Author's Note: Well, this is my first Harry Potter fic that is intended to have chapters. Not much to say, except that i don't precisely know how this will end, so suggestments would be helpful. I don't normally dedicate my fics, but i want to dedicate this to anyone who's ever suffered through an eating disorder. I know i have. Several times. I still do, and i always will, in some way. It's really not fun, especially not when you're watching someone else going through it, which i have. Please, you guys, talk to the people you love-- it helps a lot, eating disorder or not. Ahem. Okay, Rowling owns all the characters and everything, et cetera. You've seen the warning before, i'm sure of it. On with the show!

*****

"Why is he like that?"

Harry looked up at his best friend. "Sorry?" Ron just continued watching something across the room with complete disgust.

"Look at him, he's turned his nose up at everything on his plate!"

"Who?" Harry followed Ron's glare, but the Great Hall was too crammed with students to figure out who the red-head was so angry at without said red- head actually telling who it was. ((A/N: did that make any sense...?))

"What right has he got to be picky, anyway? It's not as though he's paid for that food...!"

"Ron, who are you talking about?" Hermione asked, growing curious as well.

"Malfoy!" He said it as though it ought to be completely obvious. "He's looking at his plate like it's got leeches!"

"Ron, calm down," Hermione shushed, not wanting him to cause a scene. "It's not that big a deal..."

"And we had steak tonight, and pie," Ron continued. "Boston cream pie! I LOVE Boston cream pie!"

"Ron, we've got plenty of pie," Harry assured him, gesturing toward the plate in the middle of the table.

"Do you know how much I'd like to eat pie and steak at my house? What the hell's wrong with him?!"

"Um, Ron," Hermione said quietly, "you can have my pie if you want..."

"This isn't about pie!" Now Ron WAS causing a scene.

Harry blinked. Why was he yelling about pie if his anger had nothing to do with pie? "So what's it about then?"

Ron fumed silently a few moments. His two best friends exchanged worried glances-- they'd never seen Ron this enraged about (not) pie. But Ron just sighed, shook his head, and stood from the table. "I'm going back to the common room."

Neither of his friends dared to mention the Boston cream pie that sat on his plate, untouched.

*

Ron paced down the corridors furiously. He paid no attention to where he was going-- he didn't even notice when he'd gone in a complete circle, passing through the Entrance Hall for a second time. The nerve of that stupid, rich, snobby, good-looking-- Crap! No! Ron was straight! Straight as could be. He'd never liked boys before, why start now with some uppity little blond in tight jeans?

"Weasel! What're you doing down here?"

Ron spun around to face the source of the voice and realized he was in the dungeons. How, exactly, he'd gotten there, he did not know, and did not care to know when a certain frail-looking Slytherin was leaning against a wall in front of him, for once, CrabbeAndGoyle-less.

"Last I checked, Malfoy, there weren't any rules about walking through the halls of the school!" Ron could feel his cheeks flushing. He told himself it was from anger.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow and stood to his full height, which wasn't much. "There ARE rules about wandering the halls after dark, Weasel," he stated, eyeing the redhead. "Be a good boy and storm back to your Common Room."

Ron bristled. What was it about Draco that made him so angry? "Why don't you MAKE me, Draco?" He didn't care how stupid or childish he sounded-- it was a lot harder for him to question his sexuality when the only boy he'd ever felt any sort of physical attraction to had a broken nose and missing teeth.

Draco's face tighted along with his fists, and he started towards Ron, only to stop after a few steps. He swayed on his feet and kept his eyes focused a spot behind Ron's left ear, as if he were trying to keep his balance. But it was, apparently, to no avail. Ron watched in suprise as gray eyes rolled upwards and bony knees buckled. Without thinking, the freckled wizard jumped forward and caught the limp form just before it hit the floor.

For a few seconds, Ron just stood there; dazed, worried out of his mind, and momentarily unsure of what to do. Then, using nearly all of his strength (which, to be honest, wasn't much), he lifted Draco into his arms, cradling him like a baby as he ran towards the hospital wing.

*****

A/N: Woopwoop. That was pretty short, but suspense is fun, it makes people review! ^.^