Ron PoV

At first, I didn't like the thought of Percy. The Dark Lord's recently returned and a stranger crashes through Hogwart's ceilings, supposedly not knowing of his heritage. Though Percy was open and talkative with everyone, he kept to himself and carried around secrets no one knows about. Since his arrival, it's been a series of suspicious things. The excellent flying despite never having ridden a broom, the mysterious cousin, the prophecies, excelling at potions, and finally, befriending Draco Malfoy. I didn't trust him and couldn't understand why Harry couldn't see what Hermione and I see.

But the longer I knew him, the harder it is to find a legitimate reason to dislike him as strongly as I do. It was getting harder and harder to resist giving up so I did. I gave up. Why fight when you don't even know why or what you're fighting. He was nice, smart, funny, and a good friend as far as I could tell. But, I kept this to myself because though Harry would approve, Hermione wouldn't. She was still convinced that there was something going on with Percy. And maybe there was, but whatever it is, I didn't think it involved The Dark Lord. That was until Malfoy.

The day I saw them together was a hard day for me. I had only recently accepted that Percy wasn't bad only to then see him with Draco Malfoy, a sure Death-Eater. There's the prospect that Percy didn't know, but Malfoy didn't make friends and it was hard to fight against the side of me that was doubting Percy. They laughed and shoved and smiled and joked, and Malloy seemed more at ease than I'd ever seen him before. Percy didn't act any different but I was already wary by that time. It was hard to trust someone who had befriend one of your worst enemies, an enemy who was most certainly working with the worst enemy.

Malfoy didn't change until later. He was still rude, snooty, and a pretentious prick with no regard for others. I was appalled and revolted that Percy would befriend such a person. But slowly, he did change. Not by a large amount, that I would never expect of him, but he engaged Harry and I into fights less often, sometimes even ignoring our presence completely. What shocked me the most was when he helped set up for the Christmas party. He seemed so docile and I knew it had to do with Percy, having seen them arguing earlier. I hadn't heard what had been said, but I knew Malfoy didn't help set up because he was struck with the inspiration to. I started seeing a new side to Malfoy. I didn't trust him, Merlin no, that I would never, but I began to think that maybe there's more to him than he let's us see.

The night of the Christmas party was the turning point for me, for both Percy and Malfoy. When Harry was arguing with Malfoy, I had expected him to take the bait, especially when Harry dropped the word 'filthy'. He didn't do it intentionally, but I'm glad he did because if he hadn't, I wouldn't have come to be where I am now. We saw it, in Malfoy's face, in his eyes, heard it in the first two letters of his favorite word for Hermione, but he stopped. Malloy had paused almost mid word, almost shocked. His jaw had slackened and his body stiffened, his eyes guilty. It had happened in the span of one second, but I had seen it, seen it because I had been watching. Hermione, though observing, hadn't seen because she wasn't looking, only feeling the anger that wanted to overflow. What we had all seen though was Malfoy stopping himself from saying 'mudblood'.

It was then my views changed. I knew in that moment and now that the Malfoy everyone saw, wasn't the Malfoy that was really there, wasn't the Malfoy that Percy saw. I knew that it wasn't the real Malfoy, because no matter how inspiring or persuasive Percy was, no one could change just like that unless they'd been that way the entire time. But, Percy had been the one to get Malfoy to show his true side. Percy had befriended him when no one else would and allowed him to take comfort in him and show him a side Malfoy probably showed no one. Not even himself. That one second of vulnerability that only I had seen had erased all doubts I had of Percy and convinced me to give Malfoy another chance. Percy was good, so good, and maybe he could help Malfoy be good too.

This in no way meant that I trusted Malfoy or liked him. Years and years of dispute and hatred couldn't just vanish just like that, but maybe I could give him a chance, not judge him so harshly. Try and see the side of him that Percy saw, because maybe he wasn't Malfoy, maybe he was Draco. At the Christmas party I had seen Malfoy do something I'd never seen him do before; mingle. Albeit, Percy did practically drag him to all of those people, but Malfoy didn't complain. He seems quite shy and nervous. It was awkward for me to see those emotions of Malfoy's face, but I was slowly getting used to the idea that the Malfoy I knew was just a facade.

And it's with all of these thoughts that I listen to Harry speak.

"- he wasn't making the right decisions. I mean, Malfoy? The way that the two of them have been growing closer, it's disconcerting and I worry that Percy might become a Death Eater, if he's not already." Harry dragged a hand down his face, forehead creased in stress and frustration, eyebrows furrowed with slight anger. Hermione nodded emphatically, encouragingly.

"Harry, this is what Ron and I have been trying to get you to see this entire time! Now that he's with Malfoy, not do you see that he's been in league with... You Know Who this entire time?" Harry sighed and I could see his mind changing. It was curious to me how Harry had been so faithful to Percy and had been wholeheartedly defending him, but stopped and started doubting him when Percy befriended Malfoy. Were all of those arguments he made suddenly invalid just because Malfoy was in the picture? Harry, what are you doing?

"I don't know, but you might be right, Hermione. Now that he's all buddy-buddy with Malfoy... Percy can't be trusted."

"Are you serious right now, mate?" Harry and Hermione both turned to me in surprise.

"What?" Harry questioned. I shook my head, a look of disbelief on my face. I scoffed.

"You spent months defending this bloke, and now that he's decided that he wants to have an unorthodox friendship, you're abandoning him and throwing accusations?" Harry sat shell shocked while Hermione's brows rose comically.

