Penname: Page of Cups
Email: AndromedanPrincess@hotmail.com
Title: Everything Changes
Pairing: Ron Weasley/Draco Malfoy
Summary: Ron feels bad for Amadeus and Draco is starting to look obsessed . . . (starting?)
Caution: Boy on boy love ahead. If this is not your cup of tea, please go somewhere else.
Disclaimer: This story contains characters, locations, and other random things created and/or owned by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc., etc. Since no money is being made, no infringement is intended. Section 102(b) of the U.S. Copyright Act states that copyright protection does not extend to ideas, procedures, concepts, principles or discoveries, but the actual words used to express those things. I know. I'm researching my copyright abilities.
Chapter Eight: Amadeus
"What's up with Malfoy?" was the first thing Ron heard as he sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast three days later. He had been civil to Draco in public ever since he left the Head Boy room without looking back. It was essential that he keep some dignity and after what Draco had said, there was no way that Ron could possibly stay around. For three days now Ron had been civil, refusing to catch Malfoy's bait. For three days he had been sending back Malfoy's owls, the letters unopened and unanswered. For three days now he had been sulking and Malfoy, strangely, was doing the same.
"Who ever knows what's up with Malfoy," sneered Ron. "Maybe he's coming up with some evil plan to turn each and every one of us over to Voldemort. Or maybe he's going to kidnap us and take us home to that big manor of his for Daddy to break out the Dark Arts toys and play torture chamber with us. Merlin knows I've always wanted to play torture chamber with such an expert like Lucius Malfoy."
"Forget what's up with Malfoy. What's up with you?" said Harry.
"Nothing. I'm fine. Perfect, even. Eat your breakfast, Harry, and stop being so nosy."
"We have Potions today," pointed out Hermione.
"What's your point?" snapped Ron.
"That Malfoy is your partner and today is the most important day of the Potion. You have to present it to Professor Snape and how he doesn't feel malicious enough to make you taste it. Can you imagine having to drink an aphrodisiac with Malfoy?"
"Are you going to be okay in class?" asked Harry.
"I'll be fine. If I were you, Harry, I'd be worried, too. Your partner is Seamus Finnigan. He's known for being almost as bad as Malfoy. Makes you wonder why those two have never hooked up."
"Probably because Seamus is a half-blood," said Harry, inspecting the pieces of toast. "Did you ever realize that the house elves never burn the toast? Never. It's always a perfect golden brown on each side. Do you think that's part of house elf magic? I mean, there's got to be a spell that does that. No one toasts bread to the exact shade of golden brown every time."
"They probably have to get rid of toast that isn't perfect," said Hermione, sniffing.
"Why are you getting started on house elves, Harry?" whined Ron. "You know it's only going to make Hermione go into her house elf rights speech and I've heard it enough times to last me forever. Believe me. I will die a happy man if I never have to hear her bloody house elf campaign again."
"House elves are very important, Ron," said Hermione, crossly. "Merlin knows you give them enough trouble with sneaking down to the kitchens and asking them to make you food at all hours of the night, not to mention they change your bedding, do you laundry, and have to get that foul smell out of your dormitory. What is that, anyway?"
"We think it's Seamus and his lovers," said Harry. Hermione wrinkled her nose and did not go back onto the manner. "I bet those house elves think something's wrong with Seamus. His sheets are probably disgusting."
"Malfoy's, too," added Ron, sighing. He had been a big contribution to that one lately.
"Mail," said Hermione, glad to interrupt as she glanced up to see hundreds of owls pouring into the Great Hall. Before her dropped a small package, a letter, and a copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry got nothing as usual, but for the third morning in a row, a Boobook owl swooped down and perched by Ron, apparently waiting for a reply.
"That's the third morning in a row!" said Harry. "Who is sending you letters?"
"Er - Ron," said Hermione, carefully, catching Harry and Ron's attention. "Are you seeing someone?"
"What?" asked Ron and Harry started laughing. "What's so funny, Harry? Am I undatable or something?"
"No. It's just that we would know if you were seeing someone, wouldn't we?" Harry tried to suppress his laughter and looked at Ron seriously, occasionally glancing at the owl.
"I don't tell you everything, you know. But - I don't know. I wasn't dating anyone if that answers your question but I was seeing someone," said Ron, sighing. "What made you figure it out?"
"The fact you've been extremely happy for a few weeks and now you're suddenly miserable. Through the whole time you were happy, that owl came by about once a week. Now that you're miserable, it comes every day and you never open the letter. Then there's the fact that you were leaving the common room a few times a week and you snapped whenever we asked where you were going."
"You were seeing someone?" said Harry, gaping.
"I was seeing someone," confirmed Ron. "Not dating, mind you. That's a very important factor. We got in a fight."
