Draco managed to catch Ron again as he returned to the Gryffindor common room after Quidditch practice. He was pleased that he managed to catch Ron alone—Ron was easier to handle without his friends about.

Ron tensed slightly when Draco fell in step beside him, but otherwise didn't react.

"So, how'd practice go?" Draco asked him casually.

"You really want our strategies, don't you?"

Draco shrugged. "I already told you. We could beat you with our hands tied behind our backs. We don't need to cheat."

Ron snorted. "And how exactly do you plan on staying on your broomstick with your hands behind your back?"

"Hold on with our legs, of course."

"And how will you catch the snitch?"

"In my mouth. Like Potter did in first year."

Ron make a disgusted face. "I really don't even want to think about the images that conjures."

"What? Me holding onto a 'broomstick' or me catching the 'snitch' in my mouth?"

Ron made a gagging noise. "Neither, pervert. Now get lost."

Draco realized that they must have come to the entrance to Gryffindor common room when Ron stopped walking. He'd never been up here before—he hadn't been able to follow Ron quite this far without attracting too much attention. Ron's next comment confirmed his suspicions.

"You can't come in the Gryffindor common room, Malfoy."

"Will you meet me by the lake tomorrow after classes?"

"No."

"Okay." Draco folded his arms, leaning easily against the wall behind them and watching Ron.

"Malfoy, get lost."

"Not until you promise to meet me."

"Malfoy!" Ron glanced around briefly.

"Yes?" Draco asked sweetly.

"Anyone could just… I mean, get lost. I'm not going to meet you tomorrow."

"Then I'm not leaving."

Ron glanced around again, obviously expecting someone to jump out of the shadows and scream 'Hah! I caught you with Malfoy!' at any moment.

"Please?"

"Meet me tomorrow?"

Ron closed his eyes. "Will you go away?"

"Until tomorrow."

"All right. I'll meet you."

Draco smiled. "I knew you'd come to your senses."

"Just go away. You said you would."

Draco snorted. "And since when do you trust the word of a Slytherin?"

"Malfoy!"

"I love the way you say my name. You are hot, you know. Even when you're being an arse." Draco stepped forwards and lightly brushed his lips against Ron's. Ron tensed and tried to pull away, but Draco held his head still, wishing that Ron was the one with his back by the wall.

Ron stomped down hard on his foot, and Draco let out a yelp, jumping away from Ron. Ron glared at him as he regained his balance, not even taking advantage of Draco's temporarily weakened position to attack.

Once he had his balance back, Draco withdrew his wand and in a single, fluid movement had it up against the soft, pale skin of Ron's throat.

"Don't even think about not showing. If you don't, I'll use the bloody Imperius curse on you."

"But that… that's illegal!"

"And when have you ever believed that would stop me?"

"I'll be there."

"Good." Draco smiled sweetly and lowered his wand. "Oh, and please refrain from attacking me again." With that he shot a stinging hex at Ron and swept off, leaving Ron gasping in pain behind him.

=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=

Vincent looked up when Draco entered the common room. He had no idea why it had taken Draco over an hour to get back from Defence Against the Dark Arts, or why he looked so annoyed now.

He strode over to where Vincent and Greg were sitting, flopping down on the sofa across from them, propping his legs up its arm. Vincent and Greg watched Draco in silence as he stared into space, thinking hard. He'd been doing that a lot lately, but neither Vincent nor Greg had any idea why.

Nor did either particularly care, beyond a mild curiosity. But they had long since learned when it was best to simply leave Draco alone, when it was best to follow and obey without question—and this was most definitely such a time.

Eventually Draco looked over at them, seeming to notice them for the first time. He scowled, a familiar and—to Vincent, at least—comforting expression. Somehow Draco simply was not Draco if he wasn't acting superior and annoyed with the world at large.

"Don't either of you have anything productive to do? No, of course not. No one ever does anything productive around here—and to think we're all bloody Slytherins." he muttered to himself in annoyance. "The Hufflepuff first years have been getting a bit stuck up lately. How about you two go show 'em who's boss?"

Vincent and Greg moved to rise; this wasn't an entirely unusual suggestion from Draco—he frequently told them to go scare people when he wanted to be alone to think. But then he shook his head, waving for them to stay seated.

"No, never mind. He'd probably hear, anyways…" he trailed off, going returning to his thoughts and Vincent and Greg sat back down.

He? Who on Earth was he? Vincent wondered, bristling a little. It probably had something to do with what he'd been so distracted with lately—and Vincent found the thought that there was a boy whose opinion Draco actually cared about absurdly distressing. But he found that he desperately wanted to discover the identity of said boy and beat him to a bloody pulp.

