Chat Over Butterbeer (Harry/Ron) (PG-13)

Ron quickly claimed the booth in the back of the inn that he, Harry, and Hermione had taken to sitting at whenever they came to Hogsmeade. He knew that there had been a fair amount on Harry's mind as of late, and Divination certainly wasn't helping with all this Grimm talk. He reasoned that what his best friend needed was a little relaxation, and what better place than here. Ordering two Butterbeers, Ron waited for Harry to arrive.

Entering the three broomsticks, Harry frowned as he had just spoken to Malphas about a tough subject to swallow. Sirius Black was Mal's father, Sirius, of all people in the world. The one man that was currently after Harry was the father of one of his best friends. Sighing he spotted Ron and smiled weakly, before moving towards him sitting opposite to him, "Hey Ron," he greeted his best friend.

Looking up as Harry took his seat across from him, Ron's smile at seeing his friend slowly faded. Something was up. "Hey, Harry. Why the long face?" he asked as the drinks he ordered arrived. Ron guessed that Harry might need this little 'get away' more than he thought if he was all gloomy as he was, even more gloomy than normal as of late. "Is everything alright?" he added, his brow furrowed slightly, concern for his friend blanketing his face and laced within his words.

His fingers latched around the glass and he sipped at the beverage, and looked up at Ron knowing his friend had never drunk anything different, anything more powerful than butterbeer. "After we finish these, I get to pick what we drink next," he smiled brightly at his best friend, his brother before his fingers began to dance over the glass. Sighing, he figured he would tell Ron, this didn't change much, but still, he found someone needed to know, "You know how Malphas has grown closer to the two of us?" he asked knowing full well what the answer would be: a yes. He knew Mal didn't train Ron but through the time the three had passed together, they had befriended one another.

Ron raised an eyebrow at Harry's declaration of him picking what would be next to fill to heir glasses, but shrugged in agreement that he could pick. Taking a drink, he watched the friend that had become a brother to him over these three years as he seemed to reason out whether or not he could tell him what was on his mind. Thankfully, Harry decided that he would tell him. "Well, yeah. He tends to look out for us. More you, but still. What about it?" Ron asked, tapping a finger absentmindedly on the base of the glass.

Nodding at Ron he noticed his impatience when his fingers began drumming on the glass. Sipping at the butterbeer once again he frowned and made sure no one heard as he inclined his head, "Malphas' real father is... Sirius Black," he whispered.

Ron's eyes grew wide at hearing just what was bothering Harry. Leaning in so only he and Harry could hear one another, he whispered, "You're joking, right? How can that be? I thought he was Professor Carrow's son."

Ron's reaction was nearly the same as Harry's back when Malphas told him only that Harry had been much more horrified and shocked and less curious about how was Sirius able to Malphas' father, "Bruce is his step dad. The other one is the real father..." he hissed unknowingly.

Ron tilted his head at hearing Harry speak in Parsteltongue. "I can't understand you when you talk like that, mate," he said with a wink and a reassuring smile. Whatever harry said, he was frazzled about it, and Ron was going to do whatever he could to help his brother.

Growling and swearing - like his cousin said - like a sailor in parseltongue as he dared not do it in his normal language he returned to normal, after the noticing all eyes in the Inn were on him... "Bruce is his step dad..." he repeated this time with his normal voice.

"Bloody hell...." Ron said as the entire idea mulled around in his head. Malphas was the son to Sirius Black, who was hunting Harry. "You don't think.... Harry, you don't think that Malphas has anything to do with Sirius Black coming after you, do you?" he asked, the question all over his face. Malphas had proven to be a good friend to them both. He didn't want to believe that their friend would turn Harry over to that murder. But, one never did know...

Ron's question left Harry riddled as he was unsure whether or not to answer that yes, Malphas planned on handing Harry over, or no, that Mal wouldn't do that to him. "No... No.... No, that can't be, he trained me. Why would he train me if he wanted me to be killed by his father?" he asked, thinking that it was rational. Why would Malphas train him, if he was going to be a pig for slaughter?

Ron puzzled over Harry's answer, and really it made sense. Why would Malphas not only train him, but befriend them both if he was just planning to turn Harry over? Anything else really didn't make sense at all. "I would say because he's a Slytherin, but he's an exception to that, I think," Ron said with a chuckle to try and lighten the mood. There were actually several Slytherins that were fine in his book. Malphas being one of them. "I agree with you, mate. Malphas doesn't seem the kind to put you through all this work and then just turn you over. What would the point be in that?" he reasoned and took a long drink from his glass.

Sighing he thought of how most slytherins either disliked or down right hated Harry to a point where if they could they'd kill him, and they would neither regret it, nor would they feel remorse. "There are different slytherins don't forget that...just like there are different Gryffindors," that sentence was of course directed at Sirius Black and Harry simply hoped Sirius had heard him somehow. "We can't judge him because of his father's mistakes... he's never hurt us," he pointed out.

