Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling and therefore do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Ten

What Ron Weasley Does Best

"Check mate," Ron announced, for the third time in an hour.

"Damn it, why do I suck at this game?" Harry asked, frustrated.

"Don't take it personally, Harry," Ron said. "Some of us are naturally awesome, and some of us naturally suck. It's just your bad fortune that you land in the latter category."

"Did you just-" Harry began.

Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a tapping on the window, and a faint hoot.

"It's Fudge!" Ron said, confused. "But Rose just wrote us two days ago, why would she write again?"

"Maybe someone borrowed Fudge from her," Harry suggested.

"Doubt it," Ron said, standing up to let Fudge in. "Yep, definitely Rose's writing," he confirmed. He then began to tear open the envelope.

"It's addressed to you, then, I suppose," Harry said casually, just to make conversation, biting down on licorice wand.

"Nope, Hermione," Ron said innocently, not even looking up at Harry.

Harry choked on the licorice wand and spat it out. "Why?" he asked, half amused, half disapproving. "Why do you consider it okay to meddle in other peoples' business? Do you find it fun or something?"

"Nah," Ron said, looking up with a grin. "But it's what I do best. Other than chess. And I'm a decent Keeper. And I'm pretty good at embarrassing myself in front of girls. Oh, and ruining other peoples' relationships."

"Don't forget walking in on people kissing," Harry said bitterly.

"Yeah, that too."

Suddenly, Ron's jaw dropped in shock. "What?" asked Harry. "What is it?"

Ron handed him the letter. Harry read:

Dear Mum,

Please don't tell Dad about this, do not show him this letter, and do not mention it. Ever. Don't show anyone. Please keep it to yourself, as it is private. It is meant for your eyes and yours eyes only.

Now, here's the thing. I was friends with Scorpius Malfoy- He seemed so different, so special, so un-Malfoyish. He was really nice, and he really likes me too. We started dating, and we did all kinds of stuff together. We played Quidditch, we went for walks, and he showed me the Room of Requirement, have you ever heard of it? It's this Room that will change into anything you need or want it to be. It's really cool. We kissed in the rain there. It was the best night of my life. We were never apart- ever. I thought we were made for each other. But then I came home for Christmas. When I got back to Hogwarts, Scorpius was- different. He had changed so utterly that I wondered whether it was the same boy. He hates me mum, he really does. Every time he sees me, he gets this look in his eye, as if he wishes I'd disappear from the face of the Earth. It's positively dreadful. I just don't understand it, he seemed so sincere before, I don't know what happened. What do you think is going on? What should I do? My friends told me to write to you because they were convinced that you'd fix everything. Please prove them right, Mum. Please. I don't know what's going on, but I hate it, and I want it all to stop. I want things to go back to the way they used to be. Please help me, Mum. I need you.

Love, if that word still has a meaning, from Rose

"This is awful!" Harry exclaimed.

"I know!" Ron said. "Rose is in love with a Malfoy!"

Harry glared at Ron. "Some father you are," he said. 'Rose can make her own decisions, she's a big girl. Just because you hate the Malfoys doesn't mean she has too. Your daughter has a problem and all you care about it your old prejudices?"

"You only care because it reminds you of Cho," Ron sneered.

"How could this possibly remind me of Cho?" Harry asked, astounded, as always, at Ron's lack of logic and tact. "Scorpius wasn't crying while he snogged her, was he? No, he just all of a sudden started acting like a jerk. And if you don't care about your daughter, well then, I care about my niece, and I'm going to do something about it, even if you're not."

"What are you going to do about it?" Ron asked.

"Well," Harry said slowly, thinking hard. "I don't know. But I'll figure something out. Let's go get our brooms and go for a good long fly, that'll help me think."

"Sounds alright to me," Ron said, shrugging. "I'll go grab my Cleansweep."

"HA!" Harry laughed. "I forgot you were still on a Cleansweep!"

"You could have bought a Thunder Clash but no, it had to be a Firebolt," Ron said teasingly. "Why? Why were you satisfied with a lesser broom?"

"Firebolts are good brooms," Harry said defensively. "I don't understand the rage over the Thunder Clash 21s, they may have better acceleration, but I find that the Firebolt has better pinpoint turning, which we both know is very important in Quidditch."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "Can we just go fly, now?"

Five minutes later Harry was soaring through the air in the empty field by Ron and Hermione's little house. He laughed out loud. It was the best feeling in the world, flying. Even if he wasn't as nimble as when he had been a teenager, it was still the same exhilaratingfeeling, the same wind whipping through his messy black hair, the same escape from the world. It cleared his mind, as occlumency had never been able to. It gave him the ability to focus on one thing and one thing only: Rose. Only nothing came to him. Frustrated, Harry called over to Ron, "Race you round that oak over there and back!"

"No fair, you'll win!" Ron yelled back, pulling to a stop on his Cleansweep.

"Are you afraid?" Harry asked, cracking a grin. "Chicken? Do you want me to go easy on you?"

"Shut up," Ron growled, his ears turning red. "I'm not chicken. I'll race you. And don't you dare go easy on me, Harry Potter."

"Yes, my king," Harry said, sweeping into a deep bow, almost falling off of his broom.

"Three," Ron said, counting backwards.

"Weasley is our king," chantedHarry under his breath.

"Two," Ron growled, his ears turning red again.

