Ron was too busy being lost without Hermione to bother him or anyone else now. Now that she was gone, he was finally beginning to feel the same isolation and rejection level Ginny had been feeling since the branding. It seemed Hermione had become such a part of his daily school life, he truly didn't know what to do or how to act without her around.
On the one hand, he was happy she was gone as she really had been a bossy know-it-all and was forever telling him what to do as well as how to do it. And when she wasn't doing that she'd be talking his ear off about how much smarter and overall better than him she was. And of course recently all her talk was about getting even with Potter. Punishing him for what he did to her. Even he with all his denseness had come to realize that wasn't going to happen. Not only couldn't they actually raise their wands against him right now, but they couldn't get anyone else to see he deserved to be punished either. No one, absolutely no one, believed he'd done anything wrong when he'd marked them.
But on the other hand, he had come to rely on her for companionship and for the answers when he didn't know them and didn't want to bother looking them up. That she was the only person his age who'd have a conversation with him this year, that didn't include accusations against him for this misdemeanor or the other, also played a part in his feelings of loss. For the first time since this horrible school year had begun and they'd been cursed by Potter, he began to understand what Ginny had been feeling. He was alone as he never had been before in his life and he just didn't know how to cope with it.
He still didn't understand why Ginny didn't seem to be angry with Potter though. Potter had marred her beautiful face. He'd ruined her chances of making a good match. But she wasn't angry with him over it. No, she was angry with the Headmaster. The Headmaster, their parents and him. Why him? He decided he needed to talk to her about it. Maybe try to help her see it was Potter she should be angry with. He caught up with her that evening after his detention in their common room.
"Ginny," he addressed her as he took a seat at the table where she had her class work spread out. "I want to talk to you."
Ginny glanced up with a sigh. "About what, Ron? I've got homework to do. So do you, I should think considering I know you had classes today and you had another detention this evening. So I know you haven't done any of it yet. So make it quick. Ok?"
Ron grimaced. He had a ton of homework not that it made a great deal of sense to him but he did need to get on it soon. "About Potter cursing us. Why aren't you angry with him any more? I mean. You were when he did it. I know you were every bit as angry as Hermione and I were. But last night… I mean, What was that about? You practically parroted McGonagal to Dumbledore. He could've helped us get Potter to remove these ugly things. But you sandbagged us. Why? He ruined your face. Marked you. Like you were his property or something. I mean, I guess I can understand if he didn't want you. He could've just told you that, though. He didn't have to go marking up your face and ruining your chances to get someone else. He destroyed your future, Ginny. Why aren't you mad at him about it anymore?"
"First off, he did tell me he didn't want me. I wouldn't listen. Neither would you. He flat-out told me I was nothing more to him than simply your little sister and he didn't like me in that way. He also told me very bluntly he didn't want me hanging around and off him like I used to do. He told me to find someone my own age to hang around and make friends with. Even pointed out a couple of kids in my year he thought could use my friendship. I wouldn't listen to him. He told me flat-out my hanging off him like I was, made me look cheap. That he didn't and never would care for me as I'd already proven I wasn't the girl for him. I can't count the number of ways he told me he didn't, and wouldn't ever, choose me, Ron. But I wouldn't listen to him because that wasn't what I wanted to hear."
"Instead, I listened to you and Hermione chew him out for hurting my feelings and not being willing to forgive me for my bad choice in my first year. But tell me Ron: When did I ever ask him to forgive me? When did I ask anyone to?" She paused for a minute to give him time to think and come up with an answer before she answered for herself. "Never. That's when. I walked around this school acting like I'd done nothing wrong. Acting like I had nothing and no one to apologize for or to. I let you and Hermione spread rumors leading people to believe he was the one opening that chamber and never said a word. I didn't want people to know what I'd done."
"Denis beat the living tar out of him on a regular basis for all of these last two years. Do you know why? Because Harry wouldn't tell him he'd gotten Colin killed. Harry wouldn't own up to opening the Chamber and turning the monster loose on the school. But why should he have, Ron, when he didn't do it? I did."
"I knew what was going on between him and Denis and said nothing. So did you and Hermione. All the two of you ever said was he should've found and defeated the beast before Colin died. That only compounds my original bad act in writing in that stupid diary to begin with. So many bad things happened because I was a stupid little girl. And for none of it did I ever ask anyone for forgiveness."
"But tell me, Ron, about your insinuations. How was he supposed to do that? You admit you didn't know where the chamber was until he found that scrap of parchment in Hermione's statue hand and he put all the clues together. A scrap of paper you admitted to me she had just gotten from the Headmaster earlier that day." She shook her head.
"I didn't even help him tend to his injuries when I was the cause of them. I knew why Denis was beating him up. Colin even tried to get me to tell Denis the truth because he didn't like Denis beating on Harry for something he wasn't responsible for. I wouldn't." Ron looked surprised. As far as he knew Colin hadn't known exactly how he died. The Headmaster had told them all he remembered was seeing big yellow eyes. Ginny smiled bitterly. "Yes, he knows exactly how he died. He remembers following me into that hallway and hearing me in the girls bathroom doing something. He waited for me in the hallway to come out of the bathroom. I knew he was there waiting for me but I gave him no warning, Ron. I didn't even try to tell him to go away. Because I thought he was a pest and no one would miss him. It'd make Tom happy to finally have a victim. So I said nothing to warn Colin away. I released the snake and then opened the bathroom door to let it into the school knowing damn well an innocent boy was in the hallway waiting for me to come out. The last thing Colin remembers is me opening the bathroom door and seeing the eyes. So yes, he knows damn well I was responsible for his death."