Harry had to get up in the middle of the night; he couldn't sleep after
hours of trying in vain. He sat up for a while, just looking around the
room. Neville was snoring slightly, and Ron was muttering something in his
sleep about Hermione needing to put down her book. A smile crept across
Harry's face, as he fumbled around for his glasses. He picked them up off
of the small table next to him, and swung his feet over the edge of his
bed. Stepping to his feet, he walked down to the common room, suddenly
feeling wide-awake.
Great, he thought, my potions exam is tomorrow and I'm not going to get any sleep.
As he stepped down the stairs, he noticed that there was already a fire going. He couldn't complain though; it was nice and warm. As he sunk down onto the couch, a voice startled him and he jumped.
"Couldn't sleep either?"
He immediately recognized the Irish accent, and turned his head to see Fae sitting on the floor with her back leaned up against the couch. She hadn't even turned to look at him, and her eyes bore into the fire.
For a long time he didn't say anything. His scar was hurting again, but he figured maybe, instead of just running away from it, he should stay and try to figure out as much as he could. Finally, he stretched. "Nope. I reckon I had too much caffeine."
Fae smirked, still keeping her eyes on the fire. She raised herself to the couch and sat down next to him, a little too close for comfort. He eyed her nervously, and she leaned against him as if they were old friends again, and there had never been certain weirdness between them.
There was another long uncomfortable silence, although she seemed to be unfazed as she continued to stare into the flames. They danced and hissed, and the logs popped every now and then. He found himself to be staring too, until she lifted her head and looked at him. The sudden pain shocked him greatly, but he gritted his teeth and tried to bear it. What she did next was the last thing he had expected.
She put her hand on the back of his neck, leaned in, and kissed him.
Harry gasped, and pulled away. "Fae! What are you doing?" his whispered harshly. She only watched him intently as if she were waiting for something. Suddenly, his eyelids felt very, very, heavy. It spread throughout his entire body and he felt weak and vulnerable, as if he were in a daze.
"Shh.." she said, and suddenly everything he saw went black.
Harry was found lying face down in front of the fireplace the next day. He was in the same condition as Hermione.
+ + +
They were finally allowed to visit, after a few good hours of annoying Madame Pomfrey. Ginny, the twins, Ron and Fae slowly made their way into the infirmary. They weren't sure if they wanted to see what they were about to or not. None of them had actually seen them since they were found; it was Neville who had found Harry, and Parvati who found Hermione.
The assistant nurse directed them to a curtain shielding the two beds, and gravely drew them back. Ginny clenched her fists, trying to be strong. Harry and Hermione were as pale as milk, their lips a stone-gray color, and their eyes were open. Hermione's once lively brown eyes were a lifeless, pale honey color. Harry's looked like someone smashed two emeralds into a pile of dull stone and dust. The only thing that symbolized any life was their chests moving up slightly now and then and the sound of their soft, shallow breathing.
+ + +
They all sat in the common room, not really knowing what to say. A few other Gryffindors had joined them, and some of the first year girls were even crying, though it was probably only because they were in Harry's fan club. Ron knew what he wanted to say. He wanted everyone to believe him that Fae was the one responsible for it. Then he wanted her to be expelled, Harry and Hermione to wake up, and Tracy would take her place where she used to be in the former 'trio'. Although for a while it had been more like a quartet-he still wouldn't forgive her for that-but she apparently realized that they believed that she had created the dark mark, and had stopped hanging around them. Then he got this bloody detention assignment.. ugh.
He needed to walk.
Walking always cleared his mind, for some reason. He didn't bother to ask if it worked for anyone else, but he knew it did for him. True, Fae would have to be attached to him, but they had learned to ignore each other over the weeks. Finally, he heaved a sigh and stood up. She looked up at him curiously but he only flicked his eyes to meet hers for a second, and then jerked his head toward the door. She sighed too and stood up, and the two of them headed out of the common room. Fae wasn't really in the mood for walking, but it did help to get all of the other students' accusing eyes off of her.
They wandered around for a bit, not saying anything to each other. Fae had a hard time keeping up with Ron's long strides, and he wasn't even walking that fast. She scuttled along after him while he treaded with ease, and she could have sworn she heard him laughing quietly at her.
They wound up somewhere she recognized all too well: the hall leading to Madame Hooch's room. Thoughts that she had managed to not think about over the past few days flooded her mind again. She was being a drama queen and a hypocrite, she knew. It was a relationship she had started when they were fifteen, did she really expect it to last? And she always said 'boys are stupid, get over it.' Now she was being so theatrical about things, but she couldn't seem to help it. She cleared her throat and finally said something.
