Light and Shadow

Light and Shadow

Chapter 10 - Another meeting

"Hello, Ron. It's been quite some time, huh?" Harry had a serious expression on his face and his voice was low.

Ron said nothing; he just stood staring at Harry, wanting to believe that this was not happening and that, actually, it was nothing more than a bad dream; a very bad dream.

He thought he had taken enough precautions in order to avoid someone discovering he was back to rescue his daughter, but after the happenings of the party, he knew it would be difficult. He thought it would take them some time to find him, and he thought he would have left the hotel by then.

"I should've gone to another hotel after that party," Ron thought.

"You know." Harry's voice brought him back. "As soon as I started working on the Wendell case..." Harry paused, "does the name remind you of something, Ron?"

Now Harry was standing up and was walking toward Ron. He had so much anger that his green eyes had gained a darker color that almost seemed black.

Harry waited for Ron to manifest somehow, showing he was listening to what was being said, but Ron kept quiet and motionless.

"As I was saying, I knew it was you. And since then I promised I would find you. It didn't take too long; I found you at that muggle gang's party. You don't know how angry I got when I couldn't catch you; that's until Sirius told me you were in this hotel. And here I am. I hope you missed me as much as I missed you."

It was then that Harry did something Ron was not expecting; at least not in that moment. He punched Ron right in the face, making him lose his balance. Before he could recompose himself, Harry grabbed him by his shirt collar, hitting him violently against the wall. With that, Ron lost the air in his lungs, but when he tried to recover it, he felt Harry's forearm in his neck, immobilizing him and not letting him breathe.

"I've been asking myself for so many years what I had done wrong for you to betray me." Now Harry's voice was nothing more than a whisper. "But after a lot of thinking, I can only get to the conclusion that the problem wasn't me, but you."

When he finished speaking, Harry threw Ron over a table, breaking it. Then, he went back to the window.

He was really angry and punished himself mentally for beating Ron. He could not lose control again. He put both hands on his waist and tried to slow down his breathing. At some point, he looked through the window, as a way to calm down his spirit, but that was not helping much. The simple idea of standing in the same room as his "friend" made him even angrier.

He looked beside him and saw a small fridge, and, without really noticing what he was doing, went to it and grabbed the first drink he saw. He put the liquid in a glass and went back to the window, unfastening the knot of his tie.

Ron took a while to regain some air. He was not moving and had his eyes closed. When he realized his breathing was coming back to normal, he opened his eyes, started to stand up and saw blood in the floor. He put his hand on his nose and realized Harry had broken it. With some difficulty he stood up and sat down in the bed, at a certain distance from Harry, grabbing a towel to clean the blood.

They stood some time in silence. When Harry had calmly finished drinking what was in the glass, he took his wand from inside his suit and pointed it to Ron.

"Expelliarmus."

"I'll need my wand to fix what you have done in my nose," Ron said staring at the floor.

"You can die from bleeding and I won't care," Harry said with a voice that looked like steel, sitting down again on the armchair.

They went back to silence for several long minutes. Ron felt extremely bothered. He was getting scared. He preferred Harry to yell, to break everything, even beat him again, at least he would know what the brunett was thinking.

"So?" Ron started, hesitant.

"So what?" When Ron heard Harry's tone of voice, he thought he should not have said anything.

"Well..." Ron decided to continue. "Did you come here to arrest me? Kill me? Or just beat me?"

"You're not in conditions of asking," Harry answered with a lethal voice.

"So why don't you start...?" Ron said so automatically that he regretted as soon as he saw Harry's face.

Harry decided to start by the question he asked himself mostly, since he had heard the redhead was back.

"Why did you come back?"

"Because I had to," Ron answered without looking at him.

Harry didn't seem satisfied with the answer and kept looking at Ron, this time irritated. He was not in the mood to hear quibble answers.

"I have the whole night to stay here waiting for you to answer my questions decently."

"What would it help if I told you? You don't care!" Now Ron was looking at Harry.

"You're right. I don't care," Harry said coldly.

For the first time Ron looked at Harry's eyes, and got scared with what he saw. In all the years they had studied together, when he still was his best friend, he had never seen anger, rage. He had never seen those emotions in his green eyes. Even when he had dated Hermione. He saw hurt, but not anger. In today's eyes there was hurt too, but it was hidden among the rage and hate. Ron had conscience of all the wrong things he had done, but he never thought they would awake such feelings in Harry.

"You don't have a family, do you, Harry?" Ron said looking back at the floor.

"I never had a family. You know that." Harry now was very impatient. What was he intending?

"Yes, okay, what I meant was, you never got married, never had children, isn't that right?"

"No," Harry answered standing up again.

"Then, really, you would never understand me. You wouldn't understand anything, wouldn't know why I'm back." Now he was looking at Harry again. "You don't know what it's like to have a daughter; the happiness you feel when she's born, you don't know how good it feels when she says daddy, and much less the desperate you feel when you discover she was kidnapped."

