DISCLAIMER: You just wait.
a/n: SLASH. Your fault if you read it. What you see is what you get. Things may not be too clear at the moment. Ask me. I can explain.
'Hermione, you're not trying to tell me either, you, Harry or Ginny has to fall in love with Malfoy by Halloween Night?'
It was a warm October evening and a pale dusky pink light was shining onto the old pages of the dusty leather bound book drawn deep from the depths of the library shelves.
The common room was quiet with most of the students down by the lake socialising or wetting their feet in the water - not many were brave enough to go deeper, and Harry was forever bombarded with wide-eyed first years asking about his escapade into the depths.
'Yes Ron,' said Hermione in her no-nonsense tone. 'That's exactly what I'm saying. And I doubt you will convince me now; and the last thing that will ever happen is Harry falling for Malfoy. It looks like Ginny must fall in love with him. Is she seeing anyone at the moment?'
'Hermione!' Ron spluttered aghast. 'I'm not sacrificing my sister!'
'Ron,' she said marking the page with the frayed red ribbon that tickled her fingertips. 'We must have the forbidden love. Could you not be so narrow minded?'
He whined. 'Hermione! Malfoy can have any girl in the school he wants! But not Ginny!'
She rolled her eyes.
'Well I'm sorry, but that's just how it has to be. The Leader, the Seventh Child, the Mind and the Forbidden Love.'
'Blaise Zabini?'
'That's hardly forbidden. A Weasley-Malfoy romance. Has any more animosity ever existed?'
Ron's eyes screwed up in distress at his losing battle. 'Harry-Malfoy!'
'If you're willing to make Harry fall in love with Malfoy…' Hermione smirked. 'You're welcome to.'
Ron glared at her and stood up abruptly. 'Ginny and Malfoy will never work, you know,' Ron snapped. 'Virginia Malfoy! Hah! She'll never come out of this alive.'
Hermione placed her hands neatly in her lap and watched Ron retreating towards the portrait hole.
'But you'll try, won't you?'
'I'll give you bloody trying…' he muttered.
'You have to Ron - where are you going now?'
'If you didn't notice before you dragged me away, there's a feast down at the lake! Maybe if I'm lucky I can nibble the crumbs of Harry's plate!'
He left Hermione thinking that Virginia Malfoy did have a certain ring to it, and that maybe this would work after all. Just maybe.
*-*-*-
'Where've you been?'
Harry sat on the grass, his lean, bony form stretched out over the healthy grass and trapped buttercups.
Ron shrugged, half tempted to spill the whole ludicrous story to his friend.
Harry propped himself on his elbows and flicked some dark hair from his eyes feeling at ease and not wanting to press the subject.
'Well, what did Hermione want, then?'
Ron shrugged again, feeling bad about not telling Harry but his promise to Hermione lay unbroken.
'Nuffin much, mate.'
Harry sighed inwardly an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. 'Okay.' was all he said and turned on his side to watch the sun dip towards the high mountains with his back to Ron.
Although he realised it was his fault, Ron felt extremely closed off. He got up and feasted on someone's half eaten chicken leg.
***
After the semi-feast everyone had started to drift of to their rooms. Harry was wondering about Ron's morose glances he kept sending Ginny while she flirted with Seamus.
He put it down to the fact that Seamus didn't swing that way and went to bed. But he didn't sleep.
Ron wasn't in bed yet, and his mind was wondering what the odds were on a Ron-Ginny-Hermione love triangle when Dean burst in.
He was cursing under his breath with random words that were mainly "shit" "traitor" "Seamus" "liar" and "Seamus".
'Dean,' Harry groaned, drawing back the velvet hangings slightly and peering at the blurry figure. 'Are you okay?'
Not really interested in hearing the reply he dropped back the handful of material so the whole word was just a fantasy in the comfortable isolation of his lovely bed, Harry rolled over and dreamt of a dreamless sleep.
***
It was in the morning that Harry showered and went downstairs to find Hermione and Ron leaning secretively on an overstuffed sofa.
He frowned at them. What are they hiding from me? he wondered almost sadly.
After politely waiting for a shrieking Lavender to take a hint, he sauntered over, aware that they had noticed him, and were now trying to act as normal as possible.
Hermione was "reading" her transfiguration homework and Ron staring at the strange looking picture of a blue square in his book.
Things just seemed to amaze Ron so easily Harry didn't really have a reason to pick at him, and Hermione read everything she could get her hands on.
Harry sighed.
'We should get to class,' he told them glumly. He mooched towards potions with the other sixth years (Seamus and Parvati) and while Ginny accompanied the Irishman, trying - albeit unsuccessfully - to block out the chatter.
It was when they met Malfoy a manic gleam appeared in Ron's eye.
***
'Aiming for the last notch on the Weasley's bedpost, Finnegan?' Malfoy was sneering at Seamus.
Colour rose in the poor Irish boy's cheeks.
'I didn't think there were any more she hadn't jumped on, personally. You must be really frigid if you held out this long.'
'Shut up Malfoy,' said Ginny scathingly. 'You want some and know you can't have it.'
'I don't touch tainted things, Weasley. You should know that by now. Especially when they're of poor quality.'
But Ron wasn't listening. The crowd was moving on. Another one of Malfoy's battle-of-the-wits wasn't worth being attacked by Professor Snape.
Well, they did crane their necks until the corner of the corridor got in their way.
'Let's go,' said Harry in a low voice, not wishing to restrain Ginny when she got out of control.
But obviously Ron had a better idea. Yes… if he gets hurt - Ginny will realise she loves him!
Big hands shot from no where and the blond Slytherin at the top of the stairs was caught defenceless.
'Potter!' he shrieked in surprise, thinking the green eyed boy behind him had gone out of his mind.
His thin pale fingers closed around the silky material of someone's robe front and both of them crashed down the hard (very hard) marble staircase.
Ron smiled. Maybe this would work. Just maybe.
*-*-*-
a/n: Is it worth continuing?