"I don't know if there are any real answers to those questions, Harry," Ginny told him apologetically. "We're all growing up, and not everyone is growing in the same direction. And in some cases only growing physically. The fact is that you've grown and matured a lot over the past several months, at least I think so. And while Ron and Hermione are getting older they haven't necessarily gotten any more mature"
Harry was about to speak up when Ginny guessed what he was about to say. "I'm not trying to say it's your fault. We're at war, after all. It's only natural that you especially would be forced to grow up a lot in a short amount of time, given the fact that you're right smack dab in the middle of everything. Maybe in time they'll do some growing up and you'll be able to regain some of that closeness, but there is no way to guarantee it."
"So basically there's nothing I can really do about it except keep on and hope for the best?" Harry asked her.
"That's all any of us can do," Ginny replied earnestly.
Harry held her gaze for a long time before he finally responded, "I guess I just never really thought I'd lose Ron, but after this I'm not sure if our friendship will ever be the same again. I knew we had been growing apart but I never would have expected this."
Ginny reached out and gently squeezed his knee before she got her book bag and settled near him to work on her homework.
The rest of the night passed by uneventfully. Harry spent most of his time reading, not feeling up to anything else. He didn't see Ron at all until he headed up to bed. His friend was already in his bed with the curtains drawn. Harry sighed and climbed into his own bed. After finishing his workout routine the next morning, Harry headed down to breakfast. He sat by his friends as usual, but Ron was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge Harry's presence, and it made for a very uncomfortable atmosphere that was felt by all in the area. Hermione and Neville were doing their best to just ignore Ron and his attitude, but it was a pretty difficult feat to accomplish.
When lunch rolled around, Harry walked past his usual spot at the table waving to Hermione and Neville as he passed. He sidled up to the longer haired of his two red haired best friends and asked, "Mind if I sit with you, Gin?"
Ginny looked up at him warmly. "Not at all, Harry." She budged over a bit and patted the empty spot on the bench next to her. "Do you know all my friends?" she asked him.
"I think so," Harry told her as he nodded to all the fifth years around him. "Hello all."
They greeted him in turn, and the rest of the meal went by normally. Or as normally as it could without sitting by Ron and Hermione, with whom he had spent nearly every meal he had ever eaten at Hogwarts. The fact was he missed his friends. Not just Ron, but Hermione too. Granted they were still on speaking terms, but they were nowhere near as close as they had been in the past, and Harry would have given anything to be sitting with the two of them chatting about anything at all.
But he enjoyed spending time with Ginny and her friends. Some of the female lot were a little giggly, but he took comfort in the fact that they didn't seem to be nearly as bad as Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Colin Creevey was around as well, but his fanaticism was more subdued than it had been in the past, so the boy didn't really grate on Harry's nerves all the time any more. All in all it was a pleasant experience, and he resolved to eat with Ginny and her friends every so often from now on. It was good to change things up every once in awhile and talk to different people.
He beat his friends to DADA after lunch and took his customary seat. When Ron and Hermione walked in, Ron immediately chose a seat on the opposite side of the room. Hermione was torn between her two friends, not for the first time. She looked about ready to head in Harry's direction when Harry took pity on her situation. He gave her a grim smile and a nod in Ron's direction. She looked at him questioningly as if to ask, 'Are you sure?' He nodded to her.
She gave him a warm smile and mouthed, "Thank you," to him as she took the seat next to Ron. Neville, in the meantime, strolled up and took the seat beside Harry. "Hey Harry," Neville greeted him.
"Good to see you Neville," Harry responded sincerely.
"Sorry about Ron," Neville told him.
"Thanks, Neville. I appreciate it," Harry told him. "It's just frustrating to see how quickly he can just throw away five years of friendship. But at least it shows me who my real friends are, right?" Harry said the last bit with a meaningful look at the boy, which did not go unnoticed.
Neville smiled at him gratefully. "Yeah," he agreed. "I guess you do."
The rest of the day went by similarly. Harry sat with Ginny at dinner again. Professor McGonagall descended upon the Gryffindors' table at the end of the meal. She only paused briefly to speak to Ron and stalked off with him in tow, shooting Harry a not-entirely-kind look.
After the meal, he challenged Neville to a game of chess, which turned out to be a pretty evenly matched game. Neville just barely managed to beat him in the end, but Harry couldn't remember ever coming so close to winning before. He was used to playing against Ron or on a rare occasion Hermione, and they were both loads better than he was.
While playing, Neville told Harry about some Herbology project he was working on with Professor Sprout. Much of it was lost on him, but he was excited for his friend. It sounded like it was a pretty big deal, and Neville was practically beaming the entire time he was talking about it. They also talked a bit about the HA and how they thought the class was going. Neville admitted that he had been really skeptical when Harry first introduced the dodging exercises to the class, but after several weeks of practice, his mind was completely changed.