"But I don't understand. Why is he being so nice?"

Ron rolled his eyes and pushed his book back. No good pretending he was too busy studying to listen to Hermione. She would never believe it. "Why is this bothering you so much?"

She frowned at him disapprovingly. "It's odd. Don't you think so? If Draco Malfoy is actually being nice, you can bet something mean is going to come of it. I don't like thinking about how this could hurt us."

Ron glanced over at Harry.

Harry just shrugged. "She has a point. He's never been nice, not one time before now."

"And no one ever expected him to. Because he's a Malfoy. Is that it, Harry? Hermione? It isn't very fair to him to say that. It means he never had any choice but to be wicked. I think it's bollocks."

"Not if it's true."

Ron glared at Hermione now, put off completely. "And what about the rest of it?"

She frowned. "The rest of what?"

"Do you think the same of me? That I must be stupid and dull, that I'll always be some poor miserable lunk just because of my last name?"

She studied him, surprised. "What in the world do you have to do with this? We're not talking about you."

"Yes, you are! It's all the same, don't you see?"

Harry spoke up, his voice soft. "Ron, what do you mean?"

"I mean, maybe there isn't anything so bad about all this. Maybe he's being nice because he's tired of everyone hating him. Maybe he's lonely. Maybe he wants to be more than some Malfoy bully. Is that so hard to believe?"

"And why would he have gone to you, if that's what he wanted? Why wouldn't he have gone to Harry?"

Ron stared at Hermione for a moment, and he repeated her question to himself.

Draco's voice appeared in his head. Asking in such surprise if none of his friends had ever told him he was special.

He blinked at Hermione in realization.

Of course they hadn't. Why would they, when they didn't even think it themselves? When all they saw when they looked at him was Harry.

He was hiding under their shadows. Draco had been right all along.

He stood up and shut his Potions book so hard that Hermione jumped a bit. "I'm going to study alone."

"Oh, Ron, honestly."

He bristled at her patronizing tone, and left before she could say anything else.

***

Hermione sat back with a huff of air. "He's such a child sometimes. Really."

Beside her, Harry watched Ron go. His brow creased in concern. After a moment his gaze moved to Hermione. "Why would Draco come to me instead of Ron?"

She turned her frown on him. "Isn't it obvious? You're the one he's been so cruel to since last year. If he really wanted to make up for those awful things he's done, he would have come to you. Not Ron."

"He hasn't been exactly nice to Ron either."

"Don't tell me you believe this nonsense about Malfoy going good for no reason?"

"Well. No. But what could he be trying to do? Is he trying to turn Ron against us?"

"That's ridiculous."

Harry nodded to the empty chair where Ron was usually always sitting. "It seems that that's what he's doing, whether he wants to or not. He's got Ron behaving oddly, doesn't he?"

Hermione frowned after Ron. "Maybe we should have a talk with Malfoy."

Harry stood up. "Good idea."

She frowned after him. "I didn't mean right now."

He kept walking.

"What about our studies?"

That argument had its usual affect.

She sighed and shut her book and started after him.

***

Draco rolled his eyes and held up a hand.

Instantly, the two whining voices that had greeted his return to the Slytherin common room silenced.

"Crabbe. Goyle. Sit."

They sat.

He moved to his usual armchair in front of them and calmly sat himself. "Now. I think you two were saying something? Questioning my actions, it sounded like." He lowered his voice. "Feel free to continue."

There was silence.

Crabbe glanced at Goyle, and then braved a response. "It's just…you keep being spotted with that Weasel, and you're not here hardly ever anymore, and…we were just wondering is all. We weren't questioning you or anything. Just wondering."

"Oh, I see. Wondering." Draco smiled.

Crabbe shrank back a little.

"Well, my boys, you can go right on wondering. What I do is my own business."

"You're not going soft on the Weasel, are you?"

Draco moved a hand to his wand, raising his eyebrows.

"Sorry. I withdraw the question."

The door into the common room opened again, and Pansy Parkinson came in, all smirks. "Draco."

"Pansy."

