When Snow Melts

~When Snow Melts~

Summary:
...What does it become? Harry and Draco fight, fight, fight, and find eachother by mistake. Prophesies are uncovered and the line between love and hate is crossed hesitantly.

Pairing(s): Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione in later chapters
Rating: NC-17 or so. This is not a lighthearted tale. Sex will be involved, drug use is also involved, if you count potion-taking as a drug. XP Death might be included as well, but not Draco or Harry\'s.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything created by J. K. Rowling.
Warnings: M/M, Slash, Anal, Oral, MPreg implied, Pre-HBP for convenience issues, Drama

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Chapter Three: Secrets
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The next day in the Great Hall, Harry was using his fork to push his food around in a tired manner while keeping an ear on Ron\'s complaining to the increasingly curious Hermione.

They both didn\'t seem to notice his silence, nor did they ask about how his first night of detention went. And while Harry didn\'t expect much out of Ron, afterall they did have a bit of an argument the previous night, he had waited for Hermione to hold a round of 20 questions, and that was only if he was lucky. Twenty is, afterall, not that huge of a number when it comes to Hermione.

Either way, he wasn\'t up to it, but the apparent silent treatment he was receiving wasn\'t exactly welcomed with opened arms, either.

\"I haven\'t been feeling myself lately,\" Ron groaned with exhaustion that rivaled Harry\'s. Hermione scooted closer to Ron, a look of interest on her face. \"How did it go? You know, with Harry..\"

She spoke as if he wasn\'t sitting a foot from her. Harry poked harshly at his defenseless food.

\"I..don\'t really recall.\" He wailed, tossing his fork with more force than what was necessary to place it on his plate. The loud clink ricocheting off the walls if the other students were quiet enough to hear it. The voices were like a steady buzz, however, so no one really did hear anything.

Hermione looked even more worried, if possible. Before turning to glare at Harry, finally acknowledging his existence. \"Harry, please.. tell us what happened between you and Ron last night.\"

Harry flinched at the sudden announcement of his name when it was directed at him. He knew she expected a response, and for that he groaned. \"He just wouldn\'t tell me what was going on, so I lost my temper.\"

Ron\'s eyes flashed suddenly, as if recalling it all, though there was a big chunk he was leaving out as he uttered angrily, \"Yeah, that\'s right! Harry caused a huge scene, shouting at me and giving me a death glare like he was going to try to punch a hole through me!

I was...going to tell him something...but he threw a fit, so I left!\" Some of it seemed blurry, but he managed to recount the details to the best of his scrambled knowledge. Harry had noticed Ron\'s obvious explanation being directed to Hermione and not himself, though he was sitting right here in front of him.

\"Would you mind not pretending as if I\'m not here, Ron?\" Harry stared evenly, thumb grinding over the edge of the fork\'s handle. Hermione let out a sigh. \"Enough, you two. I\'ve heard all I need to for now.\"

With that, she stood up and left the great hall, having finished what she wanted to eat for breakfast and wanting to get an early start on her classes.

Taking a glance around the Great Hall, Harry spotted Malfoy, his insides churning with anger as he was reluctantly forced to recall the night he just underwent. As if on cue, Malfoy caught Harry\'s glare and stood from the Slytherin table, stalking towards him. \"Oh great,\" Harry sighed.

Malfoy smirked to Harry, walking by his table purposefully and whispering something unintelligible before fading off into the distance of the hall, leaving it entirely as he left through the door on the end.

\"Bloody Malfoy.\" Harry spat, before Ron turned to look at him, the same look he wore the night before causing Harry to grow enraged once again. \"Stop looking at me like that, Ron! I don\'t want to hear another word about last night, okay?!\"

But this was not to be, Ron narrowed his eyes and spoke quietly so that only he and Harry could hear while leaning in closer, \"You didn\'t let me talk to you last night, Harry.\"

Said boy groaned in defeat. \"Fine, FINE. What do you want, Ron? What is it you saw? If anything..\" he added, showing disbelief.

