Chapter 87: 6-3

After accidentally letting slip Rita Skeeter's true identity to Hermione (It wasn't on purpose, I swear. It was purely an... accident), I parted ways with her and was just about to head out to catch some bugs when—

"...Hey."

I bumped into the best friend I wanted to see least right now.

"...Hey, Ron."

We exchanged awkward greetings. Ever since that day, whenever Harry and Hermione weren't around, we just couldn't seem to hold a proper conversation.

I mean, I didn't know what to do. It would be weird to have him apologize. It would be weird for me to apologize, too. There was no clear-cut solution for either of us... even though things were completely back to normal with him and Harry.

If either Harry or Hermione were there, we could goof off just like always. If we got caught up in the mood, we'd even dance while the others cheered us on. But—the moment it was just the two of us, it was like this. That's why I had been avoiding him.

"...I read the article,"

I didn't want to hear the rest. Yielding to my heart's screaming, I cut Ron off.

"Yeah, it's as awful as ever. That old hag Skeeter's articles, I mean. Disgusting, wasn't it?"

"That's not—"

"It's fine, you don't have to hide it. It's a bit late for that now anyway. I'm not Harry, so you can say whatever you want."

"Wh—what's with that attitude?!"

"Did I say something weird? I won't tell anyone. —Even if you puked all over the magazine."

Ron's hand shot out and grabbed my robes. Is he going to punch me? That might be fine, actually. —If it makes him feel better and we can go back to how things used to be... it won't hurt.

"I... I wanted to apologize!"

"Huh?"

Still being held by my robes, I stared up at the freckles about a head taller than me.

"...I never meant to say those things."

"I'm sure. Just your true feelings slipping out in the heat of the moment."

"No!"

"What do you mean, 'no'? You... your eyes looked like you genuinely hated it."

"—"

He bit his lip right in front of me. Even with his head hung low, those blue eyes—which were still positioned where I had to look up to meet them—were glaring at his shoes, not at me.

"...I was jealous."

Ron muttered softly.

"Of what?"

"That you have Harry—and Harry has you, Maria."

The grip on my robes, which had practically been strangling me, loosened. I stumbled just a little, but annoyed at the thought of him noticing, I righted myself with a nonchalant expression.

"What do you mean?"

"...Maria, you'll absolutely believe Harry, won't you?"

"Of course."

"You'll absolutely be on his side."

"Yeah."

"You'll absolutely never betray him."

"I... guess so."

"Harry comes first."

"......"

"You live for Harry."

Nodding to everything felt like a lie, so I just stood there in silence.

Is that true? Am I really acting for Harry's sake? I know that poor boy will have to be sacrificed in the future—so I want to at least be his ally. Isn't it just self-satisfaction and egoism on my part?

"And it's the same for Harry."

Ron continued, like a confession, not needing a reply from me.

"If I had been Harry—I mean, if the Goblet had spat my name out even though I hadn't put it in—which is impossible, obviously—George and Fred wouldn't have believed me. Neither would Ginny. Percy would probably barge into Hogwarts with Mum and Dad on his side, yelling 'Don't lie! How did you cheat?!' I can guarantee it."

"......"

I couldn't deny it and say, "That's not true!" The Weasley siblings are surprisingly strict about things like that. I know that much.

"Even Hermione wouldn't believe me. Maybe even Dumbledore wouldn't. But Harry... even if the whole world calls him a liar, he has Maria. He has someone who will absolutely believe him. ...I'm jealous."

And then, despite his lanky frame, Ron hunched over, shrinking into himself. He looked even smaller than Neville during Potions class.

"Hey, Ron."

"...Yeah."

"Why are you leaving us out?"

"...Huh?"

The red eyelashes that had been trembling over his freckles slowly lifted.

"Your brothers might not believe you. Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley would probably scold you. Ginny can get pretty intense once she gets an idea in her head, and Hermione would start with a lecture. But what about Harry and me? Do you think we wouldn't believe you?"

"────"

"I'd believe you. If you said you didn't do it, Ron—I would believe you."

Because you... you're so terrible at lying. ...Even after you grow up, always.

"...I really don't like you, Maria."

"Eh?"

Having completely relaxed, thinking we were finally making up, I was shaken by this second curveball.

"Don't you get it? Maria—you're always looking down on us."

"That's not true!"

"Can you really say that? —Then why didn't you take me with you two years ago?"

Two years ago—? At my obvious confusion, Ron exploded.

"To the Basilisk! I was fully prepared to fight alongside you guys!"

Ah—ah, right. That time, we—or rather, just I—fought the threat alone.

But that's—that's because—you're important to me—if I had it my way, I wouldn't want to drag you into anything dangerous, not even once──

"I just didn't want to put you in danger, Ron."

"That's exactly what I mean by looking down on me! We're the same age! Stop acting like an adult! You always say these nice things! —Don't just decide to protect me on your own!"

Ron probably realized he was talking nonsense himself.

He was panicking. —But still, being unable to stop himself is just so very Ron.

"Harry needs me—I get that, I really do. Harry needs me. ──But what about you?"

Only now did I realize just how hurt those blazing blue eyes were. —I'm always too late.

"You don't—need someone like me, Maria."

He looked like a lost child.

