Autumn 1991

Ronald Weasley

Ron slipped into his usual spot next to Blaise at the Slytherin's table, the smell of hot food hitting him with force. The table was already cluttered with piled-high plates— mountains of mashed and roasted potatoes, several cuts of chicken, and nearly half a roasted pig. Ron's stomach rumbled and growled so ravenously that he barely registered the questioning glance Blaise gave him. Ignoring the look, Ron loaded his plate high with mash and ham and did his best to drown out the urge to say something about Malfoy's stunt.

Across from him, Theo picked at his meal with an uncharacteristic nervousness, a slight frown tugging at the left-hand corner of his lips. It left Ron wondering if Theo knew more about what was happening. And if he did, then what was he planning to do to stop it? Blaise followed Ron's eyes to Theo and gave him the same questioning look that he had just given Ron.I'm not the only one keeping secrets,Ron thought.

Just as he reached for a goblet of pumpkin juice, a shadow crossed over their plates. Theo and Blaise both looked up, but only Theo seemed surprised as Daphne Greengrass sat calmly next to Ron. Tracy sat across from her, smiling at Theo as she did so. He narrowed his eyes as if the girl had offended him.

"What are you doing?" Theo asked, his voice lighter than Ron expected as if he was only mildly curious. His gaze remained sharp.

Ron set down his fork, feeling heavy as he tried his best to speak with a steady voice. "I'm switching potion's partners," he said, carefully. "I'll be working with Daphne, and you're going to partner with Tracy."

Theo raised an eyebrow and leaned backwards in his chair. "Oh, trading me in for a better model, are you?" he teased, but there was a sharpness hidden in his tone. "I hope you're not expecting me to be happy about this." His eyes darted between Daphne and Tracy, a small cruel smile crossing his lips.

"It was an exchange," Daphne said sternly. "A deal to benefit you, Nott. Don't make a fuss about it, or I'll leave you out of it."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it, chick," he said more lightly. "Let's just not pretend that whatever is happening is out of the goodness of your heart." He leaned forward slightly and narrowed his eyes on Daphne. Ron swallowed thickly. "Let's hear the deal then, so I can tell Weasley what the scam is."

"Just an alliance," Ron provided.

Daphne gave him an icy look. "Yes, an alliance," she repeated. "He helps me get an 'E' in potions, and in exchange, I provide him protection."

Theo snorted. "Protection?"

"Insulation, from the wrong side of the house. You know who I mean."

"The wrong side?" Theo asked. He nodded and let a frown form fully on his lips. "The wrong side, like me."

Ron nearly choked on his spit. He hadn't fully considered what Daphne had meant until Theo said the words. Theo was on the wrong side, Ron knew that from what Blaise had told him. Theo's father was a supporter of you-know-who and he was definitely on the reformist's side, the side of Malfoy. Butterflies exploded across Ron's stomach and he very subtly gripped his wand underneath the table. It sent comforting warmth up his arm and he pointed it idly in Theo's direction.

Theo and Daphne locked eyes, neither of them blinking.

"Merlin," Blaise said softly. "It doesn't need to be a big deal."

Ron nodded his agreement. He didn't want to push Theo onto Malfoy's side. He was almost tempted to return to being his potions partner, and he might have if he knew it would fix the sour mood.

"He doesn't need your protection orinsulation," Theo said suddenly. "I've already dealt with Malfoy for the rest of the year. Nothing else is going to happen to us. I don't appreciate you trying to tank my potions grade, chick."

Daphne frowned and turned her head to look at Ron.

"Right," Ron said, he held his wand even tighter. "I had a run-in with Malfoy, just before I came here. He— Malfoy— told me that he isn't scared of you and that you've got to watch out. That he's going to force you onto his side. He also said that he'll punish us if we act against him again."

Theo's eyes widened slightly and he slumped backwards into his chair. "Shit."

"It seems you don't know everything, Nott," Daphne said quickly. "Perhaps your protection is worth a lot less than you think it is."

Theo rolled his eyes. "No, I just misjudged Draco. Somehow he's grown a spine."

Tracy laughed lightly beside him. "If he had a spine, he wouldn't need Crabbe and Goyle."

"It doesn't matter," Theo interjected. "I'll deal with him and put him in his place for good. There's not enough room for two leaders in our year."

"Two leaders?" Daphne raised an eyebrow at knew that the implication would not go over well.

"Myself and Malfoy, those are the obvious choices. Malfoy has everyone else, and I have Zabini and Weasley." Theo clarified, causing Tracy to snort beside him.

"You are an idiot, Nott." Daphne shook her head. "You aren't a leader, you're just in love with yourself. You don't have Zabini or Weasley, you just room with them. That doesn't make you their leader."

"Who is then?" Theo rolled his eyes again. "You?"

"No," Daphne tilted her head slightly, "we don't need a leader at all. We are all capable of making our own decisions. I can understand if you prefer to be a follower, Nott. Your father was after all."

The small section of the table grew quiet. Ron was sure his heart was going to beat out of his chest and fall onto his plate. Even Blaise, who had been trying his best to feign disinterest in the conversation, stared forward with wide eyes.

