Ron Weasley (ron_weasley) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-02-05 21:20:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !log/thread, harry potter, ron weasley |
WHO: Harry Potter and Ron Weasley
WHEN: February 1, afternoon
WHERE: Gateway Cruises Library
WHAT: Just a little bonding and wizard chess between heterosexual life mates
WARNINGS: None
Status: Gdocs, complete
Harry was happy to join Ron for chess. It reminded him of being 11 years old and being taught by the other man. The pieces were alive though, much different than muggle chess. It made him love magic all the more. It made ordinary things so much more exciting. That and no one had taught him to play any games before then. So Harry had this stored in his happy memories. The Christmas he stayed at Hogwarts with Ron was one of the best he’d ever had. Wizard chess all day, sometimes all night. It never got boring.
The library was quiet, almost dead quiet. So he leaned over to Ron and whispered, “Should we really transfigure them? Or should we just play regular?” He pushed his glasses up on his face and studied the figures. They looked different than Wizard Chess pieces. He picked up the queen. “She’s not very regal.”
Chess had always been a favorite pastime of Ron’s, ever since he was taught the game by his namesake, his nutty Uncle Bilius, when he was quite young. It was something none of his other sibling had the patience or inclination to really excel at, so it became one of the things that set him apart from his brothers and sister. When he taught Harry the game all those years ago, it was like welcoming him into a special little part of himself.
Ron looked at Harry incredulously. "You really want to spend all day looking at this?" He held up a rook that looked more like a badly shorn hedge than the more stately tower guard in his own set back home. "Besides, I've already sold everyone else on the idea of wizard chess. We can’t turn back now."
Harry smiled, letting out a small laugh, “When you’re right, you’re right.” He wand was in his back pocket and he slipped it out. You’d think these kids would be more careful with such a powerful object, but Harry also wasn’t careful with his glasses. He had grown careless in his years away from the Dursleys.
He aimed his wand at the queen and whispered at it. It turned into a stately armored figure, with it’s fingers laced together. He smiled again, this time it was out of pride. Everyone thought he was the greatest bloody wizard, but he was average. “Who else are you going to teach?” Harry wanted to watch Ron teach-- he liked seeing his friend confident in something. Ron was always sort of humble.
"Nice!" Ron complimented Harry eagerly. He put down the rook he had been holding and took aim at his own queen. Performing a maneuver like Harry's, the chess piece transformed into a similarly looking figure, its armor dark in color, where Harry's had been light. He picked up the piece and set it next to the one his friend had transfigured. "Only 28 more to go," he sighed, a little unenthusiastically. He was more interested in reaping the reward of their work, rather than putting in the actual effort. "Just Johanna, so far. I tried to get Ezekiel, you know, that bloke I ran all over Atlantis with looking for pizza, to let me teach him, but he got spooked by the idea of having to share the room with her. I tried to convince him that she's not that scary, but he wouldn't have any of it." Ron shrugged.
Harry grinned, a little shy when Ron cheered for him. “It’s nothing-- see, you did it too!” He pointed with his wand rather than his forefinger. Again, careless. “Johanna’s your roommate, right? When me and Ginny came to collect you? I don’t remember Ezekiel, I think you lost me there.” Harry gathered up a few more white pieces and squinted at them, trying to remember how they looked in the Wizard Chess set. It had been a little while since he played. “I’m glad you found this, I’m not really interested in the stuff on the boat.”
Ron was not phased by Harry's careless wand waving. Totally comfortable around the other man, he did not even notice. He grinned back at Harry, momentarily reminded of their time at Hogwarts together, and how they would celebrate small little victories like this one while Hermione was already five steps ahead of them. "I told you about him!" His face scrunched up a bit as he thought about it. "At least, I thought I did. I know I've told you about Johanna." He looked at Harry squinting at his pieces and said, as if he knew what he was thinking, "Just make them look however you want. Honestly, anything will be an improvement." He pointed his wand at the two knights and transfigured them into a matching set that looked like a particular suit of armor that stood near the door to Gryffindor Tower. "That was clear to me," Ron replied, arching an eyebrow, "when you made me join that book club. C'mon, you don't want to learn how to fold towels into swans?"