"I think it's past curfew.. we should be getting back." She said, but he only didn't say anything. She nervously tried again as they neared the door to Hooch's room. There was a light on the other side. "I really don't want to be responsible for losing any more house points, you know. People hate me enough as it is."
"Shh." He stopped in his tracks.
She held her breath, hoping that there was no Draco and Tracy on the other side of the door. But of course, she heard their voices mumbling something. She winced and slumped against the wall as he listened intently.
"Sounds like Draco's with someone else." He said, and Fae looked up at him in utter shock. How insensitive could someone be?
"You don't want to know who." She said back, and was surprised with herself. Now she really was being a big hypocrite. He glanced at her and then listened more intently, her words of course only making him more eager to hear who was on the other side with him.
Finally, Draco muttered her name in a tone that obviously gave away just what they were doing. Fae cringed and Ron's eyes widened as he pressed himself up against the door. Apparently Tracy and Draco hadn't shut it all the way in their mad attempt to undo belt buckles and zippers, and the door swung open. Ron spilled onto the floor, Fae of course right behind him, and Tracy screamed at the top of her lungs. She climbed off of Draco and grabbed her clothes as Ron looked up at her, an insane amount of hurt and shock on his face. Draco saw Fae and cursed before doing the same as Tracy.
For a long time there was silence as the two former couples just stared at each other. Finally, Ron choked out "Tracy.."
"What?" she spat in her true English accent. There was more silence, and finally, Draco smirked.
"Well, Weasley, you caught us." He said, buttoning up his shirt. "Yeah, Tracy and I have known each other for a while because of our families knowing each other. She's not really from America. We've been together now for about a year, and she knows my devotion to Quidditch. So she agreed to help me to get Potter's flying tactics. And she hates him just as much as I do, so we figured we could get even more to get him expelled by using his best friend. Well, seeing as to how you were weaker than Potter," he spat at Ron, who narrowed his eyes. He turned to Fae, "And I said I would use you, because you're even weaker."
She bit her lip so hard she felt a pinprick of blood form under her teeth. Weak.. she was weak and more than just she knew it. Draco started walking around the room as Tracy looked as if she were going to kill him; he was practically telling them everything they *didn't* need to know. Ron stood up and Fae saw that he was red in the face, and looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"Well," Draco said, "You weren't completely weak. I figured the best way to get information on Potter was to get you at your weakest point, which would be, of course, during sex."
Fae went rigid but he didn't seem to notice. He stopped before her. "You wouldn't do it though. So, eventually, I was planning on working up some kind of vulnerability potion or charm.. brilliant, huh? So then when you were at your weakest stage I'd ask you, and you'd tell me any thing. Oh, and if you hadn't already guessed.. no, I never did love you or your mudblood thoughts and beliefs."
Ron didn't know what he was doing. It all happened in a blur. He remembered shouting "You bloody bastard!" and then connecting his fist with Malfoy's jaw. The Slytherin was knocked sprawled out onto the floor, and after a moment, everything Draco saw went black. The redhead looked down on him, breathing so hard you would think he just ran the mile. As his chest heaved up and down, he looked at Tracy, his expression still filled with anger. A tear formed in his eye and he wiped it away with the back of his hand and then bolted out of the room, pulling Fae behind him.
She didn't argue, and they both ran. They ran, and ran, and ran, not knowing where their destination was. Their feet beat the ground, and for the briefest moment they had some kind of understanding. As if for a concise second they didn't have any resentment toward each other. As they alighted back down to reality, they found themselves outside by the lake. The sun had just set and the first stars were starting to show. No winds were gusting and the waters looked like black stained glass.
They stood there, not saying anything, for what seemed like ages. They were both breathing what seemed like their last breaths as they just looked out onto the waters. The wind finally started to pick up, chilling them and blowing their hair in and around their eyes. Eventually, their breathing was back to a normal speed. They stood outside, wordless, for another hour or so, until Ron finally sighed.
"C'mon Stormy," his voice was hoarse as he sniffed, "We best be going inside."
She didn't say anything at all, even when they reached the common room. Ron only nodded at his greetings from the twins. (Fred and Parvati seemed very busy snogging any way.) They went into their separate dormitories with only a quick glance at each other, and stayed there for the rest of the night.
