His Secret

Discovering

Ron traipsed gloomily up the stairs, he hadn't seen Harry all day and despite their argument, he was worried for his best friend. Harry had always been there for him, he'd always reassured him, he'd always done everything he could to save his friends. The fact that Ron couldn't save Harry when he most needed it broke his heart. Harry had gone through his life broken, scared and yet Ron had never even seen it, he'd never noticed that every time Harry had saved him, it wasn't him who had needed saving, it was Harry.

The closest Harry had ever come to mentioning what had happened with the Dursley's was on the train in first year, when he'd confided that he had slept in a cupboard for the first ten years of his life. The guilt of that imprisoned Ron, what if Harry had come to Hogwarts expecting that somebody could help him. So desperate to get rid of his past that he told the first person he met about it. And that person had just ignored it, using it to comfort himself. The selfishness which had consumed Ron still haunts him. What if he is the reason Harry had never told anyone?

Collapsing onto his bed Ron barely heard the crinkle of parchment beneath his head. But he picked up the note and read it through.

"Oh Merlin help us."