House: Gryffindor
Position: Prefect
Category: Standard
Prompt: [Object] Cracked Cauldron
Word count: 777
Beta: Tiggs and CK
A/N: A bit of an AU. I know that Ron disliked Hermione in the beginning of the first book but I am changing that to him being hopeful about their possible friendship. This was written for The Houses Competition Y3R6
First Impressions
Ron's eyes scanned over the contents of his room. Hand-me down text books littered his desk and his cracked cauldron sat on a shelf. His worn trunk was laying open in the middle of his room, begging to be filled with his school supplies.
Ron made his way towards his bed and stared down at the pile of clothes in disgust. He fingered the holes and tears in each article of clothing before throwing them off his bed.
He had never cared about the holes or hand-me-downs before, but everything he owned seemed to scream that his family had no money and he was worried about what people would think of him. He knew his brothers had all made friends at school, but each of them were special. He wasn't. He was normal and average and poor. He buried his head in a pillow and screamed.
Ron sat in the train compartment watching as other students looked at him in disgust and quickly hurried away from him to find somewhere else to enjoy the long trip to Hogwarts. He turned and stared out the window trying to ignore the whispers from the other students as they passed by.
He hung his head low and could feel tears prick at the back of his eyes. He heard a noise and quickly wiped at his face. He turned to see a boy with messy hair and baggy pants standing in the doorway of the train compartment. The collar of his shirt was loose and his jeans had holes in the knees. He sat down across from Ron and offered him his hand with a smile on his face.
Ron could not believe his luck. Harry Potter had chosen to be his friend.
Ron had a goofy grin on his face as he unpacked his supplies for class. He waved Harry over to the table and set up his cracked cauldron. The crack had been repaired with tin and sparkled in the firelight, mocking him. The extent of his poorness was clearly displayed for the whole class. He quickly turned the cauldron so the crack faced away from him.
He worked quietly, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself. He squinted as he measured out dandelion root and added it to the cauldron, stirring gently. He sprinkled three strands of unicorn hair into his cauldron and grinned when it began to turn the desired deep blue. He smirked at Harry whose potion was currently a sky blue and received a playful shove from him.
Crack!
His cauldron split open, the liquid hissing as it kissed the flame and dripped onto the table. It spread across the surface, drowning everything in its path.
"Your cheap supplies are going to be the death of us all," he heard Malfoy say with a sneer.
His cheeks flamed as other students began to snicker at him.
The bell rang and he was relieved when the students began to file out of the classroom. He walked towards the back of the class for a rag. He sighed and turned back to his cauldron, surprised to still find Harry at the table. He gave Ron a small smile when he caught his eye.
"Well you certainly know how to make an impression on the first day."
Ron laughed and threw his rag at him.
"Shut it."
They had finished cleaning the table under Snape's scornful gaze and were entering the common room when they were approached by Hermione, a bushy-haired know-it-all they had met on the train.
"Well your cauldron wasn't repaired correctly, was it?" she said. "I can repair it for you. It's always good to practice some simple spells."
He held the broken pieces out to her and she waved her wand over his palms. The pieces magically aligned and solidified, one by one, until it was a whole cauldron again with no visible cracks.
He stared at her in awe. She had repaired the cauldron better than Fred and George had.
"Thanks," he said in awe.
She smiled at him and walked away.
Ron stared at the cauldron on his dresser. Seeing it should make him furious. The stupid cauldron had made him look like a fool in front of the whole class. It was the first week of classes and he had already gotten house points taken away, but he didn't feel mad. He actually felt happy. His cauldron didn't represent his lack of wealth to him anymore. It was a symbol of something so much more. A symbol of his blooming friendship with Harry and maybe even Hermione, and he couldn't be mad at that.