As she was crawling into her bed, Fae paused. He called me Stormy, she thought, what's that supposed to mean?
+ + +
The next few weeks were very awkward for Fae and Ron. They were both always unhappy because of their misfortunate encounter with Tracy and Draco. But they felt that no matter what they could say, they wouldn't be able to comfort each other because of their past. And because of this, they didn't try to.
Fae figured that it was somewhat for the better. She probably wouldn't have worked up the courage to go up to Ron and tell him that the girl he loved wasn't even being true to him. Which, of course, would have made it an immensely difficult thing to tell Draco she knew. But either way, it did cause her to lose sleep at night.
She couldn't even imagine how Ron felt. With Tracy cheating on him, and on top of that Harry and Hermione were found near death, so he had absolutely no one to talk to about it. He did have his twin brothers, but they were in the midst of their relationships with Lavender and Parvati, and probably wouldn't be much more than half-hearted about it. Then of course Ginny was a girl. Enough said. And he obviously wasn't going to come crying to Fae about it, seeing as to how they seemed to get along even worse than he and Draco.
+ + +
After breakfast the next day, she and Ron had barely made it halfway down the hall to the Gryffindor common room before he stopped. He heaved a sigh and leaned up against the wall, looking up at the ceiling.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
He rolled his eyes. "No, Stormy, nothing is wrong. Things just couldn't be better."
She ignored his sarcasm, and instead took note that he had called her that again. "Why do you keep calling me that?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.
He didn't answer, and his ears turned a little pink. She shook her head and sighed, shoving her free hand in the pocket of her black cargo shorts. "You know, you shouldn't beat yourself up over that."
He snorted. "Wouldn't that make you kind of a hypocrite? You've been just as depressed."
"I don't know, I'm just saying you deserve better." For a long time there was silence. Then, he looked at her in sheer, utter disbelief. "You just said something nice about me," he said, as his eyes grew wide
All this was followed by even more silence, and she winced. Smooth one, Fae. Open mouth; insert foot, she thought sarcastically.
She felt something moving on her wrist that was bound to Ron, and for a wild moment she thought that he was grabbing for her hand. Instead, when she looked down, one of the 'links' to the handcuffs they had on sent off a radiant white light, and then disappeared. They looked at each other for the briefest instant, before figuring out just what the trick was to getting these handcuffs off.
"Ron, I have to say you're the most wonderful person I know."
"Oh, Fae sweetheart, you're just too kind." He said with a lisp, waving his hand.
"No, I insist! You have to be the most suave debonair I've ever met."
He laughed, and another link disappeared. This carried on for a while until there was one link left. They had been saying insanely nice things about the other, whether they thought it was true or not. Their 'confessions' and 'compliments' were zinging so fast that Ron didn't have time to stop himself before he shouted:
"I think you have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen!"
As soon as he said it, they both turned deathly quiet. The things they had said earlier were just obvious excuses to get the cuffs off, but he sounded like he meant this. They just looked at each other, until the last link disappeared. There was an even brighter white light, and they felt the shimmering cuffs vanish from their wrists. They looked at their wrists and moved them around, getting used to the feel of being free. Then they looked back up into each other's eyes again. Fae realized just how close they were standing and.
"Glad *that's* over, Weasley."
"And not soon enough!"
They folded their arms and huffed, turning their backs to one another.
+ + +
The next day, Fae and Violete were walking to class together, and she noticed that she wasn't attached to Ron.
"Where's your shadow?" she asked, peering around her corner.
Fae smiled triumphantly. "We finally got those God-forsaken cuffs off."
"How?" she asked as they stood before Fae and Hermione's empty lab table.
"He had to gnaw off his hand."
She giggled. "Honestly, Fae, you two fight like you were a married couple."
"Married? Violete, darling, I could barely stand being attached to him for a few weeks; how do you expect us to ever be a married couple? Besides, that's disgusting."
Snape stormed in to the classroom. They exchanged glances before running to their seats and hoping that he hadn't noticed. Of course, he had.
"Five points from Gryffindor; you can all thank Fae."
Her jaw dropped as angry mumbling and groans came from her fellow classmates. Heaving a sigh and rested her hand on her cheek, she thought and so starts another lovely day.
"Has anyone seen Mr Weasley?" the Professor asked, "Not that I'm complaining; one less Gryffindor means one less Potion disaster."
