Disclaimer: Tis not mine, I tell you! Blame her points at JK Rowling!!
A/N: Thanks so much for my reviews- I really appreciate it everyone! You guys truly rock! The story is alllllmost done, very soon! Thanks for sticking with me through it! Also thanks to Nikki, and Amie for help with the plot. And Alex for all her general fanfic writing help for this newbie!
Chapter Ten
Red hair, freckles, tall and lanky, dead. Lifeless, lying on the floor, Harry's dinner knife embedded in his stomach. Ron, best friend, beloved brother, secret admirer. What was Harry to do? Ron was going to kill the love of his life, Draco Malfoy, if he had not intervened.
Harry could not stand to look at the body, he knew he would surely be sent to Azkaban for this, but Draco was safe and that was his main concern. He stared blankly at a spot on the stone floor, and only looked up when he heard Hermione let out a gasp. Everyone in the room was silent but he could feel that something was happening. He raised his eyes and let them fall on Ron. But it was no longer Ron. Slowly his former best friend's features were melting away, his hair grew out to fall long and straight. He was shorter, smaller, delicate feminine features. It was not Ron at all...
"Ginny." Harry gasped. This was all too much for him to handle; he fell to the floor in a dead faint.
The Headmaster called for Harry to be taken to the infirmary, "He was right." He whispered.
Professor McGonnagal protested immediately, "Headmaster. This boy murdered Ron.. er Ginny Weasly. He is a menace; he should be taken to Azkaban prison immediately!" With the wave of a hand Dumbledore silenced her and all that would speak to protest.
"There is more to this story than any of you could know. Harry came to me for help and I would not lend my hand, I could not see that this was real. So if you will all please return to your dormitories, and Draco, "He waved a hand at Draco, "If you will come with me, please." The prefects immediately began shuffling their houses off to the the proper places and Draco followed closely behind the headmaster. Many students were crying, a few had fainted and had to be taken to Madam Pomfrey.
Once in the Headmaster's office, he and Draco had a long discussion about what exactly had happened. They each exchanged their side of the story and then Dumbledore spoke, "Draco, as you know that was not the real Ron. That was Ginny Weasly, who one can only deduce used a polyjuice potion mixture to attain the form of her brother. Now, we do not know where Ron is so I think it best that you and I set out to find him..."
"But Harry!" Protested Draco.
Dumbledore raised a hand to calm him, "Harry will be just fine. No one will harm him or bring his actions to notice without my consent. We will first find Ron for he is the missing piece to this story, then we will deal with Harry." Draco let out a sigh as he was led by Dumbledore down and out of his office.
They searched every place that Ron could be, all of the houses (which Draco had not been allowed to enter, of course) and every nook and cranny of the school. "Where could he be?" Asked Draco, getting quite exasperated of this hunt. All he wanted was to go check on his Harry, who had killed what he thought to be his best friend just to save Draco. He would surely be sent to Azkaban prison for this crime, all for Draco. It was almost too much to take!
"Ah, I can think of one last place we have not checked. There is a chamber, a trap door hidden in the wall of the Gryffindor girl's prefect's bathroom. Ginny had access to it because she is a prefect, she is the only student who knows about this secret chamber because she helped Hagrid rid of mice in it late last term. Ron will be there." The headmaster seemed quite sure of this, and Draco believed him. He despised the man but he would go along with whatever if it mean that his precious Harry was safe.
Dumbledore led him to the bathroom, and walked over to the bathtub. He began to run icy cold water then twisted the stopper three times clockwise and a hatch appeared by the wall opposite the tub that Draco would have never known was there before. It had blended into the wall perfectly! The headmaster walked over and pulled up the hatch which revealed a door, he knocked five times on it and it popped open.
"And here we are." Dumbledore said. He muttered a spell and his wand lit up, he poked it about inside until he heard someone coughing, he shone the light a little to the left and there, sitting in a pile of dust and filth was Ronald Weasly. They helped him out and after cleaning him up, and feeding him they all returned to Dumbledore's office to work out the details of what had happened.
"Well, you see about two years ago I found out that Ginny had been studying the dark arts in secret. I told her that if she did not stop right away I would tell mum and dad. Then she used some curse I had never heard of on me that would cause me pain whenever I started to think of telling someone. That's when I knew she was serious about it..." Dumbledore nodded for him to continue. Draco sat in a stunned silence, he would have never expected this from her.
"Ginny has had an obsession with Harry for years now, since our first year at Hogwarts. So when he and Draco became an item," Ron let out a disapproving cough at this statement, "She went a little crazy."
"A little! She was going to bloody kill me!" Draco yelled.
"Draco, calm down please. Let Ron finish his story." Dumbledore protested.
Ron continued, "She knew I was close to Harry and he would trust me when he got his memory back, so she started using a polyjuice potion to turn into me. When she realized I would not stay out of the way and let her ruin our friendship and kill Draco, as much as I can't stand him," Draco glared, "She started using spells and curses to keep me under control. She would lock me in that dreadful bathroom chamber whenever she turned into me, which was most the time. Then at night she would put a sleeping spell on me so she could sleep as herself and no one would get suspicious. Somehow she managed to attend all her classes and make sure one of us got to mine. She didn't want anyone to get any weird ideas." He finished.
They had all they needed, Dumbledore told him what had become of his sister and as he listened, Ron's eyes filled with tears. Draco hated him but his heart filled with pity, he had still loved Ginny despite it all. When he had finished Dumbledore asked, "Would you be willing to testify that Ginny did these things to clear Harry's name in court? "Ron thought for a moment before Dumbledore added, "Otherwise, Harry will get life in Azkaban prison."
Ron needed no more convincing he nodded yes as the tears rolled harder.
The trio headed to the infirmary where Harry was being kept, and nursed back to health from his faint. They found him curled up in a ball in one of the beds, crying. Draco immediately rushed to his side, stroking his hair and cooing in his ear that everything would be alright.
"I love you." Harry whispered.
Draco sighed, "I love you too, more than you will ever know. Thank you." He replied, and now he was crying too. He wanted so badly for everything to just be normal again.
A/N: Next chapter, what will become of Harry and Draco? Will their romance last? Will Harry get away with these crimes? And the nifty conclusion of the story!
