_

Harry had felt of little use throughout the day, but as Draco had finished Ron’s examination and had moved on to Hermione’s, Ron had showed such clear signs of a building agitation that Harry had ushered him out of the meeting room; if Harry could do nothing else, he’d at least give Draco a calm environment to work in.
Removing Ron from his wife hadn’t particularly helped calm him down. In this far corner of the Ministry, the silence between the men felt so loud, Ron’s tension filling the air around them.
“She’s going to be fine,” Harry attempted, finding that ignoring Ron’s upset felt even more awkward than fumbling his way through a conversation. “You’ve felt it yourself, it’s not painful.”

Ron had never thought that any part of this was a good idea and had only agreed in the first place because Hermione had been absolutely insistent. He knew that she hadn’t interacted much more with Malfoy than he had ever since the war, so the sudden unwavering trust she was showing him made his stomach churn, however, he knew better than to question her when she was so certain of something, so he had gone along with it.
Now though, post examination and knowing that Hermione was in there with him alone, it was a lot harder to keep his feelings under wraps.
“You are a ****ing idiot, you know that right?” He stated, turning to look at the man he still thought of as his best friend, even though the distance between them had become painfully wide since his divorce from Ginny.

_________________

Harry flinched as though he had been slapped, the words cutting through the tension, landing a harsh blow somewhere between Harry’s ribs. It shattered the fragile attempt at composure Harry carried for an expression, his face falling like he was several decades younger.
Ron’s disapproval and anger always seemed to strike something within Harry that stretched far back into his early childhood, holding Ron to such great esteem even when their friendship was in tatters.
“I don’t -” he stumbled meekly, but he didn’t have it in him to finish the sentence. Neither asking for clarification nor denying anything felt genuine, knowing in the pit of his stomach that no matter what precisely Ron was talking about, he was probably right.

Now that the floodgate was opened, Ron knew that there would be no stopping it.
He had spent years being close with Harry and knowing him better than he knew himself, but this really solidified just how far they had grown apart.
It was hard not to blame himself for the way Harry’s life had turned out but Ron really thought that their relation was better than this. The fact that Harry had seen the need to reach out to Malfoy before he reached out to Ron and Hermione was hurtful at best and he had to make sure that he hadn’t entirely lost his mind.
“Malfoy? Really? I knew you weren’t in good shape man, but trusting Malfoy with something like this? Have you lost your damn mind?”

_________________

Ron’s words clawed at Harry’s throat, suffocating any possible retort he could even begin to muster. Everything felt so fragile that the impact of Ron’s anger threatened to make it all shatter. A month ago, perhaps Harry had been able to muster a defence, but now, everything felt so pitiful and useless that it made him sick with it. For how much Harry had been able to defend Draco in the past, now he came up short, finding that the mere reminder of the trust he had held - still held - in Draco threatening to make tears well up with the sheer weight of the loss he felt thinking about it.
Working his jaw, Harry stiffly averted his gaze, looking aimlessly to the side.
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” he replied, his voice small.

“Anything,” Ron stated, exasperated by the way that Harry seemed to have just accepted his situation, as if there was nothing to be done and he just had to accept help from Malfoy of all people.
“We barely even talk anymore and now when you do talk to me, it’s just to convince us to let Malfoy look at our old scars,” he ranted on, having a lot of pent up feelings that he was finally having the chance to let out. Despite everything, he still deeply cared about Harry and wanted him to do better for himself, but this was so baffling to him and he just wanted him to take care of himself.

_________________

"That is what I need from you right now," Harry said, his voice tight from the knot forming in his throat.
He turned to look at Ron, but his gaze wasn't steadfast, flickering across his features, lips slightly parted in a look of genuine helplessness.
Talking with Ron had become increasingly difficult with age, both speaking as though they still maintained any sense of trust between them; in reality, that level of trust hadn't existed between them for years, undermining any and all arguments Ron tried to land.
Perhaps especially becaude Harry had talked to him just days prior, but the upset visible in Ron's expression betrayed the fact that it hadn't been what he had wanted to hear, making it all so pointless to argue about.
"I'm sorry if that isn't what you were looking for, but if you want to help, this is it."