Author's Note: Not sure what to say about this. Thanks to those who reviewed. I REALLY appreciate it. Sorry if this chapter seems kinda slow, but... Hope you enjoy anyway.



chapter 13: Illusion - a moment of peace





Draco's words brought Ron up short. In his attempts to avoid the reality of this situation, in his anger and frustration at the unfairness of it all, he had somehow let himself forget that. Draco could kill him. His father had killed Ron's uncle and so really there was a significant probability that Draco would kill him. And it wasn't even as though he would be punished if he did so. Blood sacrifices surrendered their rights in that particular area. The fact that Malfoy hadn't killed him was, when Ron thought about it, really rather surprising. At this realization Ron felt the anger drain out of him.

"Why didn't you?"

"What?" Draco snapped, looking up at Ron sharply.

"It would end it. All of it. For you anyway." Ron found himself looking at Draco intently. Really, he should have still been angry, or afraid, after all Draco might kill him yet, but at the moment all he felt was a calm curiosity. He had never really looked at Draco before, and now that he was, he found himself interested to know what his arch enemy and apparent life companion was thinking.

At his words Malfoy frowned and looked down and away, his lips compressed into a thin line. After probably a full minute of scowling contemplation he finally looked back up at Ron. His face was oddly devoid of its usual coldness, though Ron could still see the patent Malfoy sneer lurking under the surface, waiting for leave to manifest. "I don't know." Draco's voice came out sounding hollow. "I...What I did...I didn't really think about it."

The two boys sat silently on the couch for a moment, digesting this strange conversation. The silence stretched out so completely that Ron could hear sounds of Professor Snape working at his desk drifting in from the other room. The scrape of a quill across parchment. A tuneless song hummed absently in the back of the throat.

Suddenly, a strange look of pain flitted across Malfoy's face and he grit his teeth. Ron started, remembering why they were here in Snape's offices in the first place, as well as his findings from the night before. He began to rummage through his robes for the slip of paper he'd scribbled his notes on.

Draco watched this flurry of activity with a raised eyebrow but accepted the paper silently as soon as Ron located it and handed it over by way of explanation. "And it took you three weeks to come up with this, did it, Weasley?"

Ron just raised an eyebrow in turn and leaned back on the couch, crossing his arms. "As if you were bursting with better suggestions," he said calmly before rolling up the sleeve of his robe and presenting Draco with his forearm. There were still scabs there from three days before but they were small and mostly healed by now. Surprising that such seemingly deep wounds could disappear so quickly.

Draco stared silently at the offering a moment before taking Ron's arm gently in his hands, one thumb slanted across the pulse of Ron's wrist, the fingers of his other hand curling into the crook of his elbow. Malfoy hesitated before bringing the arm to his mouth and the awkwardness of it reminded Ron of the first time they had done this. Of course, that time Malfoy had made some comment like he always did, acting his sneery self, and Ron had been counting to ten, trying hard not to yank his arm out of Malfoy's grasp, which had felt clammy and invasive. It hadn't been until later that he realized how visible marks on his arms were and the campaign to hide them from the others had begun. Now, if what he had jotted down last night wasn't too messed up, that would hopefully be one less problem to worry about.

Ron winced as Draco bit gently into the tender flesh of his inner arm. Although the action wasn't as harsh as it had been the day before when Malfoy had attacked his shoulder so angriliy, and after three weeks one would think Ron would be starting to develop a tolerance, a bite was still a bite and Ron didn't think he would ever completely get used to it. 'Well,' Ron shrugged mentally, 'a sacrifice isn't a sacrifice without a little pain, I guess.'

Besides, Draco's teeth seemed to have become unnaturally sharp, which made sense, Ron guessed, so the bites probably hurt less than they would have with regular human teeth, and also the pain never lasted very long. Sometimes there was a sort of hollow ache to the wound but that was generally easy to ignore. Occasionally the gentle pressure caused by Draco's actions was actually rather soothing. Ron decided not to analyze that last thought too closely. Any pleasantness to this unpleasant situation they found themselves in was welcome.

