Chapter 2: The Conversation

"Harry"

"yeah Ron"

"Have you been struggling in Classes lately?" Ron looked up from where was fiddling with his wand in the shadows.

Harry thought about for a few seconds. He had been struggling over the past few days with his spells becoming more difficult to perform the spells practically in Charms, DADA, and Transformation. He leaned on the wall next to Ron.

" I guess I have been struggling more on the practical side, it seems like my spells have been losing power for the past couple weeks but none of the professors have mentioned anything to me yet. Why?" Whispered Harry

Ron looked at his wand quietly and looked up at the Crescent moon above them scratching his knee as he shifted positions. "I'm struggling with the practical portion with my magic. It's like I'm using Charlie's old wand again except worse. But I don't know why."

Harry sat down with his broom across his knees, "But don't you struggle with classes every year Ron?"

Ron looked up and smiled, " That's the thing I always struggle with the written portion of classes unless its Divination or Hagrid's Class and I've always done decently at the practical portion just not as well as Hermione."

Harry smiled and grinned," No one is like Hermione Ron."

Ron looked up and whispered," Yeah I know but I want to actually be able to do magic well so I can work and do things when I grow."

"What's got you so worried about it, Ron" questioned Harry.

" I have had meetings with McGonagall, Remus, and Flitwick about my progress in class. All of them are concerned and want me to spend more time outside of class studying for my practical use of spells," Stated Ron.

Harry scratch his wrist again, ''Is Ron following their advice or is he going to ignore and hope things get better? But if I ask him he might end our friendship." Harry thought as he leaned over and scratched his thigh.

"Harry, what is it?'' questioned Ron.

"What is what?" Harry look at Ron in surprise while thinking "Just how observant is he?"

"You look like you have a question for me and it is fairly easy to tell when you are brooding about something," smiled Ron.

Harry took a breadth and then plowed ahead," Are you practicing outside of class Ron?"

Ron nodded," Yep. I can do easy spells like lumos although they seem to have lost power; However, If I try and cast anything more complex and it seems like my spell is just coming up short,"

Harry exhaled glad Ron hadn't taken offense," So why are you worried?"

Ron looked over at Harry then back at the lights on several floors above them," I'm afraid I might fail this year in my classes Harry and I actually want to learn this stuff not just to write papers and recite the history of the spell. I want to be able to do something cool like Dad, Charlie, and Bill and be respected for it." Ron scratched under his knee slowly looking at the stars.

Harry turned over his broom cleaning some sweat off the stick with his robe," Why don't you try harder than Ron?"

Ron looked at his friend taking a couple of deep breadths and hit the wall he was leaning on hard, " I know Harry it's just whenever I try hard to get good at something I get pranked by the Twins for trying to be Percy 2.0 while mum freaks out that I'm going to hurt myself if I try to push myself at home. Dad is at work about 60 hours a week trying to keep a roof over our heads and he can't help me out while Percy won't because he is always studying while Bill and Charlie are normally out of the country."

Harry looked over at his friend while wishing that he had a family he didn't realize that there could be downsides as well and mentioned it to his friend.

Ron smiled guessing at what Harry was thinking,'' I still wouldn't trade my family though Harry. Not even for all Gallons in Gringotts. When you open yourself up to love people you also open yourself up to loss. I just don't want to lose my family or any respect they have for me."

Harry whispered," What if I helped you get better Ron?"

Ron face shot up," What?"

Harry face turned crimson as he watched Ron," I can help you get pass the end of the year tests; Ron, plus I have been having similar problems in Charms, Transfiguration, and DADA so we can pass the tests together or fail together."

Ron looked at his friend and nodded,'' If you will help me Harry. I'll take it and give you whatever help I can give as well."

Ron grinned at Harry," Now then. Why are you out here tonight Harry?,"

Harry frowned at his friend thinking,'' he has that stupid smug dorky grin on his face like he is three steps ahead of me."

"What do you mean, Mate?"

