Among The Shadows

I was living in the shadow
Of someone else's dream
(Ashlee Simpson, "Shadow")

Harry saw the snitch; he managed to nab it before the Ravenclaw Seeker was able to even see it. As he tumbled to the ground -- falling off his broom was becoming an on-going joke at this point -- he noticed a lack of red hair next to bushy brown-hair in the stands. Unfortunately before he could continue the train of thought he hit the ground. Spitting up grass and sand, he lifted his head and opened his palm.

"And Harry Potter has the snitch! Gryffindor wins! 160 to 100!" came over the loud speaker as Hermione ran onto the field, and towards him.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione's voice hitched up slightly at the end indicating her agitation.

"Hermione, I'm fine." Harry groaned while spitting out the rest of the dirt from his mouth. Hermione was wringing her hands -- a sure sign of her normal cool behavior vacant at the moment.

Harry sat up, looked around the stands for his missing friend. "Where's Ron?" It felt strange without Ron around.

"Er, I'm not entirely sure." Hermione was lying, but Harry let it pass.

"Well, I reckon we should head back to the common room." Harry finally rose off the ground and gripped his Firebolt. He was disappointed that Ron hadn't shown up to watch him win. The victory somehow felt like less of one without hearing Ron rambling about the plays of the game. He liked Hermione but it just was not the same -- especially when one took into account that she knew nothing about Quidditch.

"Sounds great." Hermione's attempted smile fell short, resembling more of a frown. The pair trooped up from the field to the Tower, pausing only when Malfoy stopped to say mutter "Can't you stay on a broomstick, Scarhead?"

When they reached Fat Lady, they muttered the password ("sinking spiders") and entered. The room erupted in applause and cheer. Lee Jordan and the twins had managed to snag some food from the kitchen elves. Neville, Dean, and Seamus had thrown streamers about the room and Ginny was beaming at them while eating some of the stolen sweets.

Sitting in the corner alone was Ron. What was more surprising was the fact he was reading the assignment for History of Magic. Harry waved to him, but Ron never bothered to look up. He heard what was going on, Harry was sure of it, but was pointedly ignoring his friend.

"Hermione." This time Harry pulled his friend aside and demanded to know what was going with Ron.

"Oh, Harry." Hermione hated to be put in this position. "You know, Ron is just jealous-"

"What?!" He gave a quick shake of his head, thinking he might need to clean out his ears.

"He's jealous." A sigh of exasperation followed. "You know he has all those older brothers to compete with, you're a star-"

"If he wants to be parentless, then he's more than -" Harry was unable to continue his tirade as Hermione cut him off.

"Oh, honestly, Harry!" Hermione's nerves were already frazzled after having a similiar conversation with Ron earlier. "You're famous, his brothers are doing so well..." Hermione lost her spurt of anger over Harry's thick-headed behaviour suddenly. "He can't get out from under anyone's shadow. No one notices him."

Harry sent a furitive glance at the other boy, looking away when he noticed he was being watched as well. He didn't care to be at odds with his friend, but he refused to apologize for recieving the unwelcome attention as it was not his fault.

The rest of the party dragged on for him until he was finally able to slip up to the dorms to go to sleep. Next to his bed, he saw that Ron had sneaked up earlier since the boy was now under his own sheets, sound asleep. Opening his mouth to say something, he shut it just quickly. He wasn't going to apologize. He had nothing to apologize for. He would just wait for Ron to apologize.

It was going to be a very long wait.

Closing the bed curtains, he changed into pajamas, readying for bed. He opened the curtains back up and laid his glasses on the nightstand. Lying on the bed trying to sleep, he never noticed the other boy studying him.

It was going to a very long wait, indeed.