"Curses," Ron muttered, pointedly glaring at his sneakers.
Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny, who was officially the resident trouble-maker at Hogwarts now that Fred and George were gone, had decided to get into the Christmas spirit. She had hung up enchanted mistletoe all over Hogwarts, much to everyone's amusement, except for Colin Creevey, who had gotten stuck under one with Millicent Bullstrode, a Slytherin who was about as foreboding as her name.
The mistletoe had a locking spell on it, so that any two people who passed under it could immediately be handcuffed together. The only way to break the spell is to kiss the other person. Unfortunately, they had required times, ranging from thirty seconds to ten minutes, but there was no way to tell what they were. And it seemed that the Ginny was seeking revenge on her older brother. Probably had something to do with Ron nearly beating up Ginny's boyfriend.
"Bloody hell," he muttered. He glared at his wrist, where a pink—yes, pink—handcuff was dangling innocently. He had been in a hurry. He was late for Quidditch tryouts, and Harry wanted the whole team there, especially him, because Harry depended on Ron's blunt advice for those of less…erm…talent.
"Can we just get this over?" Ron's head snapped up and he shook it, deftly.
"I am NOT kissing you! Ginny's mad at me! She probably cursed the damn things to last for thirty minutes whenever they caught me!" Draco Malfoy snickered. "It's not funny! I'd be willing to bet she did something like that!"
"Well, I refuse to walk around attached to you. By a pink handcuff, no less," he added, sneering in distaste at the handcuffs, which, he swore turned pinker just to spite him.
"Well, I'm not exactly happy about the situation, either, Malfoy, because I have Quidditch tryouts I have to go to. Now, come on." Ron yanked hard on his wrist and began dragging him towards the field, followed by a protesting Draco.
"Hey, I don't want to sit through your dumb tryouts!" Draco snapped.
"Well, I don't wanna snog you!" Ron retorted.
"Come here," Draco growled. Before Ron knew what was happening, Draco grabbed him, dragged him aside, slammed him up against the wall and pressed his lips against Ron's.
Ron squealed in Draco's mouth, his eyes wide with shock. He pushed Draco away when his mind started working again (which, oddly enough, was about the time that Draco started sucking on his lower lip).
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" he gasped. His ears were red, his robes disheveled, and his lips were rather swollen.
"I believe I just kissed you," Draco replied, simply, glancing down at the handcuffs, which, defiantly, did not disappear.
"Well, it bloody well didn't work!"
"Thank you, Captain Obvious of the No Duh realm," Draco replied, calmly.
"Let's just get Hermione. She can probably do a severing charm on it, or something," Ron muttered, distractedly, running his fingers through his already mussed up hair. Draco smirked and allowed himself to be dragged to the library. "Hermione! I need your help!"
Hermione, who was engrossed in a large, old book that was as thick as Crabbe's head, looked up, immediately on alert by the slightly panicked note in Ron's voice. What she saw shocked her, but when a thought occurred to her, she broke down into mindless giggles.
"You two got caught under the mistletoe, didn't you?" she laughed. Ron nodded, infuriated that she was laughing, brandishing his wrist, while painfully yanking up Draco's. Hermione laughed even harder when she saw that it was pink.
"Yes we bloody well did! And I need you to—STOP LAUGHING!" he roared, but Hermione had collapsed into giggles so that she was halfway out of her chair. Draco found her giggling immensely amusing, and rather contagious, so that he himself was laughing as well.
"What are you laughing at?" Ron snarled. Draco smiled, innocently.
"Definitely not you, that's for sure." Ron glared at him, before turning to Hermione, who had fully recovered, but her face was still a little red.
"Will you just slice this thing in half?" She nodded and waved her wand and muttered something. All three of them stared at the handcuffs, expectantly. But nothing happened. "Damn," Ron muttered, glaring at the handcuffs. He turned back to Hermione, but before he could open his mouth, there was a flash, and he felt himself being dragged to the left.
Glancing down, he realized that not only had the severing charm failed, but it had caused the handcuffs to move up their arms, and the chain between them shortened considerably. He was now pressed shoulder-to-shoulder against Draco, and Draco's hand was brushing uncomfortably against his thigh.
"Great. I swear, when I get my hands on Ginny, she'll wish she'd never been born…" Ron muttered, darkly.
"Empty threat, Ronnikins," said a familiar voice, stepping into the library. Ginny stared at Ron, then at Draco, then at the pink handcuff attached to their arms, and burst out laughing.
"It's not funny! Undo this spell or I'll knock your head in!" Ron roared, leaping at his sister. Draco was yanked off his feet and he fell into Ron, who had tackled Ginny, so that the three of them were in a heap on the library floor. Ron was just about to strangle Ginny when Madame Pince came over and yelled at them to get out.
Grumbling and glaring at each other, the three of them stumbled out of the library, Draco's arm painfully sore and probably red as well, followed by Hermione, who, although she disapproved of fighting, was forcing back giggles once more.
"Ginny, get this thing off of me right now," Ron breathed, dangerously. Ginny smiled, blandly.
