Title: Tested Waters

Author: Obsidian Angel

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the sordid plot…Raise glass to the master of the house, J.K. Rowling…

Spoilers: Set during Harry's seventh...Through to the fifth book…AU…Half-Blood Prince didn't happen…

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"Harry…" Ron called through the door. With no answer forth coming he stuck his head around the door into the dormitory they both shared with Neville, Dean, and Seamus. His eyes roamed over his friend's empty bed. There was still evidence where Harry had occupied the bed earlier that day. The coverlet was wrinkled and bunched at certain junctions where they had been clenched tightly by tight fists. He could even see the tear stains that littered the pillow. He sighed once again in defeat. Harry wasn't there.

It had been a late morning for both of the boys. They had gotten up late and they had almost missed breakfast. Ron wasn't so sure that wouldn't have actually been a good thing after the events of that day. Ron closed his eyes willing the memory away. Too close, too sudden, and too incomparable to anything he had ever seen to think about.

He closed the door and walked slowly back down to the Gryffindor common room.

"Was he up there?" Neville asked, being the one amongst the group of 7th years to voice his concern.

Ron's eyes met Neville's as he shook his head in the negative as he continued walking across the room to the portrait hole.

"And where do you think you're going?" A voice snapped from a seat by the fireplace where Hermione sat.

"To look for Harry…obviously," he said as he glared at her.

"It's after curfew…"

"I don't care, Hermione! Harry is alone somewhere in this castle hurting and unlike you, I bloody care!"

"Even after what he did?"

"What they did," Ron emphasized.

"I am not going to even dignify that with an answer," she shot her ex-boyfriend a look of pure disgust before she turned back to face the fire, her figure hidden by the high wings of the red chair.

Ron shook his head. For someone so bright he never knew her to be so narrow-minded. Harry was their friend. He couldn't believe she would betray Harry like that. Betray him. Neville gave him a reassuring smile but Ron couldn't muster the strength to do the same. He shut his eyes and instead took a deep intake of breath before letting it out in a steady whoosh. Neville understood as only he could. He nodded to Ron. Ron did nod back as he left the common room.

He had been all over the school already searching for Harry. The astronomy tower had been abnormally empty. That was the first place he had searched in case Harry had had the idea to plummet off the high turret to end his torment. Ron had been relieved when he stepped into the tower to not find a body sprawled on the lawn 200 feet below.

From there he had searched every level, every room, every dark corner, even the secret passages he knew about. Harry was no where to be found. He was hoping he would walk back to the dorms to find Harry in bed crying his eyes out, see him sitting there in silence, anything to reassure Ron he was actually in the castle. In Harry's state of mind he had no idea what Harry was capable of.

As Ron once again circled the Quidditch pitch he realized there was one place he had not checked, a place that should have been self-evident. He descended the staircases one at a time, silently creeping further and further into the bowels of the school.

It had been such a great morning. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky to ruin their perfect Sunday. Ron had had to practically drag Harry out of bed and into a cold shower to wake him up. He couldn't understand Harry's exhaustion. Well, not until later, that is.

They met Hermione at the breakfast table and both gave her a peck on the cheek as was custom for them as of late. She smiled brightly at them as they took their seats next to her. The smell of the hot maple syrup still stung Ron's nostrils even now in the dead of the night. He remembered vividly when the smell turned acrid and made him lose his appetite. He shook his head again keeping the stream of thoughts at bay as he reached the big oak door he had always hated. Within the room beyond he hoped to find his friend.

He grasped the cold steel of the handle and pulled open the door eliciting a groan from its old hinges. He had only been in this room once and what a memory it was. Five years ago he stood in this office the fear of expulsion hanging over his head. No such fear would ever be instilled by his Potions Master again. Ron closed the door unable to keep it from banging closed.

In the dark he fumbled in his robes for his wand. "Lumos," a bright light erupted at the tip of his wand illuminating the office. He squinted into the further darkness and took a step forward to further shed light upon the shadows.

"Harry…" he called out softly.

He circled the room many times, even looking under the desk and any other possible hiding place his friend could have been ensconced in without any success.

"Where'd you get to, Harry?" he asked to no one in particular.

He pointed his wand at a door on the far side of the wall, away from the desk and tables of flasks. He grasped its handle and yelped in pain as it glowed red and his hand, where he had made contact with the offending knob burned into his skin.

"Harry!" He banged on the door with his injured hand. Harry used to use that charm for when he slept at the Dursleys' as a precaution. His brother Bill had taught it to them.

"Harry! I know you're in there! Open up!" He banged on the door hearing the wood rattle against its stone enclosure.

He laid his forehead against the wood, "Please, Harry…Please…" Tears stung his eyes.

