Summary: Ron Weasley has always been left out, and the times he's been included he was always in the background. He needs an escape, and the perfect escape has been sneering at him for the past 6 years. The maliciously beautiful and manipulative Draco Malfoy will be the one to bring Ron out of his blind stupor, and Ron realizes that maybe having a simple life in the background wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I own the plot... but all the characters, places, creatures, and items belong to J.K. Rowling, and the lyrics belong to Brian Molko.
Notes: Give credit to Placebo for this fanfic, because their songs definitely inspired me to write it. :)
IMPORTANT NOTE!: This chapter originally contained an explicit sex scene, which was edited out because I'm a good girl and follow 's rules. :D BUT you may access the full chapter at my FanFiction/Art livejournal. The username is ficsnartjcv (with underscores between 'fics' and 'n' and 'n' and 'art'. :)
'Wake up. It's your birthday, after all. People clinging to you more than normal, presents that aren't nearly as extravagant as you would prefer... What reason do you have not to open your eyes?' Draco thought to himself warily, burying his face into his pillow. He didn't want to get up, but the emptiness of the dormitory told him he had to. Besides, his comforter was hardly even on his butt, and he was freezing.
He groaned and sat up. He looked around, hoping no one was there to see him with messy hair and boxers that were riding obnoxiously low on his hips. Upon seeing that no one was there to bear witness, he got up and went about his morning routine.
He paused at the mirror as he walked by it and stared at the boy reflected back at him. 'I hope this thing is faulty, because I look way too thin,' he thought, his fingers touching his ribs. 'Well, what did you expect, stupid? You've been skiving off meals to avoid social situations. That's not to say anyone's noticed, though.'
What about Weasley?
'He's left me alone for nearly a month, though. He's obviously stopped noticing,' Draco found himself thinking bitterly. What was he doing, practically cursing Weasley for not paying attention to him?
He glared at his mirror self, as if it was the one making the accusations and thinking about Weasley. He turned away and grabbed a set of robes.
At breakfast, Draco found a pile of presents and an owl at his seat. The owl, obviously, was from his parents, and came bearing his present. The package was shaped like a book, which Draco didn't find amusing. He took the note and package from the owl, which took the opportunity to leave, and opened the letter.
Draco,
I hope this book will help you during your term to become better at serving your Lord. He'll be most pleased to find you've learned the things enclosed in it, and will make a good name for you among his other servants.
Regards,
Lucius Malfoy
P.S- Your mother sends her best wishes.
Draco frowned. A book on the dark arts. Every boy's dream. He put the package in his school bag, not wanting to open it in front of prying eyes. He sighed and opened his other gifts (socks from both Crabbe and Goyle, who'd never been creative when it came to, well, anything, and a leather bound journal from Pansy, who claimed he looked like he needed to write down his feelings).
On the way to class, Draco passed Weasley in the hall. The tall redhead simply muttered a "happy birthday" and slipped a note into Draco's hand as he walked by, the simple action leaving Draco in a state of shock.
'How did he know it was my birthday? Probably the presents, right? This means he's given up on leaving me alone again,' Draco thought, half panicking, half annoyed. He looked at the note in his hand. He found himself blinking at it, wondering what it could possibly say, before it occurred to him that he was allowed to open it. So he did.
Meet me on the second floor after class, near where the Chamber of Secrets messages were.
Draco bit his lip. He couldn't go, nor he didn't want to go. But he did at the same time, and he didn't know why. Everything had been getting progressively more confusing since he got back to school. Every little thing added onto his paranoia, and Weasley's apparent infatuation with him didn't help at all.
And yet, after class, Draco found himself standing by the door to the girls' lavatory on the second floor waiting for Weasley. He bit his lip again, a habit he'd picked up recently that he wasn't fond of. He could just leave before Weasley showed up, he knew that, but somehow his body wasn't letting him.
Just when Draco was hoping it was a joke and that Weasley was never going to come, the Gryffindor turned up and beckoned for Draco to follow him into the girls' bathroom.
"Weasley, why are you bringing me in here?" Draco asked, wrinkling his nose at the dirty, musty bathroom.
"No one comes in here."
"And why would you know that?"
"This is Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. And keep your voice down, she's quite moody," Weasley said, looking around for the ghost girl.
There was a long bout of silence that was extremely uncomfortable. Draco avoided looking at Weasley, who obviously wasn't avoiding staring at Draco.
"Weasley, what are you doing?" Draco finally asked. He couldn't take it any longer. "Why are you so keen on getting in my pants?"
