18. …Hermione has a few Cockamamie Ideas
A few minutes later found the two on hands and knees crawling around the council room
floor. Ron had had the presence of mind to throw on a robe but was being careful to face
away from Draco as it had a tendency to gape in the front. His plan required that Draco
be looking elsewhere when he checked under the council table. "Maybe they got kicked
under somewhere. How about you check behind the wall hangings and I'll look under
the table?" Ron did his best to sound innocent as he scurried nonchalantly under the
table.
Looking back and over his distractingly round butt he checked that Draco was indeed
poking around under the tapestries as he had suggested. Quickly, before he lost his
chance, he searched for the spot in the middle of the table where he had stuck the earring
and was depressed to find nothing more than a dark scorch like an x marking the spot.
He sighed and was just about to go off and keep looking in case the earring had blasted
away somewhere else (actually, if it had destroyed itself that might not be such a bad
thing) but then he heard a small sound coming from the spot where the earring had been.
Wiggling closer he heard a very faint humming that sounded suspiciously like Hermione.
Ron grew cold. Had the explosion somehow switched things around? That sounded
bad. "Hermione?" he ventured quietly, hoping Draco was still distracted. A miniscule
yelp from the burn mark on the table suggested that she had heard him. "I can't find the
earring but I can hear you faintly from the spot where I put it," Ron whispered to the burn
mark.
"You finding anything under there?" Ron jumped and almost hit his head on the
underside of the table as Draco peeked under.
"No, I can't find it anywhere!" Ron wailed just as he heard a faint "Ron?" from the table.
He crawled over to Draco, leaving Hermione to figure things out on her own. "What am
I going to do?"
"Maybe you can buy another pair somewhere." Draco offered, helping Ron to stand.
Ron was sometimes suspicious of how nice Draco could be at moments. This whole
house is messed up, he thought to himself.
"Maybe," he admitted in a small voice right before his stomach gave another one of its
embarrassingly loud growls. Draco laughed, taking him by the elbow and leading him
off to breakfast.
Hermione was beginning to be very worried. She had called to Ron without first thinking
what the two-way communication might mean. Now that was starting to sink in and she
began rummaging through her books for anything that might muffle the sounds that
reached her table. And someone else had been there too, that wasn't good. It had almost
sounded like Draco being nice. Hermione shook her head to clear it of cockamamie
ideas. She really hoped that Ron hadn't gotten into any trouble. She would feel much
better once he was safe back at Hogwarts and in is normal body. Still paging through one
of her books, she wandered out of the room to go find Harry and Ginny.
Breakfast was tense. Lucius sat at the head of the table grumbling to himself and writing
out notes to various people. He had made it clear that he was going to get to the bottom
of what had happened last night and Ron was doing his best to act invisible. The only
good thing about the catastrophe was that there had been so many people there and by
rights the blame could fall on any of them. There was one particularly bad moment for
Ron when Draco had opened his mouth as though he had just thought of something and
looked speculatively over at his girlfriend. Thankfully he had shut it again with the
arrival of the newspaper and refrained from saying anything through the rest of breakfast.
The newspaper was a whole other scare, for everyone at the table. Upon seeing the
picture on the front page Lucius had let out a horrifying roar and ranted for a full five
minutes about the lack of privacy in the wizarding world today before storming out of the
room, the newspaper a crumpled rag in his fist. After this Draco left as well and Ron
followed suite, hurrying upstairs to pack Blaise's mammoth luggage. He was very glad
to be escaping back to Hogwarts soon and pushed any regrets far to the back of his mind.
At nine sharp Draco knocked on his door and told him the carriage was ready to take him
back to Hogwarts. He seemed very quiet as he picked up the larger suitcase and marched
out the door. Ron followed him with his other bag cautiously, afraid that he suspected
something.
His fears were laid to rest, however, once they got into the carriage and Draco turned
back into his old, smoozy self. "You don't have a headache this time, do you?" Draco
purred, sidling up to Ron and leaning over for a lingering kiss. Ron could only shake his
head mutely as Draco pulled back. "I'm sorry you have to go so soon. Despite a few
incidences, which I shall try not to mention here, I think we had a lot of fun." Draco's
look was smoldering and that wicked little smile was once again curling the corners of
his mouth. Ron felt his mind once again falling into that warm, fuzzy place and only
distantly heard Draco add, "It's probably good you're going, though, considering the
state my father's in," as his hands were busy saying something entirely different.
"He's here! He's here!" Ginny chirped from the window where the other two had set her
to watch for the Malfoy carriage. Harry and Hermione had just finished fixing a
soundproof bubble around Hermione's table when they dashed over to look out the
window. The Malfoy carriage had, indeed, pulled up in front of Hogwarts and the two
black horses pulling it were stamping at the ground, impatient to be off again. From their
vantage point Hermione could just make out that the horses had red eyes and she
shuddered to think of the horrible weekend that Ron must have experienced.
"What's taking so long?" Harry asked after a full minute of staring at the carriage and no
sight of Ron. "I hope he's ok and nothing went wrong. More wrong," he added after a
look from Hermione. Just then they saw two figures emerge from the black carriage,
unload the luggage from the back, and disappear inside.
"Well, we'll see how he is soon enough," Hermione said, getting down from the window
ledge and hurrying to the door. The others followed and they rushed downstairs to wait
in a hallway near the Slytherin commons for Ron. It was a good twenty minutes until
they saw him again and he looked slightly pissed.