"I figured as much," said Hermione. "You should at least read the letter and see what she has to say."
"She?" said Ron. "Oh. Yeah. No, I don't think so. Does anyone have a quill?"
"You really should read it," said Hermione, but she handed over a quill.
"If h - er - she wants to say something to me, she can say it to my face." Taking the quill, he scribbled Stop sending me letters under his name and gave the owl an affectionate pet. "Take this back sometime after breakfast, okay? I'm sorry about this, Amadeus."
The owl hooted softly and gave Ron's finger an affectionate nip before flying away.
"Who were you seeing?" Harry finally asked.
"I'm not ready to talk about it just yet."
"What house is she in?" asked Hermione. "Can you tell us that much? Is it a Gryffindor?"
"Er - no, it isn't a Gryffindor."
"Ravenclaw?" asked Harry.
"No."
"You were seeing a Hufflepuff?" asked Hermione, apparently surprised.
Ron sighed. This was as much truth as he intended on telling them at the moment anyway.
"No," he said, finally.
"But that leaves only Slytherin," said Hermione.
"I know."
It really was quite comical the way Hermione grew quiet and stared down at her plate while Harry was gaping so much at Ron that he felt like everyone in the Hall must have noticed by now. Trying to ignore the fact that Harry wasn't taking this the way he would have liked, Ron went back to the bacon on his plate and started picking it apart into tiny pieces before shoving them in his mouth.
"You were seeing a Slytherin?" said Harry at last. Ron nodded. "You were seeing a Slytherin? The house you hate more than anything in the world?"
"They aren't all bad," Ron said, wondering why he was coming to the Slytherin defense when he and Malfoy were - well - he couldn't call them broken up. No longer shagging was more like it.
"Is she in our year?" asked Hermione.
"I'm not telling you any more than that she was a Slytherin for the time being," said Ron. "What do we have first today?"
"Transfiguration. Then it's Defense and after lunch all we have is Potions. Maybe you'll get lucky and Professor Snape won't get to you and Malfoy today. I'm in trouble, though. Parkinson did nothing and I hate Professor Snape for making me work with her all the time. He knows how much I hate her and puts me with her just so that he can torture me. All I do is answer his questions. Why does that make me so bad?"
"Because you're insufferable and a know it all," said Ron, smirking. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I'm going back to the common room to get my books. I'll see you in Transfiguration."
Standing abruptly, Hermione left the table and the Great Hall.
"Will you really not tell me who you were seeing?" asked Harry once she had gone. "And why hadn't you told me you were seeing someone in the first place. I would have been understanding even if it was a Slytherin."
"I don't know, Harry, I just didn't. I don't feel like talking about it."
"What does it mean by you were seeing her but not dating her?" said Harry, suddenly soft. "Were you - er -"
"Shagging?" asked Ron. Harry didn't answer. "What do you want to know, Harry? Was I just having sex with her? Baking pies? Torturing house elves and getting the dark mark together? What do you really want to ask me?"
"I just want to know what the difference between dating and seeing someone is."
"Well, we were not a couple because she doesn't believe in relationships but yes, we were shagging. That's why we got into a fight, okay? I want something more and I'm not going to get it."
"Oh," said Harry, growing quiet. "Sorry. I didn't know -"
"It's okay. You couldn't know. I haven't been telling you anything, remember?"
"I still didn't mean to upset you. If I had known -"
"I know, Harry. You don't need to apologize. You know, we better get going to Transfiguration. I don't know who's wrath would be worse if we were late, McGonagall's or Hermione's."
"They'd both be bad," agreed Harry, giving Ron a reassuring smile before they left the Great Hall.
~*~
"I don't believe this!" said Draco as Amadeus landed on his shoulder. Draco untied the letter from the owl's leg and he hooted happily, glad to be free of the burden, and flew for what Draco assumed was the owlery.
"Weasley send your letter back again?" asked Goyle, walking up to join Draco.
"What makes you think I'm sending letters to Weasley?"
"The fact that Amadeus has been to Weasley every morning and he hasn't answered one of your letters. Just because everyone else only sees you with your father's eagle owl doesn't mean that I haven't seen your owl, okay?"
"When did you become observant of the daily workings of my life?"
"I've always been. It's just now I'm free to talk to you about them. With Crabbe ignoring us until we agree to join the club of slaves, there isn't much else I have to do with my time. That and I know you and Weasley haven't been shagging since he left your room three days ago. In fact, he's ignoring you all together. What did you do?"
"He wanted to know what our title was."
"And what did you say?"
"He was just a hole."
Goyle's face twisted horribly.
"You actually said that?"
"It's true."