Ron suddenly looked down, almost shamefully. \"It\'s Malfoy..\"

Harry fought very hard not to shout, I KNOW IT\'S ABOUT MALFOY NOW GET ON WITH IT, but decided against it, wanting once and for all to know what Ron was so insistent upon sharing. \"What about him? What were you trying to get me to see in Malfoy during Potions?\"

Ron gave a half-smile and blushed, \"I just wanted you to notice him.\"

\"What?\" Breathed Harry, confusion invading him from head to toe.

\"You don\'t know much about him, really. You should try to get to know him better..I saw a book once and it said that it was imperative to know one\'s enemies. So, I think you should.\"

Disregarding Ron\'s form of speech or the fact that he would even read a book like that, Harry frowned. \"How do you suppose I go about doing that? Malfoy doesn\'t let anybody in that thick skull of his, you know that.\"

Before Ron could elaborate, Harry pressed on, \"I mean, I\'ve thought about it before...a long time ago...wanted to get him to see that purebloods and halfbloods and muggleborns and...you get the picture, they are all no different. He is as far from open-minded as one can possibly get. I\'m not even going to attempt it.\" Harry muttered toward the end of his explanation, eyes lowered to study the table, fingers running across it gently.

Ron was listening closely before speaking tentatively, \"Harry, maybe you\'re the one with the thick skull.\" Harry suddenly looked back up to Ron, noticing a flicker of a change in his expression. A sudden intense blush crossed his red-haired friend\'s face and Harry worried his lower lip in thought. \"Why do you think that..?\"

\"Think what?\" Ron looked flabbergasted. \"That...hold on.\" He studied Ron\'s face for a few more moments before smiling softly, nervously. \"What are you trying to tell me, Ron?\"

Ron turned his face away, snorting indignantly. \"Nothing at all!\" After a moment\'s pause... \"Was I?\" Harry laughed outloud. \"Go on. Explain.\"

\"Er..\" Ron scratched at the back of his neck, eyeing his best mate worriedly, \"What was I saying now? I.. um, sort of lost track of myself.\" Harry raised a brow, looking mischievous and very similar to his father.

\"You were telling me what you were trying to tell me last night.\"

That seemed to have done it. Ron gasped softly, scanning the room for listeners before muttering in a hushed tone, \"Keep your voice down, Harry! I can\'t believe I told you.\" He seemed quite flustered and Harry couldn\'t help but feel curious as to why. Obviously he didn\'t want to talk amidst a crowd.

\"Come on.\" He stood, grabbing Ron by the arm and tugging firmly.

***
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***

They finally stopped after entering the boy\'s dormitory. Harry turned to look at Ron expectantly, settling down on his bed. \"We\'re alone now..you can tell me.\" Harry announced softly.

Ron sat down on the opposite bed, looking to Harry remorsefully. \"I don\'t think I want to tell you anymore.\" He looked like he was going to be sick. Harry nodded slowly before walking to his friend and smiling down at him, shyly.

Ron stared back into Harry\'s eyes, frozen on the spot. \"It\'s hard for me to say this, too.\" Harry muttered. Ron stood up suddenly, pushing Harry away and walking to the window. \"Harry, don\'t say anything..I\'m going to throw up.\"

\"But..I know already, Ron. What you are trying to tell me.\" Ron glanced over his shoulder, nothing short of terror written on his face.

\"You couldn\'t possibly know this.\"

Harry grinned playfully, another reminiscent expression of his father.


\"You wanted to do something bad to Malfoy.\"

\"Oh, Harry, I...WHAT?\" Ron spun around to stare at Harry incredulously.

Harry smirked and took a step closer to him. \"Wouldn\'t that be nice?\" He whispered, \"Do something to get revenge once and for all? Maybe a crazy hex or something.\" Harry chuckled and Ron looked more terrified than before.

\"Harry, you\'ve lost it... what did Malfoy do to you last night in detention?\"

Harry finally came to grips and snarled in a very Slytherin-like manner. \"I can\'t stand him, Ron. He kept me with him for three bloody hours! Talking to me like I was a child and leaving me with no choice but to wish pain on him. So much of it...\" Harry trailed off, realizing he was getting carried away once more.

Ron just stared as if he didn\'t want to take his eyes off of Harry, for safety reasons.

