Man, it's been a hot second since I've posted anything. I almost forgot how to upload. Anyway, all drabbles/one-shots will be of varying degrees of length. Enjoy!

The first time someone told Harry that they loved him, at least as far as he could remember, he was eleven years and nine months old. If he had been holding anything other than his pillow at the time, it certainly would have broken when he dropped it in shock.

Harry had been making his bed then, which really meant that he was placing his sheets back on his bed after they ended up halfway on the floor in the middle of the night. Ron had been rummaging through his trunk all the while ranting about his previous night's detention with Professor Snape.

"So then, the slimy son of a- ew, what is this- oh. Melted chocolate. That's great." He pulled out a wrinkled pair of pants and glared at the very sticky brown blotch on its right pocket. Harry snickered. Ron tossed them aside, paused, and then asked, "What was I looking for again?"

"Your socks, Ron."

"Oh right." Harry rolled his eyes and peeled his own pair of (dirty) socks from his bed to throw them into his trunk.

"So, anyway," Ron continued. "He made me clean out all the empty cauldrons and the underside of every table in his room. Without magic! It would have taken him two seconds to clean that up with his wand. Instead, it took me half an hour to scrape off all the gum from one table."

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have poured your drink on Malfoy in front of him," Harry said fondly despite the reprimanding words.

Ron looked up to flash him a grin. "Worth it."

The previous day during lunch Malfoy had made a detour to the Gryffindor table at the Great Hall and began mocking Ron for his too-short robes. Ron hadn't even bothered to look back at him, merely making a rude hand-gesture over his shoulder. When Malfoy turned his attention to Harry, however, Ron had turned around and poured his full-to-the-brim glass of orange juice on his head. Before anyone had even started to laugh, Snape had already deducted ten points from Gryffindor and had given Ron a detention.

Harry smiled at the memory of Draco's now yellow-tinted shirt and picked up his pillow from the ground. He looked up at Ron and said, "Seriously, though, he's not worth your trouble. Don't be stupid." What he really meant to say was "I'm not worth your trouble", but he'd never say that out loud. Ron had been defending him, after all.

Ron looked up, rolled his eyes at him, and continued rummaging through his trunk. And then, without even glancing up at Harry, he said "Yeah, well, I love you too," as if those weren't one of the most momentous words Harry had ever heard.

Harry dropped the pillow. Ron kept talking, not noticing Harry's wide eyes or that his jaw had dropped open for a solid three seconds because what? He what? Who said things like that so casually? Was it a best friend thing? Harry didn't know. He'd never had someone to call a friend before, let alone a best friend. Hermione had never told him or Ron that she loved them though.

He probably didn't mean it, Harry thought to himself. It was just a thing you said. Just a retort. But then Ron shouted "aha!" and triumphantly pulled out a pair of crumpled out socks from his trunk that were, presumably, clean. "Now we can go have breakfast! I am starv- everything okay?" Ron was now looking up at him quizzically. Harry broke out of his trance, and nodded.

"Well let's go eat!" Ron came over and threw an arm around his shoulder. "You'll be a scrawny git forever if you don't get proper nutrition," he said with a smile in a tone Harry had taken a while to accept was affectionate. Harry grinned and shoved him aside.

Maybe it was just a Ron thing, he thought as they made their way down to the Great Hall, Ron dramatically recounting the horrors he endured during detention. Ron, who was the type to befriend lonely boys and stand up for them against his most privileged of peers. Ron who was the type to follow an eleven year old to potentially fight a troll. Ron, who had owled his mom to make Harry a Weasley jumper to prevent him from feeling left out at Christmas. Ron who wasn't afraid to show casual affection despite Harry's lack of reciprocation and who was the only person Harry didn't stiffen with if touched.

Harry didn't know if Ron had meant what he said, but he could not wipe his smile off his face for the rest of the day.