Chapter 30 - A Few More Revelations

Although they had (somewhat) cleared the air between them as far as understandings about any potential romantic relationship went, there was still a lot that Ron had yet to know. However, given that their friendship was on shaky grounds after Hermione's declaration of there never being a "them", it was hard to know when Ron might take to the news about Draco in the right way—and at the moment, that consisted of his even being able to listen to what Harry and Hermione had to say before rejecting Draco as an ally outright. However, since the young Malfoy had already promised a date and time to come to them with supplies and news, as it was there wouldn't be enough time to ease Ron into the revelation either way.

And even so, it wouldn't be telling him the whole truth, Hermione knew. Some truths were best left unspoken for now, and as long as she and Draco wouldn't be too obvious about their feelings—not that either of them could be with Harry or Ron present anyway—then there was no need for Ron to know just at that moment. Best to let one wound heal before subjecting him to another one; for, based on how Ron was still looking at her now, it would hurt him immensely to know that Hermione had a tangible reason for moving on.

With time of the essence though, it was decided between Harry and Hermione that they should let Ron know about Draco the following day—just a few hours before his visit. Hopefully that would be enough time to get him accustomed to the idea before actually meeting with Draco again.

As soon as Ron was called into the tent in the middle of his guard duty though, he knew that something was going on. He voiced his guess as having something to do with horcruxes, perhaps a new and yet again discouraging lead, only to be surprised immensely when Harry and Hermione declared that they had a new ally on their side instead.

"He's been with us for a while, so we know we can trust him," Harry began. Hermione was pleasantly surprised in her own right to hear how confident Harry sounded, as until now her bespectacled friend certainly didn't have as much reason as she did to trust Draco. Sure, he had accepted Draco's invitation to his lakehouse for Christmas, but that had been partly out of necessity and they both knew it—one couldn't be picky about one's refuge when resting after being attacked by Nagini. With the way Harry spoke now though, it was clear that...perhaps he might even consider Draco as a friend. Or was that too much to hope for, a fleeting wish born from her own evident reason of caring for Draco and wanting him to get along with her friends? In any case, it felt good to have Harry solidly on her side.

Ron nodded, taking in the information well enough; hopefully that wouldn't change once he knew who they were talking about. "And this ally, is he in the Order of the Phoenix or from Hogwarts, or...?"

"He's in Hogwarts," Harry replied. "We've been keeping in touch with the events there through him. Because of this and other reasons besides, we've even told him about the horcruxes and had him bring us research materials that we needed before."

"Woah, it seems you really trust him a lot if you've told him that much," Ron observed, looking impressed and a bit surprised. After all, everything involving the horcruxes had been kept secret for so long, that of course it seemed strange for Harry to tell anyone else; heck, they hadn't even told Ginny or the rest of Ron's family what they had been up to, and all in a bid for keeping ahead of Voldemort! Whoever this ally was, he must be important to be privy to such information now.

"We do, and what I've mentioned is just the beginning of how he's helped us." Harry looked to Hermione, prompting her to explain more. Clearly, he was hoping to build up a case for Draco before revealing that it was Draco that they were talking about, and Hermione couldn't agree more with his tactic.

Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, she added, "He's given us a place of shelter when we needed it, and, erm, he even saved my life, actually." Though, of course, the specific details of that story weren't something she thought needed sharing. Since the list was Draco's business entirely, Hermione hadn't even mentioned the details to Harry; however, since it was her saying this to Harry and Ron, they accepted her at her word without pressing for details. Ron might once have, but well...not now.

"And, more importantly than that, he has reasons as strong as our own for wanting You-Know-Who to go down. Believe it or not, he's actually risking more than we are by getting involved," she finished.

Harry looked a bit unsure at first, but then nodded in agreement after giving it some thought; Ron, however, was entirely skeptical.

"I think it's good that he has his reasons and all, but I doubt they'd be stronger than Harry's," he said.

"If keeping his own head isn't as strong a reason as Harry's, then I doubt we'll ever find one," Hermione said, perhaps a bit strongly. Noticing the surprised looks on her friends' faces, she cleared her throat and lightened her tone. "The point is that because of all these things, I know we can count on you to accept and trust him. He's coming to us later today to bring supplies that we need."

"Blimey! You mean you've told him where we are even now?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Of course we did! I don't very well see how he could bring us supplies otherwise, Ron! Honestly!"

Ron held up his hands defensively, looking confused. "You don't need to bite my head off, 'Mione! I'm just surprised is all. I mean, this is a lot for me to take in, after everything..."

"Harry took to it well enough when I told him—why can't you?" Hermione asked. In plain truth, she realized that she was acting too brash and annoyed for what was an honest confusion on Ron's behalf, but she couldn't help it. After all, if Ron was so suspicious and voiced this many doubts now, then how on Earth was he going to react when Draco actually came strolling into camp? (Hermione had given him the password to get past the wards, so he would have no trouble finding them.)

Ron scratched his head, looking somewhere between a mixture of nervous and annoyed. "Merlin, Hermione, just relax, won't you? If you say that he's so great and all that, fine, I'll accept him! It's not like you really need my permission anyway, so what's the deal?"

Harry put out a hand to stop Hermione before she said anything back—he was well versed in sensing an eruption between his friends before it happened. "Ron, we're telling you all this now because it's not someone who you—who any of us have ever considered to be an ally before now. In fact, if we just told you, before explaining things first, then you'd be calling us mental and wouldn't listen to anything else we had to say."

Ron looked prepared to argue the point, but at the grim looks he was now getting from both Hermione and Harry, he decided to back down. "Okay, okay, I get it, and I'll try to keep an open mind. Now, who is it?"

Exchanging a quick look and a nod with Hermione, it was Harry who finally made the fatal announcement: "Draco Malfoy."

A/N: I know, I know that this is a short chapter and all, but it's been ridiculously impossible for me to get any inspiration for writing lately. To be honest, I'm not even sure that what I wrote this time is any good, but I couldn't think of anything to write or how to write it. The sentences and the words just aren't coming to me, and it's been a struggle even to get this much written down.

Temporarily, I'm afraid I am going to have to put this story on hiatus, as it's better to have a long interval between chapters rather than to write no-quality chapters, right? My apologies to everyone, but I'm just focused on so many other things that at this point that my quarantine-inspired writing drive from before is completely done. I'm afraid you won't be able to count on even bi-weekly updates at this point.

I'm hoping that once I've settled into a new routine, I can at least post monthly updates if nothing else, but I make no guarantees at this stage. Hopefully either re-reading the books or watching the movies or even re-reading this story will boost my inspiration somewhat, but right now I'm just not up for any of that. I can only hope that everyone else's lives are also picking up at this point with new school years and relaxing quarantine measures all around, so it won't be a disappointment for anyone to wait longer between chapters from now on. Or hopefully something unexpected in a good way will happen to pick things up?

In any case, I'm really sorry to everyone, but as of right now, this story is on temporary hiatus. .