When Ron arrived back at the Gryffindor common room, he tiptoed as quietly as he could back to his own bed. He crawled in, drawing the curtains around, and burying himself in the comfortable quilt, engulfed in relaxing warmth. Taking inspiration from his snoring comrades, he inexorably drifted into a deep sleep. Unfortunately it didn't last long enough for Ron's liking and he was woken an hour later by Harry roughly shaking his shoulder. Ron let out a disgruntled moan before propelling himself from the comfort of his bed. "Come on, Ron" said Harry. "Everyone else has already gone down to breakfast."
Ron got out of his creased, slept-in robes, and into some comparatively presentable ones, and then tried to sort out his hair. While he was doing this, Harry was making his bed. He decided to broach the subject of Ron's meeting with Draco, itching to find out whether the potion had worked according to plan. "So how did it go yesterday?" he asked, while pulling his quilt back over the bed. Ron continued to peer at himself in the mirror, before replying "Fine." Harry's curiosity was hardly appeased by this minimalist reply, so he tried again. "So you didn't fight then?"
Ron, apparently satisfied with his hair, began the task of putting on his socks. He responded with "Nope." Harry was very perplexed by Ron's uncharacteristic reticence, so he decided to venture another question. "So you did some work on your project then?" Ron roughly pulled his socks up, before standing up. That last one had pissed him off. "What is this, Harry? The bloody Spanish inquisition? Yes, we worked on the project, no, we didn't fight! Is that enough for you?" Harry was a bit stunned by Ron's vehement reaction and just nodded silently, thinking it unwise to say anything further in case Ron decided to bite off his neck as well as his head. "Great." Said Ron, picking up his bag. "Shall we go to breakfast then?" and with that he walked though the door and down the staircase to the common room, Harry walking, somewhat bemusedly behind him. When they got down there Hermione was waiting for them. She had just opened her mouth to ask Ron how it went when she caught sight of Harry furiously shaking his head behind him. She got the point. "Morning!" she said. "We'd better get to breakfast."
The rest of the morning passed in a fairly normal fashion. Ron was still quite cagey but his mood had definitely improved a great deal from earlier. The last lesson before lunch was Defence Against the Dark Arts, and everyone trooped in, took their seats, quietly chatting while Professor Esson took the register. Once she had finished and gotten everyone to quiet down she began the lesson.
"As you all know, your projects are due in in two weeks today. I have spoken to one or two of you who say you are finding it difficult and would like to work on them in class. I am prepared to let you do that as long as you work quietly and get down to your work. Is everybody fine with that?" The class gave a kind of affirmative grunt and everyone began to move in order to sit with their partners. Ron had been making a special effort to be completely oblivious to Draco's presence in his classes, and felt nothing but pure dread at the prospect of a whole lesson working with him.
He hoped he could just sit there and Professor Esson would just allow him to work alone, but after five minutes she noticed he was sitting by himself and told him to go over and sit with Draco. He complied with all the willingness of a lamb being led to the slaughter. He took his seat next to Draco, trying his absolute best not to look at him. Draco was slightly amused at being given the silent treatment by Ron, and simply continued to do his work, occasionally sneaking a glance at him from the corner of his eye.
Ron half heartedly began doodling on a scrap of parchment, trying not to notice how gracefully Draco's hands handled the task of writing, how his arms were perfect, not too muscled, not too thin, and he found himself getting hotter, disturbed by how acutely aware he was of everything that touched his skin. At one point he brushed elbows with Draco and it took all of his inner resolve to prevent himself from shivering. It was with a great sense of relief then, that he left the lesson, practically running to lunch.
However, he found that he could not concentrate on his food, and left the Great Hall early, saying to a mystified Harry and Hermione that he just needed a bit of fresh air. But he didn't go outside. He absently walked through corridors; finally sitting down against a wall on what he vaguely thought was the second floor. He needed to clear his head of all the weird thoughts that were pulsating in his brain; he refused to accept that he could be attracted to Draco. It was unthinkable, and yet he had never felt like that towards anyone before. His train of thought was disturbed when a girl from Hufflepuff in his year came along.
He hazily remembered her name was Hannah Abbott. She was quite pretty and Ron felt he needed a distraction. "Hi Hannah" he called as she approached him. "Are you busy?" Hannah replied not really and Ron motioned for her to sit down. "So how are you today, Hannah?" asked Ron. "I'm alright," she said "bit stressed with all the projects at the moment, but ok. You?" Ron nodded in what he assumed was a sympathetic manner. "I'm ok. Listen, Hannah. You know there's a trip to Hogsmeade coming up in a couple of weeks?" Hannah nodded; the notice had gone up the week before. "Well how would you like to go with me?" Hannah was slightly surprised at the proposition, and was just about to reply when Draco Malfoy appeared from around a corner.
Ron's eyes widened, and he groaned internally. Draco was sporting a scornful grin. "Well hello Weasley! And I see you have a lady friend with you." Draco cast his eye over the simpering excuse of a girl before him. "How very surprising. Aren't you a Hufflepuff Chaser?" this question was directed at Hannah. She silently nodded. "Well I must admit I always thought you played for the other team, Weasley." Draco smiled; it was so much fun watching Weasley squirm. Ron's ears went beetroot red- a sure sign that he had pissed him off. Lovely.
