Chapter 4: The Room of Requirements

Hermione drug Ron down the hallway and made a sharp left. He tripped over his feet and fell to his face. "Uh, 'Mione can we just talk here while my face heals?"

She looked at him with her mouth agape. She couldn't believe that he just said that. "No Ronald, we cannot just talk here. What if someone hears us?"

"Then someone hears us. What's the big deal?"

"I'll tell you when we get where I'm taking you." She said and then grabbed his hand and picked him up off of the floor. She then started to run again pulling him behind her. It seemed to Ron that she was taking him to the furthest end of the castle, but when she stopped and turned to look at the door he was glad that they had gotten there.

Harry sat in bed thinking of all of the things that Ron could have told him. He decided that he would try to narrow them down and try and figure it out. He knew that Ron didn't like being in the shadows behind him. So did that mean that Ron was only going to be Harry's friend in private? He thought that even that didn't sound like Ron. Nothing he had been saying lately sounded like the Ron that he knew. Unless the Ron that he knew wasn't the real Ron.

Hermione opened the door cautiously. It had a table, two cups and a pitcher of pumpkin juice, and two chairs. The room was lighted fairly well. Other than that, it was empty. It seemed that the room was there just for two people to talk. Ron found it kind of odd that there would be a room in a castle set up this way.

"It's the Room of Requirements, Ron."

"Oh." Was all Ron could say. He had heard Harry talk about this room. But as far as anything else, he couldn't remember anything else about the room. He walked over to a chair and plopped down trying to catch his breath. He grabbed a cup and drank it down quickly. The pitcher rose by itself and refilled Ron's cup. "'Mione, I don't know what's going on, or why you brought me here, so tell me, what's going on?"

Hermione just gaped at him like he should have known the way Harry would have reacted to him telling him that he's in love with him. She shook her head and said, "boys, they'll never understand." She walked over to the table and sat down. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Ron.

"Wait, does this have something to do with what I was going to tell Harry?"

"Of course it does Ron. Have you thought about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, have you sat down and figured out how you're going to tell him that you're in love with him?"

"Well, no, I was just going to tell him."

"Just gonna tell him eh? And how, Ronald Weasley do you think he would have responded to you just telling him that you love him?"

"I don't know. I never really thought about it. Why how do you think he would have responded?"

"Well, I think for one, IF he is gay, then he might not care, but IF he not gay, then he might not understand. Or even worse, he might not want to be your friend anymore."

"You mean, he might not like me because I'm gay? That's not fair."

"I know it's not fair Ron, but some people don't like gay people. It doesn't really make sense to me either, but that's just how people are. I don't care if you're gay or not. I love you the same, but I don't know if Harry feels the same way."

"Well how do you think we should find out? Can't we just ask him?"

"NO! You can't just ask someone if they like gay people or not."

"Why not?"

"Because if he doesn't, then he might get suspicious of you, and end up not liking you anyways. I think I should bring it up in conversation, ya know? Mention something about my uncle who's gay and see how he reacts to it."

"But what's Harry care about your uncle?"

"It's not what Harry cares about my uncle; it's to see how he reacts to the fact that he's gay."

"Oh, I think that might work, but what if he doesn't give any reaction, either way?"

"Then we'll have to figure something else out."

Harry lay in his bed still thinking about Ron. He thought of how he longed to be with him at this very moment instead of being alone in his bed. He wished that Hermione would quit talking to him so Ron would come back to him. He had his eyes closed and he was thinking of Ron when he woke up in the morning, seeing his hair all mused from sleep and him sitting on the edge of his bed wiping the sleep from his eyes. Harry's breathing started to get shallow. He noticed that his body heat was rising, along with other things. The thoughts of Ron kept coming. He was now thinking of Ron while he was eating. Watching him carelessly shovel food into this mouth, not caring who saw or what they thought. His breathing now more erratic then ever, he rolled over onto his stomach and his hips naturally gyrated into the mattress.

Hermione sat at the table just staring at Ron. She couldn't believe that he was gay. It had finally sunken in to the full extent of her knowledge. She would never get a chance with him. Her dreams were coming to a disbelieving halt. She was trying to think of something to say to Ron so he wouldn't know what was going through her head. There was a question that was always coming to the forefront of her mind, but she didn't want to ask it.

"Hermione, I can see that you're thinking, what about?"

"Well, I just wonder. How did you know you're gay?"

"How did I know? I don't know, I guess I just did."

"You just did?"

"Well yeah, like when most other boys were thinking about girls in their classes, I was always thinking about Harry. I don't know 'Mione. But I figured that's how I knew I was gay."

