Chapter 14

The next day Ron sat in the library trying to finish his essay for transfiguration. He didn't want to have to do it while everyone else was in Hogsmeade. He was looking forward to this time outside of Hogwarts; he was yearning for some butterbeer. He flipped through several of the pages to find various facts. He had been at work on this essay ever since he left his last class an hour ago. Now that he was sitting next to Malfoy in class, he didn't have to worry about the uncomfortable silences that sitting between Harry and Hermione brought. He pushed his book closer to the lamp he was using to read. Why did it have to be so dark in here he thought.

"Humph, Humph!"

He looked around and saw Neville. He gestured for him to come over.

"Are you almost done?" he asked.

"Yes, you?"

"Yeah, Hermione helped me," he confessed shyly. Ron turned back to his paper. He didn't know what to say.

"She's really sorry, you know. She said she didn't mean to hurt you." Ron stared at his parchment without really seeing it. He dipped his quill back in the ink and continued to write.

"She and Harry are talking again, did you know? Said Neville.

"I know. I saw them talking. Good for them." He didn't want to talk about this. Why was Neville bringing this up? He already knew.

"So, you and Malfoy…"

"What do you mean, me and Malfoy?" he asked as he looked around angrily. Neville backed away and shook his head.

"Nothing, I just heard Lavender and her friends talking about you two, that's all." Ron turned back to his paper. He knew all about Lavender and her group of spying friends. He had caught them spying on him and Malfoy in the bathroom. He smiled to himself. Those girls were so dense.

"There's no me and Malfoy, okay!" he replied. Neville nodded and was happy that Ron wasn't shouting.

"So, Harry's dating Pansy Parkinson,"

"WHAT!" bellowed Ron, as he about to dip his quill back in the ink, but instead he spilled ink everywhere, including his robes.

"That is weird right? I thought you told me he was gay?"

"He is. What's he playing at?

"No clue," confessed Neville. "Well, I'm off. I have to finish Professor Sna…Sna…Snape's essay" He turned and left the library nervously leaving Ron deep in thought. Harry was dating Pansy Parkinson. When did he ever like her? Harry had looked shocked when he had saw that he was friends with Malfoy. And Pansy couldn't be fairing to well while thinking that her old boyfriend might be gay. Maybe she forced herself onto Harry. That had to be it!

He cleaned himself up and left the library. He had to see these two together with his own eyes.

He went to the dormitory to drop off his things and then walked to the great hall where everyone else was getting in some study time. He scanned the room and spotted Harry and Pansy sitting together at the very end of the Gryffindor table. He searched the room again and spotted Malfoy hunched over his work. He crossed over to him and sat down.

"Hey, are you aware that your girlfriend is dating Harry?" he asked as he scooted closer to Malfoy. Malfoy looked up and frowned.

"My ex girlfriend, and yes, I'm aware," He murmured this as he cast an angry look in Pansy's direction. She was holding Harry's arm very tightly and Ron saw that Harry looked very uncomfortable.

"But why…"

"The hell if I know," snapped Malfoy. Ron continued to look at him.

"When did you guys break up?"

"I cursed her when she attacked Luna for no reason. She got all crazy over it, so I broke it off with her" he admitted. Ron remembered back to their first class.Pansy had looked livid that day.

"Oh, well, that doesn't explain why she's clinging onto Harry like a leech." Added Ron.

"I guess it's to make me jealous." Said Malfoy.

Ron laughed and then looked around. He could feel someone looking at him. At that same moment Harry turned away when Pansy pinched him hard on the arm to get his attention. They started to argue, but Pansy glimpsed Malfoy looking her way so she quickly kissed Harry on the cheek and smirked in Malfoy's direction.

"Yeah, she's definitely trying to make me jealous," laughed Malfoy.

"Well, she picked the wrong guy, because Harry's gay," confessed Ron. Malfoy choked on his spit and balled over laughing.

"Are you for real?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's the reason I was in the hospital wing in the first place. Seamus walked in on us about to kiss and he shoved me against a table to cover himself." Ron looked down and fumbled with his fingers.

"That's fucked up. Why didn't you kick his ass?" scowled Malfoy.

"Well, I would have, but every time I went to him he was surrounded by Seamus and Dean. And by then everyone knew about me being gay. I didn't want to add a fight to the attention I was already getting.

Malfoy just shook his head and then something occurred to him. He looked across at Harry and then asked…

"Why would he agree to date Pansy in the first place?" he asked.

"Well, no one knows he's gay except me, Neville and now you, so I guess Pansy asked him to date her to make you jealous, and he couldn't turn her down because then that would have looked really suspicious."

Malfoy smirked to himself. It couldn't be that easy. With all the glances Harry kept throwing at Ron, something was definitely up.

"You know what Ron? I think Potter's trying to make you jealous. He can't stand Pansy. He's probably decided to use her to get to you, or maybe she's blackmailing him because she knows he's gay?"

