A\N: Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Wow, I don't know how many times I
can write that down, but I know that I can do it forever. Thanks so much
for everyone who reviewed and for everyone who didn't review but did read.
You guys are just rather shy, so I won't push you to do something you don't
want to do. Lol. But anyway, still, thanks. And yeah, it's a good thing
that Parvarti was able to stick some sense into that thick head of Draco's.
And don't worry, Draco may choose the wrong path, but we'll still love him
right? And if he chooses the right one, we still love him. Lol. Okay, bai.
Lemonskittle.
.
.
Chapter Fourteen
How to Give a Malfoy a Good Beating- Ron Weasley
.
.
He's never been this confused in his whole life. He's always known what he wanted and now, nothing is the same. He's so confused, he just wanted the world to freeze so he could think and sort out his thoughts; his feelings.
.
.
Hermione caught him with Tina, but he hadn't meant for that to happen. He was angry with her. He hated the way that Hufflepuff kept pawing at her and he tried to point that out, but Hermione only got angry. She was such a complicated girl.
.
.
Wait, that's not right. All girls are complicated, so why does he even try to understand them? Ron ran a hand through his red hair and let out a breath of frustration.
.
.
He can't do this anymore. Ron can't sit around and watch as Hermione threw her life away with some guy who didn't even deserve her. The only person good enough for her is him and he's going to make sure she knew that because that is the truth. Ron is the only person who understood her. He's known her for seven years now and there isn't another guy at Hogwarts who knew more about her than she did.
.
.
Well, Harry did too, but Hermione didn't love Harry. Hermione loved him and it's by time he told her that he loved her as well.
.
.
Ron threw open the curtains that enclosed his bed and jumped out of it, startling Neville who gave a yelp and ducked. "Sorry!" Ron yelled, more excited than he's ever been before. For seven years, he's been immature, pretending he didn't have any feelings for Hermione when truth is, he did. He loved her and it's time that he grew up and became a man.
.
.
He raced down the flight of stairs and practically flew into the common room. He almost sped right past Lavender Brown and Parvarti Patil, but their sobbing stopped him. It wasn't out of sympathy that he stopped because nothing would stop him now that he had his mind set on something, but it was the sentence that connected Ginny's name with Draco.
.
.
Ginny's name should never be in the same sentence with Draco Malfoy's because it was not meant to be used like that. Ron turned back to face the girls and stared in horror, realizing what they were saying. How could he not have known? How could he not have noticed how much that boy has been hanging around his sister?
.
.
Well actually, he knew the answer to that. He's been too busy with his own stupid problems that he didn't see what was going on with his sister. He's been so thick headed that he didn't realize the trouble she was in or the love that Hermione had for him.
.
.
"Draco wouldn't open his eyes, but I think he heard me," Parvarti was telling Lavender, oblivious that Ron was listening to them. "I told him that he should tell Ginny how he feels. Do you think I did the right thing?"
.
.
Lavender nodded and took Parvarti into a hug. "Of course you did," she said soothingly to the other girl. "Maybe it's too late for us, but Ginny still has a chance. She deserves to be happy."
.
.
"How long has he been fooling around with my sister?" Ron asked, outraged.
.
.
The two girls turned to face him in alarm. They wouldn't look at him in the eyes, their eyes filled with fears. He couldn't blame them. He was afraid of himself right then too. He was so angry, so mad at himself that he just wanted to hurl something against the wall, something named Draco.
.
.
"Answer me!" he yelled. His face was turning red with anger and it took everything not to go over to the girls and shake information out of them. "Tell me now!"
.
.
"Let's be reasonable about this, Ron," Parvarti said, her voice weak with fear and grief. "He loves her and you can't stop that."
.
.
"He loves her my arse!" Ron replied, turning around to storm out of the common room. "All he wants to do is have his way with her and leave the way he did to every other girl. You two are proof of that."
.
.