"But what made you accept it?"

"What?"

"What made you ok with being like that?"

"I guess just thinking that the only way I could be happy would be to be with the one that I love. And that's Harry. I don't know what it is about him, I just love him."

"But how do you know?"

Before Ron could answer the two heard a door open. A door just appeared in the wall and out walked Draco in their conversation.

"Weasel and mudblood, what are you doing in here?" Draco asked quickly.

"We were talking, what are you doing Malfoy?" Ron shot back.

Draco briskly walked over to Ron and picked him up out of his chair. The blond stared deep into Ron's eyes. "You know, for being a pureblood, you're quite stupid."

Ron looked into the steel grey eyes of Draco and realized that the only reason he was being mean to everyone was because he was scared. Ron turned his head and saw that Hermione had started crying at Draco calling her a mudblood. "And for someone who looks like a ferret, you're awfully arrogant."

Draco sneered his famous Malfoy sneer and coiled back to punch Ron in the face. He didn't see Hermione come up behind him. When he did see her he reared his head around and was met with her fist. He fell to his knees and held his head between his hands. His tongue felt the inside of his mouth. He was hit by the salty taste of blood. He growled out of natural reaction.

Ron bent down and pulled his head back. "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all Malfoy." He let go of Draco's hair and shoved his head forward. Draco's head reeled forward and hit the cement floor. Draco involuntarily spit up blood when his head connected with the floor. He mumbled something incoherently and then went unconscious.

Hermione looked down at Draco and then at Ron and thought that she had never seen him be so tough before. "What are we supposed to do with him now?"

Ron stood there and looked down at the incapacitated Draco. He didn't know that he could throw someone so hard. "I don't know. Maybe we could just leave him here."

"But what if he remembers what happened?"

"Then couldn't you do a memory charm on him? You know, make him forget what happened?"

"I don't know if you can do to that to someone when they are unconscious. I don't know if it will have the same affect."

"It's worth a try isn't it 'Mione?"

Hermione pulled out her wand and went through all of the spells in her head before picking out the right one. She pointed her wand at Draco's head muttered "Obliterate."

Harry had counted the number of bricks behind his bed for the fourteenth time. He was getting anxious now for Ron and Hermione to come back. He didn't think that they would be gone this long. Soon, the teachers would be out patrolling the hallways making sure all of the students would be in bed. He thought of going to look for them, but quickly decided against it for fear that they wouldn't be done talking and him upsetting Hermione, or even worse, Ron. He looked back at the wall and started counting again.

"I hope that worked." Hermione stated.

"Well he jumped, so it should right?"

"I don't know Ron. I've never had to do that spell to someone who wasn't conscious before."

"Ok Hermione. I haven't forgotten that I knocked him out. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

I'm not trying to say that you did. I'm just surprised myself that you did it. I mean, I never knew you were so strong."

Ron's face started to get red with embarrassment. He lowered his head trying not to meet her eyes. He really didn't want to hear her talking like this about him. He would rather hear Harry talking like this. He thought of Harry alone in the dorm. Left wondering what Ron was going to say to him. He looked up and looked directly into Hermione's eyes, "I'm going to tell Harry tonight."

Hermione just stared open mouthed him. "Have nothing I said tonight sunken in through your thick skull?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've been trying to tell you not to tell him Ron. I mean, like I said before, what if he's not gay?"

"'Mione, that's a chance I will have to take. And if he is gay? Then I could be the happiest person of my life."

"But if he's not, then you will be depressed. AND Harry might hate you. I think we should stick to the plan."

"Oh screw the bloody plan! I've decided that I'm telling him that I love him. And there is nothing you can do to change that."

Hermione crossed her arms in front of her and stood in front of the door. "Ronald Weasley. You listen to me. You could be making the biggest mistake of your life."

"Yes, I'm aware of that, thanks to you, but I could also be making the best move of my life."

She stood there staring at him and she then realized that no matter how had she tried, she could not interfere with love. She could only hope and pray that he was making the right decision.

Ron stepped past her and opened the door to the hallway. He suddenly realized that he had no clue in the castle where they were. He turned around, "Hermione, could you help me get back to the common room?"

"Boys, so bad with directions." She mumbled under her breath. She walked out in front of him and reached out to grab his hand, and then pulled her hand away, 'that's Harry's now' she thought. She started walking faster then normal trying to wipe the tears away from her eyes.

Draco stirred on the floor and opened his eyes cautiously. 'Where am I?" He sat up and saw the table and the two cups of pumpkin juice. He looked around and thought that this was the oddest place he'd ever seen.