Everything was moving so fast this year. It was almost two months into term and Harry felt like he had only really talked to his best mate a handful of times. It didn’t exactly help that it seemed like nothing was the same this year as it had been in the past.

On top of that, Harry was starting to feel like he was hiding things, even though he wasn’t. It was just that too many things were changing too quickly. Add in that he was spending less time than normal in the common room and classes were too difficult now to just blow off and hide in the back talking, and it made sense that it was getting hard to keep his friends in the loop.

Still, it was something that needed to be addressed, especially considering that he was dating now, which was something never before heard of. His friends deserved to know that as soon as he was sure. Ginny had been easy to fill in. She already knew basically everything that was going on, so it had been more of a status update than a big reveal, even if it involved admitting that he went against her advice. Based on everything that had happened this year, he was terrified to tell Hermione, so he was still holding out hope that someone else would do it for him.

That left Ron, and as little as Harry was looking forward to telling his best mate that he was dating a Slytherin, or that his little sister was actually in love for that matter, he needed to do it now. The longer he waited, the more likely Ron was to figure things out on his own, especially with the looming quidditch match where Harry would be seeking against his new girlfriend.

So he waited in the common room after dinner on the first free evening he had after he got together with Sky. As luck would have it, Ron came in without their bushy haired conscience following him for once. “Sit down mate,” Harry said, patting the chair opposite his own and shooting the redhead a smile that probably didn’t quite manage to reach his eyes. “We’ve got some stuff to talk about.”

If anyone had told him that their first meeting with Harry on the train after a summer of no contact at all with him would set the tone for the school year the prefect would have told them they were nuts. Now though the red head could see that most of his meetings with his best friend would be just that. Meetings.

Ron had spent the first month of school angry and frustrated about it. Who wouldn't be when your best mate started skipping off on you to hang with your little sister? Then there the rumors Harry was involved somehow with snakes in not so bad a way. The truth behind that one had been a blow to his ego and pride because somewhere along the line he and Harry had made some kind of silent pact to hate the snakes in entirety.

Then he had figured maybe Harry and Ginny were becoming a thing but all hopes and worries about that had been squashed at that bloody party she had thrown with slytherins where he had ended up alone in that bathroom considering drowning himself in the tub. Ron was still getting over the fact that they had all been in the same room with Malfoy and no curses had been shot off and that the bloody git had snogged his two best friends and other things the red head wished he could burn from his memory.

Now that classes were much harder than ever and Ron actually had to pay attention in them, usually after a glare or two from Hermione, homework piling up and quidditch practices, he had almost all but given up on the days of old and on figuring out what the Merlin was going on anymore. He figured he had two choices and those were to either get angry and lose his temper or just go with things and wait for someone to take the time to fill him in. He had already tried the angry thing and it had backfired spectacularly on him.

So after dinner he had taken his time getting back to the common room and dropped like dead weight into the seat opposite his best mate, sagging in it and leaning his head back. "Harry, mate, I'm telling you there's something barmy going on at this school this year. You wouldn't believe the rumors I've heard just today. Just told Parvati and Lavender to shut their mouths and stop gossiping about things they don't know about. Like you would ever date a snake." Ron laughed, but it was more hopeful than anything else. "I haven't heard such rubbish since everyone thought you were Slytherin's heir back in second."

His mate looked like he was carrying the weight of the world as he sank into the chair Harry had suggested. Part of him knew just how he felt, since he felt that way himself a lot of the time. The rest of him wanted to snort or smack his friend in the head or something, because he had the idea that it was entirely the wrong things that his mate was worrying about, while he assumed that someone else would take care of the things that were actually wrong and tell him what he needed to do when the time came for action.

His face fell as his mate actually started talking and his worst suspicions were confirmed. Apparently the idea that he was with a Slytherin was just as ridiculous as him trying to kill a large portion of the castle, and more ridiculous than anything that he happened since. This despite the fact that the second group of rumors that were more easily believable included things like Harry entering himself in the triwizard tournament when they were all fairly sure it would kill him, Harry making up Voldemort’s return to get attention, and him trying to help Dumbledore actively overthrow the Ministry and take over Britain. Somehow dating a Slytherin was worse than all of that.