Fae looked up and saw that Ron was missing. She figured he was skipping their first class because of Tracy. The girl had probably hurt him profoundly, but he would never admit to it. Across the room, the blonde caught her eye; she was flirting madly with one of the Hufflepuff boys and Fae wanted to just run over and rip her throat out so she'd never have to hear that annoying giggle again.
"Ron's sick, professor." Fred replied. Snape, who was standing bent over his attendance sheet, barely flicked his eyes up at him before checking off Ron's name.
When they reached Care of Magical Creatures, however, Ron was there. When the others asked him if he was feeling better, he just nodded and didn't say anything. Although when he saw Draco, he let out a bit of a snicker. He had a very noticeable fat lip and the corner of his mouth was bruised from when he punched him the night before. She and Ron's stare met for a spilt second before they tore away again. Fae rolled her gray eyes and put her head down on her desk.
Married couple my arse.
+ + +
As they neared summer vacation, the amount of students being found paralyzed increased-Ironically, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was also discovered. Which wasn't surprising, they seemed to be getting a new one every other year any way and no one had bothered to even get close to this professor because they knew they would just be replaced for some odd reason. Eventually, almost the entire Gryffindor house was fallen victim. Everyone except Parvati, Dean, Neville, that annoying boy who always followed Harry around with a camera-Fae couldn't remember his name-Ron, and of course Fae.
Ron felt like he was hanging by a thread. His two best friends, his brothers and sister were all near death. Not to mention everything that had happened with Tracy. He had really liked her. he imagined that it was probably love. He had never felt for anyone the way he felt for her, and he was so sure he felt the same. He missed the taste of her strawberry-kiwi lip-gloss or the smell of her Ralph Lauren perfume. Ron always used to tease her for it because she spent so much money on one little bottle to make sure she smelled good. He missed how ditzy she got when she was excited and her thrilled smile that went along with it. He missed her sparkles and glitter and rays-of-sunshine hair when he wound it around his finger. She never looked anything less than perfect, always seeming to be fresh from a shower when he saw her, and sometimes when he snuck into the Hufflepuff common room to speak to her, she'd do so while painting her toenails or drying her hair. Any other girl would say she wore entirely too much make up, but he thought it made her look even more beautiful. He tried to hide how much he missed things by not talking about it, or whenever he did have to, he'd act like it didn't bother him. Throwing on an act, he'd say "Yeah, well things are for the better," or "I never really liked her any way, I'm over it." But really, deep down.. God, he missed things.
Great, he thought, my potions exam is tomorrow and I'm not going to get any sleep.
As he stepped down the stairs, he noticed that there was already a fire going. He couldn't complain though; it was nice and warm. As he sunk down onto the couch, a voice startled him and he jumped.
"Couldn't sleep either?"
He immediately recognized the Irish accent, and turned his head to see Fae sitting on the floor with her back leaned up against the couch. She hadn't even turned to look at him, and her eyes bore into the fire.
For a long time he didn't say anything. His scar was hurting again, but he figured maybe, instead of just running away from it, he should stay and try to figure out as much as he could. Finally, he stretched. "Nope. I reckon I had too much caffeine."
Fae smirked, still keeping her eyes on the fire. She raised herself to the couch and sat down next to him, a little too close for comfort. He eyed her nervously, and she leaned against him as if they were old friends again, and there had never been certain weirdness between them.
There was another long uncomfortable silence, although she seemed to be unfazed as she continued to stare into the flames. They danced and hissed, and the logs popped every now and then. He found himself to be staring too, until she lifted her head and looked at him. The sudden pain shocked him greatly, but he gritted his teeth and tried to bear it. What she did next was the last thing he had expected.
She put her hand on the back of his neck, leaned in, and kissed him.
Harry gasped, and pulled away. "Fae! What are you doing?" his whispered harshly. She only watched him intently as if she were waiting for something. Suddenly, his eyelids felt very, very, heavy. It spread throughout his entire body and he felt weak and vulnerable, as if he were in a daze.
"Shh.." she said, and suddenly everything he saw went black.
Harry was found lying face down in front of the fireplace the next day. He was in the same condition as Hermione.
+ + +
They were finally allowed to visit, after a few good hours of annoying Madame Pomfrey. Ginny, the twins, Ron and Fae slowly made their way into the infirmary. They weren't sure if they wanted to see what they were about to or not. None of them had actually seen them since they were found; it was Neville who had found Harry, and Parvati who found Hermione.
