Chapter 23: "To Ron and Malfoy" (The Final Chapter)
Malfoy pulled Ron closer to him as there lips attacked each other. He gripped Ron's upper arm and squeezed them tightly in his hands, making Ron moan underneath him. The kiss would have deepened if Hermione hadn't screamed "Stop Harry," from behind them. Ron spun around just in time to avoid Harry's hand. It grazed the back of his shoulder. Though it missed him, the punch made full contact with Malfoy's unexpected chest. Malfoy stumbled back and caught himself against the wall. Harry pulled his wand out and pointed it into Malfoy's face. His face was flushed and red, his chest heaved up and down angrily. He could barely hear the yelling behind him as Hermione screamed at him to stop. Ron even tried to pull him away but Harry pushed him away fiercely. Ron stumbled back into Hermione you caught him unexpectedly.
Malfoy looked up into the burning eyes of Harry. He could see the resentment there. This just made him bolder though. Harry was getting exactly what he deserved. He thought. He had brought this on himself after all. Now he had to deal with the consequences. Malfoy straightened himself and fixed his robes. He walked boldly toward Harry and stopped only when Harry's wand touched his chest.
"You keep your nasty mouth off of Ron, you nasty fouled mouthed bastard!" hissed Harry loudly.
"If you haven't noticed Potter, Ron doesn't give a fuck about you anymore," Malfoy snapped back.
Harry's face screwed up in resentment. He knew Malfoy was right, yet he didn't care. He wanted to cause as much pain to Malfoy as he felt right now. All along, Ron had only pretended to be with him when the entire time he had been with Malfoy. Harry couldn't take it. He wanted to do anything to wipe that smug look from Malfoy's face.
"So I see you're finally going to stop trying to win Ron's approval. It's pointless really. He's already been with me, so going back to you would really be degradation," Malfoy smirked as he flicked a lint ball from his robe.
These words caught Harry off guard. They had been together? He thought. But when? Then the realization dawned on him. It was that morning when Ron had come in late. He had thought it fishy then, but now it all fitted perfectly. They had been together that night. They had actually been together that long? God, he couldn't take this. The room seemed blurred around the edges. He was dizzy with betrayal. He dropped his wand to his side and stood there completely stunned. Why in the hell was he angry with Malfoy? It wasn't his fault that Ron turned to him. No matter how Harry looked at it, he couldn't find a plausible reason to direct his anger in Malfoy's direction. It was Ron who he wanted to confront.
Ron stepped between them after struggling from Hermione's tight grip. He grimaced at Malfoy before turning to face Harry. Their eyes locked for what seemed like hours. Harry was about to speak before Ron cut him off.
"I'm sorry Harry," he confessed
"You're not sorry. You never wanted to be with me in the first place. This whole time you've been pretending. You chose this jerk over me…well you deserve each other," Harry spat.
"Harry, let me explain," Ron whimpered.
"Explain what? That you've been fucking him behind my back for the past month? Well, I know that already." Harry turned and stalked away, but Ron wouldn't let him accuse him for splitting them up. He wouldn't take that burden on, on his own.
"You hurt me. You pushed me away. You pushed me into Draco's arms!" yelled Ron at Harry's retreating back.
Harry stopped in his tracks. Everyone it seemed had come into the corridor and was now watching the scene before them. Pansy was following each word. Her eyes were focused on Malfoy's who wasn't paying her the slightest attention, but who was looking at Harry's back. Everyone watched in abated breath for Harry to speak. Parvati eyes darted from Harry, to Ron, and then to Malfoy. Her fingers intertwined with each other as she watched the show before her. Hermione was internally debating whom of her two friends to comfort first.
Harry closed his eyes and prayed for patience. He turned to face Ron.
"What did you just say?" asked Harry quietly.
Ron had subconsciously prepared himself for more yelling, yet when it didn't come, he thought around for something to say.
"You pushed me away. Did you expect me to feel the same way about you after what you did to me?" he asked bravely.
"Well no, but I expected you to give me a second chance. Now I see you never really did." He snapped.
"Why should I have? Obviously you didn't care about our friendship when you deliberately hurt me. Why should I go out of my way to please you? I'm not doing this anymore Harry. If you can't accept that I'm with Malfoy, then…" Ron stammered. He didn't want to finish his sentence, but Harry knew what he was about to say.
"Then we aren't friends anymore?" Harry moaned.
