Nov.02: Shhh! They're asleep. It's like 12 PM over here, wish I could sleep that late. So, let me just jump right into the thank yous cuz I gots to go grocery shopping like in 15 minutes.

THNX ~*cihbecca*~ Well, if you hate Ron/Harry then I wouldn't read like the chapter after the 3rd Task which is coming to the Epilogue cuz there will be some Harry/Ron nookie! LOLOL

Thanks ~*Sheena*~ I plan on getting Ron and Drake back by *whispers to screen* Got it? Isn't that kewl?! It's going to be such a shocker!

Thank you ~*Aloh Dark*~ I am mean! LOLOLOL! Thanks for the Dumbledore idea! It's in this chapter!

Thanks ~*Snowdrop*~ Though it seems like there's no hope, especially near the end, I WILL ALWAYS MAKE RON AND DRACO HAPPY!

THNX ~*Draco's Worst Nightmare*~ Love the name! If they were hear to respond Draco would be like: Damn my Father to Muggle Hell!

Ron: I'm a big brave Gryffindor! *smile*

Harry: I'm getting' some! *does a happy dance*

But they aren't here. *sigh*

Thanks ~*SparkySparkles*~ You know Ron's smart...as you will read in this chapter! Now, it's up to Draco.

Thank you ~*sexy-as-ron*~ Of course I will continue! I will not rest until they are together! *stands in a superhero stance*

Thanks ~*Key*~ I may have broken them up but I get to put them together!!!!!! YAYAYAY!!!

THNX ~* Pervert Bitch*~ Simmer down! We all want a piece of Lucius, in more ways than one. *wink, wink* HEHEHEHE!

Thank you ~*KC Matthews*~ U gots writer's block? That's crap! Take a break....and come back later. That's what I do!

Thanks ~*Suzanne*~ Don't u fret! It will end happy! I can't wait 'til you all read the Epilogue!

Thank you ~*Maleficent*~ I love thunderstorms!

And THNX ~*Akemi*~ Trig sux! Stay in Geo! They will have peace!

It so kewl to see everyone cares for them! And Harry as well! Everyone was like 'I love you' so *does a hand kiss blow thingie* I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, kick back, relax and read!

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Chpt 24

Ron paced the Common Room floor. Draco had just dumped him. He had just told him he felt that the relationship was sex and sex only. He said that he was using him.

Draco said a lot of things he didn't mean.

Ron knew but didn't know why. Ron understood that someone else was working here, using Draco as their puppet.

"Ron? What's wrong? You didn't come down to lunch." George called. Now he was the last person to ask where and why wasn't he where he was supposed to be.

"Nothing,"

"Did Malfoy -I mean- Draco say something?"

"He said he wanted to break up."

"No. I'll kill him." George bellowed. "After all the convincing you've done, self-sacrifice you had to do, this is how he repays you."

"Listen," Ron re-told his older brother if the day's earlier events. Of how he discovered and healed his bruise, how Draco changed immediately.

"So...what are you saying?" George sat down, taking in all the information. "Do you think he wasn't in his right mind?"

"Exactly. I think-"

"I think that I was right. A Malfoy is a Malfoy is a Malfoy." A voice reprimanded.

Ron turned to see a friend of yesteryear creep out from the shadows, cobwebs of his mind. "Harry."

"Ron, I know you don't want to hear it but I was right about him. He is no good." Harry sat on the couch, a little space between him and George.

"No. You're wrong. And where did you come from?"

"Lunch. Prove me wrong."

"Like I said when he first was talking to me he was Draco with a hideous bruise. It was horrible. I healed it, from the class I've been taking with Pomfrey," he added, since Harry never knew about the lesson to train as a mediwizard, "Then he was like, cold."

"That's how he has always been." Harry added. "I need more to go by than that."

"That's all I have. If you knew him like I do, then you would see the difference."

"Okay, if you're right, who do you think forced him to tell?" George intervened.

"First off, who told his father? That's all I can think of. His father was the only one who had any control over him. He used to tell me about his father and the way he would 'nudge him in the right direction into the Malfoy way and inheritance'. When he said 'nudge' he really meant hit.

Draco didn't want to say a thing to his father just yet about us. He knew that his father would disapprove of it. Someone must have told Mr. Malfoy and he might have come back here to convince him to not chose me."

"And that's how he got the bruise." George suggested.

"I know it. What to do?" He plopped down on the couch between the two.

"I guess, all you can do is talk to him. Get him back."

Everyone was quiet. Ron couldn't believe it. He would have never suspected him to say that. That was the last thing he thought he would hear. But he never ceased to amaze him.

"I will do that." Ron announced, heading for the door. "Oh, and thanks a lot Harry."

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He had long since left the Gryffindor Tower hallway. He had wonder around the level for hours or maybe minutes. He didn't keep track. He sat down against a wall. Damn his father.

Draco pulled his knees close to his chest, leaving his worn out arms to stay clasped around the other around his ankles. How could he tell Ron he didn't care about him? How could he be so callous to Ron, letting out his inner Malfoy on him? He swore to himself that he would never let Ron see that side of him, unless he had to use it to protect him. He would never verbally, emotionally hurt Ron and he did.

A light weight weighed him down even more. That delicate piece of work that Ron had to pick out. Special for him because Ron thought of him when he bought this.

//How did he buy this?// Draco questioned as he stared at the relic. He loved it as much as he loved Ron. Why did his father have so much power over him?