Weasley, to Draco's surprise, laughed. "Who said anything about getting in anyone's pants?"
Draco frowned, heat coming into his cheeks. "You pretty much did when you kissed me!"
"That was a month ago."
"Then why are you bringing me here now?" Draco asked. He couldn't stand how thick Weasley was at the moment.
"I don't know, really. I don't seem to know much of anything anymore. I haven't talked to my best mate in nearly two months, and I suppose it's having a bad effect on my head," Weasley said, grinning at him.
"So you're saying you'd have to be insane to want anything to do with me?" Draco said heatedly.
"Yeah, pretty much," Weasley said, reaching out to touch Draco's face.
Draco found himself involuntarily leaning into Weasley's touch, and allowing the taller boy to draw him closer and brush his lips against Draco's own. He felt his heart form into a knot and tighten considerably.
'Ok, so you're in the middle of a girls' bathroom and Weasley's got his arms around you... and you like it. Sorry, but I'm having trouble making sense out of that,' his brain told him. He agreed with himself, of course, it didn't make sense.
He pulled away again. "Come on, Malfoy! You can't keep running away from something I know you don't want to run away from!" Weasley said. Draco gaped at him. "Look, you kissed back. Both times. You can't pretend you're the victim when you kiss back, I don't know if you realize that."
"I..."
"You're just afraid."
"What?" Draco snapped. "I'm not afraid of you."
"Maybe not of me, but you're afraid of this. I know you're afraid of things you can't control. Things you don't know about. You have no idea what'll happen if you let it, that's why you pulled away. You can't control something like this, Malfoy. You're scared of it!" Weasley ranted, each word making Draco angrier and more defiant.
"I'm not afraid of that stuff!" Draco said, unable to come up with a better retaliation.
"Yes you are. Just admit it!"
"NO!"
At this outburst, a sudden wail sounded through the bathroom, and the ghost of a pudgy girl in glasses floated through a stall door. "What are you doing in here, making so much noise?" she said in a very whiney voice, as if all she did was complain and moan. This, Draco realized, was probably why she was called Moaning Myrtle.
"Leave us alone, Myrtle," Weasley said, not taking his eyes off of Draco.
"Oh, I get it! No one wants Myrtle around, ever! Even when they invade my bathroom, they expect me to leave them alone!" she said, her eyes welling up with silver tears. She floated away, sobbing obnoxiously.
"See why I told you to keep your voice down? You-"Weasley started, but was cut off by Draco furiously pressing his lips against his. The force of Draco practically jumping on him knocked Weasley back a few steps, and they toppled onto the floor, but Draco didn't mind at all. He was having fun soaking in Weasley's shock
After a moment, Draco realized that they were in a very improper position, and stood up hastily. He brushed off his robes and picked up his school bag. "See, Weasley? I'm hardly afraid," he said.
With one last look at the still shocked redhead, Draco left the bathroom and practically ran through the halls to his common room.
"What was I thinking?" he burst out after he slammed the dormitory door shut. "What was he thinking, saying things like that? He probably knew I'd get mad and do something stupid... idiot Weasley!"
He absent-mindedly touched his lips, and found himself sliding down the doorframe. He was suddenly sitting on the ground smiling stupidly and he couldn't explain why.
"Maybe kissing him is a better way to vent than getting into fights with him," he muttered and then scoffed at himself.
"I have something that would make you choose suicide over me," Draco told Weasley the next day, after he'd led the redhead into an empty classroom.
"Really?" said Weasley, obviously disbelieving.
Draco bit his lip, slowly rolling up his sleeve. He didn't think this was a good idea at all, but the loud mouth in him needed to show someone the Mark, and if it was going to get Weasley off his back it was killing two birds in one stone, right?
Weasley wasn't off his back yet; rather he was just staring at the ugly black thing on Draco's arm.
"Why?"
Draco's eyes narrowed. "Why? Weasley, I don't see how you could be surprised."
Weasley grabbed Draco's wrist, and Draco gave up struggling after a minute of not having any effect on Weasley's grip. "I don't know... I guess I kind of thought you'd be too much of a wimp to actually do it."
Draco was astonished. He'd expected something more along the lines of him suddenly being a good guy. Then what had been said sunk in. "I'm not a wimp, Weasley! Of course I'd do it! My father expected it of me!"
"Oh, so it's his fault then? I should've known you're only doing this for daddy dearest," Weasley spat.
Draco opened and closed his mouth a few times, suspecting he looked something like a fish. He had no idea how to respond to that, as it had never occurred to him that saying no to his father was an option.
