Part Five
This one's for everyone who reads my stuff - thank you! And please review!
Yes, it is slash - don't like it, don't read it.
And of course, it's JK's and the WB's. Not mine :P
Harry ran out of the common room, then skidded to a halt. Where was he planning on going? Ron wouldn't start a fight in the Great Hall, would he? Or maybe he'd gone to the Slytherin common room? Walking fowards, still not sure where he was going, Harry realised his head was spinning. His best friend liked him - had been telling everyone that they were a couple! - but hadn't told him. Harry frowned, putting his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He was angry, but as well, it was sort of sweet. Harry blushed.
"I don't need this," he muttered. The corridors were still deserted, but he decided it was best if he went to the Slytherin common room, as that was probably where Ron would go to fight Draco.
Why did this have to happen? Harry thought. Why couldn't Ron just be happy for us and go off and marry Hermione or something? It was annoying, being the object of two people's affections. A smile spread across Harry's face. Annoying, yes, but it kind of felt good. He'd gone through so much at school, people liking him, hating him, jealous of him - but he'd never been fancied before. At least, he didn't think so. But maybe they did. The smile widened as he wondered about that one.
Drunk on his own ego, Harry was too busy fantasising about the many, many boys and girls at Hogwarts that were in love with the Boy Who Lived to notice he was about to walk into Goyle.
"Ow," he said, holding his injured nose, then his eyes widened as he stepped around Goyle to see what was happening. Ron was punching Draco, who was doing a pretty good job of retaliating. All fantasies of the two of them trying to court him vanished as he realised the two hated each other far too much and were just trying to kill each other instead.
Ducking in, Quidditch-trained reflexes coming in handy, Harry grabbed Draco, and Goyle grabbed Ron. It was lucky that Goyle was so big, otherwise he wouldn't've been able to keep the madly flailing boy back. Draco was breathing hard, but staying back. Frowning, Harry dabbed at a cut on his cheek.
"Are you alright?"
Draco looked at him, pale eyes hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?" He pulled away from Harry and took a step back.
Blinking, not understanding, Harry then looked over at Ron, green eyes narrowed. "What have you told him?" His voice was low, and he couldn't remember ever having been this angry. "What have you ben telling everybody? What right do you have to go spreading lies, Ron? What the hell's the matter with you?" Ron had stopped struggling in Goyle's grip, and was now just looking over at Harry, eyes shining with tears.
"What else could I do?" He asked. "How did I know you might ever be interested in me?"
"So you told everyone else instead of me?!"
"Alright, so it was a stupid damn thing to do! But I couldn't tell you!"
Harry was still too angry to speak to Ron civilly, so he turned instead to Draco.
"What did he say to you?"
Draco still looked hurt, suspicious. "He said that you two had been together before. That you - that you loved him, not me. That really hurt, Harry," Draco too, looked almost like he was about to cry. "Because I love you," he whispered, for Harry's ears only, and lifted a hand up to smooth Harry's permanantly messy hair. "Are you saying its not true?" He asked. "Please, tell me it's not."
"It's not," Harry said, heart in his throat. "It's not. I've never been in love before." His voice was as low as Draco's, and he felt as though his heart might burst.
"Before?" The boy's eyes lit up with hope. Harry gazed at him, Ron forgotten, and a smile came to his face.
"Yeah. Before I fell in love with you." Leaning forward, he kissed Draco softly, and realised it was true. That he'd never felt this way before, and that he never wanted to feel any other way, be anywhere else but with Draco Malfoy. But there were things that needed sorting out, now that he was a bit calmer. He turned to Ron, still being held by Goyle.
"We need to talk, Ron," he said, folding his arms, biting his lip, trying not to feel sorry for his friend. He had lied, the whole thing was his own fault. If he'd told Harry before, who knew what might've happened?
"Alright," Ron said, seemingly defeated. "But I'm not promising anything," he said, with a glare in the direction of Draco.
"And neither do I," sneered Draco, and Harry sighed. He doubted the two would ever get on, or even manage to be civil to one another, for that matter. Goyle let Ron go, looking at him suspiciously, and the two Gryffindors walked back to the common room in silence. There were quite a few people in there, so Harry led Ron upstairs to the empty dorm room and sat on his bed. Ron sat on his own, still looking forlorn, and wouldn't look at Harry.
"Tell me what all this is about, Ron," he said quietly.
Ron still wouldn't look at him. "Neville told you, didnt he?"
"I asked you, Ron. I want to hear your side of the story - and it better be good," he added. He was still angry, and wasn't about to let Ron forget it.
"How do you expect me to act?" Ron asked, glaring at Harry now. "You suddenly turn up, telling me you and Malfoy are an item - how did you expect me to react?"
"I didn't expect you to go bloody ballistic and hit him!" Harry stopped and closed his eyes for a moment, calming himself. "Look Ron, why didn't you ever tell me you liked me? Why did you tell everyone else but me?"
"Because I couldn't, Harry. I mean, you never gave any indication you liked blokes. You spend half the time staring at Cho Chang, so I figured that meant you were straight." He shrugged, still not looking at Harry. "I really don't know why I told everyone. It just seemed I had to tell someone. And at least I know Dean and Seamus aren't homophobic, 'cause I caught them kissing-"
"What?" Exactly how much had Harry missed? Did he just walk around with his eyes closed all the time, or was he just really, really dense?
"-so I told them. And they said they were glad for us."
"But there's no us, Ron."
"I know. But there could've been." He sounded so wistful, and he'd finally looked up at Harry. There was such longing in those blue eyes, and Harry did finally feel sorry for him.
"Yeah, there could've been. You should've said something, Ron. Even if I wasn't interested, at least you'd've known."
"Could there have? Been something, I mean?"
"If it wasn't for Draco, yeah, maybe. But I meant what I said to him."
"You love him." Anger - as well as that wistfulness again.
This time it was Harry's turn to look away. He didn't want to hurt Ron, but he wouldn't lie to him. There might have been something - Ron was quite good looking, and had lovely, expressive eyes. And he was his best friend, after all. But no, he wasn't Draco, and could never be what Draco was to him. A shame, really.
"Can we still be friends, Ron?"
Ron looked over at him, still looking hurt, but managed to smile. "Yeah, that'd be nice." He stood, walked to the door, then quickly turned to Harry and kissed him on the lips, before leaving and walking off. Harry stared after him. That was be odd. But just Ron's way of ending it all. And it had been kind of nice. Standing, Harry picked up his Charms book to go downstairs and revise with Hermione - but the strange thing was, he couldn't get the memory of Ron's lips on his out of his mind...