Author's Note: Just one chapter this time. Many thanks to those who reviewed. Love you guys. However, one note to those who like Ron-Draco pairings: While I too like this pairing, I really cannot say whether or not this story will end up with that or any pairing for that matter. I'm really not sure where this story is going except for a very vague idea and right now I am just writing what the story and characters tell me to write. Don't hate me; I'm just the messenger. There's still hope, but no promises.
chapter 8: AGRESSION - stifling the rage
Harry still couldn't believe that Ron had gotten into a fight with Malfoy that had put them both in hospital. Well, the fighting part wasn't that big of a surprise. Malfoy always was saying nasty things to get a rise out of people and Ron had always hated the stupid git just as much as Harry did. But it didn't usually deteriorate into such physical violence and besides; Malfoy usually had his goons Crabbe and Goyle there to do the punching for him. There was something very strange about the whole situation; Harry just couldn't put his finger on what.
Of course it was hard to think when Ron was sitting right across from him shoving gobs of mushy green spinach into his mouth. Harry shuddered at the sight. It had been different at the start of the year when Ron complained about the annoying protectiveness of his mother and spent half his time just pushing the stuff around on his plate. Nowadays he appeared to practically enjoy the stuff and Harry couldn't help but notice that the helpings were getting larger. He hadn't talked to Hermione about it yet but he had seen a book on spinach poking out of her book bag and was secretly relieved to see that she was looking into it.
All in all, Harry was worried about Ron. He knew that there was something he wasn't telling him and he hated the fact that Ron felt there was something he couldn't share with his friend. He hadn't even told Harry why he'd come to Hogwarts early. Harry hadn't even thought that you could come early so it must have been something important. And he had left in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye. Harry kept waffling between feeling hurt by Ron's secretiveness and worried over his welfare.
Just then Ron finished washing down the last of his spinach with the remainder of his pumpkin juice and rose to leave the table. "Got that detention with Malfoy again?" Harry asked quickly as Ron gathered up his book bag. Ron just nodded distractedly and started away. "Hey, wait." Harry jumped up from the table and started after Ron. "I'll walk you down to the dungeons." Ron looked briefly surprised but smiled as Harry joined him.
"So, how's Quidditch practice going?" Ron asked as they passed through the doors and out into the halls. Harry smiled, relieved to see this spark of normalcy in his otherwise withdrawn friend.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Ron scowled and clenched his hands into fists as Draco bit down viciously on his shoulder.
"Spreading ugly rumors about me now are you, Weasel?" Draco sneered before attacking Ron's shoulder once again. Ron winced as Draco worried the edges of the bite, sucking out any trace of blood from the area.
"Oh, as if you wouldn't have done the same thing given the opportunity?!" Ron snapped, shoving Malfoy away. Enough was enough. "What are you going to do about it anyway? Is biting harder all you can think of? Sure as hell can't sick Crabbe and Goyle on me now can you? I don't think anyone would believe a Malfoy visiting a Weasley in hospital, and explaining to them that you were just there for a quick bite is probably out." Ron could tell that his face was red. He really needed to try to calm down but Malfoy really got on his nerves sometimes. He took a few calming breaths, trying to ignore the look of death that Malfoy was apparently trying to kill him with. "Geeze, Malfoy, it was just a joke. Get over it already."
Draco's eyes narrowed even further and the look of death turned into the look of slow and painful mutilation. "I think that telling the whole fucking school that I'm gay goes a bit farther than a joke and falls very nicely under the revenge category," he snarled. "How would you like it if I just told everyone you'd got it backwards and you're the fucking homo instead of me? Bet everyone would have a real laugh then. Saint Potter's faithful shadow a queer. Would go a long way to explaining a few things, it would." The smirk on Malfoy's face was pure evil and at that moment Ron wanted nothing more than to rip his head off.
That was it. He'd lost it. Ron's temper was completely gone. In place of it was a blinding, all consuming rage. But before his brilliant Mangle Malfoy plan could be put into action, he was quickly brought up short by a polite cough coming from the doorway.