"Is this why you've been so jittery?" Weasley asked, still holding Draco's wrist.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked in a way that told Weasley he knew exactly what he meant.
"Not eating, biting your lip, jumping and freaking out whenever anyone touches you," Weasley said.
Draco wondered who else had noticed these things.
"Now, about this suicide thing," Weasley said, suddenly smiling. "I think I'll pass up on that one."
He pulled Draco's arm closer to his face, and brought his lips down on the Mark. Draco let out a small sound of surprise, half at the shock of what Weasley was doing, and half at how good it felt.
"Ron..." He started, and immediately stopped, eyes widening. Weasley's gaze shot to Draco's face.
"You just called me Ron," he said quietly.
All Draco could do was nod weakly. Oh, he'd done it now. His plan had completely backfired. Not only did Ron, err... Weasley, seemingly think the Mark was somehow kinky, Draco had called him by his first name.
As Draco came back to reality, he realized that Weasley had his arms around his waist and he had his own arms around the redhead's neck. He looked up at his enemy's face and starting laughing, thinking that this really wasn't so bad.
"What are you laughing about?" Weasley asked, laughing a little himself.
"I don't know," Draco said, smiling genuinely for the first time in months. "It's just funny, that's all. All of this. It's as if the world kind of... turned upside down."
"Yeah, it did. Alternate universe or something... I should be doing homework with Harry and Hermione, but instead I'm in an empty classroom about to snog Draco Malfoy... I don't mind though, I rather like this," Weasley said.
"About to snog? You're confidant today, Weasley. You actually think I'll let you this time?" Draco asked, knowing fully that he would.
Weasley smiled and leaned down to kiss Draco. The blonde leaned up into the kiss, realizing just how tall Weasley was, as he had to practically stand on his toes to comfortably kiss him properly.
"Draco," Weasley muttered, pushing Draco up against the wall. He pinned Draco there with his hips, which Draco didn't mind at all, as they were both already turned on. Weasley's hands made their way to the clasps on Draco's robes, and his mouth found it way to Draco's neck.
"Ron... Weasley..." he moaned, throwing his head back and not caring when he hit the back of his head on the wall. "Ron. Ron!"
"What?"
"I... we can't do this here," Draco said, slipping out from between Ron and the wall. "Or now. Or at all."
"Not this again," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "You can't say you don't want to do thus. I know you do."
He gave a significant look to Draco's lower half. "Come off it, Weasley!" Draco said angrily, wishing he had more layers covering himself. "Anyone would get off on that! I meant that it's impossible for there to be anything between us, not even random sex."
"Why's it impossible?"
"You're not honestly this stupid, are you Weasley? We're from completely different social classes! We're from completely different... everything!"
"Romeo and Juliet managed to look passed that," Ron pointed out.
"And look where that got them!"
They stared at each other for a moment, both trying to make the other back down. Of course, Draco was losing because he didn't actually want to stop.
"Ok," Draco said finally. "What do you think we should do? Without getting caught by anyone?"
Ron thought for a moment, and then his face broke out into a wide grin. "You know the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor? The one with the trolls?"
"...Yeah," Draco said uncertainly. They were going to have sex by a tapestry of a man trying to train trolls for the ballet?
"Meet me there after dinner," Ron said, moving to leave the room.
"Wait!" Draco said. "What are you planning?"
"You'll see."
Dinner went by more slowly than ever. Draco's nerves were escalating with every tick of his internal clock. 'Ok, so I'm going to have sex with Weasley. Who would've thought? Not me, anyway. Oh for the love of Merlin! What's this going to mean? We certainly wont be... together, right? Far from it, actually, since we still technically hate each other's guts. We're just enemies with benefits. Is he expecting to top? He seems like the type... well he's going to have to sacrifice that role. Although I suppose it wouldn't be so bad... I'll have to do less work. It'd hurt though. Pain is bad. But isn't pain good in this situation? Oh fuck, I'm so obviously a virgin! What if I'm so obvious he notices? Oh come off it, he's probably a virgin too. If Granger doesn't split her legs for him, who would? Oh yeah...Then what does that make me? God, I'm more pathetic than Granger!'
By the time the food disappeared and everyone was leaving, Draco had hardly stomached three bites of mashed potatoes and could practically hear himself snapping. But he made his way to the seventh floor anyway, after going to his dormitory and making himself decent.
"Hey! What're you doing up here?" one of the Gryffindor prefects said indignantly when he saw Draco.