"Harry, I can tell when something is bothering you and it isn't your headaches because you haven't had any of those this week, it isn't Malfoy and his goons because they got detention from sprout the other day for messing around in Herbology, and it isn't the patronus charm since you mastered it two weeks ago. So what's bothering you?" Ron twirled his wand between his fingers as he buried his wand in the ground.

Harry sighed as he grabbed a handful of grass and ripping out a clod of dusk dropping it toward one side," I almost got us killed. Both you and Hermione were in danger due to my being unable to hold off Remus."

Ron frowned at his friend, "Harry you stopped me and Hermione from being killed by a werewolf you went toe to toe with our defense teacher who had years of experience and was faster and stronger."

"Ron, we got lucky. I only knew a few hexes and basic jinxes none of which could stop a werewolf. The only spell that did any damage was your stupefy jinx and I was lucky to even fire it let alone hit Remus," Snapped Harry.

"Harry! Would you stop throwing a pity party for yourself and think about it for a few seconds! None of us blame you. I know Sirius is proud of you for holding Remus off. You and Hermione even traveled back in time to save his and Buckbeaks' lives while I was getting healed. Hermione's spell wasn't even able to knock him out even though she hit him at point blank range. You did a good thing, mate. Don't dishonor your actions by saying you regret them." Ron snapped while staring at Harry at the end of his tirade.

Harry looked up at the stars and nodded while he eyed the moon. He watched from his peripheral vision noticing Ron doing the same and spoke," Sorry, Ron you guys are correct but it doesn't change the fact that the only time a spell worked was when you hit Remus the second time with stupefy. Speaking of which. Do you have any idea of why that worked and where did you learn that particular jinx?"

"Oh Dad taught all of us kids that spell. He said it is a good self-defense spell since it only knocks people out and doesn't kill them so the Aurors can actually bring people in and throw them into Askaban for trial. As For the reason it worked Charlie always told me that if it's got balls that is always a good target no matter how tough the opponent is." Ron spoke with a grin.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Muttered Harry.

The two boys stared at the moon and stars as they thought about that night the two weeks ago.

Harry looked over at Ron and spoke, "Ron, I've got to get better at spells I can't just play catch up all the time or one of our adventures with Hermione is liable to get us killed. I can't be an amateur with magic. I need to be an expert at magic and defending myself till the next death eater or death eater hopeful tries to kill us. I need to change this."

"Harry, I think you might be right but not just about you I need to change as well. We both got lucky fighting Remus and we can't always depend on Hermione to carry us.'' Ron murmured, took a breadth, and continued," The question is how do we do it?"

"What exactly are you talking about, Ron?" Wondered Harry.

Ron looked down from the moon and shrugged," We need to sum everything all up. Otherwise, will just forget it and not change. We need to keep it simple so we can start small Harry and make actual progress at least that is what my Dad says. He does it all the time with the spark plugs he collects. But previous question. So, what are we doing exactly?"

Harry stared at his Broom and closed his eyes speaking out loud," We want to change our attitude from learning our school to do the bare minimum to actually becoming good at all of our practical homework and not just good at magic but experts at performing magic, especially in a fight."

Ron stood up stretching as the clock bell hit the hour hand. He turned around giving a hand to Harry pulling him to his feet as he looked at the moon while mentally saying," I can do this I can take responsibility for my own safety and competency.'' Until the obvious problem rose to prominence among his thoughts.

Ron spun and looked at Harry," One major problem Harry. Were lazy and not like Fred and George Lazy. They are working on their own plans, but we are lazy. We tend to let Hermione do most of our work for us and if we are going to change, we need to take charge of our own change."

"Good point. Maybe we could make a pact?" suggested Harry as his heart dropped at the realization of Ron's point and knew what was coming as watched Ron shake his head.

"We don't do our homework anyway Harry how can make a pact like that with each other when we can't keep our promises to Hermione to our homework and also in my case my Parents?" Questioned Ron.

