Harry made his way back to the common room to meet up with Ron before heading down to the Great Hall. He saw Ron sitting across from Ginny playing chess and Harry could immediately tell something was bothering him.

"What wrong, Ron? Hermione still mad at you?" Harry asked.

"I dunno," Ron answered non-commitally.

"What's wrong then? You look cross."

"Ginny's beating me!" Ron said angrily, motioning to the chessboard in front of him. Ginny's queen had just checkmated Ron's king while he'd been talking to Harry. "Blast it!"

"You've got to pay more attention, Ronald," Ginny said, a victorious grin on her face.

"Good work, Ginny," Harry said, clapping her on the shoulder. It only felt a little odd to speak to her after so long not.

"Erm... thanks."

"Losing makes me hungry," Ron said seriously, "lets get something to eat."

Ginny lost Harry and Ron as they made their way down to dinner. When they were out of earshot of the people around them, Harry asked: "Did you talk to Hermione?"

"No, nor do I think I want to."

"Why not?"

"Malfoy makes me crazy, mate," Ron burst out. "I want it to just be the three of us again. We never do anything dangerous anymore."

"I seem to remember you being the one always afraid when we'd do 'dangerous things'," Harry laughed.

"Well, I was young."

"I'm glad we haven't had to, honestly. Its like normal life finally," Harry sighed.

"Never thought of it that way. Sorry."

"No, don't worry about it," Harry said. He didn't expect Ron to understand, anyway.

When dinner was done, Hermione approached Ron and Harry. Ron turned his head away from her as soon as she drew near, but Harry smiled at her. We can't all get along at once, can we? he thought.

"'Lo, Hermione," Harry said. Hermione just nearly ignored him. She glanced at him briefly, the only sign that she'd heard him.

"Ronald," she said stiffly.

"What?" Ron asked, his voice gruff and angry-sounding.

"Why must you be this way, Ron, honestly? Dumbledore's always said that we need to communicate with members of other houses. There needs to be unity… Why can't you just accept that."

"Because it means I have to be friendly with that git!" Ron said quickly.

"Because it means I have to be friendly with that git!" Ron said quickly. "Thats the same bloke who called you a mudblood, or do you not remember that now? He's practically a Death Eater! Is that what you want for yourself?" Ron's voice had escalated from an angry growl to a shout over the course of his ranting, and the remainder of the people in the Great Hall had gathered to hear him.

Hermione could hear them whispering, and she didn't like what she was hearing: "Heard his dad killed his mum over holiday, isn't that awful?" "Not if you don't like Slytherins, it isn't." "I can't believe a Gryffindor would ever be with a Slytherin..."

It simply got worse the longer she listened to it.

"I can't believe you, Ron! I thought you were my friend," Hermione cried.

"I was your friend..." he answered quietly.

"I don't think so, Ron, because a friend would never do this." With that she turned and stormed off toward their common room.

"Hermione, wait!" Harry shouted, and ran after her.

The Great Hall was mostly empty by now, all the gawking whisperers had moved on. Ron sat down on the third stair to the bottom, not knowing what to do.

"Get up, Weasley," a voice commanded. Oh no, thought Ron, not you... He looked up to see Draco standing angrily over him.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

"You know what, Weasley? Potter has always hated me more than you, but when his best friend asked him to give me a chance, he did. Want to know why? Because he really is the bigger man than you."

"Say that again, Malfoy!" Ron shouted angrily, daring Draco to provoke him again.

"You. Are. Harry's. Sidekick," Draco said bluntly, accenting every word. "You're not good enough to be the hero on your own, so you cling to not one, but two people who are much stronger than you, both magically and as people. You're pathetic."

Ron could honestly think of nothing to say back, so he tightened his fist around his wand.

"Don't curse me, you stupid prat. You'll just backfire it onto yourself again." Draco paused, then continued with his rant, "You really are a disgrace to wizard kind. Not because you associate with muggles and mudbloods, like my... my father once said, but because you are truly a terrible friend, a horrible wizard, and a complete waste of space."

"Don't hold back, Malfoy, tell me how you really feel," Ron mummbled sarcastically.

"And don't you ever, ever mistreat Hermione like that again," Draco added, having not heard Ron's snarky previous statement, "or I swear I will curse you till you don't know your own name."

"Seems like I remember saying the same thing to you a few years ago, don't you? What changed?"

"You're the enemy now, Ron. That's what's changed."