Their eyes locked onto each others. Harry pleaded inwardly for Ron to not mean what he said. Their eyes lingered for a few more seconds until Ron looked away and turned back to Malfoy. Harry opened his mouth to yell again, but Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
"Just let him go Harry." She pleaded as she pulled him back toward the Great Hall. The crowd parted to let them through. Parvati stepped in behind them and followed them to their seats. Hermione pushed him down onto the bench and sat beside him. She wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Did you know about this Hermione?" Harry asked defensively.
Hermione sat up and looked at him. She knew that if she told the truth he would be angry with her. She hoped that he would understand.
She nodded.
Harry pulled away from her and grimaced. "Why didn't you say anything? Were you on his side the entire time?"
"No Harry, I wasn't. I was just as surprised as you were when I found out that they were still together. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to hurt you…or Ron. I hate being in the middle," she confessed.
Harry opened his mouth to retort, but when he saw the pity on her face we slouched and stared in front of him. It was then that he noticed Parvati.
"Why are you here," he hissed. "Have you come to gloat or something?"
Parvati straightened up and looked boldly into his eyes.
"Actually, I wanted to tell you that you are better off with out him. I've been watching those two for the longest, and I can tell you that Ron's madly in love with Malfoy.
"Why are you telling me this now? I already know."
"I'm just telling you it's a lost cause trying to get them apart. You might as well settle for friendship."
"Like hell I will. I'll never accept Ron being with that dingbat."
"Well, if your ego's too huge for reconciliation, you deserve to be alone."
Parvati stood and left the table leaving Harry and Hermione in deep thought.
"I agree with her for once, Harry," whispered Hermione. Harry crossed his arms in suppressed anger. He knew that Parvati was right in a way. If Ron was truly happy with Draco then he would have to accept that because he honestly didn't want to lose their friendship.
Hermione leaned her head on his shoulder when she saw that he had finally given in. She didn't know that Harry was subconsciously forming a plan to get back at Ron. Hermione exhaled at his side. She wondered how this was going to turn out.
Pansy Parkinson collapsed against the corridor wall as her friends tried to comfort her. She was bawling and anyone that got near her, she swung at.
"I can't believe this. My Draco bunny is gay. How could this happen to me" She wailed hysterically.
One slytherin girl tried to comfort her by bending over and telling her that it was no wonder he was gay when he was dating trashy scum like her. Onlookers tried to yell and tell the girl to run, but before she could even make a step to get away Pansy stood and gripped the girl's hair and was snatching at it while holding the girl in a head lock.
"How dare you call me scum, you bitch," screamed Pansy and she threw the girl to the floor. The girl collapsed but she hurriedly stood and ran toward the dungeons. Pansy stood huffing in one spot watching the girls retreating back.
She was about to weep again, when a thought occurred to her. She turned and faced the worried stares of her fellow slytherins.
"Do you know what? I can live without Draco…"
Everyone didn't know if she was finished or not so they stood there and stared at her waiting for her to continue. Pansy glanced between them all for confirmation, but when they didn't respond she started screaming.
"You don't believe me do you? You think I'm helpless without him? Well, who cares what you think." She turned and stormed off toward the dungeons. Thankfully, she didn't run into anyone because at that moment she wanted to hit something or someone. She broke through the portrait hole leading into the slytherin common room. She stared around the room to make sure that Malfoy wasn't there. He wasn't. She huffed even louder because of this and stormed up to her common room. She collapsed on the bed and pulled a pillow over her head screaming to herself. Why was she acting like this? It wasn't as if he had ever shown any sort of affection toward her what- so- ever.
She pulled her covers over herself and tried to drown out everything. When her roommates came into the room to see if she was all right she pretended to be asleep.
Ron and Draco stopped there trip around the lake when the bell rang overhead signaling noon. Draco pulled Ron into a tight hug and Ron felt his body relax entirely. He had never felt so free before. Everything was finally out. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his chest and he could finally breathe freely. He inhaled Draco's musky scent as he gripped the back of Draco's shirt.
"We're free," whispered Draco soothingly.
"Thank God!" moaned Ron. He pulled away from Draco's chest and looked up into his downcast eyes.
"I had to do it. You looked so down this morning; I couldn't deal with it any longer," said Ron.
"Well, I've wanting this to happen since we got together. Potter really doesn't deserve you."
"And you do?" asked Ron
"Yes, I do actually," laughed Draco.
