Ron woke in the middle of the night to pain in his leg, the potion that madame pomfrey gave him for the bite Sirius left on his ankle must be wearing off.
Luckily she gave him some to take if he needed it, he reached to grab the potion from his bedside table when he realized, it wasn’t there. He sat up and scanned the room from where he was sitting, he spotted the potion, he stupidly left it across the room.
He sighed in frustration at himself, of course he would leave the one thing that makes his leg better all the way across the room when he can barely walk.
He looked to the other boys beds, everyone was fast asleep, looks like he’s on his own. He slowly got out of bed, wincing at the pain it caused. He started walking towards the potion.
Each step was agonizing, he whimpered so loud he was afraid the other boys might wake up. He looked over at where his potion sat on a dresser across the dorm, he could do this.
But every time he moved his leg the pain got worse, not only was the pain almost unbearable, but since he was more awake now, memories of the events from earlier came flooding back to his mind.
He tried to ignore them and continued going for his potion, tears welling up in his eyes. He’s had to grab on to any object near him just to stay upright, and the more pressure he put on his leg the worse it felt.
All the while, memories of his dear pet scabbers turning into some old man named Peter Pettigrew, who apparently betrayed his best friends parents, flashed in his mind.
The rat that had been in his family for 12 years, that his brother took care of and then passed down to him, the rat he let sleep in his bed, the rat he defended to Hermione, the one he took care of so gently, was Peter Pettigrew the whole time.
Then the memory of Sirius biting down on his leg and dragging him into the whomping willow, the fear and the pain he felt while he waited for his friends to fall into what he thought was a trap as he held scabbers in his hand.
And then he remembered how his Teacher Professor Lupin turned into a werewolf right before their eyes and tried to kill them right after.
All this, with the pain added to his leg, made him fall to the floor in sobs. He knew he should try to shut up so the other boys don’t wake up, especially Harry, but he felt like he couldn’t breathe and his leg hurt so badly and everything was overwhelming him.
He pushed himself up against one of the beds, not bothering to see who’s, and brought his knees to his chest as he cried into his hands, sobs pouring out of him loud and uncontrollably.
He sobbed so loud that he didn’t hear when someone shifted in their bed, grabbing his glasses, Harry sat up, he heard sobbing, but couldn’t see who it was, he looked over to Ron’s bed to find it empty.
“Ron?” He called out, getting out of bed, Ron didn’t seem to hear him, Harry walked closer to where he heard the sobs coming from to find Ron with his back against Harry’s bed, knees to his chest and his frame shaking with every sob and poor attempt to suck in a breath.
He was immediately by his side, “Ron? Ron what’s wrong?” He asked worriedly, sitting next to Ron and pulling him to his chest, rubbing his back.
“H-Harry?” Ron asked, confused as to how Harry was now there when he was just sleeping a minute ago, he couldn’t think straight.
“I’m here, I’m here Ron,” Harry said, pulling Ron closer and tightening his grip. Ron cried into Harry’s chest for five minutes, occasionally taking deep breaths when instructed to do so by Harry. Harry had to cast a silencing charm so the other boys didn’t wake up.
When he was finally done, he hiccuped out his last sob and Harry hugged him tightly, “do you wanna talk about it?” Harry asked, wanting to help him better.
Ron picked up his head for the first time since he found him and took a deep breath, “I needed my potion for my leg, but I left it across the room, because of course I bloody would, I tried to go get it but I could barely walk and my leg hurts so bloody much, and I can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier with Scabbers being Peter and Sirius and Professor Lupin, it keeps replaying in my head,” Ron explained, not wanting to get into any more into detail.
“I’m sorry I woke you up, I couldn’t take it anymore,” Ron said the last part quietly, like he was afraid to admit it. Harry sighed, pulling Ron into a hug.
“Ron, next time that happens, just wake me up, okay? You don’t have to suffer alone, I’m here, the same way you’re always here for me. You’re allowed to wake me up whenever you want, okay?” Harry said gently, more gently than Ron was used to, Ron nodded and wiped more tears from his eyes.
“Everything that happened earlier won’t leave my mind either, it was a lot, it’s overwhelming. We’ll talk about it more tomorrow, for now, you need to drink your potion and rest, yeah?” Harry said, he waited for Ron to nod in response and then got up to grab the potion.
He measured out a portion and then handed it to Ron, who took it gratefully and downed the cup, Harry handed him some water to drink after because healing potions never tasted any good.
He immediately felt better as the pain left his leg, he sighed in relief. Harry helped him up and walked him over to his bed, where they would both be sleeping for the night.
Harry wasn’t going to leave Ron alone after what he just witnessed, and Ron had no energy to protest, not that he wanted to.
Harry helped Ron into bed and then got in himself, he pulled the covers over both of them and Ron shifted to lay his head on Harry’s chest as they wrapped their arms around each other.
The other boys would wake up and find them cuddling, they would laugh and take the mickey out on them in the morning, but they couldn’t care less, they both needed this.
“Harry?” Ron said sleepily, “yeah?” Harry replied, “Thank you” Ron said as he felt himself drifting off, “don’t mention it,” Harry replied, holding him close.
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