BROKEN
Author: Nox (goddess underscore nox at hotmail dot com)
Notes: Another chapter! Yay! A million and a half thank you's to reviewers. Reviewers are the most wonderful people in the world. : ) In this chap there is discussion, action, and more mystery. Look out for next chapter, in which things heat up both figuratively and literally!
More Notes: Next chap may take a while, as I don't plan to update this fic until after I've updated my other fic (Fall From Grace). But I will write as quickly and wonderfully (yeah, right) as I can! :)
Italics stand for emphasis and --- stands for scene breaks
Part Seven:
"Real damage?" demanded Ron, looking hurt. "You were going to do damage with the information you'd managed to get out of us if Draco didn't tell you what happened?" The redhead shook his head. "Really Harry. I thought I knew you."
"I wouldn't have really done anything, Ron. I just wanted to know about fifth year." Harry, feeling embarrassed, rubbed at the back of his head.
"So you were lying?" This from Draco, who was standing inappropriately close to the youngest Weasley brother and looking quite smug.
"Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this right now." The Boy Who Lived peered suspiciously around the large tree they were all concealed behind. He saw groups of seventh year Slytherins and Gryffindors making their way across the Hogwarts' grounds and towards Hagrid's hut, their Care of Magical Creatures texts in hand. "Maybe we should meet somewhere after classes."
"I can't," said Draco, absently stroking the spine of his own copy of The Monster Book of Monsters. "I shouldn't even be here now. I just thought that Ron should know that you'd screwed everything up. And, since you'd screwed everything up, I thought Ron might decide to tell you about winter break."
Harry was angry, but managed to let Malfoy's comment slide. They didn't have time for arguments. They were going to be late for class. And Harry desperately didn't want to flunk out in his seventh year, on the verge of becoming eligible to be trained as an Auror. "We have to meet. I need to know the whole story."
"You do. We just told you," said Malfoy. The blonde passingly wondered what Snape would do should he spot him now, talking to both Harry Potter and his number one sidekick. The Professor would probably murder the teen, on the grounds of sheer stupidity.
"I do?" asked Harry. "You two got chased and tormented by some mysterious figure all winter break, who turned out to be Macnair, who ended up getting away?" The bespectacled teen took a deep breath. "That's it? That's the whole story?"
Both Ron and Malfoy nodded their heads.
"Well what happened to Macnair, and why didn't any of you tell anyone what had happened?"
"Macnair disappeared," answered Malfoy.
"Dumbledore didn't want us to tell," replied Ron.
"What?" asked Harry, quite confused. How on earth could Macnair just disappear? And why would Dumbledore try to keep the event under wraps? "You mean John Macnair disappeared right under Dumbledore's nose?"
"That's right."
"We're going to be late," said Malfoy, also peaking out from behind the large tree he and Harry had pulled Ron behind when they'd spotted him on his way to Hagrid's hut. They'd both decided Ron needed to know that they'd been overheard by someone, and that Harry should probably know what had happened fifth year. They'd waited until Ron had come marching out of the castle, then had grabbed the redhead and "forced" him behind the large trunk. The meeting had turned into a rather long question and answer session. Draco certainly didn't mind being around Ron. He just didn't want to be spotted. "I'll go first. You guys wait a minute, then come out."
"Sure," said Harry, sounding anything but pleased.
Malfoy ignored him, slipped around the trunk, and walked away.
"So," said Ron, timidly. Harry turned to look at him, his expression softening. The redhead looked up at him guiltily. "You're not angry?"
"I told you I wasn't." The boy smiled. "At least he's not really a Death Eater."
Ron snorted. "Sorry I didn't tell you about fifth year sooner."
"No problem. I know how manipulative Dumbledore can be. It's just weird that he would keep something like that a secret, isn't it? I mean, you were almost killed."
The redhead, clueless as to what went on in their Headmaster's head, shrugged. "Come on. We're going to be late."
They both stepped out, as inconspicuously as possible, from behind the tree and started towards Hagrid's little abode.
"Hey," said Harry. "Have you seen Cho around?"
"No, why?"
"I kind of need to talk to her."
Ron rolled his eyes. "You are so whipped."
Harry raised an eyebrow, but didn't reply.
-----
/Remember,/ thought Ron, standing next to Harry with his arms crossed. /He's an asshole./ The redhead glared in the direction of Draco, who had slipped off his robes due to the heat and was dressed only in his black slacks and white, long sleeved shirt. The blonde had loosed his tie and undone the first two buttons of his shirt.
Ron was trying very hard not to look at the bit of flesh Draco had exposed, and was heatedly reminding himself that there was no reason in hell he should forgive the platinum-haired teen for what he'd done, when Hagrid cleared his throat (quite loudly) in an effort to get the classes' attention.
