Chapter 21: Unwelcome Accusations
"Yeah, ickle Ronniekins is our younger brother," Fred answered, with a disappointed look in his eyes.
"We have no idea why he thinks so badly of you right now, but you were best mates up until your name came out of the Goblet," George said, partially defending his younger brother, yet still upset that Ron turned his back on Harry.
"I don't know either, but I'll tell you what I told Hermione, I don't let negative people into my life," Harry stated firmly, with steel in his green eyes.
"I understand that," Fred said, slinging an arm over his shoulders. "Negative people just bring you down," he added with a nod to his brother.
"To right, brother o' mine," George stated as he too put his arm around Harry's shoulder.
"Get off, guys. It's not quite as fulfilling as have two lovely girls on my arms," Harry said, flinging their arms off good-naturedly, chuckling all the while.
"Right you are, Harrykins. Do tell how you accomplished such a feat?" George asked, not a bit put out by the younger teen's actions.
"Well, it all started on my first escape attempt, after that bastard mind-raped me," our hero growled, and then he recounted his first hour in the castle and how Luna came to be by his side.
"I always believed that Dumbledore thought himself important, but to hold you down and pillage your mind, that is something I would've never thought of him," Fred said with disgust in his voice.
"Yeah and according to the cat lady, he didn't do anything wrong. I'll let you in on a bit of a secret, Hermione feels the same, and that makes me not trust her completely," the dark-haired boy confessed. "I'm going to escape tonight and I want to see what she'll do," he added with a wink.
"We'll do what we can to help. With the tools you have at your disposal it should be easy," Fred said as they turned into the hall Gryffindor's tower was.
"Right, I was thinking about that," Harry said with a mischievous smirk. "I have a few ideas, but I want to see these 'tools' first."
They came to the portrait of the Fat Lady and George gave the password, 'balderdash', and they went into the common room. Harry looked over the red and gold decorated room and quirked an eyebrow at the overabundance of the two colors. He was just about to make a comment when a younger redhead boy came up to him and sneered, "Potter. Out giving autographs?"
'Well, this might be fun,' Harry thought and prepared for a confrontation.
.....
Harry turned and looked the redheaded boy and thought about how to handle this. He could be a complete arse, or he could let it all slide. After a minute he decided to go with something in between.
From what little he knew about the boy, he was very jealous of everyone, which was understandable being the youngest male of six. However, that didn't get him off for abandoning a friend. The messy-haired teen smiled and said, "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Very funny, ha, ha, ha, I'm not falling for that, Potter," Ron said snidely as he folded his arms in disbelief. This was just like something the twins would pull. Speaking of his lookalike brothers, he checked to see if they were laughing, which would be a sure indication they were behind Potter's lying.
The twins were sidling away from them, and making their way to the other side of the room. He turned back to his ex-friend and smirked, the boy was alone now, and Ron felt that he would back down like he had so many times in the past. Harry had only ever stood up for others and never himself. This year and their second was proof of that.
"No really, who are you? Are you important?" our hero asked as honestly as he could, his eyes never leaving the redhead's, as if he were trying very hard to remember something. That penetrating stare was making the other boy squirm.
"How can you ask that? We've been mates for years," the youngest male Weasley asked as his face turned red as he stepped forward as well, not one to back down from an argument. Merlin knows he had enough practice at home. If this was a prank, he was going to smack Harry down for embarrassing him in front of almost all of Gryffindor.
Everyone in the common room was hanging on every word. Rumor had it that Potter was different, and that he was throwing defensive magic around like Merlin. They wanted to see how this turned out. Maybe they could take advantage of this opportunity to finally become friends with Harry, like many wanted to do in the past, but were always thwarted by his other friends.
They never knew if they were being protective or possessive. Given what the boy had been through the last three years, it could go either way. However, if the Golden Trio was no more, then it might just be time to try again.
"Be that as it may, I'm all muddled in the head, didn't you know? I truly have no clue as to who you are," Harry said as he made wiggling motions with his fingers near his temple.
"You're just trying to get out of the tournament, ruddy coward," his 'best mate' stated, still squirming under that intense gaze.
"Do you always accuse your friends like that?" Harry's eyes narrowed as his glare increased.
"Yeah, when they're being glory seeking gits," Ron sneered again, this time taking a step back and looking at Harry in disgust.
"Ah, you must be Ron," he declared, dropping the charade. "I heard so much about you," he said as the smile fell from his face.
"What've you heard?" the ginger asked, worried that someone was feeding the other boy with bad gossip. That would never do, if Harry knew just how much he relied on him and Hermione, then the other boy could use it against him. He quickly peeked at Hermione, who was standing off to the side ready to jump in if this went further than words. 'No help there then.'
"Well, Hermione and the twins tell me that we were best mates right up until about a week ago," the amnesiac deadpanned not giving anything away.
"We were, until you put your name in the cup and didn't tell me," huffed Ron, still not believing that Harry was all 'muddled in the head'.
"That's right, she told me that you believed that," Harry nodded, disregarding the ignorance and taking a step forward, until he was right in the ginger's face, his eyes full of curiosity and a bit of anger. "Now, my question to you is, in all our years of friendship can you name one time that I used my fame to get anything? Take in mind that I don't have these memories, so you're going to need witnesses."
"You got on the Quidditch team in first year," was the triumphant answer as he took a few steps back.
"Who's your witness? And what's Quidditch?" Harry asked, looking around at all the people listening.
A tall stocky seventh year boy stepped forward and said, "Actually, Ron, McGonagall sort of forced it all on him. He didn't even know how to play. By the way, I'm Oliver Wood, I am the captain of the Quidditch team, you're the seeker," the older teen said to Harry, holding out his hand.
"I'm told my name is Harry Potter, and thanks for confirming that. Not that I know what a seeker is," the younger boy stated, shaking the young man's hand.
"I'll tell you all about the team and Quidditch, when you're done here," Oliver offered with a smile, like he would love to do so. Many people groaned, or chuckled, at that statement. Everyone knew Wood was a fanatic when it came to the game.
"I have a few other plans for the next few days, but I might take you up on that later, yeah?" Harry smiled at the overenthusiastic teen. He could see the guy really like the game.
"Great."
"Now, back to you," the messy-haired boy turned back to the embarrassed redhead. "Anything else?" he inquired, folding his arm in a 'I know you don't' way.
Ron rubbed his nose and thought real hard for about three minutes and then sighed in defeat. There was nothing he could use that he could prove. Anything he said would be the opposite of Harry being a glory hound. So he just shook his head and stepped back. There was a flash of guilt in his eyes, and he opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut, and shook his head again.
"Right, that's what I've been told so far. That I didn't like my fame, and would hide when people gossiped about me," he stated as he spread his piercing look around the room, making many bow their heads in shame, "and generally tried to stay out of the limelight. Right?" he asked his ex-mate, who mutedly nodded.
There were many that wanted to step forward, but the icy glare made them stop.
.....
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