Ron gave his head a small shake and set his glass down. "That's not what I mean, Harry. I know Malphas is different from the other Slytherins that hate....well.....anyone not in their own house. He's a friend, and really doesn't seem like one that would turn his back on his friends," he explained. Putting his hands on his glass, Ron's brow furrowed in thought. "How are you taking it?" he asked, raising his eyes to his friend.

Sighing he swallowed the rest of the butter beer and threw his arm into the air to summon the barkeep. "Not that we've known him that long...you know that before he met us he was different," he answered as the man came to them. "Two glasses of firewhiskey," Harry said and the man nearly bowed, "Anything for you Mister Potter," before leaving their side. "How would you take it?" he replied with his own question turning back to Ron.

Finishing off his own drink, Ron pushed the glass aside and nodded, remembering that Malphas had, indeed, been very different from the boy he was now. Before he could comment, the barkeep was at their table and Harry placed an order for their next drink, a much stiffer one than their usual Butterbeer. Not giving it any second thought, Ron focused on Harry and his question. "He was very different, but people change. He just seems to have changed for the better. Even though we haven't known him all that long, I still don't think he would befriend, not just you but me, too, only to throw you to the wolves, as it were. But, I guess it could happen..." he reasoned with a shrug. Ron didn't really know how he would take knowing that someone he befriended was tied to someone that was after him to kill him, but he could imagine what Harry was going through. "I'd be confused, that's for bloody sure. Leery, if you will. Especially since he was a much darker fellow than he seems to be now..." he answered, unsure if any of that would help his friend. Really, this new revelation of information about their friend was rather unnerving.

Harry gave his friend a shrug of desperation as he wasn't sure on how to respond. Once the barkeep returned with their drinks Harry slipped some galleons into the man's hand, and motioned for him to take Ron's butter beer even if his friend hadn't finished yet. "You remember I told the Dursleys didn't sign my permission to come to Hogsmeade right?" he asked wanting to change the subject as he sipped his hotter, much stronger drink.

Nodding his thanks to the barkeep as he took his empty glass and set down a new one with the Firewhiskey, Ron picked it up and took a slight sip from it, the burn gentle as the liquid ran down his throat. "Yeah, I remember. We gotta find a way to get you to come on the weekends that you needed that form, Harry," he said in a slightly dejected tone. Ron was actually looking forward to Harry going with him and Hermione to the village, and hearing that the Dursleys wouldn't even sign his paper really sort of pissed Ron off. But, they were crafty. They would figure something out.

Harry laughed at Ron's answered and then motioned for him to look around, "How do you think I'm here now," he grinned as he took another sip.

Grinning and nodding slowly, Ron glanced around them. Leaning in, he narrowed his eyes playfully suspicious, and asked, "So, how'd you do it, Harry?" He couldn't believe that he hadn't seriously thought about whether or not his friend would even be able to join him when he offered to meet him here. How could he have let something like that slip his mind?

"Not only did I use the invisibility cloak, but," he took out the Marauders' map, and set it on the table, his and Ron's arms covering it, not that many people knew what it was anyway, "It belonged to the Marauders. It tells me where everyone in Hogwarts is, at all times, and shows me all the secret passages they found," he quipped.

The cloak made sense, but how in the world would he get here with just the cloak. Looking down as Harry placed a seemingly blank parchment bundle between them, his eyes grew wide at hearing just what this parchment was. "Wicked...." Ron mused. "Where did you get it? Wait.... Who were the Marauders?" he asked, raising his eyes to his friend, his brow furrowed slightly. He couldn't remember if he'd heard talk about them or not, but something seemed to ring with familiararity when Harry mentioned them.

Placing the map that had first Harry himself had called rubbish on the table he pointed his wand at it, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," letters and 'drawings' suddenly appeared on the map, "Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail," he answered his friend, as that was the only information he had about the creators, "The twins gave it to me," he smiled kindly, of course, speaking about Fred and George.

Leaning even further, Ron watched as Harry spoke to the parchment and all sorts of scrolling, writing, and drawings magically appeared. "That is downright awesome!" he said in an excited whisper so as to not draw any attention to their table. "Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Wormtail... Those are odd names. I wonder who they were," he said. Maybe they could ask Hermione, as she knew nearly everything. Maybe she had read about them somewhere. Raising his eyes to Harry, Ron gave his head a small shake. "Nice of them to had off a treasure like this to you. I'm their brother for Godric sake! They never mentioned anything like this to me," he grumbled. Sometimes he didn't get Fred and George, but then again... "But, if they hadn't given it to you, mate, you wouldn't be able to come here. Guess it's better they gave it to you," he said with a grin, instantly forgiving his twin brothers. "So, you really can see everyone?" he asked, highly curious about this map.