"You keep lying to yourself, Draco. I've never seen you this happy before, not even when you were with Anthony Tice."
"Was it really necessary to bring him up."
"I'm your friend, aren't I?"
"We have been since we were nine," said Draco, plainly.
"Then trust me enough to talk to me. I talk to you all the time."
"I'm a very private person."
"You've only been private toward me since you let Anthony walk all over you."
"I didn't want Anthony, you know. My father set that up."
"I know, but ever since you've been jumping from person to person like your sex drive never runs low. Don't you get sick of it, Draco?"
"No one matters to me, Greg. When people matter to you, you get hurt."
"Yeah, but it's too late for that, isn't it? Weasley's mattered to you since before you remember. He wormed his way in before you were being careful about who got in."
Draco remained silent, walking past the doors to the Great Hall as he suddenly decided he wasn't very hungry for lunch. Goyle followed, walking just behind him as they went outside and started to circle the grounds despite the fact it was windy and overcast. Glancing up at the sky, Draco deduced that it was probably going to snow some time tonight. Turning to look at Goyle, he shook his head and sighed.
"Relationships don't work, Goyle. I've been in one. People cheat on you and they stomp all over any emotions you may have been feeling without any disregard."
"Sounds like someone I know," said Goyle, looking pointedly at Draco. "It doesn't take a title to do that to a person. You've been very hypocritical, you know that? Just because Anthony didn't give a shit about you doesn't mean you need to do it to someone else. If you wanted nothing to do with Weasley anymore, you should have just said so."
"I'm nothing like Anthony."
"You're exactly like Anthony, only he had the balls to admit it."
"Anthony used me, Goyle."
"You used Weasley. You've used half of this school."
"They were willing participants and they knew what they were getting into."
"Tell that to Weasley."
"He doesn't want to speak to me. I've apologized countless times."
"In the letters you knew he would send back?" Goyle laughed. "That doesn't mean much, Draco. You know, if you'd have told me that this is what would happen to you and Weasley when we were six or seven, I'd have never believed you. I thought you treated your friends better than that."
"Weasley and I aren't friends anymore."
"Your father saw to that."
Staring out across the lake, Draco wished the giant squid would appear to give him some kind of distraction from Goyle's words. It was bad enough that these thoughts surfaced in his mind when he was alone but he didn't need someone else confirming them. He did remember having Weasley for a friend now. Then, when Lucius discovered who his son had been playing with all those years, Draco had been removed from the care center and was stuck in solitary confinement for the longest time he ever spent in there. It had been a big change, going from being showered with affection at five to being shoved in dark closets for being bad when he was six. He spent a month in the dungeons with only water and bread for being friends with Weasley. In retrospect, it still seemed worth it.
Then there was Anthony. After Lucius finally calmed down upon hearing his son was gay, he got in contact with a friend from the ministry, Davis Tice. His son, Anthony, was two years ahead of Draco, also in Slytherin, and one of the most attractive people he had ever seen aside from Weasley. They dated during Draco's fifth year and Draco had never been happier until Anthony cheated on him twice.
He had worked very hard to convince himself that his random acts of sexual activity had nothing to do with Anthony. It was nice to finally embody some quality of being a Malfoy that was genuine other than his hair, eyes, and skin. Malfoys were detached and didn't really care about anyone. His father had been the same way and now Draco was going down the same road.
"I'm turning into my father," he mumbled, turning away from Goyle.
"I think that's going a little far."
"No, it isn't. It's true. I'm turning into my father."
"Just because you won't admit you're starting to fall for Weasley?"
"I can't turn into my father, Greg. I despise him. If things keep going at this rate, I'll be starting my own clan of Death Eaters and trying to take over Voldemort."
"You're over-exaggerating again, Draco. Gods, sometimes you can really be annoying."
"Why am I so taken with him?"
"Weasley?" Draco nodded. "You're actually going to talk about your thing for Weasley with me?"
"No. I want to analyze why I have a thing for Weasley. It's not like you're hearing anything new. You know more about me than I do."
"Well, I'd say the thing with Weasley is that he's attractive and you used to be friends so he obviously had traits about him that you like. I don't know. Do I look like a psychoanalysis."
Draco gave Goyle an unamused look.
"Speculate later. We have Potions soon," said Goyle, giving Draco one last glance before going inside the castle. Draco shortly followed.
~*~
Walking into Potions, Ron noticed that Draco was already sitting at their table talking to Goyle in hushed tones. Upon seeing Ron enter, Goyle made a little hand motion to him and Draco turned around to meet eyes with Ron. Snickering in a way that made Ron uncomfortable and led him to believe that Goyle knew about what had been going on with him and Draco, Goyle passed by Ron and gave him an approving sort of look.
