Harry Potter and the Wandless Magic

Chapter Seventeen: The Prisoner of Azkaban

Unfortunately, the situation with Ron didn't get any better over the next month. Whenever he would see either of them, he would either walk by without a word or just glare at them if they had to be in the same room.

"This is getting out of hand," Harry commented on Halloween morning during breakfast.

"I know." Hermione glanced down the Gryffindor table where Ron sat chatting with Lee Jordan about Quidditch.

"Well, the visit to Hogsmeade is today. Should we invite him along?"

Hermione nodded. "He might still say no, but at least we tried. I hate seeing us all like this."

"It's probably my fault," Neville said. "You guys have been hanging around me a lot, and Ron probably feels left out."

"That's his problem," Harry replied. "He could have been hanging out with us, doing homework, playing exploding snap and stuff. It's not our fault he wants to throw a pity party for himself."

Neville nodded. "Well, if you're sure."

Harry stood and said. "I am."

Hermione gave him a questioning look before understanding dawned on her face. "Want me to come with you?"

"No. He's mad at me, not you guys." Harry walked purposefully over to where Ron was seated. There were no spots, so he simply stood and waited for Ron to notice he was there.

When he finally did, Ron's glare was back in full force. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with us."

"Us?" Ron glanced down the table. "You mean Hermione and Neville."

"Well, yeah."

"No, thanks." Ron turned back to Lee who was looking like he'd like to be anywhere but here.

"Come off it, Ron. Why are you acting like a prat? I'm trying here and have been trying. Our friendship isn't so broken that we can't bounce back from this."

"I want you to apologize," Ron said suddenly.

Harry was taken aback. "For what?"

"For keeping secrets and trying to shove me out. I don't know what stunt you're pulling by trying to make friends with me again, but I'll work with it."

Clenching his fists, Harry gritted his teeth. "Ron, I already apologized for keeping things from you. I didn't shove you out. The only reason we haven't hung out recently is that you won't even stay in the same room as me. I don't owe you a damn thing."

"I think we should go," Lee said to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas who were seated across from him.

"No, go ahead and stay." Ron crossed his arms over his chest. "I want you guys to see the real Harry Potter. This is how he treats his supposed best mate."

A thousand different ways to beat Ron to a pulp flashed in Harry's mind, and he just barely managed not to implement even one of them. He felt the rage starting to boil in his veins, and the power in his core just begging to be used. Hermione may be on to something with Ron being pigheaded about stupid things. Usually, it wasn't directed at him, so Harry had never truly encountered it before.

"Fine, Ron. You want to play it like that. Go ahead. If you ever want to stop acting like an ass, you know where to find me." Harry stomped back to his seat and plopped down onto the bench.

"That looked like it went well," Hermione commented.

"About as well as I expected," Harry replied. "Still, I kinda had hoped for better."