Smile

Smile

~

Ron couldn't deny that he had been quite afraid he might have upset him the day before, when he had received his letter proclaiming him a prefect. Which was why Ron had quickly hurried from the room after his mother had left, not wanting to fuel any of Harry's rage, which had become recurrent over the past few days.

No, that was the last thing Ron wanted to do, and ever since their fight the previous year he had tried to do everything he could to make up for it. Ron had later asked himself, once...twice...ten times why this seemed to matter so much to him, before had come along the suddenly much too obvious answer.

And now, after almost a year of this no longer newfound knowledge, he couldn't help but watch his best friend sleep, as he had done countless times before, thanks to the Sorting Hat and boys' dorms.

People were bustling in the kitchen downstairs, and Mum had come up ten minutes ago to tell them to hurry up and get dressed, but Ron just couldn't bring himself to wake the other boy, who looked so sound asleep.

He approached the bed where Harry lay, but as he observed more carefully he saw that actually, Harry didn't look to be sleeping that soundly at all. His eyebrows slightly furrowed, and his lips were in the shape of a tiny frown. Ron's gaze lingered on those lips while wondering what Harry could have been dreaming of, and frowned himself when he thought of all the possible things his best friend could have plaguing him. Even in his sleep, which was supposed to be the few hours a day that a person could really relax, Harry still had worries troubling him. What with knowing about the Order now, it was already a lot to take in for Ron, so he imagined it must be damn near impossible for Harry.

He absent mindedly sat down on the side of Harry's bed and placed his hand on top of the other boy's, tracing the raised veins with his fingers.

Ron wasn't dumb, he knew how Harry must feel, trying to keep himself sane at those muggles' place, and then once he defended himself after being attacked, everyone was treating him like he'd done something wrong, not even getting any praise or recognition for saving his bloody lump of a cousin's life!

Of course, Ron wished he could give him that sort of recognition, Merlin knew he deserved it, but he just didn't know how to do so without sounding either completely cheesy or like a total fruitcake.

He watched as Harry's eyebrows furrowed a bit more before relaxing and falling back his neutral expression. Ron took his hand off Harry's and brought it to his face, where he touched his index finger to Harry's lips. His thumb caressed Harry's cheek briefly until he couldn't stand it any longer, and he leaned down noiselessly, (which was miraculous for Ron) closed his eyes, and tentatively brushed his lips against the raven haired boys'. Just a tiny, heavenly peck that he'd ingrain in his memory for a while so that he could revisit it, whenever he felt the need, his own secret little thrill, until-

Harry stirred underneath him and Ron quickly jumped up and away onto his own bed, seeing Harry's eyes flutter open and hastily looked for something to say. "Er...you better hurry up, Mum's going ballistic, she says we're going to miss the train..."

But he didn't have to worry about being found out because the next minute there was a bang and Mum was heard yelling at his brothers.

~

Later on the way to King's Cross, Ron hoped that one day, he wouldn't have to wait until Harry was asleep to kiss him. Even if he did, a part of him hoped Harry'd wake up, and Ron wouldn't have to fumble with words to distract him from the fact that it was just him standing there, just Ron, and Harry would like him for who he was. Besides, he'd stuck with him this long; Harry must have to like him well enough, right?

~

When Ron finally got back to their compartment on the train, he sat down right next to Harry, gently and discreetly laying his hand on top of the other boy's. When Harry didn't pull away, Ron smiled.