Harry squinted once again, this time thinking. His memory wasn’t so good, he felt like his brain was made of swiss cheese. Voldemort was gone but there was still the lingering pieces of him in Harry’s brain. Things that he didn’t remember if he did or if they were put into his mind. He worried about a lot of stuff like that. That’s why he needed Ron and Hermione so much, they kept him stable. Ron was good, but Hermione would complete them. It would also make Ron happy-- Harry had to admit that he was happy they were together. It made sense, they balanced each other. “Oh, right. I think you did. And yeah, you’ve told me about her. Sorry you’ve got to put up with that. I got Ginny, she’s … obviously not so bad.” He smirked a little at that. Sorry, Ron.
“We quit book club, Ron, stop bringing it up,” his voice was stern for a moment before breaking out into a laugh. “Hermione would be so disappointed in us. She’d probably make us write reports on the books.”
"He's one of the people who knows who we are. From those books, I mean. It's weird meeting Muggles who know about us." Even so, it was rather freeing not to have to hide the fact that they were wizards. There were so many other strange people about, that no one really seemed to care that they knew magic. He made a mental note to tell Harry about the bloke he spoke to on the network who claimed to be the vampire son of Henry VIII.
Ron was well beyond having an actual reaction to the idea of Harry and his sister... together. Alright, so maybe not entirely beyond it. But he gave his friend a playful glare anyway. "Johanna's not so bad either." He was quick to add, "Not in the same way you mean with Ginny, of course. She's kind of mental, but in a fun way." He really did like his roommate, once he had gotten used to her brand of humor. He had plenty of experience dealing with a strong, confident woman. It kind of made him feel like he had the tiniest bit of Hermione there with him. More so than that big-headed plastic toy version of her he had received for Christmas.
"Nah," Ron laughed along with Harry. "She would be too busy devising a complete magical curriculum for Roxie, Creedence, Luna, and the others. Hope you have a knack for teaching, Harry, because you're the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"
Harry mock-shivered, “Eugh, I don’t want to know about people knowing my story. It was bad enough back home. At least they’re positive about it here. Rather than calling me Undesirable Number One.” It certainly was strange, but there were other people here who had lives that were broadcasted somewhere. So he wasn’t alone.
Harry gave Ron a funny look, “Don’t let her kick you out of your own suite, mate.” He wasn’t sure how Ron was having a good time with the loud mouthed girl and her flirty boyfriend. Some of it reminded him of Lavender Brown. Harry imagined Ron being very uncomfortable, but here he was talking about it like it was nothing. He often forgot that they were older now, it happened so quickly.
“I don’t know if I want that job,” he said with a nervous laugh, “I might fall overboard or get hexed by accident. It’s cursed.” Another chess piece was brought alive and Harry snapped his fingers. “It’s weird that Luna’s still 17. Probably not weird to her, nothing is.”
"Sorry, mate," Ron apologized, his mouth contorting into an over-the-top grimace. "If it helps, everyone seems to like you?" He would not tell Harry about how he had noticed a book called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on the coffee table at George and Angelina's place when he had been over watching the kids. He had not flipped through it or anything, out of respect for Harry, but he had been tempted.
"We worked it out," he assured Harry. "There was some concern about privacy, but I put a few enchantments on her bedroom, just to be safe. For my safety, mind you. I don't think she'd care if I heard or saw things. Her boyfriend definitely doesn't seem like he would." He shook his head with a laugh, his eyes wide. They were certainly keeping things interesting for him.
"Lupin seems to be faring alright, but I guess he's a former teacher. And still alive," he said awkwardly, "so all in all, yes, he's faring alright." It was strange to think that so many people who had been lost by their time were still alive and well here. He was very glad that Harry had the chance to know his parents, and he was enjoying his friendship with Tonks. One day he might even tell her about how they had flown together and fought off Voldemort and his Death Eaters. "Yeah, that is weird. Though she's really not that much different at 21 either." He thought back to the last time that he had seen her. There had definitely been mention of Wrackspurts.
“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault,” Harry chided. He thought about reading the books himself, knowing that the library and Albus both probably had them. “Yeah, I guess that’s good.”
Harry smiled softly at the mention of enchantments. “Well, if you get kicked out again, Ginny and I have a perfectly good couch.” That look on Ron’s face always cracked Harry up and he stifled a laugh, lips twitching to stay straight.
“Yeah, but he got sacked--” Harry interrupted before Ron could say ‘still alive.’ That made Harry’s brow furrow. He thought about Teddy back home and worried about him. He instead focused on Luna. “I’m glad she got Albus for a guardian. Keeps all my loved ones in one place.” He was still kind of confused about Albus. He felt love for him, knowing he was his son, but still felt awkward around him.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind if the pair of them decide to do a walkabout starkers." Ron grouped four of his pawns together and stared at them for a moment before finally moving his wand and muttering the appropriate incantation to transform them into four sturdy-looking men armed with shields and a sword. He moved his remaining pawns together to transfigure them in the same way.
