CHAPTER SEVEN

Harry entered the common room and found Ron sitting near the fire in a large chair and staring gloomily into the flames Chapter Seven

Harry entered the common room and found Ron sitting near the fire in a large chair, staring gloomily into the flames. He didn't need to turn around to know who entered; he knew Harry's footsteps by heart. His best friend sat down in the armchair opposite him.

"She hates me," Ron said in a hoarse voice.

"Here we go again," Harry thought as a knot appeared in his stomach. He sighed deeply, "No she doesn't. You know that." Harry said determinedly.

"Oh yeah? And the twit she's going out with? What's with that?"

"That only means she refused to go out with you. She still likes you, just not in the way you like her," Harry pointed out, picking up the iron rod and poking the glowing coals in the grate with the pointed end.

"How can you say that? You know I didn't even get the chance to ask her out yet!" Ron retorted.

"What chance Ron? What are you waiting for? There's always a chance. What's stopping you from asking her out?" Harry asked, poking the coal a bit harder than necessary and sent the red ashes up into the air.

"Well…you remember what happened - when I - You remember how Hermione reacted to me, when I asked her out," He stood up and began to pace in front of the fire. He seemed to be on the verge of tears, yet angry enough to hit someone at the same time.

Harry racked his brain. Was he referring to the Yule Ball? He was still stuck on the same problem after all these years?

"You moronic twit, Hermione was angry with you because you never asked her to the ball. She was angry with you because you had thought of her as a last resort. Don't make that mistake again," He pointed the red rod end towards Ron, who stepped back hastily and glared at him. Harry set the rod down and added with a sigh, "Look Ron if it makes you feel any better, Blaise is not going out with anyone. She probably just made it up to make you jealous."

"I knew it! I told her and she denied. I'll ask her tomor-," Ron's expression changed suddenly and he smiled. Harry turned and saw Hermione walk into the Common Room. At the sight of Ron she turned and walked briskly to her dormitory. Ron made to go after her, but Harry stopped him.

"Are you listening to me? Ron, sit down! I told you she was free so you'd forget about your problem with Hermione. You can't go ranting about it to her, then she'll just think you're using Blaise to get back at her. I just told you because you were so miserable."

"Well I was little upset," said Ron

"Umm…Ron I have to ask you something."

"What?"

"I didn't ask you before…If… I didn't tell you…Actually, I didn't know it was Ginny…."

"It's okay Harry; actually I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I'm happy for you and Hermione." Ron smiled and sat down again.

"So, are you okay if I ask her out?" Harry asked directly.

"What…Oh yeah, of course…" He was relieved to know that Ron would support him, although it really wouldn't have mattered to him if he had said no.

"So, you think it will work out fine."

"Yeah." Ron assured him with a warm smile.

"So does Ginny" Harry sighed. They booth sat there in silence for a while

"So, should we go to the next class? It's almost time."

"Yeah…right." Both friends stepped out of the portrait hole and headed off to their History of Magic lesson.

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Ginny knew that he was avoiding her for some reason. She was happy, but worried at the same time.

"It's a good thing that he's not tailing me, so it's easy to skid off," she thought inwardly. It wase first Hogsmeade trip in two months, but she was not going. Instead she would be visiting Lucius in the hospital. Two days before she had received a letter from Snape, asking her to set the time and day of the visit with Malfoy.

Ron, Harry, Hermione, Blaise and her other two friends were currently eating their breakfast in the Great Hall.

Since the common room was a bit crowded, Hermione offered to let Ginny use the prefects' study to do her homework. Already done with her own breakfast, Ginny was up in the little office to pick up her materials. She had left it there yesterday after working on the first part of her assignment.

She gathered her equipment and closed the door, thinking of Draco. Should she check on him or should she not? She stopped in front of his door, wondered if he wanted to be left alone.

Deciding not to knock on the door, she headed off to Snape's office instead.

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He could now finally sit and think carefully of the situation that he had been avoiding for so long. He admitted to himself that it was all a manifestation of his mind, that he had put himself through useless confusion. He was too angry, too stubborn, that he didn't want to sort things out. He feared the truth – the truth that only he knew. But now the time had dawned, after filling every empty space of his life. Over his own better judgment, he was missing him more than anything. He realized it had to be done.

"The anger and other muddled emotions need to be released – once and for all. For his own good and his better chances with Ginny," he thought determinedly as he stepped out of his room.

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Ginny was about to settle down after changing the flowers beside Lucius' bed to read the new information on his chart when Ruby, the receptionist, barged into the room with a pale face and startled expression.

Ruby hurried over to Ginny and whispered something urgent in her ear.

"What? Right now…How?" she jumped, with a horrified expression on her face, and gathered her things. She dashed out of the room, leaving Lucius asleep in the bed, and Ruby sobbing into her hands.

