Ch. 12

Ron's Confession

"What is this?" he shouted.

"I don't know!" Tally cried back, tears streaming down her face. Blaise's face was turning blue. Harry remembered something from the previous year,

"Its Dragon Snare! Quick start a fire, it hates fire." Harry said while taking hold of the plant, Tally released it and grabbed her wand from her pocket. She said a spell and fire shot towards the base of the plant. The plant shrieked and released Blaise, who began coughing and wheezing.

"WHAT ARE YOU KIDS DOING?" The owner of the store, a plump woman with frizzy blonde hair came storming around the corner. "What are you doing to my plants?" She stepped over Blaise and headed right to her Dragon Snare.

"We aren't doing anything, your plant attacked our friend." Harry said angrily back.

"You were bothering it, weren't you? My babies wouldn't hurt a fly." She began to sooth the plant, making Harry quite ill, "Out, the three of you out before you cause any more trouble." Harry shot her a dirty look and helped Blaise to his feet. Once outside they began talking again.

"Are you alright Blaise?" Harry asked. Blaise was still coughing and rubbing his bruised throat

"Yeah, I just need something to drink." The three of them headed to the Three Broomsticks where they spotted Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Dean, and Ginny. They made their way over to them.

"Hey you three, we were wondering where you were. You guys have been gone for nearly an hour." Neville said as Blaise sat down warily.

"I'll get your drink, Blaise. Anyone else want anything?" Tally asked. Both Ron and Hermione asked for Butterbeer.

"I'll go help you." Harry said. Harry had the idea to use the Twins potion on Ron and Hermione. Figuring that it was Valentine's Day, it was as good of a time as any. When he grabbed two of the Butterbeers, Harry looked around to make sure no one was watching. He then uncorked the potion and made to pour some in.

"What are you doing?" Tally asked suddenly. Harry panicked.

"Er-well, see...Fred and George gave me a potion to try out on Ron and Hermione. I thought that now was a good time to do it." Tally was watching him with an amused smile.

"What does it do?"

"It makes them tell their feelings about one another." Tally shot a glance over her shoulder at them and gave Harry a wicked smile.

"Okay, let's do it." She grabbed the bottles of Butterbeer meant for Harry, Blaise, and herself while Harry placed three drops of potion into Ron and Hermione's. They then made their way back over to the table placing the butterbeer in front of it's respective owners. They then settled themselves across from each other.

Every now and then Harry and Tally would shoot looks in Ron and Hermione's direction. To keep themselves occupied they told the story of what had happened in that flowershop. Dean immediately started laughing and soon, everyone else had joined him, including Blaise, who had regained his sense of humor back.

"That's terrible mate, but at least you had these two with you." Ron said indicating Harry and Tally. Ron had taken a liking to Blaise because he was bold, but understanding and never pushed to hard. Ron also knew that Blaise had no intention of liking Hermione, but rather fancied Padma Patil, who Ron thought was perfect for him. It turns out that Blaise had wanted to go to the Yule Ball with Padma, but she ended up going with Ron, causing Blaise to be very jealous of Ron. Ron then turned to look at Hermione, "oh, but if you had her with you, then your whole world would be perfect." Hermione was taking a sip of her drink and choked on it while turning to look at Ron. Tally began snickering followed closely with Blaise, Ginny, and Neville. Luna looked at them curiously with her dreamy look and Dean could only widen his eyes in shock.

"Wha-what?" Hermione asked. Harry smiled at the two of them and looked at Tally. Dean cleared his throat.

"Well, I think we should be going now." He stood and Ginny followed suite, as they walked by, Harry heard Ginny whisper into Tally's ear 'tell me everything' before leaving.

"You are the prettiest, smartest, most wonderful girl I have ever known." Ron started to say. Neville stood up quickly, grabbed Luna and mumbled a good-bye. Blaise hid his face in his hands, but his shoulders were shaking and a few snickers could be heard. Tally had tears of laughter leaking down her cheeks. "I love being around you and I think that without you, my world would crumple."

"I-I-I can't do this now!" Hermione cried and lept from her seat and ran out the door.

"Oh dear." Tally said and rushed out after her. Harry looked at Blaise who was now in complete control over himself.