Ron laughed and leaned his head down into Draco's chest. Draco could feel the tension building within them both. He knew what was coming.
"We have to confront them eventually," mumbled Ron.
"Them?"
"Harry and Pansy; I know it was a shock to her when you kissed me in front of everyone. She had no clue you were gay."
Draco dropped his hold on Ron and backed away from him. He hadn't even considered Pansy when he kissed Ron this morning. He had just wanted to piss Harry off. Now that he thought about it, she had been bawling the entire time. He had blocked her out at the time. He knew that she was devastated, but honestly he didn't care. He knew that Ron would want him to apologize to her for whatever he had done wrong, but he couldn't think of any reason why he should be apologizing to her. His being gay wasn't wrong.
"Come on. Let's get this over with," said Ron. He gripped Draco's hand, pulling him out of his stupor. Draco nodded and allowed himself to be led back to the school.
They parted in the entrance hall. Draco descended toward the dungeons and Ron climbed the many flights to the Gryffindor tower.
He stopped outside the portrait hole and stared blankly at the Fat Lady. She stared back at him; waving her hand back and forth in front of his face.
"Are you okay boy?" she asked.
When he didn't respond she snapped her fingers and clapped her hands loudly.
"What?" Ron shouted, finally looking at her.
"Is something bothering you dear?"
"No, no, I'm okay. Snivelpot," he rushed on.
"Snivelpot. Who's that dear?"
"The password," snapped Ron.
"Oh, yes dear. I'm sorry. That is the password." She swung open letting him climb through. The room was crowded and everyone seemed to be around the comfy sofa by the fire. Ron could guess who was sitting there and this only made him more nervous. He hadn't considered the fact that other people would be in the room when he talked to Harry. When he entered every head in the room turned to face him. Seamus shook his head at him in disgust, and Parvati and her gang smiled their malicious grins. They all stepped away from the sofa giving Ron a clear view of Harry who he saw was leaning over a book clearly distraught.
Parvati walked up to Ron and leaned in toward his ear.
"What a shame. I really would have enjoyed blackmailing you into letting me watch you and Draco."
Ron pulled back in disgust and rolled his eyes. She placed a satisfied hand on her hips and huffed angrily.
"You're sick do you know that?" Ron snapped.
"Not as sick as I could have been." She smiled as she turned to rejoin her group of friends. Ron watched her retreating backs and silently thanked God that his secret was out. He couldn't take being blackmailed yet again.
He walked toward the sofa and sat down beside Harry. Everyone quietly watched from a distance. He blocked them out and instead turned his attention to Harry who he saw was staring at his book, yet his eyes were unmoving. Ron searched around for a great way to begin his apology, but nothing he came up with seemed right. He settled for…
"I'm sorry."
Everyone watched with abated breath. The room seemed to buzz with anticipation as everyone waited for Harry to respond.
Harry closed his book and turned around to look into Ron's face. His heart had momentarily stopped when Ron sat, now it was racing more than ever. He was still in love with Ron and he knew that he would never get over him as much as he tried. This just made the situation worse. Every time he thought about the embrace between Ron and Draco he would surge with anger, but then he would remember that Ron had stood between them, defending his love for Draco. This should have made him angry, but he could only feel remorse and loss. There was no convincing Ron to leave him. He could see the determination between the two of them to be together. Ron was happy and that was all he could ask for. He knew that he would have to get over his own sadness and let Ron be happy.
"It's all right. I'm the one that should be sorry."
There is no other way to describe Ron's expression. He was completely shocked. Just two hours ago Harry had been at his throat, but now he was apologizing to him. He didn't understand the sudden change. He didn't know what to say so he sat quietly and waited for Harry to continue.
"You were right. It was my fault. If I hadn't pushed you away in the first place, you wouldn't have turned to Malfoy. I can't blame you for turning to someone else for comfort after I tried so far to push you away."
"I shouldn't have lied to you," Ron confessed. "I should have told you that I was with Malfoy, but you were so angry and I didn't want to lose our friendship."
"You were pretty clingy," called someone behind them. They both turned and stared at Hermione.
"What?" she said. "Can't I voice my opinion?" She crossed over to them and sat on Ron's left.
"So you two are finally making up?" she asked.
They both nodded and smiled at her.
"Well, about time. So you finally accept that Ron's with Malfoy now?" she asked Harry.