Ron felt bad about the Lupin slip, so he was glad when Harry let that slide. The other man had surely gotten used to ignoring Ron when he said the wrong thing. "He's very... paternal, isn't he? Talk about weird age differences." Ron could understand how Harry might feel weird about playing father to a child you hadn't even had yet. "How are you doing with all that?"
Harry watched Ron intently, instead of transfiguring his own pieces. He did idly sway his hand with his wand, making the queen he changed float slightly in the air. “If it’s that bad, just change rooms.” Harry wasn’t understanding why Ron was staying in the room. He still looked at Ron like he was crazy. “Good one,” he said, pointing at the pawns. His own queen fell from the few inches in the air where it hovered.
“Well, yeah, he’s paternal. He has a daughter. My granddaughter.” Harry suddenly found his wand fascinating and looked at it closely. He loved Ron, he did, but he would feel more comfortable talking to Hermione about this. “I’m not sure what to say to him. He already knows what I’m going to be.”
"It's honestly not so bad." Ron tried to sound convincing. Really, he enjoyed their company. If it weren't for Johanna, Murphy, and Harry, he might be having a harder time keeping it together. George had become understandably preoccupied upon the arrival of his family, and while he was glad to see Angie and look after the kids occasionally, he found it a little too easy to have time alone with his thoughts which didn't do him any good.
Ron nodded at his creations. "They ought to look good smashed to pieces." He watched Harry's queen hovering in the air. "Right," he replied, stupidly. It was such an awkward thing, Ron wasn't quite sure what to say either. "Yeah, maybe. But he doesn't know how you get there. I dunno, Harry. Just talk to him like you would me." He paused. "Alright, maybe not exactly like you talk to me, but don't treat him like a stranger. Or a son, if you don't want to." Ron prodded at one of the pawns with his wand until it tipped over, sending the others scattering across the table. He had gotten better at talking about this sort of personal stuff in the wake of Fred's death and getting together with Hermione, but that didn't mean that it made him comfortable to do so.
“All right, if you say so. I know you just put up with a lot of stuff you don’t need to.” Ron sometimes had a hard time speaking up. However, there were lots of things he was raring to speak up about. It was a mixed bag with this one.
A small laugh escaped Harry’s lips, “Yeah, I don’t think I could talk to him like I talk to you.” He looked up at Ron from the queen and gave him a grin. It slowly dissolved however, thinking about Albus. “I don’t treat him like a stranger… At least, I don’t think I do. He’s family, and that’s important. If I can’t talk to him like a son, maybe I can talk to him like I do with my dad.” He paused. “My dad is very … tactile. He likes to hug a lot. I’m not used to it. It’s nice, though.”
"Well, I got loads of practice at that growing up, didn't I?" He'd had to learn how to put up with a lot, or else he would never have survived his childhood. Dealing with Johanna and Murphy's antics was nothing compared to anything the twins could devise.
"That sounds like a solution. Things are going well there, right? I mean, he's teaching you to be an Animagus and everything." He looked at Harry with evident sympathy. "It's no wonder. From everything you've told me about those Muggles you lived with, they kept you permanently at arms length like you had Dragon Pox or something."
“I think you made it out okay, all things considered.” Harry was never really at the business end of the twins’ pranks or jokes. Ron was younger and therefore, the butt of all the pranks and jokes. Except for maybe Percy.
“He is.” Harry started to arrange his chess pieces on the board. “It’s kind of hard since there aren’t many books with us on the subject, so it’s all from his memory. But he has a good one, so it’s not… so bad?” He shrugged. “It just takes a long time. Lots of practice. And everyone who knows-- you, Ginny, and of course Dad, are all guessing what I’ll end up as.”
Ron thought, except for the phobia and inferiority complex, but he would never say that out loud, especially to Harry, whose nightmare childhood made Ron embarrassed for complaining about his comparably idyllic one. When Harry arranged his chess pieces, he followed suit, lining up the remaining pieces he had left to charm: the king, bishops, and rooks. He pointed his wand at one of the bishops and transformed it into a bearded figure in long robes with a wand instead of a sword, and did the same to the other.
