A Mended Friendship

by ravenclawbookworms91

Ron is gay and isn't willing to admit it anytime soon, why should he come out if he's already very content with the way things were going in his life? What will happen when a former friend from his past comes back into his life and turns Ron's comfortable world upside down? Contains Harry/Ron Slash. Takes place in fifth year.

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Second Interview

Ron woke up feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement about his second interview being published in the Daily Prophet. He looked over towards Harry's bed and saw that the curtains were still closed around his bed, his former best friend was still sound asleep. As Ron stared at the curtains, he wondered if doing another interview with Rita Skeeter would be enough to show Harry how sorry he was but what if doing the interview with Skeeter wasn't enough and it made things worse than it already was? Harry had just started talking to him again, what if he sees the article and decides he doesn't want anything to do with Ron? Being unable to sleep or be in their dormitory any longer, Ron got up and got dressed before heading down the staircase. Hermione was already awake and she grinned when she saw Ron, "I went down to the Great Hall extra early to get the Daily Prophet! Your article is on the first page!"

"What?!" Ron's heart did a backflip, "Did Skeeter–"

"No!" Hermione exclaimed, "It's brilliant! Look!" She handed Ron the article of the Daily Prophet and as he read, he began to feel relieved, the article had everything Ron said during his interview and his words weren't twisted in anyway. As Ron, handed back Hermione the paper, Harry had walked down the staircase, looking like he hadn't slept all night and seemed upset. However, before any of them could say anything, he smiled shyly and walked out of the common room to go to breakfast.

By the time Ron had gotten to the Great Hall, Harry had already left and he felt a little disappointment not knowing if he saw the article. He did notice people whispering around him and staring while he filled his plate up with food. Hermione sat down next to Ron, along with Ginny and just as Ron opened his mouth to ask if either of them had seen Harry, Lavender walked in with Parvati. With all of the excitement going on about his article being on the front page, he had forgotten him and Lavender had broken up the previous night. He avoided her vicious glares and waited until she walked past him before turning to his sister and best friend, "So have either of you seen Harry?"

"No," Hermione said, "Harry likes to go on a walk after breakfast, we probably won't see him until Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Oh," Ron frowned, "I didn't know that."

"He's been doing that since the end of last year," Ginny said, reading Ron's mind, "Harry says it takes his mind off of everyone accusing him of lying about You-Know-Who."

"So, you reckon he hasn't even seen the article yet?" Ron asked looking around the Great Hall, watching other students glimpse through the paper.

"Harry rarely reads the Prophet and I don't blame him, it's gone rubbish ever since last June," Hermione said calmly, "But I think word will get out that there's actually a positive article in today's edition about him and he'll read it."

Ron opened his mouth to say something but at that moment the bell rang and he sighed, "I hope this Umbridge woman doesn't make us do a lot of work, I can't concentrate in any classes right now."

"Oh ickle little prefect Ronnikins," A voice said behind him and he turned to see his twin brothers smirking, "You're in for the worst of it!"

"Why?" Ron asked feeling his ears go red, ever since he's been made prefect, the twins have been tormenting him.

"This is the year you have your O.W.L. exams," George said in an annoying sing song voice, "You're going to be in piles of work."

"And don't think the professors are going to let you off easy, little brother," Fred warned, still looking amused, "They're never going to stop reminding you about your O.W.L exams, they drove us mad."

"And everyone else," George said, "I lost count of how many people in our year had to go to the hospital wing or had a breakdown in class."

"I'm sure Ron will do just fine," Hermione chimed in as they walked further down the corridor.

"But then why did our dear little prefect brother say he hoped he didn't have a lot of work?" Fred asked, grinning at Ron, who was throwing daggers at the two of them.

"Because," Hermione sighed and glanced at Ron, then added in a low voice, "He's nervous about how Harry is going to react once he reads the interview Ron did with Rita Skeeter." Ron was pleased to see the smirks being wiped off of his twin brothers.

"Oh," Fred said, now looking serious and glanced at George.

"But now thanks to you two prats, I definitely won't be able to concentrate in class," Ron glared at the two of them, he had completely forgotten that this year was their O.W.L year until the two gits reminded him.

"Look Ron," George said quietly, "I don't think you have anything to worry about Harry."

