Disclaimer: The rights and all that legal stuff to Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.

Warning: Um, as usual, it's SLASH, kinda violent, and some naughty language.

With the time Draco had been spending in the hospital with Ron, they finished their project quickly and even presented it to Professor Flitwick a week early. Draco was not relieved that the project was done as much as he was terrified for his inevitable "talk" with Ron. He ate in his room and showed up early to classes so he wouldn't have to sit next to the redheaded boy. He was uncharacteristically quiet and kept to himself, not talking to anyone, with the exception of Blaise, who by the protective looks he was giving Ron when he even looked at Draco, knew all about the incident.

--

It was after Transfiguration when he was pulled to the side and through the crowd when the inevitable happened. Ron didn't even struggle as he took in the form of the Italian Slytherin boy and Draco's closest friend. Once inside a disused classroom, Blaise spoke.

"Nice job on tricking Draco, Weasley."

Ron gaped. He definitely wasn't expecting to hear that.

"What?"

"You heard me, it's normally pretty difficult to get one over Draco like that.'

"Oh, er, thanks, but I wasn't asking about that. Why aren't you threatening me for hitting the prat."

"Come on, Weasley, I may be a Slytherin and Draco's friend, but even I know what he did was a bit...off. I'd say he deserved to be hit. Don't do it again though, or I'll hurt you." Blaise's expression of amusement didn't change throughout.

"If he tries that crap on me again, I'll hit him again." Blaise just laughed.

"Fair enough. So. Are you going to break his heart or make out with him again?"

Ron's eyes almost popped out of his head at that question.

"WHAT?! Why the hell would you ask that?"

"I don't know, maybe because the idiot is in love with you, and I know that you said the two of you would have to talk once your little project was done. It's done and you've been dragging him along, letting him get more and more worried. If you hadn't noticed, he's been avoiding you like you have the plague. And I can tell you've been avoiding him too. Now, that means, you honestly can't stand to be in his presence anymore, or that you don't want to actually turn his advances down."

"Advances?! He attacked me. A bunch of times and then put a memory charm on me! Those aren't exactly endearing traits."

"Huh. Well, are you going to break his heart or make out with him again?"

"What does he care if I don't ever talk to him again? If I remember correctly, he wanted me to forget about what happened! In fact, he FORCED me to!"

"Doesn't mean he doesn't care, Weasley."

"And anyway, why are you protecting him now? Is it because his last two goons are in Azkaban right now?"

"Vincent and Gregory were idiots. One, I am much smarter. Two, I never followed Voldemort. Three, I could beat the snot out of Vincent and Gregory if I wanted to. Four, Draco is my best friend, and five, I am much more good looking." Blaise commented smugly.

"Huh. Really?"

"I'm into girls, so sorry. In fact I'm seeing this one girl now. Rachael. Ravenclaw. Smart girl. Nice legs."

"That's not what I meant! I mean, he's your best friend? I didn't think..."

"-he had any close friends? How else would I know he's head over heels for you, moron."

"No he isn't. He wouldn't have done that to me if he was."

"Yes he would. He is as stupid as you, but he's a different kind of stupid. You are just ordinary stupid. He is a much more complicated stupid; he's emotionally stupid. You understand more than he does, really."

"Um... thanks? I think..."

"You're welcome. Go talk to him." Blaise said and walked away.

--

After that enlightening and confusing conversation with Blaise, Ron decided it was time to make a difficult decision, which after thinking about it, wasn't all that difficult. He managed to find Draco as the Slytherin attempted to hide in the library.

"Hey! Don't even think about it! You're coming with me, whether you like it or not." Ron snarled, gripping Draco's arm and dragging the slightly shorter boy with him and to 'The Room.

"What the fuck, Ro-Weasley?! You think you can just manhandle me like that?" Draco snapped, once Ron had let go of his arm.

"Why not? You had your way with me, I figured it was time I had mine."

"...What?" Draco choked out. Ron scrunched his eyebrows in confusion as he ran what he'd spoken through his mind. His eyes widened in realization and he blushed.

"That's not what I meant!" he shouted, "I mean...never mind! We've been avoiding it, but we need to talk. Your best friend decided to inform me that it was time."

"Blaise? What does he have to do with you dragging me here"

"I told you, he thinks that we need to talk instead of constantly avoiding each other like we've been doing all week."

"I'm going to kill him." Draco deadpanned.

