Chapter 24: Sweet Dreams
Harry clambered back to his compartment moments later to find Ron and Malfoy awake and talking to Hermione and Neville. His eyes darted from Ron's to Malfoy's hands and he could see that the rings that Malfoy had bought for them were ever- present on their intertwined fingers. He averted his eyes from them as he sat and turned to look at Hermione.
"What were you guys talking about?" he asked them, not really wanting to know the answer but trying to cover the fact that he had been gone longer than necessary.
"Well, we were all trying to decide on a week to get together during the summer." Hermione answered smiling. "What do you think about it."
Harry sat next to Neville and crossed one leg over the other. He smiled widely around at all of them, his eyes resting on Draco before answering. "Maybe we can try in July, around my birthday."
"Oh, that's a great idea. We can all get together and celebrate. How does that sound to you?" Hermione asked looking at Draco.
Draco broke the gaze he had been holding with Harry and looked around to face Hermione. "Yeah, that should be just fine. I'll have to clear it with my father first though…"
Ron squeezed his hand nervously so Draco looked around at him before finishing his sentence. "…Though it shouldn't be a problem because he doesn't know about us yet and I have no intentions to tell him…yet." He added offhandedly.
The grip on his hand lessened as Ron relaxed. They had already discussed together the fact that their parents may not be as happy about their friendship as they were, and even more unhappy when they found out their son's were gay, but Ron had brushed their anxiety aside during their last few days at school, but the reality of the situation was at hand and he couldn't ignore it any longer.
Hermione saw the look that passed between the two of them and she knew their concerns. "Does your mother know that you were raped, Ron?" Hermione asked.
Ron turned a sullen face in her direction and nodded. Dumbledore had sent word the day after it happened. They had wanted to come up to see him, but he had told them not to. It was embarrassing enough being raped by a drugged friend and to have his parents show up and cause a scene would have made it even worse.
"Do they know that you're gay?" Hermione asked seeing no better time than the present to ask these question.
"No, they don't. But I plan on telling them when I get home." Ron grimaced, his face turning pale as he thought about the conversation to come.
Neville stood and sat beside Ron and patted him on the back. "They'll understand, you'll see," he murmured. Ron grimaced at him and squeezed Draco's hand again.
"Well, at least the Dursley's could care less is I'm gay or not," laughed Harry to break the uncomfortable silence. "I'm quite sure Dudley will think he'll have a better chance of beating me up than ever before."
They all laughed at this and nodded their heads. Hermione squeezed Harry's arm for reassurance.
"He wouldn't dare." She laughed. "You can legally use magic away from school now. That should give you some leverage."
Still grinning, Hermione pulled out a book and began reading it with Ginny, and Ron and Draco, sitting across from her lay in each others arms, their eyes closed as they both tried to get some last minute sleep. Neville exited the compartment as the sweets trolley made its appearance, which left Harry looking at the dossing duo. His eyes darted between the two of them as the plan that lay ahead clouded his mind.
His eyes glared at their intertwined fingers and the way Ron's head rested on Draco's shoulder. He seriously wanted to curse that calm grin on Draco's face to oblivion right then and there, but he was sure that that obvious display of hatred would convince everyone in compartment that he hadn't exactly adjusted to the fact that his best friend and his worse enemy were now together. And it would put a damper on the plan already underway to destroy their relationship. A plan that he was leader of. A plan he couldn't wait to see take its course.
"Are you okay Harry?" Hermione asked from his side. He turned from the sleeping pair and instead looked at Hermione who had a worried expression on her face. Ginny too was looking at him, her eyebrow raised suspiciously.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just daydreaming," Harry lied as the scowl that had been on his face disappeared easily to be replaced by a cool and collect smile.
He continued to grin until Hermione and Ginny returned to their book. He rolled his eyes as he rested his head on the side of the compartment.
If they only knew! He thought.
They all clambered from the train, bags in tow. Neville hastily called a good bye as he spotted his grandmother waving her hat at the platform's entrance. Hermione kissed both Ron and Harry on the cheek after finalizing the plans to get together on Harry's birthday. After saying her goodbyes she walked through the platform to join her waiting family.
