Chapter 19: Simple Truth and Secrets

Slughorn placed them in the darkest corner of the restricted section. If was as though he knew that Ron wanted to be alone with Malfoy. He set them there potion to research and then departed to organize the other pairs.

Ron placed his bags on the floor and sat down at the candle lit table facing the book shelf. His mind was racing. He had this opportunity and yet he couldn't bring himself to say what he wanted. Malfoy pulled his chair out beside him and sat. He felt the uncomfortable tension as well. He didn't look in Ron's direction until Ron finally spoke.

"I can't do this any longer Draco," Ron yearned as he turned his chair to face him. Malfoy avoided his gaze. He couldn't bear to see the hurt in Ron's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Ron proclaimed eagerly. He reached a hand out to hold Malfoy's, but he pulled away.

"How could you accuse me of coming between you and Potter?" he hissed.

"I wasn't. You don't understand…"

"Oh, I understand. Once you got your friends back, it's fuck Draco." He snapped cutting him off.

"No. I didn't mean it that way. If you would have just listened to me I could have explained."

Malfoy paused and glared at him. The anger he had tried so far to sustain was slowly edging away. He couldn't wait for hear Ron's reasoning.

Ron took a deep breath. At least Malfoy had stopped yelling and was actually going to listen to him.

"I was willing to try the friendship with Harry again, and when you said that I didn't care whether Harry and I were friends or not I got angry. I know that what he did to me was wrong, but he regrets it and I'm willing to forgive him. I've held this grudge over his head for so long. I just wanted to end it and get our friendship back. But that doesn't mean I'm willing to lose our friendship in the process."

"Friendship? You and Potter look like more than friends to me!" confessed Malfoy.

Ron froze. He couldn't believe this; Malfoy was actually jealous. He started to laugh to himself. Malfoy sneered at him angrily.

"Why in the hell are you laughing, this isn't funny," Malfoy jeered, yet he couldn't stop himself from smiling weakly.

"You're jealous," Ron snickered.

"Why in the hell would I be jealous?" he leered maliciously. Ron stopped laughing and just smiled at him.

"Draco, are you serious?" Ron asked sarcastically.

Malfoy's eyes darted across his face. He didn't know what Ron was getting at. It was completely obvious that he and Potter were back together. And to tell the truth, this bothered the hell out of him. Harry didn't deserve Ron's respect or love, he did. This pissed him off more.

"What do you mean am I serious?" he snapped. "You two are together; the whole fucking school can see it. Even someone as dense as Longbottom realized it. And you're going to sit here and lie straight to my…"

Ron scooted his chair closer to Malfoy and placed a finger across his lips to stop his rambling. Their eyes stared into each other as the candle light flickered across their faces; putting him both in half shadow.

"I want to be with you Draco," Ron whispered as he brushed Malfoy's cheek with his finger tips. Malfoy bent his head to look at his fingers. He didn't know what to say. Subconsciously he had been waiting to hear those words. Ron rested his forehead on his and they just sat there in silence. Ron held Malfoy's hands in his and squeezed them, more to reassure him than anything.

"I don't… what?" Malfoy finally asked questioningly.

"I want to be with you, not Harry," Ron murmured grinning. Malfoy stared up at him blankly. His words hadn't sunk in fully.

"You want to be with me? Are you sure?" Malfoy asked.

"Yes I'm sure. And don't pull that I'm not gay thing with me. I know you want to be with me too," laughed Ron. Malfoy didn't say anything. He didn't have anything to say, Ron was right. He did want to be with him. He knew it the instance he had comforted him that day in the tub, when Ron had let him comfort him. After the initial fight, he had wanted to make up right then and there, but what Ron's had said about him not having the right to interfere in his personal life had hurt him. He had thought they had progressed in their relationship, and that they could say whatever was on their minds. Being accused by someone you thought was a friend made him want to hurt Ron as much as he was hurting. This had led him to throw Pansy in his face. He couldn't stand Pansy. He grinned to himself as he faced Ron. If he was desperate enough to date that dense bitch, he knew he was strong enough to deal with what ever came with being with Ron.

Ron leaned forward and pulled Malfoy to him. He came willingly. Ron brushed the stray blonde locks from his face and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. Their cheeks brushed for a moment before Malfoy pulled back slightly and pressed his lips to Ron's. Ron eyes closed slowly as his body gave way to the kiss. His body trembled as Malfoy's fingers rubbed through his hair. Malfoy pulled away to get his breath, the flicker of candle light played across his face but he only had a second before Ron attacked his lips again.

"Ron wait, "yearned Malfoy grinning all the while. Ron pulled back and looked around him for a reason to stop. They had wanted this for so long, why were they stopping?

"What?" he asked breathing quickly

"We're in a library. Do you really want to do this now?" Malfoy asked. Ron reluctantly pulled away and looked at his watch.

"Well, we still have five minutes before class ends," added Ron. Malfoy didn't respond, his mind was still racing, considering any obstacles that could possibly lie in there way.

"You know you're still dating Potter right?

"Well, you're dating Pansy," sniffed Ron.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Well I guess we'll have to dump them then," proclaimed Malfoy as he opened his book to do some last minute research.

Ron hesitantly turned to face the table. His head started to ache again.

"I can't," he confessed.

Malfoy looked around at him then asked why not?

"You know how Harry is. I don't want to hurt him. If he finds out that we are together I'm quite sure he'll hate me forever."

