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Ronald Weasley had never really interacted with girls beyond his best friend Hermione Granger and his little sister, Ginny. Which both of them were his friends, and one actually family, he truly didn’t know want to do about his own feelings when he fancied a girl.
It was his Third Year at Hogwarts when Ron met a girl which fate seemed to draw them together.
One day during that school year, he was running late to class (as per usual) and was heading towards the Astronomy Tower. When Ron suddenly tripped over a loose shoestring and accidentally collided with a girl standing in the middle of the staircase. She had shoulder length black hair, and her dark brown eyes were wide in alarm when she lost her balance. Ron had nearly lost his own footing when he caught her, stuttered out an curt apology and took off towards his class.
He did not think anything of this run-in till his following Fourth Year and his best mate, Harry Potter, had mentioned liking someone. Ron was surprised, as Harry hadn’t particularly talked about girls in that way. While himself hadn’t felt any strong feelings towards girls in their year or any witches within their Hogwarts house.
The pretty Beauxbatons girls flounced around the Great Hall after the first couple weeks of classes and Harry was seated across from him, when suddenly his friend started choking. Harry had suddenly flushed scarlet, and then Ron noticed that his friend was staring in the direction of another table. Ron had tucked a piece of red hair out of his eye, looked up from his plate to look at who, or what, made his best mate act like this.
Harry had told him about a girl the other day in their common room, and he then recalled her name was Cho Chang. She was seated at the Ravenclaw table; she had long black hair that was shiny like wet ink and dark brown eyes. Ron’s memory slowly started clicking into place, and he recognized the girl seeing her around the Astronomy tower which he realized later in their dormitory.
There were many girls with dark hair in their school at Hogwarts but not many with her kind of almond-shaped eyes. Ron recalled bumping into this girl a couple times throughout their Third Year. There was a day when he saw her crying behind the staircase, which he had to ignore when heading up to class. Another time, when her books had fell onto floor and Ron had quickly helped her gather them while ignoring her red-tinged eyes.
Ron had made the assumption that Cho was skipping class just as he was late usually running late for his Astronomy class. He also realized that he never hadn’t mentioned how often to Harry or Hermione that he saw the girl near the Astronomy Tower. He tried not to think about her again until Harry confessed he wanted to ask her to the Yule Ball.
While Ron wasn’t sure why he wasn’t thrilled with this idea, but he still encouraged Harry to ask Cho. Ron attempted to ask Hermione later but ended up making her angry for some reason which he didn’t fully comprehend why.
It was hard not to feel like a failure when Ron was told that Neville Longbottom had a date to the ball before he did. He was moping during lunch at the Great Hall, and Harry came to join him in a daze. His best friend looked dejected, and he had said with utter disappointment, “Cedric already asked Cho.”
Cedric Diggory, not only was he a Triwizard participant, but Ron had known the Diggory family since he was very young. Cedric was in Hufflepuff, so genuine and nice, truthfully Ron felt that Cedric was a much better option for Cho than himself. Ron startled with that thought and had to mentally slap himself, Harry likes Cho. I can’t think like this. I don’t like Cho, right?
As the weeks to the Yule Ball dwindled, Ron’s brain was confused and his heart felt heavy. Harry ended up asking the Patil twins to be their dates, and they agreed since they seemed to both have a crush on the Chosen One. Ron was feeling even worse as there is no way any girl, especially a pretty girl like Cho, would ever like him.
That night, Ron got into a fight with Hermione as Viktor Krum wasn’t right for her, and even though Ron was a huge fan of the Bulgarian Seeker, he felt the bloke was too old. And then later on during the night, he didn’t want to dance, so he was ditched by his date, Padma, and Ron watched on as he saw Cedric kiss Cho outside the Great Hall.
His emotions were all over the place, and he didn’t know what to do so he left the Yule Ball early with a promise to himself to stop thinking about Cho. He was too angry at both his friends, but Harry didn’t even know it.
After a few days, he made up with his best friends, but he still thought about the Ravenclaw girl for the rest of year. When Harry won the Triwizard Tournament and had appeared in front of the school with the dead body of Cedric Diggory, Ron felt wrong and dirty for thinking bad thoughts about Cedric during the night of the Yule Ball.
Harry wasn’t the same over the summer, and Ron’s windpipe felt crushed every time he thought about Cho, there was no way he was going to be able to talk her now.
Their Fifth Year brought a change when Cho began spending time with Harry; and Ron was actually doing homework with Hermione more often. When it was the last day of class before Christmas break, Harry admitted kissing Cho and that she cried during it.