\"But, if that wasn\'t it,\" Harry had the decency to flush at the exposure of his dark secret, \"What did you want to tell me?\"

Ron simply shook his head, \"Nothing. Nothing at all.\" Harry\'s brows furrowed in quiet inquiry.

\"I\'m going to go find Hermione now,\" Ron announced, not waiting for a response before leaving the dormitory and Harry standing alone. It had been a close call and he realized he didn\'t want his secret getting out so early.

***
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***

The day was dull, the classes monotonous, Harry found himself counting down the hours to escape his schedule, only to remember his detention with Malfoy. His insides boiled at the unwanted thought. He had no time for himself anymore.

\"Oh Harry, I forgot to ask you,\" Hermione stepped into his space, talking under her breath as they walked side-by-side from Potions to Gryffindor tower. \"How did your detention with Malfoy go last night?\"

\"I really don\'t want to talk about it.\" Harry groaned, walking faster so that Hermione had to speed her pace to keep up with him. \"Nonsense, you can tell me.\"

\"No. I don\'t want to.\" Harry stated stubbornly through clenched teeth.

\"Fine, Harry. But just remember..Ron and I are here for you.\" As she turned to leave, Harry grabbed her by the arm. \"Hermione, I do have a question for you..I hope you\'re able to answer it.\" Her expression changed drastically.

\"Oh really? What is it?\"

Harry took a moment to smile genuinely at her willingness to help him, \"It\'s about Ron, actually..do you know what it is he wants to tell me?\"

Hermione wrinkled her nose in distaste. \"I do, actually.\" Harry looked pleased.

\"Could you tell me, \'Mione, please?\" Hermione crossed her arms and studied him for a moment before sighing heavily, a sign of her giving in against her own morals. \"Okay, but follow me. This isn\'t something a person can announce with sonarus!\" She declared with a hint of a smile on her face, leading him to a deserted corridor.

Harry took in his surroundings suspiciously, making sure no one was around before staring pointedly at Hermione. \"Okay, so what is it that Ron feels he can\'t tell me?\" Hermione caught the slight sadness in his words, feeling perhaps that his best mate couldn\'t tell him something.

\"Oh, Harry..you just don\'t see it like I do. Like he does,\" she added, looking toward the wall instead of in Harry\'s eyes. He watched her, wondering if this was some information that affected her just as much as it did him, the hesitation seemed to prove that.

\"Yes?\" Harry asked quietly, growing a little afraid himself of the answer.

Hermione looked upset, tears filled her eyes as she turned to stare directly at Harry before saying outloud, despite her former wishes of wanting to remain deathly quiet about it. \"Ron likes you!\"

Harry was silent for several moments, the only sounds filling the corridor were Hermione\'s frequent sniffles. Harry didn\'t even realize he was holding his breath.

\"He... what?\" Harry whispered after what seemed to be an eternity.

Just then they both heard Ron, calling for them. Hermione looked startled and tried to hide her tears immediately. Harry looked around, trying frantically to pinpoint where he was coming from. Taking one last look at Hermione, he felt he should be brave for her and he took off, calling Ron\'s name in return.

Hermione whispered harshly for Harry to come back, but seeing as how he was already quite far from her by now and that she really didn\'t want to be questioned about being seen in an empty corridor with Harry and tears in her eyes, took off in the opposite direction, making her way cautiously to Gryffindor tower to get ready for bed.

Harry really didn\'t want to see Ron so suddenly after hearing such life-changing information, but he had no choice but to be brave for Hermione. Well, it was only the right thing to do, afterall.

Ron was coming toward him now and it took all of Harry\'s power not to turn and run in the opposite direction. \"Harry, I have to tell you something..it can\'t wait a second longer.\" He stated firmly, flushing from head to toe. Harry shook his head, only knowing he had to get out of this.

\"Harry, I...\" Ron began, Harry\'s eyes widened.