"Well, let him," Malfoy grinned.

"Easy for you to say; all your friends are deadly afraid of you," Ron scowled.

"Well, if you want, we don't have to tell them."

"Them?" asked Ron.

"I'm not telling Pansy if you aren't telling Potter. You know how they got when they wanted us apart the first time!" Malfoy joked. Ron leaned in and kissed him on the forehead before he nodded in agreement.

"So, our secret then?" asked Ron. Malfoy nodded as the bell rung for the end of class. A book fell of the shelf behind them and they could hear silent muttering and giggles. It sounded like a group of girls. Ron looked at Malfoy, his eyebrow raised. They brushed it off as they gathered their books and went to join everyone else. Harry along with Hermione and Neville were waiting for him. Harry frowned at Malfoy when he went by to join his friends. They all left out the library together, following behind Malfoy and his gang of hissing slytherins.

"So, what happened?" asked Hermione as they all watched the slytherin's backs.

"Nothing, Malfoy is still a git," Ron laughed. Harry hugged him to himself as they climbed the stairs for their free period.

"Well, hopefully you won't have to talk to him again," added Harry.

"We still have to make that damn potion though," hissed Ron, pretending to be angry. He had forgotten all about this fact. He smiled inwardly at the thought of more alone time with Malfoy.

"Well, give him hell for me," scowled Harry. Ron just nodded. His mind was deep in secret, lustful thought.

In the common room Hermione sat reading in a corner by the window. Harry and Ron had taken this time to walk by the lake. They had asked her if she'd want to join, but she hadn't wanted to disturb their alone time. She had lost them months already. She opened her arithmacy text and leaned her head to the side to read when Ginny came up behind her. They hadn't settled their fight yet. Ginny had been avoiding her for months. Every time Hermione had wanted to apologize; Ginny would stick her tongue out and yell "Bitch Attack" before storming off in the opposite direction.

Hermione looked behind her as Ginny approached. She prepared herself for the worse. Ginny sat down in a comfy lazy boy facing her. She pulled her feet under her and crossed her arms nervously.

"So, what are you reading?" she asked. She raised her head in an attempt to see, but lowered it moments later. Hermione looked over the top of her book and eyed her suspiciously.

"Ginny, what do you want?" she asked irritably. Ginny opened her mouth, but closed it wordlessly.

Hermione continued to stare at her, but decided that she was wasting her time for Ginny kept opening and closing her mouth in the pretence of wanting to say something. She raised the book once again, and didn't lower it until Ginny finally spoke.

"Are you ever going to forgive me Hermione, it's been so long."

Hermione looked at her in disbelief. She couldn't believe that Ginny was accusing her of not wanting to forgive her. She had been trying to for months now. Just a week ago, she had tried to say she was sorry, but Ginny had flicked her off and pretended she was there. Hermione rolled her eyes and looked back at her text angrily.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. Now you apologize so we can get this over with?" she demanded.

Hermione huffed menacingly.

"You bitch. I've been trying to say I'm sorry for months, and you're going to sit there and demand an apology from me. Ginny, get out of my face before I slap your ass," demanded Hermione as she raised a hand in Ginny's face.

Ginny stood up. Her fists were balled.

"I'm trying to be the adult in this. There's no reason for us to be uncivil now that Harry and Ron are together. I'm trying to apologize and if you can't accept it, than that's your problem."

She waited for a moment and when Hermione didn't respond, stormed off up stairs to her dorm. Hermione shook her head in disbelief, but before she could settle back into her book, Angelina, Katie, and Parvati crossed over to her. They settled across from her; they all had smug expressions on their faces.

"That was a nasty fight. What was it about?" asked Angelina.

Hermione scowled up at them as she packed her thing. She wasn't going to get any reading done today, she was too frustrated.

"Haven't you given up your gossipy ways yet? If you haven't noticed; it didn't work so well for Lavender."

They all bowed their heads in mourning for their fallen leader. This lasted a split second though before Angelina spoke.

"Lavender was mental. We've known that for quite sometime. Parvati's in charge now," replied Angelina.

"Congratulations," mumbled Hermione sarcastically as she pushed past them. They followed her.

"So, Ron's dating Harry now?" asked Parvati curiously.

Hermione turned to face her, her wand raised and pointed at Parvati's chest.

"You leave them alone, or I'll Avada Kedavra's your asses," hissed Hermione eyeing them all menacingly.

They all stepped back fearfully, but Parvati, being the leader had to stand her ground.

"It's not us you have to worry about darling," she sneered.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione snapped. They all looked at each other, doing their signature irritating gaze where information passed without words.

"Oh, Miss Know-it-all doesn't have a clue what we're talking about does she," taunted Parvati. Her two groupies snorted behind her.

"Good one," laughed Katie. Parvati raised a hand in her face remarkably like Lavender would have done.

"The point is that we know something and you, my dear do not?" cackled Parvati.

"If you're talking about Malfoy, I already know. Ron and Malfoy aren't talking anymore for your information!" said Hermione. She turned to leave when laughter erupted behind her. Hermione looked over her shoulder at them.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," laughed Parvati as she and her group walked away; leaving Hermione frozen in place.

"What?" yelled Hermione again.

"Oops, we're we gossiping again; silly us. I can't have that happening," laughed Parvati.

They all exited the common room together laughing at the top of there lungs. Hermione watched as the door closed behind them. She was more confused than ever.