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Disclaimer: Don't own anything, except Claire and Plot. (Mandi, that is)


Chapter Six

Warnings and Memories

The others were in class, Dumbledore was busy and Claire still hadn't found her diary, so she had no choice but to wander the halls. No one asked her why she wasn't in class, they all knew who she was and why she was there. Occasionally a passing student or teacher would smile or wave, but no one had time to chat.

"Hello." a voice Claire didn't recognize said as she sat alone, under a tree on the snow covered grounds. She looked up and saw a tall boy, her age, standing over her. He had cold gray eyes and sleek blonde hair.

"I'm sorry," Claire said to him, "I'm not sure that I know you. Perhaps I haven't recovered any memories of you yet?"

He sat down next to her. "I guess not. My name is Draco Malfoy, does that help you remember at all?"

Claire's eyes widened and she withdrew from him a bit. "In my diary I didn't seem to like you at all. My friends hate you."

"So what? Does that automatically mean you should hate me?"

"Well, I didn't get a good impression from my book, and I assume you aren't that friendly from what my friends have said."

"You know, you really shouldn't assume things. How far into that diary did you get anyway?" he asked her, with a faint smirk.

"I got through fifth year."

"Well, how do you know we hadn't become friends during sixth year then?"

"Did we?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

He laughed, "Perhaps."

She sighed, "You aren't giving me an answer, why aren't you in class anyway?"

"Free hour," he answered simply, "And I thought you looked lonely so I came to keep you company." He gave her a friendly smile.

"Well, alright." she said, still a little hesitant.

"You don't trust me, do you?" he asked, laughing.

"Why should I? I haven't found a reason too."

"Have you really found a reason not to?"

"Besides the fact that everyone I know hates you?"

"Pfft. Big deal. Just because I'm not liked doesn't mean I'm not honest."

Claire watched him intently for a moment. "I dunno..."

"Come on, just spend some time with me, and then decide." he smiled sweetly, "Please?"

Claire caved, "Fine. I guess it couldn't hurt."

Claire spent quite awhile talking to Draco and within just a few days they had seemed to become very good friends.

"She what?" Ron yelled when Harry told him he had seen Claire talking to Draco in the hall earlier that day.

"Calm down, I'm sure it's nothing serious." Harry said, not at all surprised at his friend's reaction.

"Harry, listen to yourself!" he said, " 'I'm sure it's nothing serious'. IT'S DRACO MALFOY!"

Everyone in the common room turned to stare. Ron didn't seem to notice, he ran out through the portrait hole to go find Claire."

Harry shook his head and ran after him. He caught up with him seconds later and grabbed his shoulder. "Ron, you shouldn't do anything drastic, you still don't know what's going on."

"He MUST be up to something! Claire is a muggle born, you know how much Malfoy HATES muggleborns. You know how he's looked at her in the past, how he's treated her, what he's said to her. You cannot honestly believe that he's not up to something!"

"Okay, I agree with you that much, but you can't just go charging around ready to blow someone's head off! You have to calm down, think this through, perhaps you should talk to Claire about thi-" he froze and attempted to lead Ron away.

Ron turned to see what Harry was looking at and found Malfoy walking in their direction. "You..." he said in a threatening whisper. His eyes narrowed and he walked to him.

Malfoy stopped, he smirked, "Something wrong with your face Weasley? Doesn't look normal, although I'm surprised I can tell, it never does look all that great."

"Stay away from Claire." he said quietly. Harry had never seen Ron this angry before.

"Claire?" Malfoy said with an obviously fake look of surprise, "I haven't done anything to her."

"You must be up to something. There's no way you'd ever talk to her, you hate her, everyone knows it, you hate all muggleborns."

"Now now Weasley, you don't own her. She can do whatever she wants, if she wants to hang out with me, then she should be able to. And I really have no reason to stay away from her anyway, if you're looking at this as a 'She's my girlfriend, you can't talk to her' sort of situation then I don't think that would apply here anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, technically, I don't really think she's your girlfriend anymore. She certainly doesn't remember being your girlfriend, and it's obvious you haven't told her yet. So if she doesn't know about it, I don't think it counts." A smile crept across his face as he saw that Ron hadn't even thought of that.

"Just stay away from her Malfoy." Ron said, getting redder by the second.

"What're you going to do if I don't?"

"I... I'll..."

Malfoy simply laughed and walked back in the direction he had come. Ron stood there breathing heavily, seemingly holding in his anger with all his might.

Harry also stood there, confused and worried. Why is he so angry? He's never been this angry before, and worse things have happened, he thought.

