By Siriusly Amused
Author's Note: It's been months since I last updated and once again, I'm sorry. If you have been reading from the start and you're still coming back, then I am eternally thankful to you. I'm forcing myself to start trying to get this story finished. In the beginning, several chapters would be dedicated to a month but now I think I'm going to try to speed things up. I'm already starting on the sequel to this. If I have a goal then maybe working toward it will be easier. I just want you guys to know that I'm still here and I'm not planning on going anywhere.
Another Author's Note: -sighs- Stupid MSN messenger (which I don't own) didn't inform me that they upgraded to a newer version, the one with sounds. So now all my friends are having a ball with these new sounds and stuff and one of my friends who shall remain nameless -coughs- M -coughs- told me to go to the site and download it. Well I am and it's taking over an hour. Which really isn't good cuz I get charged by the minute for being on the internet. I have one hour and five minutes left. Grrness.
Disclaimer: Disclaimers suck.
Whatever, Together
"May the Lord...be with you."
It was midnight mass on Christmas Eve and the nearly the whole of Hogwarts Hills had managed to squeeze themselves into our church. My entire family, Bill, Charlie, Percy and their girlfriends included, filled one pew. Hermione sat two pews in front of us with her parents. She has perfect church manners and only turned around to smile at me once before the mass started. Angelina and her parents sat in the pew behind us and she stayed awake by poking Fred repeatedly in the head. Knowing Mom's temper, Fred did nothing to stop her. Of course, who would want to stop their girlfriend from touching them? George was still single so he had no significant other to make googly eyes to in church. Though I noticed Katie hanging out with him more. And lastly, Harry sat with Sirius at the back of the church. The two of them were probably laughing at all the lame holiday sweaters. I would have done anything to be there laughing with them instead of being uncomfortably squashed between Ginny and George while our old priest dragged the mass on.
It was the same priest that had hit Harry, and after three years of him saying mass, it's now painfully obvious that midnight is extremely passed his bedtime. He stood at the podium, fighting to keep his eyes from closing. Half way through his sermon he failed and fell asleep standing right there in front of everyone. After a minute or two of an awkward silence, our organist slammed down upon the keys of the organ.
"Smite him," our priest mumbled as he was forced back into reality. He blinked sleepily and then continued on with his sermon.
Finally, after an hour and a half of kneeling, standing, and blessing myself for unknown reasons, church ended. Ginny and I walked out of building before the rest of our family only to be greeted with a wave of cold air and wet snow balls. In the courtyard next to our church, children ranging from five to twenty were having a giant snow ball fight. Ok, I was lying about the ages...Sirius was helping Harry stock up on snow ball ammunition.
"Oh, honestly, aren't we getting a bit old for this?" Hermione asked as a large snowball, courtesy of Dean, hit her arm.
"Well some of us don't have the mental age of thirty six," I told her. She scoffed at me and began to walk off but I grabbed her arm and dragged her into the courtyard where Ginny was already helping Sirius and Harry get rid of their pile of snowballs.
"Ronald Weasley, these are my good clothes!" she exclaimed while dodging a giant snowball thrown by Colin.
"So I'll just have to protect you," I reasoned, taking her into my arms and blocking her from a fresh wave of snow. She tried to look mad but was unable to so instead she just buried her face into my coat.
"Oh, will you two find a mistle toe or something?" Ginny asked, slamming a wet snowball on top of my head, soaking my hair.
"Ginny, you little..." I yelled as I chased after her. Unfortunately a group of six-year-olds became between us and I fell from trying to stop for them suddenly.
"Good one, Weasel," came a drawling voice from somewhere above me. I looked up to find the one and only Draco Malfoy smirking down at me. He was in his best Versace suit and he stood just behind his parents as they talked to the Mayor. (He hasn't been allowed to participate in the snow ball fight since he was nine. Keeping up appearances or something like that.) I was about to curse at him when he brought one of his hands from behind his back and handed me a snowball, compacted perfectly for maximum throwing. "Use it well," he stated before turning back around to look important with his parents.
