Still, the image of red hair was enough for some of the lower level students to stop harassing Harry. Mostly the muggleborn or bred surprisingly enough. Because to their way of thinking, the picture showed quite clearly the dangerous person wasn't Harry because he didn't have red hair and if they hadn't known Harry could speak to snakes until he did it in the Great Hall, who was to say there wasn't someone else who could also speak to them but was hiding the ability.
Naturally, this proof wasn't enough for Ron, who'd openly turned on Harry after the incident in the Potions class where Draco Malfoy had gotten hurt. Or the older students who knew of ways in which a skilled wizard could change their appearance to make them appear to be someone else. Never mind that Harry was only a twelve year old muggle raised boy and so didn't share the same knowledge base as themselves.
And of course it wasn't enough to get Harry moved back into the Tower or back on the Quiditch team since Dumbledore wanted Harry isolated and alone. He wanted Harry to believe it was only through himself Harry could have anything resembling a normal life and Harry hadn't come to him asking to be moved back into the tower. Dumbledore really had no idea how very used to being isolated and alone Harry truly was after growing up in the Dursley household or he'd have known Harry had no idea he was waiting for him to come begging to be released from his punishment.
Ron, being the idiot he was, claimed Harry was trying to pin the blame on his family because he was angry with Ron. He claimed it was only because he was being so vocal in denouncing Harry and trying to get him removed from the roster as a student at Hogwarts that Harry had taken on the appearance of a red headed girl. Because everybody knew Ron's sister was a red head. And just because the person in that shot was clearly a small person didn't mean it wasn't Harry since everyone knew he was easily the smallest second year in the school. In fact, he was smaller than a lot of the first years. Ron let it be known to everyone Harry was only trying to pin his guilt on the Weasely family because Ron was no longer buying his innocent act. He had started the slogan, which Malfoy had picked up and turned into lapel pins, that announced it was time to 'Flush the Potter'.
And really if nothing else, that event alone should have told Harry Ron wasn't really his friend. It wasn't like the Weasely children were the only redheads in the school and red hair was the only thing clear about the picture they had recovered. Susan Bones over in Hufflepuff also had red hair. And though Colin's notebook had clearly specified the one opening the chamber was female and in his year, which Ron clearly wasn't, that information had been hushed up by the staff. So no one knew who Colin had fingered. Yet even without the knowledge of what was written in Colin's book, his claim that Harry had disguised himself with red hair to pin his crime on Ron didn't hold water. Harry was on restricted school access and under heavy guard provided by the staff whenever he was allowed in the halls. Nor could he leave his room without said member of staff to act as his escort. The door guard didn't answer to him. Only to the staff. He didn't have the freedom to wander as all the other students did. It didn't matter. Everyone believed Ron. Which meant the students believed the staff was allowing him to endanger them.
Because they wanted to. He knew that now. The wizarding people just didn't like to think for themselves so long as they could find someone else who was willing to do it for them. So long as what was said made sense. Even if you had to go a long way around to figure it out. Never think for yourself if you don't have to should have been the Wizarding World's motto. And while they liked the idea of heros, they didn't really want a real live person to be said hero. So they would always jump to believe anything negative about anyone given that title even as they themselves believed said person was a hero.
Yet Harry hadn't given the denouncement any further thought as to the reason behind it. Hindsight showed Ron had to have at least suspected his sister was the one letting the monster loose in the school. Yet he had said nothing. Now Harry half-heartedly wished he had allowed Aragog's children to eat the brat when they had made it clear they wished to. But at the time he'd still thought of Ron as his friend. Nor had he wondered just how it was that every time Ron and Hermione wanted him to do things with them, he was allowed out of his rooms to engage in that activity. Without the staff playing chaperone over them all. And some of it was clearly against the rules given to him by the staff when he was placed into the room. In fact, most of it was.
And at the end of the year, when even Dumbledore was ready to close the school due to the disappearance of Ginerva Weasely and the clear and present danger to all the students in the Castle, Ron had made his feelings very clear by trying to personally kill Harry. Ron had come and dragged Harry out of his room, showing Harry he had the password to the room though Harry had never given it to him and forced Harry, along with Lockhart, into the tunnel leading to the Chambers to rescue the stupid girl before she died, claiming they couldn't just leave her there if there was any chance she was still alive.
Harry had never lied to himself about the events of that day or what the possible outcome could have been. His entire childhood had taught him all too well how to recognize when someone meant him harm. Even when he wanted to believe the person trying to do him harm didn't mean it, his mind would always recognize their actions against him for what they were. Harmful. He knew Ron hadn't cared one bit about the danger Harry was in. All he cared about was forcing Harry to rescue his stupid sister and live up to the myth surrounding his life. Hell, he hadn't really even cared if his sister survived the day or not. For Ron, the whole thing had only been about him and how he could use it to puff himself up.