"There's some visitors out there looking or you." She gestured back towards the door. "Don't seem to want to come in here, for some reason."

"Who is it?" He already half-knew.

Her eyebrows were raised. "Potter. Granger. They seem a bit put out with you."

Draco grinned. His little Ron must have done some more sticking up for himself, and now they were in a snit.

He stood up and glanced at Goyle and Crabbe. "Come see what my going soft, as you put it, gets me."

They followed dutifully.

Sure enough, waiting right outside the door to Slytherin's dormitories, stood Harry Potter looking almost nervous, and Granger with her arms folded and her jaw set.

Draco glanced back at his to lackeys, meeting their eyes and motioning for them to keep their mouths shut. And then he turned his pleasant, if fake, smile to the two Gryffindors. "Afternoon."

"Malfoy." Potter nodded at him and looked back at his two followers.

"I heard you were looking for me. What can I do for you?"

"Leave Ron alone."

His eyebrows lifted slightly. "Leave him alone? Am I bothering him?"

Granger opened her mouth to retort, then hesitated. "Well. Not exactly. You're bothering us."

"You? I haven't done anything to you."

She hesitated again, brow furrowing.

Potter stepped up then. His voice was, typically, quiet and level. "What are you doing with him?"

"What do you mean? Has he complained about me?"

"No. And he won't. You're too smart for that, Malfoy."

Draco raised his voice, addressing his two fellow Slytherin without looking back. "You see? This is what kindness gets you. Suspicion and persecution. Even from the sainted Harry Potter."

Potter frowned. "Come off it, Malfoy. We all know that you aren't simply being nice to Ron. I won't let you hurt him."

"You have no say in what I do with him, Potter."

"Yes, I do. He's my best friend."

Draco smirked. "Are you so sure? Does he still think so?"

Potter hesitated at that, looking for a moment uncertain.

Draco nearly laughed. "Admit it, Potter. I'm doing nothing wrong, and you just can't handle it."

"You'll slip up somewhere," Granger put in, having found her voice again. "And we'll be right there when you do."

"Watch him as closely as you like, Potter." Draco, always aware of who his only real threat was, didn't bother even looking at Granger. "You might do more harm than me in the end."

Potter frowned, but didn't have an answer.

***

Ron was surprised by a voice as he walked down the hall towards class.

"Ron?"

He stopped and looked around, and saw the door to an empty classroom opened a crack. Silver eyes peered out.

Ron smiled instantly and went over. "What are you doing in there? Hiding?"

Draco opened the door and pulled him in. He shut the door fast, leaving them in almost darkness. "It's ridiculous, isn't it? But…you know your friends came to see me yesterday."

"Harry and Hermione? Really?"

Draco nodded. He looked amused, but there was that same hurt glittering deep in his eyes. "They pulled me out of our common room and talked to me about you."

Ron's eyebrows flew up. "What did they say?"

Draco shrugged. "Some nonsense about how I must be bothering you, and they won't allow it. Quite surprised me, actually. You'd think they didn't want you to have any friends at all besides them."

"No. No, not…well, I was rather upset with them yesterday. It might have got them worrying."

"Upset? By that do you mean you actually stood up to them for once?" Draco's voice had sudden anger in it.

Ron frowned at him.

He sighed, looking back towards the door as if someone could sneak in without them noticing. "It just bothers me so much, the way they treat you. Especially now. It's…it's almost like I treat my own friends, which is bad enough in itself. But Crabbe and Goyle are brainless, really, and they don't know what to do with themselves if I'm not there to tell them. You…you're different."

"So is Harry. He isn't like that, really."

"No? Then why would he have threatened me the way he did? Just because I'm trying to be your friend."

"Oh, I don't know. I'm sorry they did that. I'll have to say something to them about it. It's a load of nonsense, really, this whole war between you and Harry. You'd think he'd have gotten over it first year."

"Well, he hasn't." Draco sighed. "But, like I said before -- I do as I please, Ron. Not even Harry Potter is going to put a stop to that. I just don't want him making things hard for you."