"Harry, buddy, please…I know you're hurting. Please let me in…Hermione was wrong, Harry. She had no right, no right at all to do that to you."

The room filled with unbearable silence as Ron stopped his pleas in defeat once again.

"Harry…Harry, I'm going to sit out here…If you need me…If you want to talk or…anything…I'm here for you…"

He walked to the left of the door and slid boneless to the floor the dungeon brick biting into his back.

"Nox…"

He didn't exactly know how long he sat there in the dark on the cold stone floor of Professor Snape's office before he heard a whisper and the change in air pressure as the door beside him slid open to cast the office in a pale dancing yellow light. He stood and dusted off his robes to see Harry Potter standing before him still in his blue jeans and dark blue jumper. Harry was looking off to the side, the glass of his spectacles catching the firelight. His hands were in his pockets, shoulders hunched in shame.

"Harry."

"Ron." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"Harry…"

"Don't. I don't want to be lectured to. I have had enough of that for one day I think," he rasped. Ron could tell he had been crying. He didn't even have to see the green eyes glitter with wet evidence.

"I'm not here to lecture you."

Harry finally met his gaze in hope.

"I have been looking for you, we all have actually."

"I'm sure Hermione didn't fret over my whereabouts."

"Well, no…but…I was worried."

Silence.

"May I come in?"

Harry hesitated, "I don't think Se…" He immediately closed his eyes and turned his back to Ron. He walked back through the door leaving the door wide open. Ron took the hint.

He followed Harry into a sitting room of sorts. A fire was going in the grate, the only source of light to see by. Harry sat in a chair turned diagonal from the fire place and draped a blanket over himself

"May I sit?" He indicated to the chair opposite him.

All he got was an "mm," in confirmation.

Ron sat quietly staring at Harry. In the light of the fire he could see the many trails of dried salt where Harry's tears had left. His mouth was set, pursed together as he stared into the fire non-blinking.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I really am."

Harry turned to him, "You're not mortified?"

Ron smiled faintly, "You'd think I would be, eh? But no…You were happy…"

Harry opened his mouth to comment but Ron beat him to it knowing what he'd say.

"Oh, give me some credit. You changed. Not a lot, but enough for anyone who truly knew you to notice. It progressively became easy to make you smile, make you joke, even make you laugh. It started that night you had that detention, I think. I don't know what happened between you two but whatever it was I knew it helped. You came back dazed. You looked a million miles away. I watched you get ready for bed mechanically and crawl into bed…and you said good-night…You hadn't said good night in a long time. You'd respond to it, emotionless…dead. But that night…you said it without coaxing, no preamble; and right then and there I knew you were back. I was grateful, even if it was The Git to break your shell."

Harry listened carefully to Ron's monologue. He visibly eased back into the chair staring at Ron who seemed to speak to his hands.

"You're right, something did happen that night."

Ron looked up sharply.

"But not what you think."

Ron resumed staring at his hands, "You don't have to tell me."

"But, you see Ron, I need to. I…ache…" Light chocolate met emerald. "It aches so much I can't breathe," his last words spoke in a whisper, his voice choked by sorrow. A tear traveled down a worn path on his cheek. "This pain has settled inside me and it's growing, overwhelming me. I can't get him out of my head. What they did to him, what they're still doing to him…"

Ron looked away settling his gaze across the room watching the flickering flames of the fire dance across the wall. His lip quivered from emotion. He hated seeing Harry like this…Helpless, hopeless, alone, and unhappy.

They lapsed into silence. Ron finally let himself remember, finally let the day swarm through his mind as the memory took over his thoughts.

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Ron remembered the jolt he got hearing the great hall doors swing open and bang against the walls reverberating throughout the high-arched room. Him, Harry, and Hermione visibly jumped and twisted around to see what had happened. They exchanged confusing looks when the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and five Aurors wearing their navy blue ministry uniforms followed close behind striding up the middle isle between the house tables until they reached the head table. The headmaster stood up in greeting. Ron knew immediately something was wrong when Albus Dumbledore's facial expression became fierce and his blue eyes fixed upon their Potions Master. The Aurors marched their way over to where the black-clad figure sat, surrounding him.

"Cornelius, what is the meaning of this?" The headmaster finally voiced everyone's question.

"Evidence has come to light concerning Severus Snape. Information from a material witness suggests inappropriate behavior towards a student."

Gasps ricocheted across the room as all the Slytherins jumped from their seats yelling their support for their Head of House. Snape had been cleared as a Death Eater at the end of the war. Draco Malfoy never looked half as worried as he did now, not even when his father had been dragged off to Azkaban.

The minister had said something then, something they couldn't hear but the clank of a chair being thrown aside as Snape stood indicated whatever it was, it wasn't good. Snape frowned, the crease between his brows becoming even more pronounced.