"With all the negative publicity he's been receiving," Fred added, "I think he'll be thrilled that an article was published about someone believing him."

"That's what I've been telling him," Hermione said, "You were very brave for admitting you were wrong and I'm sure Harry is going to appreciate that."

"And even if he doesn't," Fred grinned, whipping his wand out jokingly, "We'll talk to him for you."

"But I don't think that'll happen, mate," George said, "Anyways, our class is this way we'll see you two later."

The twins walked off in a different direction and Ron sighed, as they got closer to the classroom, Ron felt so nervous, he began to feel sick. "It'll be alright, Ron," Hermione soothed him and kissed his cheek. He smiled at his friend and opened his mouth to say something but he heard a loud cough and he turned around to see Lavender walk by him, throwing a dirty look at him and Hermione. Ron stared after his ex-girlfriend and the reality of them getting back together will never happen. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, he was glad that he didn't have to deal with Lavender's drama anymore but at the same time, they had been together since their third year and she was his first girlfriend. Besides from Hermione and his siblings, Lavender was really the only other person there for him with when Ron had lost his friendship with Harry and helped him a lot throughout the summer whenever he felt lonely. He felt someone squeezed his hand and looked up to see Hermione watching him, looking concerned, "Are you alright?" she asked, nodding towards Lavender, "You look upset."

"Yeah, I'm ok 'Mione," Ron sighed and squeezed her hand back, "I just realized, it's really over between us after being together for two years."

"You deserve better," Hermione repeated, throwing a dirty look over towards Lavender and Parvati, who were still gossiping about him, "You'll meet the right person, any girl would be lucky enough to date you."

"Thanks, 'Mione." Ron grinned, he wasn't sure why but the mention of him dating another girl made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, he kissed her cheek and ignored the death glares both Parvati and Lavender were throwing at him. Just then Harry joined the crowd and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Harry glance at him curiously but when Ron made eye contact with him, Harry smiled and made his way into the classroom once the classroom door opened.

Ron took a seat near the back, trying to ignore Lavender walking right by him, began to take out his book when Professor Umbridge asked them too. Hermione sat down next to Ron and he was in the middle of pulling out a piece of parchment and quill when a quiet voice said, "Can I sit next to you?" He looked up and to his surprise, Harry was standing there, looking hesitant but grinned when Ron nodded and moved over his books so he would have room. "Look Ron," Harry started, glancing at Hermione, who nodded at him encouragingly, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted when Professor Umbridge started to teach her lesson. While they were instructed to read from their textbooks, Ron couldn't help but daydream, it was distracting enough to have Harry sitting right next to him. He wanted to glance at Harry but it was awkward enough not knowing whether or not his former friend felt about his interview with Rita Skeeter. He obviously wanted to sit next to Ron, which was a first since they stopped speaking to one another. Finally, Ron couldn't take it any longer and decided to steal a quick glance at Harry. To his surprise, he wasn't reading his textbook either but he also wasn't looking at Ron, he was staring at Hermione. Ron turned to look over at her and to his astonishment, her book was closed and her hand was up in the air. Along with the rest of the class, Ron stared at her questionably until finally, Professor Umbridge decided she couldn't ignore Hermione any longer since the class wasn't doing their assigned readings.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione, as though she only just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," said Hermione.

"Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her a nasty smile and Ron felt revolted at how small and pointy her teeth were, "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione.

Ron looked at her in shock, this was very unlike Hermione and then he looked at Professor Umbridge, who had her eyebrows raised.

"And your name is - ?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully." Said Professor Umbridge in a voice of determined sweetness that made Ron want to vomit, he was beginning to dislike his new professor more and more.

"Well, I don't," said Hermione bluntly, "There's nothing written up there about using defensive spells."

Ron had been so distracted by Harry, he hadn't noticed the course aims at the front of the class. He looked at them and frowned when he realized Hermione was right. He looked around the class to see they were also frowning at the three course aims written on the blackboard.

"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh that made Ron's skin crawl, "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

Ron stared at Professor Umbridge as if she were mad, "We're not going to use magic?" he ejaculated loudly, not believing a word of what he was hearing.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr. – ?"

"Weasley," Ron said angrily, thrusting his hand into the air.

Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on Ron. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Harry raise his hand along with Hermione. Umbridge's pouchy eyes lingered on Harry for a moment before addressing Hermione.

