It didn't occur to him to ask where they were going. Harry just tugged on the sleeve of his robes as he stood and said, "Come on."
Ron followed Harry across the Common Room and through the portrait hole without question, and walked with his best mate aimlessly. That's just how they were with each other; friends with no real destination necessary. He let Harry take the lead and set the pace, and they didn't really need to talk. Harry hadn't been real big on talking lately. Ron was just glad (and relieved) that even though they didn't speak, Harry still wanted his company.
Harry himself didn't seem to know exactly where he wanted to go, though he was drifting in the direction of the main entrance to the castle. Ron stole an occasional glance at him and discovered something he hadn't noticed before. Harry had something on his mind.
"Something you want to talk about?" he prompted quietly and casually.
"I'm still thinking about it," he replied.
Ron nodded and kept in step as they made their way out of the castle and walked down toward the lake. Harry would talk when he was ready, and not a moment before. He wasn't like Hermione who could be goaded into talking just yo get Ron into leaving her alone. This was …Harry, and it was different with him.
They skirted the lake for a while, enjoying the still brisk coolness of the early spring air. Harry picked up a couple of flat, smooth stones from the ground, and skipped them out along the surface of the water. One, two, three plunk. One, two, three plunk.
"Ginny kissed me," he said abruptly, flushing crimson and not making eye contact.
"Why would she go and do something like that?" Ron smirked with no small amount of amusement. He was actually quite enjoying Harry's discomfort.
"She said," Harry began, and then paused as if marshalling his thoughts. "She said it was an experiment to see if she still had feelings for me from…before."
'Yeah," Ron thought with a grin. 'That sounds like Ginny.'
"Well," he said aloud. "What did you do?"
I pushed her down and hexed her," Harry answered sarcastically. "I kissed her back, of course!"
"And?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" Ron found it hard to keep the laugh out of his voice
"I don't know, okay? She didn't say anything afterward. She just sort of said, 'oh,' and the ran up to her room." Harry said with a bewildered tone. "I haven't seen her since."
"Huh," Ron said, scratching his chin. "I don't know what to tell you, mate."
"Thanks."
"So…How was it?" Ron asked, not sure he wanted the answer.
"It was…" Harry said with a defeated sigh. "It was everything."
Fin