"I don't know what you are on about, Minister," Snape spat.

Ron locked eyes with Harry. He saw fear in his eyes. He had seen that look before, he knew. The fear of loss, of uncertainty…the look he got when Sirius fell through the veil, the look Harry always got when something was taken from him. Ron kept his expression neutral then looked over at Hermione. As Ron looked back on it now, he should have noticed her expression of concern for mock triumph.

Fudge had unrolled a scroll he had with him and read aloud for all to hear:

"Evidence shows that one, Severus Tobias Snape, cleared Death Eater and Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry these last sixteen years, is hereby under Ministry custody indefinitely for the sexual molestation and subsequent sodomizing of an unwilling student under his authority."

"What?" Ron heard himself say. "They can't be serious!"

Harry grabbed the red-head's arm turning away from the scene playing at the head of the hall. He stared down at the table.

"Harry…"

"Ron…" His voice came out as a croak. He eyes downcast, the green of his eyes dimmed, his bottom lip quivering in what Ron thought was fear.

Ron looked back up just in time to see two Aurors physically shove Snape into the wall, his front pressed firmly into stone. All hell broke lose then. All the students stood, yelling and screaming, some even were crying. Professor McGonagall was up, powerless to stop anything; her hands covered her mouth in a silent prayer. Even from his seat he could see her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Lupin, who had returned as Defense Against the Dark Arts that year, stood next to Dumbledore. Hagrid was shaking his head furiously in disbelief but most just sat gob smacked with their mouths hanging open watching the debauchery of Snape's livelihood right in front of them.

Ron didn't believe the allegations. He knew Snape was a vicious son-of-a-bitch at his best and a down right bastard at his worst but he knew without a doubt the man was honorable. He wouldn't touch any of them. Snape was many things but he was not a rapist.

The Aurors secured Snape's hands behind his back with magic after they were able to wrestle him to stillness against the wall.

"Minister, might I suggest a trip to my office. You have caused enough of a disturbance in my school by your public display of force and I want an explanation of why you are taking my Potions Master to prison."

The minister nodded at the Aurors and two grabbed Snape's upper arms roughly and pulled him along, keeping the 'rapist' between them as they headed out of the great hall. The last three fell into step behind them. Snape's footing never faltered. His gaze never wavered. He stared straight ahead of him with his mouth pursed into a thin line. The only indication to his distress was the obvious quick rise and fall of his chest.

Dumbledore whispered something to Professors McGonagall and Lupin before following leading Minister Fudge to his office.

"Might I suggest, Dumbledore, that you retrieve the victim of these crimes," the minister had stopped right next to them. Harry remained motionless still staring down at the table.

The room went silent. Ron could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He knew what was about to come. It always happened to them. The trio was never left alone when something happened at Hogwarts. They always seemed to be in the middle of it.

"Mr. Potter," snapped the minister and Harry flinched. He shut his eyes, his face contorting into a grimace. Ron had a bitter taste in his mouth then. He dropped his own hand to the one still clutching his arm.

The heat from the stares across the hall was burning into them. Harry's face flushed, his cheeks turning red from discomfort.

"Mr. Potter!"

"Harry," the headmaster stated simply, "come with us, please. The minister seems to think you have something to do with this."

Harry gave a jerky nod and got unsteadily to his feet. Ron followed suit.

"Not you, Mr. Weasley. You were not called into council."

Ron slowly sat back down not letting go of Harry's hand.

"Miss Granger on the other hand, I think you should come as well," Fudge said.

Hermione didn't seem surprised at all to be asked. She stood with all the grace in the world and seemed to float over to them.

Harry finally spoke. "I would like Ron to accompany me, if that is alright."

"This does not concern him," the minister started to argue.

"It won't hurt, Cornelius. Mr. Weasley may come along as moral support for Harry. I am sure you won't disagree with me if I say after what you insinuate he has been through."

"Insinuations, eh, Dumbledore?" His gaze drops to Hermione and jumps back up again to meet the Headmaster's.

"We shall see. Shall we?" Professor Dumbledore held out his hand in front of him to indicate to move from the hall.

The party took the long trek to Dumbledore's office in silence. The clip of their heels the only sound echoing off the halls. Hermione strode behind the two older men as Ron and Harry lagged behind. Ron kept a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder the whole time. He could feel the tremors shaking the boy's body through the contact. He squeezed the shoulder and Harry's hand had come up to rest on his. Clutching, grasping, as if to make sure it was real. Harry looked back at him. Those green eyes again, dead to the world. He hadn't seen them that empty in quite a while. It was strange. One day Harry just started smiling again. After that momentous detention…Harry was Harry again.

So, is it horrible? Read and review please. Flamers are even welcome…I'm always open to constructive criticism…Thanks…