"Do it later. Right now, we need to have our conversation." Ron's tone of voice left room for no argument.

"Well, talk, then." the pout of Draco's face couldn't hide the worry in his eyes.

Ron shuffled nervously as he gathered his thoughts on what to say, exactly. He hadn't really gotten that far when planning his attack.

"You're emotionally stupid"

"What the fuck?!"

"Shut up and listen-"

"No, I won't have you insulting me like that, right from the start!" Draco yelled, his arms flailing in disbelief and annoyance. Ron moved forward and managed to grasp the others arms and stop their movements.

"Just listen before you decide to go mad. Okay?"

Shocked by the feel of Ron's hands wrapped gently around his wrists was enough to calm Draco down as he let the other continue.

"You're emotionally stupid, in the way that you show how much you like me. You practically pounce on me and get me all...lost and foggy about how I feel and react, which apparently was pretty positive, only to have you Obliviate me. Repeatedly. That was a seriously stupid move. If you actually wanted to be with me, how could you possibly think that using a memory charm on me would help your cause? See, stupid."

"And where the hell did you get all of this insight to the inner workings of my mind, Weasley?"

"Blaise."

"I am going to kill him."

"Later. First I have a question."

"And that question is..."

"Why?"

"What?"

"No. Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you do it?"

"You apparently already know why."

"I'd like to hear it from you."

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Do you know what it's like to wake up one morning and realize that everything you have ever known has been completely tossed away because of a single, annoying, won't-go-away thought"

"Well, no"

"I have. It was you, you stupid, idiotic, insufferable, brilliant, gorgeous...argh! I couldn't stop thinking about you. Everywhere I went, everything I did, you were always in my mind, just...there. For the longest time, I couldn't figure it out. Why? Why can't I stop thinking about him, why is Weasley constantly on my mind? It took me awhile, but eventually, I got it. It was after I had to witness one of the most horrible things in my life. I was to be a Death Eater, as you well know, follow in my fathers footsteps and bring pride and honor to the Malfoy family." here Draco began to laugh bitterly, "It was my first true Death Eater gathering, not just my fathers...associates coming to the manor, but an actual gathering. I arrived there, exhilarated to finally be accepted into the fold, into my rightful place"

Ron had begun to pale slightly, his eyes filling with a sort of horror at what the hunched over form of Draco was explaining to him.

"We had been there for nearly an hour before it happened. They brought in a pair of muggle-born twins. A boy and a girl, their family too. They were to be taught a lesson and made an example out of for all the other muggle-borns out there...they were tortured, in the most vicious and horrible ways possible. Merlin, they were just children! I couldn't...they were crying and it was terrifying. The only thing good that I could even dare to say about it was that I didn't have to participate. I was there that night to observe and to learn. I did. After they were...killed, everyone left. I barely made it to my rooms before I got sick," he choked out, his voice getting caught with tears.

"One of the house-elves took pity on me and helped me. Looking back, what scared me the most about that night was how I kept wishing you were there, taking care of me. Holding me, telling me it would be alright, that I was safe and never had to see something like that again. I realized then that I loved you. And to love a Weasley and be a Malfoy? Impossible. I had to do something drastic. The next morning when my father was out, I went to Dumbledore and offered to spy for him. To give him any information I could, the movements and plans of the Death Eaters, their targets...anything if it would somehow keep you safe. I turned my back on everything I had ever been raised to believe, to think, because I loved you and didn't want to see you killed. Did you know that at the Final Battle I wasn't even supposed to fire on the Death Eaters until after I had reinforcements? I took the first shot because my father was aiming for you..." he trailed off, looking away in his fear of what Ron would do.

Ron looked blank for a moment. Finally he was able to mutter a response.

"Well... shit."

A tear escaped Draco's eye and he wiped it away with unnecessary force. "What the hell kind of response is that?"

"I uh..." Ron shuffled his feet. "I didn't know."

"I didn't want you to." Draco said softly

"I... wow... I just... I need to think..." Ron ran out of the room as tears ran freely down Draco's cheeks.

One day later, Ron was in the hospital wing again. The story was, according to a couple of Ravenclaw girls who were there, he ran into Blaise's fist a couple of times.

A/N: Oh, yeah. Now we learn the truth of the matter. And we get some sexyfine Italian!Blaise. If you catch me and racheesi being totally lame for something in that...we know what...you can call us on it. lol

I had fun writing Draco, psh, I always do. He rocks. (ivysnowe)