Draco gave them both his widest grin before walking off, shaking away a vague feeling of jealousy that had appeared from nowhere. After Draco was out of sight Hannah revised her decision to accept Ron's offer. "Sorry Ron, but I've already arranged to go with my mates. Thanks anyway." Ron simply nodded, not hearing a word she said. All he could think of was that he was going to make Malfoy wish he had never been born.
After two tedious afternoon lessons, and an even more tedious evening meal, Ron made his way up to the Gryffindor boy's dormitory, taking the steps two at a time. Then he walked over to Harry's bed and pulled the trunk out from underneath, where he knew Harry kept his invisibility cloak. Ron felt a twinge of guilt as he pulled it out, draping it around himself, but put the guilt aside. He was using it to get at Malfoy, he knew Harry wouldn't mind. All the same, he made sure nothing was out of place before he replaced the trunk back under Harry's bed. Once he had made sure he was fully covered by the cloak, he swept out of the room, leaving no evidence that he was ever there.
He walked purposely and quietly through the corridors, narrowly avoiding Professor Snape, down the stairs to the Ground Floor, out of the main door and into the grounds. He made his way over to the Quidditch field, taking care to remove his footprints every now and then from the frosty grass, with a flick of his wand. The Slytherin team always practiced on Fridays and this was the perfect opportunity to confront Malfoy. Ron went through the entrance to the Quidditch field, but instead of walking to the pitch, he turned left into the changing rooms.
The changing room afforded a blast of warm air as he pushed open the door, surveying the row of benches up against the wall, where the Slytherins had deposited their robes. Ron went and sat on the bench furthest from these piles of robes, which would hopefully be the place where he would be least likely to be discovered.
He felt slightly nervous, and several times he contemplated leaving, but his anger at Malfoy overcame his nerves. The waiting for the Slytherins to come in from practice was incredibly boring, but Ron contented himself with imagining the beating he planned to give Malfoy. After half an hour, the Slytherin team trooped in, sweating and red faced from their practice, Draco among them, his hair plastered down, wiping sweat from his eyes. The team captain, who was ugly beyond belief, addressed the team. "Alright then. Next week we play that strategy, and Hufflepuff won't stand a chance." The team all nodded, the more enthusiastic shouting "Yeah!" and continued to get changed.
Ron watched as Draco removed his Quidditch robes, trying his hardest not to admire Draco's defined stomach muscles. Gradually the Slytherins left in ones and twos until the only people left were Draco and the team captain. Draco was sitting relaxed on the bench, letting himself cool down. The captain pulled on his bag. "Good work today, Malfoy" before hulking his way out of the changing room. Ron waited until he could no longer hear his footsteps, before he pulled off the cloak.
Draco's eyes widened as he saw Ron seemingly appear out of thin air, but he quickly recovered, standing up as Ron strode towards him. "Weasley, what a pleasant surprise. Do you make a habit of stalking people into changing rooms?" Ron's crimson hair seemed to be aflame in his anger, and his cobalt eyes gleamed hazardously, chest heaving.
He couldn't muster the strength to reply, so instead he dived at Draco, aiming a colossal punch, straight at his head, roaring with rage. Draco sidestepped cleanly, shoving his knee into Ron's ribs, knocking him over and winding him. Draco made a bid for the door, but was stopped abruptly when Ron grabbed his ankle, toppling him to the floor. Draco kicked out viciously with his foot, but Ron used it as leverage to get onto his knees and then his feet. He was about to boot Draco in the chest, when Draco kicked out again, this time for Ron's ankle, felling him once again to the floor. This time he would not let Ron get the advantage. He pounced on Ron, pinning his arms above his head, physically sitting on him, straddling his waist.
Ron roared again, but still could not move. "Easy there, carrot top." Said Draco, enjoying his position of advantage. "Malfoy, get off me!" shouted Ron, struggling against Draco's hold. "What so you can attack me again?" Draco smiled sarcastically. Ron's efforts to escape were becoming less and less fruitful, so he was still for a second; also he had the disturbing suspicion that he was enjoying having Draco on top of him. He shook his head to dispel the thought. Draco relaxed his grip just slightly, but in that moment Ron took the opportunity to roll out of Draco's hold, and on top of him. Ron gave an ironic laugh. "Oh how the mighty have fallen." But Ron had underestimated Draco's strength. Before he had time to gloat some more, Draco was back on top. Ron's hair was standing up in erratic spikes, His cheeks were a bright shade of pink, and he was breathing heavily.
Draco felt the blood rushing through his veins and pounding in his head, he felt Ron's solid weight underneath him. Before he knew what he was doing he tilted his head to Ron's face, kissing him urgently, letting his lips rove down to his neck, leaving trails of fire on Ron's skin. Ron moaned with pleasure, not believing it was real. Draco sat up again, looking Ron in the eye. He wasn't sure if he had made a mistake, and it was not a Malfoy trait to feel uncertainty. This weakness disturbed him. Before Ron could say anything Draco got up, pulling his robes off a hanger and sprinted out, leaving Ron alone on the changing room floor.
He started the chapter on the floor, he ended it there! What can I say; I have a thing about the floor. Yes, well this chapter was a bit steamier, so I hope you all enjoyed it. I love to read your reviews, so keep 'em coming, in larger quantities. : 3