A few minutes later found the two on hands and knees crawling around the council room
floor. Ron had had the presence of mind to throw on a robe but was being careful to face
away from Draco as it had a tendency to gape in the front. His plan required that Draco
be looking elsewhere when he checked under the council table. "Maybe they got kicked
under somewhere. How about you check behind the wall hangings and I'll look under
the table?" Ron did his best to sound innocent as he scurried nonchalantly under the
table.
Looking back and over his distractingly round butt he checked that Draco was indeed
poking around under the tapestries as he had suggested. Quickly, before he lost his
chance, he searched for the spot in the middle of the table where he had stuck the earring
and was depressed to find nothing more than a dark scorch like an x marking the spot.
He sighed and was just about to go off and keep looking in case the earring had blasted
away somewhere else (actually, if it had destroyed itself that might not be such a bad
thing) but then he heard a small sound coming from the spot where the earring had been.
Wiggling closer he heard a very faint humming that sounded suspiciously like Hermione.
Ron grew cold. Had the explosion somehow switched things around? That sounded
bad. "Hermione?" he ventured quietly, hoping Draco was still distracted. A miniscule
yelp from the burn mark on the table suggested that she had heard him. "I can't find the
earring but I can hear you faintly from the spot where I put it," Ron whispered to the burn
mark.
"You finding anything under there?" Ron jumped and almost hit his head on the
underside of the table as Draco peeked under.
"No, I can't find it anywhere!" Ron wailed just as he heard a faint "Ron?" from the table.
He crawled over to Draco, leaving Hermione to figure things out on her own. "What am
I going to do?"
"Maybe you can buy another pair somewhere." Draco offered, helping Ron to stand.
Ron was sometimes suspicious of how nice Draco could be at moments. This whole
house is messed up, he thought to himself.
"Maybe," he admitted in a small voice right before his stomach gave another one of its
embarrassingly loud growls. Draco laughed, taking him by the elbow and leading him
off to breakfast.
Hermione was beginning to be very worried. She had called to Ron without first thinking
what the two-way communication might mean. Now that was starting to sink in and she
began rummaging through her books for anything that might muffle the sounds that
reached her table. And someone else had been there too, that wasn't good. It had almost
sounded like Draco being nice. Hermione shook her head to clear it of cockamamie
ideas. She really hoped that Ron hadn't gotten into any trouble. She would feel much
better once he was safe back at Hogwarts and in is normal body. Still paging through one
of her books, she wandered out of the room to go find Harry and Ginny.
Breakfast was tense. Lucius sat at the head of the table grumbling to himself and writing
out notes to various people. He had made it clear that he was going to get to the bottom
of what had happened last night and Ron was doing his best to act invisible. The only
good thing about the catastrophe was that there had been so many people there and by
rights the blame could fall on any of them. There was one particularly bad moment for
Ron when Draco had opened his mouth as though he had just thought of something and
looked speculatively over at his girlfriend. Thankfully he had shut it again with the
arrival of the newspaper and refrained from saying anything through the rest of breakfast.
The newspaper was a whole other scare, for everyone at the table. Upon seeing the
picture on the front page Lucius had let out a horrifying roar and ranted for a full five
minutes about the lack of privacy in the wizarding world today before storming out of the
room, the newspaper a crumpled rag in his fist. After this Draco left as well and Ron
followed suite, hurrying upstairs to pack Blaise's mammoth luggage. He was very glad
to be escaping back to Hogwarts soon and pushed any regrets far to the back of his mind.
At nine sharp Draco knocked on his door and told him the carriage was ready to take him
back to Hogwarts. He seemed very quiet as he picked up the larger suitcase and marched
out the door. Ron followed him with his other bag cautiously, afraid that he suspected
something.
His fears were laid to rest, however, once they got into the carriage and Draco turned
back into his old, smoozy self. "You don't have a headache this time, do you?" Draco
purred, sidling up to Ron and leaning over for a lingering kiss. Ron could only shake his
head mutely as Draco pulled back. "I'm sorry you have to go so soon. Despite a few
incidences, which I shall try not to mention here, I think we had a lot of fun." Draco's
look was smoldering and that wicked little smile was once again curling the corners of
his mouth. Ron felt his mind once again falling into that warm, fuzzy place and only
distantly heard Draco add, "It's probably good you're going, though, considering the
state my father's in," as his hands were busy saying something entirely different.
"He's here! He's here!" Ginny chirped from the window where the other two had set her
to watch for the Malfoy carriage. Harry and Hermione had just finished fixing a
soundproof bubble around Hermione's table when they dashed over to look out the
window. The Malfoy carriage had, indeed, pulled up in front of Hogwarts and the two
black horses pulling it were stamping at the ground, impatient to be off again. From their
vantage point Hermione could just make out that the horses had red eyes and she
shuddered to think of the horrible weekend that Ron must have experienced.
"What's taking so long?" Harry asked after a full minute of staring at the carriage and no
sight of Ron. "I hope he's ok and nothing went wrong. More wrong," he added after a
look from Hermione. Just then they saw two figures emerge from the black carriage,
unload the luggage from the back, and disappear inside.
"Well, we'll see how he is soon enough," Hermione said, getting down from the window
ledge and hurrying to the door. The others followed and they rushed downstairs to wait
in a hallway near the Slytherin commons for Ron. It was a good twenty minutes until
they saw him again and he looked slightly pissed.