Harry didn't respond automatically and after a few moments nodded his head. He hadn't really accepted this but he knew that he would eventually have to. Ron noticed his pause and decided to bring it up.
"I know that you don't like Draco, but he's not such a bad person when you really get to know him."
Harry exhaled lazily and nodded his head. He pictured that smug look on Malfoy's face before he kissed Ron in the entrance hall. He knew very well that Malfoy still didn't like or trust him and the feelings were mutual for Harry as well. Ron was the only factor that brought the two together, and he didn't want to lose him just because he couldn't surpass his hate for Malfoy. He would just have to find a way to deal with him.
"I'll learn to like him… one day," confessed Harry slyly. Ron took this as a step in the right direction so he decided to leave it at that. Harry glanced nervously at the side on Ron's smiling face and frowned a little. A burning hate was brewing under the surface. He knew that he would never really accept it. He didn't know what he would do in the meantime.
Malfoy took over Ron mind and he wondered how his talk with Pansy was going. He didn't notice the fierce stares Harry was throwing his way.
Malfoy stood pacing back and forth in the slytherin common room avoiding the weird glances from those around him that had seen the scene in the entrance hall. Whispering surrounded him but he could care less. He was trying to find a way to get up stairs to the girls dormitory seeing as boys weren't allowed in there. He anxiously waited for Pansy to come out, but from what he heard from his "friends" she was in her room bawling her eyes out and screaming obscene curses at the top of her lungs.
His patience was growing thinner with every moment he had to wait in the packed common room. He was just about to give up and let Pansy deal with this on her own. It wasn't as if this was his idea to comfort her. Ron had wanted him to because he didn't want anything standing between them being together.
The ugly slytherin boy that had started the rumor about Malfoy being gay in the first place strode over to him and blocked his path.
"So, I was right? You and Weasley are together?"
"Nah, really," commented Draco angrily as he pushed the boy out of the way. The boy stumbled but caught his balance clumsily.
"How could you degrade yourself like that? Of all people to turn queer with, you choose Weasley."
Malfoy turned and faced the boy angrily. He was getting tired of people openly mocking Ron to his face. Who did they think they were? Malfoy strode over to him and pulled out his wand.
"If you don't shut your face I'll curse you into next week!" he yelled.
"Was that a threat Malfoy? Are you so infatuated by this mudblood lover that you'd threaten your own friends?" said the boy. He stood over a foot taller than Malfoy, but Malfoy stood his ground.
"You are no friend of mine," hissed Malfoy.
"Humph, well you better take them where you can get them. I know for a fact that your "real" friends are pretending that you don't exist."
"The feelings are mutual then," Malfoy snapped.
Malfoy stormed away from the boy and climbed toward the boy's dormitory. He didn't care what everyone thought of him. If they could throw away their friendship with him just because he wasn't following the slytherin "code" then they weren't his friends in the first place. He closed the door to his room and locked it. He threw himself on the bed and laid in silence. His mind was racing. He knew this would happen before he started seeing Ron. This was the price he had to pay, and yes, he was willing to pay it.
There was screaming downstairs and Malfoy had an idea of who it was. He might as well get this over with now. He stood from his bed and descended the stairs back to the extremely chaotic common room.
Pansy was throwing vases at surrounding people and was screaming foul words about Malfoy at the top of her lungs.
"How could he do this to me? That bitch will never get away with this."
Her friends tried to comfort her, but it was too late, she had spotted Malfoy who had paused on the stairs. She glared up at him; her face was slowly turning beet red. The hatred she felt was too much for her to control. She exhaled deeply, and calmed down greatly. Why am I acting this way? She thought. She pulled from her friends and stormed over to him. Malfoy braced himself for the impact of her raised fist, but nothing came. Instead she fell against his chest and wept silently. She gripped his shirt and sobbed openly.
"How could you do this to me, Draco?" She whispered through sobs. "Was it something that I did? I can change."
Malfoy stood frozen to the spot. Every eye in the room was turned and staring at him. They all looked just as surprised as he did. They had all expected a fierce argument of some kind, but when this didn't occur they all stared around completely flabbergasted.
Malfoy pulled Pansy up by the arms and held her so that she looked directly at him.
"Lets go upstairs and talk," he said. She nodded helplessly and followed him to his room. Everyone in the common room watched as the door closed behind them.