"As long as you have Harry, you're fine. If Hermione is there, even better. And then there's Malfoy. That's plenty for you, right? You don't need me—"

"—Stupefy!"

"—Protego!"

I shoved Ron out of the way on reflex and deflected the spell. There, at the end of the corridor, stood him.

"—What is the meaning of this, Draco? That last one... you meant it."

"Yeah, I absolutely intended to hit Weasley."

Draco gave a faint, mocking smile, his wand still pointed at Ron. I stepped in front of Ron, and we stood there, pointing a cypress wand and a hawthorn wand at each other.

"Are you drawing your wand on me?"

"Of course. If you're going to harm Ron—I won't show mercy to anyone, not even you."

The air crackled, vibrating almost painfully. We were serious. Both Draco and I—we genuinely faced each other as enemies.

Draco flicked his wand.

"—Impe—"

"—And, well. As you can see, she's perfectly willing to turn against her own partner for your sakes."

"—dimenta... wait, what?"

Mid-wand flick—Draco lowered his arm with a cynical smirk.

"D-Draco...?"

"Let me spell it out for you, you whiny, thick-headed Weasley. —This one right here adores you."

What on earth was he saying? Both Ron and I were so dumbfounded we couldn't move, as if we'd been hit by the Full Body-Bind Curse.

"D-Draco, wait a second."

"If you were to fall off a cliff, for example, she'd dive right in after you. If you were in a fire, she'd forget her Flame-Freezing Charm and rush in to burn with you—she'd even charge straight into the Dark Lord's stronghold alone."

Click. The sound of his leather shoes announced his approach.

"Listen to me. She—more than me, more than Dumbledore, more than the entire world────cares about you guys and loves you."

The atmosphere was utterly bizarre. What—what was this idiot saying? I didn't know whether to be on guard, fly into a rage, or writhe in embarrassment—my head was a complete mess and I felt like I was getting dizzy.

"Besides, there's no way this one is 'grown up' when she caused everyone so much trouble throwing a tantrum about not wanting to wear dress robes. Harry's got his act together far better than she does."

Unable to even argue back, Draco grabbed my arm and roughly shoved me toward Ron. Ron caught me, and we stared at each other with incredibly bizarre expressions.

"...Um, Maria."

"Y-Yeah."

Silence. I wished Draco would just say something instead. I felt a surge of irrational anger toward him as he looked away, acting as if his job was done. —Ugh, fine, whatever.

"I'm sorry. If it seemed like I was looking down on you guys—no, yeah, if it looked that way, I'm sorry. But it's not like that. I—I can't put it into words very well, but what I mean is—"

"...It's fine, really."

Ron patted my back as if to soothe me. The familiar physical contact, completely lacking any delicacy in how to treat a girl, made a swell of joy rise up in my chest.

"It was my fault. I was just taking it out on you. ...I'm sorry."

"Y-Yeah. I'm sorry, too."

"You already said that."

"Yeah..."

"......"

"......"

""......Pfft!""

We burst into laughter at the exact same time—Ron was making such a pathetic face—I'm sure I looked exactly the same—and we laughed out loud together. We slapped each other's shoulders, and somehow—yeah, just like Harry. Like how I used to mess around with Ron back when I was Harry, we nudged and shoved each other without any restraint. —I felt an overwhelming urge to shout that the boy standing in front of me was my Ron.

"—And that seems to settle it."

Looking away from our non-stop fit of laughter, Draco raised his voice toward somewhere down the hall, then smirked at me with his trademark 'look at these idiots' grin.

"Ugh, that face pisses me—Whoa?!"

"You stubborn, sulky boys! You two just don't communicate enough!"

It was Hermione who had lunged at us. Behind her, Harry was pouting, complaining to Draco that he went too far.

"S-Since when..."

"Since right about when Draco fired that Stunning Spell."

"More like, the second we found you two, Malfoy whipped out his wand. There wasn't even time to stop him."

"Draco is surprisingly barbaric."

""It's not surprising at all.""

When Ron and I retorted in unison, we were hit with another fit of giggles. It infected Harry and Hermione too, and the four of us let our laughter echo down the corridor.

My bizarre fight with Ron—melted away by the smiles of my best friends, my younger brother, and my partner—had finally come to an end.

—Speaking of things coming to an end. There was one more thing.

The scandalous rumor that the Potter siblings weren't blood-related (and therefore suspicious) also came to an unexpected conclusion.

First of all, Sirius snapped. He absolutely lost it and stormed into the Witch Weekly publishing office. I heard he rampaged around like a bandit, shouting at the top of his lungs about what problem they had with his son and daughter. For the record, he gave a "no comment" regarding the "suspicious" part.

And as for the most unexpected part—that was his comment.

"The Potter siblings are undoubtedly blood-related. For anyone who knew their parents, such a doubt would be difficult to even harbor. —They are the spitting image of them, to an infuriating degree. Of the father, and the mother."

His bitter-sounding comment was solidly published in Witch Weekly (Sirius probably pressured them into it... no doubt while making a deeply disgusted face). It was attributed to an 'anonymous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry staff member', but—there was no way we wouldn't know who it was.

Sitting at the staff table again today, pretending this had nothing to do with him, the cynical overgrown bat made me chuckle quietly to myself.