Chapter 20 - The need to hit something and Formal (Prompts)

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The silence that followed the statement Harry just made was not at all unexpected. He kept his gaze on Ron, who looked at him as if he had just said that he was really Voldemort in disguise.

"What do you mean you know where the Resurrection Stone is?"

Just like the night before, Hermione looked at him with a pleading expression; a small twitch of her head telling him that he should say nothing more. But he was nothing if not stubborn.

"It's more towards the other side, buried under a tree root."

Ron's eyes narrowed at him. "I thought you didn't know where you dropped it," he said slowly, his tone accusing.

Before Harry could say anything else, Hermione stepped forward quickly, saying his name in warning. Ron's gaze whipped onto her so fast that Harry could have sworn he heard the clash of bone from the whiplash caused by the quick movement of his neck..

"You knew?" Ron asked Hermione. "Both of you knew?" He looked between them, his expression falling into an ugly sneer. "What were we doing all this time, then? What are you two playing at?"

Hermione looked at Harry hopelessly before she turned apologetic eyes towards him. "I'm sorry, Ron. But-"

"It was my idea." They both looked at him in surprise. Keeping his gaze solely on Ron and deliberately not on Hermione, Harry continued. "It was too dangerous to let it be lying about in the forest. So I buried it."

Ron looked at him curiously, his confusion only seeming to increase. "You buried it? Then what the bloody hell were we doing all this time?" Almost as if he was finally seeing Harry for the first time, realization dawned in Ron's eyes. "You were trying to keep it from me."

Harry stayed silent, uninterested in disagreeing with him or even trying to explain himself.

His silence only seemed to incense Ron further. "What? I'm not good enough to see my dead relatives, is it? You're the only one who has a right to use the Stone?"

"Ron," Hermione said softly, stepping closer to him. "Stop it. Harry was just-"

"Harry was what?" Ron snapped at her, his tone cold. "Looking out for everyone's best interest?"

She shook her head. "It wasn't just-"

"I don't think anyone should use it," Harry said quickly, interrupting what Hermione was obviously going to admit to. She looked at him in confusion, her eyes trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking. If he was forced to answer, he would have had to admit that he had no idea.

"You don't think?" Ron scoffed. "Last time I checked that bloody Stone isn't yours. You had no bloody right keeping it from me."

Hermione stepped closer to him. "Ron-"

"No," he snapped. "I don't want to hear how great an idea it was to bury the thing. And I don't want to hear how brilliantly wrong it is to use it." He turned towards Harry and asked him in a demanding tone, "Where is it?"

Harry's jaw twitched with the effort to hold in his anger. He looked right at Ron and shook his head.

As expected, Ron advanced on him, his anger apparent. "Tell me where it is."

"No."

"Tell me," he sneered.

Harry was too busy staring down his friend stubbornly to notice when Hermione stepped between them, effectively pushing them back with a firm hand on each of their chests.

"Stop it, you two."

"I'll stop it," Ron said stubbornly before his eyes fell on her, "if you tell me where it is."

"I..."

"Or are you taking his side again?"

Hermione looked between the two of them helplessly. "We can't keep having this argument. You must know by now that I'm not taking anyone's side."

Ron looked unconvinced. "Could have fooled me." Then his gaze returned back to Harry. "Either you help me find it, or you get out of my way."

Harry kept his eyes narrowed angrily when he hissed, "Consider me leaving."

Ron's jaw tightened. "Fine."

Harry felt his jaw hurt from the sheer pressure of grinding his teeth in an effort to withhold his anger. "Brilliant."

With a final look between the two of them, Ron turned on his heel and stalked off. Harry watched him angrily, his fingers flexing with the need to hit something in order to let out some steam. It was finally Hermione who got his attention with a swift slap to his shoulder. "What were you thinking?"

Harry kept his gaze on Ron's retreating back, his hand forming into a painfully tight fist. "I wasn't." And the funny thing was, that was perfectly true.

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