The assistant nurse directed them to a curtain shielding the two beds, and gravely drew them back. Ginny clenched her fists, trying to be strong. Harry and Hermione were as pale as milk, their lips a stone-gray color, and their eyes were open. Hermione's once lively brown eyes were a lifeless, pale honey color. Harry's looked like someone smashed two emeralds into a pile of dull stone and dust. The only thing that symbolized any life was their chests moving up slightly now and then and the sound of their soft, shallow breathing.
+ + +
They all sat in the common room, not really knowing what to say. A few other Gryffindors had joined them, and some of the first year girls were even crying, though it was probably only because they were in Harry's fan club. Ron knew what he wanted to say. He wanted everyone to believe him that Fae was the one responsible for it. Then he wanted her to be expelled, Harry and Hermione to wake up, and Tracy would take her place where she used to be in the former 'trio'. Although for a while it had been more like a quartet-he still wouldn't forgive her for that-but she apparently realized that they believed that she had created the dark mark, and had stopped hanging around them. Then he got this bloody detention assignment.. ugh.
He needed to walk.
Walking always cleared his mind, for some reason. He didn't bother to ask if it worked for anyone else, but he knew it did for him. True, Fae would have to be attached to him, but they had learned to ignore each other over the weeks. Finally, he heaved a sigh and stood up. She looked up at him curiously but he only flicked his eyes to meet hers for a second, and then jerked his head toward the door. She sighed too and stood up, and the two of them headed out of the common room. Fae wasn't really in the mood for walking, but it did help to get all of the other students' accusing eyes off of her.
They wandered around for a bit, not saying anything to each other. Fae had a hard time keeping up with Ron's long strides, and he wasn't even walking that fast. She scuttled along after him while he treaded with ease, and she could have sworn she heard him laughing quietly at her.
They wound up somewhere she recognized all too well: the hall leading to Madame Hooch's room. Thoughts that she had managed to not think about over the past few days flooded her mind again. She was being a drama queen and a hypocrite, she knew. It was a relationship she had started when they were fifteen, did she really expect it to last? And she always said 'boys are stupid, get over it.' Now she was being so theatrical about things, but she couldn't seem to help it. She cleared her throat and finally said something.
"I think it's past curfew.. we should be getting back." She said, but he only didn't say anything. She nervously tried again as they neared the door to Hooch's room. There was a light on the other side. "I really don't want to be responsible for losing any more house points, you know. People hate me enough as it is."
"Shh." He stopped in his tracks.
She held her breath, hoping that there was no Draco and Tracy on the other side of the door. But of course, she heard their voices mumbling something. She winced and slumped against the wall as he listened intently.
"Sounds like Draco's with someone else." He said, and Fae looked up at him in utter shock. How insensitive could someone be?
"You don't want to know who." She said back, and was surprised with herself. Now she really was being a big hypocrite. He glanced at her and then listened more intently, her words of course only making him more eager to hear who was on the other side with him.
Finally, Draco muttered her name in a tone that obviously gave away just what they were doing. Fae cringed and Ron's eyes widened as he pressed himself up against the door. Apparently Tracy and Draco hadn't shut it all the way in their mad attempt to undo belt buckles and zippers, and the door swung open. Ron spilled onto the floor, Fae of course right behind him, and Tracy screamed at the top of her lungs. She climbed off of Draco and grabbed her clothes as Ron looked up at her, an insane amount of hurt and shock on his face. Draco saw Fae and cursed before doing the same as Tracy.
For a long time there was silence as the two former couples just stared at each other. Finally, Ron choked out "Tracy.."
"What?" she spat in her true English accent. There was more silence, and finally, Draco smirked.
"Well, Weasley, you caught us." He said, buttoning up his shirt. "Yeah, Tracy and I have known each other for a while because of our families knowing each other. She's not really from America. We've been together now for about a year, and she knows my devotion to Quidditch. So she agreed to help me to get Potter's flying tactics. And she hates him just as much as I do, so we figured we could get even more to get him expelled by using his best friend. Well, seeing as to how you were weaker than Potter," he spat at Ron, who narrowed his eyes. He turned to Fae, "And I said I would use you, because you're even weaker."
She bit her lip so hard she felt a pinprick of blood form under her teeth. Weak.. she was weak and more than just she knew it. Draco started walking around the room as Tracy looked as if she were going to kill him; he was practically telling them everything they *didn't* need to know. Ron stood up and Fae saw that he was red in the face, and looked like he was on the verge of tears.