Ron threw a glance over his shoulder and saw the bewilder look that passed between the girls. He continued to walk away. He didn't care about anything else but beating the crap out of Malfoy. "It's not like that," Parvarti shouted after him, Lavender following close behind her. "You don't understand that he's changed. He doesn't want to hurt Ginny. He loves Ginny."
.
.
He loves Ginny? Ginny may be in love with him, something that Ron isn't sure of, but he knows for sure that Draco does not love her back. It's just a sick game that Draco has been playing and Ginny was naïve enough to fall for it. "He does not love my sister," Ron said, turning around to face the terrified girls. "The only thing that Draco Malfoy loves is himself."
.
.
Ron turned to go, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Hermione climbing up the steps towards them. She looked confused, staring from Ron to Parvarti and then Lavender. "Don't, Ron," she said.
.
.
At first, he didn't know what to make of this. Hermione telling him not to do it? Not to do what? Unless she knew. But if she knew, wouldn't she have told him? "You knew and you didn't tell me?"
.
.
"I knew you were going to do something like this, that's why I didn't tell you," she explained, walking towards him. "She told me, but she made me promise not to tell you, not until you were ready and you know what? She's right. You're just not ready."
.
.
Then something occurred to Ron. He's never thought about it, never even considered it, but now he knew. It must be true. "That night," he said, looking at Hermione, willing her to remember. "That night on Valentines. We found Ginny messed up. He tried to rape her didn't he?"
.
.
Hermione shook her head to deny it, but Ron wasn't hearing any of it. He walked past her and raced down the flight of stairs down to the dungeon where he knew he would find Draco. At first, he thought Hermione was following him, but when he was actually in the darkness of the dungeons, she wasn't behind him.
.
.
Ron continued down the dark corridor, searching for Draco. He would get into their common room if he had to, he didn't care. No one hurts his sister and he would make sure that Draco knew that. Draco of all people should have known that.
.
.
To his satisfaction, Draco was right where Ron wanted him to be. Ron stood in the shadows and watched the blonde walk towards him, wondering when he should jump out of the shadows and attack him. But then Draco stopped to pull out a parchment inside his pockets. Ron watched carefully as Draco crumbled the letter and threw it to the ground.
.
.
The blonde was troubled. Ron blinked and Draco was looking at him, his face knitted into a frown. "Ginny?" he asked at first.
.
.
"Do you think she'll want to see you, bastard?" Ron spat, stepping out of the darkness.
.
.
Draco wasn't affected by Ron's presence. He didn't seem one bit surprise by Ron's sudden appearance; actually, it was almost like he expected it. "Oh, it's you," Draco said. "Tell your sister that I'm sorry."
.
.
What nerve he had! Ron was so angry, he could have strangled Draco to death. "First you rape her and now you want me to tell her that? I'll kill you Malfoy!" Then he lunged at the blonde who was surprised by his out burst.
.
.
Ron tackled Draco to the ground and plunged a fist against his cheeks. Pain shot through Ron's hands, but he didn't care. He picked up Draco by his robes and slammed him against the stone wall, not hard enough to do any serious injuries. He plunged another fist into the blonde's stomach and received a satisfying grunt.
.
.
Draco pushed away from the wall and out of Ron's grasp. He was bent over, breathing out hard, trying to catch his breath. Ron raced towards him to tackle again, but Draco was quick. He dodged Ron and grabbed the redhead by the robe from behind, sending him crashing against the wall.
.
.
Ron hit the wall and felt his head connect with it. It didn't split open, but he felt dizzy, his vision turning against him. He was trying to regain his sight, blinking away the black dots but Draco sent his face to one side with his fist.
.
.
Draco tried for another sock, but Ron bent down and slammed Draco to the ground. He got a few punches to the blonde's flawless face, causing blood to trickle from his nose and mouth. There was a gash on Draco's forehead where blood was pouring out from, blinding him and Ron was satisfied. He tried to land another hit, but Ginny's shouting stopped him.
