Title: Unexpected (1/1)
Author: Semirhage )
Rating: PG13 for suggestive..err, suggestions
Warnings: Slash
Spoilers: You don't have anything to worry about here.
Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Ron Weasley
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and company. I own not the characters, the books, the movie, anything. I don't even own my car. :(
Summary: This fic was written for the first wave of United-Meant To Be fest, and contains the challenges: #15. Incorporate this sentence, "Don't point that thing at me. Put it away!"; #22. Someone tries to come out, but it doesn't quite happen the way he wanted it to.; #25. Someone mistakes Tonks for their lover (she was that person's form).; #42. Never trust a smiling Slytherin.
Author's Notes: Thanks to my uber-cool beta, Strokie, especially since my fic's DM/RW, not HP/RW. You're the best! Especially for the ingenious fix of my exceedingly lame ending paragraph. And on a last note, this fic is for my sister, who looked over my shoulder when I was scanning through the database for the FQF and exclaimed in disappointment, "There's no Ron/Draco!"
"Don't point that thing at me. Put it away!" Ron commanded as he cringed at the rapier swishing through the air.
"Not scared are you, Weasley?" the blonde queried, arching an eyebrow as he twirled the weapon elaborately. "I suppose my sword is too much for you to handle."
The auburn haired young man snorted. "Bloody terrified. In fact, I don't ever want to see your sword again. So remember to keep it sheathed." The tip slashed a cut in the front of Ron's shirt. "Malfoy!" he roared. "Put it up!"
Rolling his silver-grey eyes, Draco sheathed the rapier with a flourish. The sword had been a gift from his mother; she sent presents often. Ron called them "bribery gifts" and his term was not far from the mark. Both men knew that Narcissa Malfoy desperately wanted her son to marry and have an heir; they also knew that a wedding was not something that would happen anytime soon.
"Did you tell them?" Draco asked.
Ron jerked his head towards the blonde, not expecting the question. "Not yet. But I'm going to."
"You've been saying that for the past month, Ron."
"Well, I just haven't...found the right moment yet," the red head defended himself, chewing on his bottom lip.
"And when will that be?" Draco questioned dryly. "Within the next year?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "I'll tell them when I'm ready. Don't pressure me. How did you feel when you came out?"
Sighing, Draco collapsed on the sofa. "Sure, whatever." His light eyes rested on Ron and his lips twitched. "I hope, though, that your family deals with it better than mine."
"Your Mum can keep hoping away - she'll never change the fact that you're gay," Ron chanted in a sing-song voice.
"You're hopeless," Draco announced before leaning his head against the pillow.
"But you like that, don't you?" Ron mumbled as he crawled into the blonde's lap. Taking advantage of the position Draco was in, Ron pressed his lips to his boyfriend's neck. He opened his mouth and nibbled, his tongue occasionally sweeping across the expanse of exposed skin.
"Will you do it tomorrow?" Draco asked, ignoring the kisses.
Rolling his eyes, Ron buried his head against Draco's shoulder. "You're still on about that?"
"Ron, I really think it's time your friends knew the truth," Draco insisted, his voice cool.
"Fine," Ron muttered, his voice muffled by Draco's shoulder.
"What?"
"I said I'll do it tomorrow," Ron glared at the blonde. "Besides, I'm meeting Harry and Hermione at the Three Broomsticks, so I suppose it'll be as good a time as any. And my parents...I'll tell them later, I suppose."
"It's a start," Draco snorted as one of his hands crept towards the red head's shirt. One finger stealthed its way under the garment before it was detected.
Frowning, Ron turned to look the other young man in the eyes. "Are you trying to get into my pants, Malfoy?" He faked surprise, his eyes widening and eyebrows arching.
"Only your shirt," the Slytherin smirked, eyes mischievous. His hand slipped underneath the fabric and immediately sought out the familiar, sensitive areas. Under his ministrations Ron was soon lost in oblivion, and Draco quickly followed suit.
The next day, Ron apparated to Hogsmeade with every intention of informing his two friends about his secret. Of course, if there was some distraction that would keep him from having to tell the truth...
Wincing, Ron pushed the rebellious thoughts from his mind. He had promised Draco, and he would not go back on that promise, even if now it did not seem like such a great idea.
Ron sniffed. If only Draco could be a little more understanding and let him tell his friends when he was ready. Still, he had been dating the blonde Slytherin for almost a year now, and had known of his sexuality for longer, but that did not mean that he had been procrastinating.
A lone figure walking down the street froze the auburn haired young man mid-step. What's he doing here? Ron wondered as he casually directed his path towards Draco. He discreetly motioned for the blonde to follow him, then entered the Three Broomsticks. He slunk towards the loo, and did not have to wait long for Draco to join him.
"I'm going to do it," Ron promised as soon as the door shut.
