We get Ron's POV in this one!

Chapter 12

Draco kissed Harry's cheek before bidding him goodnight and heading for his domitory. They had fallen asleep in the Room of Requirement and slept through dinner and almost all the way to curfew.

Once inside the Slytherin common room, Pansy tried to get information out of Draco on where he'd been, but he breezed past her and to the fifth year boy's room. Thankfully, no one was inside the dark room. He gathered his bedclothes and shower things and headed for the bathroom. He really didn't feel like going up six floors just to bathe in the Prefect's bathroom tonight. Draco turned on the shower and stepped under the spray. He groaned in pleasure as the scalding water covered his body. He smiled as his mind wandered to Harry.

He was finally in a relationship with Harry, and it was the best feeling in the world. He had began to think that Harry was attractive early on in second year. Physical attraction had increased into a fullblown infatuation in third year, and it had only continued to grow.

Draco's thoughts turned to how he had treated Harry for four years, and he grimaced. At the beginning his rudeness was because Harry had rejected his friendship, and Draco had been hurt immensely by that. Eventually, it had progressed into attention-seeking behavior. Anything he could do to get Potter's attention, positive or negative, was good for him.

Despite his infatuation, he had never treated Harry like anything but a normal boy, unlike most of his peers. Harry was a human just like the rest of them, and nobody seemed to really understand that. Everyone seemed to think that he was some type of God sent from the heavens to purge the entire world of evil, but he wasn't. He had hopes, dreams, fantasies, and fears just like a normal kid because he was a normal kid-well, as normal as you can be while being Harry Potter.

The water was beginning to turn cold, and Draco turned off the tap and got out of the shower. He spelled his hair dry and dressed in his silk pyjama pants before making his way back into the dormitory, where Blaise was laying down, apparently waiting for Draco.

"Hello," Draco said, pulling back his dark green bedcovers. Blaise watched him with dark eyes as he crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Where were you all night?" Blaise asked, turning on his side to face Draco. The blond scowled at the black boy through the darkness. Hadn't he already told Pansy and Blaise that it was none of their business what he did with his free time? They weren't even really friends.

"I was out," Draco said simply, turning away from the other Slytherin. He punched his pillow into formation and settled in to glare at nothing in particular through the darkness.

"Out with Potter?" asked Blaise, and Draco had to fight the urge to grab his wand and spell Blaise's mouth shut. It was none of his business who he was with or what he was doing in his free time.

"Why would I be out with Potter for six hours?" Draco snapped. He honestly wished that he could have been with Harry for the entire night, but that would definitely cause some unwanted questions to arise.

"That's why I asked."

"Goodnight, Blaise," Draco muttered, hoping that his statement would end the conversation. He was happy when the sounds of Blaise rummaging through his trunk for his bedclothes reached his ears. His relationship with Potter wouldn't be allowed to go public, much to his chagrin, because of his father. He didn't even want to think about what Lucius would say if he found out that his son was a poofter and was in a relationship with the very boy he had been brought up to hate.

Why couldn't he just be a normal teenager?

ϟϟϟ

Ron was pouring over his potions textbook when Harry came slinking through the portrait hole, apparently trying to not be caught. Sadly for him, Ron, Hermione, and several other students were still awake and working on homework. Harry silently cursed as Ron beckoned him over to the squashy armchairs in front of the fire. Harry sat down next to Ron, who shut his textbook happily.

"Where were you at dinner?" the redhead asked. "You disappeared after Divination and we couldn't find you after that." Harry scratched at his scar absentmindedly and averted his eyes from his best friend. He couldn't really tell Ron the truth at the moment, or probably ever, considering the long-term Malfoy-Weasley rivalry that had been going on.

"I told you, I had something to do," Harry said, and Hermione looked up from her notes and raised an eyebrow. Harry coughed and looked back towards the fireplace.

"Something that took nearly six hours to do?" Ron asked. He was getting suspicious. Yes, Harry had become more social over the past few months, but he was still sneaking off at the oddest times and he didn't return for hours at a time. He refused to tell anyone where he was going, and it was beginning to really piss Ron off. They were supposed to be best friends. Harry turned towards Ron, his face set in a mask of indifference.

"Yes, Ron, six hours. What's it to you?" Ron could feel his face beginning to heat up.

"Obviously I care what you do because we're best friends, or so I thought," Ron snapped, and Hermione nearly dropped her entire stack of parchment.

"Ron!" she scolded.

"Don't 'Ron' me! He's not telling us anything at all, Hermione. What kind of a friendship is that?" He could see that Harry was growing increasingly furious.

"Yes, what kind of friendship exactly? You didn't tell me a damn thing over the entire summer. Now you know how I felt while being locked up at the fucking Dursley's for eight weeks!" Harry shouted. Hermione was beginning to look like she might burst into tears.

"You know for a fact that Dumbledore didn't let us tell you anything!" Ron defended. "We would have told you everything we could have but we weren't allowed to!"

"I don't know anything about anything anymore, Ron!" Harry shouted, finally standing up from his chair and nearly sending it toppling backwards. "I don't have to tell you every thing I do!" Harry stormed off towards the dormitories, leaving a stunned Common Room in his wake.

Ron turned to Hermione, who had finally began to cry. He threw his Potions book across the room, nearly hitting a fourth year in the process.

"Ron, you know he doesn't mean to hurt us," Hermione began. Ron turned towards her, blue eyes blazing.

"We're supposed to be best friends, and he's supposed to tell us things like this, like... whatever it is that he's going through! He won't even confide in us anymore." Hermione looked away from Ron and chewed on her lip. "He's talking to you?" Hermione didn't answer. "Why would he talk to you and not me?"

The bushy-haired girl turned towards her other best friend, eyes blazing. "It's not like you're his only friend, Ron! Besides, I don't get angry about everything he does lately. He needs someone to be there for him, Ron, and obviously you can't do that." She picked up her notes and stalked off towards the girl's domitories.

Several people were staring at Ron now, and he snapped "What?" loudly, causing everyone to hurridly return to their previous activities. He was a Prefect and people knew that if he got too angry, he might just take away house points just for the hell of it, even if it was of his own house.