"Well that wasn't what I was expecting." Harry said. Ron moaned next to him.

"What was I thinking? She doesn't like me and now I feel like such a fool!" Blaise made a noise.

"You have to kidding. You cannot be that much of an idiot, Ron. Of course she likes you! You have to be a bloody moron to not have noticed!" Blaise said, being very Slytherin like in his talking. Ron groaned again.

"What do I do?"

"You should have ran after her, but don't worry, I'm sure Tally will sort it all out." Blaise said again. Harry looked over at Ron and felt sorry for having done this to him.

"Come on, let's go to Zonko's." Harry said, hoping to cheer him up. "Or maybe Honeydukes." Ron smiled and nodded. The three of them stood and made their way out the door. Outside they immediately spotted Hermione and Tally, both looking frazzled. Harry started toward them, but Ron pulled him back.

"I don't want to see her right now. She looks really upset." Harry nodded and they walked the the other direction, heading into Honeydukes.

Harry, Ron, and Blaise made their way back to Hogwarts. They had spent three hours trying to calm down Ron and then another hour searching for the girls, but they couldn't find them. When they walked into the Great Hall, Harry spotted Tally talking quietly with Ginny and Neville. The three of them sat down next to them.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, shooting a glance at Ron, who only blushed deeply. Tally looked at him too before answering

"She's up in the girls dorm. I got her calmed down, she'll be fine." Ron moaned again.

"She hates me." Tally looked at him and then broke out into laughter. Everyone shot her an odd look, but Harry found himself laughing too. Soon everyone but Ron was laughing. "What, why are you laughing?"

"Oh Ron, are you serious? Of course Hermione likes you, why do you think she reacted like that? She was just embarrassed and didn't know how to respond. When we get upstairs, you should take her aside and talk to her then." Tally said to him before returning to her meal. Ron nodded and got up from his seat.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"I need to go talk to her now." With that Ron stood and left the Great Hall.

The following week turned out to be a disasterous one. Ron and Hermione were hardly talking to one another, always avoiding each other's eyes and what not. Soon it turned out to be hell for both Harry and Tally as Snape decided to take avenge for Christmas.

"POTTER! What are you doing?" Harry looked up from his potion at Snape.

"Er-"

"Tell me what line three says." Harry looked at the board and groaned. He had completely missed line three. "That's right Potter, you forgot to add the snail jelly. Now your potion is useless. Ten points from Gryffindor for ruining your potion and wasting our time." Harry shot Snape the angriest look he could muster while thinking horrid thoughts of him, hoping he was reading his mind. Snape whipped away from Harry and marched around the room. Harry sat down fuming at the mistreatment he always receives from Snape when Snape's voice caused Harry's head to snap up. "Ms. Adams, what do you think you are doing?" Tally shot up and gave Snape a bewildered look.

"Wha-I..."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for cheating."

"WHAT? I was not cheating!" Snape was quiet for a moment. Beside Tally, Blaise sat with his eyes wide and an angry look at Snape.

"Sir, she wasn't-"

"Ten points from Gryffindor for talking back to the teacher and ten points to Slytherin for trying to help a friend." Both Blaise's and Tally's jaws dropped at that and Blaise stood to speak,

"But Professor! That's not-"

"I was not cheating and you know it!" Hermione groaned from beside Harry.

"She's just as bad as you are Harry." She whispered into his ears.

"GET OUT! Get out of my classroom right now!"

"Fine! I know this is just revenge because I spoke the truth. Couldn't handle it, could you?" Without another glance, Tally stormed from the room. There was a heavy silence that followed in her wake.

"That was wicked cool." Blaise said from beside Harry as they made their way out of the Dungeon. "Well, I have to drop some of my stuff off, so I'll see you all for dinner." They bid farewell and Harry and Hermione continued their wake towards the common room.

"You know Harry, I think Tally is the female version of you." Harry looked at her

"What do you mean?" She shot him a knowing look, causing Harry to become irritated, "I'm not dense, so don't look at me like I am!"

"Alright, Harry, calm down. I did't mean anything by it." Hermione sighed, "It's just, look at the two of you. You both had haunted pasts and terrifying futures, you both have short tempers, and you both have to figure things out for yourselves in order to be satisfied. And even through all this, somehow you guys seem to make everything work."