"Miracles do happen," I mumbled in disbelief as I stood and aimed the snowball at Ginny. My aim was perfect thanks to the years of little league that my brothers and I were forced to participate in every summer until junior high. However, Ginny's women's intuition was better and she ducked to pick up some fresh snow just as my snowball was about to hit. I ended up hitting Hermione square in the face instead.
"Why do you have to act like such a boy?" Hermione yelled. And then she turned and stormed off to join her parents.
"What does she want me to act like?" I asked to no one.
"A man probably," Sirius stated, coming up next to me. He had a snowball in his hand that had several bites taken out of it.
"How do I do that?" I asked him as he took another bite out of the snow.
"How the hell should I know?" Sirius asked back. "I'm a thirty six-year-old playing in the snow with the town's children."
It was 2:00 AM on Christmas morning and I was sitting in the dining room with Sirius. The both of us had changed into warm pajamas and were drinking hot chocolate to warm up after the snow ball fight. "So," Sirius stated as he dropped several marshmallows into his drink, "Molly is expecting us at the house at three. Do you know how to make fudge? She asked for some." I nodded. "Good! Well, I think it's time for us to hit the hay. Santa doesn't come when you're awake, you know."
I gave him a look.
"I know you don't believe in him anymore, but I do so off to bed with ya." Sirius grabbed our mugs and walked over to the sink.
"Sirius," I stated, willing my saliva to come back to my dry mouth. I wanted to ask him something that had been bugging me for several weeks.
"Yes?" Sirius asked. He yawn and stretched.
"Why didn't you tell me that you're second cousins with Draco?"
Sirius stared at me with a grave expression on his face. "Who told you that?" he asked, sitting back down at the table.
"Um, Draco and I stumbled upon some old files while looking for an encyclopedia."
"So Draco knows about our blood relation as well?"
"Unless he's dumber than I thought."
Sirius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Did Draco let his parents know that he knows?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"A lot," Sirius said. "Lucius Malfoy is a powerful man, Harry. A very powerful man. He could get away with murder if he wanted to, and my other cousins can as well. They all hate me and I'm not considered part of the family anymore. I never was since I was disowned at such a young age. Draco is the youngest member of the family. The whole of the Malfoy empire rests upon his shoulders. Therefore they don't want Draco to know about our relation. If Draco was to betray them, then all hell would break loose...for both sides."
"Both sides of what?" I asked, but Sirius waved me off.
"Go to bed," he commanded. "We'll open presents in the morning."
I had just gone to bed when I heard a tapping at my window. The poem, 'The Raven' flashed through my brain so I decided just to pretend that I didn't hear it, but the tapping persisted. After I couldn't take it anymore, I got up and went to my window. Ron was there. I held up a finger to let him know to wait a minute and I went to turn the security alarm off. After it was disabled, I went back to my room and opened my window to let Ron in.
"Ron, it's three in the morning," I scolded him as he climbed through my window. Snow fell from his coat and hat as he took them off. He held his items of clothing for a few moments, looking around my room for a place to put them. After a few minutes of looking confused, he merely shrugged and threw them both into my overly large trash can.
"I know it's late," he stated, turning to face me with an impish grin on his face., "and I'm sorry, but I wanted to give you your present."
I nearly choked on my own spittle. He had gotten me a present and all I gave him for Christmas was a good scolding for playing in the snow?
"I thought we decided no presents?" I asked him. I began to feel nervous and had a great urge to pace. I should have at least baked him some cookies. Why didn't I bake him some cookies?
"I know, I know," he continued, "but I've been meaning to give this to you for a long time, so I thought tonight was as good a night as any."
"At three in the morning?" I asked, raising my voice a little. I was torn between being angry and giddy.
"I apologized for that already," he stated with a slight laugh. I started slapping his arms for being both stupid and cute at the same time, but he caught my wrists with his hands after a couple of hits and kissed me lightly on the lips. He pulled away and looked at me, something shown in his eyes while he gazed at me but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. When he saw that I had calmed down, he smiled and kissed my forehead, eyes and cheeks before leaning in and kissing me softly once more on the lips.