After a few more minutes, Draco sat up. He stared at his homework for a few moments, then shook his head and went up to bed.

=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=

Draco was actually somewhat surprised when Ron showed up the next day. He'd been half afraid that Ron would get detention or something just to give himself an excuse not to come. But Ron did show up.

He folded his arms and glared at Draco. "I'm here."

Draco smirked. "So you are."

"Can I go now?"

Draco snorted. "No."

Ron continued to glare at him.

"Come on," Draco said, setting off in the direction of the castle, leaving Ron to run after him.

"Hey! Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"But…"

Draco glanced coldly over his shoulder. "Want me to hex you again?"

"Is that all you can do? Hex people?"

"I can kiss you," Draco reminded him.

Ron gave him a disgusted look, muttering something about preferring to be hexed, which Draco decided to ignore.

When they came to the stairs leading to the dungeons, Ron stopped short.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see," Draco told him again, continuing to walk down the stairs.

"No," he said firmly. "I'm not going into the Slytherin common room."

Draco glanced over his shoulder, sneering. "Of course you aren't. For one thing, it's against the rules."

Ron blinked. "Then where are we going?"

Now Draco turned around to face Ron. "What part of 'You'll see' escapes you?"

"Where are we going?" Ron repeated.

"You're beginning to sound like someone cast a faulty Sonorus spell on you," Draco commented conversationally.

Ron stared at him, unmoving.

"Do you want someone to see us standing here? No? Then just follow me."

Ron glanced around automatically, quickly stifling the instinct and looking back at Draco, but not before Draco saw it. He looked slightly ill-at-ease, though he was trying valiantly not to show it. Unfortunately, he still wasn't moving.

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

Ron flushed slightly, but remained stubborn. "You will anyway."

"Yeah, but here someone's likely to walk along and see," Draco pointed out.

Ron hesitated, then followed. Smirking silently to himself, Draco set off down the hallway.

Honestly, like I'd actually take him to the Slytherin common room. As if I don't have enough problems without telling some stupid, muggle-loving Gryffindor our password and showing him around our common room.

Draco rolled his eyes at the thought. He led Ron down the corridor, knowing full well that they would meet no one. There were only Slytherins down here after classes, and the Slytherins rarely wandered the hallways. Some might be outside or even wandering the school, but no one wandered the dungeon corridors unless they really had to. The reason for this was really quite simply—the dungeons were cold, damp, and generally an unpleasant place to hang about.

And of course, the rest of the school thought it a fitting place for the Slytherins—scum of the school—to be located. Which only showed why they weren't in Slytherin. Because unpleasant though the dungeons were, they had distinct advantages over any other part of the castle. First off, there was the whole privacy factor—no one but a Slytherin would voluntarily go down here. No one. Secondly, there was the fact that if the school was ever attacked, the dungeons were probably the safest place to be. It was protected from spells most truly dangerous spells by thick, stone walls and the Earth around and above them. One could not level the dungeons as the rest of the castle could be so easily levelled. If the rest of the castle collapsed, the stone walls would still stand strong and they could always escape through that passage in the common room that led to lake, from which they could swim to safety. Bare stone would not catch fire easily, especially as none of the walls were adorned with the gaudy tapestries flaunted by the rest of the castle. And that very lack of tapestries also made it that much more difficult for a stranger to find their way around down here. Thirdly, there was the fact that the dungeons were the oldest part of the castle and therefore held the most accumulated magic—for after so many centuries of wizards passing through, the stone itself began to absorb the magic, lending extra strength to those who knew how to tap it. Fourth, it was much easier to hide secret passages and rooms and such in gloomy darkness and thick, rough walls. In the rest of the school, the only place to hide passages where they wouldn't be easily seen was behind statues and such; so you looked behind the wall decorations and you found all the secret passages you could want. And last, but not least, the dungeons were right by the kitchens.

Yes, Salazar Slytherin had chosen the location of the Slytherin common room for a reason, as had been explained to Draco innumerable times by Father, Professor Snape, and the older students. And the other teachers had not objected, never even considering the potential benefits of the dungeons.

No one had ever stopped to consider why the most powerful, most cunning of the Founding Four had chosen the dungeons of all places. No one had ever bothered to wonder why the most powerful, cunning, and wealthy wizarding children would tolerate living in such a horrid place. And none of the Slytherins were all that keen on encouraging them to start thinking.