"Well, as much as I know you two enjoy biting each other's heads off, I have a message to deliver." As one the two boys froze then turned to glare at whatever imbecile dared to interrupt their argument. Ginny Weasley stood framed in the doorway looking slightly perturbed. Malfoy was the first to recover from the surprise of her arrival and answered her with his usual sneer.
"What is it, Weasley?" he drawled. "Harry Potter fan club having an emergency meeting? Did the boy wonder accidentally flirt with someone unexpected and now you have to rally the troops to get him back on track?" Ron could feel himself bristling at this but to the surprise of both boys Ginny only smirked.
"And what would Draco Malfoy know about fan clubs?" she inquired in a honey coated voice that had Ron raising one eyebrow. "Although it's probably a good thing for you you don't have one. When word gets around of what you are you'll probably have to go into hiding. Vampiric demons aren't the most socially acceptable of creatures, you know?"
Next to him Malfoy had started growling and to Ron's surprise he found himself putting a restraining hand on Malfoy's arm. Although he himself wasn't sure what to think of Ginny's newly displayed sneering capabilities, it was sort of weird. It was nice that his little sister was able to stick up for herself against Draco Malfoy, but what she had said was just mean, which wasn't like Ginny at all. Add to that the fact that her insult was equally applicable to Ron as well and Ron found that he was now definitely not in a good mood. He decided to go for the neutral approach to get it all over with.
"What is it, Ginny?" he asked, keeping his voice as emotionless as possible.
"Oh, nothing much," she said, gracefully flicking her auburn hair out of her face. "Hermione just wanted you to know that, due to your 'detentions' with Malfoy, your study sessions have been rescheduled to the hour before dinner and she expects you come prepared with those exercises she assigned earlier."
"What? But I've barely had time to start my Charms homework." Ron squeaked then silently berated himself for squeaking in front of Malfoy. He could practically hear the ferret faced git smirking beside him.
Ginny just shrugged. "That's just what she wanted me to tell you. She would have come down here herself. Be glad I told her I had to come down here anyway." Ron winced and would have thanked his sister for the favor if the next words out of her mouth hadn't been so cold. "You know, you really should put your shirt back on, Ron. If anyone else comes looking for you they're bound to get the wrong idea." Ginny turned and disappeared through the door as quietly as she had come in.
Malfoy was the first to speak after she had gone. "Wow, your sister's turning into quite the bitch, isn't she Weasley?"
Ron, who had been struggling to get into his sweater, froze at these words before working furiously to get his head through so he could answer the git. "Just shut up about my sister, Malfoy," he finally got out, internally wincing at the stupidity of the retort.
Malfoy, however, was back in his element. "Why don't you make me, Weasel?" Malfoy sneered. "You've got to admit that she's got Ice Queen down pat. Be interesting to know who she melts for though, aye? Fifty galleons says it's a teacher. After all, you Weasleys are gonna have to use all the tricks in the book if you expect to get anywhere in this world. Humble beginnings can be such a handicap, can't they?" This last was said with a smirking pout and Ron wished nothing more at that moment than that pure rage didn't make him lose his ability to articulate. At this point, turning red and making choking noises was about all he was good for.
"I. Said. Shut. Up. Malfoy." he finally managed from between clenched teeth, shaking from the exertion of keeping his fists at his sides rather than letting them fly where they would: straight at Malfoy's face.
