Best Mates

Study Methods

It had been three nights since Ron had been in Harry's bed. They didn't speak about it the next morning, nor had they since. Although, Ron had caught Harry pouring over the book he lent him last night. He looked up at Ron, blushed furiously, and murmured goodnight before returning to to the book. Ron was beginning to think that he had gone entirely too far, perhaps costing him his best friend. Harry had seemed like he was enjoying himself, but considering that he had no idea what was even happening, it would make perfect sense that after learning new information about the topic he would grow intensely uncomfortable with what they had done. Ron felt as thought he had maybe taken advantage of Harry's innocence and it was making him feel like a true creep. 

On top of all that, Ron was struggling with classes worse than ever. Hermione was always excellent with all the school stuff and even Harry managed being at or above the expectations for all of their classes with an average amount of effort, excellent in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron, however, felt like he was drowning in work. The reading alone took more time than he had ever experienced. He seemed to get lost in the words. Sometimes, he swore the text was bewitched because the letters would float right off the page and swim around. It took damn near forever to pin them in place and get it right, then he was expected to remember them, write about them, and apply them practically. He never noticed anyone else complaining about their text books behaving in such a way, so he had never asked.

It was for this reason that as the last embers were beginning to fade into the fire of the Gryffindor common room, and even though everyone else had headed up to bed ages ago, Ron was sitting in an armchair furiously trying to focus on the words of his chapter about different draughts for sleep. He thought bitterly that they should add reading this textbook to the list. His vision swam, his head ached, and worst of all, he was nowhere near the end of this chapter. He slammed the book shut, pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms. He was sure to get a D or possibly even a T on the essay Snape set if he couldn't get through his chapter tonight. He would need all of tomorrow's free period to write it and allow Hermione to check it for mistakes, he couldn't afford to waste any of it finishing the reading. 

So stupid,  he thought to himself. He felt his frustration boiling over as he thought about how nice it would be to be in his room, asleep. Hot tears slid down his face as he clawed at his hair. 

"Ron?" he jumped, startled at the sudden noise. As he looked up, he saw Harry standing in front of the fire, looking at him with concern, "It's nearly one in the morning. What are you still doing up?" 

Ron hastily wiped his face with his sleeve, "Homework," he muttered, gesturing to the book which lay on the floor. 

"Still? You've been at it for ages." Harry looked surprised. 

"Yeah, well. I guess I'm a bit slow." Ron said sourly. 

Harry peered at his face, "Have you been crying?" He asked gently.

"Don't be stupid, 'course not." Ron tried to laugh but it came out more like a sob. 

Harry frowned at him. "Git," he said, but more sympathetic than annoyed, "You were supposed to come and get me, remember?"

Ron looked up at him, perplexed, "What do you mean?" 

"Our agreement," Harry said simply, "That I would come get you if I needed to, so long as you come and get me if you were upset as well."

Ron gaped at him. He had simply said that to make his friend feel better. He hadn't actually intended on bothering Harry with his nonsense. "It wasn't important," Ron muttered, looking down at his knees again. 

Harry shook his head in exasperation. Ron shivered, the dying fire was no longer of any use to him. Harry noticed and pointed his wand at the fire, murmuring the incantation to bring it to a blaze again. He lit the candles that had gone out hours ago, scooped Ron's book off the floor, and grabbed a knit blanket off one of the couches. He then took Ron by the hand and pulled him to his feet. Ron furrowed his eyebrows, but otherwise allowed Harry to guide him to one of the wider, squashier armchairs that was closest to the fire. It had been occupied when Ron first sat down and he had been so intent on focusing that he hadn't even considered moving closer to the light. Harry sat, pulling Ron down into the seat with him. Harry adjusted the blanket so it covered both of them. Ron felt it was still a bit of a squeeze to sit side by side, despite being one of the wider chairs. They were getting a bit too big to share a seat. Harry obviously seemed to be having similar thoughts. Without saying a word, he tucked an arm under Ron's knees and turned his legs inward so that they rested over Harry's. Ron blushed, realizing that he was essentially sitting in Harry's lap. 

"There," Harry said, seeming proud of his work, "Is this better?" Ron considered. He was still tired and still needed to read, but the light was helping his eyesight and the fire and Harry's body heat were warming him up. 

"Yeah...I suppose a bit."Ron felt his ears turning crimson. 

"All right then," Harry said opening the book, "What page did you leave off on, then?"

Ron flushed even darker somehow. He didn't want to tell Harry that he'd only managed seven of the twenty pages they were meant to read. He muttered the page number, barely audible.

"You'll have to speak up a bit." Harry said, patiently. 

"Page forty-seven." Ron said, a bit clearer this time. If Harry was surprised by this, he didn't give any indication. He flipped to the correct page with one hand and pulled Ron close to him with his other. Ron expected that Harry would just sit with him while he read, which would have been nice enough, although ultimately would deprive both of them from sleep. 

"In the event one needs to create a deep meaningful sleep, but the user does not have sufficient enough time before they need wake, the most effective draught is-" Harry had begun reading the text aloud. 

"Harry," Ron cut him off, "I can read, you know. The words move around and stuff so, it just takes..a bit longer." He finished lamely. 

"I know that," said Harry quickly, "But, I mean, we agreed to help each other out, right? I could fall asleep on my own eventually, but you knew it was going to take too long and I'd be exhausted the next day, so you helped me. So, why not the other way around?" Ron considered that for a moment. 

"All right," he said finally, laying back against Harry, "Thanks, mate," he said quietly.

Ron could have sworn Harry frowned slightly at that, but it was so quick Ron thought he may have imagined it. Harry resumed reading aloud. They lay there until the chapter was finished, another twenty five minutes or so. Ron couldn't believe they were finished already. 

He was grateful to be finished, but could do with a few more minutes of laying in Harry's arms. They needed to go to bed though and they definitely did not want to be found laying in each others arms in the common room the next morning. He feared Fred and George would never let it go, and Harry was having a hard enough time this year without adding being labeled a queer. 

It was Harry who spoke first. "Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?" Ron looked up in surprise. 

"Really? Are you sure?" 

Harry nodded. "I know it's probably stupid, but I feel like I sleep better when you're there." 

Ron smiled at his blush. So Harry wasn't totally uncomfortable with what they had done. 

"All right. Yeah." Ron stood, holding out a hand to pull Harry to his feet. Harry put out the candles and the fire then followed Ron's up the staircase. Neither let go of the other's hand until they were upstairs in their dormitory. Ron changed quickly into his pajamas, closing his own curtain before climbing into Harry's bed and repeating the same action with Harry's curtain. This way there would be no awkward questions in the morning. He turned in to see Harry grinning at him. 

"Hello again" Harry whispered. Ron snorted. 

"Hello to you too." He said. 

"I believe it's my turn." Harry said still smiling. 

"Your turn for what?" Ron asked, bemused.

"This," and with that Harry leaned in, kissing Ron gently. Harry's lips felt soft and firm, urgent and unhurried, and a billion other wonderful, contradictory things. 

He pulled away, looking unsure of himself for a moment. Ron grinned now, returning the kiss with just as much tenderness. When they finally pulled apart, a dreamy look was plastered on both their faces. 

"G'night, Ron" Harry whispered, kissing his cheek.

"G'night, Harry" Ron whispered back, returning the kiss. Ron, exhausted but cheerful, turned over and felt Harry drape his arm around Ron's chest, pulling him flush to his body. 

His last thought was that for once in his life, he had been rewarded for poor academic capability and he had never been so grateful.