Author's Note: Here is Chapter Nine. Up and complete. Not as long as I wanted it, but I'll start working on the next chapter here shortly. Please read and review. I appreciate all my reviewers and readers.

By the way, I still don't own anything related to Harry Potter or anything else.

Chapter Nine

Hermione, Pansy, and Blaise sat in the Slytherin common room, talking quietly. They were waiting for Harry and Draco to come down from their room.

"Well, it's Friday. They haven't killed each other yet. That's a good sign, right?" Hermione said, looking at Pansy.

"Yeah. If they manage to keep up the progress they've made, they may actually admit to how they feel about each other," Pansy replied, filing her nails as she spoke.

"It's always been so obvious. I mean, sometimes when they fight, I want to scream at them to just kiss and get it over with," Blaise commented, his voice quiet in the mostly empty room.

Ginny walked into the common holding a piece of parchment closely to her chest. She had a devilish grin and her eyes sparkled with mischief as she approached her three friends.

"I just got a letter from Mom. She's pissed at Ron. The whole family is. Except Percy, but I'm not counting him anyways. Mom says to expect a few Howlers to show up for Ron," she told them excitedly, "I'm going up to tell Harry and Draco."

She turned and almost ran to Harry and Draco's room in her haste to tell him the news. She raised her hand to knock on the door and stopped when she heard raised voices. They were muffled by the door, so she couldn't hear what was being said, but she did recognize when Harry raised his voice.

"Damn it, Potter! We're going to miss breakfast! Hurry up!"

"You don't have to wait for me, you know. You can go without me."

"I don't trust those stupid Gryffindorks to not ambush you somewhere again."

"Why do you even care, Malfoy?"

"I though we were friends now, Harry? Friends care about each other."

"You care about me? Don't bullshit me, Draco Malfoy. You don't care about anyone but yourself."

"How the hell would you know? You've never given me a chance. So how dare you presume to know anything about me!" Draco's voice raised as Harry's comment caused an ache in his chest. Draco knew Harry had a point. Had he ever really shown anyone that he cared? He had no time to think on it as their argument was interrupted by a knock at the door. Draco walked over and opened the door to reveal Ginny Weasley. She grinned at him and then slipped through the door when he stepped aside for her.

"Harry! Mom sent me a letter. The whole family is furious with Ron. They can't believe the way he's acting. She said to expect him to get a few Howlers," she told him, uneasily trying to break up the tension stifling the room.

Harry smiled at her and grabbed his bag, checking it to make sure he had everything.

"That's great, Ginny. I'm glad they aren't mad at me. We'd better get to breakfast if we want to be there when he gets his Howler."

Harry left the room without even glancing to see if Draco was following. He walked through the common room without even seeing Hermione, Pansy, and Blaise. He walked out into the hall and then waited for his friends. Once they had all caught up with him, he continued on toward the Great Hall. He stopped, however, when he saw the group of Gryffindors standing outside the Great Hall doors. His friends took out their wands and took up protective positions beside him. The Gryffindors finally noticed them and turned, en masse, to face the Slytherins.

"Well, look who's here?" Ron sneered.

Before anyone could react, Professor Dumbledore stepped into the hall.

"Good morning, Students. Shall we continue into the hall for breakfast?" he said calmly, stepping between the two glaring groups of students.

The students all put their wands away and quietly went into the Great Hall and took their seats. Ginny bounced anxiously in her seat waiting for the owls to come. She flashed Harry a mischievious grin and looked up with an evil-looking sparkle in her eyes as the owls came in with mail. Harry saw her gaze and looked up. He saw a tiny little owl fluttering about carrying a red envelope. He watched the owl over to the Gryffindor table and land in front of Ron, who nervously removed the red envelope. He winced in embarrassment when it started to yell at him.

"RONALD WEASLEY!" Molly Weasley's voice bellowed out into the silent Hall, "I can not believe you! How can you turn your back on your sister and your best friends? Not once has there ever been a Weasley in Slytherin, and now there is because you are too childish and immature to accept what has happened to Harry! I am ashamed of you! I raised you better than this. If these attacks on Harry don't stop, you WILL come home for the remainder of the year. Grow up!"

As Molly Weasley's voice echoed through the silent hall, Ron lowered his face to his plate in embarrassment. He silently fumed that his entire family was against him. He vowed silently to himself that he would get with Harry-the-evil-traitor-Potter, one way or another.

After breakfast, everyone went to classes as usual. The talk of the day was about Ron's Howler and how the Gryffindors had turned their backs Harry Potter. Harry ignored Draco all throughout the day. At dinner, he sat between Hermione and Pansy and pushed his food around on his plate. He didn't understand why he was so upset with Draco. He didn't understand what was going on in his head. One minute he wanted to smack the smirk off Draco's face, and the next he wanted to kiss him senseless.

What is wrong with me?

Draco didn't understand why Harry was acting the way he was. He glanced at his friend whenever he had the chance. He frowned while he tried to figure out what to do. He saw Blaise frowning in Harry's direction as well and knew that he had no idea either. He had seen Hermione and Pansy whispering furiously to each other in class and knew they were trying to figure it out as well. He made a plan to confront Harry when they were in their room that night.

After dinner, Hermione and Pansy grabbed Blaise by the arms and dragged him off into an empty classroom. He looked at them in surprise.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"We need your help. We have a plan," Hermione started, she looked to Pansy for support and saw her friend nod her head, "We are going to lock Harry and Draco into the Room of Requierment and leave them there until they sort this out. It's Friday night, so know will think anything of them disappearing. We'll disappear tonight too, so everyone in the House will think we are all just hanging out together somewhere."

"How do you propose we do this?" Blaise asked, worried about how this plan could backfire.

"Well," Pansy started, "I'm going to lure Draco up to the Room, and we need you to lure Harry up there. Hermione is going to get the room all set up for us, she'll be there when we get there. We get them in there, and then shut the door and leave before they can get away. If Hermione sets the room to where only she can make a door appear, then they have no way of getting out."

"You do know that they will be pissed at us, right?" Blaise said.

"We know. But Blaise, they really need to talk. The only way they will is if they have no choice. I'll set the room up so that they have everything they need for the night, and they won't be able to leave until Dobby tells me that they are getting along again. He'll help, he may be a house-elf, but he will do anything for Harry," Hermione said, trying to convice Blaise to help.

"Okay, I'll help. On one condition. When this over, they need to know that this was all your idea. You came up with it and convinced us to help," Blaise said, looking at Hermione.

"Alright. Agreed. Let's get to it. I'll go get the room ready, you two go get the boys."

With that, Hermione set off for the Room of Requirement and Pansy and Blaise headed to the Slytherin common room to find Harry and Draco.