An Argument Between Friends

Harry glared at the floor scrubbing it roughly in his anger. Ron was slightly to his right scouring a desk, and he looked equally as furious. Both were trapped in detention together and they weren’t mad at Snape for giving it to them either. Well, they were, but mostly they were infuriated with each other. During class they had gotten into an enormous argument which was why they had detention.

The three of them (Hermione, Ron, and Harry) had been getting edgier and edgier as the N.E.W.T.’s approached, and finally, Ron and Harry had been set off. They exploded in the middle of Potions yelling and drawing their wands in anger. It was the first time they’d been so angry at each other since their fourth year.

“You smarmy pampered GIT!” Ron shouted rising from his stool and drawing his wand. “I never TOUCHED your stupid essay!”

“Well no one ELSE could have! And I’m not PAMPERED!” shouted Harry back, flushing darkly.

It gave Ron a guilty satisfaction to see the colour of his friend’s face. “Yes you are! Every one practically WORSHIPS you and you have enough gold to get you through half the rest of your LIFE!”

“At least you have a family that LOVES you!” Harry yelled back bitterly. “Too bad that’s ALL you have!” The last remark was a last minute thought, and Harry spat it out wishing that it would hurt—badly.

And it did.

Ron’s ears turned bright red and he started yelling a spell but his wand was snatched from his hand, as was Harry’s. Snape glared at them both witheringly. “Sit DOWN.You will both serve double detention here for the next WEEK. I will not tolerate this sort of behaviour in my classroom!” he hissed, but it seemed as though his voice boomed through the room in the stunned silence of the rest. Harry and Ron obeyed silently, sitting on either side of a very flabbergasted looking Hermione. They had exited the classroom in the same enraged silence, and hadn’t spoken since.

Snape was now sitting at his desk, grading papers and ‘tsk tsk tsk’ing at their poor quality as the two boys cleaned the dungeons. Harry and Ron had succeeded in ignoring one another so far, but when Snape stepped into his storage room to search for something, they shot murderous glares at each other and began arguing in quiet hisses.

“This is all your fault you know!” Ron hissed.

“MY FAULT? How is this MY fault?! YOU started it!” Harry snarled back.

“You’re the one who accused me of STEALING!” Ron said, his voice rising slightly.

“Well you did, didn’t you?” Harry accused.

“Why would I steal your stupid essay!? I had my own! You were there when I wrote the bloody thing!”

“How am I supposed to know? You’re the backstabber!”

Ron snarled angrily and lunged at Harry, getting in a good swift punch before Harry realized what was happening. Then, seconds later, they were rolling around on the floor in a fury of fists and feet, trying to cause as much pain to the other as they could. Desks were shoved about and crashed on the floor around them. Snape flew out from the storage room roaring angrily, “POTTER! WEASLEY! STOP THIS INSTANT!” But they continued, ignoring Snape’s furious bellowing. It wasn’t until he wrenched them apart with a spell that they could be stopped. Even then they swung at each other futily. Harry had acquired a thickly bleeding nose, a cut lip and a dark bruise that was blooming over his left eye. Several other bruises were on his other extremities. Ron was just as bad off with a bloody cut across his forehead, a black eye, and several bruises on his body as well. “ENOUGH!” Snape snarled glaring at the both of them. “We are going to settle this NOW or you two sniveling brats will NEVER leave this dungeon!”

Ron glared daggers at Harry. “It’s all HIS fault… He blames me for stealing his stupid bloody Potions essay!”

Snape’s eyes flicked over to Harry and narrowed. “Why in the name of Merlin do you think WEASLEY stole your essay Potter?” he hissed.

“I couldn’t find it! We were supposed to turn them in today and he was the only BLOODY person who would WANT to steal it or even be close enough!” Harry snarled.

Snape rolled his eyes irritably and turned around, sweeping over to his desk. He shuffled around a little bit and then slithered back over holding up a piece of parchment for Harry to see. “Is THIS your essay, Potter?” he demanded.

Harry glanced at it once, and then looked back at it again when he recognized his emerald green ink, his handwriting and his name. His mouth dropped open in shock. “But—but I didn’t give it to you!” he spluttered. Ron looked utterly smug and haughty as he watched Harry flounder under the evidence.

Snape made a face and sneered at Harry, “While you were busy blathering on with Granger about your N.E.W.T.’s, I picked them up Potter. They were on your DESKS.” Harry went limp, looking dejected. “Oh don’t look so down trod, Potter. You’ve only ruined your friendship with Weasley, I’m sure…” he said in an irritating tone and went back to his desk, leaving them hanging there.

Harry stared at the stones that were about a foot below their own feet, feeling guiltier than he had in a while. He’d said horrible things and done horrible things for no reason. Ron had every right to hate him. To never speak to him again… He opened his mouth with difficulty and started to speak. “Ron… I…”

Ron sneered. “I TOLD you I didn’t steal it.” He was feeling rather bitter towards Harry. After all, he had been accused of stealing something he hadn’t by his best friend. Harry cringed. He really did deserve Ron’s hatred.

Ron sighed, Harry was his best friend and nothing could change that. Despite the fact that he was a stupid prat who thought people had to love you unconditionally and never fight with you to be your family or friends and despite the fact that he never really thought ENTIRELY about anyone else when something like this happened. However, it startled Ron, when Harry did something unexpected.

“I’m sorry Ron…I’ve been really stupid… I should never have thought it was you who took my essay…I know better. You’re my best friend though…and I don’t want to not speak to you for almost a month like the last time…that was one of the worst times of my whole life… So I’m sorry,” he apologized genuinely.

Ron grinned broadly and said, “Neither do I, Harry. Besides. I don’t think that’ll happen anymore…you’ve finally figured out what it REALLY takes to be friends.”

Harry gave him a look, “What DOES it take, hm, Weasley?”

Ron grinned even more broadly and raised a finger trying to look philosophic. “It takes the understanding of a brother, and willingness to apologize when you’re wrong and the comfort of knowing you can move on and be happy again.”

Harry made a face. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to EVER sound that sappy. Don’t do that. It’s weird,” a small grin crossed his face though and his eyes got back their usual glitter that accompanied his best friend's presence.

Ron grinned. “We’ve still got detention all week because of you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… don’t push it.”

Snape suddenly appeared beside them with a cruel smirk on his face. “Well it seems you have ‘made up’ Potter, Weasley… Now get back to work!” he barked and they dropped to the floor. Both sniggered and crawled back to their buckets to continue cleaning the classroom, knowing they were once again, best friends.