Escaping Darkness [Book 1 of Through Darkness and Light]

Chapter 9: Flaws and Assumptions

His head hurt. It ached with every breath, pounding with every heartbeat. Harry groaned as he opened his eyes blearily. What happened? he thought.

Then it came back to him, as his focus sharpened when he put on his glasses. Harry jumped, and threw up a protective arm. He barely caught the guilty and hurt expression on Ron's face. "Hey, Harry," the redhead said quietly.

Harry just grunted. Ron's woebegone expression deepened, and he looked like a puppy that had been kicked. "What do you want?" Harry snapped, lowering his arm. Ron tentatively sat on the end of Harry's bed, and began to play with the bed curtains, not meeting Harry's gaze. He was silent for a few moments, then spoke.

"I'm sorry." Another grunt from Harry. Ron looked up now. "Really, Harry, I am. I was just...frustrated. I know it's no excuse, but I was just so fed up with not being able to fix things...I was tired of feeling useless...I wanted to fix everything. Now, I guess I just made things worse."

 "Yeah, guess you actually have something to fix now," Harry said snidely. Ron winced slightly.

 "Harry...I really am sorry..."

"I heard you."

"But you were so upset about something...and when you weren't, you had this way of breaking past the barriers, and hurting with your words...Hermione was crying, that day you snubbed her, Harry. The day you made her look stupid." Harry felt a pang of guilt, but it was gone in a moment.

"You guys didn't have any right to berate me like that," he said defensively.

"I know, and-"

"And I figured you two, being my friends, would have either said nothing, or supported me. Not tear me down. Not make me look like an idiot."

"But isn't that what you made us look like?" Ron's expression was unusually serious. Harry was forced to look down at his hands. There was a sigh from his friend, as he said, "Look, Harry, what happened, happened. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to beat you up. Alright?"

Harry crossed his arms. "I don't remember much. So, it's fine." But his tone said everything wasn't fine. Ron made an exasperated sound.

"See? Why are you being so difficult lately? What's wrong? Is You-know-who getting into your mind again?"

"Say his name, Ron. It's just a name."

 Wince. "Is..." - Wince - "Voldemort" - frantic look around - "getting into your mind again?" Sigh of relief when lightning didn't flash.

"No."

Ron set his mouth in a thin line. "Well, then, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Harry's mind whirled. Ron never pressed him like this...it was always Hermione. Why was Ron all of a sudden interested in his life?

"Harry...I know I haven't really been the best friend lately...and I'm sorry, again. Please, you can trust me. I won't let you down again..."

Bewildered, Harry asked, "What's going on?"

Ron turned red, and mumbled something.

"What?"

Ron averted his gaze. "MalfoygavemeandHermionealectureandnowwe'rereallysorry..."

Harry blinked. "Again, what?"

There was a pause, then Ron took a deep breath. "Malfoy...confronted Hermione and I...gave us a good wake-up call kind of talk. Said we hadn't exactly been the easiest people to talk to lately...and we...figured he was right. I didn't like half of what he said, but it was true. I guess it's true, what they say about the truth hurting." He shrugged, and Harry looked down.