[A/N: I was saddened by the lack of response for the last chapter. I hope this chapter will get more of a response. Oh well, Enjoy.]
Malfoy Attacks Wizard In Guilt Filled Rage
Ron Weasley read off the morning paper with slight disgust. He could hear Harry rustling on his couch where he crashed the night before after dealing with Draco. Or as Ron believed after Draco finished dealing with him.
:::Flashback:::
Ron hurried to answer his door, which was being knocked on, or in his opinion being wailed upon. "Oi, I'm coming, I'm coming, keep your knickers on!" he yelled skittering over his polished hardwood floors in his socks and muggle boxers. It seems as though Ron had taken quite a liking to Superman, buying the boxers to show it. But the seemingly angry banging continued.
" Ron open the bloody door, it's me Harry." Ron grinned as he open the door happy to see his friend.
" Harry you git, what makes you think you can-" Ron's good humor faded fast at the sight of his best friend. " Harry! What in Merlin's name happened to your eye?" Harry quickly stepped into the apartment obviously a little ticked off at his situation.
" Draco is what happened." Harry seethed heading for the redhead's kitchen, Ron close behind him.
" You mean to say that bugger decked you?" Ron cried incredulously earning himself a warning look from Harry. " Honestly Harry, maybe you should just leave him alone, Herm was his saving grace." Ron paused a little subdued at his words. " But now that she's gone, he's becoming a complete lunatic." Harry was searching Ron's freezer with a confused look on his face.
" It's called grief Ron." He replied testily not taking his attention away from the freezer. "And why do you have socks in your freezer?"
" Oh that, well it gets hot in here, and I don't like walking around barefoot-" Ron stared nonchalantly.
" Forget I asked." Harry cut him off, saving himself from knowing another one of Ron's oddities. " Where's your ice, this thing is killing me."
" Well where's your wand? I'm not your butler." Ron put in indignantly. Harry sighed, quickly losing patience with his supposed best friend.
" I don't have it." He replied through clenched teeth.
" Well where is it then?" Ron asked just as annoyed with Harry as Harry was with him.
Silence
Ron's eyes sparkled with realization as an unbelieving laugh escaped him.
" Harry James Potter." Harry groaned as he went on, he hated it when Ron used his full name. " You mean to tell me, that not only did that git deck you in the eye… but he took your bloody wand too!"
" Ice, Ron. I need Ice!" Harry blew up glowering at the carrot top with his one good eye. " My bloody eye is swelling up like a bloody balloon, I can barely see straight and you want to know the bloody details!" Ron snorted with laughter as Harry's unruly jet black hair shook with anger.
" Calm down and take a seat Harry." He chuckled. " I'll go get my wand." With that he walked off to his bedroom still laughing. Harry sighed and took a seat at the kitchen table. Ron came back to the kitchen with his wand and a small towel, his laughter now quieted to a faint smile. Taking a seat next to Harry he laid the towel on the table and pointed his wand.
" Accio glacies" he murmured making the badly needed ice appear. Harry gave a faint smile while Ron wrapped it up in the towel and handed it to him.
" Thanks Ron." All anger now gone now that he was treating his throbbing eye. Ron leaned back in his chair and gave a slow whistle of amazement.
" Boy did he give it to you." He muttered crossing his arms casually. Harry rolled his one good eye. "Why you put up with him is beyond me." Harry shook his head slowly, his eye numbing up quickly.
" He needs support Ron, I just can't leave him alone like that." He removed the towel anxiously. " How's it look?" Ron leaned in to get a better look.
" Not too great, I'm afraid." Harry sat back miserably resting the ice once more on his eye.
" Besides," Harry said absently his good eye staring at the tabletop. " I made a promise to Hermione that I would look out for him." Harry noted that Ron still became rather somber at the mention of Hermione's name.
Ron laughed softly, looking up at Harry with tears in eyes. " Leave it to Herm to make you promise the impossible." Harry nodded and grinned.
" If I hadn't said yes, she said she was going to ask you." Ron snorted in disbelief.
" Yea, that's how I reacted… so I said yes." He paused moving the ice away for a second before returning it. " But now, I wonder if I can handle it."
" How do you look out for a broken man, Harry?" Ron asked sadly while Harry shook his head at a lost for words.
" I don't know Ron, but I can't let her down, you know… I owe her this much." He said with resolve and sadness.
" Well, you have me if you need me."
" Thanks."
" Lemme take a look at it" Ron said and Harry removed the towel. " It's looking a little better."
" Mind if I crash on the couch tonight?"
