Chapter 2

The sun that had blazed so fiercely over Hogwarts was baking Harry and Hermione as they wandered aimlessly through Hogsmeade. 

"Let's try that joke shop you like," said Hermione, grabbing Harry by the wrist and dragging him toward Zonko's. 

"No, I don't think so," said Harry despondently. 

Hermione sighed.  "Well, do you have any idea of what to give him then?"

It was Harry's turn to sigh as he looked sheepishly at his feet, his always-untidy hair falling down to cover his emerald eyes. 

"Well, let's at least get a drink, all right?" suggested Hermione with a touch more tenderness.  Harry shrugged and they ambled off toward the Three Broomsticks.  Once inside, Hermione found them a table and went to fetch drinks.  She returned a few moments later with two clinking glasses filled with a pale orange bubbling liquid. 

"What's that?"  asked Harry.

"One of my favorites- lemonade and orange.  Simple, yet refreshing."  She sat down across from Harry and shoved a glass at him, which he took somewhat numbly.  "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About you Harry.  What is wrong?"  The last few days you've been nothing but unhappy, dragging around, looking glumly at your feet, not even getting interested in quidditch or Ron's birthday or anything."

"I am interested."

"Well, you've adopted a funny way of showing it."

"No, it's just… I've got other things on my mind."

"Like Ron, for example?"

Harry started, alarmed.  "What?!?"

"Like Ron, I said.  Do you need your hearing tested or something?"

"Hermione, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not being ridiculous.  I can always tell when you're in love.  You get that same slightly stupid look around him that you used to get around that girl, Cho, that you liked for so long."

"Don't get clever Hermione, or I'll show you how you used to look when you were around Ron last year."

Hermione blushed slightly.  "Yeah, well, I've got one on you," she said slyly.  "At least I've kissed him." 

"Yeah, well I've seen him naked," countered Harry, matching his friend's coy smile.

"Only in the showers!"

"So?  Bare is bare in my book."  They collapsed into foolish giggling, realizing who they were talking about. 

"Seriously now," said Hermione recovering her dignity after a few moments.  "Just tell me:  are you in love with him?"

Harry looked down at his drink.  "Yes." 

Hermione sat back, tucking a loose strand of her curly hair behind one ear.  "Well, what do you intend to do about it?" 

"I don't know.  I don't suppose there's much I can do."

"There's plenty," said Hermione, attacking the problem as though it were astronomy homework.  "Firstly, you can figure out if he feels the same way about you."  

"How do I do that?"

"I'm not really sure.  You could ask him."

Harry looked at her flatly.

"All right, all right then, don't get your knickers in a twist."  Hermione paused.  "I could ask him."

"No, don't do that.  It'd be silly."

"It wouldn't.  I'd just ask him who he currently fancies."

"Hermione, no."

"Why not?"

"Because… I think he fancies Malfoy."

Hermione was briefly stunned, but had the tact not to show it.  She reached a hand across the table to hold Harry's in a gesture of tenderness rarely seen in her.  "I'm sorry Harry,"  she said somewhat more softly. 

"It's all right,"  said Harry, sitting up straighter and taking his hand back.  "Ron will get over him.  Everyone does, eventually."

~*~*~*~*~*~

At 11:50, Ron slipped out of bed and deftly borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak before making his way silently through the sleeping school.  The corridors always seemed so much larger at night, and so deafeningly still.

At 11:56, he arrived in the disused classroom in Draco's note.  He was shocked at first to find it empty.    Everybody knew that if Draco Malfoy asked you to meet him somewhere at night, it was a serious offer and the pleasures awaiting you were beyond refusal.  And yet, the room appeared to be deserted.  Ron dropped the cloak and stood very still, unsure of what to do. 

"You're late Weasley," said a cool voice form the shadows. 

Ron jumped about a foot in the air.  "Malfoy?"

A magical fire sprung up in the hearth, its golden light casting into relief the shape and face of the blond boy to whom Ron had spoken earlier.  He moved across the room slowly to Ron, who stood rooted to the spot.  "Um… how'd you get that note into my book?"