"Today," said the half-giant, "we'll be lookin' at flobberworms."
"Flobberworms?" asked Lavender Brown, looking down at her clean, stylish robes sadly. "Haven't we already covered them?"
Ron couldn't help but agree with the girl. After Draco had gotten attacked by that hippogriff third year, the half-giant's students had all had enough information about flobberworms stuffed into their heads to last several lifetimes.
Hagrid explained that it was a refreshment lesson. It being their last year, he wanted to be sure they still remembered the basics. There were groans and murmured complaints, but the group of seventh years soon shuffled over to the crates of mud Hagrid had lined up along his hut.
"Hey Herm," said Ron, kneeling next to the crate his friend (maybe former friend?) had chosen. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Hello Ron. Sorry I haven't had a chance to speak to you or Harry much." She stuck both hands into the crate and began to shift the mud, looking for worms. "I'm taking a lot of classes."
Harry came and sat next to them, grinning.
Ron, deciding not to ask the Hermione Grangerwhat she considered to be a lot of classes, turned to the green eyed teen. "What are you smiling about?"
"Nothing," said Harry. "Just thinking about Cho."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'll bet you are," she said.
Feeling much better than he had all year, Ron beamed. The famous trio was talking again. Maybe things would get better, after all.
/If only I could stop thinking about Malfoy./ Almost against his will, the redhead turned to where Draco was sitting with Pansy and Crabbe, peering regally into his crate.
/Pansy is sitting too close to him,/ thought Ron. /Is that part of his undercover work?/
Ron was reminding himself that he didn't care one bit about Draco Malfoy when three giant spiders came charging out of the forest, and towards the class.
-----
Draco saw the three gigantic arachnids come speeding out of the Forbidden Forest and jumped up. Pansy, next to him, let out a terrified squeal and ducked behind Crabbe's massive form.
"What in the world?" asked Hagrid, staring wide-eyed at the creatures. The huge professor cursed and hurried over to the charging monsters, putting a hand up and yelling for them to stop. Only the smallest spider of the three hesitated, then spun around and disappeared into the forest again.
The other two spiders simply kept running, right past Hagrid and towards the small hut surrounded by terrified seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins. "Use your wands!" cried Hagrid, and it seemed as if Draco was the only student level-headed enough to realize what the professor was saying.
The blonde pulled his wand from its place in his pocket and pointed it at the nearest spider. He yelled out a curse and a beam of light flew from his wand to hit the side of the nasty creature.
The spider froze in its place, but the other was still coming. And it was headed straight for Ron.
"Move!" yelled Draco, but the shout wasn't nearly enough to jar the redhead from his shock.
It was a well known fact that Ron Weasley was terrified of spiders. Most especially gigantic spiders. The redhead stood frozen, staring disbelievingly at the overlarge monster quickly approaching him. Draco saw Hermione looking frantically from Ron to the spider. He saw Harry slowly raising his wand, aiming it at the arachnid.
It wouldn't be quick enough. The spider was practically on top of the Gryffindor. The creature would crush him before Potter's spell would hit.
Almost without thought, Draco sprinted the short distance and shoved Ron hard. They landed in a tangled heap of limbs, the platinum blonde slightly on top of the smaller redhead, winded.
Harry screamed his own spell. The spider stopped in mid-step.
There was a pause. The class looked on, shocked and speechless, while Draco looked down into Ron's wide eyes.
The blonde realized his left hand was on the redhead's waist, and squeezed. Just a slight pressure. Just reassuring himself that Ron was okay.
He felt an answering squeeze on his forearm.
He was noticing the feel of the redhead's minty breath wafting up to brush against his lips when Pansy, nearby, let out a little gasp.
That's when both teens snapped back into reality. The blonde panicked.
/What'll I do?/ thought Draco. /How am I going to explain saving my worst enemy?/
"Malfoy you prat," said Ron, quite suddenly. He made a show of pushing disgustedly at the blonde's shoulders. "Get off."
Harry, catching on, came over glaring. "What are you playing at, Malfoy? Knocking Ron over like that. You're such an ass."
"But Malfoy just saved Ron," said Seamus Finnigan, sounding doubtful of his own words.
"Saved me?" demanded Ron, finally managing to dislodge a rather stunned Draco. He took Harry's offered hand and stood. "He knocked me over for no good reason."
Draco, also standing, brushed himself off. "That's right," he put in, having finally caught on to the trick. He leaned in closer to Ron, but still spoke clearly enough so that everyone listening in could hear. "What are you going to do about it, Weasley?"
Frowning, Pansy stepped up next to Draco. "So you knocked him over just for kicks?" she asked. Then she smiled. "That's right. What's he going to do about it? Get you in trouble for rescuing him." She snickered darkly.
