The Troubled Wizard (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 11

After a while, Ginny and the twins left Harry's room, leaving Ron and him alone to catch up.

"Would you like to play some wizard chess?" he asked.

Harry smiled at him and nodded, "Sure, that sounds fun. Although I hope you know, I'm still not very good."

"Oh, I know." He laughed and walked over to the other side of the room. "Now where did Charlie keep his chessboard... Oh there it is!" he reached down to the bottom shelf of a bookcase and pulled out the board. He then went over and placed it on Harry's lap. "There we go! I'll even give you the first move."

"How kind of you." Harry said sarcastically, "Not that it's going to do me any good..."

The two played several games of wizard chess, Ron winning each one. "You've got to stop letting me win mate!"

Harry just rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I'll get right on that." Suddenly, an awkward pause fell over them.

For most of the evening, Ron had been smiling brightly at his friend but now, his face took on a more somber look. He sat down in the chair next to Harry's bed and looked at him sadly.

Harry turned to him in confusion, "Is there something wrong?"

Ron looked his friend up and down, eyes landing on the numerous bandages covering his chest. "Yeah, mate there is..." he went quiet again and looked on the verge of tears. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Harry gave him a quizzical look, "Tell you what?"

Ron had to keep himself from rolling his eyes, "About all of this!" he gestured to his injuries. "Why didn't you tell me you were being abused?"

"I wasn't abused." The answer came so fast that Ron thought he might have gotten whiplash.

Now it was Ron's turn to be confused, "Look, mum didn't want to talk to you about this until you were feeling a bit better, but I just couldn't wait that long. You're my best mate, and I wanted to be the first to talk to you about it. You can talk to me, Harry."

"I wasn't abused." He said again, giving Ron a halfhearted glare.

He sighed; he couldn't even be upset with this reaction. He had known Harry long enough to expect this. "Then how'd you get the bruises mate?"

"I fell down the stairs?" he replied.

Ron met his eyes sadly, "And were these stairs made out of glass bottles and belt buckles?"

"I fell down the stairs..." he repeated, not meeting Ron's eyes.

"Ok..." he gently patted Harry's leg before standing up. "I'll let you get some rest. And Harry... just know, you don't need to worry about... any stairs here. You're safe now..." with that, he walked out of the room and left Harry to his thoughts. It was obvious Ron knew something, he would just have to keep denying it. Uncle Vernon was going to be so angry...

*****

Ron went back to his own room and sat down at the desk. He sighed and took out a piece of parchment and a quill.

Dear Hermony,

Dear Hermyony,

Dear Hermyone,

Hello,

Sorry, I'm sending this so late, but something urgent has come up. I was wondering if you would be able to stop by the Burrow tomorrow. Say around noon? Harry's here right now and he's going to be staying with us for... well, a while. I can explain more tomorrow, but there's something we are going to be discussing with him, and I thought you should be there. He could use having another friend around. And honestly, I think I could use it too. I do hope you can make it.

Yours,

Ron

After reading through it a second time to make sure he hadn't left anything out, Ron went downstairs and found Errol who was napping on the arm of the couch. He handed the letter to him and he quickly flew out the window. Luckily, he only ran into two panes of glass on the way out. About an hour later, he came back with Hermione's reply.

Dearest Ronald,

How is it that we have known each other for nearly three years, and you still cannot spell my name? I would love to come by the Burrow tomorrow, it will be so good to see you all again. Especially, Harry, I was worried about him. You worry me with how vague you were in your letter, but I suppose I shall find out more tomorrow. See you then.

Sincerely,

Hermione

Ron chuckled to himself as he got ready for bed. He just knew she was going to make some comment about his spelling. He put out the lights and crawled into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day... 

(A/N - Hey guys, thanks for reading. Happy Halloween!)