"Its not as easy as you make it sound. I still get angry at people talking about me and I know Tally has a hard time with people who don't trust her." Hermione laughed.

"But you guys still have fun, you're still together, don't you see?" Harry shrugged.

"You are what everyone wants to have, the perfect relationship. I don't think I've ever seen the two of you bicker. Not like me and Ron..." Harry stopped for a moment and looked at her.

"You know, you and Ron do make a good couple, even if you can't see it yet." Hermione blushed at his words, but said nothing.

"HARRY, HERMIONE!" They looked up to see Ron running full speed toward them, he slid to a stop in front of them, panting to get his breath.

"What's wrong Ron?" Harry asked.

"Tally...heart..." Was all Ron got out before Harry ran as fast as he could to the common room. When he got there, he spotted Tally laying on the couch with Ginny and Parvati standing over her, both looking quite frightened. Harry quickly reached her side and knelt down.

"Tally?" She opened her eyes and focused on him.

"Snape, he made me angry. I'm sorry." Harry picked up her head and sat down on the couch. Tally shifted her body so that she was sitting with her head resting on his chest. Harry took both her heads and copied what she had showed him at Christmas. He placed one hand on his chest and one hand on her own, then he softly murmured into her ear.

"Don't worry Tally, I'm here now. Ease your heart. Feel my beats, find them, copy them. Calm yourself. All is well. Snape isn't worth it. Slow down." It was amazing how fast her heart was racing when Harry had first place his hand on her chest, but slowly, through the guidance of his voice and own heart, Tally's heart began to slow until it nearly matched his own. "There, see, that wasn't so bad."

"Thank you." Tally raised her head and looked at Harry with a smile on her face. Harry smiled back and she kissed him. When they released each other, Harry noticed that Parvati and Ginny had moved away to give them privacy, while Ron and Hermione had sat down in the chairs across from them. Hermione was staring at them intently.

"What?"

"Can you teach me?" Tally looked at Hermione for a moment.

"You really want to learn?" Hermione nodded. Harry stood and took the seat that Hermione vacated. Watching the girls, Ron leaned in to whisper to Harry.

"That was pretty awesome Harry. Hermione's right, you two are a good couple."

"Yeah, well I still stick by with what I told her. You and her would make a really good couple, once you get passed all the awkwardness." Ron was silent for a moment. "You really do love her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I-" That was all he said as someone cleared her throat. They looked up to see both girls standing in front of them. Hermione's eyes were shiny with tears. Ron ears reddened dramatically when he realized she had probably heard him.

"Er-you guys ready for dinner?" Tally asked, clearly feeling the awkwardness of the situation. Harry stood quickly and took ahold of her hand.

"I'm famished, let's eat."

When they reached the Great Hall, Harry scanned the tables looking for Blaise.

"Where's Blaise and Neville?" Tally asked from beside him as the neared the table.

"Blaise asked him what had happened to you guys and Neville told him about your attack." Ginny told them. "Blaise said he might have something to help, so him and Neville left to go to the Slytherin common room. I thought they were going to meet you guys. I could be wrong." They sat down and began to eat some of the food in front of them. Harry had an uneasy feeling in his stomach and noticed that none of his friends were eating very much.

"Do you guys want to look for them?" He asked and Tally, Ron, and Hermione nodded their heads eagerly. They stood and made their way out the door. They turned and headed for the dungeons. Since Ron and Harry had turned into Crabbe and Goyle in the second year, they knew where the Slytherin common room was located.

When they turned the corner to where the common room was, they began to hear shouts and moans. Harry took out his wand and noticed the others did too. They ran to the sources of the noise and soon they came upon it.

Ahead of them stood Malfoy and a large group of his followers. Crabbe and Goyle were holding roughly to a very angry looking Neville and there on the ground in the middle of the group lay Blaise, bloody, bruised, and barely conscious.

A/N: Hey guys, I got this chapter up far quicker than I imagined. Thanks for the review Esrb99, I really appreciate it.

I hope you guys like that Blaise has now become a part of their group. I wasn't originally going to put him in it at all, but I felt that he deserved to be recognized and have it be so that everyone can see not all Slytherins are bad.

Anyway, review, comment, flame....either way, just tell me what you think!