Whatever witty rejoinder Draco had to that, however, would never be known as, at that moment, they were interrupted by yet another voice from the doorway. This one was, unfortunately, icily familiar to both boys. "I would appreciate it if you two would keep it down." Snape's voice could have frosted an acre in Hell. "I know that Dumbledore assigned you this hour every day to get to know each other better but if you don't have anything constructive to say, you will kindly Shut Up. I don't have time to baby-sit two imbecilic teenagers on a testosterone kick. Another outburst like that and I will start deducting points." With one more icy glare for good measure, Snape swept from the room, leaving the two boys, once again, at a loss for words. The rest of the hour was spent in a stony silence as the two did their best to pretend that the other didn't exist or, at the very worst, was nothing more than a dead and decaying body sitting next to them.
chapter 8: AGRESSION - stifling the rage
Harry still couldn't believe that Ron had gotten into a fight with Malfoy that had put them both in hospital. Well, the fighting part wasn't that big of a surprise. Malfoy always was saying nasty things to get a rise out of people and Ron had always hated the stupid git just as much as Harry did. But it didn't usually deteriorate into such physical violence and besides; Malfoy usually had his goons Crabbe and Goyle there to do the punching for him. There was something very strange about the whole situation; Harry just couldn't put his finger on what.
Of course it was hard to think when Ron was sitting right across from him shoving gobs of mushy green spinach into his mouth. Harry shuddered at the sight. It had been different at the start of the year when Ron complained about the annoying protectiveness of his mother and spent half his time just pushing the stuff around on his plate. Nowadays he appeared to practically enjoy the stuff and Harry couldn't help but notice that the helpings were getting larger. He hadn't talked to Hermione about it yet but he had seen a book on spinach poking out of her book bag and was secretly relieved to see that she was looking into it.
All in all, Harry was worried about Ron. He knew that there was something he wasn't telling him and he hated the fact that Ron felt there was something he couldn't share with his friend. He hadn't even told Harry why he'd come to Hogwarts early. Harry hadn't even thought that you could come early so it must have been something important. And he had left in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye. Harry kept waffling between feeling hurt by Ron's secretiveness and worried over his welfare.
Just then Ron finished washing down the last of his spinach with the remainder of his pumpkin juice and rose to leave the table. "Got that detention with Malfoy again?" Harry asked quickly as Ron gathered up his book bag. Ron just nodded distractedly and started away. "Hey, wait." Harry jumped up from the table and started after Ron. "I'll walk you down to the dungeons." Ron looked briefly surprised but smiled as Harry joined him.
"So, how's Quidditch practice going?" Ron asked as they passed through the doors and out into the halls. Harry smiled, relieved to see this spark of normalcy in his otherwise withdrawn friend.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Ron scowled and clenched his hands into fists as Draco bit down viciously on his shoulder.
"Spreading ugly rumors about me now are you, Weasel?" Draco sneered before attacking Ron's shoulder once again. Ron winced as Draco worried the edges of the bite, sucking out any trace of blood from the area.
"Oh, as if you wouldn't have done the same thing given the opportunity?!" Ron snapped, shoving Malfoy away. Enough was enough. "What are you going to do about it anyway? Is biting harder all you can think of? Sure as hell can't sick Crabbe and Goyle on me now can you? I don't think anyone would believe a Malfoy visiting a Weasley in hospital, and explaining to them that you were just there for a quick bite is probably out." Ron could tell that his face was red. He really needed to try to calm down but Malfoy really got on his nerves sometimes. He took a few calming breaths, trying to ignore the look of death that Malfoy was apparently trying to kill him with. "Geeze, Malfoy, it was just a joke. Get over it already."
Draco's eyes narrowed even further and the look of death turned into the look of slow and painful mutilation. "I think that telling the whole fucking school that I'm gay goes a bit farther than a joke and falls very nicely under the revenge category," he snarled. "How would you like it if I just told everyone you'd got it backwards and you're the fucking homo instead of me? Bet everyone would have a real laugh then. Saint Potter's faithful shadow a queer. Would go a long way to explaining a few things, it would." The smirk on Malfoy's face was pure evil and at that moment Ron wanted nothing more than to rip his head off.
That was it. He'd lost it. Ron's temper was completely gone. In place of it was a blinding, all consuming rage. But before his brilliant Mangle Malfoy plan could be put into action, he was quickly brought up short by a polite cough coming from the doorway.
