~Lightning Heart~ Rarry Fanfic

~Chapter Eight~

Warning: Teeny mentions of self harm

A couple weeks had passed, and after Ron had sighted Sirius, things began to go down hill.
Everybody was forced to sleep in the main hall, which had been darkened and cleared of all tables with the flick of a wand.

Placing his mattress about half a meter away from Ron's, Harry coated himself with the warmth of his blankets. His head sunk into the pillow, and stared at the back of Ron's head.
If Draco had hurt Ron, Ron would tell Harry.. right?

I'll ask him then. Ron doesn't cry for nothing.

"Ron?" the chatter of other students drowned his whisper out. "Hey, Ron," Harry gave Ron a little nudge. "Oi, Ron-"
"Hmm..??" Ron twisted over to meet Harry. "What's up?"
"R-Roll up your sleeves." Harry demanded. An odd thing he had noticed is that Ron hadn't been wearing shirts recently, even on the hot days.
"But I'm cold," Ron protested.
"Just for a second can't hurt,"
"Fine but.. don't get mad."

Ron clumped the sleeves up to his elbows, showing cuts and bruises.

"Ron!" Harry yelped, suddenly taking hold of his hand.
"Shh..!" Ron shook his head.
"Who?! Who did this to do?! No.. you wouldn't do this to yo-"
"Shhh..." Ron placed his hand over Harry's lips. "I would never, but I'm ok."
"Then- Then who!?" Harry felt his anger rise as his voice broke.

Then he knew.

"Malfoy.. that.. that prick.. He'll pay," Harry searched through the sea of heads amongst the resting crowd.
"Don't.. Please," Ron gripped Harry's hand tightly. "Listen, the reason that I haven't been fighting back is because he said he get is stupid father involved, start hurting Scabbers.. And you-!"
Harry only frowned. "I.. You know I can take care of Malfoy on my own, he won't hurt me."

"You boys alright?" Hermione turned too, just as Ron had jerked his hand away from Harry's, and rolled down his sleeve.
"Fine," Harry smiled awkwardly, hoping Hermione would go back to her book.
"Ah, that's good. I'll be reading if you need me," and she turned around again and continued reading a dusty brown hunk of pages.

Then, without warning, Harry had pulled up Ron's jumper at the front, searching his stomach. Unsurprisingly, bruises and burns were there as well.
Placing a cold hand on a bruise, Ron jolted and pulled his jumper down. His face looked as if it could melt the cold from Harry's hand.

"So.. So why then?" Harry only then noticed a small cut on Ron's forehead.
"Because.. he doesn't want me in the way.." but Ron's voice was too quiet for Harry to fully understand. Before he could get him to repeat his sentence, Dumbledoor's voice rang through the hall, telling everyone to sleep.
Reluctantly, both Harry and Ron did as they were told, and found themselves sleeping silently.

*****

Harry woke up early the following morning. The sky was a dusty blue and the hall was silent. Scratching his head, Harry spotted Draco amongst the crowd. His hands balled up, but he then looked down to Ron.. wait.. were our mattresses always that close to themselves? They weren't always like that.. They're technically overlapping. I didn't do that..

But Harry brushed it off, and decided not to cause a scene with Draco. He lay himself back down, facing Ron, their noses almost touching, and closed his eyes again, the vibrant green disappearing from the room.

*****

"What do we have next again?" Ron slurred his sentence, resting his head on the desk during history of magic. "Pleeeease don't say potions," he pleaded, turning his head around on the desk to stare up at Harry.
"Hahah, we've got Dark Arts in about five minutes," grinned Harry, ruffling Ron's fiery hair.

"Shhh boys!" the teacher hissed, passing through the chalkboard. "Ghosts can still hear you know," he then turned and continued blabbing on about random garbage, but nobody seemed interested. Eventually, the class pulled to an end, so Harry and Ron arrived at D.A.D.A.

"Ok class, can anybody tell me what a boggart is?" Professor Lupin began. Unsurprisingly, Hermione shot her hand into the air, and answered perfectly. "Exactly right Hermione! Five points to Gryffindor! So, yes, a boggart is something that takes the shape of your biggest fear. Nobody knows what a boggart truly looks like, but that won't matter, for today we will be learning how to defeat one! Now, repeat after me everyone, Ridiculous," everyone repeated the word as he said, apart from Malfoy in which Harry heard him mumble something similar to the word. Harry caught Malfoy's eye, and before he could shoot a pissed glare his way, Draco smiled. Huh? M-Malfoy.. smiling.. at me..? Harry looked away, wide eyed.

"Alright, so today I will be opening the boggart's closet, allowing him to take the shape of somebody's fear. When it comes out, I want you to think of something funny, and then recite the spell. Make sure to do the wand movement.. er.. Neville! Step forward," the entire class could almost fear Neville freezing. He took a shaky step toward the closet, which shook and thudded. "So, Neville! Tell me, what's your biggest fear?"

Still visibly shaking, Neville muttered something that sounded a bit like 'snake'.
"Come again?" said Lupin.
"Sn-Snape, professor," Neville stuttered.
The class bustled with laughter.

Suddenly, a pink waft of smoke seeped through the crack between the two closet doors.
"Oh dear.. This isn't a boggart! It's a lovvart! (A/N not a real hp thing I just made it lmfao)"
"A lovvart? But.. aren't those extremely rare?" Hermione said. "I mean.. nobody has seen a lovvart in years.. They're known to take the shape of the thing you love most, then lure you in."

Lupin approvingly replied, "That's right, Miss Granger! We have a rare case on our hands tod-"
"Sir!" a boy from the rear of the group pointed out that the doors of the closet were slowly opening.

Two glowing, pink eyes shone through the darkness, seemingly eyeing each student. It then met Ron's gaze, followed by Malfoy followed by Harry's. The eyes shone harder, and Harry felt light headed. Remaining eye contact, a foot emerged from the shadows. Then the rest of the body began to jump down, but Lupin slammed the doors shut and forced down a sealing spell.

"Right! End of class today everyone!"

*****

The light of the common room fire licked Harry's forehead, and bounced off his glasses.

Why was that thing looking at me? Was it out to kill me? Voldemort..?!

And without thinking, Harry was striding for the portrait.
Harry met the door to the D.A.D.A class. Peering inside, he noticed nothing but the still closet.

It's doors were esque.

Harry creeped towards the looming cabinet. It remained still, however.Then, without warning, a voice sounded from behind the cabinet.

"'Arry?" it murmured.
"Ron..? What.. is that you?" and surely enough, Ron stepped from behind the cabinet, his pink eyes glowing through Harry's skull. Ron's figure rubbed his eyes with his fists, to have his eyes reappear as that sky blue Harry always loved.

Is that really Ron..?

Ron skipped over to Harry, his robes flowing behind him. "Hey Harry~" Ron grinned, a hint of mischief in his tone. "Watchu up to?" he then got awfully close to Harry, their noses almost touched, and a pink shimmer twinkled in his eyes. 

IT HAS BEEN SO LONG I REALLY AM SORRY I LEGIT HAVE ZERO EXCUSES I'M JUST LAZY BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE IT AS YOU CAN TELL THINGS ARE GONNA GET E X C I T I N G