-:-

Ron was late getting up so Draco and Harry left for breakfast alone. It felt a bit weird sitting down at the Gryffindor table without Ron and Hermione, but the other students didn't seem to mind. Luckily Hermione came into the Hall only a few minutes later. Just as she was about to sit down Ron came running up behind her.

"'Mione," he called. "This fell out of your bag just now." He held out one of her many Ancient Runes books.

"Oh, thank you Ron," she said, taking the book from him. Their fingers brushed against each other and Draco smirked when he saw them both blush. Merlin, they really were the Clueless Duo. They sat down and began quietly eating breakfast. Draco decided he would have to move fast since this was most likely the last chance he would get. Luckily Wednesdays afforded him the perfect opportunity. After lunch Draco technically had Ancient Runes along with Hermione, but since he was still babysitting Harry he had a free period with Ron. They made their way outside and sat down in one of the gardens to enjoy some of the last warmth of the season. Harry ran about in the garden looking for all kinds of pretty things he could find. He spent most of his time collecting leaves of different colours. Draco marvelled at how Harry seemed to enjoy such simple things when he was surrounded by a magic castle! He didn't need a mountain of toys or magic tricks to keep him occupied. Ron slouched down on the bench while Draco sat straight, making sure to keep an eye on Harry. The Slytherin was contemplating his plan. He wasn't sure exactly how subtle he could be. This was Ron after all. Perhaps he should just go for a cliché, an obvious cliché.

"So, Ron… I was talking to Hermione the other day," Draco drawled conversationally. Ron's ears immediately perked up and he sat up straight.

"What about?" Draco inwardly snorted when Ron failed to question when Draco could have spoken to Hermione since they had hardly had the opportunity to be alone to talk.

"Well, actually that's why I brought it up. You see I… " Draco trailed off, wondering if he wasn't being too obvious even for Ron, but the redhead didn't seem to think Draco was making anything up. Once they trust you they really trust you, Draco mused. "I asked her what kind of man she liked," he finished abruptly. Ron's eyes went wide, clearly interested. Draco resisted the urge to laugh at the Gryffindor, but instead schooled his features into a casual mask. He was going to get the Clueless Duo together and it would be easy as pie (and yes, he had realised his plan would make him lose his bet, but it wasn't as if he would miss the money).

"And? What did she say?" Ron was sitting on the edge of his seat by now. Again Draco almost snorted, but kept himself in control.

"Actually she said she thought you were kind of cute."

"Really?!" Ron looked like Christmas had come early and Draco was glad he had only said "kind of cute" instead of "she really likes you" or else Ron might just explode from the rapid expansion of his ego. Draco nodded and decided Harry was getting way too dirty even for a five-year-old. They still had classes to attend that day and Draco didn't want to spend the rest of the break casting cleaning spells. They all went inside, Ron trailing behind with a dazed expression on his face.

xxx

It was after their last class of the day, Transfiguration, and Draco was walking down the corridor with Hermione on one side and Harry on the other. Ron was in front of them as he wanted to get to dinner quickly. Draco had his wand in his hand, but was keeping it hidden from Hermione.

"Ron, you're walking too fast for Harry. If you're so hungry why don't you go ahead?" Hermione said suddenly. Draco smirked. She had done some of the work for him. Ron nodded over his shoulder and picked up the pace. Draco flicked his wand at the perfect moment. A note that Draco had previously placed in Ron's robe pocket floated to the floor as Ron disappeared behind a corner. Draco immediately stopped and turned to Harry.

"Hold on, Hermione. I want to tie Harry's tie," he said, kneeling down in front of Harry and making sure Hermione thought he wasn't looking. Harry squirmed a little, but Draco made him stand still.

"Draco, he's five years old. So what?" Hermione asked even as she went over to pick up the parchment Ron had "dropped".

"The Boy Who Lived needs to look his best," Draco drawled, smirking to himself as he saw Hermione look unsure whether to read the note. She wouldn't usually, but it wasn't folded or anything so it was easily done. Draco had of course penned the note in class, and thanks to his Slytherin ability to forge handwriting half of the note looked as if Ron had written it. To Hermione it looked like a magic note students used to communicate in class. The person would write on one parchment and the words would appear on a similar parchment to whomever they were writing to. This is what it read:

Draco(This was Ron's handwriting)

Yes?

Tell me what to do! You're the ladies man of Hogwarts! Surely you can help me!

Well, I'm glad you can admit as much at least. Just tell her you like her!

But she's my best friend!

Then there might be less of a chance that she'll slap you. I say go for it.

I just don't want to look like a fool.

Trust me, that's a lost cause already.

You can't see me but I'm rolling my eyes at you.

You can't see me but I'm smirking at you and looking absolutely gorgeous doing it.

Sod off.

Glad I could help.