"Yes, Miss Granger? You wanted to ask something else?"

"Yes," said Hermione. "Surely the whole point of Defense Against the Darks Arts is to practice defensive spells?"

"Are you a ministry-trained educational expert, Miss Granger?" asked Professor Umbridge in her falsely sweet voice. Ron glared at Umbridge, this woman was insane if she thought they weren't going to need how to defend themselves.

"No, but – "

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk free way – "

"What use is that?" said Harry loudly. "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a – "

"Hand, Mr. Potter!" sang Professor Umbridge and Harry raised a fist in the air just to be ignored again and several people had their hands up too.

'And your name is?' Professor Umbridge said to Dean.

'Dean Thomas.'

'Well, Mr Thomas?'

'Well, it's like Harry said, isn't it?' said Dean. 'If we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk free.'

'I repeat,' said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at Dean, 'do you expect to be attacked during my classes?'

'No, but –'

Professor Umbridge talked over him. 'I do not wish to criticise the way things have been run in this school,' she said, an unconvincing smile stretching her wide mouth, 'but you have been exposed to some very irresponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed – not to mention,' she gave a nasty little laugh, 'extremely dangerous half-breeds.'

'If you mean Professor Lupin,' piped up Dean angrily, 'he was the best we ever –'

'Hand, Mr Thomas! As I was saying – you have been introduced to spells that have been complex, inappropriate to your age group and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet Dark attacks every other day –'

'No we haven't,' Hermione said, 'we just –'

'Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!'

Hermione put up her hand. Professor Umbridge turned away from her.

'It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them on you.'

'Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?' said Dean hotly. 'Mind you, we still learned loads.'

'Your hand is not up, Mr Thomas!' trilled Professor Umbridge. 'Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is?' she added, staring at Parvati, whose hand had just shot up.

'Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL? Aren't we supposed to show that we can actually do the counter-curses and things?'

'As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions,' said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

'Without ever practising them beforehand?' said Parvati incredulously. 'Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during our exam?'

'I repeat, as long as you have studied the theory hard enough –'

'And what good's theory going to be in the real world?' said Harry loudly, his fist in the air again.

Professor Umbridge looked up.

'This is school, Mr Potter, not the real world,' she said softly.

'So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting for us out there?'

'There is nothing waiting out there, Mr Potter.'

'Oh, yeah?' said Harry. Ron could tell his temper was rising, Harry was so angry he was shaking.

'Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?' enquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice.

'Hmm, let's think …' said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice. 'Maybe … Lord Voldemort?'

Ron gasped; Lavender Brown uttered a little scream; Neville slipped sideways off his stool. Professor Umbridge, however, did not flinch. She was staring at Harry with a grimly satisfied expression on her face.

'Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter.'

The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Harry.

'Now, let me make a few things quite plain.'

Professor Umbridge stood up and leaned towards them, her stubby-fingered hands splayed on her desk. 'You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead –"

"What is with you and your ministry pals pretending as if everything is all fine and dandy?" Ron recovering quickly after Harry said You-Know-Who's name, he looked at Professor Umbridge as if she grew two heads, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "If Harry says You-Know-Who is back, he's back and if you or ministry pals weren't so thick in the head, you would believe him!" Everyone stared at Ron, he noticed Seamus and Dean whisper about the article he did in the Daily Prophet. He also saw Harry, who was shaking violently in anger, threw him a quick grateful look.

"That's another five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley," Professor Umbridge snapped, looking at Ron, "Now as I was saying, you have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead – "

"He wasn't dead," said Harry angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr.-Potter-you-and-Mr.-Weasley-have-already-lost-your-House-fifteen-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," said Professor Umbridge in one breath without looking at him. "As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."

"It is NOT a lie!" said Harry. "I saw him, I fought him!" Ron looked at Harry and admired him for not backing down on the truth no matter how many times this Professor Umbridge git or the prats at the ministry tried to accuse him of lying.

"Detention, Mr. Potter!" said Professor Umbridge triumphantly. "Tomorrow evening. Five o'clock. My office. I repeat, this is a lie. The Ministry of Magic guarantees that you are not in danger from any Dark wizard. If you are still worried, by all means come and see me outside class hours. If someone is alarming you with fibs about reborn Dark wizards, I would like to hear about it. I am here to help. I am your friend. And now, you will kindly continue your reading. Page five, 'Basic for Beginners."