Draco waved an elegant hand disdainfully.  "Sleight of hand has been a hobby of mine since I was a child."

"Really?"

"Your brothers are not the only ones who find muggle 'magic' useful."  By this time he was very close to Ron, their bodies separated by mere inches of air.  Draco was a bout four inches shorter ('the same height as Harry' thought Ron) than his flame-haired counterpart, and he bent his head back to look into Ron's face.  "Well, Ron," he said, his voice smooth and glistening with seduction, "don't you want your birthday present?"

Without waiting for a reply he gripped Ron's shoulders and pulled him down into a deep kiss.  His lips seemed to have increased in their softness since the afternoon, although this time they were far less timid.  Ron answered readily, taking as much of Draco as his lips could handle.  His tongue slid forward into the other boy's mouth, and they dueled viciously.  The room seemed to be getting warmer as their passion increased; both of them were definitely wearing far too many clothes. 

Ron could feel sure hands move to unbutton his robes, which in a moment slid to the floor in a silent black pool.  He broke the kiss for a moment so that he could do the same, being far less adept at undressing another person. 

When both boys were down to their trousers, Draco moved closer to wrap one arm around Ron's neck and the other around his chest.  He moved as though to kiss him again, but at the last moment his mouth swerved to the right and began kissing and biting a trail down Ron's neck.  A hand moved deftly to make small circles around the nipple.  Ron moaned deep in his throat, letting his head fall to the side exposing more neck to be tasted, feeling waves of white-hot electricity breaking over him. 

Without realizing it, Ron had been maneuvered over to a pile of luxurious blue and black blankets by the fireplace.  The fabrics glowed softly in the light, an inviting nest of silks and soft down filling.  Draco removed his clean, pressed trousers before turning his attention to Ron's.  The flame-haired boy watched his clothing being slowly and ceremoniously removed, feeling desire course through him as though his blood had been replaced with hit, sweet wine. 

Draco knelt before him kissing, licking, his tongue playing intimate games all over Ron's now naked body.  Ron let his head fall back and a moan escape his soft lips that were glistening in the warmth of the firelight. 

Then he felt the sure hands of his partner guide, pull, push him down towards the blankets.  Ron lay down upon them, letting his body get to know every texture that it touched before Draco laid down on him, and all was lost. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

Too soon, it was over, and Ron felt Draco retreating from him as their breathing returned to normal and their eyes and minds cleared.  The blond boy moved off of Ron, who was still lying on his back, staring into the fire and steadying himself after the most intense emotional rush of his entire life.  Draco settled himself between him and the fire, his eyes and face aglow with sweat and sex.

"Happy birthday, Ron," he said.  He picked up Ron's right hand and kissed each fingertip sensually.  The he kissed the back of the hand and returned it to its owner.  "Now, go on back to your tower and gat some rest.  You've a big day ahead of you."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Guess what happened to me last night."  Ron fairly leapt into his seat beside Hermione at the breakfast table on the morning of his birthday.  He was secretly relieved to find that breakfast almost over, and Hermione was one of only four or five Gryffindors still eating.  He also sighed secretly in relief that Harry wasn't there; he somehow doubted that Harry would have been pleased to hear of Ron's adventures of the night before. 

"What?"  Hermione barely looked up from her book and orange juice.

Ron leaned in close so that no one else would hear.  "I had sex with Draco Malfoy."

Hermione choked briefly.  "You're joking," she spluttered after a moment of confused hacking.

"Am not."  Ron leaned back proudly.

"Did you really, seriously, honest-and-truly have Malfoy last night?"

"I did."

Hermione grew pale.  "I don't believe it."

"I know."  Ron had lost none of his glee.  "Hey, do you think I should tell Harry?"

"No."  Hermione's answer nearly cut him off.   "Definitely not." She rose, gathering her things.

"You all right, Hermione?"

"Fine.  Erm… I have to go."  She started to go, then turned back to Ron for a moment.  "Oh, I almost forgot.  Happy birthday, Ron."