Bickering by mutual consent

(Ron)

The overcast grey sky above their heads seemed pretty fitting for the mood Ron currently was in.

First days back in school after the summer holidays normally turned out cool,- Hogwarts being a second home for him, in a way, and everything looking quite exciting after weeks of being gone. But even though they'd just successfully escaped the boring drabness of Grimmauld Place, things back in the castle felt kind of shitty, this year.

There was this weird new teacher from the ministry, first of all, who interrupted Dumbledore's speeches and talked to everyone like they were five-year-olds; and, according to Hermione, that woman being here meant nothing but trouble. Seamus was a git to Harry, not believing that whole thing about You-Know-Who being back, apparently, and openly insulting Harry instead. Other people thought like Seamus, as well, though, and then with the usual Snape-nonsense Harry had to endure, his mood-swings got worse and worse.

Right now, he'd thrown a tantrum at Ron and Hermione for bickering too much (- according to him, that is), and had left the Great Hall angrily, his shepherd's pie still being mostly untouched and his friends feeling slightly shocked.

Harry normally didn't complain all too much about their fights. Actually, he mostly ignored them completely. Ron sometimes wondered when exactly that had happened; when and how Harry had made the willful (or subconscious?) decision to leave his friends be when it came to this stuff. But it was the right thing for Harry to do, to ignore it, Ron felt.

Okay, so maybe he had been a bit tactless, earlier, when Cho Chang had started a conversation with Harry, only to be interrupted by Ron because of her very questionable opinion on a Quidditch team, seconds later. But how was Ron supposed to overlook that huge "Tornados"-badge at the front of her robes? And, more importantly; how was he supposed to overlook Hermione's accusing gaze and words, afterwards? And things like that happened all the time; tiny moments of annoyance between him and Hermione, that would bloom into several minutes of loud rowing, only to be followed by everything being back to normal again. It probably could be a bit boring to watch, Ron considered, but it certainly wasn't boring for him or Hermione.

No, Ron decided, Harry couldn't seriously be angry now, about their fights. It was just part of their friendship, of his and Hermione's, to deal with things this way. Right here, right now, it was merely how they worked.

Ron looked over to her, noticing her flustered face and slightly confused gaze.

"What was that?", she muttered, eyes still glued to the door Harry had just left through.

"Dunno... That was Harry being annoyed with us, I s'pose.", he answered, dumbly.

Hermione's eyes blinked back over to him and took on a sheepish expression.

"He normally doesn't have such a big problem with our... rows..., though, does he?", she commented.

He nodded, pushing parts of his lunch around on his plate before eating another fork of it.

"Well, he's just...", Ron began, but didn't really know what he was trying to say, so he dropped the thought again. He was immediately reminded on his dorm mate's,- Dean's,- helpless reaction, this morning, when Seamus had been a buffoon again to Harry, Dean lacking any kind of explanation for his best mate's stupid behaviour.

"He's just in a difficult stage, right now.", Hermione concluded for him, and Ron suddenly felt the most awkward sense gratitude. We're together in this thing, Ron told himself, once again, We're both Harry Potter's best friends.

And since recently, he and Hermione were prefects together, as well.

Sure, no one got why on earth Ron had been chosen for this task, of all people, and the twins would probably badger him for it all year. But that's how things were, right now, and at least that douche bag Malfoy could not bug Ron any more than he could bug Malfoy in return.

And, yeah, then there was the Hermione stuff, the amount of extra time he would surely spend with her... Controlling empty corridors together, late in the evenings, whenever they had to do their prefect rounds...

Ron cleared his throat, feeling blood rush to his ears and looking up from his plate again in embarrassment. Hermione was eyeing him thoughtfully. Then, she sighed.

"Okay, Ron... I'm sorry."

"You're... huh?", he murmured, confused.

"For starting the bickering. This time it was my fault, probably, and now Harry's angry and.. Well, I'm sorry."

She shrugged and started eating again, taking a tiny bite of a potato and then lowering her fork to the other, tidily cut out pieces on her plate, distractedly. Ron always found it hilarious how much effort she could put in organising her food.

"It wasn't...-", he said, but shook his head. "Look, mostly it's... not really about who starts things, right? We always end up having a go at each other, anyway. "

She twisted a wisp of her her hair, absent-mindedly, apparently thinking about his words.

"What do you mean?", she finally asked, looking slightly sad for some reason, all of the sudden.

"I mean that... Well,... It's not like we don't both want to bicker all the time, is it? It's more like.. waiting for a good opportunity."

She raised her eyebrows, perplex, and then she started laughing. "That's what you think we're doing?", she grinned, still on the brink of laughter, "Waiting for a good opportunity to bicker?"

"Well, yeah.", he agreed, smirking lopsidedly at her. It was kind of fun, really, how quickly he could go from being entirely annoyed with her to being entirely happy around her. But still, the uncomfortable situation with Harry, a few minutes prior, was slightly dragging him down.

Hermione seemed to be feeling the same way, since her eyes became lost in thought again, seconds later. After a few moments filled with delicious baked potatoes, Ron saw her fist curl angrily around the spoon next to her plate, and her brows furrowed when she looked back up.

"It's not our fault that everyone doesn't trust Harry", she stated, angrily. "It's not like we were anything but supportive towards him, these past few weeks! We are the ones who are there for him!"

"Yes, we are!", Ron agreed, suddenly infected by her annoyance at Harry.

"And yes, he's had a rough day, but it's really not like Malfoy and Snape are only ever horrible to him, is it? Really, sometimes I feel like Harry doesn't even notice how much trouble some other people here are going through, as well, like Neville or ...-" She broke off, shaking her head and closing her eyes, slightly embarrassed at her words, it seemed, "I know that's not the same, of course... Harry 's got a lot of horrible problems, and he deserves to be angry about it, I suppose... But I just wish he would stop taking his temper out on us, I mean,...-"

"Yeah, I know.", Ron nodded, not really needing her to explain her thoughts, but sharing them, as it was. She met his eyes, almost shyly, and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

She gave him a few instructions then, for what to tell Harry later. She obviously and Hermione-ously wanted to let Harry know about her opinion on his behaviour. For once, Ron was pretty keen on doing exactly what Hermione thought was best. She was right about this.

They finished their meal in comfortable chattering, for once not really bothered by worries about their famous, furious best friend, after such a long summer of doing not much else.

When Ron left the Great Hall to make his way to their Divination lesson, he couldn't help but to feel determined to keep feeling this way for a little longer.

It was strange, this new sort of solidarity he seemed to share with Hermione so often, but it was definitely something he didn't want to lose too soon.

Something about this year felt different, he knew.

Some things were rapidly changing.