Harry and Ron sat in the common room the rest of the day, not saying a word. Harry just stared out the window at other students building snowmen, or having snowball fights.

Ron stared into the fire, thinking, all his anger as strong, possibly stronger, than it had been earlier that day.

What on earth does she think she's doing? he thought. She knows how much we all hate him. She knows that she hated him. Maybe he's using Imperius on her... I wouldn't put it past him. But why is he doing it? What is he planning? He has to be planning something, he always is. He's evil, he's bloody evil.

He continued to think about it, only vaguely aware that he hadn't seen Claire or Hermione all day.

"I'm sorry but I really don't think it's a good idea." Hermione told Claire in the library. Claire had come with her to help her find books to help with her homework.

"But he's really nice and it doesn't seem like he's up to something." Claire told her, they had been discussing Claire's friendship with Malfoy for quite awhile.

"I told you, he's always hated you because you're muggle born. He's a complete pureblood fanatic."

"Well, I guess we'll see." Claire said, ending the debate.

The next few weeks went by rather quickly and soon the Christmas season was upon them. Claire and Ron had argued about Malfoy one day but they seemed to have a reached a silent agreement not to talk about it anymore, although Ron was still extremely angry about the entire situation.

Before they knew it they were all on their way back to their homes for break. Harry and Ron were going to the Weasley home and Hermione and Claire would arrive there on Christmas Eve to celebrate with them.

"My mother never was a very Christmassy sort of person." Claire said as the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform 9 3/4, "I'm sure she won't mind me joining you all for the holiday."

They exited the train and looked for their parents.

"Hey Claire!" a young man called to her. He looked about 20 years old and had light brown hair and eyes that looked exactly like Claire's.

"It's not..." Claire said, a little shocked.

Hermione smiled at her, "It is."

"Well come on." the man said, walking toward them, his arms wide open, "Can't I have a hug from my little sister?"

"Jeff?"

He laughed, "So you do recognize me?" he pulled her into a hug and she smiled.

"Last time I remember seeing you, you were fourteen and had a broken arm!" she told him.

He laughed again, "Yeah, well I'm twenty now and since then have had two broken fingers, a broken leg and a few teeth knocked out."

"Still the same as you were six years ago." Claire said laughing.

Her friends smiled. Ron said, "Well, I guess we'll be seeing you in a few days then."

"Yeah, bye guys." Claire said as they walked to find their families.

"Seeing them in a few days?" Jeff asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah, Mom never was a Christmas type person so I thought I'd go to the Weasley's for the holiday. Where is she anyway?"

"She couldn't make it. Too busy making the house perfect for you."

She smiled, "Good ol' Mom."

They had a small Christmas celebration at Claire's house the next day. Her mother was extremely happy to see her and insisted on showering her with presents and food. By the end of the day Claire was convinced she had gained ten pounds and wasn't sure where she would put all her gifts.

She organized everything into her bedroom, which had changed a bit since she was eleven. She put her new clothes into the wardrobe, her new books on the bookshelf, and the rest of her gifts onto shelves and into drawers around the room.

Claire's mom and brother were very happy with the gifts she had given them which included a set of self cleaning plates for her mother and a few miniature dragon figures for her brother who had always been interested in them, even before he knew they really existed.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Claire busied herself with packing her trunk again, she was surprised at how fast everything had found it's way out in such a short time. She brought it downstairs and had a breakfast of toast and eggs with her family.

"When will they be coming?" her mom asked, she was a little reluctant to let her go to the Weasley's at first but in the end seemed to think it would be best, it may help her get her memory back.

"I'm not sure, I don't even know who's coming actually. All I know is they're using Floo powder."

"I'm kind of hoping Fred and George come." Jeff said with a grin, "The stuff they brought last time they were here..." he laughed.

"Fred and George?" Claire asked. She only knew what she read and heard about them.

"Oh yeah, they're great. They have that wizard joke shop of theirs. You made me come with you to buy supplies this year just so you could show me their shop." he smiled.

"Oh, I really wish I could remember everything... it's getting so annoying." Claire sighed.

The rest of the day they sat in the living room talking while they waited. Eventually the fireplace burst into green flames and Ron, Fred and George entered the room.

"Yes!" Jeff yelled, jumping up to talk with Fred and George.

Claire laughed, "You're acting so childish Jeff." she told him.

While Claire said good bye to her mom and helped Ron with her things, Jeff had fun looking at Fred and George's newest products. They let him keep a few free samples and just before they left Jeff turned into a giant canary.

Fred laughed along with everyone and said, "Wow, we invented those a few years ago already."

