Several hours later, Draco had decided that chess really wasn't such a horrid game after all. Admittedly, Ron seemed to be taking an obscene amount pleasure creaming him, but he had seemed to have forgotten about Draco raping him and was actually relaxing a little. And Draco was getting better.

"What time is it?" Ron asked, suddenly looking up.

"Um ... about that time."

Ron rolled his eyes. "And what time would that be?"

"Do I look like I have a watch implanted in my wrist?"

"Well..."

Draco sighed. "I don't."

"Isn't there a clock in here?"

"Of course there is, but you can look at it as well as I can," Draco pointed out.

"Not if I can't find it."

"Tried the wall?" Draco suggested. "That is where people usually hang their clocks, is it not?"

Ron blushed and looked around the room. "It's almost time for dinner," he said when he found it, hanging on the wall behind him.

Draco glanced up at it, startled. He had thought they had more time than that, but apparently not. "Then I guess you'd better be getting back to your little Gryffindor friends."

"Um... how do I get out of here?"

"I'll only show you if you kiss me," Draco told him.

Ron stared at him. "You're joking."

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"You're not joking."

"Nope. So, are you going to snog me or stay here?"

Ron had gone slightly pale. "I think I'll take my chances on my own."

"What, you aren't worried about running into Snape or something?"

"You bastard," Ron muttered.

"Come on, it's just a kiss."

"Do you always force your friends to snog you?" Ron asked him sharply.

"Well no. Usually they're pretty eager about it. Except Vincent and Gregory, but…."

"Ugh … I really didn't need that image."

Draco laughed. "So, are you going to kiss me? Just a little kiss—a peck, really. Not even any tongue. I promise."

"Fine," Ron whispered, standing up.

Draco walked around the table, standing in front of Ron, who was staring firmly at the floor. Draco reached down, tilting Ron's head up so he was looking into the boy's eyes. Ron looked past him, refusing to meet his eyes. After a moment's hesitation, Draco leaned down, lightly touching his lips to Ron's. Ron tensed, his hand moving almost involuntarily to Draco's neck. Draco froze, terrified of ruining … whatever that gesture meant.

But Ron just twisted his face away from Draco's, shoving him away. Draco stumbled backwards, crashing into the table and only just managing to keep his balance.

"What—?"

"We kissed," Ron snapped, his voice hoarse and strained. "Now show me how to get out of here."

Draco nodded. "Come on," he said, more curtly then he'd intended. He led Ron out through the second door and to the Entrance Hall, taking a more direct route than he had coming here. He couldn't do this anymore; there was no way he could actually get Ron to fall in love with him. And if Pansy gave him any trouble for backing out of the dare, well, she'd already cheated by interfering and talking to Ron. At the bottom of the stairs to dungeons, he stopped and turned to Ron. "You don't have to meet me tomorrow."

He turned to leave, resolving never to speak to the boy again, but Ron stopped him, reaching out and grabbing his arm. "Why not?"

Draco twisted out of his grasp. "Why not? Because you don't want to."

"But—"

"Merlin, what kind of monster do you think I am?"

Ron was staring at him, his eyes filled with a mixture of emotions that Draco really didn't feel like analyzing, or even facing. It didn't matter, anyways; he was done analyzing Ron's emotions 24/7. It was over. He looked away from Ron's eyes and stormed off down the hallway, forcing himself not to break into a run—either away from Ron or back towards him, leaving a stunned and confused Ron behind him.

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

Vincent was sitting in the Slytherin common room, ripping the heads off some spiders he and Greg had found that morning. They were large, black spiders, almost as big as Vincent's palm, with short, fuzzy legs. You had to be careful when you were holding one, because not only were its fangs filled with venom that made you pass out within seconds of being bitten, but they also had flames erupting periodically from a gland just below the spinneret.

There was a pile of decapitated, de-legged, crushed spider bodies sitting on the table next to the cage holding the remaining spiders. Vincent held a new spider in his hand, watching as it clicked its pincers, its legs moving wildly and flames spouting out from its back with increasing frequency as it became more and more agitated. After a moment, he grabbed its head with his other hand and, in a quick jerking motion, ripped it off. Its legs continued to move for another moment before it fell still. With one hand, he crushed the head and set it down in the pile of spider bodies. Next he set about pulling off the legs, adding each to the pile. When the last leg had been wrenched from its socket, he crushed the body and added it to the pile, then moved on to the next spider, killing them with a dispassionate fascination that would have pleased his parents very much, had they been alive to see it.

But they weren't alive. When they had heard of the Dark Lord's return to power, they had attempted to flee him, knowing he would show them no mercy for their betrayal after his defeat. But the Dark Lord had found and killed them earlier that year, and the only reason Vincent was still alive was because he hadn't left Hogwarts since their deaths. He didn't know what he was going to do at the end of the year—probably join the Dark Lord, if he was allowed. Otherwise he would undoubtedly be killed, just like his parents. But he didn't like thinking about that. He'd learned long ago that thinking about the future accomplished nothing.

There was a loud bang as the stone door leading to the common room slammed shut and Vincent looked up to see Draco storm across the common room and vanish up the stairs to their dormitory. Everyone in the common room stared after him for a moment before returning to what they had been doing; Draco was usually more self-controlled than that. Pansy immediately got up and went after him. Vincent would have, but he knew better. He had long since learned that it was best to leave Draco alone when he got upset and then pretend it had never happened once he calmed down.

So he simply glanced over at Greg to find him staring after Pansy, who he had only just managed to persuade to help him with his homework, and turned back to the spiders he was killing.

A/N: Princess Orli: All your questions about Ron will be answered in the next chapter--well, most anyway. And you'll have to wait, cause I think they're going to take their time about getting together.
Kashiage: lol, yeah.Thanks. :P
Orange and Outlaw of the West: Thanks