"We could enforce a change on each other by doing something which punishes the other person to enforce a change;" smiled Harry as he started grinning maniacally thinking of all the things he could do to Ron's food.

"The point isn't to be sadistic with each other, Harry," muttered Ron as he looked at the sky again as they both sheathed their wands onto their persons." However, that isn't a bad idea in and of itself to make sure we keep on changing."

"Hmmh''

"What Ron," asked Harry

"There is a way wizard can keep promises between each other and other adult wizards because it forces them to keep each other accountable at the risk of loss," Stated Ron who was looking both interested and slightly nervous at the idea.

"What way? "Asked Harry as he began stretching trying to keep himself awake while waiting for Ron to answer.

"There is a type of ritual called the Unbreakable Oath where two people promise each other something and either break their promises they could die or lose their magic on less dangerous scope." Ron mentioned and gulped," The only reason I know about it is because Fred and George tried to trick me into one when I was kid, it was the only time I saw Dad madder than Mum. I don't think Fred or George sat down for a weak after the stinging hex he gave them both in the rear."

"That seems kind of stupid," Harry blurted out, "Depending on what's said you can still figure out a way to get around the promise without triggering the consequences of the oath or trigger it unconsciously and die."

Ron looked over at Harry and grinned, "Hadn't thought of that. Are you sure you're not a snake, Harry? That seems like the sneaky kind of thinking Malfoy would use to get out of trouble and us into detention?"

"Actually, the Hat wanted to put me into Slytherin, Mate" grinned Harry as Ron jaw dropped.

"Let me think about that one for a while but we still got to get this pact figured out so we don't forget to do it." Ron said as he scratched his knee which seemed itchy again for some reason.

"Maybe we can construct an oath based on specific goals so we don't kill each other on accident, and we can't figure a way to weasel out of the promise." Stated Harry as Ron nodded at the idea as another thought hit him, "Ron, why don't we try to get Hermione to witness the promise that way we don't have to take the risk of the Unbreakable oath?"

Ron looked at Harry and shook his head," I'm not sure that is a good idea mate; for one were trying to develop and change our own attitude toward the way we approach school and magic and not let Hermione do all the work for us; two, Hermione trusts people in authority a little bit too much with the exception of Snape since he stupefied her but she is just as likely when asked about by the first trustworthy adult to tell them. Hermione's likely to tell McGonagall what we're doing when asked and then we have McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Mum breathing down our necks."

"We will need help from adults Ron. Why worry about that?" Asked Harry.

"Because when they find out we want to learn how to fight they will start trying to prevent us from using tactics and spells they don't approve of to protect us; Harry, sometimes we got to fight unfairly to win." Ron swung his arms trying to make his point.

"More like every time," muttered Harry as he thought of his pass adventures and fights, he had over the years Hogwarts. He shook his head and turned to Ron." So, the Unbreakable Oath then, how do we do it?"

"Well, that's the problem you need three people. The two people making the actual oath and the third binding the two's magic in the ritual itself." Ron said sheepishly as he rubbed his necked.

Harry exasperated looked at Ron," That's just great exactly who are we going to find to act as a binder in a school where there is next to no privacy, a homegrown gossip club, we can trust to keep her or his mouth shut, and won't broadcast it to the school tomorrow without trying to breath down our neck as you so eloquently put it, mate?"

''Don't get mad at me, Harry. Do you have any better ideas?" Shot back Ron whose face was turning bright red.

"Nope, but we better think of someone"

Both boys walked around for a few seconds then looked at each other completely missing the glowing eyes in the window across the quidditch pitch watching them.

"Neville!" Both boys cried excitedly.

"Who you do you see my pretty?" came the voice of Flitch from the open window across the pitch. Both boys looked at each other, got under the Invisibility cloak, and took off on Harry's broom for Gryffindor Tower as Flitch ran on to the pitch with his lantern following Mrs. Norris's glowing eyes.