"All that is happening is your fault. You deserve all that, actually, I think you deserve much more than that," Harry said turning back to the window.

"You're right. It's my entire fault. But I don't think my daughter has to pay for what I've done in the past. I'm back because I need to get her back. I need to bring her back to... I need to bring her back to Marie." Every time he remembered his wife, Ron felt pain; pain of losing the woman he loved. He would always remember how coldly she had treated him, and he wanted to die every time it happened.

Harry laughed dryly. Ron got married and had a daughter. He was a betrayer, but he got married and had a family. Harry never had a family, much less got married. That was the kind of thing that made him insurgent. Never had a family, and started to think he hardly would have one. How can things like this happen?

"And how do you intend to get your daughter back? Are you with the Death Eaters?" Harry asked, sure of the idea that Ron was already working with the Death Eaters.

"No! No, I'm not working with them. I'm trying to do things the right way this time, but it's really difficult."

"And if you don't succeed, you'll join them, then?" Harry asked, still not believing in Ron's words.

"Not what I was planning, but..." Harry didn't let him finish.

"I don't know why I'm asking you questions. Of course you would join the Death Eaters, that is, if you're not with them already," Harry said loudly, facing Ron again.

"No! I've already said I'm not working with them, but I WILL if I have to! I'll join them, because the only thing I want right now is to have my daughter back, and if I have to work with them to have her back I wouldn't hesitate!" Ron answered in the same tone of voice.

After that, Harry said nothing, just started to walk from side to side in the room. He had his hands closed, and he was squeezing them so tight that his wrists were getting red.

"I regretted," Ron said after some time. "You might not believe it, but I regret everything I've done. If I could go back in time I would do everything different." Ron was trying to look at Harry's eyes. He wanted the brunett to believe in what he was saying. That he was being honest.

"And why did you join Voldemort?" Harry asked, stopping to walk and standing in front of Ron.

"Because I was tired. Tired of being the 'stupid Ron', tired of being poor, of no one taking me seriously. Tired of being just 'Harry Potter's best friend'. I wanted to prove I was a lot more than everybody thought I was."

"Oh! Sure! And a great way of proving it was JOINING VOLDEMORT!" Now Harry was yelling. "BECOMING A DEATH EATER!"

"To me, at that time, it was. Think, Harry, they would give me everything I've always wanted. I had power, I was respected, I..."

"You surely were respected!" Harry said ironically.

"At that time it was everything I wanted. It could even be a fake respect, but I was tired of the life I was taking. I've always been in second plans. First, at home, then in Hogwarts..."

"It must be really easy for you to come now and blame me for all your disgrace. I've already said before, and I'll repeat: I didn't ask to have this shit of scar in my forehead. I didn't ask to be famous, I would exchange it all to have my parents alive again, to have a family, because you know I NEVER had a family, and you had a wonderful family! And you've thrown it all up for what? Respect? Power? I respected you, and do you know why? Because I thought you were my friend, because I liked you, I trusted you and for me that was enough."

Now it was Ron's turn to laugh.

"It's easy to say, but you never lived what I've lived! I've ALWAYS been 'Harry Potter's friend' and never Ronald Weasley. I've always been dazzled by your 'shine'. You were the captain of the Quidditch team, the Head Boy, you had all the girls on your feet, including Hermione, and you knew I liked her."

"Come on, don't be silly. You were the biggest conqueror of Hogwarts, you had a different woman every week," Harry said sarcastic.

"True, but have you ever wondered why?" Now Ron's look was intense.

The brunett said nothing; he kept looking at the redheaded man in front of him, as if waiting for him to continue.

"They were with me only because I was the best friend of 'the famous Harry Potter'. They wanted to reach you, I was just the bridge. That's why I worship Marie and Aimeé so much," he finished, lowering his eyes. "That's why I would go to hell for them, that I would join the Death Eaters again, because when I met Marie I wasn't just your best friend. I was Ronald Weasley."

When Ron looked at Harry again, for an instant he seemed to see comprehension in those green eyes. But it was just for a moment. After that they were cold again and Harry went back to the armchair he was sitting in, still watching Ron.

"Have you visited my family?" Ron took the risk of asking.

"Once in a while," he answered dry.

"And how are they?"

"Great." And added, meanly, "They don't even miss you."

"Yes... I had thought that," Ron commented a little desolated. "The other day I went to the twin's shop. Fred and George seemed to be doing pretty fine, the shop has grown up, and Bill is working with them... Even Ginny is there. I heard she got married," he commented a little carefree, but he was actually dying to know to whom his youngest sister had gotten married.

"Yes, she got married," the other answered in a bad mood.

"And to whom?" Ron couldn't hold his curiosity.

"You would never guess."

"Neville?"

"No."

"Colin?"

"No."

"To whom, then?"