"Don't worry about me." Ron straightened up, his chin out. "No one can tell me not to become friends with whoever I want."

Draco grinned. "Good. You're starting to learn." He punched Ron's arm lightly. "I'm proud of you."

Ron grinned, blushing. He looked down, then up at Draco's face, then swallowed and darted in quick.

Not sure why he was daring, he pressed his lips against Draco's quickly, then pulled back and stared at his feet.

Draco touched his lips in surprise, a smile breaking out under his fingers. "What was that for?"

"For…I don't know. For everything. I should go." He stumbled a little over his feet as he turned, and headed out the door.

His heart was beating oddly fast as he hurried down the hall to the class he was already late for. His mouth stretched in a big grin against his will, and he felt almost giddy.

Strange, that. But he didn't bother thinking about it too hard.

***

"And if you really concentrate, the very first card you touch should be the answer to the question you asked the deck. All it needs is a little interpretation."

Harry glanced over at Ron, his eyebrows raised. "And a lot of imagination."

Ron looked back at him. "Hmm?"

"Nothing." Harry sighed as if put out.

Ron rolled his eyes and nudged him. "Don't go getting upset. You know how hard it is to pay attention in here."

Harry made a sound of agreement. With the temperature hot enough to make anyone feel lazy, the perfumed air, the cushioned seats, it was more than easy to slip into a doze and ignore everything.

"Alright, class. Each of you and your partners ask the Tarot a question and choose a card. I want you to discuss it with each other and write out a summary of what you saw and what you learned about yourselves."

"What? Card? What is she talking about?"

Harry laughed as he grabbed the large colorful cards sitting on the table between them. "You really weren't listening, were you?"

"Not a bit."

"Not thinking of Malfoy again, were you?" Harry grinned.

To his surprise, Ron broke into a flush. "Sort of."

Harry stared at him in surprise, but took pity on his embarrassment and held the deck out. "Pick a card and let's just make something up."

Ron reached out gratefully and grabbed one of the cards. He flipped it onto the desk.

There was a young witch and wizard on the card, holding hands and whispering to each other. The needlessly flowery scrawl at the bottom of the card said Lovers.

Harry burst into laughter, but forced it down fast before Trelawney could go back there and disapprove off him some more. "First it's some boy with flowers and you getting your heart broken, now this. And you were thinking of Malfoy?" He snickered.

Ron turned even darker red and shoved the card back to Harry. "It's a load of nonsense anyway."

"Are you sure? I'd watch out and make sure Draco Malfoy never gives you a bouquet." Harry grinned.

Ron just looked away from him. "Your turn."

Harry kept snickering to himself as he reached out and pulled a card.

He rolled his eyes instantly and threw it down on the table. There was a creature on it that looked like a skeleton with a scythe. And the word on his was, he should have guessed, Death.

He looked over to the front of the classroom.

Trelawney was looking right back at him. She nodded solemnly, as if aware of everything that was going on.

Harry groaned to himself and stuck the card back in the deck. "I hate this class."

Ron stayed quiet.

***

"Over here."

Ron smiled and followed the whisper to the line of trees that led into the Dark Woods. "Braving the woods just for me?"

Draco shrugged. He actually looked pretty comfortable sitting against the trunk of a tree. "No one will bother us, at least."

"That's true. Unless Hagrid comes out at all." Ron nodded to the light down a ways and past the trees that signified Hagrid's little house.

"I'm sure we can avoid him if we have to." Draco's tone was less than complimentary.

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Hagrid is my friend."

Draco held up a hand. "Sorry. I'm still learning this whole 'nice' thing."

Ron forgave him, of course. Considering what Draco was fighting against -- things he'd been taught his entire life -- he was doing a splendid job so far. "You don't have to be nice if you don't want to. Just don't be mean. Not about my friends."

"Not nice and not mean. What am I supposed to be?"

"I don't know. Nothing. Just don't mention them at all."

Draco studied him.

Ron sighed. "I'd rather not fight you about them. I spend enough time fighting them about you."

Draco tilted his head a little, at the same time patting the ground beside him in invitation. "So why are you doing this, Ron? Why bother with me at all if it gets you into trouble with your friends?"