As he walked through the oak door his boots rapped on the corridors. Strange, he never noticed that sound before when he had visited, but that had been months ago. He wasted a good amount of time looking through doorways and windows while walking towards his destination; hoping that if he slowed his pace, he might be able to delay time too.

He hesitantly entered the room. He had always hated the hospital's smell but something was different in here. Daffodils, he thought. The flowers were fresh and strongly scented, though another very familiar smell was blended in with the daffodils' scent.

"That means his volunteer was here, just before me. I wonder who it is," he though as he inhaled deeply. He closed the door and surveyed the room. He had always watched his father through the connecting room when he came with his mother, never had he been in the room before.

He took another step forward and shut the curtains of the connecting window. Finally, his steely eyes settled on the lean figure on the hospital bed. Lucius was still a handsome man in his fifties, with blond hair touched with silver and the finely bonded features, which Draco inherited. His father always kept his hair free on his shoulders and his appearance showed no difference. His hair was outlining his face, sleek and shining on the pillow. Draco had always admired this person, idolized him, and wanted to be like him. But all of that changed; he had become a different person. Considerable amount of time passed as Draco examined his father from a distance. He finally reached out with his hands shaking (he hated to be weak) laying it on the slim pale one on the bed. He was surprised at the warmness of the hand; it almost felt alive, beneath his own.

"He could actually feel my presence."

Draco had thought it didn't matter. All this time he could not remember missing him as much as he had now. A fierce desire to be with him, a longing to be close to him, suddenly erupted deep inside him.

Draco was shocked to feel himself lose control of his emotions. No, it was not affection. He was feeling, feeling for the first time in months how much he really loved his father.

"No, it's just it's been a long time since I've seen," he battled with his mind, but it was as if an unrecognized love had leaped from the shadow and sunk in its fangs into him.

He pulled his hand away quickly as if he had touched an electric wire. Terrified by all these emotions he turned to leave. He almost opened the door but stopped himself, breathing heavily. He stood there, tried to control his emotions, his back turned to his father. Closing his eyes slowly, he leaned his head on the door, with his hand resting on the doorknob. Should he leave or should he stay and tell his father what was on his mind? Ginny's voice echoed in his mind and although he hated to admit that she was right; he knew had to face his demons alone someday, he couldn't hide in his closet of skeletons anymore.

Finally, he locked the door, still looking at the door.

"I know you can hear me and you know that I'm here." He stopped and listened to the silence.

"When I touched you, I could tell you're waiting for me. Your heartbeat increased at my touch!" It was almost as if by explaining if he could bring him back. He paused and sighed; he realized that he had been hoping that he would be able to wake his father up.

His eyes watered as he continued, "I'm not coming back though, and I'm not going to give you that satisfaction. I know this is wrong but I'm glad you're not at peace...

"How ironic is it that today you will only be able to listen as I do the talking for once?" He turned to face Lucius again, "Hello father.'

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"Hey Gin! How was your day?" Hermione nudged Ron to make space for her.

"I've bought chocolates for you," Harry said. He knew which kind she preferred.

"Tiring," Ginny sighed and slipped down onto the bench, taking the sweets from Harry she added, "Thanks."

"He's not here yet. Where the hell could he have been for an entire day?" Hermione was looking anxiously at the Slytherin table.

"Look who decided to show up? We can ask her where he is," Ron said nodding at the entrance to the Great Hall.

Ginny knew very well what they are talking about but decided to ignore them and look at the door; Blaise was coming in with her friends. She glanced in their way but looked away quickly and walked hastily to the Slytherin table, sitting down with unnecessary force.

"Umm…Ginny, do you know where Draco is?" Hermione asked her.

"Maybe... maybe not" She bit her lip so she wouldn't smile at their reaction.

"GINNY," Ron almost yelled and a few students turned in their seats to see what was going on. Harry's eyes widened for a second but he remained quiet, Hermione just looked at her not surprised at all.

"What Ron?" She replied calmly.

"You-know-we-are-so-worried-about-him-all-day-and-you-never-said-a-thing. Why-the-hell-you-didn't-tell-us?"

"You should have said something Ginny," commented Hermione, mildly angry.

"First of all you never asked me. Secondly, Ron don't you show that you care. And third, why should I've said anything, I have been told to mind my own business so many times," she said defensively and stared moodily back into Ron's glaring eyes. She stood to leave.

"GINNY! This is not fair!"

" Why don't you check the map Harry?" she said ignoring Ron's outburst.

"I already checked the map." Harry replied, "He is not on Hogwarts grounds. He showed up once on the map and disappeared right away, that was the reason we were worried about him."

"Hmm... Well maybe he required something that's not on the map...?" Ginny retorted sarcastically.

"Oh, why I didn't think it before? The Room of Requirement! He would be there. That's the only place we can't see on map."

