Part two here. I still don't own them. Too bad. Maybe someday...



Ron viewed the image in the mirror for a bit longer. As he watched the image of himself and Harry standing arm in arm, his tears eventually lessened and then stopped. he had regained control of himself, but he still felt so empty and cold inside. Ron took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He allowed himself one last look at the mirror and then headed for the door. With all the strength he could muster, he resisted the urge to look back again. "Harry." he said in a low, pained voice.

Once outside the door, Ron looked out the window onto the school grounds. The sky was oppressively grey, and it was now snowing again. He stepped close to the pane of glass and fogged it with his breath purposely. He stopped for a second, as pondering his action, and then with a finger, drew in the fog. He finished his work and felt a fresh wave of tears on the way. He hurried down the corridors and went out into the snow-covered fields behind the castle.

Ron wandered for a bit, first to the quiddich pitch, and then out near the lake. He saw the tree that the two of them had their first little bonding session and headed over there. "Harry.. where are you?" he asked aloud. Getting no response, he gazed over the lake and started watching the pieces of ice float around. "I love you Harry," he said as he flung a snowball into the water. It sunk, making Ron think that his heart felt the same way. Sunk.

"What if Harry didn't love him back?" This thought suddenly hit him between the eyes like a fastball. "Well, then I'll still be his friend to the end. Forever. I'll go to the edge of the earth for him, for those eyes. That smile." Ron threw another snowball. "I guess that unrequited love is better than no love," he thought, smiling at his mind's picture of Hermione in awe of his using the word 'unrequited'.

In his eleven years on this planet, he had never heard those words in the same sentence. I - love - you - Harry. In his shock, Harry almost gasped out loud. Someone actually loved him? It was like a switch had been thrown inside him. All sorts of feelings flooded through him, most of which he'd never felt before. He sat there, rooted to his spot and struck silent by the torrent. It was like he was watching from another person's viewpoint as Ron slowly walked out of the room and shut the door. "Ron," he finally managed to spit out. He sat there a second longer, wincing as the pins and needles shot through his legs.

"Dammit, Harry, why didn't you say anything?" he cursed to himself as he started toward the door. When he had opened it and stepped into the hall, he first noticed that it was snowing again. Then he noticed the foggy drawing on the window. A twinge of pain shot thru his body followed by a few tears of his own.

Drawn on the window was a letter 'H' inside a heart. Harry ran a hand back through his hair and leaned against the glass for support. Harry looked up and down the hall, wistfully hoping for a neon sign flashing "Ron went this way." Not seeing any of those, he started wandering around the school searching for Ron.

Why did he never feel like this before? He liked Ron a lot. He was his best friend and all. He rounded corner after corner, checked room after room looking for Ron. He eventually found his answer but not Ron. "I've never known what love feels like, so I never knew I was in love, either." That realization brought both a smile and a tear.

He eventually stumbled into Dumbledore, literally. He had been thinking to himself "He loves, he loves me. And I said nothing. I have to find him or." Umph. Harry falls to the ground as he quickly rounded the corner. Dumbledore takes a step back.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. We must quit running into each other like this."

"I'm sorry, Professor, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Yes, I noticed," Dumbledore said as he rubbed his stomach a bit. "So where are you off to in such a hurry, Harry?

Getting to his feet, Harry replied, "I'm looking for Ron. I nee- I want to tell him something."

"Oh yes, Mr. Weasley. I saw him a while ago. He looked quite off."

"Do you know where he went, Professor?" Harry asked pleadingly.

"I gave him a bit of advice about dice and he went away in a hurry."

"About dice? Why was Ron." Harry replied, but stopped in mid- sentence as he saw the laughter in the Professor's eyes.

"Actually, Harry, I think that you might be able to find Mr. Weasley out by the lake now." Dumbledore said smiling a bit.

"Thanks, Professor," said Harry as he turned and ran to the nearest door.

"Children." Dumbledore said and pulled a lemon drop from his pocket. "I do hope everything works out alright." With that, Dumbledore headed back to his office to do some important Headmaster things.



Okay, there is part two. I'd finish it now, but I must work on Christmas Eve (what a crock) and need sleep. I'd love more reviews, since the ending is still open. I have a few ideas, but no concrete in which to set them. R/R please.