This whole relationship started out as some way for Draco to take Ron. To have him as another trophy. His desire for him became some covetous obsession and when he had Ron, well Ron had him, he was hook line and sinker. His feelings for Ron rapidly developed from the crush he had already for Ron, that fiery angel who saved him from such darkness.

And now he was gone.

Draco laid his head, heavy with stirring emotions and memories of the past, on his knees, tears welling in his eyes. Ron was right; he was the last one who could make him happy, the last one who will love him and be loved back.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. No one was to see a Malfoy cry. As he collected himself, the voice called to him again but this time it was more personal, caring.

"Draco,"

He looked up, youth met wisdom. "Professor Dumbledore." He quickly rose from his seat on the floor.

"I was going to ask why you were here, wondering around Gryffindor territory but then I remembered you and Mr. Weasley's relationship. Though, I didn't expect to see you here, upset." The older man commented. He didn't want to say crying for he knew how touchy Malfoys were when it came to emotional response.

"I'm not upset, sir." He pulled his vest on straight, walking past the Headmaster.

"Nice necklace you have there, Mr. Malfoy. Did Mr. Weasley give that to you?"

The Slytherin stopped in his tracks. "Yes." He called over his shoulder.

"It's very lovely. Birthday gift I suppose." His voice gently rumbling out to Draco. The soft rasp of it was strangely comforting.

"Yes."

"So, why aren't you taking Mr. Weasley to your room to celebrate?" A smile twinkling in his eyes, his words and on his lips.

"Must you obtrude yourself into everyone's life." Draco growled, not meaning to sound offensive but he couldn't help it. He wanted to retreat to his room and cry himself to death.

"You're right, I do obtrude but that's because I care about my students. Especially ones that I've started to take a liking to. You surprised me when you told of the two of you in a very public way. It showed that you didn't care about the others didn't care about stereotypes. You broke boundaries and all you seemed to care about was Ron."

"I did, I do. I'm sorry for the way I acted, sir but I'm not having the best of days."

"Come, let's go take a walk and you explain to me why this isn't the best of days."

Draco propounded on his journey with a very unlikely confidant. They walked silently down halls and stairs, seeing things that Draco had never seen before in the castle. Maybe it was the simple fact that he would have gotten lost if he did go in search of them. Before he knew it, they stopped in front of a gargoyle.

"Lemon Sours." Dumbledore spoke. The figurine jumped out of the way, revealing a staircase. "Follow me."

And of course, Draco did. He climbed the winding stairs which gave way to a landing which looked liked the Headmasters office and living quarters. The walls of his office were covered in portraits of past headmasters and mistresses but as you walked past the desk and shelves containing books and the Sorting Hat, he came to a circular room with more books of wide varieties and another staircase leading, probably, to his bed.

"You may take a seat."

Draco sat on a blood red squashy couch in his living area. "Well..." Draco retold of his misadventure of, haply, finding his father, the threat to Ron's life and the breakup. "....So that's why I was there, crying on the floor. I didn't want to break if off with him but I had to. My father is insane; he would do anything to keep in check, in focus with this damn Malfoy bit. But I don't want to do this any longer; I want to live my life. I want to write novels about any and everything. I want to explore Muggle life and life outside Britain. I want to spend the rest of my life with Ron without fear of my father destroying him.

That will never happen though. I'm tempted to just say 'fuck it' and leave. Everything, including Ron because he is the love of my life. It's crazy, yes, me being so young and all, but this is the real thing, I know it. Why else would I put myself through this living Hell." Draco heaved, tears freely gliding down his angelic face.

"First of all, watch your language. As colorful as it is, I'd prefer not to hear it." The elder said, a smile never leaving his face, though his eyes showing an earnestness that Draco had only seen in Ron. "But this is very serious. Your father shouldn't hit you, you shouldn't be the upstanding adult, you shouldn't have to suffer for you father's shortcomings." He added, talking about the newfound fact of Lucius longing for a certain patriarchal Weasley.

"I get used to it, the hitting."

The Headmaster's ever-changing eyes harden with that simple saying. "No child should have to get used to being hit. I will put you and Mr. Weasley in a protected house with an Auror/Professor who will protect you. You do not have to live in dread."

"Yes, but Ron will never come back to me. That's the second time I've hurt him...more like the fourth time not including all the times I've made fun of him. He'd never agree to it. He's best off without me. He should be with Potter." Draco looked at Dumbledore to see if he would question why Ron should be with Potter.

"I don't want to know about that. That's their business. You can intervene if you want."

"No. He's safer with Potter, loving Potter, than with me."

"How? Harry is under constant pressure to be the hero of the day. Voldemort is after him. Ron would be in much more peril."

"No he wouldn't. With Potter, Ron wouldn't have to worry about my father who would kill him or send Voldemort on him. With Potter, Ron could be cared for, treasured. He wouldn't have to worry because he would be with his best friend, a Gryffindor. Aren't friends the best lovers?" he joked albeit morbidly.

"You really love Ron, don't you?"

Draco grasped the cross, "With all my being. I'd do anything to insure his health, his safety."

"Then, all I can tell you is follow your heart. As old and worn out as it is, it's the best advice to date. Also don't become too maudlin over the necklace or else your heart will never heal, which ever way you chose."

So, Draco left, decisions floating around his head. All he wanted now was an aspirin fix.