Ron awoke some hours later to Harry thrashing in his bed. Ron squinted over to where Harry lay and, once his eyes had manipulated the darkness, saw a look of severe anguish on his friend's face. Ron couldn't bare to see Harry going through such a bad nightmare so he clambered over to Harry and nudged him awake. "Harry..." "Please, no..." "Harry, are you ok?" "Ron?" "Yeah it's me. You looked like you were having a really bad dream so I woke you. It looked terrible!" "I've had worse" Harry smiled vaguely as he put on his glasses. Neither of them particularly wanted to go back to sleep. Ron sat cross legged by Harry's bedside. In doing so, Harry noticed Ron's childish pajamas were showing a substantial amount of pale ankle. He smiled to himself, at Ron's lack of regard for things like that. Though on seeing his face, Ron wasn't radiating his normal contentment. He looked odd, Harry thought, illuminated strangely by the moonlight, his hair standing out in the bars of light falling through the window. After a while, Ron sighed and said "I know she'll be fine. St Mungo's are amazing at figuring out this kind of stuff, Dad's always singing their praises..." he trailed off, and Harry sensed Ron wasn't quite as care-free as he was trying to imply. "Look, I'm scared too" Harry said directly "what did you think I was dreaming about?". Ron looked at him with a slightly bemused expression, as if he was considering whether to believe Harry. He seemed to have decided to. "I just keep thinking about what would happen if they don't know what's wrong, y'know? And then it's too late and then -" "Ron you're being ridiculous. They already know what it is, they said in the letter, they'll have all the Muggle borns out soon. If Madame Pomfrey did it in our second year, then St Mungo's definitely can!" Ron looked as if he genuinely felt better. "Yeah you're right Harry. Hey do you reckon she'll be able to tell us who did it?! I mean obviously we have a fair idea, you know with the Death Eaters and all..." and at once Ron was as excited as anything. Harry gave a few noncommittal nods every now and then, but mostly just let Ron get all this out of his system.
After a while, Ron yawned, realising how tired he was. "I'm going back to back mate. I'm exhausted. Don't go having those dreams again Harry, you said it yourself, everything'll be alright. And even if it's not..." Ron stopped slowly, the thought of what life would be like if things weren't alright dawning on them both. For the first time that night, true fear showed in both their eyes. Harry scratched his head to break the stillness, and as his hand fell, it brushed against Ron's bare arm and came to rest touching Ron's hand, completely by accident. Their eyes met and it was a mark of their friendship that neither of them thought this to be weird. Their minds were elsewhere anyway, their faces reflecting what they were thinking about. A world where Death Eaters triumphed and Voldemort had his way. A world, in short, without their other best friend. Harry instinctively wrapped his fingers around Ron's hand, not just because it was Ron, but because it was someone to be near. Ron looked over at Harry, his skin looking paper white in the silver light of the moon. Ron, obviously unable to read Harry's mind, wasn't aware that Harry hadn't laced their hands together for that reason. He felt confused. For some reason, he felt himself moving closer to Harry, but he didn't quite know why.
His head was telling him that was what people did in a situation like this. Ron was now facing Harry, and he reached out his free hand to pat Harry on the shoulder in a comforting way. But again, for a reason Ron didn't understand or control, his hand changed direction halfway and he found his fingers delicately running down Harry's face and onto his neck. Harry didn't know what to think. He found his heart racing, the stillness and silence almost eerie. Something deep in Harry's mind had convinced his body to lean forward. He realised he had made it so Ron's face was inches from his. Ron's hand was still on the back of Harry's neck, and he did what felt natural. The last thing Harry remembered consciously doing was closing that tiny gap between him and Ron. He closed his eyes, and felt Ron's warm lips touch his gently. They lingered and Ron kissed Harry's back lightly. Unsure of anything that was happening, the two boys drew back slowly and looked at each other. Neither of them had ever thought about anything like this in their wildest dreams. But now it was happening, and neither of them knew why, but they didn't want it to end. All reason was gone from the situation, and as Ron drew nervously closer to Harry, his eyes dropped to the floor, but when he looked up he felt Harry's lips on his again as gently as before. Suddenly Ron didn't want to see anymore. He closed his eyes and soaked up the blackness. The events of the night had Ron feeling strangely vulnerable. He moved closer to Harry, drawn to the safe warmth of this body. He felt Harry's nervous hand at his shoulder, Ron moved into the curve of Harry's arm, allowing Harry to wrap his arms around Ron's back. He could feel his hot skin under his shirt. The boys had long since given up trying to work out what was happening. They fell backwards onto Harry's makeshift bed in a soft heap. They kissed each other desperately as Harry tugged Ron's shirt over his head, not bothering with any buttons. The thin fabric dragged upwards across his pale, smooth skin. The moonlight caught Ron's skin, making it look milkier and eerier, and making Harry need to kiss him more than ever. Suddenly Harry felt a wave of heat all over his body. He pulled his crisp shirt over his head. Harry's skin felt hot to Ron's nervous hands. The boys delicately held each other as they shared their soft, wet kiss.
Harry's hand found itself worming downwards from Ron's bony hips towards the waistband of his trousers. The papery fabric was tight between Ron's legs, Harry found with his fingertips. All of a sudden a slam from below sounded and the boys awkwardly sprang apart. Quick footsteps were ascending up Ron's staircase and Fred and George, burst in. "Oh good you're awake." George said, squinting. Ron didn't look amused. "Look what we just finalized! You remember Extendable Ears, right?! Well, now there's Extractable Eyes! You put these lenses in, here have a go-"
Ron let out a dramatic yawn. "Mate, tell us in the morning please" Harry looked down at his watch. 6.32am. "It is the morning Ron, though I doubt you've ever seen this hour..." Fred mused. The twins left the boys alone, exchanging ideas on marketing their new product. Harry and Ron got dressed and went down to breakfast, making a point of not walking too close together, Both already apprehensive about the day, and most certainly the night that lay ahead.