"Harry mate, that dragon was pretty nasty. I reckon you'd have to be crazy to enter yourself into something like that. Mates?"

Harry was beyond frustrated at this point, he was honestly just confused as to how one person could be so infuriatingly self-righteous, so overconfident in his own self-worth that he assumed Harry would merely accept him back after such a sorry excuse for an apology. How could he possibly believe that Harry would forgive him now? How delusional does someone have to be to think that after abandoning your best friend for 2 months to get shunned and hated by his school, bullied by people he once thought were friends, and attacked in the hallway at least once a week. Ron didn't even say sorry!

Harry realized now why Ron hadn't believed him when he said he hadn't entered his name into the Goblet of Fire. Ron was a jealous prat, he was lazy, unfocused, he had no drive, and he still managed to believe he was worthy of being handed everything in life. He was jealous of Harry's fame, his money, quidditch talent, and natural magical skill. Ron wanted what Harry had, but he would never work to earn it. Every time that Harry did something or was recognized for something, whether it was learning a new spell with apparent ease, being thanked while walking down Diagon Ally, or even something as simple as choosing to do his homework, Ron got jealous. Harry couldn't be friends with someone like that any longer. He didn't want a friend that mooched off his fame and caused him to laze around all day, only attempting to learn when it was on a homework assignment. Harry had been in danger of losing his life more times than the average person would in their entire lifetime, and he was only 14! He couldn't afford to laze about, he needed to learn magic, and Ron would only hold him back.

Harry glances up from his internal monologue, Ron standing in front of him, confident and proud, an easygoing smile on his freckled face, apparently very sure that he'd have his best friend back by the end of the day. Harry looked around for a moment, the crowd standing with him in the common room. He would get this over with, he decided suddenly.

"No, I don't think we can remain friends. Friends don't turn their backs on each other because of petty thoughts and childish jealousy. Friends stick with each other, for better or for worse. If you had been entered into this tournament, I would have supported you! Your brothers supported me! Neville supported me! Even some people from other houses supported me, or at least didn't verbally attack me like you did!"

Harry took a breath to calm down and ready himself to end one of his first friendships.

"So no Ron, I don't think we can be mates anymore. I won't deal with your inability to use your brain, your fair weather friendship, or your unending laziness."

Ron's face started to grow confused for a moment at Harry's denial of their friendship. As he began to understand what Harry had just said, his face started to grow red and his neck veins started popping out just like Uncle Vernon's had just before the yelling and beatings started.

"You arrogant, glory hogging prick! You always take everything! You have fame, you have money, you have everything! And I have nothing! And now you're being selfish! Not even willing to share a little of the fame! I hope you lose this tournament! I want you to know how it feels to be second rate! Second rate brother, second rate friend, and second rate wizard!"

Ron took a breath and looked around him for a moment. All the eyes in the Gryffindor common room were staring at Ron with varying amounts of disbelief. He stared at Harry for a moment, eyes glaring with contempt, and then he spoke;

"Let's get out of here Hermione."

Hermione walked past a few of the other Gryffindors to reach where Harry and Ron stood, surrounded by their house mates in a circle. Harry froze for a moment, wondering if he was about to lose both his friends in one night. His fears were alleviated when Hermione took one step toward Ron, and spoke with a fear-inducing whisper;

"How dare you."

Then, her glare changed to an almost cold disdain, giving shudders to all who saw it. Suddenly, her arm whipped out and a slap was heard. It was reminiscent of her slap of Malfoy the year before. Ron was sent stumbling back, holding his now burning cheek, the glaring orange of his freckles drowned out by the dark red handprint covering his face. He blinked for a moment, took another gaze around the room, seeing that he was not being looked upon with any sympathy, and fled to his room. With that, Harry turned his eyes away from the staircase and adressed his house mates;

"Don't think you guys are off the hook either, McGonagall said in my first year that your house will be like your family. Families, from what I've heard, are supposed to take care of each other, support each other. However, I am willing to give you guys another chance because you guys don't know me like Ron did. Our relationships weren't that close, and therefore, your disbelief is understandable. So, with that in mind, let's celebrate. After all, I did just outfly a dragon!"

Harry let out his last words with a yell. Lee Jordan hit the wizarding wireless and cranked up the volume. The twins pulled out 2 kegs of butterbeer and a keg of firewhiskey from somewhere. With that the party began. People were dancing, playing games, talking, it didn't matter. Everyone was having a blast, the previous argument had been discarded from everyones mind. Everyone but Harry anyway.

Harry started feeling a little hazy after 3 firewhiskey and two hours of dancing and making small talk with his housemates. He decided that a little sleep wouldn't hurt at this point. A little rest after an emotionally filled day couldn't hurt. He slipped out and walked up the stairs toward his dorm. He hesitated for a moment, hand hovering over the doorknob. 'Am I ready to deal with another confrontation with Ron?' Harry shook his head and entered the dorm. When he saw Ron passed out on his bed, wand on the ground, legs and an arm hanging off the bed frame, he sighed in relief. As he walked towards his trunk, he paused, sighed and walked over to Ron. He did not have to be cruel. Harry would attempt to remain civil with Ron, he would still sleep in the same room with him for the next three years after all. He picked Ron's wand up off the floor, it wouldn't do to step on it and break another after all. Then he levitated Ron's form into a somewhat comfortable position. He sighed when he was finished with his task, stared at Ron for a brief moment with an impassive face, then walked back toward his trunk to get ready for the night. He settlled into his bed 15 minutes later.

Harry quietly pondered the outcome of the events. First, he went up and fought a dragon, proving to his fellow competitors and the school that he wasn't going down without a fight. Then, when all was said and done, he got into a relationship ending fight with his best friend. Honestly, Harry felt relieved. He felt at peace with himself. He had finally came to a resolution about it. All the turmoil of the past few months was over. Now, the only thing stopping him from living his life was survival in this tournament. If he was being realistic, the only reason he even survived at all was because of luck. He needed to improve himself. His competitors were all of age, they had years of magical experience on him, not to mention all the attempts to get himself killed over the past few years. He needed all the training he can get.

Harry resolved to head to the library tomorrow, look up general fields of study that would be useful. He already knew he wanted to improve his transfiguration, he had heard about Cedric's attempt with the dog and was intrigued. He also wanted to improve his spell casting speed and accuracy, after all, if you can't hit your target, why throw spells at all? His knowledge of healing magic and defensive shield was extremely lacking. Being able to heal wounds on the spot would be extremely useful in keeping him alive, and protego wouldn't protect against everything. His knowledge of hexes, curses, and charms were extremely lacking and mostly boiled down to expelliarmus, stupefy, and reducto.

In order to do this he would also have to find an abandoned classroom to set up in. He was lucky tomorrow was the weekend, so he would have all day to ready himself for his journey of self improvement. He would have to call Dobby and ask him if he could clean up the classroom for him when he found it. Harry wondered for a moment whether to tell Hermione about his plan. She would be very curious if he kept disappearing. On the other hand, she would definitely slow him down. Sure, she was very intelligent, but she tended to overthink things like the theory and history behind spells. She always had to know everything about the spell and would ensure that Harry did the same. He doesn't need to know who invented it, why it was invented, or famous times it was used. Harry just needs to know what it does and how to cast it. He decided, in the end, that he would simply tell him he was flying around on his broom, because quidditch had been canceled. She knew that Harry saw flying as the purest form of freedom and would not question it.

With his mind resolved and his body tired, he fell into an easy sleep.