He sighed heavily, swallowing down the anger that he risen to the surface as he realized just how strongly his best mates hated their rival house, and just what everyone here would be saying and thinking about him. “Yeah, I guess we can start with that,” he said slowly and carefully, as if the words tasted a little bit unpleasant. “I was hoping that we could work our way up to that one slowly, since there is other stuff to talk about too, but if people are already whispering…”

Still, even once he decided what he needed to say, it was hard to get the words out. “It wasn’t rubbish of any sort, though I’m not gonna say I’m sorry that you stopped people from talking about it.” There had to be a way to make this easier for his mate to digest, but Harry had no clue what that way was. “I am dating a snake, er a Slytherin. Skyler Riddle, the prefect in Ginny’s year. It would probably be a good thing if the whole castle wasn’t talking about it, though, so I guess if you want to keep shutting people up, you’re more than welcome.”

The messy haired boy felt that he really should push through, keep talking about Ginny, and the coming war, and his plan, and just all of it, while his mate was too stunned to interrupt him, as he probably would be for at least a moment or two after that revelation. That wasn’t fair, though, so Harry say back, giving Ron time to digest the information and wrap his head around it. All the rest of it could wait until it would make sense when he heard it.

He blinked at his best mate blankly, his sluggish mind trying to compute what Harry was actually telling him. He got that the rumors floating around were true, for once. Ron's mind was just having a hard time accepting that his best mate was dating a snake.

The red head sat there for a few long moments gaping at his friend with a blank stare because of it. His mind didn't really know how to associate the terms 'snake' and 'slytherin' with anything nice, and dating wasn't such a bad thing. Ron didn't think it was. But what did he know? He didn't date. He didn't even think about dating. Maybe if Harry was dating, he should be dating too. Who would he even date?

His face screwed up into a grimace and he groaned. This was one of those things that Hermione was better at dealing with than he was. Ron was vaguely aware that part of him wanted to blow up and go off the deep end about the entire dating a snake thing. It was what he would normally do and any kind of normal seemed pretty comforting these days.

A deep frown appeared on his face. It might be normal, but it never made for happy ending between him and his mates, and what was worse, it was usually what was expected of him. Ron didn't always want to be the bloke who lost his top every time something out of the blue and out of his comfort zone happened.

Even so, it was a hard pill to swallow. The slytherins were just their natural enemy. Always had been from the first time they had entered the castle. Accepting any of them as anything other as complete arses left a bad taste in his mouth. Maybe if he put a face to the name in his mind it would be easier.

"Skyler Riddle..." He mumbled more to himself than to Harry, trying to picture the girl his mate was talking about and his face scrunching together in thought. The word prefect rang the bell and a picture of a small girl with purple eyes came to mind. Oh. That was the one Harry had a crush on which was revealed at the party. "Erm..at least she's cute?" He tried offering but looked just as unsure as he sounded about it.

His face screwed up again. Ron had no idea how to react to things without his temper but he didn't want to blow up this time around. Sure it didn't sit well with him and he didn't trust the snakes but he had been best mates with Harry for the last five years. If there was anything he had learned over that time it was that you didn't doubt Harry ever, he was the most trustworthy person in the bloody world, and that when he set his mind on something there was no changing it.

Which meant Ron was slowly coming to the realization that for better or worse he was stuck with the fact that his best mate was dating the slytherin. Something came floating back to mind though. A few somethings and he looked at Harry reluctantly as if he didn't really want to ask because he didn't really want to hear the answer. "Doesn't that one date the Ferret and play seeker for the snakes?" On the one hand, anything that pissed off Malfoy was great, on the other, anything that involved Harry flying against a cute witch in the match was bad.

The red head sighed and sagged further into his chair in defeat. His friend was going to do what the hell he wanted and Ron figured the best he could do was be ready for all hell to break loose because it always did, without fail. A new thought occurred to him and his blue eyes widened in almost fear. "I'm not telling Mione. She bloody hates that one."

Looking at Ron, you could almost see the wheels spinning in his mind as he worked things out. It was endearing and worrying at the same time, because Harry got the feeling that soon they wouldn’t always have the time for those wheels to spin before a decision had to be made, and if the long, thoughtful decisions went Harry’s way, the snap judgments in the heat of the moment would probably go against him.