"Well, Ronnikins, the best part about this is that you have to snog Malfoy. That's the only way to break the spell; however, you each get to keep half of the handcuffs as a keepsake of a…fond memory." Ron lunged again, but Draco was quicker. He used his free arm to grab Ron around the waist and hold him still.
"Don't attack, Weasley. It hurts us both much more than it hurts her," Draco said, coolly. Ginny nodded, her eyes twinkling mischievously.
"Listen to the voice of reason, even if it is Malfoy," Ginny agreed.
"Shut up, Ginny," he snapped.
"Anyway, I was just looking for Hermione. I need some help with this charm we learned yesterday…"
Ron stormed away, now beyond pissed off. Ginny had become just as ruthless as Fred and George had been. Apparently, the twins had taught their baby sister everything they knew, and she had learned well.
"This is so not cool," Ron mumbled. He made his way to the Room of Requirement, and immediately thought of a room with a bunch of comfy cushions. Pushing the door open, he flopped down onto a big puffy pillow with an exaggerated sigh.
"How the bloody hell are we going to get out of this mess?" Ron whined, toying with the tassle on the corner of his cushion. Draco shrugged his free shoulder.
"The hell I should know," he replied, inspecting his perfectly manicured nails, "since you refuse to suffer through the only way to get them off." Ron scowled.
"Well, anyone can hardly blame me!"
"I have to admit, you're probably right about Ginny cursing you with the longest time limit. I wouldn't put it past her."
"I told you so," Ron replied, immaturely.
"Even so, we can't stay like this forever. I mean, what about when night comes around?" Ron shifted, uncomfortably.
"I dunno…Hang on! I've just had a thought!" He closed his eyes and thought hard. When he's opened them, the room was simply shelves and shelves of books. Draco raised an eyebrow.
"This was your brilliant idea?" Draco asked, skeptically.
"'Mione always says, 'When in doubt, go to a book.' These are books full of pranks, how to do them, and how to undo them." He pulled one off the shelf, as did Draco, and they sat down on the floor, back-to-back.
"And so it begins," Draco said, dramatically, opening his book.
Four hours and two awkward bathroom trips later, Ron slammed shut the final book. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." The Room of Requirement had no windows, but the boys knew it had to be late. Both of their eyelids were dropping.
"I'm so t-t-tir-ed…" Draco said around a yawn.
"Me too…" Ron agreed, leaning, slightly, against Draco. "I need…sleep…" As if the Room of Requirement was reading his mind (which, technically, it was), a soft, white, feather bed appeared underneath the two boys. Too tired to care, they fell asleep side-by-side.
Ron woke up, but he didn't open his eyes. He was warm, cozy, and comfortable, and he didn't want to face another cold day of Christmas break. So he just lay there, his eyes shut, stifling a yawn.
Something shifted against him, however, startling him out of his surreal moment between sleep and awakening. Opening his eyes, he found that he was not in his four-poster bed up in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory. Instead he was in a strange room on a soft feather bed.
Glancing down, he gave a start, and pain shot through his upper arm. Lying next to him, snuggled up in his side, arms around Ron's waist and platinum blonde head on his chest, was Draco Malfoy. He snuggled closer (if that was possible), burying his face in Ron's tee shirt. Ron nearly yelped when Draco's fingers wormed their way under his shirt and tickled his skin.
Suddenly, the memories of yesterday flooded into his mind, and Ron heaved a sigh of relief. For a minute he thought he had slept with Draco, and just didn't remember. Glancing at the sleeping boy, Ron considered him for a moment. Sighing, he gently turned Draco's face upward, and leaned down at the same time, before pressing his lips against the other boy's.
Oddly enough, Ron found that he wasn't incredibly disgusted at the notion of kissing Draco. He had known he was gay, but he hadn't expected he'd ever be kissing Draco Malfoy.
But here he was, sucking on Draco's lower lip, and wondering if this could be considered rape, before sliding his tongue into Draco's mouth. Ignoring that little part of his mind, he moved his lips against Draco's, grinning, madly, at the same time. He heard a soft click, and the handcuffs fell from their arms, and Ron pulled away. When he did, he nearly had a heart attack.
Draco was smiling up at him, wide awake, his lips rather red, and his silver eyes sparkling. "How long have you been awake?" Ron demanded, his ears turning red. Draco's smile widened, and he leaned forward and kissed Ron again.
This kiss was obviously a lot more passionate, considering Draco was now able to react. He nipped Ron's lip, and rolled his tongue over it. Ron allowed him entrance, and forced down something between a moan and a giggle as Draco tickled the roof of his mouth.
"Since before you were," Draco replied. He sat up and picked up the handcuffs which, just as Ginny had said they would, snapped in two. Draco grinned and tucked one into his pocket.
Crawling out of bed, the two got cleaned up and left the Room of Requirement, their fingers intertwined. On the way to breakfast, they ran into Harry and Ginny.
"Harry, I'm really, really sorry I missed tryouts! I was on my way, but I got caught under the mistletoe with Draco, so you can imagine—"
"Ron, what are you talking about?" Harry interrupted.
"Tryouts," Ron said, irritably. Harry frowned.
"Ron, I told you, tryouts got postponed till next week." Ron gaped at Harry, and Ginny and Draco both started giggling, madly.
"Curses."