"Well," Draco said, "You weren't completely weak. I figured the best way to get information on Potter was to get you at your weakest point, which would be, of course, during sex."
Fae went rigid but he didn't seem to notice. He stopped before her. "You wouldn't do it though. So, eventually, I was planning on working up some kind of vulnerability potion or charm.. brilliant, huh? So then when you were at your weakest stage I'd ask you, and you'd tell me any thing. Oh, and if you hadn't already guessed.. no, I never did love you or your mudblood thoughts and beliefs."
Ron didn't know what he was doing. It all happened in a blur. He remembered shouting "You bloody bastard!" and then connecting his fist with Malfoy's jaw. The Slytherin was knocked sprawled out onto the floor, and after a moment, everything Draco saw went black. The redhead looked down on him, breathing so hard you would think he just ran the mile. As his chest heaved up and down, he looked at Tracy, his expression still filled with anger. A tear formed in his eye and he wiped it away with the back of his hand and then bolted out of the room, pulling Fae behind him.
She didn't argue, and they both ran. They ran, and ran, and ran, not knowing where their destination was. Their feet beat the ground, and for the briefest moment they had some kind of understanding. As if for a concise second they didn't have any resentment toward each other. As they alighted back down to reality, they found themselves outside by the lake. The sun had just set and the first stars were starting to show. No winds were gusting and the waters looked like black stained glass.
They stood there, not saying anything, for what seemed like ages. They were both breathing what seemed like their last breaths as they just looked out onto the waters. The wind finally started to pick up, chilling them and blowing their hair in and around their eyes. Eventually, their breathing was back to a normal speed. They stood outside, wordless, for another hour or so, until Ron finally sighed.
"C'mon Stormy," his voice was hoarse as he sniffed, "We best be going inside."
She didn't say anything at all, even when they reached the common room. Ron only nodded at his greetings from the twins. (Fred and Parvati seemed very busy snogging any way.) They went into their separate dormitories with only a quick glance at each other, and stayed there for the rest of the night.
As she was crawling into her bed, Fae paused. He called me Stormy, she thought, what's that supposed to mean?
+ + +
The next few weeks were very awkward for Fae and Ron. They were both always unhappy because of their misfortunate encounter with Tracy and Draco. But they felt that no matter what they could say, they wouldn't be able to comfort each other because of their past. And because of this, they didn't try to.
Fae figured that it was somewhat for the better. She probably wouldn't have worked up the courage to go up to Ron and tell him that the girl he loved wasn't even being true to him. Which, of course, would have made it an immensely difficult thing to tell Draco she knew. But either way, it did cause her to lose sleep at night.
She couldn't even imagine how Ron felt. With Tracy cheating on him, and on top of that Harry and Hermione were found near death, so he had absolutely no one to talk to about it. He did have his twin brothers, but they were in the midst of their relationships with Lavender and Parvati, and probably wouldn't be much more than half-hearted about it. Then of course Ginny was a girl. Enough said. And he obviously wasn't going to come crying to Fae about it, seeing as to how they seemed to get along even worse than he and Draco.
+ + +
After breakfast the next day, she and Ron had barely made it halfway down the hall to the Gryffindor common room before he stopped. He heaved a sigh and leaned up against the wall, looking up at the ceiling.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
He rolled his eyes. "No, Stormy, nothing is wrong. Things just couldn't be better."
She ignored his sarcasm, and instead took note that he had called her that again. "Why do you keep calling me that?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.
He didn't answer, and his ears turned a little pink. She shook her head and sighed, shoving her free hand in the pocket of her black cargo shorts. "You know, you shouldn't beat yourself up over that."
He snorted. "Wouldn't that make you kind of a hypocrite? You've been just as depressed."
"I don't know, I'm just saying you deserve better." For a long time there was silence. Then, he looked at her in sheer, utter disbelief. "You just said something nice about me," he said, as his eyes grew wide
All this was followed by even more silence, and she winced. Smooth one, Fae. Open mouth; insert foot, she thought sarcastically.
She felt something moving on her wrist that was bound to Ron, and for a wild moment she thought that he was grabbing for her hand. Instead, when she looked down, one of the 'links' to the handcuffs they had on sent off a radiant white light, and then disappeared. They looked at each other for the briefest instant, before figuring out just what the trick was to getting these handcuffs off.
"Ron, I have to say you're the most wonderful person I know."