Still, neither of them was shouting, and that could only be a good thing. He grinned when his red-haired mate went so far as to try and compliment his new girlfriend, but the grin quickly fell away into a wary expression as Ron questioned the relationship a little, and then to a grimace as he reached a decision on Hermione. The raven haired boy hadn’t realized how strongly he had been hoping for his first friend to bail him out on that until the option was gone.

But Harry could only move on, and it wasn’t like the conversation was over. “Obviously she’s done with Malfoy, she is in fact the new seeker, and I’m gonna beat her just like I beat Cho last year.” This ignored the fact that they hadn’t really talked about Malfoy, he had struggled with Cho, and he had a suspicion that Sky was a much better flier than Cho, since Slytherin never let witches on the team. Harry moved on quickly, hoping that would stop Ron from noticing the holes in his logic and asking him more questions. He ignored the Hermione problem entirely for now.

“Anyway, my love life isn’t the only one we need to talk about!” There, that should buy him a little bit of time, but now that he had said it, he had no idea how to continue. The idea of stalling had some strong appeal, though. “I heard a rumor that some cute little Hufflepuff has her eye on you.” Harry had no idea if that would work or not, but he really hoped it did. He had started out thinking the fact that Ginny was in love with her Ravenclaw boyfriend would be the easy part of this conversation. Now that it might be time to actually reveal that information Harry was fairly certain he would rather wrestle a fully grown mountain troll than be the one who had to say this.

Watching Harry warily he was trying hard not to offend his friend in any way. The other gryffindor was nearly as temperamental as Ron was himself and the red head didn't want to be on his friend's bad side again. He was just struggling to figure out the balance between asking questions he probably should and just trusting Harry to know what he was doing.

He frowned at his friend's response. There were so many holes in there even the normally oblivious Ron could see them all. His best mate seemed to forget that there was hardly anything the Ferret wouldn't do to get at him in one way or other and the red head wasn't sure this wasn't some giant plot of destruction. Harry obviously didn't seem to think so and Ron wasn't sure he even wanted to start pointing out the many times his dark haired friend had been wrong about these sorts of things.

Still looking wary and not entirely comfortable the red head broached the subject as cautiously as he could and hoped the other boy didn't explode on him. "Still mate. It's not like Riddle is a common name.." Ron didn't have the guts to finish the statement or question or whatever it was going to be when he got there, and instead trailed off hoping Harry would catch his drift.

He blanched at the hufflepuff thing and shrugged his shoulders carelessly. The red head supposed it was nice to be noticed but whichever hufflepuff Harry was talking about was the witch Ron had his sights on so he didn't really care much about it. "We both know my love life is nonexistent so you must be referring to Gin?" He took a wild guess, but was pretty sure that's who his mate wanted to speak to him about. Unless Hermione had gone and gotten a love life at some point this year, but he was sure that wasn't it.

It was annoying Ron that he was learning things about his own sister through Harry, as if his friend was her brother instead of him. He was ashamed of how he had acted early on in the year, and hurt by the fact that neither of them seemed to think it would or should bother him that the people he was normally closest to had created a bond that kicked him right out of everything. There was always that jealousy too, of Harry, who always stepped in to somehow outshine Ron in every aspect of his own life including being a better son and apparently now brother.

This was probably the worst and sorest topic Harry could have put them on and the red head wasn't entirely sure he would hold his temper in check this time. Deep down he knew his friend was just attempting to smooth things over for everyone but both Harry and Ginny had hurt him and worse, neither seemed to bother giving a fuck about it as long as they both got what they wanted. Ron looked away from the boy in front of him. "It's become painfully clear that whatever place I had in either yours or Gin's lives has been taken and filled by the other, so I don't know why we should even talk about this Harry. Gin doesn't give a flying fuck what I think about anything, and she's going to do whatever the hell she wants as long as you approve and the twins, so I think that makes whatever conversation you wanted to have about the whole thing unnecessary."

Ron’s face spoke clearly that he wasn’t buying what Harry was selling. Still, if quidditch was really the biggest problem that came out of this, it would be a huge win in the long run. Then, he went so far as to point Skyler’s last name out to him. Was it really possible that Ron had ignored to gossip so much that he actually didn’t know that Sky was directly connected to Voldemort? Add that to the list of conversations that Harry was not ready to have right now. He would deal with that one when Ron didn’t look so skeptical of the girl already.

