Disclamer: I do not own Harry Potter.
It was two weeks before the Graduation Dance, and Ron still hadn't gotten up the courage to ask Draco to the Dance. It didn't help that they had spent a small amount of time together over the past few weeks. They had only been able to sneak glances at each other during classes, and meet in broom cupboards for quick makeout sessions before meals. That was it though. There were no weekends that they spent together, because if it wasn't Hermione hounding on him about homework, it was Harry with his thousands of quidditch practices.
During History of Magic, Draco wrote Ron a note.
Ron
You seem very pensieve lately...Are you thinking about me? Just kidding. I have been thinking about you though. I want to spend time with you. It's a hogsmeade weekend this weekend...are you busy?
Draco
Ron read the note few a few times over, and scribbled a quick reply.
Draco
Of course I have been thinking about you! I'm not doing anything this weekend, Harry and Hermione are going to Hogsmeade, so they won't be bothering me. Room Of Requirement?
Ron.
The bell rang, so there was no reply from Draco. Ron guessed that he would find on the reply in potions after lunch. Ron sat through Defence Against the Dark arts thinking about that note, and if they did spend the day in the Room of Requirement, what would they do?
Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder and flicked a note at him. Ron opened it and read:
R
Sorry that there is no quidditch practice this weekend. Do you want to come to Hogsmeade with me and Hermione?
H
Ron looked up at the new defence against the darks arts teacher. His head was down and we was writing something on a piece of parachement. Ron looked back at Harry, who raised his eyebrows at him. Ron shook his head. Harry's eyebrow scrunched up and he mouthed 'why?'
Ron turned back and scribbled on the note 'I don't want to intrude. You and Hermione have a good time!' He crumpled it up into a paper ball and tossed it behind his shoulder at Harry. Harry snatched it up off the floor and opened it.
The proffessor had looked up from his parachement, so Ron waited until he had looked down again before he turned to face Harry again. Harry nodded, and then mouthed, 'thanks.'
The rest of the class passed by with no excitement at all. The new defence against the dark arts teacher had assigned them a tedious task of looking up 100 words of vocabulary in their textbooks. Ron had stopped working the assigment within the first few minutes that it was assigned. He began doodling in the margins of his textbook. He drew anything from a strawberry to a picture of a tap dancing dinasour.
Finally the bell rang. Ron collected his stuff and went down to the great hall. Harry was walking beside him, but turned the other way because he wanted to go and grab some stuff from upstairs. Ron proceeded through the giant doors that led into the great hall. He saw Draco stabbing at a piece of steak, but when he looked up at him, he smiled.
Ron winked and nudged at the door. Draco nodded and got up from the table. Now, to any normal person, this would look very weird, but to Ron and Draco, it made perfect sense.
In 'Ron and Draco's language' what they just did meant: Meet me in the closet near the picture of the giraffe in the basement.
How this worked out, they didn't know, but for some reason, when they did that, they both understood. Ron abruptly turned from the great hall, and headed straight out the door. He walked past everyone heading for lunch, and went down the cold grey stairs to the basement. The dungeons were deserted. No one even wanted to be down here in case Slughorn or Filch came along, but Ron knew for a fact that Slughorn and Filch were both in the great hall, with everyone else.
Ron could hear Draco's footsteps behind him. His feet were slapping against the cement and they got quicker and quicker as Draco jogged to keep up with Ron. Ron stopped suddenly in front of the door to the cupboard, and Draco ran into him. Ron laughed and took his hand. He pulled him into the closet and pressed him against the wall, showering him with kisses.
"Hey there beautiful,' Draco whispered. The both smiled and Ron placed his hands on Draco's waist. Draco wrapped his arms around Ron's arm and kissed his ear. Ron giggled, and returned the kiss.
Ron was just about to talk to Draco about the dance when they heard someone coming down the stairs. The boys froze and they heard a second set of footsteps. Ron motioned Draco to be quiet, and he placed his ear near the keyhole in the door. He heard voices. They seemed to stop right in front of the door to the cupboard
"I just don't see why we can't have it this weekend," one voice stated.
"Because, the boy thinks it is on March 12. We need him to know when it is so he can let Potter know," The second voice replied.
"But, he never talks to Potter! They are Enemies!"