"I always figured it had to be complicated, or everyone would try to be one." As brilliant as it was that Harry was training to be an Animagus, a small part of Ron was a little weirded out by it. Even though he had known other Animagi, he couldn't help but dwell on the fact that he'd had a murderous, traitorous one as a pet. "I know what Ginny thinks you'll be, but what about your dad? Has he made any guesses?"
Harry remembered the illusion of himself and Hermione kissing. He figured Ron was over it by now, because they were getting married. Then again, there were many things Harry wasn’t over. He just didn’t mention it. Maybe Ron was doing the same. Pretending it was all okay.
“It is hard, you know?” Everyone seemed to think that Harry was some sort of elite wizard because he defeated Voldemort. He still had trouble with things. This Animagi stuff was difficult, he’d rather face the Dark Lord again. “Dad says it could be anything else. He doesn’t think I’ll be a stag.”
There was plenty that Ron was pretending to be okay about. Fortunately, none of it had to do with Harry and Hermione in that way. When the horcrux in the locket had conjured up the image of them kissing, it was not targeting any real fear that Ron had of the two of them becoming intimate. Rather, it was a vivid way of playing to his belief that each of them preferred the other to him, that he was neither needed nor wanted. And, sure, it was also very obviously calling upon his worry that she could never, would never, reciprocate his feelings for her. He had proved himself worthy, to Harry and to himself, when he retrieved the sword of Gryffindor and destroyed the locket. As for Hermione, sometimes he hadn't the slightest idea what she saw in him, but based on conversations with his brothers, that was a natural reaction, and he never once doubted any of her kisses. All had been well... until he had been sucked into a magic space portal.
Ron nodded, even though he really didn't know all of what it entailed. "But you can do it, Harry. Your dad and Sirius did, and you're at least as capable a wizard as they are. When you finally do it, don't tell me what it is. Just show up all transformed. Hopefully it's nothing that will make me want to curse you on sight before I know it's you."
Harry couldn’t imagine living with all those brothers and being one of the youngest. He didn’t know what Ron felt and probably never would. He just knew that he thought of the other man as his very best friend along with Hermione. The two of them kept him alive. They were just as responsible for Voldemort’s defeat as he was. A thought came to him, when Ron said to Sirius, ‘you’ll have to go through us!’ He smiled secretly to himself.
“You prepared for that? A random animal coming up on you? I might get hexed, Ron!” He leaned his head on his hand, watching his friend transfigure and blink and talk. He appreciated these little moments with people. He’d never had them before Hogwarts.
The two of them had been through a lot together in just a few short years. More than happen to most people in their entire lives. And while the experience had given him the opportunity to know what he was capable of, Ron never felt as brave as he did when he was standing alongside Harry and Hermione. Anything could happen, and they would face it head-on. Even though the battle at Atlantis had been terrible, a part of Ron that he thought he had left behind in the rubble of Hogwarts sparked to life as he fought alongside his friend once more.
"I guess that's why your dad had friends with him," he suggested as he flicked his wand in the direction of one of this rooks. "Do you ever think about what it must have looked like when they were together? A stag, a huge black dog, a werewolf, and a rat." He shook his head, glancing up at Harry with a smile, suddenly aware that the other man was looking at him.
Harry hoped with all his heart that Hermione would come through and they could be together again. Not just for Ron’s sake, but for his own. He missed her, she was the brains, Ron was the heart. What did that make Harry? Definitely not the brawn.
He smiled back at Ron and looked away, pushing his glasses up at the same time. “They were mixed up, I could say that.” He wanted to apologize to Ron for Scabbers turning out to be a terrible bastard, but it really wasn’t his place. And it was better to not bring it up. He quickly waved his wand over the last few pieces, and they looked like their wizard-chess counterparts, only a little sloppy. The knight’s horse had a dog’s face. “You ready to play?”
If Hermione was the brains of the group and Ron the heart, then Harry was the soul, the force that brought heart and head together. Each of the three could operate independently of one another, but when brought together, they were unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with. As much as Ron wanted to be reunited with the woman he loved, he wanted to feel that wholeness again and wanted it for Harry, too.
He glanced at Harry's dog-faced horse and his smile broadened. He quickly transfigured his king and with another flick of his wand, muttered the Piertotum Locomotor incantation to bring his pieces to life. When they immediately started lining up in their respective positions and looked out at Harry’s white pieces, Ron looked at his friend and nodded with a grin. "After you."