Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all his little friends belong to J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers. All power to Rowling and the WB. I make no money off of this, they make billions.
Ron had been driving for thirty minutes when his car stopped again. "Bloody hell," he cursed angrily. The snow had started back up with a vengeance and it was impossible to drive through. Ron knew that it would be pointless to try a heating spell with the amount of snow falling on top of the already layered road, so he resigned himself to freezing to death in his car with his unconscious worse enemy. Ron turned around to look at Draco, then shook his head. There was no way on earth he'd allow himself to die with Malfoy.
After pulling Draco out of the back seat and wasting 5 minutes struggling to open the door, Ron managed to get outside of his beloved Coop. He looked around and saw that just off the road was a shabby looking house. Ron made his way over and managed to open the door with Draco over his shoulder.
The inside of the shack was simple, being that it only had one old bed, one comfy looking chair, a wooden table, a fireplace, and a dirty caldron in the corner. Obviously at one point the shack belonged to a wizard, but as Ron could tell from the fine sheet of dust on everything, that place hadn't been used in years.
"Mum would flip if she saw this place," muttered Ron absently before doing a cleaning spell, ridding the shack of its dust and dirt.
He placed Draco carefully on the bed and placed his quilt back over him before scouring the caldron. Ron waited patiently for the healing potion he was making for Draco to boil. In the mean time, Ron kept catching himself staring at Draco while he slept. No matter how hard he tried not to, his head always seemed to snap back to the direction of the bed and his eyes would instinctively land on Draco's face. He just looked so dead...but peaceful...Peace. Ron hadn't been at peace for weeks, not since the fight he had, not since the breakup. He sighed. Maybe that's why he couldn't help but stare at Draco. He was so lucky at that moment. He was feeling no pain and he always got his way, even then Ron was sure that Draco probably had been stranded in the snow of his own free will. Ron couldn't help but feel a little envious of the dying man on the twin sized mattress.
When the potion finally came to a boil, Ron waited for it to cool and then slowly poured the mixture down Draco's throat.
"You're a lucky little git, you know that, don't you," asked Ron as he pulled up the chair next to the still unconscious Draco, "I might not have had the ingredients for that potion with me. I didn't have to bring you in here. I could have left you to die, but I didn't. That just shows that I'm a better person than you. Not that I didn't already know that..."
"Honestly, Weasley, if you're going to say something about me behind my back, at least let it be nasty," said Draco dryly, sitting up. Ron jumped slightly to Draco's great amusement. Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Draco cut him off sharply, "Don't even bother to answer, Weasley, I know you're not good with words."
"If I recall, Malfoy, last time we met you were having quite a hard time speaking yourself," hissed Ron angrily.
"Forget the niceties, Weasley. Mind telling me why I'm here in this shack with this filthy quilt over me? You know the Ministry frowns on kidnapping and I don't think they're too keen on rape either," said Draco snidely while picking at the quilt.
"Too bad they don't frown on murder, or maybe the dementors would have taken care of you for me," growled Ron while gripping his wand.
"I didn't murder that disgusting little muggle couple," said Draco defensively while sitting up straight and groping around for his own wand.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," spat Ron, "but we know what you did and -"
"And what? You won't rest until justice is served? I'm sorry, Weasley, but it's Potter's job to make the righteous threats. Yours is to mess everything up," said Draco, cutting Ron off.
"And to think, I was trying to save your sorry life by bringing you in here," growled Ron, standing up with his wand pointed straight at Malfoy's chest.
"The mud blood isn't here so I suggest that you put that away before you hurt yourself," spat Draco while firmly grabbing Ron's wand and pushing it away, "And remind me of what the hell you're talking about."
"I saved your life, you selfish prat. I found you half dead in the snowstorm and brought you here. If you don't want to get turned out, I suggest you shut your mouth before I get angry."
Draco eyed Ron for a moment before asking in a more subdued voice, "Where's my wand?"
"On the table."
Draco got up, got his wand, then got back into the bed, pulling Ron's "filthy" blanket closer around himself. He stared into the fire Ron started. It was going strong and somewhat vaguely reminded Draco of the fire he saw in his father's eyes when he yelled, "You'll all regret this when I'm free. I'll make sure of it!" after he was sentenced. Draco turned away from the fire to find Ron staring at him. Draco was about to say something smart when a spark from the fire flew onto Ron's robes, setting them aflame.
Ron jumped up but only stared at his burning robes, being too much in shock to stop the fire. Draco had two choices then: 1) let Ron burn to death or 2) save his life. As appealing as letting Weasley fry was, something was compelling Draco to choose choice 2.
Without thinking any longer on it, Draco jumped off the bed and bellowed, "Extinguere!"
Slowly, the flames on Ron's clothing receded leaving only his burnt garments as a sign that the fire ever existed. Ron looked up at Draco, wide eyed. Draco Malfoy had just saved his life.
"Why?" asked Ron, "Why would you save my life?"
Draco said simply, "If I let the fire kill you, I wouldn't've had the pleasure of doing it myself."
"Of course, I should have known that. Murder is your specialty, isn't it?"
"For you information, you buffoon, I saved your sordid life because I owed you. You save my life, I save yours. Malfoys always pay off their debts and now that mine is paid know that next time you'll burn. And for the last time, I did not kill those muggles."