"Draco Malfoy," Harry answered looking at the redhead, wanting to see his reaction.

"What?" Ron thought he had not heard it right.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry repeated.

"EXCUSE-ME?" Ron yelled, standing up.

"That's what you heard. Draco Malfoy!" Harry repeated the name a third time, starting to get irritated with it.

"How could they allow that?" Ron asked nervous. "How could you allow that?"

"You speak as if you didn't know Ginny. The way she was, I would want to know who would forbid her."

"I can't believe it... How could such a thing happen?" Ron asked shocked, sitting down on the bed again.

"If you weren't so busy trying to get some 'power', and if you had paid more attention to her..." Harry added provoking. "Now it's too late. She's already married and has a son. It's funny how things happen, isn't it, Ron?" Harry now was ironic. "Draco Malfoy was the Order's spy. He brought information to us, while you betrayed us. Shouldn't it be the opposite?"

"At least, is she happy?" He decided to ignore Harry's last line.

"Yes, at least it's what it seems like. Malfoy has changed a lot, he's not the same anymore."

Ron couldn't believe it. Draco Malfoy. This was another reason to regret what he had done in the past. If he had made other choices, maybe he could have avoided this "catastrophe".

"And Hermione?" He changed the subject.

"She's fine." Harry was lightly uncomfortable with that question.

"What is she doing now? Where does she work?"

"She's a lawyer."

"Lawyer?" Ron laughed. That was so Hermione, always obsesses by rules. "She works for the Ministry?"

"No." Harry now fumbled in the armchair, quite uncomfortable. "She works with the muggles."

"With the muggles? What do you mean? Don't you talk to each other anymore?" Ron asked. 'They no longer talked to each other?' he asked himself mentally.

"No, we don't, I mean." Harry was standing up again and was avoiding looking at Ron. "I'm working with her right now, but we don't talk to each other much."

"Why?" Did that mean they weren't friends anymore? Ron wasn't getting how could that happen.

"That's none of your business, not your problem, so stop asking questions," Harry said dry.

"I thought I would arrive here and I would see you two together, married, with kids... I was sure you would be together, it was practically a certain thing, you liked each other so much," Ron said looking at Harry.

"Things changed, in case you didn't notice," Harry said coldly.

Ron still had lots of questions, but suddenly his room's door was opened and he saw lots of men getting inside, some of them coming toward him, holding him and conjuring magical shackles in his hands. Before he could ask what was going on, he saw Sirius Black coming in. He looked at him and then at Harry exasperated.

"Harry, what did I tell you about coming here alone?"

"How did you find out I was here?" Harry asked seriously.

"I needed to talk to you, I called to your cell phone and, as always, nobody answered. So I decided to go to your house, but you weren't there. It wasn't hard to imagine where you were." Sirius was serious and was glaring at his godson. "What do you have in your head? I think I was pretty clear when I told you not to come here alone, wasn't I?"

"Yes," Harry answered annoyed.

"Then, what the hell are you doing here?" Sirius asked angry.

"Did you really think I would wait for you to come here and set things right with him?" Harry said pointing at Ron. "If it depended on you, he would be around for quite some time, and I want to see him rot in jail," Harry said with a voice full of hate.

"Who decides if he'll rot in jail or not is me," Sirius said with authority, which he never did to his godson, unless in circumstances like that. "So don't try to do the job that wasn't assigned to you. When I ask you to do something, just obey me, was I clear?"

Harry wasn't looking at his godfather anymore, and stood in silence.

"Was I clear, Harry?" Sirius repeated the question.

"Yes," he answered looking at his godfather again.

"Good, and about what happened here, we'll talk about it again later."

"You don't have to treat me like if I'm a child," Harry said irritated with the treatment he was receiving from his godfather.

"So next time don't act like one!"

After this little 'conversation' he had with Harry, Sirius turned to Ron.

"Mr. Weasley, I think it's not necessary to say why you're arrested, right?"

"No," Ron said looking at Sirius.

"What happened to your nose?" Sirius asked looking at the other's nose, dirty of blood.

Ron did not say anything, just gave a meaningful look at Harry. Sirius got that, because he looked at the brunett with a look that made clear he was in big trouble now.

"Very well, I'll get a medi-wizard to take care of his nose," Sirius said to one of the men who were holding Ron. "And take him to the Ministry, to be interrogated."

The men agreed and left bringing Ron. So, Sirius looked again at the godson, still clearly nervous and disappointed with what he had done.

"I will interrogate him, and while I do that I want you to wait in my office. You'd better be there when I arrive, otherwise, you'll have even more problems than you already have."

"Won't I participate in the interrogation?"

"No. You were, but after what happened here, you won't anymore."

"But I found him, I have the right to."

"You have no rights. I'm your boss, I give the orders. You will wait for me in my office for our conversation," Sirius said disapparating and leaving the godson alone in the room.

Without too many choices, Harry also disapparated to the Ministry.