"We might be presenting today," said Ron, sitting down next to Draco and determined to keep the subject on Potions.
"No we won't," said Draco. "I already told Snape I'd prefer to go last. He won't want us to present until next class."
"Why did you tell him that?" asked Ron, unamused with Malfoy's antics.
"Because I need to talk to you."
"I'm not talking to you about anything that doesn't have to do with Potions."
"You're going to be presenting your potions to me today," said Snape, silencing the chatter between the students and looking pointedly at Neville. "If I ask questions, they better be answered accurately and without the need to look them up. We may even test a few. Keep your voices down as long as you are not presenting. Mister Potter and Mister Finnigan, what do you say we start with you?"
Ron gave Harry a sympathetic smile as Snape stalked across the room, his robes billowing angrily behind him. Sinking in his seat, Ron folded his arms across his chest, determined to ignore Draco for the period. It didn't go so well. Less than five minutes after Snape had demanded Harry and Seamus to present, Draco decided he couldn't stay silent.
"Where have you been?"
"Here, there, and everywhere, Malfoy, except for with you, that is."
"Why have you been sending back my letters?"
"Because I don't want them. Stop sending them. I pity Amadeus."
"You're supposed to read them, Weasley."
"No, thank you, Malfoy. I don't fancy reading about how you're angry with me for walking out on you. Nor do I want to read about how you despise me and my poor, pathetic family. Also, I don't want to read about how I'm insignificant and get no recognition from anyone. You always do like to remind me that I'm lucky to be getting a piece of your arse."
"How do you know that I didn't proclaim undying love for you in one of those letters?"
"Because Draco Malfoy doesn't understand what love means. He thinks it's okay to fuck around with a person's heart."
Draco scowled. Change a few of the words and that had been very close to what he had said to Anthony.
"Don't talk about things you don't understand, Weasel."
"I understand, Malfoy. I understand perfectly. I was just a hole. Go find yourself a new one. You're attractive. I'm sure it won't be hard to find a willing hole and a heart to break."
"Don't fool yourself, Weasley," seethed Draco before he could stop himself and from the corner of his eye, Draco could swear that oaf, Goyle, was shaking his head at him. "You'll be back at my door in a manner of weeks begging for me to take you back. It's happened before. No one is ever going to give you half the attention that I do. Without me, you're just back in Potter's shadow."
"I'd rather be in Harry's shadow than in your bed."
Draco slammed his fists down on the table earning him a nasty glare from Snape. For the rest of the period, Draco ran over the things he hated about Weasley in his head but none of them seemed to hold up. They were very childish reasons, after all, things that his father had taught him to hate. There was their financial situation, which Draco always knew was a bad excuse because Weasley couldn't help there were so many people in his family. There was the fact he laughed at his name, but Draco was sure if it wasn't his own name, he'd probably snigger at it, too. Who named their child Draco? Draco wanted to hex the next lover he had who called him a dragon. Then there was the fact he was Potter's friend, which seemed like it was jealousy. When all of his reasons gave way, the only thing that was left strongly resembled jealousy.
Glancing over at Ron, Draco felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. This was what he did to the first real friend he ever had. He had used him and tossed him aside in the same manner Anthony had done to himself in more cruel words. Ron had been there for him and this was how Draco repaid him. He was turning into his pathetic, slave of a father who craved so much power he became a puppet. Was Draco no better? Was he just the same? He couldn't turn into the man Lucius was.
Ron busied himself until the last minute of Potions when Snape dismissed them. Ignoring Goyle, Draco followed Ron out of the classroom where he had met up with the mudblood and Potty. Leaning against the wall, Draco blocked Weasley's way and smirked.
"We need to talk, Weasley."
"Leave him alone, Malfoy," sneered Potter as Granger hiked her bag higher on her shoulder in an act that resembled a threat of injury with her books.
"I wasn't talking to you, Potter. This is between your precious little Weasel and myself."
"I don't want to talk to you, Malfoy," said Ron, irritated.
"Sod off, Malfoy."
"Suck my cock, Potter." Draco turned to Ron and smirked. "Then again -"
"I'll talk to you," said Ron, his eyes growing wide. "When?"
"Now."
"Okay. Come on." Ron took off down the hall and Draco turned to give Potter his nastiest smirk.
"I always get what I want, Potter."
He followed in the direction Ron had gone and Hermione's brows furrowed as she tugged on Harry's arm.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
"I couldn't begin to fathom," replied Harry.
Am well aware that does not follow with Order of the Phoenix. Sorry.
Anyone know where any good post-OotP Ron/Draco stuff is. I'm dying to hear more about Weasley is our King.
There will be 17 chapters to this story. Expect nine sometime soon. I have Wednesday and Thursday off.