She sat down behind her desk again. To Ron's amazement and horror, Harry stood up. Everyone was staring at him. "Harry, no!" Hermione whispered in a warning voice reaching across the room to grab his sleeve but Harry jerked his arm out of her reach.

"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Harry asked and Ron noticed that his voice cracked when he mentioned Cedric's name and his voice was shaking.

With their falling out, Ron had never heard Harry talk about what happened on the night Cedric had died. Along with the rest of the class, he stared from Professor Umbridge to Harry. To his disgust, Professor Umbridge had a nasty fake smile on her face.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," she said coldly.

"It was murder," Harry shouted, he was shaking uncontrollably and Ron, despite his shock of hearing this news, couldn't help but notice Harry was getting emotional. He knew he wasn't the only one who was hearing this for the first time, all thirty of his classmates were listening eagerly, "Voldemort killed him and you know." Ron's heart leaped as he stared in shock and horror at Harry, the class was so silent, they could hear Peeves down the corridor causing chaos.

After the shock wore off Professor Umbridge's face, she said in a high girlish voice, "Come here, Mr. Potter, dear."

Harry got up, kicked his chair aside and walked up to the teacher's desk. Ron stared at Harry and glanced nervously at Hermione, who was also looking at Harry, watching as Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag and started scribbling. After a minute or so she rolled up the parchment, tapped it with her wand and said, "Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear," she said sweetly, holding out the note to him. Harry angrily snatched it out of her hand and left the room, slamming the door shut. After a few moments of silence, Professor Umbridge looked around the classroom and said in her disgusting high pitch voice, "Now, unless anyone else wants detention, I suggest you continue with your reading until the bell rings."

"Did you know that?" Ron asked Hermione quietly after the bell rang, "About Diggory?"

"No," Hermione said, looking around the corridors for Harry, "I never asked him, with him wanting space, I figured he would tell me once he was ready."

Harry wasn't in the next lesson, to Ron's disappointment and he wasn't in the common room or at dinner either which made him even more concerned. He could tell Hermione was worried as well even though she glared around the Great Hall, Harry's encounter with Umbridge had gotten around the school and people were starting to whisper about it. As their detention time drew closer, Ron had began to wonder if Harry would be there. No one had seen him since his shouting match with Umbridge and Ron began to wonder if he had gotten into a lot of trouble with McGonagall after he left class. He glanced at McGonagall at the staff table and she was chatting away merrily to Professor Dumbledore. "Should we go ask McGonagall if Harry's alright?" Ron asked as they started to walk out of the great hall.

"No," Hermione sighed looking just as anxious as he felt, "If he doesn't show up in detention with you then we'll go see her."

Hermione walked him to Snape's office and Harry wasn't there yet, she hugged Ron and said, "I'll stay up and wait, if Harry doesn't turn up we'll – "

"Why wouldn't I turn up?" a voice said behind her and both turned to see Harry standing there looking exhausted but he smiled when Hermione threw her arms around him.

"Where have you been? I've been so worried!"

"I'm alright 'Mione," Harry said, "I just wanted some alone time and lost track of time."

Before anyone could say anything else, Professor Snape opened the door and both Harry and Ron said goodbye to Hermione. As they entered the storage closet, they both quietly started to sort through the potion ingredients. Ron kept stealing a couple of glances towards Harry, who looked distracted, he wondered if he should say anything to him but decided now wasn't the best time. Whenever Harry caught his eyes, he looked back at Ron curiously and made a small comment about how he was sick of looking at all of these potion ingredients. As the minutes passed by, Ron felt himself get distracted, should he say something? What if Harry lost his temper with him? What if this wasn't the right time to talk to him?

As an hour passed by and being unable to take the long awkward silence, Ron finally decided to say something. "That was really brave," he said nervously, Harry glanced up at him, "What you did in Umbridge's class and not backing down when she accused you of lying about Cedric."

"Thanks, Ron." Harry said quietly, for a second Ron thought he saw tears filling his eyes but Harry looked away quickly.