Crabbe, Goyle and the rest of the seventh year Slytherins, still looking confused, snickered also.
Hagrid, panting, stopped by Harry and eyed the class, demanding to know if anyone was hurt.
"No, we're okay," said Harry, staring at the closest, frozen spider. "But what was that?"
"Maybe some kind of freak accident," put in Dean Thomas. "I mean, it only makes sense that something dangerous would come out of the Forbidden Forest once in a while, right?"
There were murmurs of agreement from the startled class.
"Right," said Harry, unsure. He felt a tug on his robes and turned to see Ron looking up at him, frowning. "What?"
"I think," whispered Ron, "I have an idea of what that might've been."
Harry cringed. "One of those Unfortunate Events that will eventually lead to a villain, a mystery to solve, and pain for the famous trio?"
"Right," said Ron. Harry groaned.
The redhead, still shaken, glanced over at Draco.
The blonde was staring back at him, his light eyes gleaming. Ron was surprised when he saw Draco's lips mouth the words "You Okay?" at him.
Ron half-smiled, nodded, and looked away.
-----
The news of three gigantic spiders attacking Hagrid's class spread quickly throughout the school. Ron was heading to Gryffindor House after his last class of the day when Harvey Williams saw him and promptly ran over.
"Hey Ron," he greeted, beaming.
"Hey," replied the redhead. He'd never felt completely comfortable with Harvey after fifth year. He and Draco had, after all, thought the boy to be an evil servant of Lord Voldermort. The sixth year strolled beside him.
"You alright? I heard about those forty huge spiders that charged your Creatures class. Must've been terrible, huh?"
Ron's eyes bugged. "Forty? There were only three."
"Oh," said Harvey, frowning a little. "I thought that might've been a bit of an exaggeration."
"Yeah," answered Ron, bemused.
"Still horrible though, right?" The Ravenclaw looked a little too excited to hear gory details for the youngest Weasley brother's liking. "Terrifying even."
"Horrible," agreed the redhead, not elaborating at first. And then, "I kind of froze up."
"That's right!" Harvey nodded so enthusiastically Ron thought he might soon be explaining to Ginny how her boyfriend's head had fallen off. "Heard something about that. And then Malfoy pushed you over, but you weren't really in the spider's way, so he just pushed you over for the heck of..." He trailed off, turning to the scarlet-haired teen. "Is that really what happened, Ron? I mean, after fifth year, I didn't think Malfoy would do something like that." He coughed, seeming suddenly uncomfortable.
Ron clenched his teeth. He should've known. Harvey was the only other soul who'd known about he and Draco being "that way" together before they'd told Harry. The Ravenclaw had walked in on them kissing during their fifth year. And though both he and the blonde had thought Harvey was evil then, Ron realized Harvey had never said a word to anybody else about them.
Not even to Ginny.
The Gryffindor suddenly had a greater respect for the boy. "No. You're right. I was in trouble."
They were walking up a flight of stairs now, side by side. It was quiet for a moment.
"I never told anyone," Harvey said finally. His eyes darted sideways to look at Ron, but he stayed facing forward.
The redhead shrugged. "I know. Thank you."
The sixth year seemed to swell with pride at the "thank you". And then, "I won't tell anyone. Ever."
They reached the landing where Harvey would have to turn left to get to his House, and Ron right to get to his. They stopped for a moment, trying to formulate something to say to each other, when Ginny suddenly came hurriedly up the stairs.
She smiled when she spotted them, rushing into Harvey's arms and giving him a quick peck. "Guess what?"
"What?" asked Ron and Harvey at the same time.
"I just heard there's going to be a Halloween dance. That band The Wicked is going to play."
"A dance?" asked Ron, curious. "We've never had a dance for Halloween before. Just feasts."
Ginny nodded, patting him on the shoulder. "That's why it's going to be so great!" She frowned. "You okay? I heard about the-"
"I'm fine," he answered automatically.
His little sister smiled even wider. "The dance will make you feel even better. You can get a date with some cute blonde or something."
She had grabbed at Harvey's arm and was pulling the boy (who, Ron realized for the millionth time in three years, looked like a slightly more scruffy-haired version of Harry) towards the stairs. "We'll talk to you later, then." She said.
Harvey gave him a brief wave before allowing his girlfriend to drag him along.
Alone, Ron blinked. /A dance? But why?/ Was it to raise morale after the terrible attack on the train station, or the more recent spider incident? Either way, a dance when danger seemed to be breathing down the descent Wizarding World's back didn't seem like a good idea to the redhead.
It didn't seem like a good idea at all.
/Cute blonde?/ Ron briefly thought of Draco, with his feathery hair and light eyes and strong lips, before quickly pushing the internal images away.
He spun around and headed for his dorm.