Ginny never knew what she had. Taking it all for granted or believing it was her god given right. Ron loved his sister, but some days he really just hated her. Days like this when Harry left dinner, nearly in tears, because she wouldn't stop nagging him. Ginny wanted perfection, she wanted the brave hero all the newspaper articles painted, Harry was none of those. He was Harry, a skinny, bespectacled boy who had the world thrust upon his shoulders before he was even an adult. And yet people still expected their storybook hero, people like Ginny, people who should know better.

Ron fumed silently as his mum attempted to start another conversation. They were lame attempts, and failed horribly, but it was better than the dead silence everyone else was engulfed in, no one quite sure what to do.

"I'll go check on him," Ron said suddenly, setting down his fork. He wasn't hungry anymore, and besides, Harry was more important than food.

"Leave him be," Ginny said, "he needs to toughen up."

"Shut the fuck up Ginny," Ron replied, and even his mother didn't scold him.

He took the steps two at a time, quickly reaching the room that he and Harry shared. Opening the door slowly he peeked inside.

Harry was standing in the middle of the room, staring around confused, as if he were not quite sure what to do.

"Hey Harry," Ron said quietly, stepping inside, "what are you doing?"

"Trying not to cry," Harry replied simply, as he looked up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly.

"There's nothing wrong with crying, you know," Ron said.

"Ginny doesn't think so, apparently it's not manly enough," Harry said in a harsh mocking tone, but a small layer of sadness still peeked through.

"Well Ginny can go fuck herself," Ron said, taking a step forward and placing a hand gently on Harry's shoulder.

"Crying just means you're confident enough in your manliness that you don't give a fuck what other people think of you," he said. Harry gave him a small smile, it didn't last long but Ron treasured it for every second.

"I wish that were true for me," Harry whispered softly, "no, I'm just weak."

"You're not weak," Ron insisted, "you've faced things harder than any of us, and still continue to face more shit that the world's throwing at you, I think if there's any person in the world right now who has a right to just break down and bawl, it's you."

"You think so?" Harry said, finally looking at Ron, a small tear escaped from his eye.

"Of course I think so," Ron said, "c'mere." He wrapped both of his arms around Harry's waist, pulling him tightly to his chest, it was an action that startled even him, but Harry didn't seem to mind, he leaned against Ron, wrapping his arms around his neck and then just bursting into tears.

They stood like that for awhile, Ron doing nothing more than holding the boy who had endured so much while Harry let it all out. And Ron didn't mind it at all. At one point Ron carefully moved them over to his bed, sitting down and pulling Harry down next to him. And they sat there, Ron leaning against the headboard with Harry, who had fallen fast asleep, curled up tightly against him.

At one point it occurred to Ron that men didn't usually do this kind of thing for other men, but he quickly realized that he didn't care. As long as Harry came out okay, he'd do anything.

Ron woke up to two large green eyes staring at him. It took him a moment to remember what had happened. He quickly noticed that he was still holding Harry, he also realized that they were both lying in his bed, covered by the blanket. He definitely didn't remember than happening yesterday.

"What time is it?" Ron asked, moving one of his arms to rub his eyes but leaving the other one hooked around Harry's waist. Not like he could really move it since Harry was on top of it, but if things got awkward, and they quickly were, he could always blame it on sleep. Maybe he'd thought Harry was a pillow or something…

"Almost noon," Harry replied.

"How long have you been up?"

"Since eleven, mostly I've been watching you sleep."

"That's not awkward at all," Ron mumbled.

"No less than me waking up in your arms," Harry replied before leaning forward and capturing Ron's lips in his own.

The kiss was everything. Magical, perfect, just… everything good. Now he knew what people meant when they said sparks flew, he felt like a firework, one of those giant Chinese dragon ones. Much to his annoyance, and far too soon, Harry pulled away.

"Mph…" Ron grumbled, saddened by the loss of contact. Harry just smiled.

"Well this changes everything," he noted, "how did we get in the bed anyway?" Ron asked.

"I moved you, well, me and your mum."

"My mum was here?"

Harry giggled at Ron's reaction, but Ron couldn't help but smile at Harry's laughter. It was good to see him smile, he hadn't done it for awhile.

"Yeah, she came in to check on us before she went to bed, I guess she expected us to both be asleep in our respective beds or something."

"And instead she found us cuddling."

"Yep," Harry said, curling up against Ron, cuddling him as if to make a point.

"And wha'd she... y'know, say?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Well, she said, and I quote 'I knew it.'"

"That's all?"

"That's all."

"Then what happened?"

"She gushed more about how she just knew it and she helped me tuck you into your bed and I was about to go to mine before she grabbed me and pushed me back into yours."

"My mother did that?"

"Yes."

"Are we talking about the same person?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Ron, it was your mother that did that."

"Oh, and wha'd you do?"

"Curl up next to you, I wasn't really in the mood for starting a fight with your mother, one which she definitely would have won."

Ron smiled, "and you're absolutely sure this was my mother?"

"C'mon, we'll find out," Harry said, practically leaping out of bed and dragging Ron with him. Ron was still fully clothed with what he'd worn last night, which was good, at least he knew that his mum and Harry (boyfriend?) hadn't undressed him. Harry on the other hand had changed into pajamas, that was clearly before his mum had shoved Harry into bed with him. That sounded awkward.

Harry pulled Ron down the stairs by shamelessly holding his hand, they probably could have claimed that it was just Harry dragging him somewhere and that Harry had merely grabbed the nearest loose object of Ron's, which was his hand. Except that their fingers were intertwined, and there are plenty of other parts of the body one could use to drag someone by, starting with, for example, the arm. Whatever Harry was planning on, they weren't going to get away with it, that was for sure.

Harry and Ron walked into the kitchen hand in hand. The entire Weasley family plus a few additions, all of whom had just sat down to eat lunch looked up and stared. Harry didn't let go of Ron's hand, instead he just stood there, gazing at them defiantly, almost begging them to resist. It was Ron's mum who spoke first, making a loud excited squeal followed by a cheerful "I just knew it!" Percy spoke next.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise," he noted dryly, "I fear Bill now owes me ten galleons."

"Got me there," Bill said, pulling out ten galleons and counting them out before passing them to Percy. Fleur shot him a look, she clearly didn't approve of her husband betting on Harry and Ron's love life.

"What the hell is this?" Ginny suddenly shrieked, having overcome her initial shock, "are you two holding hands?" she asked, disgusted.

"Yeah, got a problem with it?" Ron said, letting go of Harry's hand and wrapping it instead protectively around Harry's waist.

"Yes, first of all you're both boys, and Harry's my boyfriend anyway."

"I am not your boyfriend Ginny, and I haven't been since you started treating me like a worthless piece of shit," Harry replied, his voice cold.

"What, how could you…!"

"Ginny, fuck off," Ron said. Ginny was stunned. Finally with a huff she stood up and left.

"Pancakes anyone?" Percy offered, his voice bored as if absolutely nothing of any interest had happened.

"I'm starved," Harry said.

"Here, let me get that for you," Ron quickly pulled a chair out for Harry to sit in before getting his own chair. He also served all of Harry's food, making sure everything was just perfect. Harry just laughed.

"You know Ron, I think Harry is perfectly capable of cutting his own bacon," Bill suggested. Ron looked up.

"Huh?" Harry laughed.

"I think it's cute," Harry said. And Ron just grinned.