\"Not here!\" He exclaimed, his stomach leaping into his throat and he felt like he was going to throw up all over. \"But, I have to. You don\'t understand.\"

Harry bit his tongue from saying, \'No, it\'s you who doesn\'t understand\', but thought better of it. \"Ron, I really don\'t have time right now..I have detention with Malfoy, remember?\"

That seemed to have got him. \"Oh, right. Well then, can we talk when you get back?\" Harry was pleased to say the truth,

\"I honestly don\'t know when I\'m getting out. Malfoy can keep me as late as he wants, has the permission from Snape himself.\"

Ron looked bewildered at Harry\'s expression when he said this, it was strangely without resentment. \"Well, okay then...see you tomorrow...bye.\" And with that, Ron turned and nearly ran away. Harry sighed.

What was he going to do? Ron liked him.. as in \'like\' liked him. ...But Harry didn\'t feel the same. At the same time, he didn\'t want to hurt his friend\'s feelings.

Walking to his second detention with Malfoy, he thought about his predicament and wanted to give up. Why did all this have to happen to him? And he was sure that Hermione had looked heartbroken at the information. He had known Hermione liked Ron for a while now, but didn\'t say anything, thinking Ron liked her back and they had to work out their own problems together.

How very wrong he was...

Feeling lost, Harry ran into Malfoy, who was standing outside the classroom, waiting. \"You took long enough, Potter.\" He spat, \"And you didn\'t even look where you were going. We\'ll have to work on that, too.\" A sneer was given before he spun around and entered \'his\' classroom, waiting for Harry to join him. He\'d been waiting for this all day...

***
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***

First thing out of \'Professor Malfoy\'s mouth upon entering his classroom was a boastful, \"Do you see what I\'m wearing, Potter?\"

Harry, compelled to look, did so, making a face of displeasure. \"Oh, I know you\'re jealous, Potter.. that is why I\'m going to start assigning homework, and the first thing you must know is, coming to my class means there\'s a dress code.\" Harry looked completely disgusted.

\"Surely you can\'t expect me to try and teach someone who wears nothing but those \'rags\' you insist on calling \'clothing\'.\" Malfoy elaborated before handing out a sheet. \"You made a parchment notice for this!?\" Harry shouted, incredulously, unable to handle it anymore.

\"Yes, why...are you surprised?\" Harry didn\'t say another word, but ground the parchment in his fist angrily.

\"Now, now, Potter, don\'t be so rough on things.\" At Harry\'s silence, Malfoy continued, \"For tonight\'s lesson, we will be focusing on cultivating a real potion! Are you up to the challenge?\" He spoke to Harry in a very condescending tone, making sure he felt like he was being treated as completely inferior.

Harry still did not respond. Malfoy\'s eyes narrowed. \"Now, Potter, how am I supposed to teach someone who doesn\'t even give me feedback on how they\'re understanding what I\'m teaching. I might as well give up trying to get you to learn a thing.\"

\"Go right ahead.\" Harry ground out through his teeth, glaring heatedly at his rival. Malfoy snorted. \"No need to get testy with me. Now get out the ingredients I\'ve listed on the chalkboard.\"

Harry grumbled as he set about gathering the written supplies. Once collected, he went to sit at his desk, his cauldron empty, except for the softly boiling water. Malfoy had been preparing, Harry noted, wondering for a fleeting moment if he really did want to help him with his Potions, but quickly shoved this thought out of his mind. It wasn\'t like a Malfoy to help others, this was only to get a rise out of him, his enemy. Yes, that\'s all it was.

\"Okay, I\'ll give you instructions, but pay attention, because you\'ll be making this potion on the last day with me on your own completely. If you don\'t succeed perfectly, I will inform Snape and convince him of getting you to spend another week with me.\" He smirked, causing Harry to growl.

Draco shook his head at the sound. \"You\'re such an unrefined beast.\" Harry stopped growling and Malfoy spoke up. \"Cut that, peel that, pour two teaspoons of that,...\" He went on and on, Harry scribbling down instructions feverishly and trying to see where Malfoy was pointing until the instructions stopped.

Harry looked up expectantly, waiting for more, but more did not come. \"Is that all?\" He asked, sarcastically. Malfoy looked sincerely to Harry and nodded. \"Yes, that\'s it.\" Harry sputtered.

