Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter J.K. Rowling does. If I did Ron would have his own story.
Chapter 1:
Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan were slowly grating on Ron Weasely's nerves. He thought they would be the perfect friends to replace his ex-friend Harry Potter. Three weeks ago, Harry had lied to his face about entering the Twiwizard Tournament. A tournament Ron would love to compete in. But no, Harry had to be the special one yet again.
And Hermione, his other best friend, had to stand by the prat's side.
Meanwhile, Ron faced Dean and Seamus who had to have inside jokes and spend all their time laughing around. There was only so much laughing Ron could do about girls and their lady bits. He wanted to watch Harry and Hermione laugh to his more exciting silly jokes. His two best friend's laughter was Ron medicine. Until the two decided to leave him out while they practiced spells in empty classrooms. Hermione never even thanked him for standing up for her the other day.
Yes, Ron was the one who officially broke the friendship. But Ron refused to apologize for being angry for a bloody good reason.
So Ron was left with loneliness. Left alone during stupid school and dull classes where he fought to stay awake. And then he would have to hear all about Hermione's brilliance by teachers without Harry to talk to. True he barely tried, but why should he when he found it so meaningless. When would he need to ramble off facts about magic? He understood the point of practicing spells, but he hated trying to remember all their particular movements. And he still croaked like a frog under the Imperius Curse to Seamus's amusement.
"So I talked to Pavarti and she wants to join you in a frog duet tomorrow Ron." Seamus grinned and slapped Dean's hand.
"Its not my fault Moody keeps choosing me." Ron hated the strange glint of pleasure Professor Moody sometimes revealed when he picked Ron in class. Mad-Eye Moody was wicked, but that look just got Ron inwardly trembling. "Tell her no."
"Just joking," Seamus said. "Really all we did was, you know. I could rub…"
"We don't need to hear all about that," Dean interrupted. "I had enough for one day. How about some Exploding Snap?"
They played for a while and then Dean and Seamus started fighting over some card move.
Ron decided to try to go to sleep. He lied down on his bed and stared at the black ceiling. Left to his thoughts, Ron's gloomy mood returned. He wanted to be Champion. He wanted to be special. But he was stuck with being ordinary, and plain, and unimportant. Worse, there was the small, hidden, and creepy part of his brain that told him that Harry did not put his name at all. Ron hated that idea. It was ludicrous. Harry shared his meddlesome scheme the night before the reveal. Harry sneaked out with his invisibility cloak to put his name in the goblet. Right? Right.
Soon, Ron's brain turned off and he went to sleep.
Ron woke up with a dry throat. He rushed to the bathroom and quickly gulped some water from the sink. Once he returned to the dormitory, Ron gazed over at Harry's bed and found him not there. There were only sheets, a pillow and a wool sock. So, Harry was not in the dorm. He must be in common room or outside the tower being the Oh So Great Chosen One.
Ron's stomach growled. He wished he knew where the kitchens were. Know what, he should ask Fred and George. They only lived two flights of stairs below. Ron started to walk down the stairs when he heard a raspy voice. The last time he heard that voice was in the Shrieking Shack. Must be Sirius. Merlin, Harry, Sirius. His friend needed to become way more careful. Ron smiled, his last thought reminded him of Hermione. Ron ran down the stairs to see Sirius. He loved the funny bloke, even though he was not keen to talk to Harry. Well, fast walked since his legs were too tired from sleeping earlier.
Once he made it to the common room, Sirius was gone. Soon a conversation broke out between Harry and Ron where Ron demanded the truth from Harry. To which Harry refused to answer. Ron anger emerged again. After all these years, one little strife, and Harry refused to tell Ron everything. Ron hated this knowing that Harry could omit Ron out of his life altogether. Well, its all his own fault, Ron knew. Ron shouted at Harry. After a few more bitter words, Harry threw a ruddy object at Ron's face. It hurt worse than when his head banged against a broomstick.
And then Ron noticed something that caused his heart to thump. His chessboard was on some common room chair. Who dared to place it there? He grabbed his chessboard. When Ron moved pass the fireplace, he lost his footing and tripped. Simultaneously, his hands threw the board leftward into the air. Chess pieces scattered throughout the ground. Some pieces fell into the fireplace and increased the tepid fire. No. His board. His board fell into the fire. Much of the ink on the board disintegrated till the chessboard pattern appeared faint. Worse, the fire was no longer tepid. The fire now stretched and roared like a hippogriff.
Soon, smoke covered Ron all over. Ron tried to remember the water-making spell. For several minutes the spell stayed a lost leaf in his memory. Ron stood coughing as his throat tightened. His eyes lost focus and saw shapes. He watched a round oval swish around and then Ron remembered some sounds of the word for the water-making spell. . "Auges," Ron grasped. His throat itched as more smoke fell inside. "Augmens." Ron could not remember the spell.