"Oh, Fae sweetheart, you're just too kind." He said with a lisp, waving his hand.
"No, I insist! You have to be the most suave debonair I've ever met."
He laughed, and another link disappeared. This carried on for a while until there was one link left. They had been saying insanely nice things about the other, whether they thought it was true or not. Their 'confessions' and 'compliments' were zinging so fast that Ron didn't have time to stop himself before he shouted:
"I think you have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen!"
As soon as he said it, they both turned deathly quiet. The things they had said earlier were just obvious excuses to get the cuffs off, but he sounded like he meant this. They just looked at each other, until the last link disappeared. There was an even brighter white light, and they felt the shimmering cuffs vanish from their wrists. They looked at their wrists and moved them around, getting used to the feel of being free. Then they looked back up into each other's eyes again. Fae realized just how close they were standing and.
"Glad *that's* over, Weasley."
"And not soon enough!"
They folded their arms and huffed, turning their backs to one another.
+ + +
The next day, Fae and Violete were walking to class together, and she noticed that she wasn't attached to Ron.
"Where's your shadow?" she asked, peering around her corner.
Fae smiled triumphantly. "We finally got those God-forsaken cuffs off."
"How?" she asked as they stood before Fae and Hermione's empty lab table.
"He had to gnaw off his hand."
She giggled. "Honestly, Fae, you two fight like you were a married couple."
"Married? Violete, darling, I could barely stand being attached to him for a few weeks; how do you expect us to ever be a married couple? Besides, that's disgusting."
Snape stormed in to the classroom. They exchanged glances before running to their seats and hoping that he hadn't noticed. Of course, he had.
"Five points from Gryffindor; you can all thank Fae."
Her jaw dropped as angry mumbling and groans came from her fellow classmates. Heaving a sigh and rested her hand on her cheek, she thought and so starts another lovely day.
"Has anyone seen Mr Weasley?" the Professor asked, "Not that I'm complaining; one less Gryffindor means one less Potion disaster."
Fae looked up and saw that Ron was missing. She figured he was skipping their first class because of Tracy. The girl had probably hurt him profoundly, but he would never admit to it. Across the room, the blonde caught her eye; she was flirting madly with one of the Hufflepuff boys and Fae wanted to just run over and rip her throat out so she'd never have to hear that annoying giggle again.
"Ron's sick, professor." Fred replied. Snape, who was standing bent over his attendance sheet, barely flicked his eyes up at him before checking off Ron's name.
When they reached Care of Magical Creatures, however, Ron was there. When the others asked him if he was feeling better, he just nodded and didn't say anything. Although when he saw Draco, he let out a bit of a snicker. He had a very noticeable fat lip and the corner of his mouth was bruised from when he punched him the night before. She and Ron's stare met for a spilt second before they tore away again. Fae rolled her gray eyes and put her head down on her desk.
Married couple my arse.
+ + +
As they neared summer vacation, the amount of students being found paralyzed increased-Ironically, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was also discovered. Which wasn't surprising, they seemed to be getting a new one every other year any way and no one had bothered to even get close to this professor because they knew they would just be replaced for some odd reason. Eventually, almost the entire Gryffindor house was fallen victim. Everyone except Parvati, Dean, Neville, that annoying boy who always followed Harry around with a camera-Fae couldn't remember his name-Ron, and of course Fae.
Ron felt like he was hanging by a thread. His two best friends, his brothers and sister were all near death. Not to mention everything that had happened with Tracy. He had really liked her. he imagined that it was probably love. He had never felt for anyone the way he felt for her, and he was so sure he felt the same. He missed the taste of her strawberry-kiwi lip-gloss or the smell of her Ralph Lauren perfume. Ron always used to tease her for it because she spent so much money on one little bottle to make sure she smelled good. He missed how ditzy she got when she was excited and her thrilled smile that went along with it. He missed her sparkles and glitter and rays-of-sunshine hair when he wound it around his finger. She never looked anything less than perfect, always seeming to be fresh from a shower when he saw her, and sometimes when he snuck into the Hufflepuff common room to speak to her, she'd do so while painting her toenails or drying her hair. Any other girl would say she wore entirely too much make up, but he thought it made her look even more beautiful. He tried to hide how much he missed things by not talking about it, or whenever he did have to, he'd act like it didn't bother him. Throwing on an act, he'd say "Yeah, well things are for the better," or "I never really liked her any way, I'm over it." But really, deep down.. God, he missed things.