.
.
"Stop it!" she yelled, running towards them. "Stop it now, Ron!"
.
.
Her small hands came around his shoulders and pulled him off of Draco, sending him crashing to the ground. He opened his eyes to stare at her. She was picking Draco up, helping him stand.
.
.
What was she doing? That wasn't her brother. It's he she should be helping out, not Draco.
.
.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, lifting his head onto her lap.
.
.
He stared up into her concerned face and he wondered why he was so lucky. There were tons of guys that Hermione could have chosen and yet she chose him. Why? Didn't she know that she could have done so much better? "Yeah," he nodded.
.
.
Ginny was steering Draco away from them. He had his arm slung over her shoulder, leaning half of his weight on her and she didn't even mind. They continued to walk away until Ron picked up his head to look after them. "Why, Ginny?" he asked weakly. "How can you love someone who won't love you back?"
.
.
They stopped and stood there for a long time. Finally, Ginny turned back to him slowly and stared at him for even longer, but maybe that was just him. Sadly, she shook her head and looked up towards the ceiling, tears glistening at the corner of her eyes. "That's exactly what I wanted to ask Hermione."
.
.
Then she turned around with Draco and they walked away. Ron's head fell against Hermione's lap again and he stared up at her. Ginny was right. "That's a really good question," he said. "How can you love someone who won't love you back?"
.
.
A tear slid down Hermione's face and she stared at her hands. "We have to get to the Hospital Wing," she said, her voice shaking. It scared him how close she was to sobbing.
.
.
"Please answer me," he said. "How can you still love me when the chances are that I won't ever love you back?"
.
.
Hermione pulled him into a tight hug, although it was awkward with him lying down. His hands brushed her skirt and he felt something wet. Ron brought his hand up to his face behind her and screwed his eyes up to make- out the liquid on his hand.
.
.
Blood. Why did Hermione have blood on her skirt? Then Ron realized what happened. When he hit his head against the wall, he did split his head. "Do you love me, Hermione?" he asked her, his voice small. He was starting to get dizzy and there were so many black dots, he thought he was going to black out. "Because I love you."
.
.
He wished he saw the expression on her face or her reaction because he fainted as soon as the words left his lips.
.
.
Chapter Fourteen
How to Give a Malfoy a Good Beating- Ron Weasley
.
.
He's never been this confused in his whole life. He's always known what he wanted and now, nothing is the same. He's so confused, he just wanted the world to freeze so he could think and sort out his thoughts; his feelings.
.
.
Hermione caught him with Tina, but he hadn't meant for that to happen. He was angry with her. He hated the way that Hufflepuff kept pawing at her and he tried to point that out, but Hermione only got angry. She was such a complicated girl.
.
.
Wait, that's not right. All girls are complicated, so why does he even try to understand them? Ron ran a hand through his red hair and let out a breath of frustration.
.
.
He can't do this anymore. Ron can't sit around and watch as Hermione threw her life away with some guy who didn't even deserve her. The only person good enough for her is him and he's going to make sure she knew that because that is the truth. Ron is the only person who understood her. He's known her for seven years now and there isn't another guy at Hogwarts who knew more about her than she did.
.
.
Well, Harry did too, but Hermione didn't love Harry. Hermione loved him and it's by time he told her that he loved her as well.
.
.
Ron threw open the curtains that enclosed his bed and jumped out of it, startling Neville who gave a yelp and ducked. "Sorry!" Ron yelled, more excited than he's ever been before. For seven years, he's been immature, pretending he didn't have any feelings for Hermione when truth is, he did. He loved her and it's time that he grew up and became a man.
.
.
He raced down the flight of stairs and practically flew into the common room. He almost sped right past Lavender Brown and Parvarti Patil, but their sobbing stopped him. It wasn't out of sympathy that he stopped because nothing would stop him now that he had his mind set on something, but it was the sentence that connected Ginny's name with Draco.
