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."
They apparated to Diagon Alley and went to the wizarding bank. Harry had known that Ron was saving up money to buy a car, and it hurt him slightly to know that he had already arranged everything without telling him. But the fact that he had waited to pick up the car so that Harry could be there with him was enough to let the grudge slide.
"So have you passed your driving lessons yet?" Harry asked as they walked through the narrow roads to reach Gringotts. Ron had been taking driving lessons from a muggle school but as far as he knew, he had failed in all of the tests he had taken so far.
Ron grimaced at the question. "Yeah. It's all a bunch of tosh. I can drive, but I make one – one – mistake, and then I'm back to square one." He grumbled, "It's like Charlie with his Apparition tests."
They reached Gringotts – a majestic, white building almost resembling royalty. Hundreds of goblin eyes blinked at them as they stepped inside, and Ron whispered to him, "I hate how they make me feel like criminal. I wonder how Bill tolerates working with them."
But Harry shushed him and gave him a look. "You trying to get us kicked out, mate?"
He waited in one corner as Ron spoke to one of the goblins, who asked another to take him to his vault. The second goblin led them through a winding path until they reached a railway track, upon which stood a rickety old cart. The three boarded it and were soon off to a rocky ride.
Ron picked up some gold from his vault, exchanged it into muggle money and soon they were out of Diagon Alley. They disapparated and reached the car shop.
Rows of cars stood in a garage in regular rows with people walking around between them. Ron went to one of the employees of the place, spoke for a bit, and he led them inside. Harry followed them, and a couple of minutes later, he stood before a bright silver Vauxhall, Ron's hand placed proudly upon its front.
"What do you think?"
Harry smiled. "I love it."
It took them about half an hour to complete the purchase. Then the car was taken to the front of the shop, where Harry and Ron glanced at each other. "I should drive," said Harry. He had taken driving lessons last year and passed with flying colours. "Maybe you should wait till you get your license."
Ron bit his lip. "It's alright. I can drive, right? I only have something to worry about if I get into an accident. And even then, I can just confund the police."
"Okay." Harry was uncertain, but he also didn't want to take away Ron's first driving experience. "Seems a bit hypocritical though, considering you're an Auror."
"Yeah well, Aurors have no business in the muggle world." He twirled the car keys on his fingers. "And did you forget I flew a car when I was twelve?"
Harry shook his head, smiling.
Ron took the driver's seat while Harry boarded the car on the other side. "Where to?" asked the former.
"Let's just drive."
They drove in silence for a couple of miles until they reached the relatively quieter parts of the city. Ron slowed the car down and they rolled across the wide road converging to a point in the far distance. Finally, he spoke.
"What did you mean when you said you don't know what you want? Aren't you happy with your job?"
Harry sighed. He rolled down the window and shivered slightly as the cold wind hit his face. "Frankly, I don't know."
"But I thought you always wanted to be an Auror."
"I thought so too, Ron," he answered quietly, fingering the handle on the door. "With everything going on while we were in school – it made me want to do something for the wizarding world, to capture Dark wizards, throw them into Azkaban, give them what they deserve for killing so many people and destroying so many lives. It seemed to be such an appealing idea to me. I thought Auror work would be full of nerves and adrenaline, exhilaration, the joy you get when you do something good for the world." He stopped and inhaled deeply, the cold air rushing through his nostrils and feeling up his lungs. It probably wasn't healthy, but he didn't roll up the window. "I just don't feel any of this. I don't think the job is for me. Chasing bad guys and putting them in Azkaban to be subjected to inhumane torture – that's – I can't do it."
Harry kept his eyes straight to the road, so he couldn't tell what expression Ron had on his face. He remained silent, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.
"What about you?" Harry asked. "Are you enjoying being an Auror?"
He saw Ron biting his lip. "To be honest, I never gave it a thought, you know? For the first time in my life, I was able to go out and eat to my heart's content. I don't have to wear my brothers' clothes, or inherit their worn out books. I can buy things I don't need without worrying about whether I am wasting too much money. I got more than I need from my job. And I never thought about whether I was enjoying it, because I am definitely enjoying the outcome. You get what I mean?"
Harry nodded. "Yes. I get you."
The car slowed down and stopped. Harry frowned. "Why are we stopping?"
"I'm hungry, let's eat something." Ron killed the engine and brought his hands up to rub his palms together. "Well, that was a fun drive."
"Illegal –"
"But fun." He grinned at Harry, who gave him a pointed look. "Oh come on, don't act like you've never broken rules before."
"School rules," he pointed out. "Stupid school rules meant to keep kids in check, and the breaking of which results only in detention or loss of house points."
"Since when are you such a stickler for laws?" He opened the door and got out. Harry refused to move and crossed his arms before his chest, the pointed look still etched over his face. "Come on, what happened to the boy who broke all the school rules and gained five hundred house points? Stop being such a killjoy. Loosen up. Hermione will have a fit when she finds out what we've done, so she can do all the worrying."
"What?" Harry hurried out of the car, shut the door and looked at his best friend with a horrified look on his face. "Hermione doesn't know you've bought a car?"
Ron looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Of course she knows I've bought a car. She just doesn't know I'm driving without a license. Come on."
They went into a nearby coffeehouse. It was so warm and cosy inside that Harry felt momentarily disoriented at the abrupt change of environment. They sat down at a table for two.
"Your friend –" said Ron as he looked through the menu, "– that Zabini bloke. You should bring him home for Christmas."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I've already asked him. And he said he'd come."
"Oh. Of course you did." He sent a narrowed look to Harry, who snorted. "Why wouldn't you? He's your friend now."
They both ordered their chosen food. After a while, Ron looked at him with a worried expression, a small frown weaved across his forehead. He played with the watch on his hand. "You know, you did good, asking him. It'd be good for Mum to have guests over. I hardly ever see her smile these days. And with her nursing duties – she doesn't get much time to rest. Percy will bring his girlfriend too."
Harry nodded in response. They finished eating quickly, and he drove the car to Ron's home, before disapparating to his flat.
About an hour after he reached home, a message arrived from the Ministry. It came in the form of a silvery horse that galloped through the open window of his bedroom and stood in front of him, shimmering in the light. The horse cocked its head, and Harry recognised it as belonging to the Head of the Auror department.
Potter, Weasley, the voice of their Head emerged from the horse's muzzle and spread through the air. For the time being, I'll forget that you have skipped work, because we need you at the Ministry right now. Afrodille Zabini has been arrested.
•••
i feel like all my characters ever do in this book is eat
also,,, poor corben :(