"Because. I like you. I mean, I like you now. And you were right when you said they wouldn't have given you a chance. I don't know why they don't understand."

"Because they can't." Draco shrugged.

Ron sat down slowly, still confused.

Draco faced him. "You and I are the same, Ron. We're both products of our families. We've both got reputations that precede us everywhere we go. People know just by looking at us who our fathers are, and from that they know exactly how we're going to behave. You're giving me a chance because you know what it's like to be me, sort of."

Ron nodded thoughtfully. "You think we have anything else in common?"

Draco's mouth shut. He looked confused.

Ron grinned. "Come on. We're the same age, we're both boys. There has to be other things besides this grim sons-of-our-fathers bit."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you serious? I mean…what do you and Crabbe and Goyle talk about?"

Draco seemed genuinely confused. "We…we talk about…"

"Oh, let me guess. Harry."

Draco shrugged. "They're not the best conversationalists."

"How do you survive? Draco, whether you're a Malfoy or not, you're still just a dumb kid like the rest of us. Do you ever have fun?"

Draco's expression clearly broadcast the answer.

Ron laughed. "Alright. So maybe that's what I'm doing here. I have to show you how to have a little fun. Fun that doesn't involve humiliating someone else, at any rate."

Draco's eyebrows raised. "Is that possible?"

"Believe it or not." Ron grinned suddenly and wagged his eyebrows the way Draco had during their first little talk. "Got any ideas?"

Draco laughed, and then looked surprised at himself. "I see."

Ron shrugged, feeling the blush covering his face. "If you'd rather, we could sit here and talk about the quality of food at the school, or take bets on whether McGonagall was ever actually a kid, or just appeared out of nowhere one day with her hair already in that death bun of hers."

Draco chuckled again, then leaned back against the tree and smiled at Ron.

Ron couldn't help but catch his breath at the look.

Draco was…well, Ron didn't think about it much, but he supposed Draco was handsome enough. His eyes really were striking, light-colored and wide when they weren't narrowed in anger or creased in a smirk. His hair was a brilliant shade of blond, nearly white.

And right then, when he wasn't making any of his usual faces or holding himself up proud and stiff, he actually looked like a human twelve-year-old boy.

Which made him even more attractive.

Ron scooted closer to him a little, until their arms were brushing. "Getting chilly."

"Uh huh." Draco grinned, not buying the excuse for a moment. "You're not exactly subtle, are you?"

Ron laughed. "Would you like me to be more romantic or something?" He laid his head on Draco's shoulder and grabbed his hand and heaved a great big sigh. "Oh, the stars are so lovely tonight," he said in a breathy and high-pitched voice. "I wish this moment could last forever."

Draco lifted his shoulder, pushing Ron off. He was laughing quietly. "I think it's safe to say I have no need for romance."

Ron looked down at where their hands were still joined. His heart beat a little faster when he realized that Draco had no intention of letting him go, no matter what he said.

He squeezed Draco's hand and pushed himself up, twisting around. "Then how about I try just being straight to the point?" He leaned in and touched his lips to Draco's quickly.

Draco met his eye when he pulled back. "Like that, do you?"

Ron shrugged, feeling the heat of a blush all over his face. "It's something to do."

Draco tugged at his hand, pulling him back. He tilted up, but stopped a couple of inches from Ron's mouth and grinned. "I am definitely not being my father's son right at this moment."

Ron felt the breath of his words and shivered in excitement. "That's why I'm here," he replied softly.

Draco pulled him in, and they didn't talk again for a while.

***

Draco whistled to himself, in a surprisingly good mood as he put the finishing touches on the card and fastened it around the leg of his owl.

He hadn't predicted the stage he had gotten to with Weasley. He had never thought about lying on the ground in the woods at night and kissing until his lips felt strange and swollen.

He wasn't too sure how he felt about it now. This was definitely going differently then he had expected. But not badly. Not at all.

He smiled to himself and ignored the furrowed looks of his friends as he headed to the window to send the owl on its way.