His frown only grew as Ron basically pushed away Harry’s attempt to talk about the redhead’s life. “Any witch you wanted would be lucky to have you, mate,” he pointed out, but he wasn’t sure it would do any good. If Ron had determined that it was his own fault that he was single or something it would take more than one nice offhand comment from Harry to convince the redhead of his worth. Something about being the sixth brother made him think he was less than everyone else, and Harry seemed to spend half of his life fighting to make his mate believe that he was actually good enough.

It hurt Harry deeply when Ron looked away from him before speaking. It hurt him even more when the words started coming out. Is this really what over five years of friendship, of being so close as to have been family came to? No. Harry simply wouldn’t accept it. They were going to talk, and keep working on things until Ron was his brother again, not the guy who couldn’t meet his eye when talking to him.

He sputtered and choked on the words before he finally got them out, sad passion shining in his eyes. “You’ve got this all wrong mate. Nothing and no one could replace you in either one of our lives. Ginny will always need her closest brother, even when you two fight like cats and dogs, and I will always need my best mate.”

He paused, confused about how things had gotten as bad as they seemed to be. “For Merlin’s sake, mate, you were the only person willing to talk to me on the train here, when I was just some scrawny orphan kid that no one even knew a name for. You were my only friend when I didn’t matter, and you’ve been the person who had my back every single time things got out of control and scary. We’ve fought so many battles together, and we’re always smiling at the end. I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to let anyone take that away from me. Not the Headmaster and whatever weird agenda he has, not Ginny and the fact that she doesn’t quite know how to tell you she’s really in love this time, not even my girlfriend, even though I think I’m probably in love with her. None of that is as important as my mate, who doesn’t care who the hell I am.”

Harry’s breathing was heavy and passionate. At some point he had stood up and was basically shouting. He hung his head in shame while he was catching his breath, ashamed that he had probably just made things worse with his fire and with admitting things way too soon. He had been together with Sky for less than a week. How could Ron be expected to not think he was completely insane when he threw the l word in like that?

Still, Harry needed this to go well. He could not lose the first friend he ever made, not now and not ever. “Just tell me what you need me to do to make things right and make them what they were before. Anything you need from me, mate.”

When his friend started shouting it didn't take long for the red head to start building up his own anger, seeing as it was already there in the first place. The redness slowly filled his face and proceeded to creep onto his ears, a sure sign that Ron was about to blow his top and everything within a ten foot radius was going to blow up.

How could Harry even think he wanted to throw away their friendship? Wasn't Ron there, trying to except everything his supposed best friend was telling him? Wasn't he trying to support his friend in whatever the hell was going on lately? This was just bloody perfect. No matter what he did, somehow it was wrong. If he fought about things, it was wrong. If he accepted them, he was wrong. Merlin's saggy balls! What the hell did these people want from him?

He tried to get ahold of his anger, he really did. He didn't want to blow up on Harry. Hadn't he spent the last few weeks trying to avoid that and telling himself he was capable of controlling his bloody temper? His mate was already angry. What good things could come of him returning that anger? Nothing most likely. Ron took deep breaths before even starting to calm himself. A first for the red head. Normally he was so blinded by his anger that he lacked the ability to think coherently, and much of what he said during his temper tantrums didn't make much sense and if they did, they came out completely wrong.

The last few weeks of growing accustomed to pushing his temper down seemed to help him now, and for that the boy was thankful. Ron didn't want to lose his best friend. Losing his temper now would only succeed in doing just that. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and cupped his hands together in front of him, still breathing heavily to keep his temper in check before it could really destroy his life and tried to think of what to tackle first. Between Harry saying he was in love and saying Ginny was in love, Ron's head was spinning faster than usual.

The most important thing seemed to be to try and reestablish the connection and bond him and the other boy had shared for the past five years. The red head used his skills in strategy to try and map out a reasonable way to get through this conversation that would keep both his and Harry's tempers in check and still get the outcome they both seemed to want. This focus went a long way in helping him control his own temper to the point where he no longer feared speaking, and made things a lot clearer for him so that things started to come naturally to his mind rather than forced as usual.