.
.
Ginny's name should never be in the same sentence with Draco Malfoy's because it was not meant to be used like that. Ron turned back to face the girls and stared in horror, realizing what they were saying. How could he not have known? How could he not have noticed how much that boy has been hanging around his sister?
.
.
Well actually, he knew the answer to that. He's been too busy with his own stupid problems that he didn't see what was going on with his sister. He's been so thick headed that he didn't realize the trouble she was in or the love that Hermione had for him.
.
.
"Draco wouldn't open his eyes, but I think he heard me," Parvarti was telling Lavender, oblivious that Ron was listening to them. "I told him that he should tell Ginny how he feels. Do you think I did the right thing?"
.
.
Lavender nodded and took Parvarti into a hug. "Of course you did," she said soothingly to the other girl. "Maybe it's too late for us, but Ginny still has a chance. She deserves to be happy."
.
.
"How long has he been fooling around with my sister?" Ron asked, outraged.
.
.
The two girls turned to face him in alarm. They wouldn't look at him in the eyes, their eyes filled with fears. He couldn't blame them. He was afraid of himself right then too. He was so angry, so mad at himself that he just wanted to hurl something against the wall, something named Draco.
.
.
"Answer me!" he yelled. His face was turning red with anger and it took everything not to go over to the girls and shake information out of them. "Tell me now!"
.
.
"Let's be reasonable about this, Ron," Parvarti said, her voice weak with fear and grief. "He loves her and you can't stop that."
.
.
"He loves her my arse!" Ron replied, turning around to storm out of the common room. "All he wants to do is have his way with her and leave the way he did to every other girl. You two are proof of that."
.
.
Ron threw a glance over his shoulder and saw the bewilder look that passed between the girls. He continued to walk away. He didn't care about anything else but beating the crap out of Malfoy. "It's not like that," Parvarti shouted after him, Lavender following close behind her. "You don't understand that he's changed. He doesn't want to hurt Ginny. He loves Ginny."
.
.
He loves Ginny? Ginny may be in love with him, something that Ron isn't sure of, but he knows for sure that Draco does not love her back. It's just a sick game that Draco has been playing and Ginny was naïve enough to fall for it. "He does not love my sister," Ron said, turning around to face the terrified girls. "The only thing that Draco Malfoy loves is himself."
.
.
Ron turned to go, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Hermione climbing up the steps towards them. She looked confused, staring from Ron to Parvarti and then Lavender. "Don't, Ron," she said.
.
.
At first, he didn't know what to make of this. Hermione telling him not to do it? Not to do what? Unless she knew. But if she knew, wouldn't she have told him? "You knew and you didn't tell me?"
.
.
"I knew you were going to do something like this, that's why I didn't tell you," she explained, walking towards him. "She told me, but she made me promise not to tell you, not until you were ready and you know what? She's right. You're just not ready."
.
.
Then something occurred to Ron. He's never thought about it, never even considered it, but now he knew. It must be true. "That night," he said, looking at Hermione, willing her to remember. "That night on Valentines. We found Ginny messed up. He tried to rape her didn't he?"
.
.
Hermione shook her head to deny it, but Ron wasn't hearing any of it. He walked past her and raced down the flight of stairs down to the dungeon where he knew he would find Draco. At first, he thought Hermione was following him, but when he was actually in the darkness of the dungeons, she wasn't behind him.
.
.
Ron continued down the dark corridor, searching for Draco. He would get into their common room if he had to, he didn't care. No one hurts his sister and he would make sure that Draco knew that. Draco of all people should have known that.
.
.
To his satisfaction, Draco was right where Ron wanted him to be. Ron stood in the shadows and watched the blonde walk towards him, wondering when he should jump out of the shadows and attack him. But then Draco stopped to pull out a parchment inside his pockets. Ron watched carefully as Draco crumbled the letter and threw it to the ground.
.
.