\"Well? Get going. I\'ll be here if you need my help, and I encourage you to take full advantage of this offer because, as I said before, I won\'t be giving you any amount of assistance whatsoever on your last day with me.\"

Harry groaned, \"Then.. help me on this.\"

\"What, already?\" Malfoy choked, having began to take a drink from a butterbeer he figured he deserved for all his hard work as a \'teacher\'.

Harry suppressed a growl as Malfoy strode over to his side, taking a look down at his untouched work and scribbly, unreadable notes. \"Goodness, Potter..one would think the boy-who-lived would be able to write, in the very least.\" Harry growled then, \"Well, Malfoy, you pompous git, you do it then! I\'ll watch you, then try it on my own, how\'s that?!\"

Draco stared at Harry for several moments, his expression nothing short of viscous, Harry wondered if he overstepped his boundaries and hoped he didn\'t get himself into more trouble than this was worth. \"Whatever happened to \'Professor Malfoy\'?\" He prodded, Harry nearly fell over in his chair.

\"Is that all you were glaring about? Ridiculous!\" Harry was on the edge now, compressing his anger seemed to only bottle it up, and he felt his bottle was ready to burst any moment.

\"Fine,\" Malfoy sighed, and pushed Harry out of his seat, letting him fall to the floor like he nearly did a moment before. \"Watch me, Potter.\"

***
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Four hours that night was spent so far with Malfoy, they worked closely, arguments shared, mistakes made. Unfortunately, they hadn\'t accomplished much in four hours. Malfoy pressed that he wanted Harry to spend the night, making Harry gape at him. \"You can\'t keep me for the night, Malfoy! I need sleep, too, just as much as you do.\"

\"Snape never said I had to let you go. If it was my wish, I could keep you until Saturday morning and no one would say a word.\" Harry glared.

\"Yeah, until Snape tries to hold a class in here and we\'re already in it.\"

Ignoring Harry\'s comment, Malfoy decided to commence with his plan, which he had Severus go along with, telling him it was for another reason entirely. His father, though, knew better. \"Potter.\"

\"Hm?\" Harry responded, looking over the work they had done. He had almost memorized all of the ingredients by now, though whenever he would ask, Malfoy would tell him the potion was a surprise, and if concocted correctly, then he would get to know what it was.

\"I want to show you something.\"

Harry looked curiously to Malfoy, this was suspiscous. \"I don\'t think so, Malfoy..I will not be caught up learning your dark arts.\" At Malfoy\'s silence, Harry pressed on,

\"Yeah, that\'s right. I know you\'re into them. Just as your father is, and Snape as well.\"

Malfoy shook his head. \"You don\'t know what you\'re talking about, Potter. Snape is innocent.\"

\"And what about your father, or more importantly, you?\" Harry didn\'t know why he stated Malfoy as being the more important, perhaps because he was still young with a lot of skill being developed- perhaps because he was stuck in a room with him, condemned to act on his every whim. Yes, that was it.

Malfoy merely smirked at Harry\'s accusation. \"I\'m not exactly innocent, am I?\" His expression looked more mischievous than anything though, and when Harry started to question him further, Malfoy stood from the desk beside him that he had finally resigned in sitting while they were working together, walked to the front of the class and took his beloved seat upon Snape\'s desk once again.

\"I discovered something...a prophesy.\"

Harry had to strain to hear him, his voice inaudible as he whispered from far away. \"A..prophesy.\" Harry repeated, if only to make sure he heard correctly.

\"That\'s right.\" Before Harry could question his choice of words again, though, Malfoy slid off the desk and stalked closer to Harry, speaking in his same low tones. \"It\'s about you and I, actually.\"

Harry looked surprised. \"I didn\'t know there was one about the two of us.\" A smile spread across his face, showing genuine humor. \"Does it say we\'ll kill eachother?\"

Malfoy, however, didn\'t look amused, keeping up his act of being completely serious, just as if it were a true prophesy. \"No. It says we\'ll become close.\"

Harry gawked for a moment before Malfoy reached out, tipping Harry\'s jaw shut with two fingers. \"Stop that.\" And he mumbled something about him being \'so unrefined\' followed by a reprimanding click of the tongue.

Harry shook his head, unbelieving for a moment before glancing back up at him. \"Where did you hear this?\" He whispered.