He released his hold on my wrists and brought his hands to my waist to pull me closer to him as he deepened our kiss. One part of my brain was telling me to slap him, to push him away. He was in my bedroom at a highly inappropriate time of night and I had every right to order him out! But the other half of my brain, the stronger half obviously, made me wrap my arms around his neck.
He broke away from my lips to place innocent little pecks all over my face and neck, making me giggle in the process.
"Alright, alright, you're forgiven," I told him in between giggles. I snuggled my head under his chin and sighed contently. He placed a soft kiss on the top of my head then broke away.
"So are you ready for your present?" he asked, smiling once more.
I nodded. It wasn't too late to bake anyway.
"All right, close your eyes and give me your hand."
I closed my eyes and held out my hand, palm up, waiting for him to put something in it. He didn't. He took my hand into his own and slipped something cold and hard on my index finger. "Ok, you can open your eyes," he said, still holding my hand. I opened my eyes and gasped. His class ring, already adjusted with string to fit my finger, glistened in the moonlight. The Weasleys, even Ginny, never wore their class rings because the rings were so expensive that none of them wanted to loose them. Ron entrusting me with his meant more than all the scholarships in the world.
"I..." I looked up at Ron and smiled, letting my facial expression tell him what I couldn't with words.
"I knew you and Ginny were the same ring size, so I had her try it own while I was fixing it for you," he explained. "It took hours and Ginny was beginning to get pissy by the end of it, but it was worth it."
I continued to smile because quite frankly I forgot how to talk. Ron smiled too, but his smile soon began to falter as he turned from romantic prince charming back to oblivious teenage boy. "Well, um, I guess I'll be seeing you then," he said, letting me go and fetching his things from the trash can. My mind urged me to give him something as well.
"Wait!" I said at last as he made to climb out of my window. I rushed over to my dresser and grabbed something, concealing in in my hands as I walked back to Ron, who was sitting on my window sill with one leg in and one leg out. I kept the object from my dresser tightly obscured in one hand as I slowly reached for Ron with my other hand. His coat was unzipped so I placed my hand on his chest for a few moments, feeling the soft fabric of his sweater before I reached under his collar. I blushed as my fingers lightly brushed the skin of his collarbone. He blushed slightly too, but smiled and made no movement to stop me as my hand wandered and finally found what it was looking for; the thin, silver chain that Bill had given Ron before going off to college.
I brought both of my hands around to the back of Ron's neck and unclasped the necklace. I quickly slipped my class ring on it and clasped it again, letting the ring fall and hit his chest as my hands lingered behind his neck. He smiled.
"I was wondering if you'd give me something," he whispered. I smiled.
"I was debating about this and my virginity for about ten seconds," I admitted, looking down, embarrassed. Ron's blush intensified as did his smile.
"Hearing you say that is the best Christmas present I ever got." He took my hands and kissed them. "But I don't want you to do anything with me until you're one hundred percent ready. It won't be fun for me, if it isn't for you."
"Ron, that's so..." Tears were welling up in my eyes but I didn't know why.
"I'd rather have you yell out my name in ecstasy than in torment," he stated with a sly grin.
I grinned slyly also and pushed him out of my window. He landed on his back with a soft thud in the snow. "Idiot," I stated as a leaned my head out of my window and smiled at him. He sat up and smiled too.
"Nerd," he said before kissing me quickly and running from my yard.
'If Draco was to betray them, then all hell would break loose...for both sides.'
Sirius' words ran through my head as I tried to will myself to sleep at four in the morning. That one sentence had brought a ton of questions and revelations to my conscious mind. It told me that whatever fray the Malfoy family and my own family faced all those years ago still existed. But what was the fighting about? Why had Peter killed my parents and did he act alone or was the Malfoy family connected somehow? What are the Malfoy's planning now and did I have something to do with it? What are their plans for Draco? Does Draco know of these intentions that his family has for him?
I turned to my side to try to clear my head, but more revelations appeared.
'If Draco was to betray them...'
Draco had changed within the past couple months. Ever since his break up with Pansy, he has been hanging around us and acting more like a human being, granted a narcissistic one. His family has obviously noticed the melting façade of their son's demeanor as well, and were now on pins and needles over what to do about it. If Draco was to reject his family, all hell would break loose and lots of people would pay. But what would happen if he stayed forever a Malfoy?