The blonde was troubled. Ron blinked and Draco was looking at him, his face knitted into a frown. "Ginny?" he asked at first.
.
.
"Do you think she'll want to see you, bastard?" Ron spat, stepping out of the darkness.
.
.
Draco wasn't affected by Ron's presence. He didn't seem one bit surprise by Ron's sudden appearance; actually, it was almost like he expected it. "Oh, it's you," Draco said. "Tell your sister that I'm sorry."
.
.
What nerve he had! Ron was so angry, he could have strangled Draco to death. "First you rape her and now you want me to tell her that? I'll kill you Malfoy!" Then he lunged at the blonde who was surprised by his out burst.
.
.
Ron tackled Draco to the ground and plunged a fist against his cheeks. Pain shot through Ron's hands, but he didn't care. He picked up Draco by his robes and slammed him against the stone wall, not hard enough to do any serious injuries. He plunged another fist into the blonde's stomach and received a satisfying grunt.
.
.
Draco pushed away from the wall and out of Ron's grasp. He was bent over, breathing out hard, trying to catch his breath. Ron raced towards him to tackle again, but Draco was quick. He dodged Ron and grabbed the redhead by the robe from behind, sending him crashing against the wall.
.
.
Ron hit the wall and felt his head connect with it. It didn't split open, but he felt dizzy, his vision turning against him. He was trying to regain his sight, blinking away the black dots but Draco sent his face to one side with his fist.
.
.
Draco tried for another sock, but Ron bent down and slammed Draco to the ground. He got a few punches to the blonde's flawless face, causing blood to trickle from his nose and mouth. There was a gash on Draco's forehead where blood was pouring out from, blinding him and Ron was satisfied. He tried to land another hit, but Ginny's shouting stopped him.
.
.
"Stop it!" she yelled, running towards them. "Stop it now, Ron!"
.
.
Her small hands came around his shoulders and pulled him off of Draco, sending him crashing to the ground. He opened his eyes to stare at her. She was picking Draco up, helping him stand.
.
.
What was she doing? That wasn't her brother. It's he she should be helping out, not Draco.
.
.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, lifting his head onto her lap.
.
.
He stared up into her concerned face and he wondered why he was so lucky. There were tons of guys that Hermione could have chosen and yet she chose him. Why? Didn't she know that she could have done so much better? "Yeah," he nodded.
.
.
Ginny was steering Draco away from them. He had his arm slung over her shoulder, leaning half of his weight on her and she didn't even mind. They continued to walk away until Ron picked up his head to look after them. "Why, Ginny?" he asked weakly. "How can you love someone who won't love you back?"
.
.
They stopped and stood there for a long time. Finally, Ginny turned back to him slowly and stared at him for even longer, but maybe that was just him. Sadly, she shook her head and looked up towards the ceiling, tears glistening at the corner of her eyes. "That's exactly what I wanted to ask Hermione."
.
.
Then she turned around with Draco and they walked away. Ron's head fell against Hermione's lap again and he stared up at her. Ginny was right. "That's a really good question," he said. "How can you love someone who won't love you back?"
.
.
A tear slid down Hermione's face and she stared at her hands. "We have to get to the Hospital Wing," she said, her voice shaking. It scared him how close she was to sobbing.
.
.
"Please answer me," he said. "How can you still love me when the chances are that I won't ever love you back?"
.
.
Hermione pulled him into a tight hug, although it was awkward with him lying down. His hands brushed her skirt and he felt something wet. Ron brought his hand up to his face behind her and screwed his eyes up to make- out the liquid on his hand.
.
.
Blood. Why did Hermione have blood on her skirt? Then Ron realized what happened. When he hit his head against the wall, he did split his head. "Do you love me, Hermione?" he asked her, his voice small. He was starting to get dizzy and there were so many black dots, he thought he was going to black out. "Because I love you."
.
.
He wished he saw the expression on her face or her reaction because he fainted as soon as the words left his lips.