"Well, Ron, I didn't know you knew such a word, 'unorthodox', much less that you knew how to use it." My eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me?" Hermione stalled, not having expected that reaction. What, did she expect me to just let her blatantly insult me? "Hermione, I am sick and tired of you undermining my intelligence. Just because I don't do amazingly in school or on homework, doesn't mean I don't have an apt brain. My parents may be poor, but they are both very intelligent and I don't appreciate you constantly treating me like I'm mentally slow." She spluttered and her face burned red, shame blooming in her features. Harry's eyes were wide.

"Ron, she didn't mean to..." I scoffed.

"Yeah, there's not meaning to and then there's repeatedly calling someone an idiot and expecting them to be okay with it. And Harry, I don't know what you're doing. Who Percy's friends with doesn't change who he is. He's friends with Malfoy, so what, that's his decision to make. You don't get to control that." A red flush of anger fanned from Harry's neck to his face and he stood up abruptly from the windowsill, just as voices came drifting the the corridor, faint but gaining volume.

"So now you're defending Malfoy? Are you serious, Ron? Do you know who Malfoy is? He's a bloody Death Eater!" Harry's voice rung out loudly, but the approaching voices didn't halt so I could only assume they weren't close enough to hear him yet.

"Oh yeah, well maybe he's not. Ever thought of that? Look, Harry, I don't want to fight. All I'm saying, mate, is that that's Percy's business, and it's not our business to meddle in it." Harry bristled and puffed out a fan of angry air.

"Well, Ron, when did you start liking Percy? Last I knew you disliked and distrusted him just as much as I do. Where are you coming from to defend him like this?" Hermione finally spoke up after I'd confronted her.

"Because Percy's not bad, it just took me a while to realize that, and you need to too, Hermione." There was a clearing of the throat and we all spun around to come face to face with Percy himself, Malfoy standing behind him.

"Uhh, thanks Ron, but what's going on? Why are you guys talking about me?" Percy's face bore a look of confusion and slight apprehension. Harry snarled uncharacteristically,

"Stay out of it, Jackson!" Percy's eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened, before narrowing in dark anger, brows hanging like ominous thunderclouds.

"Excuse me?" The tone was offended, confused, shocked, and angry, and I couldn't help but notice that he had the same reaction to Harry that I had to Hermione. "I don't know what's going on with you, so I'm going to let that slide. But I am not okay with you talking to me like that." Harry scoffed.

"Yeah, but you're okay with hanging out with scum like Malfoy." Percy balked, not having at all expected Harry to say something like that.

"Excuse me?" This time is was said in a more profound manner, as if Percy couldn't believe Harry had the gall to say something like that. "You have no right to talk about Draco like that, or anyone, for that matter. I will let you mistreating me earlier slide, but I will not accepting you talking about Draco like that. You should apologize, Harry, that was very rude and disrespectful of you."

"I'm not apologizing for anything." Harry hissed furiously. "I didn't do anything wrong. We can't believe you befriended Malfoy. Ron and Hermione tried to warn me not to trust you, but I did. Now I know that was a mistake." Harry spat the last word like venom.

"Ay, mate, calm down, and yeah you do need to apologize. Harry, you're not acting like yourself and that was very low of you to say that. Percy's right, you don't get to talk about people like that, including Malfoy. I don't know what's gotten into you, but you need to calm down before you do something you'll regret." Harry turned on me, disbelieving and angry.

"Oh, defending Malfoy again, are we Ron? I don't need to calm down, you need to figure out who your friends are before you do something you'll regret." Harry glared at me, crossing his arms. I glanced at Hermione to see her face hard and resolved. She's with Harry, but what did I expect? I scoffed.

"Wow, you know what..." I paused to shake my head, because this isn't Harry and I don't know where he's gone. "Yeah, I think I do need to figure out who my friends are." And with that I stepped towards Percy and Malfoy. Harry's face contorted and Hermione looked away.

"Really? You're seriously willing to throw away years of friendship for someone you've known less than a year and Malfoy?" His tone was incredulous, the emotion barely recognized over the prominent hurt he was feeling. My heart ached at the sight of his pain, but he did this to himself.

"I'm not the one who's throwing away years of friendship, Harry." I walked away from them, footsteps following behind me, footsteps I knew belonged to Percy and Malfoy. It was silent as we walked and minutes must've passed, but my heart hurt so much I felt like crying, so I didn't say anything, just kept on walking. I halted at the weight of a hand on my shoulder. Blinking, I lifted my head slowly, coming face to face with Percy. His face was soft, concerned, sympathetic. I looked away.

"Hey." When he didn't continue, I looked back at him. "I'm here for you, in anyway that you'll let me." I nodded, grateful. He'll be here, even though Harry's not. Malfoy cleared his throat and I looked at him hesitantly. His eyes bounced nervously and he ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Um, er, sorry. I just wanted to say thank you for defending me. I've treated you like trash and you didn't need to, but you did anyway, so thank you." I could tell it was hard for Malfoy to say that and I felt awkward hearing it, but it reassured me that I made the right decision.

"You're welcome." My voice warbled, and I tensed, flinching harshly. Percy glanced at me and asked Malfoy to catch up with him later. Nodding, Malfoy walked away soon disappearing from sight. Percy turned to me and slung an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug. I felt awkward and struggled, because mate, I don't know you like this.

But I cried, right then and there with Percy hugging me, I cried.

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