" No, I'll go get you some blankets and stuff." Ron replied through a yawn padding back towards his room.
" Ron…"
"Hmm?"
" Thanks again, you know… for being such a good friend to me all these crazy years." And although Harry couldn't see his face he knew Ron was smiling through his tears.
" No problem Harry." His voice cracked slightly. " Anytime."
::: End Flashback:::
" Ugh." Harry moaned from underneath the quilt Ron gave him the night before. His eye was still throbbing and strangely but also frighteningly enough his scar was tingling for the first time in nearly 2 years. " Ron?" he called out, his voice husky with sleep.
"In the kitchen Harry." Ron called back still reading the paper, now staring at the wizard picture in front of him. It was of The Leaky Cauldron with a few wizards out in front looking panicky, as if the 'terror' that was Draco Malfoy would suddenly swoop down on them like a wild beast and curse them all. Ron couldn't help but grunt with amusement and annoyance.
" As if Hermione dying wasn't a bloody blow in itself, now he has to deal with this silliness." Ron said underneath his breath just as Harry stumbled in holding his head in pain.
" What was that?" he asked sitting next to the redhead tiredly. Ron slid the paper over to him and watched as Harry read the headline with his good eye.
" Oh, for the love Merlin." He exclaimed throwing the paper down in disgust. " That's not even what happened!"
" No? But the Daily Prophet is a pretty reliable source-"
" He was completely provoked Ron!" Harry said now standing up, looking out Ron's kitchen window. It was a beautiful day, but he felt like crap. And his scar was still tingling. " I was there, and I should be to blame… it was a stupid idea to take him there."
"I agree." Ron said curtly taking a sip of tea, reading the paper once more.
" Thanks a lot." Harry glowered at him.
" Just being honest mate, that's all."
" I never knew the wizarding world could be so bloody heartless, this man just lost his fiancée and they go off accusing him of her murder." Ron simply shrugged.
" What were you expecting Harry? Just because we can perform magic doesn't mean we can't act just as nasty as anyone else." Harry shook his head rubbing the area around his scar. " I mean, look at Voldemort… hell look at Malfoy's father, if there was man who was pure evil… it was most certainly him. Willing to kill his own son for his ' Dark Lord'" Ron huffed in disgust. " Off his rocker that man was."
Ron's words seem to fuel the tingling feeling of Harry's scar. He rubbed nervously closing both eyes with silent fear.
" Oi, is your scar bothering you?" Ron asked a little nervously. " Do you think?"
" No Ron, Voldemort is dead, I killed him myself, remember." Ron shuddered at the memory.
" Yes unfortunately, every once in a while I'm pleasantly awakened by it." He said bitterly finishing his tea.
" And if it was Voldemort, it would be painful… it's just tingling, like it's trying to tell me something." He said still rubbing.
" It's been silent for 2 years, what could it possibly have to say now?" Ron asked with a quizzical stare.
" Blind me if I knew." Harry muttered becoming frustrated by all these occurrences.
" Well, what do you want to do today then?"
" Get my bloody wand back, that's for damn sure."
" I figured that much." Ron laughed. " Are you sure you wanna go over there looking like that? I could always just heal it for you if you'd like" he smiled drawing his wand out of his bathrobe. Harry looked like a deer in headlights.
" No!" he yelled pushing Ron's wand toward the floor away from his eye. " With your Medi-magic skills I'd end up with two black eyes and an extra in the back of my head!"
Ron grinned wolfishly " Well you can never be too careful, an extra eye could come in handy."
" Thanks but no thanks… besides I think it'll do some Draco some good to see that he did in fact rough me up a little. Maybe give him a ego boost."
Ron raised a skeptical eyebrow and chuckled. " Sure Harry, whatever you say."
" Mind if I use your fireplace to get home?"
" Of course not, I don't know why you even bother asking, as if you practically don't live here already."
" Just being courteous." Harry smirked at the disheveled redhead in a Superman robe.
" Courteous huh? You seemed to forget that last night when you were banging my door down like a bloomin' madman!" Ron huffed throwing some floo powder into the fire.
" You always were the touchy one, weren't you Ron?" Harry quipped. Ron gave a sarcastic smirk before pushing Harry into the emerald flames.
" And you were always the smartass."
" I'll owl for you later… I may need your help with Draco."
" Sure, sure- just get the hell out of my flat would you!"
" Anything you say Superman." Harry laughed giving Ron a lewd wink that made the other man blush before disappearing in a haze of flames.
"Such a complete bugger that one."