"Yes, but according to the Dark lord, he is a pretty close friend with one of Potters friends if you know what I mean." There was a nervous giggle and then a gasp.
"Are you talking about the mudblood?"
"No, the other one, umm, what is his name...uhh...I think it is Weasely."
"Ahh, yes, Weasely, the blood traitor family...Wait. So the boy is gay?"
"Yes, no one told Lucius though. The boy will be useful in the final battle."
"Oh, I get it. If we let Lucius know, he is definitely going to kill the boy."
The voices had started fading as the men walked away. Draco let out a long breath and Ron turned to him. "What the hell was that about?"
Draco's gaze turned cold. He didn't reply right away, and went over to the door. He opened it a crack and looked up and down the hallway. "That is part of the contract I had signed."
"How did they know about us then!" Ron whispered harshly. Draco flinched, and replied, "The dark lord has powers. He sees into our dreams, anything we think about when we sleep, he knows."
The bell rang. The boys embraced in one last kiss before Ron went out the closet and 30 seconds later Draco left. The dungeons were a perfect place to meet at lunch because their next class was potions. They continued walking along the hallway, until Ron stopped at the door. Draco put on his best sneer, and stood across the door from Ron.
Ron laughed at how fake Draco's 'mean' face looked. No one else would know that it was fake, but Ron had to resist the urge not to smile. The other students slowly filed around the door. The second bell rang, and everyone turned to see Slughorn waddling down the hall.
"Sorry I'm late everybody. I was talking to a fellow colleague of mine." Slughorn chuckled, and expected everyone else to understand his joke. The students just stared in a strange way.
Ron looked at Draco, who raised his eyebrows. Surely Slughorn wasn't in that conversation? From what Ron knew, Slughorn was totally against the Dark Arts. No, it couldn't possibly be him.
Proffessor Slughorn made his way through the students and unlocked the door. The students filed through the door and sat down in their usual spots. Ron with Harry and Hermione and Draco with Crabbe and Goyle. There was a rather difficult antidote written on the chalkboard, and everyone had started working. Hermione helped Ron get started, because he had no idea that he needed to put the wolfsbane into the cauldron first.
Despite all the help he had recieved, Ron's potion still turned a murky black, although it was supposed to be a bright shade of yellow. Slughorn passed it with just a glance, and went to marvel at Hermiones potion. She had recieved top marks, of course. Draco's potion was a pale shade of yellow, so he was close, but not close enough. Slughorn complimented on the nice try, but barely glanced at it, just as he had with Rons.
The bell rang and Draco slipped a note into Ron's hand as they walked out the door. Draco shoved Ron, for good measure, but Ron smiled inside. Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked down the hall and up the stairs where they had a charms class before dinner.
The hallways were unusually crowded. It was mostly girls gawking at Harry, then giggling when he looked at him, but it was hard to move. The second bell was just about to ring when the trio filed into their charms classroom. They took their seats and the teacher gave them his coldest look, but continued to read from the large textbook sitting in front of him.
He read 5 pages, and started explaining the assigment. The students had to write a 2 page essay on what their favorite spell was. It seemed easy enough, but when the boys were sitting in front of the common room fire after dinner, proved tedious.
"Who cares what my favorite spell is! This is stupid," Ron whined, causing him to go on a tyrant of how ridiculous the task at hand was. Harry and Hermione nodded at the appropriate times and when Ron stopped for a breath, Harry interuppted.
"Ron, could you shut up?" Harry and Hermione laughed, but Ron got all serious.
"I know when the final battle is." A silence fell between the trio and Harry slid from his chair onto then floor where Ron was sitting.
"How do you know that?" Harry whispered.
"When I was heading down to potions today, I heard someone coming down the stairs, so I hid in the closet. I overheard these men talking, and they said that it was on March 12th, in the graveyard."
"That is only two weeks away!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry looked at her. "I know. I need to get ready." A silence fell again, and Harry went upstairs to bed, despite the early hour.
"Ron, how come you didn't tell us right away?" Hermione asked.
"I dunno. It never really came to my mind until now." Hermione nodded, and headed up the stairs to the girls dormitory, leaving Ron by himself.
Ron had no idea what had possessed him to not tell Harry and Hermione until that particular moment. Something like that would normally never slip his mind, so how come it did now?
Alright, there it is, read and review! Yup yup yup. I still can't believe it is ending in two chapters...