***

Ron was surprised at the appearance of an owl over his head as he walked from his latest stint of detention behind the school building. It wasn't time for mail, yet there the owl was. It was a beautiful bird, too, black and graceful.

It swooped down to him in slow, deliberate circles. Its eyes were oddly light, its feathers sleek.

Ron didn't have to wonder whose owl this was. It reminded him of Draco in a lot of ways.

He reached up and tugged down the message on the owl's leg, and reached into his pocket. There were some crumbled biscuits he'd been saving from lunch, and he stretched them out as a treat.

The owl regarded the bits of bread, as if considering, then swooped down and pecked at the offering.

Just like Draco, Ron thought with a silly grin. It looked sleek and a little dangerous, but it took the biscuit without even nipping Ron's fingers.

He watched it fly away and turned his attention to the letter.

Come to the stairs where we talked last week.

That was it. No signature, no time. Just that.

Ron tucked the letter into his robe and changed direction, going towards the empty Quidditch field.

Before he could get there, he spotted the familiar, thin, loping forms of his brothers walking side by side with matching strides.

He didn't bother waving -- they were headed right for him. "George. Fred."

"Ron." George seemed oddly serious.

His twin shared the expression. "We've just come from Harry."

Ron rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Don't tell me!"

"He says you've been hanging around with Slytherin."

"That true?"

Ron sighed and moved past them, not surprised at all when they followed, one on each side. "No, it isn't. I'm not friends with the whole bloody house or anything."

"Well, good. 'Cause I don't mind telling you--"

"Just Draco," Ron finished, cutting off George or Fred in mid-sentence without looking at them.

His brothers stopped moving for a moment, and then caught up to him as he kept going. "Ron! Are you mad?"

"I'm getting there fast, with so many people interrogating me everywhere I go."

A hand on Ron's arm stopped him, and he turned with a frown to face his brothers. "Don't you two have toilets you should be hexing or something?"

"After what he's done to you and your friends? What he says about our whole family? Suddenly you want to be friends with the little creep?"

"He's not like that, okay? He was his father's son back then. He's different now." Ron spoke the words confidently -- after all, Draco had spoken them himself, more or less.

"Different? How different could he be? It was only last week he threatened to flush Ginny down into the sewers to live with the other rats. Your own little sister, Ron."

"Well. Can you blame him?"

They gaped at him with matching expressions.

Ron blew out his breath. "Look, Draco wasn't very nice to us at first, that's true. But we never gave him a chance to change at all, did we? No one in Gryffindor, in my family, has ever given him a reason to be nice. I'll bet even Ginny knew to hate him when she got here, without really knowing why."

"Because he's Draco Malfoy!" Fred threw his hands up in frustration. "I can't believe what I'm hearing from you!"

Ron turned and started walking again. "I have somewhere to be, boys. If Harry is so worried that he's talking to you, then maybe you should pass word along that he might do more good talking to me."

***

Draco wasn't by the stairs of the stands in the Quidditch field.

For a few moments Ron cursed his brothers for making him late, and making him miss whatever Draco had planned.

But then he saw it.

In the corner, in the shadows. A box, gift-wrapped and waiting.

He picked it up carefully with a smile, and looked for a long time at the little card attached. It simply said Ron in little golden letters.

He studied the box. The paper around it was plain and brown. It was as big as a couple of Hermione's 'light reading' books, but light.

He moved to the stairs and sat. His fingers peeled at the paper almost gingerly, as if it was delicate.

There was an odd thrum in the air, or in his chest, he couldn't tell. He was excited, and more than a little curious.

But he never would have guessed what was actually in the box.

His brow furrowed as he pulled out a robe. A black robe, like all the students wore. It had Gryffindor's patch on the front.

He checked the label inside with a frown, and his eyes grew as he saw his own name there.

He moved the box off his lap and pulled the robe out, holding it up.

It was…it was just a robe. Dark black and faintly shimmering and new and heavy and…

He stood up, his mind blank, and pulled off his old robe, dropping the worn, tattered thing to the ground. And he pulled the new one around his shoulders, wondering…

It fit. Perfectly. It hung off him and just barely touched the floor, the way they were supposed to. It was heavy, but didn't feel hot.