I sighed and got up. After fetching myself a soda, I went into what Sirius and I have deemed an office though it still looked like a pig sty and sat down at the computer. After about an hour of playing games, I heard the familiar 'ding' of MSN messenger, signaling that someone has signed on. I looked at the little blue box that had appeared and recognized Draco's sign in name. My mouse instinctively went over to click but I thought better of it, he, however, did not.
'What are you doing up so late?' he asked.
'Couldn't sleep.'
'Me either. I just finished a fight with my parents.'
'What was it about?'
'They saw me giving a snow ball to Weasel the third, which he apparently threw at his wench, the stupid idiot. They don't want me fraternizing with those beneath me, you know. Therefore they have forbidden me to accompany them on a skiing trip in Colorado tomorrow. They'll be gone until after New Years, thank God.'
'Oh.' Hearing that Draco's parents were becoming angry with Draco and that Draco himself seemed to be siding with us (ignoring the name calling) gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach.
'Anyway,' Draco continued, initiating a game of checkers with me, 'I'm having a New Years party at my house. The whole school is invited of course so be sure to tell all your friends.'
I gave no reply and opted to allow Draco to beat me at checkers as quickly as possible before telling him that I needed to go and getting offline.
I awoke on New Year Eve's morning to the blasted sound of my damn alarm clock. I had to get up early to get the house ready for the party (as part of my punishment, my parents gave all the servants the rest of the holiday season off). I didn't bother with showering or looking nice since I would just be getting dirty again and have to shower right before the guests arrived. Several hours later I had only made a dent in my preparations when the doorbell rang.
"Marietta!" I called. "Marietta, the door!" Then I realized that the whole reason that I was doing manual labor in the first place was because Marietta was not there. "Fucking hell, I've got to do everything myself, don't I?" I threw my dust rag down and went into the foyer. "Yeah, what do you want?" I asked grumpily when I pulled the door open. There stood Noelle.
"Hi," she said shyly, looking up and down my disheveled frame. I tried running my hands through my hair so that it wouldn't fall into my eyes so much but to no avail; I had a bad case of Potter head today.
"Hi," I said, brushing dirt off of my T-shirt. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I thought you could use a little help getting ready for the party."
"Oh, well, if you want." I stood aside so she could come in.
"Where are your parents?" she asked.
"Gone skiing," I replied. "You can put the table cloths on that table there," I instructed, pointing to a table and a bag of brightly colored paper table cloths. We worked in silence for several uncomfortable minutes.
"So, er, how was your Christmas?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Fine. My mom cooked, Grandma knitted, Dad laughed a lot and my brother sulked in a corner. How was yours?"
"I opened presents by myself on Christmas morning."
I didn't know why I said it. It was the truth but who was she to know about my home life?
"That's horrible!" she stated, coming over near me to fetch napkins to put on the table by the Chex Mix.
"There are worse things," I said, as I pulled a box of string party lights to hang around the room. Noelle came and helped me.
"Like what?" she asked.
"Like not having Christmas at all." Where the hell did that come from? "You know, like the poor kids in shelters." When did I figure out about shelters and poor kids? Who was this girl and how is she managing to make me act all weird? And why the hell does my stomach have that fluttery feeling again? I haven't eaten the school's goulash in weeks!
Both Noelle and I were standing on chairs to hang the lights.
"Yeah, but at least the children in shelters have families to be with," she said.
"Yeah, well that has it's downside as well."
"Like what?"
"Like siblings who poke you incessantly." And with that I poked her in her side. She startled and stumbled off of her chair, grabbing my arm and taking me with her. We both stumbled awkwardly but managed to stay on our feet with her in my arms the whole time. We were both laughing and I noticed my hands getting sweaty though it was a bit drafty in the big room. After a few seconds Noelle stopped laughing and looked into my eyes. Her gaze was piercing and must have been uncomfortable for her as well because she looked up.