The silence dragged on for a few seconds before Theo finally laughed. "You're right, my father was a follower. A follower of the greatest man to ever live, the dark lord. And your father was what? Some muggle bootlicker?"

The greatest man to ever live?! Bloody Hell! He really is insane!

"I don't care what you think, Nott. You're not worth the air you breathe," Daphne replied coldly. "You just need to take a look around you and realise that you're all alone. You have a choice to make, us or them."

"Well," Theo said, picking his fork up and spearing a roasted potato. "I choose neither. I know what I'm worth."

"Apparently not," Daphne replied bitterly.

"It doesn't matter," Ron interrupted. "If you don't want to help us, that's fine." His words drew the group's collective gaze. "But Malfoy is going to come for all of us. We can destroy him together, and then you don't have to agree to be friends, or allies, or whatever. You can just ignore each other. After we deal with him."

Theo smiled slightly. "Oh, I don't intend to give up on finding your special power, Weasley. I won't be ignoring you, no matter what Greengrass has to say about it."

"Special power?" Tracy asked.

"Mhm, how do you think he was sorted into Slytherin? He's obviously hiding something, a passion for dark magic, or something sinister," Theo said. Ron frowned at him, it was too close to the truth.

"You're an idiot, Nott," Daphne said again.

Theo just shrugged. "Listen, chick, the blood-traitor is right. We should work together to deal with the Malfoy… problem. After it's all sorted, we can glare at each other from across the common room for all I care."

"Or we could take his threat at face value," Blaise suggested. "We don't need to beat Malfoy, we just need to have him ignore us."

Theo scrunched his nose. "How painfully sensible."

"It won't work," Daphne added. "Malfoy won't stop until we're all his servants."

Blaise sighed. "You act like he's evil, he's just spoiled."

"Exactly," Theo said. "And the best way to deal with someone as spoiled as he is, is with a good spanking."

"We can't fight him," Ron blurted. Even though he had come close before, he knew it was a bad move. "We could get expelled, or we could anger his father."

Theo rolled his eyes for the third time. "It was a figure of speech. I don't actually want to hit Malfoy, or at least, not with my hands. We're wizards, Weasley, we don't need to beat eachother up like apes. Even if Crabbe and Goyle didn't get the post that says they shouldn't."

Daphne nodded her agreement. "Something drastic, that he can't socially recover from. We need to scare him in such a way that the rest of the house won't be able to tolerate him responding. If we can do that, we can put him in his place for a long time."

"Like embarrassing him?" Ron asked and Daphne nodded.

Ron wasn't sure if it was an entirely good idea. It seemed eerily similar to what Theo had already done, and that had only angered Malfoy more. If they did something in front of the whole house? He almost shivered. He didn't want to imagine the hell that they would pay for doing something like that. Yet, as much as they insisted, Ron wasn't really the same as the other Slytherins, either. He didn't always understand the way they thought about each other and the ways they acted. Maybe, Daphne was right and that Malfoy would back off if they did something extremely public. He hoped he could trust her.

It hadn't escaped his mind, that he didn't know much about Daphne or Tracy. While they claimed to be a part of a more traditional faction, something which he believed even without proof, he wasn't sure who their families were. Theo had called Daphne's father a muggle bootlicker, which seemed to suggest he wasn't a follower of you-know-who, but it could have meant a wide variety of other things. Other things that Ron was still concerned about. After all, he was supposed to be looking for any threats to Hogwarts, or so Sal said. He made a mental note to ask both Daphne and Tracy about their families at some point.

"So we're just going to go to war?" Blaise asked a defeated tone in his voice.

"They tried to attack us first," Theo defended. "Besides, this was always going to happen. It's better to get it out of the way now. Malfoy was never going to let you in on things… because of… you know?" He cleared his throat. "And Weasley here is a poverty-stricken blood-traitor."

Ron gave Theo a dead calling me a blood-traitor, you arse!

"It's not a war," Daphne provided. "It's just a small conflict, and it won't last long."

Ron hoped she was right.

Blaise shook his head. "I hope you're right, if it does become a war, the common room won't be safe for us."

"Snape," Ron interrupted, "if it goes wrong we can just go to him for help."

"You'd be a rat," Theo said with disgust. "It's better if we don't involve the teachers, it's only going to make things harder."

"I agree," Daphne said with a nod. "We don't tell Professor Snape anything. I told you already, Weasley, Snape knows what's going on here and he isn't going to stop it unless we force him to. He doesn't want to be involved with this, it will sully the house."

"He might even take a point," Theo laughed lightly. Tracy joined him with her own small chuckle.

"So we need a plan?" Tracy asked.

Everyone, except for Blaise, nodded their agreement.

"Let's take a few days to think," Daphne suggested. "We can all come up with something and discuss it later. We can pick the best plan or even combine ideas. Of course, I don't expect, Nott, to have any good ones." Ron gave her a pleading look which she only answered with a narrowed stare.

Theo laughed. "You have no idea what I'm going to suggest."

"I think I know," Tracy said beside him. "Something rash and stupid."

Theo smirked at her. "You might just be right, chick."