"Mate, I don't know where to start, but this summer sounds like as good a place as any." Ron started out slowly, still keeping a tight lid on his passionate anger and meeting Harry's eyes so his friend could easily read the honest sadness and resignation in them. "There was nothing from you all summer, and I get it mate. I do. You needed time after last year, but Merlin, a warning would've been nice. Then we get here and it's like the only person you want to include in your life anymore is Gin. It's not that I don't care about who you are anymore mate, but how am I supposed to know who you are anymore if you don't give me the bloody chance to?"

He realized his voice was getting thicker and more passionate with his temper flaring and took breaths to control it. The last thing he wanted was a shouting match with Harry that would get them absolutely no where and only make things worse. "Ever since we got back it's become clearer and clearer that your go to person is Gin these days, and I don't want to lose my best mate but I'm not going to fight Gin for it anymore than I'm going to fight you for on being better brother to her if that's what you two want. It's just really shitty when neither of you even gives me the chance and assume I'm going to jump off the deep end all the time and then just push me aside for it and act like like that shouldn't bother me or hurt in some way."

The gryffindor looked hurt, and lost, and like he had no clue how to go about putting any of this back together if it were even possible. "Now you're here telling me all of this and sitting there judging me for not knowing what's going on like you know a thing about my life these days. I know I've screwed up before mate but I told myself I wouldn't make the same mistake again. I'm not turning my back on you Harry so you tell me how to fix this because I'm fresh out of bloody ideas and all I really know is that it doesn't matter if you were in love with a bloody bloke, that still wouldn't change. As long as it wasn't the ferret. Then we might have problems."

To say that Harry was stunned by his best mate’s reaction would be an understatement of the biggest kind. Apparently Ron was still so sore about Harry needing his own space to grieve this summer that he couldn’t let it go. Sure he said he understood, but he just kept bringing it up, like somehow saying how hurt he was for the fourth or fifth time would change things for the better when all the others hadn’t. He just didn’t get it. Harry had finally thought, after a life of having a mix of family who hated him, and others who loved him, but had their own families that would always come first, that he was going to have his own little family. He would have a dad, and a home, and they would be with the person his parents had placed above everyone else in their lives.

And it had all been taken away. Harry had fought as hard as he could for the family and life he deserved, and in the end, what had he done, if not make it all worse? If he hadn’t been so ready to rush off to defend Sirius’s life, his cheerful godfather would never have had to run off to save Harry and his friends from themselves and the Death Eaters. He would still be at home, writing Harry letters full of the best advice possible about Skyler, partying, the war, and all the rest of what had him confused. He would be waiting there for Harry to finally have a place to go home to for the Christmas holidays. He wouldn’t be dead in that stupid fucking veil. Sure, there was plenty of blame to go around, but a big slice of it belonged to Harry himself. And his best mate had the plain stupidity to ask for a warning that Harry would be really hurt by that?

He was standing, breathing heavily, and he wasn’t sure when that had happened. “One, Ginny just lets me relax, instead of asking questions that I don’t have answers too over and over. Trying to get you and Hermione to understand that I’m not bloody perfect and I don’t always know what’s going on has been exhausting this year. You two are supposed to be the planners, not me. I can’t do everything.”

His glaring eyes flicked to the fire for what must have been at least the 20th time in the month and a half of school so far, looking for help that would never again be there. This only served to make his mood worse. “I have an idea,” he spat out, tone going from angry to dangerously icy. “If you don’t like how I’m dealing with things anymore, don’t deal with me. I assure you, the rest of the lions will side with you over me and you’ll have plenty of people that can give your life the attention it deserves. But I’m dealing with things the best way I can. There’s not some better Harry lurking beneath the surface that’s gonna come out if you say the right combination of words.”

Harry stood there, putting all his effort into controlling his breathing so that he looked entirely calm. His emerald eye held a challenging glare. Either Ron would do something stupid and jealous again, he would calm down and handle things like he had finally grown up a little, or he would decide that Harry wasn’t worth the trouble anymore and that their friendship had run its course. Honestly, Harry wasn’t all that fussed which one he picked. He was dangerously angry and ready for this situation to resolve itself.