Ron didn't know what to say. Why was Draco talking to him...nicely...in public! It had to be a trap.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron said, trying to sound mean, but his heart was melting, and it seemed impossible.
"Fine, if you don't want my help. But I already handed in my essay, and Severus...I mean, Professor Snape... said it was excellent."
"Of course he did, you're a Slytherin. But us Gryffindors have to work four times as hard in that class."
"Whatever you say...Weasel." Draco began to walk off but Ron jumped up and grabbed his arm, without thinking. Draco's flesh was so cold, so enchanting. Ron pulled his hand away slowly, reluctantly. "What, Weasley, you didn't want my help, so what could you possibly want now?" As soon as Draco said that, a million ideas ran through Ron's head...ideas he hoped no one would ever hear. He felt heat rise to his cheeks, and quickly spoke before Draco noticed.
"I do need help. I don't understand it. But you'd just make fun of me. And I'm really not up for that."
Draco laughed, it would have sounded evil if it were any louder than it was. "No, Weasley, not today. Father thinks it'd be a good idea for me to tutor other students. He says it'll look good on future résumés. Potions happens to be my best subject... with or without Snape as the teacher. So, are you up for it or not, I don't have all day to waste with Mudblood loving loser like you, Weasel."
Ron put away his anger about the Mudblood comment, and weakly nodded his head yes. He sat back down under the tree and watched as Draco sat near him and took his parchment.
"Humm... not too bad of an opening paragraph, but I highly suggest never using the word 'I' in an essay. It drives Snape crazy." Draco scratched it out and changed something. Then he handed it back to Ron and took his book. "Now, if you look on page 73, it practically gives you the whole answer to the first two questions, you just need to reword it and tell why Seaweed would make that potion spoil." He flipped back to that page and handed the book back to Ron. "Read that."
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Harry caught the football and ran towards to the thirty yard line before being tackled. They set up again, and Kevin, a seventh year Hufflepuff, passed the ball to him, but before he could catch it, something catch his eye. It couldn't be... Ron and Draco? Sitting together? Working on the potions essay...together? Smack! The ball hit him right in the head. His glasses flew off, and he hit the ground.
"Harry! I'm so sorry, Mate." Kevin ran over to him after calling a time out.
"No, it's okay... I should have been paying attention." He looked around. "Can you help me find my glasses?"
"Sure." the brunette chuckled and picked them off the ground, cast a fixing charm on them, and handed them back to Harry.
Harry got up and dusted himself off before looking over at Ron again. Ron was standing up ready to run over and see if he was okay. Harry waved to him and gave him a forced smile, determined not to ruin anything that might be going on with him and Draco.
"Hey, Kevin. I'm a little out of it now." Harry lied. "Can I sit out for a while."
"Sure. Hey, Bones." he called across the field. "You're in!"
Susan Bones' Ravenclaw cousin Stevie ran onto the field. Harry sat down on a bench off to the side, and watched Ron work on his essay, as Draco corrected a few things. It seemed as if he was helping him, but why on Earth would Draco Malfoy want to help Ron? Even if Draco was gay, which he would probably never admit, because Harry was sure it was against some type of Malfoy code of conduct, why would he choose Ron? They were from completely different worlds. And, if for some reason he decided to play a cold trick on Ron and pretend to be interested in him. Harry would kill him. He didn't care how long they sent him to Azkaban, he'd do anything to protect his best friend.
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Ron was glad Harry was okay, but he was sitting out, and he felt guilty for not going to check on him, but he couldn't end this time with Draco.
"Potter's such a wimp. He could have played, he wasn't hit that hard." Draco said as he flipped through the book to look up a definition for Ron.
"If he gets hurt too bad, he'll be out of Quidditch, he has to take it easy." Ron defended him.
"You act like that would be a bad thing."
"Don't get any ideas, Malfoy! Act like a man and attempt to beat Harry fair and square for once." Ron was getting angry, but tried to control it.
"Okay, okay. Clam down, Weasley, I didn't mean to insult your little boyfriend."
Ron stood up and pointed at Draco. "You listen here, Malfoy. I'd rather fail this essay then sit here and listen to you insult my best mate. Harry is most definitely not gay, how dare you infer that!"
Draco laughed casually. "I notice you didn't mention anything about yourself not being gay."
Ron panicked, and his face flushed with pink. "I-I...well of course I'm not either...but it's Harry we're talking about here...and I needed to defend him. Now...onto question four." He sat back down and started writing, hoping Draco believed him.