"Are you alright, mate?" he frowned looking at Harry concerned, when he didn't respond Ron got up and walked over towards him. To his shock, tears were indeed running down his face and he was shaking. Ron silently put a hand on his back in comfort and was relieved when Harry didn't shove it away like he thought he would. They sat there in silence, Ron was rubbing his back, waiting for him to say something. Tears were still streaming down his face and finally he looked at Ron, "I loved him – Cedric," Harry's voice cracked, "We've been together since the night my name came out of the Goblet of Fire."

Ron stared quietly at Harry, still rubbing his back, not believing what he was hearing. Harry is gay?! He would've never guessed that, even though it explained a lot, Ron thought back to last year and remembered there were long periods of time where Harry would sneak out at night and didn't come back to the common room until sunrise. Whenever Ron asked him what he was doing, Harry would make up an excuse about the Triwizard Tournament and needing to think. However, he was torn about how he felt about Harry being gay and in love with Cedric, Ron was raised to think homosexuality was wrong and he knew his mother would've disowned them if any one of them turned out to be gay and he was taught to never befriend a someone who identified as gay. But Ron couldn't stop being friends with Harry just because he found out he was gay, especially when the boy who lived was going through a very difficult time. "How come you never told me or Hermione?" He finally asked, still rubbing Harry's back in attempt to soothe him.

"I didn't think either of you would accept it," Harry's voice was so broken that Ron stopped rubbing his back and put an arm around him, "We didn't want anyone to know until the final task was over. It's my fault he's dead, I begged him to take the cup with me."

It all finally started to make sense, that is why Harry wanted to have space after the third task because he had just lost his boyfriend that no one knew about. Ron felt his stomach drop in disgust just thinking how he acted towards Harry and betraying him the way he did with going to Rita Skeeter after the third task. If only he knew, he would've understood.

"I'm sorry for what I did," Ron whispered, feeling horrible for everything he put Harry through, "If I had known…"

"I forgive you," Harry said looking at Ron, wiping his tears away, "I never had a chance to tell you earlier but thanks for going to Rita Skeeter and taking back what you said last year and for defending me in class. It meant a lot to me, I can't believe you got Skeeter to cooperate without twisting your words though."

"Oh that was easy," Ron snickered, just taking notice of how beautiful Harry's emerald eyes were, "I threatened to go to my dad and Percy about her being an unregistered Animagus."

"Really?" Harry smirked, "I bet she didn't like that –"

"Not in the slightest," Ron grinned and then sighed, "Harry, listen, it's not your fault about Cedric. You shouldn't have to feel guilty about what happened, if You-Know-Who wanted to kill him, there was nothing you could've done. I didn't know him too well but I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself."

Harry turned to look at him with a meaningful expression that Ron couldn't make out and without realizing what was happening, Harry quickly leaned in to kiss him. It took him by surprise and at first, he wanted to pull away from the kiss but then he realized how nice of a feeling it was to have their lips pressed together that he started to kiss Harry back, enjoying every moment of it. When they broke apart, they stared at each other, finally he whispered, "I'm sorry Ron, I don't know what – "

"It's okay, Harry," Ron breathed, feeling a little confused, he just kissed Harry and liked it. He kissed a bloke but he was certain he wasn't gay, was he?

"I don't know what got over me," Harry muttered, their faces were inches apart from one another, "But do you mind keeping this from Hermione? I'm still not ready to tell anyone."

"Anything, mate." Ron laughed nervously, "So we're good now right?"

"Yeah," Harry beamed, "With everything going on, I sort of could use my best mate at the moment."

Ron patted his back and he wasn't sure what caused him to do it, but he leaned in again to kiss Harry. As the kiss deepened, he began to realize how much he enjoyed kissing another guy and it confused the bloody hell out of him. Ron had grown up to think being gay was unacceptable and he knew he would be disowned if his mother had ever found out. He so lost in thought about kissing Harry that when the door opened, both of them broke away startled. Ron looked up and saw the last person he wanted to see; Professor Snape.

"Well, well, well," he sneered looking between the two of them, "Having fun aren't we?"

Ron gulped and looked at Harry; he was panicking too. They had been caught snogging each other by Snape. Ron knew right there and then, his life was over, there was no way he was going to keep this a secret from anyone and the whole school was going to know by tomorrow that Ron had been caught kissing Harry Potter during their detention.