jun 11, 2004 10:59

[A/N: Man, after writing a seven part epic on Remus/Ron last week I didn't think I'd be able to handle any more of this pairing. o_o Thus my surprise that I managed to write this. Ron and I aren't on speaking terms after that last fic, so it may be my ire for him that led to this drabble's outcome. :D Not my fault, honest!]

Author: Blue Moony
Title: To Hate a Hero
Pairing: Remus/Ron
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 318
Scenario: At night, Ron believes he can see Harry again (yes, thus meaning,
Harry is dead), and Remus believes him.

~~~~


He wakes in a panic - cold flush, hot beads of sweat down his skin - and sits bolt upright in bed. His eyes are wide, his breathing ragged, and all he can think to do is stare in terror at the sleet-slick window, at the shadows of the past that creep sidewise up the panes sometimes, late at night like this.

“Lupin,” he chokes, his hands clenching in the sheets. “Lupin,” he whispers, trembling to see those eyes burning at him.

Ron whimpers as Lupin answers with a strong embrace, and he tips his head into the thick, cardigan press of Lupin’s steady warmth. He’s shaking, and Lupin draws a hand soothingly down his back.

“He- He-…”

“I know,” says Lupin, so softly that Ron shudders, pressing closer.

“I know,” Lupin says again, still rubbing Ron’s back and holding him tight. “You did everything you could. Remember that. You tried to save him.”

And Ron just buries his head deeper in the crook of Lupin’s shoulder, arms wrapped tight about the older man’s waist, trying to pretend he deserves this: the encouragement, the sympathy, the lulling heat and the unspoken promise that one day this press of man to man will be so much more.

But when Lupin leaves, with a small kiss to the top of Ron’s messy hair, all pretense falls away. Shivering back to some semblance of sleep, alone in the dark, Ron is left only with thought of that day, and Harry toppling from his broom, and Ron catching his dangling body with both hands. And he knows those eyes outside his window have every reason to search him out because Ron still can’t understand himself, can’t even begin to understand the awful, burning envy that urged him to look Harry in the eye and let him go. And it’s punishment enough, thinks Ron, that his guilt won't die as easily as Harry did.
Previous post Next post
Up