Ron followed Draco as he led him through the twisting passageways, deliberately taking as indirect a route as possible so Ron wouldn't be able to find his way back on his own. Draco, of course, knew exactly where they were—he'd lived here three seasons out of four for the past six years. He doubted he could get lost in the dungeons.

Finally, they came to a stretch of bare wall, unmarked and indecipherable from any of a hundred similar stretches of bare, stone wall. But Draco recognized it as if he had a sixth sense for finding secret passageways in the dungeons of Hogwarts. He laid his hand against the cold, rough stone, feeling for the slight notch he knew was there. Yes, there it was—large enough to find if you knew to look for it, but small enough that anyone who stumbled onto it by accident wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Expositus," Draco said softly, and a section of the wall—presumably charmed into silence—slid noiselessly inwards. Draco pushed the wall sideways and it slid just as silently behind the wall, opening into darkness. Stepping aside, Draco gave a slight bow and motioned for Ron to enter.

Ron glared at him. "What—?"

"I don't suppose anyone's ever told you that curiosity killed the cat?"

"Well, I'm not a cat," Ron said, not moving. "And I think that lack of curiosity is likely to kill the Weasley."

"Just go," Draco snapped.

"What's in there?"

"Why don't you go find out," Draco suggested.

"How do I know that you won't just shut the door behind me and lock me inside to starve to death?"

Draco gave an overly patient sigh. "Other than the fact that that would be stupid and pointless and would cause me more trouble than it's worth? If I were a Death Eater, why on Earth would I kill you? It would just blow my cover and would gain no one anything that couldn't easily be accomplished rather more anonymously."

"But no one else knows we're down here," Ron pointed out.

"The Aurors at the Ministry who would investigate your death would certainly be able to trace it back to me. Of course, there is the fact that this door can only be closed from inside, and there's another door which you leave by."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Because I said so."

"And since when have I ever trusted the word of a Slytherin?"

Draco smiled. "There's a first time for everything."

"Will you at least tell me what you're going to do with me?"

"Shag you senseless?"

Ron blanched, taking a step away from him and looking about ready to bolt.

"I was joking, Ron. I don't suppose you and your Gryffindor friends have paused in your attempts to Save the World long enough to learn how jokes work?"

Ron flushed, though he didn't relax much. "Just tell me."

"How jokes work? Well let's see—"

"What do you want from me?"

"Well, that all depends on what you're willing to give. I don't suppose you'd like to trade anything for a Salazar Slytherin Wizard Card? For some reason, us Slytherins tend to get about ten times as many of him as anyone else, so they're more or less worthless to us. Everyone's already got five or six at least."

Ron stared at him, perhaps shocked by the idea of trading Wizard Cards with Draco—or perhaps he was having trouble with the concept of Slytherins collecting Wizard Cards at all … almost like real human beings.

"Are you sure the Gryffindor animal isn't really a fish? Because you look an awful lot like a fish right now."

Ron quickly shut his mouth and glared at him.

"You know," Draco said thoughtfully. "I wonder what someone would think, walking along and seeing us standing here."

Ron, to his credit, managed to restrain his impulse to glance around and make sure they really were alone. "Just tell me what's inside there."

"It can't be that dangerous, as it hasn't jumped out and mauled you yet, and you'll find out in due time. Patience is a virtue, you know."

"And what would a Slytherin know about 'virtue'?"

Draco sighed. "You have to the count of ten. Otherwise, I'm parading you around the school on a leash. Ten. Nine. Eight…"

Ron hesitated for another moment, then entered the room. Draco smiled in satisfaction and followed him inside, pulling the door shut behind him and leaving them surrounded darkness.

A/N: Stars-n-moons: Yeah, I'm struggling with Ron's characterization. It's not that I don't understand what's going on inside his head--it would undoubtedly make perfect sense if I were telling this from his POV, but I don't want to resort to that. Not yet, anyways. I might switch later, but I want to see what I can do without just switching whenever it's convenient. Draco may or may not like Ron at this point--he hasn't really given it much thought yet and will probably have fits when he does. Crabbe and Goyle will feature largely into the rest of the story, especially Crabbe. But I'm rambling, aren't I? Anyways, thanks so much for the feedback. :D Gryffgurl88: Thanks. ;P Amanda-panda161: Thanks. Now I feel all inspired inside. Must go start next chapter of ... something. On-A-Rainy-Day: (ooo, I like rainy days) Yeah, I'd kind of noticed that too. "Sit. Stay. Snog. Good Ron!" Master of the Flames: Probably, but since when do Slytherins follow the rules? See my response to Stars-n-moons for 'Why doesn't Ron make any sense??' Kashiaga and Princess Orli: Thanks Orange: You know I love you.