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Harry watched as Ron jumped up and yelled at Malfoy. It looked as if he were threatening him, and Harry almost jumped off to bench to go help him, but he forced himself to stay put. Ron then sat back down and they continued to work. Harry felt calm again, and decided to go back into the game.
After he scored two touchdowns, and his team was up 26 to 3, he received another pass from Kevin. He went to throw the ball to Seamus, he pulled his arm back, ready to release the it, when he saw Ron and Draco out of the corner of his eye. Ron was blushing, and Draco was laughing coolly. Harry lost his train of thought, and released the ball in the wrong direction. It twirled and flew across the field and out of bounds until it crashed into the head of a bypassing student. Harry whiled around to see her fall to the ground, unconscious. He ran over to her and noticed who it was.
"Luna! Luna, are you okay, can you hear me?" he kneeled next to her. There was no response and he knew he had to bring her to the hospital wing. He wished for a second that he'd listened to Hermione when she suggested they all learn the charm Sirius used back in third year to carry an unconscious Snape out of the Whomping Willow's secret passage. However, once he picked her up, he noticed she was so tiny and light, that there was no need for it. They set off for the hospital wing, and Harry noticed the way the sun gave her face a beautiful glow, and her hair wonderful highlights.
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Ron was almost done his essay when Draco randomly said, "You know, Weasley, I don't hate you." Ron blushed and looked over at him.
"R-really?"
Draco laughed coolly and said "No, I don't know you well enough to hate. I just dislike that you're a Gryffindor who hangs out with Potter and happens to be a Weasley. Other than that, I suppose there's no reason for me to hate you...yet."
Ron couldn't tell if that was good or bad, but he didn't have time to think about that, because he saw Harry looking at them as he throw the football, and hit a passing girl with it. Ron jumped up again and started moving towards them.
"Where are you going?" Draco asked.
"That's Luna!! I have to go!" Ron called behind him.
"But, your stuff!" Draco sighed and chased after Ron, essay and book in hand. He followed Ron, who was following Harry, all the way to the hospital wing. When they arrived, the redhead and blonde were panting, while Harry was breathing fine and placed Luna on a bed before calling for Madam Pomfery. He turned around and stopped the others.
"Ron!" he said, happily. Then he turned to Draco. "...Malfoy." he said in a quieter, firm tone. They nodded to each other and then Harry turned back to Ron.
"Is she okay?" Ron asked.
"I'm not sure...she's black out!" Harry said and the nurse came out. Harry explained what happened and she quickly went about fixing Luna up.
"She and Ginny have been getting pretty close. I mean after what happened last year and all... well it was only nature that at least one of us became friends with her. I hope she's okay."
"I just hope her crazy dad doesn't write anything bad about me in his wacked out magazine after this!" Harry said with a slight laugh.
"Always thinking about yourself, Potter." Draco said.
"Like your not." Harry spat back.
"ANYWAY!" Ron spoke up. "Are you okay, Harry. I saw you get hit earlier."
"I'm fine, I was just... a bit distracted. So um... what are you two up to."
Ron gave Harry a 'Don't imply anything!' look and said "Working on the Potions Essay... Draco's a big help. Maybe Hermione will think I actually worked hard by myself for once."
Harry laughed at him and said "She'll know better than that Ron, remember, she knows EVERYTHING." Ron blushed, making Harry laugh more. Draco seemed lost, and stayed out of their conversation. That is, until he remembered why he was there. "Oh, R-Weasley... you forgot these." he handed Ron his things and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Ron called. "I haven't finished yet."
"You have the basic idea, you'll be fine."
"Okay..." he sounded defeated. "Hey, Malfoy?"
Draco stopped at the door and turned around.
"Yea, Weasley?"
"Thanks."
Draco let a slight smile show, and nodded before walking out of the room. Ron sighed in bliss and stared at where Draco had been standing for a few minutes before turning back around and walking over to Luna, who was being fed a potion by Madam Pomfrey. "Is she going to be okay?" he asked.
"She'll be fine, we just need to wait until she wakes up, and she'll need some rest. But she'll be perfectly fine." the nurse said and finished up before walking away.
"Ron, are you two like...you know..." Harry said, shyly.
"Harry! He was just tutoring me! He's still Malfoy, and besides, I highly doubt he's...you know..." he lowered his voice "gay..."