Malfoy wanted to laugh at the innocent expression in Harry\'s face. It looked as if he wanted to believe, but couldn\'t..considering the source. Though he could have very well been cursing the mere thought of such a prophesy existing.

\"From my father,\" he stated matter-of-factly, holding out the parchment with the obvious writing scratched into it. Harry read it in silence before looking back up at Malfoy. He didn\'t want to say it, but it sounded like a prophesy for two people to become more than friends, which creeped him out just a bit.

\"That could never happen,\" Harry said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back into his desk.

\"So very doubtful, you.\" Malfoy shook his head. Harry looked stunned.

\"You mean you\'re willing to try and be..\" The words caught in his throat. Malfoy smirked, \"Close to you? Don\'t be disgusting, Potter.\" He took his seat next to Harry and sighed heavily.

\"But it does make you think, doesn\'t it?\"

Harry was silent, thinking just as Malfoy figured it would make him do. \"Yeah..\" He replied after a long moment.

Malfoy wondered what would be the best way to go about with his aforementioned plan. \"You want to try and be civil with me?\" He questioned, hoping that was the best way he could have said it.

Harry looked over to Malfoy, a smirk to rival the Slytherin\'s planted on his face, \"Don\'t be disgusting, Malfoy.\"

Draco blanched, \"Don\'t steal from me, you disgrace for a wizard.\"

Harry chuckled, \"This is never going to work.\" The irony was what made him see humor, not the words said to him.

\"You\'ve got to make it work, Harry.\" He offered his hand. \"And I\'m Draco Malfoy, by the way, nice to meet you.\" Though by the tone of his voice, one would never be able to tell he was trying to be nice in the least. And in truth, he wasn\'t. This was all a plan.

Harry looked suspicious, but took Draco\'s offered hand anyway, shaking it once, firmly, before letting go. \"Nice to meet you, too, Draco.\" The name felt foreign on his tongue and he had to bite it or he felt he would say something vile. And vile just doesn\'t work when you\'re trying to make that person your friend.

Deep inside Harry, he really didn\'t want to try and make \'friends\' with Malfoy, but decided to play along until he gave up, he expected Malfoy would be the first to cave and admit the idea and prophesy were stupid. He hoped it wouldn\'t be long before they could call it off.

There was something though, nagging at him in the back of his mind that he felt he had to ask about. \"I did notice something about that so-called \'prophesy\' though.\"

Draco looked at Harry from under one raised eyebrow. \"Well,\" Harry started, \"First of all, there was no signature. Who saw this prophesy?\" Draco bit his lower lip, trying not to laugh as Harry continued, \"Second of all, and this might sound a bit strange, but...\" He looked down at the desk with the messed up ingredients and listened to the soft boiling of the cauldron before speaking up, quietly. \"I noticed at the bottom..there was a question.\"

Draco sat up straighter and looked alarmingly at Harry, remaining silent. \"When snow melts, what does it become?\" He let the question hang in the air as Draco studied his face intently.

// Damn it all to hell! // thought Draco, //..he\'s not supposed to see that. Only Slytherins are supposed to.... // His track of thought flew off a cliff at that moment, spinning perilously to a sharp and unwanted close. It couldn\'t be. \"Harry...\" he began, but couldn\'t even find the right words to say what was on his mind. He needed to think, yes, that was it.

Harry glanced up from the desk. \"Yes?\" Draco put on a sneer and stood up briskly. \"Detention ends here, be here tomorrow, eight o\' clock pm sharp.\" Harry looked puzzled, but did as he was told. Walking out without another word to Draco.

Once alone, the blonde slid to the floor, biting at the palm of his hand to keep from crying out in confusion and anguish. It just couldn\'t be!

That prophesy, though supposedly not true for he and Harry, was very true for he and another. The name Harry Potter wasn\'t actually on the parchment at all, and it was charmed by his father so that only Slytherins could see the question at the bottom. It was a riddle. If the person who could see it, a Slytherin, of course, answered the question correctly, then that was the person he was destined to end up with.