A robe. He never would have expected…

"It was a dumb idea, I guess. But…"

He turned around in surprise and saw Draco's eyes glittering from the shadows.

Draco shrugged, looking embarrassed. "I just wanted to get you something."

Ron swallowed, looking down at his gift. "I…Draco, my family may not have any money, but we don't…I don't need people buying my things for me."

Draco looked surprised. He came forward, stepping into a lighter patch. "No. That's not it, not at all. I just thought you deserved something of your own. Something without your brothers all over it already. Something that's just for you."

Ron looked down again, his eyes going from the deep black of the robe he had on to the tattered, faded, almost gray heap of cloth on the ground. Bill had worn that robe for all his year at Hogwarts, and their father before that. Before that, he wasn't sure. Maybe his father had actually got it new. Most likely it belonged to an uncle or grandfather. It was too short for Ron, too cold in the winter.

This, the one he had on now, it was…

His fingers went over it, feeling the softness of the fabric.

Draco moved closer to him, but stopped when Ron looked up. "It's…I'm sorry if I offended you or anything."

Ron shook his head. It was a touchy subject with him, usually, and that was one of the biggest reasons why he had hated Draco so much last year. Draco had never passed up an opportunity to rub Ron's poverty in his face.

But this was different. Very different, and Ron could feel that. He looked back down at the robe and kept smoothing it with his fingers, marveling at what it felt like. 'Something that's just for you,' Draco had said.

He sniffed a little, feeling horribly emotional for some strange reason. "I've never had anything that's just for me before."

And it was true, wasn't it? Even beyond clothes and wands and all that, he had never really had anything that wasn't used by someone else. It was such a stupid thing to get teary about, but there he was. He had the horrible feeling that he might cry like some girl over it.

"Then it wasn't a dumb idea?" Draco moved to his side, smiling almost shyly.

Ron shook his head, sniffling again and willing himself not to cry. "Thank you."

Draco smiled. "I was going to try for a wand, since yours is broken, but they're awfully hard to get smuggled into this school. Besides, I wouldn't know which kind to get for you."

"No. I mean, this is…perfect." And the coloring on the patch was golden and bright, and not even Percy's new one had been this nice. Not nearly.

Such a stupid thing to get emotional…

"Hey now." Draco's hand came up suddenly and wiped at his face. His fingers came back wet. "It isn't worth all that. Just a robe."

Ron laughed, swiping at his eyes with his arm. "I'm sorry, I'm being stupid."

Draco studied him, then smiled without an ounce of malice or amusement. "I'd say it suits you though. You look splendid, and I hope you won't mind if I get you something for Christmas as well. I've never tried this whole gift-giving thing. It's rather nice."

Ron laughed again, blinking to clear away the last of the moisture. "I'm not sure what I could ever get you in return, though."

Draco stared at him, his eyes wider than usual. "Just…just keep smiling like that. That's more than enough."

Ron grinned self-consciously, and reached out to his friend. "Thanks," he said again, quiet. "Really. It's wonderful." He flushed a little, but kept going. "You're wonderful."

Draco smiled widely. "Careful how loud you say that, Ron. Anyone going by might think you were actually starting to like me."

Ron grabbed his shirt and pulled him in and kissed him hard.

Draco made a small noise of surprise, but didn't try to stop it. When Ron pulled back, Draco licked his lips and got his breath and pulled him right back in.

Ron made his own little noise at that, and as the moments ticked by and Draco didn't let him go, he settled himself against the shorter boy's body and lifted his arms to fold around Draco.

And it was just like the night in the woods. Exciting and a little bit wrong maybe and he felt right then like he really was special and wonderful and all of that.

Draco pulled back only a little and looked into Ron's eyes. "Is…is this alright? What we're doing?"

"I don't know," Ron answered honestly, but his heart was going fast and he felt all warm from more than the new robe, and he didn't wait but a second before tugging Draco close once again.