"Do what?" Draco asked, his brow creasing into a frown.
"Tell Harry and Hermione about us," Ron whispered, wrapping his arms around Draco's waist. He pressed his lips to the blonde's, and frowned when he felt no response. Backing away, the auburn haired man stared worriedly at his boyfriend. "Is something wrong?" he asked, voice laced with concern.
"I..." Draco's face flooded with red and he looked away from Ron. "Bloody hell."
Blinking, Ron released his grip on the blonde and took a step backwards. "You're not Draco," he said slowly.
"No, I'm not. Sorry - I didn't mean for this to happen," the man promised. "I suppose I have some explaining to do, huh?" When he realised that Ron was not going to give a verbal response, he continued, "I'm going to try to find out the truth about Blaise Zabini. The Ministry thinks that he's hiding a horde of dark magic artefacts, and Dumbledore wants me to discover the truth. But...I suppose I found out more truths than I was sent to, hmm?"
Glaring at the man, Ron crossed his arms over his chest. "Tonks," he grated. "If you tell anyone, I swear I'll-"
"But you just said that you were going to tell Harry and Hermione, didn't you?" Tonks asked playfully. "Now someone knows. Congratulations!"
"Don't you dare," Ron started warningly, but Tonks had already skipped from the loo. He yelled to her retreating back, "If you tell Harry and Hermione, I swear I'll-"
"Tell us what?" a male voice questioned curiously.
"Did I miss something?" Hermione asked as she glided to where Harry and Ron were standing.
"No, you arrived just in time," Harry responded, his deep green eyes glittering with humour. "I hope it's nothing serious."
"Let's sit," Ron suggested, pointing to an empty table in the middle of the room.
"Good idea," Harry agreed, "but I think we should choose a table that isn't quite as susceptible to eavesdropping as that one."
Ron grudgingly agreed and allowed Harry to lead him to a corner-table that was separated by a good distance from the others.
After they had ordered and received three butterbeers, Harry directed the conversation back to what Hermione and him were not supposed to know.
Mumbling under his breath, Ron took a large gulp of his drink. "There's something that I...well, you see, I..." He looked at Harry, then Hermione, then took another swig of his mug. "Hell, but it's hard to say..."
"And it'll only get harder, the longer you wait," Harry mused dryly.
"Wanker," Ron snapped.
"I see where your thoughts are," Hermione laughed.
"You're not making this any easier. If you want to know, then shut up and let me tell you." Both Hermione and Harry silenced and gave Ron their full attention. "All right. I- Well, I'm dating."
"That's a good thing, Ron," Harry sniggered.
"I'm sure that's not all he has to tell us, Harry," the brown haired girl rolled her eyes. "Who exactly are you dating, Ron?"
"Well, Mal- Err, Draco."
"What about Malfoy?" Harry asked, one of his eyebrows arched.
"I'm dating him," Ron mumbled.
"You're dating Malfoy?" Hermione squeaked.
"Well, that's news," Harry remarked, staring intently into his butterbeer.
For a couple of moments Ron looked from Harry to Hermione, then opened his mouth in astonishment. "You knew!" he exclaimed. "How?!"
"We did not!" Hermione retorted, though her eyes betrayed her.
When he realised that they could not fool Ron, Harry explained, "We figured it out. When your best friend sneaks off in the middle of the night and comes back in the early morning with marks on his neck, it's hard to keep yourself from investigating. Hermione noticed your behaviour and we...figured the rest out together."
"We didn't want to tell you that we knew," Hermione continued. "We were afraid that you would be angry."
Ron emitted a loud "hmpf!" and rocked his chair onto its two rear legs. "Still, you should have told me," he insisted.
"Well, you should have told us," Harry countered, casually taking a sip of his drink. "So, how long have you two been together now?" he inquired after a few moments of silence.
"About a year," Ron mumbled.
"Do you love him?" Hermione prodded, her brown eyes curious.
Squirming under her gaze, the red-head muttered, "Why all the questions?"
"Because we want to know," Harry answered, twining his hands behind his head and leaning back.
Ron coughed and looked towards the clock hanging on the wall. He jumped to his feet and faked surprise. "Wow, look at how much time has passed!" he exclaimed as he dropped on the table enough money to pay for all three drinks. "I really have to go...important meeting, you know. Bye!"
He fled the Three Broomsticks as fast as he could, and did not stop to catch his breath until his was huddled comfortably under his covers.
"Trash," Ron muttered as he threw an envelope into the waste basket. "Draco, it's a note from your mother," he bellowed as he placed a rolled parchment on the desk.
"What does she want?" an exasperated voice questioned as a pair of hands slowly massaged Ron's shoulders. "Read it out loud."