But Harry.. he\'d been able to see the prophesy that would have eluded any other Gryffindor. The reason Harry even believed it was directed toward him was because the words stated animosity and troubled times, rivals with complications toward eachother, overcoming obstacles to reach eachother.

In other words, a bunch of bullshit that would be involved with any Slytherin, since they\'re all wicked, throwing arguments at eachother and being as untrustworthy as any two rivals. Harry had bought that it was intended for his and Draco\'s friendship. But now..there may be more to it than he first realized.

This was something Draco couldn\'t get his head around and he fitfully came to the conclusion that he needed to sleep on this before thinking into it any longer. After all, he and Harry had spent a 5 hour detention and he couldn\'t possibly stay awake another minute without losing tons of precious beauty sleep.

Making his way to his dormitory, Draco sped along, reaching his bed and throwing the hangings back, he collapsed in the bed, pulled the sheets atop him and let sleep claim him in a hurry. He tossed and turned in his sleep, the unwanted prophesy filling his dreams.. which, in his case, turned abruptly into nightmares.

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To Be Continued...
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AN: Okay, there\'s chapter three.

I want to first thank everyone for reviewing. They really mean a lot to me, so much so that I went about writing up a new chapter right away. So thank you all so much.

So, Harry and Draco are getting \'closer\', but they blatantly don\'t want to be. And poor Ron, crushing on Harry like that.

I dropped a lot of really obvious hints about \'certain things\' I think you\'ll notice them immediately. Like Draco\'s first steps in his plan to get Harry to trust him. You have noticed poor Ron was the victim in that, don\'t you? Heh, poor Ron. He was never actually persuading Harry to notice Draco or to want to learn more about him, I\'m sure you know who really did that. XD

And on top of that, Ron really did have feelings for Harry. And now his memory is all messed up, he doesn\'t remember a lot of pieces in his and Harry\'s conversations, of course because some of those moments were inhabited by \'someone else\'. Again, I\'m only being too obvious here. It\'s okay if you all know this, it doesn\'t ruin the story in the least.

This will eventually become Draco/Harry, I know you know this, but I feel like I need to remind you. (I need to remind myself) They seem to really despise one another, but I\'m sure it will happen sooner or later that they\'ll \"hesitantly cross the line between love and hate\" as the summary goes.. I \'go with the flow\' so this all just..comes out. I have a lot of things planned, but not everything.

Okay, now that I\'ve talked forever, leave reviews if you please and check back for chapter four, which should be out later today... but I haven\'t started writing it yet, so who knows.

And if you\'ve figured out the Ron/Draco thing, re-read the parts of Harry\'s and Ron\'s conversations and see if you can figure out what \"someone else\" is actually telling Harry. ^_^;


A DETAILED EXPLANATION!:

I guess I thought I was being really obvious, but it looks like I confuse people. ^^; I do that a lot, actually.
My mind must work strangely. I\'m really sorry.. So this will just be an explanation of all things that happened so far that I think you should know about. A\'hem.. here goes:


:The whole Ron/Draco thing:

Draco has Ron under Imperius from time to time, trying to see how Harry truly sees him and trying to get him to notice Draco and that he\'s not all that bad. Of course, this only confuses Harry, thinking it was his best friend who normally despises Draco telling him that.

Yes, I can see where that would confuse you. I apologize again.

Maybe with these pointers, I can make it all fit into place.

The first time we notice Ron is under an imperius curse is this scene:

- \"It\'s Malfoy...look at \'im.\" Ron\'s face was void of the usual flustered expressions he got whenever Malfoy was the subject. Harry noted the strangeness in this before he was shoved again to follow through with Ron\'s command. -

Well, people under imperio seem to be blank a lot of the times, don\'t they? Ron was under this curse from that point on, until late in this scene, when Ron tries to tell Harry about Malfoy (er, himself), and gets snapped at. There is another clue that Ron is under the influence, so to speak, in this scene:

- He let his hands grasp the back of Harry\'s chair as he peered down to him, serious expression demanding his attention and it was only now that Harry realized Ron\'s eyes were eerily blank.. devoid of all emotion. -

And, of course, when he comes back to being Ron for the rest of the scene...