Ron sat beside Malfoy at the end of term feast. Harry was to his left and beside Harry sat Hermione. To Malfoy's right sat Pansy. She grimaced down the line at them all, but they knew that she wouldn't have been there if Malfoy hadn't decided to sit beside Ron. They all knew that she still resented them and was dealing with this unfortunate occasion to have the opportunity to sit next to Malfoy.
Malfoy hadn't told them exactly what he had said to her. It was something along the lines of "Shut up all this crying. You can still be associated with me, but I'm with Ron now." Ron still couldn't see why she had accepted this as an apology; he guessed it was a slytherin superiority thing. Pansy must be okay with just being allowed to sit next to him for she wasn't complaining. Pansy glanced down the table again and her eyes rested on Harry. He looked at her and smiled, then nodded. She grimaced and nodded back. This went unnoticed to everyone else.
Also next to Hermione was Ginny. They had made up two days before term ended. Harry and Ron worked together to show Hermione that it was really her fault that they were arguing in the first place and that she was the one that would have to apologize. Hermione figured that since Ron and Harry could reconcile their differences, she could too.
Ginny gripped Hermione's hand and smiled.
"Friends?" asked Ginny.
"Friends," smiled Hermione.
Dumbledore stood before them all and gave his usual end of the term speech. Though there was some added news to announce.
"Miss Lavender Brown, as you all know was on trial at the Ministry of Magic for several crimes she committed this year. I won't go into detail about it for I wish to let those burdens die. She has been found guilty and has been sentenced to six months in the Ministries Student Detainment Center. She will have therapy and mental treatment there. If anyone wishes to visit her, come to me after this meeting and I will give you that information."
After everyone feasted they parted ways to spend one last night in Hogwarts. The next day, they all boarded the train. Ron, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Malfoy sat in one compartment together. Pansy wasn't there as there wasn't enough room. Malfoy rested his head on Ron's shoulder, both their eyes were close. Harry and Hermione were talking to Neville.
"This was an interesting year, wasn't it," asked Hermione.
"Yes, it was," commented Harry as he eyed the sleeping Ron and Malfoy slyly. Hermione's eyes darted between Harry, Ron and Malfoy.
"Are you okay Harry" Hermione asked resting a hand on his knee.
"I'm perfect," he said quickly. He turned to face Hermione who he saw was frowning at him.
"What's going on Harry," asked Neville and Hermione together nervously.
"Nothing, nothing. I'm okay. I'm thirsty though. I'm going to get some water." He stood and clambered out of the compartment. Hermione and Neville's eyes followed him as he exited and when the door closed they looked at each other.
"Do you think he's up to something?" asked Neville.
"I hope not," murmured Hermione.
Harry walked down the length of the train passing the water fountain. He stopped outside of a compartment and knocked lightly on the door.
"Enter." Said a girl's voice.
He entered and sat down opposite the girl. He crossed his leg subconsciously over the other and smiled directly at Pansy Parkinson.
"Hello Harry," she smiled. He nodded and leaned back into his seat.
"So are you sure you want to do this?" she asked as she handed him an open butterbeer. He took it from her and sipped. He nodded his head.
"So, I guess you are as ready to accept their relationship as I am?" she smirked sarcastically.
"We've worked together before and it didn't work. We have to be more cunning this time. We have to get them apart no matter what happens," smiled Harry seriously.
"I know what you mean. Malfoy actually thinks I'll accept his lame invitation to sit around like a love sick puppy while he snogs someone else. Humph, he doesn't know me at all obviously."
"I guess not. So when is she showing up?"
"She should have been here already," said Pansy as she glanced at her watch.
They sat in silence for a few minutes until there was a knock on the door. Parvati Patil walked in. She smiled at the two of them and took the butter beer Pansy offered her.
"So, Harry, you're not ready to take my advice to let Ron and Malfoy be together are you?"
He shook his head and smiled. "You know that I'll never do that. But for the time being I'm willing to pretend."
Parvati smiled and turned her attention to Pansy. "And you are just as unwilling?" Pansy nodded.
"Well, I've talked to Lavender and she's completely willing to help you two once she gets out of detainment," said Parvati.
"Great, until then," said Pansy, "Let's put on a good face around our two lover boys okay Harry?"
Harry raised his bottle into the air and nodded his head. "To Ron and Malfoy."
The girls followed, smiling smugly, and then laughing maliciously. "To Ron and Malfoy."
The End……..For Now!