"Ron you can shut your mouth now or some bug will visit in there soon. And by the way keep your frustration to yourself and stop yelling at every one and if I were you, I would leave him alone." Ginny commented and fled out of the hall before they start questioning again.

His fight with Blaise caused Ron's agitated behavior a few days ago, which was still unresolved. He was angry with everyone; even he knew she wasn't making that up. Ron shut his mouth suddenly and glared back at her.

"How does she know he is there and why should we leave him alone? I say we should go and kick his smarmy ass, hard! I can't believe she knew and she didn't tell us. And anyway wasn't she in the hospital today? How would she know where he is?" Ron said.

"Unless he was in the hospital when she was there..." Hermione said suddenly.

"What?" Harry and Ron both said together.

"You mean he went to see his father today when Ginny was there too?" Harry asked.

"This is the only explanation I can find to explain his behavior and as you said she was not here either, how else could she have had known?"

"I know what you mean." Harry said sighing.

Ron just nodded, frowning a little.

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Ginny was walking towards her dormitory thinking about the day. She didn't tell them about Draco's visit to his father because she didn't feel it was her place to tell, to be honest she was a little scared to face them. Truthfully, she really didn't know what on in Lucius' room that day.

After Draco had arrived at the hospital Snape had come to her immediately. She hadn't been able to do her work or leave the hospital, until Draco left the room. Snape stayed with her to make sure she was okay. She only left after Snape had agreed to stay the night with him.

"Owf," she was about to land on the floor when someone grabbed her by her arms. Without looking, she knew whom she had bumped into.

"What's the big hurry Ginny?"

"Sorry I wasn't looking." She said, relaxing a bit as Snape released her arms and bent to help her pick up her books.

"That was obvious," he muttered, "You didn't tell them." Snape asked as he handed back her books.

She shook her head pulling the lose strands of hair behind her ear.

"Well … are you ok?" He looked inquiringly at her, "care for a walk?" He added softly.

"No thank you, I have patrolling to do. I'll see you tomorrow; I want to show you some of the work I have been able to do so far."

"Very well" Snape said slightly put out. He turns to leave, "If you want a talk, you know where to find me."

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"What's gotten into you?"

Hermione couldn't take it anymore and slapped Harry's upper arm, glaring.

"What?" Harry asked innocently still smiling to Sixth Year, Amelia.

"Since when did are you such a flirt?" Hermione asked, glaring at the other girl who was staring openly at Harry.

The way the girl was staring caused Harry to turn a bit red around his ears and turn sharply to glare at Hermione. She was right though; Amelia was a year younger, and while she was very pretty, didn't have a very good reputation.

"I am not flirting. It seems rude to me to not return her smile" Harry said defensively.

Ron snorted, "Millicent Bulstrode is also looking at you mate."

"You know I think that Ginny is right about that girl... She calls her "Vampire who sucks boys dry." Christina said, sitting down beside Hermione.

Ron and Colin snickered, the sound died as Hermione pinned them with a glare.

Ginny had come up with this new strategy for Harry. The idea was to catch Hermione's attention by laughing and joking with other girls. Not enough for other people to realize what was happening, but just enough for Hermione to notice. Her plan had worked so far and she noticed his behavior to other girls. But he still didn't know how she felt about him.

Hermione got up to leave; apparently she had noticed his flirtations again. Harry got up to follow her on the pretense of needing to use the bathroom. As he left the Hall he noticed Blaise was standing alone in the entrance. He quickly walked over to her.

"Ginny might know where he could be." Blaise spoke faster as Harry approached.

"Yeah, she has an idea," Harry said quietly, "Listen… about Ron…just don't be so hard on him, he is so hopeless and doesn't know what to do… so take it easy."

"No…it's ok. I know he is angry with me," she said smiling softly, shaking her head. Harry noticed she looked tired.

"Look you go and rest. I will talk to him, don't worry," Harry said.

"Will you? I am just worried about him, but I have no idea where he could be."

"He'll be alright."

"Thank you," she said giving him a hug. Harry returned the gesture with a smile.

"What's so funny?" she asked, catching his smile.

"Nothing... just want to warn you, don't hug me in front of Hermione," Harry said laughing.

Blaise narrowed her eyes at him. "You know what Ginny says about that girl."

He nodded still smiling, "Vampire who sucks boys dry."

"And I think she is right. And I think I have an idea what are you trying to do and I am afraid I am going to like it."

"I don't know what you are talking about, good night Blaise." He smiled at her and left her staring at his back.

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He stopped as she called him and turned sharply. Even from the darkened distance his red hair was noticeable in the torchlight. He seemed tired but after a moment something sparked in his blue eyes.

"Now he is frowning, this is not going to be easy. Who says only Slytherins are stubborn?" she thought.

"What are you doing here Blaise? Are you lost?" He asked. For a moment she thought that he was taunting, judging the way he was acting with her.