Claire said her last good byes and followed the boys to the fireplace. When they arrived at their home she was greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry.

"So nice to see you again dear." Mrs. Weasley said, smiling.

"Yeah. Nice to see you too." Claire replied a little awkwardly, she didn't remember her very well.

"Here, I'll help you bring your stuff up to my room." Ginny said.

Hermione said she'd come too so the three girls went up the stairs to Ginny's large room and they set her trunk in the corner by one of the beds.

Claire was confused and asked, "Ginny, is this the house you've always lived in?" she remembered mention in her diary of the Weasley home and this house didn't seem to fit the description.

"Oh no, we bought this house just last year. It's much larger than our old one. Fred and George's shop has been a huge success and they insisted on buying a new house for the family. It was going to be a smaller one down the street but Harry insisted on contributing some money and getting a bigger one since he spends a lot of time with us anyway."

"It's a very nice house." Claire said.

"We love it here." Ginny smiled, "Although sometimes I do miss our old house, no matter how small it was."

The three of them went back downstairs and spent time with the others. By the time night came they were all very tired and decided to go to bed early.

"CHRISTMAS!" The girls awoke to the sound of Ron yelling in excitement in the next room. They heard Harry's pillow hit the wall a second later, he had obviously missed his target and they heard Ron making fun of him for it. Fred and George could be heard upstairs yelling at Ron to shut up.

Nevertheless they all got up and went downstairs to find Mrs. Weasley making a huge breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, ham, and pancakes, among other things.

Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table with Percy, Charlie, and Bill, who had all arrived the previous night after the rest had gone to bed.

They smiled as Ron came in wide awake, followed by the others looking slightly annoyed and yawning.

"Excited Ron?" Bill asked him, laughing.

"Presents!" he replied.

"Every year it's the same thing," Percy said, obviously annoyed, "no matter how old he gets, on Christmas morning he acts like a child."

Claire laughed, "I don't see a problem with that, except for the fact he wakes us all up so early."

Ron smiled at her. Claire thought she saw a faint look of hope in his eyes but had no idea why.

They gathered around the huge dining table and had breakfast. It was a very noisy meal but Claire didn't mind. She took comfort in the fact that it all felt familiar, as if she had done this many times before. Her old memories did seem to be coming back, as she sat there thoughts of a young Ginny staring at Harry, Hermione and Percy having boring conversations, and huge debates about quidditch crept through her mind. She smiled.

After they were all very full Ron lead the way to the living room and automatically began passing gifts around. Claire and Ginny decided to help him and before long everyone had a pile of presents at their feet.

"HOORAY!" Ron yelled as he began ripping the paper off of a package in front of him. Everyone soon followed suit and opened theirs as well.

He's so cute. Claire suddenly found herself thinking as she watched Ron's excitement. The thought surprised her a little, she knew she had liked Ron before but she had barely witnessed proof of it since she lost her memory.

"This is so cool!" Harry said, holding up the quidditch poster Claire had bought him, "Thanks!"

Claire smiled, "You're welcome."

Soon they found themselves in a room filled with ripped wrapping paper. They all thanked each other for their gifts and somehow managed to put everything in their rooms. After taking care of her things Claire went back downstairs and found Ron sitting alone in the living room.

"Hi Ron." she said, "I don't think I got a present from you."

"No you didn't." he told her, "Thanks for all the candy though, that stuff'll last me quite awhile."

"You're welcome," she said smiling, "but why didn't I get anything from you?"

"Because, I wanted to give it to you myself." he told her, standing up, he looked extremely nervous, "Get your coat, I want you to come with me."

She did as he said and followed him out into the snow covered back yard. It was very big and quite beautiful. There was a big area next to the house that was obviously a garden during the warmer months and they had a few trees spread out throughout the yard. The icicles hanging from their branches shimmered in the sunlight.

They walked along until they came to a bench sitting under the biggest tree, far from the house. Ron pulled out his wand and melted the snow off of it. He sat down and motioned for Claire to join him.

They sat in silence for a while, listened to the occasional creak of the branches. Claire suddenly became very aware of her feelings for Ron. It seemed to all flood back to her as she sat quietly beside him. She remembered things from previous years that hadn't been written in her diary.

How she had been so hopeful that Ron would ask her to the Yule Ball and how disappointed she was when he hadn't. How he began to avoid her a bit during 5th year and she couldn't figure out why. How she longed to tell him how she felt but was too afraid to do it. It kept going like that for several minutes, Claire remembering everything that had happened between her and Ron while they sat in the silence of his backyard. Then it came to her final memory...

