(1) Brothers (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

May 1, 1996 - Part 1

Harvey was surprised by how quickly his first year at Hogwarts had been. It felt like only the other day he had hopped on the Hogwarts express and had arrived in Hogsmeade. He had been excited to finally learn proper spells and meet new friends, and then there were his hopes about Harry. Initially, Harvey hoped that being at school together would help bring them closer, but at first, it only seemed to push Harry further away. But then Harvey also didn't understand what was going on with his brother, but now he did.

Harvey wished that the events that led to Harry finally opening up to him had been different. He wanted the hurt that Harry and their Mum felt to just go away, but he knew it would take a long time before it would. It thrilled him to know that even his Dad was putting in the effort to try and help Mum and Harry, and Harvey was going to make sure that nothing rocked the boat so that things could continue to get better.

But that meant dealing with Ron.

Ron had been his best friend for years; they had grown up together because Ron's Mum, Molly, and his Dad, Arthur, knew Harvey's parents from a group known as 'The Order of the Phoneix'. Harvey had never been allowed to know the full details, something about him being too young, but from what his Dad had let slip, it was a group organized by Dumbledore to fight Voldemort. Even after Voldemort died or disappeared, Harvey realised it seemed to change depending on who he spoke too; Molly and Lily would hang out regularly.

Ron, along with his brothers and his sister, would come over to the Potter's house, or Lily would take Harvey to the Weasley's, and Harvey would find himself playing for hours with Ron. They bonded of Quidditch, Gobstones, their Chocolate Frog Card collections; Ron had even tried to teach Harvey chess as they grew up, but that one never really stuck.

Harry wasn't always around when Lily and Molly would catch up with the kids, and when Harry wasn't around, Ron always seemed to make it known that he didn't think that Harry was a good brother to Harvey. The older they got, the more Ron seemed to dislike Harry. Harvey hadn't really understood why Ron had always been so insistent about it; he seemed to constantly be telling Harvey that Harry sucked or that he was mean. Even when Harvey asked Ron, he never got an answer.

But since coming to Hogwarts, Ron's dislike for Harry seemed to have only increased. Harvey had mostly ignored him for the most part, not wanting to cause a sense or have everyone learn that Harry was Harvey's brother; at least, that was before everyone did find out. But now, it seemed that Ron was determined to prove Harry wrong.

After Harry basically made Harvey and Hermione realise that their obsession with the Philosopher's Stone was not needed and that they were seeing enemies where there weren't any, they had been than happy to forget about it. Ron, however, was not. He had continued to ask Hagrid questions, tried to get Hermione and Harvey to help him watch Snape; he was relentless.

Harvey hadn't told Harry because he didn't want Harry to worry. He had his own problems. And since Ron was Harvey's best friend, he was going to be the one to stop his nonsense. He just hadn't worked out exactly how to do that.

When Harvey woke up that morning, Ron was already raving to Hermione about the trap door. It seemed that he believed the stone was hidden down there and that to keep it safe, they should go down and get it. The issue with that, of course, was getting past the giant three-headed dog that belonged to Hagrid.

"Why wouldn't Hagrid tell us?" asked Ron.

Hermione sighed. She dropped onto the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room and pulled her legs up beneath her. "Hagrid isn't going to tell you because the whole point of Fluffy being there is to protect the stone."

"Yeah, but that's what I want to do. Protect the stone," said Ron. "Snape's going to steal it and get away with it at this point."

Hermione rolled her eyes.