Ron laughed as he thought about this.

"Maybe. But why does he want me to be jealous?"

"He likes you Ron. And he's too dumb to come out and admit it, because that would mean coming out completely"

At this moment Pansy got up and dragged Harry out of the great hall. Malfoy's eyes followed them until they went out of view. He cleared his throat and continued to work. Hermione walked into the hall as they left and sat down next to Lavender and her gang. Ron felt a slight twinge in his stomach. He really missed Hermione's company, and she looked so down these days. He sat there in silence for a while then stood up.

"I'll be back," he murmured to Malfoy as the walked the length of the table toward Hermione. When he reached her he paused. His heart was beating so fast he could barely hear his own voice.

"Can I speak to you Hermione?" he asked nervously.

Lavender, Parvati, Katie and Angelina stared up at him then back at Hermione. Lavender nudged Hermione hard in the side.

Hermione jumped at the slight pain in her side and nodded her head and stood up. They leave the hall. Ron didn't quite know what to say. He felt like he was just seeing Hermione after years of being apart. He took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," He looked at the floor. He couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"No, I'm sorry Ron. I started all this. I shouldn't have done what I did. I had no right." She said all this very fast. Tears streamed down her face and she tried her best to rub them away, yet they still flowed down her flushed cheeks.

"I should've told you the truth from the start Hermione. If I had then all this wouldn't have happened."

Hermione reached out a hand and grabbed his, pulling him into a hug as she wept on his shoulder.

"Ron, I didn't mean to hurt you, I really didn't. I just wanted to help."

"I know that now." He whispered in her ear. She pulled away from him and smiled.

"Are we okay then," he asked.

"I guess. I mean, if you still want to be my friend?"

"Don't be silly Hermione. If I didn't want to be friends, I wouldn't have taken the time to come apologize." She grinned and kissed him on the cheek. She saw that he still looked down. He wouldn't catch her graze. She rubbed the hair back from his face and looked into his eyes caringly.

"Are you okay Ron?"

He continued to look at the floor. He shook his head.

"It's Harry," he mumbled.

She pulled him over to a bench against the wall and sat, pulling him down with her. She didn't quite understand what he meant. She waited for him to explain.

"Do you know when I was in the hospital wing?" he asked. She nodded.

"I asked about you, but I didn't want to bother you incase I disturbed you." He reached and squeezed her hand.

"Well, Harry's the reason I was in there in the first place." Hermione opened her mouth in shock, so he explained.

"Harry hit you to protect himself. That doesn't sound like Harry?" she said.

"Well, I'm quite sure it was Harry." He replied. Hermione just shook her head.

"Well, now I think he's sorry for what he did because he's not friends with Seamus and Dean any longer, and now he's dating Pansy Parkinson."

"Okay, what does Pansy Parkinson have to do with this?"

"In summary, Pansy attacked Luna; Malfoy protected Luna by cursing Pansy. They broke up. Malfoy had a dream about me, so now everyone thinks he's gay, but he's not. Pansy knows I'm gay, so she thinks we're dating, so she dates Harry to make Malfoy jealous and Harry dating her because she's either black mailing him or he wants to make me jealous."

Hermione's eyes were wide as she tried to comprehend all of this.

"Okay," she said confusedly. Ron smiled.

"The point is that Harry wants to be with me again, but is afraid to come out and Pansy is holding it over his head to get back at Malfoy.

"Do you want to be with Harry though?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure. I understand why he did what he did, but that doesn't lessen the fact the he used me as his scapegoat."

"Well, Harry and I have been talking. And he did say that he wanted to be friends with you again. Well, not in those words, but I didn't know he was gay, so I figured that was what he meant." She confessed shyly.

"Well I wish he would just tell me that instead of dating Pansy," she bellowed. They sat in silence when Malfoy came around the corner. He paused as he noticed the closeness of them. He walked over and sat beside Ron. Hermione still wasn't use to the fact that Ron and Malfoy were friends now, so her facial expression was not that welcoming at this intrusion.

"Granger, do you always look like that?" Malfoy sneered. Hermione opened her mouth to retort when Ron raised a hand to silence her.

"Draco, please not right now." He protested. Hermione was caught off guard by Ron calling Malfoy, Draco.

But Malfoy didn't seem to find anything wrong with this, so she shrugged it off.

"Are you going into Hogsmeade tomorrow Ron, "he asked as he made to stand.

"Umm, yes; Hermione will be there too okay." Malfoy shrugged and turned to walk away.

"Meet me in the great hall then. I'm off to straighten out Pansy," he called over his shoulder as he descended the stairs leading to the dungeons. Hermione looked at Ron and mock amazement.

"So, how did this friendship happen?'' she asked.

"Let's just say that Malfoy and I have reached an agreement," he smirked. He stood up and grabbed Hermione's hand and they walked to the common room.