"Whatever, Malfoy. You were found innocent, so spare me the propaganda. I know what I know -"
"And what is that, almighty Auror? You didn't see me do anything. All you saw were two dead bodies and a Death Eater-"
"And that's all we needed to see, Malfoy, and you know what? If you don't shut your mouth-"
"What? You'll threaten to kick me out into the raging storm again because you don't like hearing the truth, Weasel?
"No, I'm going to kick your arse because it looks as if you didn't learn from the last time!"
"Enough!" yelled Draco angrily while quickly grabbing Ron's wand and gripping his own tightly, sparks flying from it, "I'm going to tell you this and you're going to listen because I'm sick of you and I can't leave this fecking shack so all this bickering has to stop. I didn't kill those muggles. I didn't kill anyone. I tried to kill you lot even, but I failed, didn't I? Those fecking muggles were killed by my father, who happened to be smart enough to disapparate before their bodies even hit the ground. The only reason I tried to kill you three was because I was scared, stupid, and would have been killed by you! For Merlin's sake, just because I boasted about how great it would be when the muggles and mudbloods were killed doesn't mean I'd be mad enough to carry it out. I was just a rich little prat who loved attention and making you, Potter, and Granger miserable. You know how badly you beat me in our row, what makes you and your little mates think I could actually kill anyone? Yes, I can usually defend myself, but murder isn't my thing! So, from now on, you and the rest of the Dream Team can stop accusing me and get on with our own damn lives!"
Ron sat down in the chair weakly, not looking at Draco. Draco sat down on the bed, disgusted with Ron's lack of retort and the fact that he himself had displayed his anger. "Emotions are for weaklings, Draco. Real wizards keep their feelings in check." Lucius' words rang in his ears as he stared darkly into the flames of the fireplace. Real wizard...as if his father could talk. When Lucius started killing other wizards, real wizards, again he lost his right to call himself one. Then again, Draco felt he lost his right to call himself a real wizard when he joined ranks with the dark Lord Voldemort, the mad, pompous dark wizard who tried to rid himself of muggles, mudbloods, half bloods, and anyone who wasn't a supporter. Draco had been foolish and power hungry when he became a Death Eater and when the Dark Lord fell, he was sorry and broken. Ever since he helped put his father away to help get himself off, he had been trying to piece himself and his life back together. He lived by himself in a small house in a wizarding community where he was feared for his reputation and worked as an informant for the ministry. Now that Draco was starting to feel superior again the last thing he needed was someone like Weasley bringing up things from the past. But then again, why did he even bother to clear his name to Weasley? For one thing, why should he care what Weasley thought when Weasley didn't even care to respond?
Draco frowned again and wondered when he started caring about whether Weasley cared about anything he had to say anyway. He looked back over at Ron who was staring at his hands, the flames tossing shadows onto his face and making his red hair glow as if it were alight causing Draco to stare longer than he would have liked. When Ron finally spoke, Draco almost gasped audibly and cursed himself for doing so.
"I don't understand, Malfoy," said Ron quietly.
"What's there not to understand? I explained quite clearly that I didn't kill those muggles. Are you that thick? Would you like me to draw pictures?" asked Draco coldly, though he was more annoyed with himself than with Ron.
"No," said Ron darkly while looking at Malfoy, "I can understand how you'd actually be smart enough not to kill the couple."
"So you believe me?" asked Draco, making sure to leave the surprise out of his voice.
"Yeah, I do. I should've known you couldn't kill anyone without Crabbe and Goyle around to watch your arse. Anyway, what I don't understand is why you'd admit all that stuff to me. Yeah, I already knew that you're a selfish, arrogant, prat, but why the hell would you admit that?" asked Ron
Draco said simply, "Time changes and people change...You can stop narrowing your eyes, Weasley, I don't feel like shiting you now, I've no reason to. My general opinion of you hasn't changed, I still can't stand you, but I don't parrot my father now and I could careless about you loving muggle borns and half bloods..."
Ron stared at Draco in disbelief, "Malfoy? Did you hear what you just said? Are you feeling okay?"
Draco narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "I'm fine. I've just had five years to think things over. Don't get me wrong, mudbloods and half bloods are still inferior to most pure blood families, but I only hated them because of my father and like I said, I'm no longer his parrot. I still hate you and your little smart girlfriend and Dumbledore's dream boy, but I've grown up now and I'm willing to put that behind me as long as I'm stuck here with you."
"You're kidding right? This is a joke. You're not the real Malfoy, you're just some bloke wearing a rat-faced git costume," said Ron in disbelief.
"Weasley, would you sod off? I'm going to hate you and display that hatred fully when the storm stops, so get over the fact that I'm being civil to you before I make Christmas come a few days earlier and kill you!" spat Draco who was slowly becoming white faced with suppressed rage.
Ron continued to stare at Draco in shock as Draco threw himself face down on the bed. "Draco Malfoy wants to be civil with me. Well there's no way I'm going to let him get the better of me. I'm going to be just as civil...Bloody hell, who are we kidding? We'll have killed each other before this storm is even close to being over," sighed Ron as he watched Draco angrily play with his wand.
A/N: This one was a little longer than the last bit and a bit talky. It could have been better...but I'll leave it up to you guys to criticize, so review, PLEASE. Shanx.