"Claire, I have to tell you something." Harry told her.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No. Ron wanted me to tell you something. He was just too afraid to do it himself..."

Claire's heartbeat quickened. Was this it? Was Harry about to tell her that Ron felt the same as she did? Was he about to tell her what she had hoped to hear for the past few years?

"He loves you Claire."

Yes!

"I told him he should tell you himself but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was too afraid you'd reject him and he didn't want to be there for that. He told me to tell you and ask if you'd be his girlfriend, then get your answer and return and tell him what you said... so, what do you say?"

"Where is he?" she asked.

Harry looked surprised, "Uh... I think he's alone in our dormitory. Why?"

Claire didn't answer, she just ran to the stairs and climbed until she found the door that said "Gryffindor, 6th year, Boys".

She stopped to calm herself a moment. This is it, she told herself. She slowly opened the door and stepped inside. Ron was sitting alone, by the window, staring out onto the grounds. He seemed very nervous and obviously hadn't heard the door open. He kept moving around, checking his watch and looking back out the window. Claire smiled, his hair was a little messed up and his face was slightly red but she didn't care, she loved how he looked when he was nervous, so cute.

Claire quietly cleared her throat, Ron heard and turned to face her. He gasped and his face went a dark shade of red. She walked across the room and sat down next to him.

"I... uh..." Ron stammered.

Claire smiled and said softly, "Harry told me."

Ron just stared at her, then he coughed and said, "What did you tell him?" his voice was unusually high.

"I didn't tell him anything. I wanted to say yes to you myself."

Ron didn't seem to hear her at first. When he realized what she had told him, he smiled and hugged her...

Claire turned to look at Ron. He seemed deep in thought. "Er... Ron, can I ask you something?"

He turned to look at her, "What it is?"

"I was just wondering... I know we fought a bit but, did we ever break up?"

Ron took a moment to understand exactly what she was saying. Then he frowned and said, "Who told you?"

"Who told me what?" Claire said, a little surprised at his reaction.

"Who told you that we were dating?"

"No one told me."

"Then how did you know? You only read up through fifth year in your diary, I didn't ask you out until sixth."

She laughed, "You didn't even ask me, you had Harry do it for you. But for some reason, sitting here with you triggered all of my memories of us, that's how I know, I remembered."

"You... what... really?"

"Yup."

"That's great! You're remembering things! Do you remember everything?"

"No. Just that bit. And you still haven't answered my question."

"Oh... well... no, we never broke up."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Claire asked him.

"I was afraid I guess. I mean... you didn't remember me, so I assumed you didn't feel the way you used to and if I told you what there was between us then you'd think you had to like me or something then I wouldn't know if it was, you know, real." he told her, looking a little embarrassed.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter now, because I remember and I still feel the same as I did before." she smiled.

He smiled back, but only halfheartedly. He looked like he was concerned about something. Claire was about to ask but Ron spoke first, "I'm sorry."

Claire was confused, "For what?"

"I told you I was afraid, don't hate me for this, but I... I took your diary..." he suddenly became very interested in a hole in one of his gloves.

Claire was shocked, "You did? But why?"

As he spoke he avoiding looking at her, "Like I said, I was afraid. I figured there would be some mention of it all in your diary and you mentioned you had just finished reading fifth year, then when you went to bed you forgot it in the common room so I took it so you wouldn't find out about us. I'm really sorry." His face began turning red. "I decided I'd give it back, that's why I brought you out here. I have it with me here." He pulled a green package from his coat pocket and handed it to her.

She ripped the paper off to find the familiar red letters on the blue book. She looked back at Ron who was looking nervously at a squirrel scampering across the snow.

"Did you read it?" she asked.

"Of course not. I'd never..." he went back to examining the hole in his glove.

"Ron... I understand, it's okay."

He looked at her, "Are you sure? You can yell at me if you want... break up with me or something. I'm used to the yelling... we did that a lot."

"I'm not going to yell at you and I'm definitely not going to break up with you. I'm fine with it, really."

"Really?"

"Didn't I just say really?" she laughed.

Ron blushed and smiled at her. She noticed he began to lean closer to her. She moved slowly closer to him.

"Claire! Ron! Dinner! Where are you?" Mrs. Weasley called from the house.

The two stood up. "Brilliant timing..." Ron said sarcastically.

Claire smiled and took his hand in hers, "Come on, they're waiting."

They walked slowly back to the house, just enjoying each other's company. Ron smiling because he no longer had to be afraid and Claire smiling because one of the best aspects of her life before the incident had finally come back to her.


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