Three's a Crowd
Chapter 1
It was hot- a day meant for nothing more than relaxing by the lake with a book and a bottle of pumpkin juice, which was exactly what Ron Weasley was doing. Drink in hand, he was enjoying a bit of solitude in the lazy afternoon, having dropped all pretense of reading. His book, Advanced Quidditch Strategy, lay forgotten at his side.
"Good afternoon, Weasley. Enriching the mind as usual, I see?" The clean, smooth voice that cut through the silence was Draco Malfoy's. The boy had appeared behind Ron's shoulder without warning, and was now standing rather close to him, looking down at the redhead, one eyebrow raised. Ron looked up, struck, not for the first time, by the beauty of the sixteen year-old boy before him. The sun in his blond hair made a halo of golden light that framed his delicately sculpted face and set off his porcelain- pale skin. His eyes were gray pebbles tossed for centuries by the sea, revealing no emotion. Ron felt he could spend the rest of his life just looking into them.
He jerked out of his reverie. "Oh, hello Malfoy. What're you doing out here?"
"Not much. I just thought I'd take a walk, you know? Anyway, I'm a bit surprised to find you missing your other two heads. May I join you?"
"Sure." Ron shifted slightly to the left, making room for Draco under the tree. Like most of the people he knew, Ron was unsure of how to treat Draco. The Slytherin had displayed outright hostility throughout their first four years at Hogwarts, until their fifth year, when he had displayed a short period of neutrality before he gradually began dating his way around Gryffindor tower. In just over a year he had been seen at the fireside with Lavender Brown, Seamus Finnegan and Harry Potter. The last relationship had ended badly after Draco had had a drunken one-night stand with Ron's sister, Ginny. There had been a rather nasty shouting match over breakfast in the Great Hall the morning after, and a few bystanders had fallen victim to Harry's violently heaved toast.
Now Ron was mildly upset with himself for not sending Draco packing with a few barbed remarks, but the fact was that over the past year or so, once Draco had learned to lay off the Weasley family finances, Ron had come to respect him as intelligent, funny and wickedly good looking. In fact, he could almost say that he liked him. Not in that way, of course. It was a well-established rule that one did not date one's best friend's ex, no matter how gorgeous the prospect in question.
Draco broke the somewhat awkward silence that had fallen between them.
"Hope you'll forgive my speechlessness Weasley, I'm just a little stunned to find you alone."
"Oh yes, well when I tactfully reminded Harry and Hermione that tomorrow is my birthday, they both looked alarmed and went dashing towards Hogsmeade."
"Your two best friends forgot your birthday?"
"Well, it's quite understandable." Ron swallowed, still convincing himself of the idea. "I mean, Harry's been incredibly busy with quidditch trials for next year, and Hermione is working more madly than usual, doing research for some secret project of McGonagall's. This morning was the first time I've really seen them all week."
Draco shrugged. "You're certainly taking it well. If my friends forgot my birthday, I'd be livid."
"Well, Harry's had a lot on his mind. I mean, he's been a little less of his usual self ever since you two…" Ron looked at his hands, suddenly aware of the thin ice that he was skating on.
"Since a mistake was made, your sister's reputation was damaged and a few innocents were assaulted mercilessly by his toast and jam?"
"Something like that, yeah." Ron felt a small thrill run up his spine as he realized how close to Draco he really was.
"Well, rest assured that it's given me a great deal of pain as well, so he needn't be so melodramatic." Damn, but the boy was magnificent.
"He's not melodramatic, he's depressed!"
The blond boy sighed. In an effort to change the subject, he picked up Ron's book, which was lying between them on the new grass. "Advanced Quidditch Strategy," he read from the cover. "Still Potter's unofficial assistant, Ron?" He leafed through the book aimlessly.
Ron's ears pricked up at the sound of his first name, but he made no mention of it. "Not unofficial anymore. I'm the new Strategic Co-captain. I quite like it, really, and I never was much on a broomstick." He watched as the pale, slender hands of his former enemy moved over the pages, delicately and gently, almost reverently.
Draco smiled at Ron and set the book down on his far side, narrowing the space between the two of them. He said something that Ron didn't hear, so enthralled was he by the face before him. He was aware of nothing except the sound of his own breath and the fierce beating of his heart as his eyes met the gray ones, and the face with its rose-soft lips and captivating eyes, now coursing with emotion, moved closer and closer to his own.
Ron shut his eyes and met the lips of his former enemy, first softly, tasting each other, feeling the sweetness of the kiss. Draco's lips were even softer than they had looked, but were hardly timid. Ron felt a sudden hunger rise within him, a need for fulfillment, and he kissed Draco harder, more passionately. The other boy matched him passion for passion, the urgency building between them. Ron felt Draco's tongue slide between his lips, flickering along them, teasing and playing. Ron countered by sending his tongue to trace the other boy's lips, memorizing their taste and texture. The whole world flew away for the two boys, and they lived a thousand lifetimes in this single, perfect kiss.
After a few unbearably wonderful moments, Draco broke away.
"Now, now, you know as well as I that this is neither the time nor the place." He smiled crookedly at Ron. "Don't look so disappointed." He handed Ron his book, winking impishly. "Happy reading."
Ron watched him walk away, his gait as graceful and well-balanced as a cat's. He sighed, repeating to himself the mantra about not dating the ex of a friend, and opened the book. A folded slip of parchment fell out.
After checking to see that no one was watching, Ron somewhat cautiously unfolded it. In a neat and artful script, someone had written:
Meet me tonight- fifth floor of the Astronomy Tower. There's a disused classroom to your right as you come up the stairs. 11:55. Be on time if you want your birthday present.
-DM.
Ron stared at it, digesting it slowly. He closed the book and stared out across the lake smiling, his mind swimming with new possibilities.