Ron felt a little sick and that it was wrong for Harry to do that. Until that night Hermione explained to the two of guys all the feelings she assumed Cho Chang felt and Ron dumbly said, “There is no way someone could feel that many emotions, they would explode!” Hermione scoffed at him saying “Only because you have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon.”
Hermione and Harry both had started to giggle at that remark, while Ron cracked a smile, but on the inside he just knew everything felt wrong to him. When they returned from break and classes had continued, Harry told him sadly during breakfast that he wasn’t going to see Cho any longer for the fact she is not over Cedric.
Ron felt good about that situation; Harry was doing the right thing by Cho and he also felt a little smug. Yet he wasn’t sure why he was in such a good mood till he was on the way to class, trying to run upstairs to astronomy when Cho Chang stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at him.
He came up to the stairs landing, and she softly said to him, “Tell Harry I am sorry. He is not talking to me.” Her eyes were watery, and her olive complexion skin looked flushed. Ron couldn’t stop himself, and he quickly pulled her into a tight hug.
Ron had said soothingly, “Please don’t be sad. I don’t want to see you cry at mealtimes anymore. Cedric was a good person. Give yourself time to heal, don’t make Harry resent Cedric. It’s sick, but I think part of him does...”
He trailed off of the conversation and let go Cho. Her eyes had widened in surprise, and Ron said bitterly under his breath, “I think I do too.” He headed to class slowly, and he got detention that night for his amount of tardies. That day was the last time he talked to Cho Chang.
Ron watched her carefully the rest of the school year and the year after. He played against Cho Chang during Qudditch games but never tried to interact with her. When he dated Lavender Brown briefly, he learned how to flirt. When he decided to join Harry and Hermione to hunt for the Horcruxes to end Voldemort’s reign of terror, it was easier to forget. He didn’t have to worry about her at Hogwarts because Cho Chang as she graduated school the previous year. Too worried about his family and the impossible task before them.
After the war and the survivors started picking up the pieces of their lives, Harry told him about his plans to marry his sister Ginny. Ron’s heart was still mending after the death of their brother, Fred, and he gladly accepted his best friend as a future brother-in-law.
Hermione after the war decided to go study abroad in Australia where her parents were relocated. Ron was very busy in training to become an Auror with Harry, but he needed to get a new broom to ride at home, since no one is riding the broomstick that Fred and Ron used to share.
That day, Ron went to Diagon Alley, heading to Quality Qudditch Supplies after grabbing a cup of coffee. He wasn’t sleeping lately, and Harry was busy in the Auror department, already the Ministry was relying heavily on him. When he opened the door, and smelt the pleasant scent of new wood and glanced at the newest Qudditch uniforms.
He felt a small tap on his shoulder and turned around startled to see Cho Chang. Her hair was shorter than the last time he saw her, resting just above her shoulders, and her dark brown eyes were happy to see him crinkled in the corners with a smile. She said softly, “Hiya, Ron. You look a little different.”
Immediately Ron flushed sheepishly and nodded, stumbling over his words “Hey Cho. And ah, yeah. I am letting my hair grow lately.” His hair was shaggy, almost to his shoulders, and he had a five o’clock shadow to complete the lack of sleep look which he sure made him look like a mess.
She smiled before she asked, “Are you looking for a new broom?” He nodded his head but cleared his throat before he answered verbally, “Yep, I shared a good broom with Fred at home and now that he is gone, I can’t stand to look at it.” He didn’t realize that he said too much till she looked sad, and he said playfully, “Oi. What did I tell you a long time ago? I don’t like to see you looking so sad.”
Ron smiled at her, a small familiar flutter in his stomach began and his rewarded when she laughed in turn. Cho offered to help in find a broom and after they had lunch together at a cafe down the block. She wrote down her address for Ron to owl her and when they got up to leave, she suddenly kissed his cheek and she whispered intimately against the shell of his ear, “Thank you for making me feel like not everything is hopeless when we were at Hogwarts.”
He flushed a deep scarlet tone that rivaled the colour of his hair and Ron admitted sheepishly, “I now fully believe nothing is ever hopeless as how else would I have a date with the lovely Cho Chang?” She giggled at his forwardness and she then pressed a small peck against his mouth before Cho murmured, “I fancied you a bit since you had comforted me after Harry and I broke up.”
Ron said with sincerity, “I have had a crush on since my Fourth Year, and I didn’t even realize until it was too late.” They smiled at each other because of these confessions and the pair promised to meet up for dinner tomorrow. Ron felt like he could truly fit his old moniker of ‘Weasley is our King’ and knew that his life would only look up from this moment. His budding career within the Ministry and he decided in that moment to fully pursue the girl of his dreams.
It seemed so natural, giving his heart to Cho, a beautiful witch that he met at school.
Almost like fate.