Chapter 12: Emotional

Lavender and her gang along with Hermione, were sitting at the Gryffindor table deep in conversation about there newest adventure; spying on Malfoy. Lavender had a very smug expression on her face as she described to Hermione what they had found out. She took her into a very detailed overview.

(Yesterday after they left the dormitory)

"Where do you think he is?" asked Angelina as they walked toward the great hall.

"My guess is he's in his dormitory," added Parvati.

"Duh," hissed Lavender. "Where else would he be." Parvati looked hurt, she didn't retort just stuck her tongue out at Lavender's back.

"I saw that," yelled Lavender.

They made there way toward the Slytherin common room, and they could hear laughter. They looked around at each other.

"Come on. Let's see what this uproar is all about," smirked Lavender. They saw a couple of slytherin girls come out of the door. They were deep in laughter, and when they saw Lavender and her group, they glared at them as the passed. Lavender could hear them whispering about something.

"Is he really gay?" asked the slytherin girl to her friend in passing.

"I think so…!" she shrieked.

Lavender did a small skip in place at this new found dirt. Someone in the slytherin house was gay, and she was going to find out whom. She gestured for the others to follow her as she made her way to the slytherin common room entrance.

"Password?" asked the grumpy bald man draped in green robes sitting in his frame. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at them, a pissed expression covered his face.

"Ummm?" mumbled Lavender as she looked around at the other girls for help.

"Well, we're not in slytherin," she frowned as she adjusted her Gryffindor robes. "We're just here to visit a friend." This wasn't a very good story though, for the old man flamed up in protest at the prospect of invaders; especially those from Gryffindor.

"You filthy mudblood lovers, get away from here right this instant" he bellowed; causing the windows to shake in their panes. Lavender opened her mouth to yell back when the door was opened from the opposite side. She smirked and closed her mouth and sidled out of the way along with the others to let the slytherins exit. Before the door could close though, she grabbed it and climbed through; holding it open for her friends. They all looked shocked, but clambered through as well. Thankfully the room was in a complete uproar so no one saw them enter. They crossed the room and sat in a dark corner, listening eagerly.

"Can you believe this? Of all people he's the fag!" laughed a tall and built slytherin boy. The people sitting around him shook their heads and laughed as well.

"I guess when you think you know someone, you don't really know them at all!" he laughed.

Lavender cursed under her breath. Who in the hell is gay? She whispered. She looked at her friends and they shook their heads in confusion.

At that moment Malfoy descended the stairs from his dormitory. He looked pissed at something, or someone. He threw angry glances at everyone around him and made toward the common room exit. The same slytherin boy called out to him.

"Watch out gay alert!" Everyone in the common burst out laughing and pointed at him as he sulked out the door.

Lavender's heart leapt. Malfoy was gay. She wasn't prepared for that. She leaned her head to the door to gesture that they should leave, she stood; but at that moment the built, and she noticed ugly, slytherin boy went into a detailed account of why he considered Malfoy gay. Lavender stepped back and sat back down.

"Well, Malfoy was asleep on the sofa; completely normal, right? Well, he starts to mumble in his sleep. It was something along the lines of "Why did you stop Ron?." " I was in the room at the time, and I couldn't believe my ears; so I went closer and he was definitely mumbling something about Ron Weasley."

At these words everyone balled over with fits of laughter. His group got up to leave, and as they were leaving the boy yell, "Poor Malfoy, jones'n for a Weasley."

Lavender mouth dropped open. This was the best dirt they had on anyone. Parvati laughed so much that she almost fell from her chair. Forgetting where they were they all started to laugh hysterically, causing the whole common room to look their way.

"They're not Slytherins!" yelled a group of slytherin girls. They balled up their fist and started toward them. Lavender and her gang dashed to the door and pushed it so hard open that it broke the nose of a slytherin girl trying to enter. They pushed pass and continued to run.

(The present)

"So, you see, we almost got our asses kicked," smirked Angelina. Lavender rolled her eyes.

"That wasn't the point, stupid. The point was that Malfoy is gay Hermione," she said while she rolled her eyes at Angelina.

Hermione laughed disconcertingly. She didn't know which part was weirder; Malfoy being gay or that he liked Ron.

"Are you guys sure? This is a big accusation," she whispered.

"Big accusations? Well you shouldn't have a problem with those since you made one yourself," ridiculed Lavender. Hermione scowled at her.

"And what does that suppose to mean," she demanded.

"I'm just saying that the pot can't call the kettle black," Lavender retorted completely not put off. Angelina, Parvati, and Katie glanced at each other smugly.

"Anyway, "continued Lavender. "Now that we know that he's gay. We have to catch him in some weird gay act. It'll be hard though. He's really hard to track down when he's outside his common room." The other girls nodded in agreement. "

Well, he just left the great hall," pointed out Hermione. Lavender glanced toward the door. "Aren't you going to follow him?" asked Hermione.

"Not yet, it'll look too suspicious!" responded Lavender.

"Have you seen Ron lately," Katie asked Hermione.

"No, we're not talking remember," snapped Hermione sadly.

"Well, I wonder where he's going." Katie asked? She was looking toward the entrance.

"What?" asked Lavender as she looked around.

"He just passed the door in a hurry," she added.

Lavender stood up. "I've changed my mind, let's go follow Malfoy," she said.

"What…why?" they all asked.

"Well, I think that they may be going in the same direction." They all looked at her and understanding dawned. They stood up and left the hall.

"I think they went outside!" whispered Angelina.

"Why would they go outside, it's freezing? Let's check the library," growled Lavender. They all climbed the stairs, and as Katie followed, she could see the doors leading outside the castle close. She looked up the stairs to her friends, but decided not to bring attention to the door. She turned and followed them up stairs.