She quickly blushed however, and gently pulled from my embrace. I looked up and saw the mistle toe that my mother had hung in hopes of getting a kiss from my father (she didn't' by the way). Noelle blushed even more furiously and turned to go back to the chair, but my arm shot out and took a hold of her wrist without consulting my brain. Then my head lowered itself instinctively and my lips kissed her on their own accord.
Afterwards she smiled and looked pointedly at my chest as if she would fall into a fit of giggles were she to look into my eyes. After a few embarrassed laughs we went back to work.
It seemed as if the whole school had turned out for Draco's party. Fred and George had permanently taken over the karaoke machine, Collin was trying to stay as far away from the alcohol as he possibly could, Ginny giggled at my side and pulled on my arm incessantly to try to get me to dance, and Ron, Hermione and all the other of my friends were crowded around Draco as he told jokes that they apparently found hilarious. I couldn't stand it.
'If Draco was to betray them...'
My hormones kicked in right then. I shrugged Ginny off and stormed over to where Draco was. He stopped mid-joke and smiled at me.
"Hello, Potter, I was just telling them about..."
But I never found out what he was telling them because at that exact moment I punched him.
"Harry, what the hell?" he asked as he staggered back.
Hermione had a hand covering her mouth in shock and Ginny had rushed to my side, screaming.
I geared up for another blow but Ron grabbed my arm.
"What's the matter with you?" he hissed through clenched teeth. I glared past him at Draco who seemed the most calm; almost as if he knew why I did it. I turned to Ginny.
"Come on, Ginny, we're leaving!"
"I'm not going anywhere with you!"
I stopped in my tracks and turned to face her.
"What?" I whispered. It felt as if my soul had been sucked out of me.
"What has gotten into you?"
"Ginny, I..."
"Just don't talk to me, you make me sick!" She stormed off to the bathroom. Hermione gave me a hurt glance before following her. I stood there with my mouth open like a freaking guppy.
"What the hell just happened?"
Billy Beerbomb wobbled over and drunkenly threw a hand around my shoulders. "You hit Draco for no reason and your girlfriend just broke up with you," he informed before being violently sick on my sneakers.
Harry stormed through the door several hours earlier than what I expected. "Oh good, you're up," he stated before going into a long drawn out conversation about how Draco was being overly friendly and normal. "And I just got so frustrated because I don't want any trouble and I don't want to end up like my parents, so I thought if I punched Draco he would come to his senses and be evil again!"
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
"Harry, don't try to take things into your own hands. Your parents tried that and look what happened to them. We're not meant to rule our future. Just let things be and whatever happens will happen and you'll take care of it as it happens. If another foray is destined to occur then there's nothing you can do about it."
Harry was silent for awhile.
"So what should I do? My friends all hate me and Ginny broke up with me?"
"Apologize to Draco. You're friends will come around and eventually Ginny will too. Now, what happened to your sneakers? I just bought you those!"
I saw Draco in the men's room before first period on the first day back from break. The bathroom was empty and Draco was drying his hands under the dryer.
"Hi," I said, sticking my hands in my pockets. Draco turned his head to look at me and I saw a feint bruise on his cheek. "Sorry about that," I said, pointing to the mark.
"It's ok," Draco said, hitting the button again. "You were drunk."
"I wasn't..."
"You were drunk," Draco stated again, finishing his hands and placing one on my shoulder while giving me an understanding glance before walking out of the bathroom. The bell rang but I didn't go to class. I stood in the bathroom gazing despondently at my reflection. It was official, Draco had chosen his side and he chose us, and now there was nothing to do but to brace myself for whatever would come. Draco's understanding glare gave me only a little assurance. He knew what going against his parents meant and he was going to be right there with me. Ron, Hermione, Fred, George; they'd all be there too. We'll face whatever, together.
End Author's Note: Chapter Fourteen is DONE! WOOHOO!!! So how did you like this nice LONG chapter? I kind of like it. The only problem is that I'm not sure where to go from here, see, I know how this fic is going to end, but I don't know how to get there. Nice, long reviews will help me get there faster though!!! -wink, wink- Be sure to tell me what you liked and hated about this chapter and include anything that you'd either like to see happen or stuff you don't want to see happen at all.