-Ron backed away from Harry\'s anger-spouting face as soon as he regained control of himself, his face was bright red with anger and a mixture of something else as he pulled his hands away from where they were close to Harry\'s fist, locking his own furious eyes onto Harry\'s, trembling slightly. \"Fine then! See if I tell you anything again.\" Before Harry could throw back an angry retort of: \"You didn\'t tell me anything to begin with!\" Ron was already walking away, into the boy\'s dormitory.-

Well, Ron was going to tell Harry he liked him, and he doesn\'t remember if he had or not... since so many of his puzzle pieces seem to be missing. You can see he\'s confused and lost about his memories in this scene...

-\"I haven\'t been feeling myself lately,\" Ron groaned with exhaustion that rivaled Harry\'s. Hermione scooted closer to Ron, a look of interest on her face. \"How did it go? You know, with Harry..\"

\"I..don\'t really recall.\" He wailed, tossing his fork with more force than what was necessary to place it on his plate.-

And this...

- \"He just wouldn\'t tell me what was going on, so I lost my temper.\"

Ron\'s eyes flashed suddenly, as if recalling it all, though there was a big chunk he was leaving out as he uttered angrily, \"Yeah, that\'s right! Harry caused a huge scene, shouting at me and giving me a death glare like he was going to try to punch a hole through me!

I was...going to tell him something...but he threw a fit, so I left!\" Some of it seemed blurry, but he managed to recount the details to the best of his scrambled knowledge.-


And here\'s a clue as to who is using the imperius on Ron...

-Malfoy smirked to Harry, walking by his table purposefully and whispering something unintelligible before fading off into the distance of the hall, leaving it entirely as he left through the door on the end.

\"Bloody Malfoy.\" Harry spat, before Ron turned to look at him, the same look he wore the night before causing Harry to grow enraged once again. \"Stop looking at me like that, Ron! I don\'t want to hear another word about last night, okay?!\"-


And the way \"Ron\" acts of course, isn\'t in his character. It\'s Draco speaking the times you think Ron has lost it. Such as in this scene...

-\"You don\'t know much about him, really. You should try to get to know him better..I saw a book once and it said that it was imperative to know one\'s enemies. So, I think you should.\"

Disregarding Ron\'s form of speech or the fact that he would even read a book like that, Harry frowned. \"How do you suppose I go about doing that? Malfoy doesn\'t let anybody in that thick skull of his, you know that.\" -


And here...

-He is as far from open-minded as one can possibly get. I\'m not even going to attempt it.\" Harry muttered toward the end of his explanation, eyes lowered to study the table, fingers running across it gently.

Ron was listening closely before speaking tentatively, \"Harry, maybe you\'re the one with the thick skull.\" -


Just after that, you can see Ron become himself again...


-Harry suddenly looked back up to Ron, noticing a flicker of a change in his expression. A sudden intense blush crossed his red-haired friend\'s face and Harry worried his lower lip in thought. \"Why do you think that..?\"

\"Think what?\" Ron looked flabbergasted. \"That...hold on.\" He studied Ron\'s face for a few more moments before smiling softly, nervously. \"What are you trying to tell me, Ron?\"

Ron turned his face away, snorting indignantly. \"Nothing at all!\" After a moment\'s pause... \"Was I?\" Harry laughed outloud. \"Go on. Explain.\"-


And of course the ending of that scene...


-\"Er..\" Ron scratched at the back of his neck, eyeing his best mate worriedly, \"What was I saying now? I.. um, sort of lost track of myself.\" Harry raised a brow, looking mischievous and very similar to his father.

\"You were telling me what you were trying to tell me last night.\"

That seemed to have done it. Ron gasped softly, scanning the room for listeners before muttering in a hushed tone, \"Keep your voice down, Harry! I can\'t believe I told you.\" He seemed quite flustered and Harry couldn\'t help but feel curious as to why. -

Okay, and from that point on, Ron has not been under the imperius! So you can relax knowing that he\'s himself for the rest of that chapter. ^_^

Again, you people, I\'m so sorry for confusing you all. I can get out of hand with my writing, leaving a lot of mysteries and puzzles. I really hope this shed some light on your bafflement for my poor skills to show what was going on.

Thank you for reading my story.
Tri