Disclamer: If you think Harry, Ron, or any of the other characters belong to me… I can only wish… I raise my glass to JKR for her imagination.
A/N: Hi everyone!! I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to post this admittedly short addition to A Day in the Life of Harry Potter. Since the last time I posted (Feb of 2007) I have had a job at the NY State Museum along with a number of undergrad and grad courses, Graduated from Uni, gone back home to Texas, gotten a job with GEOS Language Corp. (a English conversation school), moved to Japan, and gotten (mostly) acclimated with a new country. Oh! And I got to go to Tokyo Disney Sea over new years. It's AWESOME!!! So different from Land and World back in the states.
RL is a lot of fun right now, but it's also insanely busy… so I can't post as often as I'd like too. I've actually been so busy that I didn't realize how long it had actually been since I last posted a chapter… I want to thank xHarryIsMyHomeboyx for writing a "please post a new chapter review" that kicked me into gear XD. So without further ado – I give you the newest installment of A Day in the Life of Harry Potter.
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Chapter 4 – Ron
Ron's POV
Ron… Ron loved being Harry Potter's best friend. Honestly, he did. But every so often, every once in a while, the green monster of jealousy reared its ugly head when Harry was around. He didn't really mean to get jealous, but everything seemed to happen to Harry Potter! Harry Potter this, Harry Potter that. Ugh, it made his blood boil sometimes, and now! Now, Harry Potter had done something again. He had saved the stone from Quirrell.
Sure, Ron had gone along and helped out with McGonagall's chess set (Harry was awful at chess), and sure, Ron had gotten points for his part, but it was Harry's points that brought them to a tie. To make things even worse, it was Neville, shy, bumbling, Neville that got the last ten points to win Gryffindor the House Cup! Didn't He deserve credit for being loyal, for going with Harry to help rescue the stone, for getting INJURED in the process???
So he yelled, he finally cracked. He had gone off on his best friend, again, about what a wonderful life he had. He Knew, he KNEW that his accusations were wrong… Harry was tiny, way too small for their age, and he had picked up on other things... how Harry shied away from touch, hated being yelled at, how baggy his clothes were, and how he was actually smarter than he let on. And he cared. After living together for a year how could he not have noticed? He didn't really mean the things he was always saying, but his traitorous mouth continually spewed when he least wanted it to.
Ron was shocked then when his friend's voice interrupted his musings.
"Fine!" Harry had said… Fine?? Wait, what?
"If you really think my life is something to be jealous over, let's switch places for a few days and then you can tell me if you still think that I have a perfect home life."
So, Ron did the only thing he could think of… he said yes. He wanted to prove to himself that Harry was living a pampered life. And, well, if Harry wasn't living well… Ron was Harry's best friend and he would do something about it! Ron didn't know what he would do exactly, but he would do something.
Looking at his friends horrified face; he made a split second decision. If Harry backed out of the offer, Ron would never find out the truth… so he had to do something to show Harry that he would not let go of the idea easily. In that split second, Ron decided the best thing to do would be to act excited. He didn't want Harry to know that he would be doing this switch with more than one thing in mind. So he acted, he was good at acting with so many siblings… He took on an air of excitement, and let Harry think that that he was contemplating all of the wonderful things that he would be experiencing as soon as school ended... Harry's beautiful bedroom, the new clothing, the small family that would never prank him. All of the things he hoped were true for his best friend. All of the things that he knew were false…
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Over the next few days, Harry disappeared. Ron wasn't sure where he went, be he suspected it was to the library. That was fine with Ron. He needed time to plan… He was hoping for a week with the Dursleys… that would give him enough time to see what he needed to see and really get to know his best friend's family. A week was not to be however… It seemed that Harry really didn't want the switch to happen.
Ron had had to dig his claws into the idea and pester Harry into accepting that they really would be switching and that there was nothing he could do about it… save for not finding a way to do it of course… but Harry had actually come through. Ron wasn't really sure what to think… If Harry had really not wanted to do the switch he could have just told Ron that he couldn't find a way. The book Harry had found, Prank Potions for Beginners by Leila P, was perfect. The only downside was the three day time limit, but Ron could work with that… he would just have to dig deeper more quickly than planned.
Harry's idea of one day at school to learn about each other's "home personalities", one day to fool others on the train, and a day at each other's homes was problematic, but Ron couldn't see a way around it. It was actually a pretty good idea seeing that they didn't know how to act around their given families. The twins would eat "Ron" alive if Harry didn't know all of his special ways to get around, and there were other things that would be important to teach or describe o him… like how to degnome the garden at the Burrow… as that was one of the first tasks his Mum generally gave his elder brothers upon their return from school every year. If Harry didn't know the basics of life at the Burrow, people would get suspicious quickly.
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Ron was happily dreaming about his Mum's home cooked breakfasts when he felt his shoulder begin to shake. He answered the nudges with his customary "Five more minutes mum." Sleep was good. Bed was warm. The shaking started again, and finally conscious he started to move. After turning over, he groggily opened his eyes to see Harry standing off to the side of his bed. Then it hit him. Today was the day! All of a sudden, a vial of potion was thrust into his field of vision. He took it gingerly and when he heard 3, they both downed the nasty concoction at the same time.
Seconds later, "Harry" looked down at "Ron" still curled up in his warm bed and grinned in delight. The Switch had worked.