"I mean it isn't in your trunk. I turned the whole thing inside out looking for it," Ron explained as if Harry was a dimwitted child.
"You mean to tell me that you went digging through my trunk looking for the Marauder's Map?" Harry asked in the same deliberate voice.
"Yes," Ron said, glad that Harry was finally catching on, "and it wasn't there. I need it."
"And what exactly do you need it for that you felt the need to dig through my trunk?" The warning in Harry's voice was clear, except to Ron who was completely oblivious.
"I think Ginny's been sneaking around with a guy, but I can't seem to catch her at it. I wanted to take a look at the map to see where she was and who she was with," Ron explained, clearly seeing no fault in his chosen course of actions. Hermione's attention was peaked at this revelation, but she kept her nose in her book.
"So let me get this straight. You went through my things, to look for my map, so that you could spy on your sister?" Hermione cringed at the icy tone in Harry's voice.
"Yes!" Ron practically screamed through a whisper. "And it wasn't there. Did somebody steal it?"
"And what exactly made you think that it was alright for you to go through my trunk?" Harry asked, trying valiantly to keep his temper in check.
"How else was I supposed to find the map?" Ron asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"You didn't think to ask me?"
"You weren't around, and I needed it right away so I could catch her in the act. If I waited until you came back, I could have missed the opportunity to catch her." Ron was clearly exasperated that Harry did not seem to get the point.
"So you felt justified to go through my things on the off chance that your sister was snogging some guy in a broom cupboard so that you could catch her in the act."
"Yes." Ron was struggling to keep his voice down at this point. "Now do you know where it is? I might still be able to catch her."
"Unbelievable," Harry exclaimed.
"Huh?" was Ron's only response as he looked at Harry as though he had sprouted another arm.
"You have got to be the thickest person I have ever met," Harry bit out.
"Hey," Ron protested, angry and confused at this turn of events. "What do you mean by that?"
"How can you just sit there and admit to rifling through my things and not even feel the least bit sorry for it? And that's not to mention the fact that you did it to spy on your sister. And you just admit to all of this as if it's the most normal thing in the world, like you didn't do a thing wrong." Harry's voice was starting to rise.
"What are you on about?" Ron asked hotly. "It's none of your business anyway. Ginny's my sister, and I need to look out for her. Not that I expect you to understand what that's like."
Harry's eyes widened dangerously and his voice was icy. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well you don't exactly have any family, do you?" Ron asked matter-of-factly. Hermione gasped audibly and held a hand over her mouth as she finally looked up from her book. Harry was now standing up in front of the couch, completely stiff. It was clear to her that he was struggling to control his emotions, but she wasn't sure who was going to win that battle.
"No," Harry finally replied. "No, I don't have a family, Ron. Thank you very much for the reminder. Next time I catch you going through my trunk it'll be detention with Filch for invading another student's privacy. And for your own good, stop prying into Ginny's life." Harry turned abruptly on his heel and marched out of the common room. The room shook with every step he took.
Ron watched Harry stomp out of the room. When he was gone, Ron sat back and looked toward Hermione. "What's got into him?" Hermione shook her head and huffed loudly, then raised her book and proceeded to ignore Ron entirely. After a minute, Ron stood and walked away muttering, "Mental, the whole lot of them," under his breath.
....
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