Summary: Ron wishes he didn't always have to be in Harry's shadow. (Set in GoF when Ron and Harry are not speaking.) (one-shot)
I have nothing against Harry, honest! He's one of my best friends and I love it. It's just that sometimes I feel like people are giving him too much credit. He's really no different from anyone else except for that bit where he's all famous for not dying when You-Know-Who tried to kill him. Everything after that though… I'm not so sure it had anything to do with any extraordinary skills. He just got lucky. If I had wanted to and if I'd had a little luck, then I could have done it all too.
I wish that standing next to Harry didn't automatically make me "that redhead" or "Potter's friend". I want people to know me for who I am, not for who it is I hang out with, and I want people to stop acting like Harry's some big hero. He hasn't done anything yet! When he kills You-Know-Who, I might understand it, but right now I don't. He's famous because his mom loved him enough to die for him. Mine would have done the same, you know.
So what if Harry's really good at Defense Against the Dark Arts? I'm good at things too! The only difference is that no one notices me because I have to stand in Harry's shadow. Everyone's always too busy fawning over "The Boy Who Fucking Lived" to notice gangly, awkward me.
Then it doesn't help that everything always seems to happen to Harry. He gets to be a Triwizard Champion and I get to stand on the sidelines looking stupid and gawky. It's just another great opportunity for me to not be noticed. Why is it that no one notices me anyway? I mean, it's not like I'm exactly hard to miss with my red hair, but still no one has a clue as to who I am. Sometimes they can guess my surname, but they don't even try to go further. All they know or care about is that I'm "friends with Harry".
I know it's not Harry's fault, but I can't help but blame him. He could try harder to not outshine me in everything we do, couldn't he? I feel almost ungrateful, but it just feels like everyone is always making fun of me for always being in Harry's shadow or ignoring me for the same reason.
Hermione tries to be nice about it, but she's such a book that I can't stand to listen to her for too long when she starts to try to comfort me. It's too much like reading her Arithmancy book and believe me when I say that it's the most mind-numbingly dull book I've ever tried to read. I tried to finish it, I really did, but I just couldn't. Then there's that whole bit about how she's a girl and I don't want to break down in front of her. I'll be angry as much as I like, but I would rather she not see me upset. It would be too much like being caught with your robes open in the quidditch pitch.
Quidditch! I introduced Harry to the amazing game and then he went off and outshone me there too. For a moment I thought that being from a pureblood family and playing quidditch my entire life would make me just a tiny bit better at it than people like Harry who had never played, but boy was I wrong! "Youngest seeker in a century," they said. My best friend was the youngest seeker in a century. I was happy for him, but then upset with myself. First all my brothers outshine me, and then my best friend has to go and do it too. I don't remember ever doing anything to deserve being ignored like this.
Now just wait! Prefect badges will be winging their way to some lucky fifth years this summer and I'd bet almost everything I own on the fact that it will be Harry and Hermione getting the two Gryffindor badges. I'll just have to sit by and smile when they look my way and I'll try not to let them see me upset. Fred and George, especially, can't see me anything but smiling when the badges come. I'd never hear the end of it from them if I look at all down about them.
"You want to be a Prefect?" I can practically hear them saying it and laughing. "You know you don't have a chance when Harry's around and besides, those badges are for pansies anyway!"
Harry's the best friend a guy could ever ask for, but for once I'd like to be the best at something or be recognised for something I did. For once I'd like to be known as "Ron". No more "that redhead", no more "one of the Weasleys", and no more "Potter's friend". I'd like to be known for who I am for once… even if it is just once.
-FIN-