"Of course not Ron," she said stopping in front of him.

"Oh so we are on a first name basis again? Why the sudden change?" he said dryly, realizing that she was there only to talk to him.

She narrowed her eyes - she didn't want to lose control.

"Well… what do you want Blaise?" He asked flatly emphasizing her name.

Suddenly she had a change of heart. Why should she tell him now, he was so angry and ready to explode. She should wait.

"Nothing…it's nothing, forget I came," she was about to turn when he pulled her arm gently until she again found herself facing deep, warm blue eyes.

"What do you mean nothing?"

"Oh I don't know Ron I came to say sorry to you but since your mood is so fine I didn't want to ruin it. So I thought I should leave you so you can be AS DIFFICULT AS YOU CAN!" in the end her temper blew out of control. She screamed the last syllable in his face until she was out of breath.

Ron stared at her red face, fire-blazing eyes, following her slender fingers as they tugged her hair behind her ears nervously. He had an urge to pull her in his arms, but he controlled himself.

"Really? You came to say sorry to me?"

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe? Your swinging moods like a pregnant woman's behavior caused me think that I made a bad decision. That I am now actually making a mistake," she spat again.

He laughed so heartedly that she was confused by his behavior, stepped back, and stared at his bright face worriedly.

"Ron, are you okay?" she asked worriedly, "What so funny?"

He continued to laugh.

"Just forget that I even came... we should carry on where we were before. But I just wanted to say that I am sorry, I was rude to you the other day. Also, I miss you; you really are a twit and a moron… You're stubborn Weasley. I'm sorry I like you and can't help myself."

"So, you miss me?" he asked leaning towards her

"What? I didn't say-," she stopped suddenly, "I think I should go now," She stepped back not looking at him.

"You are so stupid" Without even his own realization he had leaned into her and kissed her softly on the mouth. Suddenly, a shocked Blaise was pressed hard against the wall. The rough wall behind her uncomfortably scraped her skin, but she didn't mind at all. Her hands pressed into the wall. It was a hell of a kiss too. So soft, tender and warm that she was melting under his pressure. One of his hands was in her hair and the other pulling her back into him. Her legs were giving out as he pulled off. Suddenly she felt cold.

"I …I have to go now," she whispered hoarsely.

They were both quiet, staring each other.

Ron smiled and cleared his throat

"I have to go," Blaise said again suddenly and left alone Ron staring after her, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Blaise…."

"Yeah?" She turned around with bright flushed face

"Good night," he smiled at her.

"Good night Ron."

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Ginny entered her dormitory after patrol to find every girl sleeping soundly. She changed into her pajamas, thinking of Draco. As Ginny slid under the covers a red envelope caught her attention under her folder and she pulled it out. A smiled crept on her face as she remembered her unopened mail. Carefully she opened the letter.

Dear Ginny,

Three lovely things life gives to me: whatever else fate sends, my heart is filled with gratitude for trees, books and a friend like you. I know and I am sorry I was not being fair to you when you left. I am also very thankful of you being so passionate with me. Recently I read this poem and it reminds me of you. It called:

A Friend on Call:

When something's wrong or something's right,

You're the one I call.

I might feel discombobulated,

Or nothing's wrong at all.

You're always there to listen

When I am out of whack,

I'm lucky to have a friend like you…

Who always calls me back!

I hope to see you soon, Love Robinson

Ginny folded the letter and laid it on her bed. "

I hope to see you soon too," she whispered to herself, opened the side table drawer and placed the letter carefully inside. She caught something white in the moonlight out near the lake, leans towards the window, and knew who that is.

She put her gown and head towards the common room, knowing that Harry and Hermione were there so she could tell them.

It was late and Harry and Hermione were still waiting for Ron in the common room. For the sixth time Harry pulled the map out and searched for him. His eyes widened in astonishment behind his glasses.

"Where is he?" asked Hermione behind the book she was reading.

"Umm…He is…Err…busy," Harry said, still in shock, "Very much busy... I'm going to bed."

"Harry, give me the map" Hermione pulled the map from his hands before he could stop her. She immediately noticed what he was trying to hide and her mouth dropped open when she stared at the two dots, which seemed to be written over each other. A hot heat crept over her cheeks, first pink and then red.

" Oh! Honestly… Are these Ron and Blasie, what are they doi-?" she stop short." Well so much for being annoyed at each other!"

She looked at Harry and they both burst out laughing, "Oh, okay I'll go to bed too... Any sign of Draco?"

"He is out near the lake... seems like Ginny was right."

"Go talk to him Harry."

"Well, I'm not sure he'd want to talk to anyone right now..."

"No, he will talk to you - just go."

"Ok I will."

THANK YOU GUYS: It's the end of Chapter seven. I hope you like it. Thanks to PHEONIX TALONS's review and my wonderful betas.

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