"He always let Harry win," Harry chanted.

"One!"

Harry shot forward, outstripping Ron by a landslide. As he leaned even lower onto his broom, adding another burst of speed, he turned his head slightly and yelled back; "THAT'S WHY POTTER'S ALL SING, WEASLEY IS OUR KING!"

Ron burst forward, his fury propelling him closer and closer to Harry, accelerating every second. As Harry rounded the oak, Ron was almost on his tail. He kept gaining speed and the two were neck and neck, zooming towards the finish line...

"And it's Harry, by a nose!" Hermione called, suddenly appearing on the field.

"Oh, hullo Hermione," Ron said grumpily. "And I most definitely won."

"No, it was most definitely Harry," she assured him.

"Told you," Harry whispered. Ron turned his broom handle rapidly towards Harry and shot forwards, nearly knocking him off of his broom.

"Careful!" Hermione cried shrilly. Ron reluctantly pulled up. "Now, if you two are done," Hermione continued sternly. They both nodded. "I'm taking Hugo over to Angelina and George's, and then to Diagon Alley, I need some new potions ingredients. Do either of you want to come?" They both shook their heads this time. "Good, I'm off then."

"Rematch?" Harry asked, his eyes gleaming.

"You're on," Ron growled.

"Three, two, one!" Harry counted. They shot off towards the oak again, this time neck and neck from the very beginning. They zoomed around the tall tree, less than a foot apart, their feet almost touching. Ron took the corner so sharp that he almost crashed into the tree, but, by lucky chance, he managed to avoid it and take the lead. Harry bent over his broom handle to catch up. They were almost there- Five feet away... Two feet... Less than an inch...

"I definitely won that time!" Ron exclaimed triumphantly.

"Good for you," Harry said, laughing.

"Wait a minute!" Ron cried. "You let me win, didn't you?"

"So what if I did?" Harry asked, grinning innocently.

"I want another rematch!" Ron said angrily.

"Ron, we have other issues," Harry reminded him.

"Like what?"

"Your daughter!"

"Oh, right, Rose," Ron said. "So, any ingenious plans?"

"Nope."

"Hey, how about this!" Ron said excitedly. "We-"

"Ron, the last time we tried one of your ideas..." Harry began, shaking his head and laughing.

"But this is a really good one!" Ron cut in.

"Sure it is."

"Please, just listen," Ron begged.

"Fine," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "That doesn't mean I'll go along with the plan though, that just means I'll listen."

"So this is what we do," Ron said. "We go over to Malfoy's house, and we talk to him. Tell him to straighten his kid out, ask him what his problem is, and remind him that we saved his life numerous times."

"Ron-" Harry said, preparing to laugh and roll his eyes and tell his best friend that his plan was stupid. "You know what? That's actually not a half-bad plan!"

"You don't have to act all surprised," Ron said, pretending to be hugely offended. "I do have my moments of brilliance, you know."

"Sure, you do," Harry said sarcastically.

"I do though, I really do," Ron said, grinning. "So, any idea where Malfoy lives?"

"No, but I know how we can find out," Harry said. "Come on, let's land first."

"Okay," Ron agreed.

As soon as they were on the ground, Harry drew his wand from his back pocket. "Locator spell," he informed Ron, before muttering, "Locatus Malfoy Manor!"

Harry's wand spun in a circle rapidly three times before returning to it's original position. A three dimensional map started to sprout from the tip, growing bigger and bigger. A small red dot was blinking on and off in one area, and a green dot it another area. "The red dot's us," Harry explained. "And the green dot's Malfoy's house. The map will give us step by step directions. Let's get back on the brooms, we can fly there."

They mounted their brooms and soared up int the sky again. "You'd better disillusion us, just in case," Harry told Ron.

"Right," he said, and he drew out his own wand. He rapped Harry on the head, and the familiar sensation of an egg cracking on Harry's head trickled down his neck and sent shivers down his spine. The next thing he knew, he and Ron blended perfectly with the sky around them.

"Let's go," Harry said, following the large red arrow in front of him.

After a good twenty minutes of following the arrow, the green light started to blink extra hard. "I think we're almost there," Harry whispered. All of a sudden the red arrow swivelled madly on the spot and, after a spastic exhibition, finally spun down to face the ground. "That must be it, there," Harry said, pointing to by far the largest house in sight. "Ready for landing?"

"For landing, sure," Ron said, his grin failing him for the first time that evening. "For Malfoy, no."

"Come on, Ron, how bad can it be?"

"Now that you've said that, we know it's gonna be bad," Ron said.

"Why's that now?" Harry asked.

"Remember the massive spiders?"

"How could I possibly forget?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. That's how we know?"

"That makes absolutely no sense, Ronald."

"You said it'd be fine, just little tiny spiders, right?" Ron explained. " And then it wasn't fine, there were massive spiders bigger than a house, and we were almost killed. How do we know Malfoy hasn't bred some massive species of spiders to eat us?"

"He doesn't know we're coming."

"Maybe he does."

"Shut up," Harry commanded. "I'm a trained auror, I know what I'm doing. And don't forget, this whole thing was your idea. Since when have you been afraid of Malfoy?"

"Fine," Ron groaned. "But if I die, I'm gonna kill you, Harry."

A.N.- I had fun writing this chapter, I love Harry and Ron. :) Hope you like it to! Don't forget to review! :D