(Moments Before)

Malfoy pushed open the main entrance doors and he felt the chilly wind brush against his face. He pulled his scarf closer around himself and proceeded down the stairs. He looked off into the distance as he made his way to the black lake. So everyone knew about his dream, he thought to himself. He knew he had overheard Lavender talking about him with her friends. These people are so dense. He wasn't gay, and he sure as hell didn't like Ron Weasley. How could he explain that dream though? He thought back to it, and it still didn't make sense.

(Malfoy's Dream)

Malfoy was in Transfiguration, and they all were doing human transfigurations. They were supposed to be turning each other into frogs. Pretty stupid he had thought. He was told to pair up with Weasley since Potter and Granger weren't talking to him anymore.

"What, you have got to be joking Professor," he yelled at McGonagall. She turned toward him and threw him the most menacing stare she could muster.

"No Mr. Malfoy, I'm not joking. And I would prefer if you would keep your voice down." She bellowed. She pointed her wand at Ron and gestured for him to come join Malfoy. Malfoy watched as Ron grabbed his things angrily and stalked toward him. Why did he look all misunderstood; He didn't want to work with him either? Ron dropped his stuff beside him and pulled his chair away from Malfoy, and then sat with his arms crossed staring ahead of him. Malfoy pulled his chair away from him as well. He didn't want Weasley slime all over his new robes.

McGonagall gave the class its instructions and then the class began to work.

"You first then," smirked Malfoy as he pointed his wand at Ron. Ron pulled his wand out too and pointed it at Malfoy face.

"There is no way in hell! You first." retorted Ron.

Malfoy squeezed his wand in his sweaty hand and lowered it.

"Okay, I can't wait to see how this will turn out." He crossed his arms and stood there looking directly into Ron's eyes waiting.

Ron looked thrown off. He didn't expect it to be that easy. He pulled out his textbook and began to read profusely on human transfiguration. After obtaining the basics, he pointed his wand at Malfoy who he saw was still looking at him; eyebrow raised and skeptical.

"What's that look for?" asked Ron.

"Just waiting Weaselbe," he retorted. Ron balled his fist, and opened his mouth to use any spell to curse Malfoy, but was saved the effort because across the room Seamus had set Dean's clothing on fire; which ended the class quite early though they were given homework to share with their prospective partners.

Ron left the class in a huff, and Malfoy saw the nasty glances Harry and Hermione threw Ron's way. All this just because Ron was gay, he thought? Some part of him felt sorry for Ron and a part of him wanted to protect him from all the hardships in this world. No one deserved this, not even a Weasley. He stood against the wall and waited for everyone to leave before he approached him.

"So Weasel, do you want to meet up in the library to finish this damn homework or what?" he asked. Ron turned around and frowned at him.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm serious. We have to do this work if we want to or not!" "So, library after dinner?"

"Yeah, whatever," he snapped and then walked away.

After dinner Malfoy sat in the library waited for Ron to arrive. Did he really expect him to wait all day? He could care less about this damn assignment. He looked up when Ron entered, and stood so that Ron would see him.

"It took you long enough. Was the food that good it took you…" he looked at his watch, "Half and hour to eat?"

Ron grimaced and put his bag down and then sat.

"Can we get this over with?" asked Ron. He looked depressed and in no hurry though. Malfoy watched as he pulled his books out of his bag at the rate of a slug and turned the pages just as slowly.

"Weasley, are you all right?" Malfoy asked. Ron looked at him completely confused. Why was Malfoy worried about him?

"No actually. I hate myself about just as much as I hate my friends…you know what I mean." He mumbled. Malfoy grinned and nodded.

"They're being asses!" laughed Malfoy. Ron scowled at him then nodded.

"You should forget them and move on," he added.

"Easy for you to say, you've never had any real friends," yelled Ron. Malfoy closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Well, obviously you haven't either Weasley!"

Ron went into deep thought after these words. He didn't want to admit it, but he was right. This only made him feel worse. Malfoy glanced over at him and placed an arm around him, squeezing his arm.

"It's all right you know, you have me!" said Malfoy. Ron looked at him with skepticism, but leaned his head on Malfoy's shoulder anyway.

"Can you make the pain go away Draco," yearned Ron as he turned and looked into Malfoy's eyes. Malfoy paused. He knew exactly what Ron needed. He reached his arms around Ron, and pulled him into a tight hug. He felt Ron relax in his arms. He heard him exhale; releasing all the tension he had held in for so long. Ron rested his head on Malfoy's shoulder. Malfoy closed his eyes and just let Ron cry. He patted him on the back and slowly pulled away from him. Ron looked into his eyes before he leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. Malfoy tensed up, so Ron pulled away.

"Why did you stop Ron," Malfoy asked as he pulled Ron to him and pressed his lips to his. The kiss intensified and it made him dizzy with exhilaration. One final tear runs down Ron's cheek!

(End of Dream)

Malfoy shook is head to rid his mind of all thought of the dream. He bent over and took off his shoes. Almost instantly his feet chilled. He didn't mind though, he needed to feel something other than what he was feeling now. He knew now where the dream had come from. They were the product of wanting to help Ron, to protect him. In his dream though, these feelings had manifested themselves through a kiss. Completely normal, right? He thought as he kicked his feet through the murky brown water. Hell no, that's not normal. Why in the hell did he want to help Weasley? But he had, when he found him unconscious in the hallway. As soon as he saw him, he had felt sick with fright; fright? When did he start feeling scared for Weasley? Could it be when he found out that his friends had betrayed him? Yeah, that could be it, he thought. Like he had thought in his dream, no one deserved that. He walked back from the water and sat down on the ground. He felt better. He knew he wasn't gay now, just oddly emotional. He smirked to himself as he pulled his shoes back on. The school bell rang overhead. He stood and turned around and ran flat into Ron.