apples and scented candles • h.potter ✓

• twelve •

Ron's Knight rose from its place and simply crushed Harry's Queen to pieces. The wood crumbled to powder and rose into the air in a mushroom cloud as the latter raised his hands in defeat and sighed heavily. "Great. You win. Again."

Ron grinned triumphantly and waved his wand, causing the pieces to rise and rejoin to form their original forms again, and each of the pieces flew across the board to take their places. "Another game?"

"Nope. Give me a rest." Harry stood up and went to the kitchen, Ron following him. "You have any tea?"

Ron nodded and began to pull out sugar and milk while Harry sat down at the table. "You reckon they're gonna be mad when we go to work tomorrow?"

Harry let out a breath. "They could fire me for all I care."

Ron didn't answer and worked silently. A couple of minutes later, he came up with a teapot, two cups and a cup of milk laid out on a platter, before depositing it on the table. He poured out the tea into the cups, then frowned at Harry. "What do you mean by that?"

Harry put sugar into his tea and stirred it silently. Ron waited for him to answer. "I don't know. I feel like I really wouldn't care if I got fired."

"But –" Ron frowned, stumbling for words. "Haven't you always wanted to be an Auror?"

"I don't know what I want anymore."

Ron nodded. He looked worriedly at his best friend, so Harry forced a smile into his face and took a large gulp of his tea. "Do you want to go out? Since we're skipping work, better make the most out of it."

Ron agreed readily and downed his tea, before making a face. "Too much sugar."

They put on their jackets and left the house, locking the door securely. Harry had been feeling down since last night, and so upon waking up in the morning, he had called Ron and asked him if he would mind skipping work today. Ron, of course, had agreed and Harry had come over.

Hermione had tried to convince them otherwise, but in the end, she gave up and let them be.

They lived in an old-fashioned stone house, two storeyed and with creepers hugging the walls. It was roughly circular in shape and a garden surrounded the entirety, consisting of honeysuckle and rosebushes, which were now covered almost entirely by snow. A cobblestoned path snaked across the front part of the garden and led to the street which opened up to the highways a couple of kilometres to the south.

They walked across the streets with no proper destination in mind. Tall trees stood on either side, their foliage hanging over the road and crisscrossing with each other, forming a sort of protective shade over them. Harry slid his gloved hands into his pockets and allowed his eyes to flit around.

Ron cleared his throat. "So – um – did I tell you that I've been planning to buy a car?"

Harry frowned, then smiled. "Really? No, you didn't tell me."

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've already chosen one and done most of the paperwork." He looked at Harry, his cheeks red. "Sorry I did all of these without you. I just –"

"It's okay," said Harry reassuringly. "I understand, we weren't talking."

Ron nodded. "That was about two weeks ago. I was supposed to have picked up the car last week. But I didn't want to do it without you."

Harry looked at him, oddly touched. Smiling, he patted him on the back. "So you want to go and pick it up now?"

"Yeah." Ron grinned. "But I have to go to Gringotts first."