"Well, as much as I know you two enjoy biting each other's heads off, I have a message to deliver." As one the two boys froze then turned to glare at whatever imbecile dared to interrupt their argument. Ginny Weasley stood framed in the doorway looking slightly perturbed. Malfoy was the first to recover from the surprise of her arrival and answered her with his usual sneer.
"What is it, Weasley?" he drawled. "Harry Potter fan club having an emergency meeting? Did the boy wonder accidentally flirt with someone unexpected and now you have to rally the troops to get him back on track?" Ron could feel himself bristling at this but to the surprise of both boys Ginny only smirked.
"And what would Draco Malfoy know about fan clubs?" she inquired in a honey coated voice that had Ron raising one eyebrow. "Although it's probably a good thing for you you don't have one. When word gets around of what you are you'll probably have to go into hiding. Vampiric demons aren't the most socially acceptable of creatures, you know?"
Next to him Malfoy had started growling and to Ron's surprise he found himself putting a restraining hand on Malfoy's arm. Although he himself wasn't sure what to think of Ginny's newly displayed sneering capabilities, it was sort of weird. It was nice that his little sister was able to stick up for herself against Draco Malfoy, but what she had said was just mean, which wasn't like Ginny at all. Add to that the fact that her insult was equally applicable to Ron as well and Ron found that he was now definitely not in a good mood. He decided to go for the neutral approach to get it all over with.
"What is it, Ginny?" he asked, keeping his voice as emotionless as possible.
"Oh, nothing much," she said, gracefully flicking her auburn hair out of her face. "Hermione just wanted you to know that, due to your 'detentions' with Malfoy, your study sessions have been rescheduled to the hour before dinner and she expects you come prepared with those exercises she assigned earlier."
"What? But I've barely had time to start my Charms homework." Ron squeaked then silently berated himself for squeaking in front of Malfoy. He could practically hear the ferret faced git smirking beside him.
Ginny just shrugged. "That's just what she wanted me to tell you. She would have come down here herself. Be glad I told her I had to come down here anyway." Ron winced and would have thanked his sister for the favor if the next words out of her mouth hadn't been so cold. "You know, you really should put your shirt back on, Ron. If anyone else comes looking for you they're bound to get the wrong idea." Ginny turned and disappeared through the door as quietly as she had come in.
Malfoy was the first to speak after she had gone. "Wow, your sister's turning into quite the bitch, isn't she Weasley?"
Ron, who had been struggling to get into his sweater, froze at these words before working furiously to get his head through so he could answer the git. "Just shut up about my sister, Malfoy," he finally got out, internally wincing at the stupidity of the retort.
Malfoy, however, was back in his element. "Why don't you make me, Weasel?" Malfoy sneered. "You've got to admit that she's got Ice Queen down pat. Be interesting to know who she melts for though, aye? Fifty galleons says it's a teacher. After all, you Weasleys are gonna have to use all the tricks in the book if you expect to get anywhere in this world. Humble beginnings can be such a handicap, can't they?" This last was said with a smirking pout and Ron wished nothing more at that moment than that pure rage didn't make him lose his ability to articulate. At this point, turning red and making choking noises was about all he was good for.
"I. Said. Shut. Up. Malfoy." he finally managed from between clenched teeth, shaking from the exertion of keeping his fists at his sides rather than letting them fly where they would: straight at Malfoy's face.
Whatever witty rejoinder Draco had to that, however, would never be known as, at that moment, they were interrupted by yet another voice from the doorway. This one was, unfortunately, icily familiar to both boys. "I would appreciate it if you two would keep it down." Snape's voice could have frosted an acre in Hell. "I know that Dumbledore assigned you this hour every day to get to know each other better but if you don't have anything constructive to say, you will kindly Shut Up. I don't have time to baby-sit two imbecilic teenagers on a testosterone kick. Another outburst like that and I will start deducting points." With one more icy glare for good measure, Snape swept from the room, leaving the two boys, once again, at a loss for words. The rest of the hour was spent in a stony silence as the two did their best to pretend that the other didn't exist or, at the very worst, was nothing more than a dead and decaying body sitting next to them.