"Why should I?" Ron asked, but reached instantly for the parchment. He untied the green and silver ribbons and read, "'Draco, It's been such a long time since you last visited us. Your father and I are very proud of your recent accomplishments, and hope that you'll be able to visit soon.' Oh, here we go, Draco. Listen to this: 'You remember Blaise Zabini? His mother visited the manor yesterday, and she mentioned her son's upcoming marriage.' She can't get through one letter without bringing up the 'M' word, can she?"
"I suppose not," the blonde Slytherin responded dryly, his hands abandoning Ron's shoulders to work on his back. "Is that all she said?"
"No, she actually got to the point on this one. Heh...she says, 'I couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to have a wedding in the family. To have something like that to plan for would be inspiring. Visit soon, Mother.' Well, well." Ron flipped the parchment to the desk and snorted. "I think she's getting desperate."
"I have a brilliant idea," Draco said suddenly as he twirled the chair to look at Ron. He was smiling, something he did not do often.
Ron gazed at him warily, knowing full well that Slytherins did not smile for nothing. "What?" he asked cautiously.
"Mother wants a marriage, so we should give her one," the other young man replied.
"Are you trying to propose to me?" Ron asked incredulously.
"What do you want me to do? Kneel?"
The answer he received was a wicked grin and a whispered, "Something like that."
Smirking, Draco pulled Ron from the chair. "You want me to do it the old fashioned way?" he asked. Ron nodded, issuing a groan from the blonde. "Fine, fine. But you really, really owe me."
"You're so romantic, Malfoy," Ron quipped sarcastically. "Now, do it, or we won't go through it."
Gritting his teeth, Draco dropped to the ground, wincing when his knee hit the corner of the desk. He hissed in pain, then glared at Ron. "Happy?"
"Almost," Ron replied cheekily.
Snatching Ron's hand, Draco said flatly, "Will you marry me?"
"You're pathetic," Ron declared, pulling his boyfriend off the floor. "I suppose I'll just have to show you." With a natural grace that could only have come from much practice, Ron lowered himself to the ground. "Draco," he said as he gently placed the blonde's hand between his two, "ever since I allowed myself to see past your name and family, I've been hopelessly devoted to you. My entire life has been leading up to this point and now that it's here I don't want to waste another second without proclaiming to the world that I want you to be mine, and I yours, for as long as we both live. I love you, Draco Malfoy, and I want to marry you. Will you do me the honour and pleasure of being my husband?"
Draco arched an eyebrow at the kneeling man. "And girls actually fall for that..." he muttered, shaking his head.
"What?" Ron stammered, blinking indignantly at his blonde boyfriend.
"Exactly how long did you spend making that up?" the Slytherin continued.
"Prat," Ron muttered affectionately.
"All I needed was a simple, 'Will you marry me?'," Draco surmised.
"Well, I wanted more," Ron pouted.
"And you certainly got it."
"Draco," the auburn haired young man started, but was silenced by two fingers pressing against his mouth.
"I'm satisfied and yes, I'll marry you, Ronald Weasley. Now, I believe you have some making up to be doing. After all, I did get on my knees for you."
"Want to do it again?" Ron grinned playfully as he stood.
"We'll see," Draco returned as he trailed the auburn haired young man to their bedroom.
The wedding was probably the most elaborate of the year. Of course, a Malfoy wedding could be nothing else. Narcissa had gone all out on the preparations and decorations - even if she had been upset that her only son was marrying a man. Of course, there were ways for two men to have children, so she was not so worried about that. Lucius had been incensed that his son was marrying a Weasley, and had threatened to disown him until Narcissa persuaded him otherwise. Draco and Ron could not discern why she did that, and she never offered the information.
The Weasley family had been surprised when they learned of Ron's relationship with Draco, and had coped with it somehow. The news of the wedding was an even harder blow. They did not seem pleased with the notion of their family merging with the Malfoys', but had made no efforts to stop the marriage from happening.
Harry and Hermione were both happy for Ron, if at different degrees. Harry, while he accepted Draco, could not stand the sight of Lucius Malfoy and almost had to be held back when around him. Hermione never forgave Draco for calling her a "mudblood" but somehow managed to look past the fact whenever he lunched with the trio.
Ron and Draco both looked smashing as the wedding, as Harry said at the wedding party after one too many drinks. His date (female, of course) had slapped him and left, something Harry later admitted to being thankful for. Shortly after the wedding, he started dating guys openly (which came as no surprise to anyone who had been at the wedding to hear his drunken comments).
Hermione married Viktor Krum a few months after Draco and Ron's honeymoon ended. Their marriage did not last for very long, but neither did their divorce.
"Life always prefers the twisty bumpy roads to the highways where the future can be seen clearly. Only magic can illuminate and straighten the path so the goal can be reached" - Draco Malfoy, The Dark Seers' Guide.