"Nothing!" Draco squeaked. 'Shit. Compose yourself!' "Nothing that concerns you, anyway, you stupid little Gryffindor. Is it so bad to take a self guided tour of the castle every once in a while?"
The prefect glared at him. "Alright then," he said and walked away.
When he reached the tapestry, he could hardly believe his eyes. There was Weasley, standing by a large polished door that Draco was positive he'd never seen before. Weasley smiled at him, and Draco's heart jumped. He decided he was losing his mind. He shouldn't be reacting to Weasley like this.
"That... that door wasn't there before."
"It's called the Room of Requirement. I'm sure the founders created it for students to have torrid sexcapades in, though," Weasley said, laughing at Draco's confused look.
"But it wasn't there before."
"You have to concentrate really hard on what you want when you're walking by it, otherwise it doesn't show up. Now come on," he said, opening the door to let Draco in.
They entered the room, and Draco was shocked to see it was equipped with a bed.
"The great thing about this room, is that it gives you anything you could possibly ask for," Weasley said from behind him. "If I wanted handcuffs..."
A pair of handcuffs appeared on the bed.
"It would give me handcuffs," Draco could feel Weasley smirking. "But we won't be using those. Unless you want to, of course."
Draco turned around. "I'd never trust you with those things."
"I figured as much," Weasley said, looking slightly crestfallen. He then proceeded to grab Draco's hand and lead him over to the bed, which he cleared of the handcuffs.
'Ok... now how do I start? Do I start? I mean, he brought me here, he should start. Yeah, I'll just...' Draco's thoughts were cut off by Weasley kissing him, taking up where they left off earlier. Draco decided he should stop thinking so much, and let Weasley take off his robes. The sun was setting outside the window, and everything was in shades of red, making Weasley's hair look more vibrant than normal. Draco ran his hands through the redhead's hair, and then allowed them to move down to the clasps of his robes.
Afterward, Weasley rolled over onto his side and pulled Draco to him. Draco found that Weasley's neck was very comfortable, and decided that their bodies were made to fit together like this. They laid in silence, the only sound being their breathing, and the only movement being the rise and fall of their chests.
Weasley had one of his hands around Draco's wrist, and was rubbing his forearm idly with his thumb. "What would you say if..." he said suddenly. "...If I said I'd take the Mark."
'Well that was random,' Draco thought idly. Then his eyes snapped open with realization. "Wait...what?"
"Well, I don't know. Harry doesn't need me; Hermione obviously doesn't need me..."
"And you think I do?" Draco snapped.
Weasley smirked. "Well, that's what you said while we were shagging."
"Completely different situation," Draco said, appalled at Weasley's bluntness. "Completely different."
"So? What do you say?"
"I say you're incredibly stupid and that sex is clouding your thought process. What on earth makes you think that you should bow down to You-Know-Who for me? More importantly, why on earth would you bring this up now? It's the most random, inconsiderate thing to talk about now."
"I don't know. I was touching your Mark and I just kind of thought of it."
Draco sighed, got up, and stared picking up his clothes. He could tell what was his and what was Weasley's even in the dark, which, he noted, was pretty sad. "It's late."
"Draco."
"Don't call me that," Draco snapped, putting on his robes.
"What? You we calling me Ron just a little while ago!" Weasley said, sitting up,
"It was a mistake. This whole thing was a mistake."
"No, it wasn't," Weasley said, now standing up
"It was," Draco said, and walked up to the redhead. "And I knew it the whole time, too. I just had the audacity not to say something."
Then he left. He knew it probably wasn't the best idea to walk out on Weasley, as he could easily use what just happened as blackmail.
"Mr. Malfoy," he heard from behind him as he passed the entrance hall. He turned around to see Professor Snape at the foot of a stairwell.
Draco's mind raced. 'Oh shit. I'm caught. I'm caught. And I must look a mess, and even worse... smell like sex. Shit!'
"Come with me," the man said simply, and Draco followed him down into the dungeons, passed the Slytherin common room, and into his office.
Snape sat down behind his desk and gestured for Draco to take a seat as well. Once seated, Snape began. "How would you like to work for Dumbledore, Draco?"
"What?"
"Spy for him. Give him information on the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters."
The world stopped turning and Draco could feel his heart stop and his brain explode.
They knew.
Author's Note: You'll notice the absence of lyrics. That's because I had second thoughts on making this a songfic, because it's too hard. So I'm just writing a normal old fanfic. lol... R/R please! It makes me feel warm inside! :D