Draco was very please with the note to say the least. When he finished with Harry's tie he rose and just glimpsed Hermione stuffing the note in her pocket. She gave Draco an innocent look that didn't fool him for a second and they walked to dinner. Hermione and Ron both looked decidedly smug throughout the meal. Yes, Draco was a brilliant mastermind when it came to sneaky plans.

xxx

Some time after dinner Draco told Harry he needed to go to bed early as he had a big day tomorrow. Harry didn't protest and Draco very quickly tucked the boy in. He really wanted to spend a few last moments with the boy, but there was still breakfast tomorrow at least. Right now he sprinted carefully down the stairs, grabbing Harry's cloak along the way, and waited just out of sight, peaking into the common room. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the couch together, looking more unsure than smug now. Draco couldn't hear them over the other noises in the common room, but he deduced one of them made the suggestion to go and talk somewhere else because they both rose and left the common room together. Draco, already covered by the cloak, ran across the room and slid out before the portrait could shut behind them.

The Duo seemed luckily for Draco not to be making their way to the Room of Requirement, but just down the hall to sit on a bench by a tall window. Draco remained just around the corner. He wanted it to look like he was just running into them. He could now hear them clearly as their voices echoed towards him.

"So," Ron began and Draco almost snorted out loud.

"So," Hermione said and made Draco want to hit himself over the head. They really liked to take their time with things, didn't they? They were both blushing; Draco could see it all the way from where he was hiding. Come on, Ron! Be the Gryffindor! Draco found himself chanting silently.

"'Mione I-" Ron began just as Hermione said: "Ron I-" They both promptly giggled and the tension seemed to lift. When they stilled they were looking into each others eyes and Draco wanted to shout "Get on with it!" but remained silent. Suddenly Ron leaned forward with all his Gryffindor stupidity (ok, so maybe Draco could call it bravery just this once) and captured Hermione's lips with his own. It was a chaste and sweet first kiss. When they broke apart Ron spoke in a breathless voice, even though the kiss had only lasted a few seconds:

"'Mione, will you go out with me?"

"Yes, Ron. I would like that very much." Draco grinned smugly and congratulated himself on a job well done. Now, time to gloat. He slipped off the cloak and spelled it small before he pocketed it. He glided around the corner, the smug grin in place.

"I see my brilliance has triumphed once again, but I never had any doubt of course," drawled, causing the new couple to jump slightly.

"Draco?" Hermione asked. She frowned for about two seconds before her eyes went wide. "You… did something?" Draco flounced over to them and stood smirking before them.

"I, along with the rest of the population of Hogwarts including the staff, was pretty tired of seeing the Clueless Duo never getting anywhere. I merely pushed were pushing was needed, though I doubt anyone else could have done it quite so perfectly," he drawled.

"Clueless Duo? You and your nicknames," Ron said, shaking his head in disbelief. Draco's grin widened.

"But… but…" Hermione stuttered. "You did this… for us." Draco opened his mouth to say something like "No, it was because everyone was sick of you whining about each other", but nothing came out. It was pointless to deny it. He didn't do it because they were annoying, though of course they were very annoying, but tomorrow he wouldn't have to deal with them so it was hopeless. He did it because he wanted to, even at the cost of twenty galleons, though that was nothing to him of course. Draco knew deep down this moment had been coming, but he wasn't prepared for it. He backed away into the opposite wall, Ron and Hermione staring at him in shock. His back hit the wall and he slumped down to sit on the floor, avoiding the couple's eyes. He might as well get the thing over with, despite the fact that he hadn't had time to prepare what he was going to say. Merlin, how Gryffindor of him!

"Look… I've changed…" he began, but his mouth was very dry.

"We know," Hermione said softly. Draco nodded, staring down at his hands.

"It started when father went away, but this past week everything kind of… exploded inside me. I may be arrogant, vain and not to mention very sneaky." He heard Ron snort softly. "And there's no denying I hate muggles, well, at least a certain family of muggles," he said savagely. The others nodded their agreement. "But what I don't want to be is a hypocrite. My father followed one cause. He was consistent. I may not be ready to follow another one, go to war for it, but I need to be consistent and that means… well, I'm sure you know what that means." He paused and took a deep breath. "I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow, but I want you to know I'm not going to follow my father, or You Know Who, and that's it's absolute crap to believe in something when the evidence to the contrary is right in front of me. I mean, Hermione's the best witch in our year. Neville can't even perform an elongating spell."

"Hey, I can't do that spell properly either," Ron piped up and Draco put up his hands in defeat.

"I know, I'm just saying, I'm not stupid. Which leads me to say that…" He took another deep breath. "Breeding isn't everything." Silence rang through the corridor and Draco thought perhaps Ron and Hermione had disappeared. He didn't dare look up, however, but he had made his decision and thought about it from every angle. He knew they wouldn't tell anyone else about it, they were too Gryffindor to do that, but he also knew that he couldn't tell anyone else just yet. He may now finally be able to disagree with his father, but he wasn't about to get shunned by his entire house. He wasn't ready to be in a war.

"Well, Draco… that's…"

"Just-" Draco cut Hermione off. "Let's just not talk about it ok?"

"Ok," she said softly.

"Thank you." None of them knew how long they sat there in silence, but when Ron finally helped Draco off of the floor they seemed to fall back into their strange routine again. They played a game of chess while Hermione studied and then they went to bed early, everybody hoping their dreams could keep them from thinking too much about tomorrow.

-:-

Yay! Draco finally admitted what he's been thinking out loud! I'm so proud of him! (claps and hugs Draco). But what happens when Harry ages!? Will he fall back into the old routine???? Well, read on friend, and find out! Don't forget to review!