Harry left soon after though he hugged Ron before he left. Ron's face blushed crimson as he watched Harry depart.
Ron took a little longer than unusual getting his things together to meet his family. Draco had had to go to the front of the train to retrieve his things, there hadn't been any room in their compartment; and Ron wanted to say a quick goodbye before they departed. It would be quite a while before they saw each other again and this would be the perfect time to chance a last minute kiss before they went their separate ways.
Ginny pulled her trunk from the train in front of him. She hugged a friend and said goodbye as she walked to stand beside him.
"Mom and Dad are here." She pointed toward them. Mrs. Weasley was waving in their direction smiling, and Mr. Weasley was watching the happy students. "Ron, are you coming?" she asked as she hoisted her bag from the ground.
"Yeah, tell them I'm coming," he said to her as she went to join their parents. Ron's eyes scanned the throng of students climbing from the train talking eagerly with each other and saying their goodbyes.
"Where is he?" Ron whispered as he bent to fix the clasp on his bag for the fifth time while keeping an eye out for Draco. Maybe he's already gone and I've missed him, Ron thought as he searched the crowd of students a final time.
And there in the distance was Draco talking to his father who looked as if he's spent the entire school year spending pounds of galleons on ugly suits and hair grease. He knew he shouldn't bring attention to himself seeing as Lucius' distaste ran deeper for his family than any hate he'd witnessed his entire life. He instead stood silently and watched as Draco grabbed his bags and follow his father to the archway with his eyes downcast. They passed right by him not seeing him through the crowded station and only when Lucius stuck his nose up in the air at his family and stepped through the platform did Draco start looking around. Ron's face brightened as he made his way toward his family. "Hi Mom," Ron called more to get Draco's attention then anything. Draco's eyes locked with his and he grin. "Bye," he mouthed smiling in Ron's direction. Ron nodded his head and grinned as well before being pulled into a bone crushing hug by his mother. When he finally resurfaced Draco was gone.
Turning back to the smiling faces around him, he followed his family through the platform and home.
Ron collapsed on his bed two hours after returning home. His mother had wanted to make sure that he was all right, the rape that happened several months before being foremost in her mind. She questioned him until his voice was barely audible and when she had run out of questions he took the opportunity to silently make his way to his room.
After locking his door with his wand, he lay on his stomach, face pressed against the covers. No matter how hard he tried to block out the butterflies in his stomach, he couldn't. He still had to sit down with his parents one day during the summer and tell them that he was gay; a discussion that he'd been dreading since realizing that he was.
He knew that they probably wouldn't treat him any differently. They hadn't to Percy; not saying he was gay, but they all had their suspicions.
Smiling as this thought took some of the nervousness away, Ron rolled over onto his side as Draco entered his mind. He hadn't seemed very enthusiastic about leaving with his father. Who could blame him though? His father was the nastiest wizard besides you-know-who. Draco knew that Ron worried about him when they were apart. They both hadn't exactly had a very smooth year so being apart from each other for even a small period of time worried both of them.
Ron loved the way Draco's searched for him when in a crowd. Not that Ron would intentionally hide from him, but he did like to watch as Draco scurried everywhere, his eyes squinted in concentration and nerve, and when he finally laid eyes on him, the anxiety in his face would fall away and the rigidity in his muscles would loosen as he swept Ron into his arms.
They wouldn't be able to be together unless he got up the nerve to tell his mother and father the truth. One being that he was friends with his father arch rival's son, and another was that he was in love with him. He'd do it…eventually.
Ron closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. He hoped that he'd be able to get at least two hours of sleep before his mother came knocking.
Author Note: I know you guys were wondering if I ever was going to update. I had this chapter written for about 3 months and I just never posted it. I'm happy though, because I've changed a lot of stuff. It's short but I didn't want to rush too many things. I think from this point on I'll post short chapters rather than really long ones because there will be several things happening at the same time and I'll be jumping back and forth between Harry's storyline to Ron's until they eventually merge somewhere in the middle. That's all I'm saying about that for now. I know you're dying to know what Harry, Parvati and her gang are up to. The whole next chapter will be about them. That's the plan anyway. Keep an eye out for that chapter and please review this one!
Savvy