Harry just laughed and walked over to Ron. "You should really become more confident about being yourself, Ron." he patted him on the back.
"I know...I'm working on it. Well, I'm going to go finish this essay. If I see Ginny, I'll tell her about Luna. Let me know if anything changes." He walked out just as Luna was opening her eyes.
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Harry turned around after watching Ron leave, and saw Luna fluttering her wonderful eyes open. Harry ran over to her side and sat on the edge of her bed. "Luna, Luna! Are you okay? I'm so sorry for this!" he said, and brushed a bit of dirty-blonde hair from her face. "Do you remember what happened."
"I was walking back to the castle, when something hit me." she said in her dreamy, mystic voice.
"I'm so sorry, Luna... I wasn't paying attention, and I threw a ball right at you." Harry said, rubbing her hand with comfort.
"Well, at least it wasn't a buldger, huh?" she began laughed, but stopped and rubbed her head. "Let's cross laughing off of the list of things to do after being hit with a ball." she teased.
"Should I call the nurse?"
"Yes, please."
When Madam Pomfery was done fixing Luna up some more, Harry returned to her side, bringing her a magazine.
"Thanks Harry, but the Madam says I can't read for a week. My vision is just a bit messed up."
"Luna, I really am sorry."
"Harry, really, it's okay. At least I'll get out of doing homework for awhile!"
"Well, would you like me to read it to you?"
"That'd be nice." she smiled
He read her the latest issue of her Father's magazine, The Quibbler, and tried his hardest not to laugh at some of the outrageous articles.
"Oh look!" he said, "This one's about me!" He shook his head and began to skip over it when Luna held out a hand to stop him.
"Read it to me. I don't mind what it says. Besides, almost anything ever written about you isn't true anyway. That's one thing I'll admit is a hoax in this." she said. Harry smiled and flipped back to it.
Harry Potter, The Little Wizard Who Could
While we all know of young Master Potter's abilities in the defense against dark arts and Quidditch, it hasn't come to anyone's attention that he could have other strong suits...until now.
It's become apparent that our little savoir is now quiet the jock.
"Yeah, Harry's real fun to play ball with. He's the won who taught most of us how to play American Football. That's his favorite...aside from Quidditch, that is, but he likes some other sports as well. We have plans to go see a basketball game together over the winter break, it'll be awesome!" says Kevin Kebbler, a seventh year at Hogwarts.
There's also rumor that The Boy Who Lived will be initiated into the newly founded National Honors Society, along with longtime friend Hermione Granger. "I've always encouraged Harry to try hard in school, and I think that an honor such as this would be good for him. I believe he could make it, if he worked hard enough." says the peppy sixth year.
All of this while still running Dumbledore's Army, a Defense Against the Dark Arts club at school, where he teaches others to be as brave and talented as he.
What will be next for everyone's favorite hero? Perhaps a book? We'll have to keep an eye out! This is Anita Reins reporting.
"Well...I suppose most of that is true. And, Hermione has just about got me convinced to submit an application for the National Honors Society, but I'm certainly not writing a book... at least not anytime soon."
"And you people all think my daddy's magazine is a bunch of lies."
"Yes...well...er..." Harry rubbed the back of his head and changed the subject. "What do you think about the article?"
"It makes you look good. I'm not really into the whole jock scene, but when you're Harry Potter, anything you do is going to make you look better."
"Not into sports?" Harry said with a hint of blush.
"Well, other than Quidditch, no."
"Then what are you into?"
"Charms. I like to study them." They talked for awhile about meaningless stuff, but it meant everything to Harry. He had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, and a strange knot in his chest.
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Ron walked down a few corridors after leaving the Hospital Wing, before finding Draco outside of the Library, leaning against the wall.
"Weasley, I knew you wouldn't be too far behind."
"Well, I need to finish the essay...so I was going to go study. Besides, I felt it was right to give them some time alone. I can tell when Harry fancies someone, he gets this strange glow in his eyes."
"You mean like the one in yours right now?" Draco asked, and stepped towards Ron.
!$!$! Humm... I don't know why the little squares (or question marks, depending on how your computer is showing it...) are popping up everywhere. I didn't type it like that. But then again, why is everyone's profiles messed up? Fan Fiction must be doing it... well, I'll repost them if I need to later on. I really hope it isn't bothering your reading too much! I hope you enjoyed the chapter...eep! until next time... Love Ambz !$!$!