No. He was going to die. He would never hang about with Harry again. Dead long before he could succeed in any accomplishments of his own. The truth appeared clear before him; Harry was dared to put his name in the goblet. He needed to apologize.
Ron ran out of the fire. He needed Professor McGonagall now. The fire needed someone to put it down before every Gryffindor perished. Coughing, sneezing, and achooing, Ron sped out of the gray atmosphere that surrounded him. His eyes grazed into the smoke and for a while Ron was blind. Still, Ron dashed, blind, alone, scared and unsure. Ron considered his state worse than the swampy pits of the Slytherin dungeons.
Finally, Ron emerged free from the smoke and into the beautiful, clear hallways of Hogwarts. Ron rushed to the bathroom. Boy he is scorched. Blisters covered his face. His nose sizzled. Red cuts oozed blood. He turned the knob on the sink and water poured out. Ron awkwardly placed his face below the water, hoping the liquid would make it less itchy.
"Ahhhhh," screamed a girl. "What are you doing in the girls bathroom?"
Ron scrambled out of the bathroom. Great. He just had to enter a girl's bathroom and face a girl just like Myrtle the Moaning Machine.
"So, what were you doing in there?" The same girl appeared beside him. Her curly blond hair frizzed all over the place
"Checking myself," Ron replied. "Aren't I a picture?"
The girl nodded, looking concerned. "You should see Madam Pompfrey."
That would be nice. But his friends and brothers and sister may die soon. He could not bear the thought of all his friends dead within the bristling Gryffindor home. "Maybe later. Get McGonagall," Ron breathed, an itch had entered his throat again. "Fire in the Gryffindor common room."
"Wow." The girl was too caught up in the excitement. He would be too if he didn't know how dangerous the fire was.
"Shoo, and get help," yelled Ron as he scurried back to Gryffindor Tower. The annoying girl followed behind him, right at his heels. "I told you to get help, you wanker."
"And let you burn yourself some more. I don't think so," the girl snapped.
They barbed back and forth in the direction to the tower. Finally, they reached the hall outside Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady looked at Ron and the girl curiously and asked, "Why are you here Hufflepuff?"
"According to this idiot there's a fire in the Gryffindor Common Room," the girl explained.
"Well there is," Ron mumbled. "We need to get everyone out."
The Fat Lady raised her eyebrows. "But all the students are at dinner."
"Just let me in." Ron kicked the wall. Why did the world hate him? "I need to get in."
"What's the password?"
"I don't know." For some reason Ron couldn't remember the word even though he said it just hours ago.
"Then your not allowed in."
"Let me in, who cares about the ruddy password."
A new voice broke in on the stalemate. "What is going on here?"
Ron turned to find Professor McGonagall. For some reason her face lacked as many wrinkles as he remembered. "There's a fire in the common room and the Fat Lady's getting all cranky over the password."
"So that's what happened to your face." The Fat Lady giggled.
The stern professor nodded and asked, "Paige, get the Headmaster and have him come to my office immediately. I'll handle the fire."
Paige left.
Professor McGonagall continued, "And you, young man, I'm sorry but I can't think of your name at the moment, your face is too disfigured, go to Madam Pomfrey. She will help you."
"You don't recognize me?" Ron asked, amazed. After all the times they interacted. "But I'm Harry Potter's best friend. Ron Weasely. You taught me the last four years. You love to remind me to pay attention like everyday. My burned face can't make you forget that."
Professor McGonagall stared him down. Her eyes stretched wide and very irritated. She stayed quiet for a moment and then demanded, "Stay here. I'll be back shortly. Watch him Elizabeth."
"All right, Minerva." The Fat Lady whipped a fake tear from her eye.
At the moment the Fat Lady opened the door for Professor McGonagall, Ron ran into the common room. He heard the professor muttering angry insults behind him. But that did not matter to him. The sight of the common room, how could it be? How could there be no sign of the fire?
The carpet was matted with dirt, but without any scorched marks. The fireplace remained contained with gentle flames. A few scratch marks sketched letters and hearts on the walls. The windows were almost spotless, grazed by only a few bits of mildew. The windows revealed the peaceful sight of a sun setting behind the Quidditch Pitch.
The next few seconds dragged forever for Ron. His face hurt. His arms were tense with spasms. He was too knackered for this. How did time go by so fast? One moment he fought with Harry in the middle of the night and now a day was ending. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.
He felt a hand rub tightly against his shoulder, "I better take you to the Headmaster, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall told him.
"Wait you think I'm Harry?"
The stern professor shook her head. "I figured out your lie. You're not as clever as you think. You are a harry boy, I do agree. But you should know that Polyjuice Potion is illegal for underage wizards."
"I'm not under that Potion. Dang it." Ron's toe hit a couch and it hurt something awful. "I'm Ron. I already told you."
"Well, whoever you are, you need to be punished. Really, spreading a rumor about a fire around, I could torch your ears."