Ron settled back against the couch, which, he realized suddenly, was oddly comfortable, considering Snape owned it. He closed his eyes, letting the strange peace that had come over the room settle into him. Draco's lips moved softly against his arm, his tongue warm against the wounded flesh and Ron realized that, without the anger to keep him distanced, he felt a strange connection to the pale boy sitting next to him. An odd warm sort of current was flowing up his arm from where Malfoy held him and Ron allowed himself to relax into the sensation. For once he felt as though, while he and Malfoy had been bound together by some inexplicable fate, this didn't mean that they would have to exist in constant animosity. While in no way guaranteed, Ron finally felt that perhaps it would be possible that the two boys might find a way to make peace between them.

Ron winced again and opened his eyes as the odd connection broke and Draco let go of his arm, straightening in his seat. He looked at Ron strangely a moment and opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something but then his face resumed its look of cold indifference and he turned away to pick up his wand. "Valitudine Erroris," he enunciated, pointing the end of his wand at Ron's still outstretched arm with a graceful flick of his wrist. Slowly, the wounds, and even the scabs from three days previous, seemed to disappear. Examining the arm more closely, Ron found that he could still feel where each of the bite marks was but to anyone looking his arm would appear perfectly sound. That was a relief.

They didn't say very much to each other after that except for a few words when Draco reminded Ron to disable the silencing charm before Snape came to tell them time up. While the Professor showed great annoyance at any disturbance to his work, Snape would most likely have been less than pleased to learn that they had cut themselves off from his supervision, however minimal that might have been.

When Snape finally did come to tell them their time was up they parted silently but without the usual scowling, causing a raised eyebrow and an almost-sneer from the Professor. After they had gone, Snape shook his head in bemusement at the change but soon resumed his usual frown as he returned to grading papers for his potions class. Forty essays on the origins of various contraceptive potions and their effectiveness was something he was glad he only had to live through once a year.







"It's not my place to tell you." The door to the dorm room shut firmly in Hermione's face. For a moment she just stood there, remembering the look on Ginny's face before the door swung shut and blocked her from view. The strangest mixture of indifference, which Hermione had expected, and sorrow, which was causing her the greatest worry at the moment. And something else, too, that Hermione couldn't place. All-in-all the conversation, if you could call three or four sentences a conversation, had done nothing to make her feel better about the whole Ron situation.

Just then, a clock downstairs struck the hour and Hermione remembered that she had better get to work if she wanted to get that chapter for next term's Transfiguration class read before dinner. With a sigh she turned and headed down the stairs for the common room. Maybe an hour of studying and not worrying about Ron would relax her a little. Lord knew she needed it. Barely started and already this term was looking to be a rough one.

Her plans for study were not to be, however. The first thing she saw as she entered the common room was Ron sitting on the couch with Harry. He looked up as she came down the stairs and motioned her over. The light caught in his red hair, emphasizing how pale he'd become of late and Hermione consciously forced herself not to frown before sitting down in a chair across from the couch. She was relieved to see that Ron no longer looked angry. Maybe he was ready to tell them what was going on.

"Okay," Ron said as soon as Hermione had settled. "Now that you're both here I first of all want to apologize. I'm sorry I blew up at you earlier. It's just...You're right. There is something I haven't been telling you. I just don't think I'm really ready to talk about it yet."

"You can trust us, Ron," Harry spoke up. "We're your friends, you know."

"I know, I know." Ron shook his head and put his fingers to his temple. "It's not that I don't trust you. I know you've been worried about me and I'm sorry. But it's just something that I have to come to terms with first before I'll be ready to share it with anyone."

"It hasn't got anything to do with Ginny, has it?" Hermione asked.

Ron looked confused. "Ginny? No..why?"

"She just seems like she knows what's going on is all, but she wouldn't tell me anything."

"Oh." Ron's brow cleared. "No, she just knows because my parents told her." This produced a frown from Hermione but otherwise she made no comment. Knowing that Ron's family knew whatever it was but that he couldn't share it with them pained her.

Harry put a comforting hand on Ron's shoulder. "Well, whatever it is, just know that when you're ready, don't hesitate to talk to us. We'll be here for you." Hermione added her agreement and Ron smiled at them relievedly.

"Thanks you guys," he said, looking very serious despite the smile. "Oh, and Harry, I'm sorry about what I said today at lunch. If anyone deserves a break after all you've been through it's you. I've just been kinda stressed out lately."

"That's ok." Harry grinned in reassurance. "I know you didn't mean it. So, detention with Malfoy is really that bad, is it?"

Ron grinned back, though Hermione thought she detected a bit of a wobble in it. "Oh, you have no idea."