2The snake moved closer and closer to the frightened boy, hissing as it made eye contact with Harry. He scrambled back as quickly as he could, trying to avoid the sinister look that the snake seemed to give him, but it was no use.
No matter how far he scrambled back, the snake moved closer and closer, the head inches away from Harry's.
"Now, Nagini," a voice that made Harry shiver even though it wasn't cold out, came out of nowhere.
Harry screamed as the snake opened its mouth, teeth showing and its eyes gleaming.
His arms flailed as he helplessly tried to stop Nagini, and Voldemort standing behind her, an evil smile plastered on his face...
"AAAAAAAAH!" a loud scream shook Ron awake as his eyes flew open, wondering what could possibly be happening so early in the morning.
The redheaded teen rolled over on his side, glancing quickly at the clock that showed it was 4am in the morning. It was mid-term break, and everybody, with the exception of Ron, his brothers and sister, Draco Malfoy (unfortunately) and a few other Slytherins and some other students in other houses (mostly first or second years), had gone home for the holidays. So that left just him and Harry alone in the dorm, making it even more awkward for the pair as they continued to ignore each other over Harry making it in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
Ron flicked the light switch of his muggle lamp (a gift from his father) on, which bared enough light in the room to make out his friend's flailing arms behind the curtains in the bed next to his. He sighed and climbed out of bed.
Ron whipped the curtain of Harry's bed open, not caring if they were in an argument or not and shook Harry on the shoulders to get him to wake up. His best friend was having a nightmare. But what kind of nightmare would cause Harry this much pain that he was screaming in his sleep?
Bright green, tear-filled eyes shot open. "W-what h-h-happened?"
Ron felt the strings of his heart tug a little as he saw the scared face of his friend. "You were having a nightmare, Harry," he explained to the frightened boy.
Harry sat up. He suddenly realised where he was. He was not in the graveyard. He was not about to be devoured by Nagini. Relief washed over him. Tears filled his eyes once more, and he turned his head to hide his face from his friend. Friend? Was Ron suddenly his friend now? After weeks of not talking to each other, was Harry willing to call Ron his friend?
It was an awkward silence between both boys, as neither had been willing to break the silence of their continuing argument since the beginning of the school year. Harry had gone about his business as usual, and Ron with his. No amount of coaxing from Hermione could cease the argument between the two, and she, who was the one sick of "being an owl" all the time, refused to speak to either of the boys until they sorted this thing out on their own.
"What was it about?" Ron asked.
Harry rubbed his eyes, "Why do you want to know? We haven't spoken in months," he said spitefully.
"I-I know," Ron said dully. "I guess I was just jealous of...that you got in. I didn't mean to ignore you for so long."
Harry snorted. "Yeah, cos there's so much to be jealous of," he said sarcastically. "Famous Harry Potter," he imitated Malfoy's sneering voice, "The so called 'freak' with no family. The one who gets bullied in the corridors all the time. The one with no friends. The loner. The boy who lived, who has Voldemort haunting his dreams and sees his parents being murdered each and every night. The boy who nobody believes that he didn't put his name in the Tri Wizard Cup. Yeah, you've got a lot to be jealous of, Ron." He would admit, it felt good to vent all his feelings out in the open, the ones he'd been keeping bottled up for so long over the past few months. He hadn't realised he'd started crying again.
Ron didn't know what to say. He then heard his mother's voice drift inside his head: "Actions speak louder than words, Ronald," she had said one time after an incident at home, which ended up with him in trouble.
Harry didn't care if Ron saw him cry. He'd been doing a good job of not showing his emotions over the past few months, sometimes it had been hard on certain days, but now he just didn't care anymore. Ron had never really seen Harry cry before. Yeah, he'd seen him upset, but never like this.
Ron decided to push their differences aside, and pulled his friend in for a hug.
Harry cried until there were no more tears left to shed. Ron just sat by his side with his arm around him, trying to calm him in the way that his mother did whenever he accidentally hurt himself or one of his brothers (which was mainly Fred and George) hurt him when he was younger.
It was ten minutes later that Harry's cries had deceased to sniffles.
"Harry, I-" Ron started to say, but Harry cut him off.
"It's okay," Harry said miserably. "I get it. We can go back to ignoring each other."
"No! That's not what I was going to say," Ron said, shaking his head. "I-I'm sorry. For the way I treated you. I was just mad when I thought you put your own name in the cup, and you didn't tell me how you did it. I thought I wasn't that important to you, and you were treating me just like my brothers treat me at home. They get too caught up in their own thing to even notice that I'm even around."
"I told you I didn't put my name in. I told everybody I didn't. Nobody believed me, most people at Hogwarts are as thick as Crabbe and Goyle. That's why I've been getting a shitload of bullying these past few months, and I guess it hurt even more when you said you didn't believe me, either." Harry explained.
Ron was silent for a moment. "I really messed it up, didn't I?"
"We're all messed up here," Harry said. He then did something he hadn't done in a long time. He smiled.
"I really am sorry, you know," Ron said quietly. "I was a bit...what's that word..."
"Arrogant?" Harry's smile grew wider.
Ron hit him on the arm good-naturedly. "Indifferent, you prat!"
"So, what now? Are we friends again?" Harry asked, with a bit of hope in his voice. He really had missed hanging out with Ron these past months, he was sick of doing everything on his own, since his dorm mates weren't speaking to him either (Ron had gotten them all on his side), he was desperate to forgive and forget.
Ron sighed, ignoring the pang of jealousy that had suddenly appeared. He has to learn how to control it at some point.
He also couldn't crush Harry any further, seeing the glimmer of hope in his best friend's eyes as he mulled over his own conscience. Ron fumed. His darned conscience was pathetic. He pushed all of his anger and frustrated feelings aside as his morals won once again.
"No," Ron said, seeing the hope lost in his friend's eyes and quickly salvaged the moment by saying, "we're not just friends, Harry… we are brothers. We always will be."
Harry seemed overly emotional at this, for he threw his arms around Ron and started to sob quietly.
"It'll be alright, mate. It'll be alright…" Ron said softly, as he held his friend while he cried.
Ron was glad. He was glad he didn't listen to his pathetic conscience and let the jealousy win, he learned to push it aside and reach out to his friend in his time of need.
The only thing that really mattered in the end was his best friend, not some stupid cup. His best friend needed him and he would be there for him, always.
Always.
this is slight AU, I know but I hope you liked it :)