Mismatch

See Part I for Summary and Disclaimers

\"Have you gone soft in the head?\" Draco fumed.

Ron kept his eyes on Draco\'s wand hand for any fast moves.

\"No. Not at all,\" Ron said calmly.

\"Then obviously you\'ve gone barking mad if you think I want anything to do with you,\" Draco said with a nasty glint in his eye.

\"Who else would be willing to put up with you and your temper tantrums?\" Ron countered.

\"Sod off,racoraco said shortly. \"My life is ruined but, as of yet, isn\'t a total misery. Living with you would complete the wreck of my life as I know it.\"

Ron grinned.

\"Come down off your high horse, Malfoy,\" Ron said cuttingly. \"It won\'t be a picnic for me either with that stroppy attitude of yours,\" Ron continued.

As Draco grabbed for his wand, Ron\'s hand intercepted it.

\"Let go of me you barmy bugger,\" Draco hissed, his eyes quickly scanning the area to make sure no one was watching them.

Ron\'s hand continued to grip him tightly.

\"Not until you stop acting so daft,\" said Ron seriously.

\"Me? Daft? You\'re the one suggesting we live together. I detest you, remember?\" Draco said with a snort.

Ron felt a quick stab of hurt run through him.

\"That\'s the deal take it or leave it,\" Ron said firmly.

Draco felt trapped and angry.

\"Some choice,\" he said bitterly and tried to wrench his arm out of Ron\'s grip.

Ron retaliated by pulling Draco closer.

Draco\'s breath quickened. Ron, following his intuition, wrapped both arms around Draco and gently kissed him.

Draco froze.

Ron felt himself hardening just as he had that day in the corridor.

Ron leaned in again and nuzzled behind Draco\'s ear and then trailed kisses down the side of his neck.

Draco\'s hand came up and touched Ron\'s hair and then yanked it---hard.

\"Ouch, bloody hell that hurts,\" Ron cried out as he backed away.

Draco smirked.

\"Serves you right. I\'ll let you know when I want your grimy little hands on me...which is never, of course,\" Draco stuttered, realizing what he\'d been about to say. He must be losing what little was left of his mind. Hormones, apparently could be tricky little devils.

Ron grinned evilly and started to stalk towards his nemesis. Draco started to back away---slowly.

Click.

\"Great shot Ron, go get him,\" shouted Colin Creevey as he snapped more pictures.

Ron and Draco froze in position.

\"Don\'t let me stop you Ron, give that berk a good pounding,\" Colin said excitedly as he approached.

Draco flushed to the roots of his platinum hair. \"Finite Incantatum,\" whispered Draco disengaging the silencing charm.

\"Sod off, Colin,\" growled Ron.

Draco turned with a swirl of his robes and beat a hasty departure. Ron watched him go, more than a bit disappointed. Things had just begun to get interesting.

Colin quickly moved to Ron\'s side.

\"Coward,\" Colin said.

Ron, watching Draco\'s retreating back, turned and glared at Colin.

\"Give me that,\" he said, pulling the camera up over Colin\'s head.

\"What? Ron, give that back,\" Colin said nervously.

Ron opened the camera and pulled the magical film out.

\"Ron, you\'ve ruined it,\" Colin wailed. \"There were some great shots there, especially that last one of you and Malfoy,\" he said with a sniffle.

Ron patted Colin on the shoulder.

\"Sorry Colin, it\'s just that...we\'ve been asked to make an attempt to \'get on\' better with the Slytherins, and if someone saw this well, you know, they might get the wrong impression, do you see?\"

\"Oh alright, I guess I understand,\" Collin mumbled.

\"I\'ll replace the film for you when I\'m next in Hogsmeade,\" promised Ron.

As Colin wandered off in the direction of Hogsmeade, Ron thanked his lucky stars that Colin wasn\'t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Anyone else might have been suspicious finding Malfoy and himself involved in a tête-à-tête.

\'We\'ll have to find a reason to spend time together\' he thought. \'Something that won\'t provoke questions even from the nosiest Slytherins.\'

Ron walked slowly back towards Hogwarts with the beginnings of a brilliant idea.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

\"You want me to do what?\" said Professor Snape as his eyebrows shot towards the ceiling.

\"I want you to assign me Malfoy as a tutor,\" Ron said, squirming a bit in the hard chair that Snape allocated for students during office hours.

\"And why, pray tell, should I accede to your demand?\" Snape asked coolly.

\'Come on Snape I don\'t have time to muck about,\' thought Ron.

Ron dug his fingers into the sides of the chair and tried to keep calm.

\"I...we need to have a cover story,\" Ron began.

Professor Snape\'s yes narrowed incrementally.

\"Explain,\" he said shortly.

\"Malfoy has decided to keep the baby,\" Ron began.

\"Has he indeed?\" Snape said.

\"You sound surprised,\" said Ron.

\"I rather think I am. I was fairly certain that Draco would put his own best interests first,\" he continued. \"It is, after all, something of a Malfoy tradition,\" Snape said dryly.

Snape watched with interest as Ron bristled at the aspersion cast upon Malfoy\'s character. Interesting.

\"He\'s not Lucius Malfoy,\" Ron snapped.

\"Indeed,\" Snape replied.

\"Look we need your help. If I start spending time with Malfoy \'everyone\' will know something is up and Malfoy and I have agreed no one is to know about the baby until we have no other choice.\" Ron said in a rush.

\"Mr. Weasley, I assume you mean the student body and not the faculty,\" Snape countered.

At Ron\'s quizzical look, Snape sighed.

\"Even you Mr. Weasley cannot be so dense,\" he said sharply. Ron flushed but held his tongue. \"Poppy Pomfrey will need to monitor his pregnancy, the other faculty must be informed of Mr. Malfoy\'s condition to avoid any...problems.\"

\"Such as?\" Ron asked genuinely curious.

\"Professor Sprout might not wish to expose Draco to certain plants, Hagrid would be less likely to have him within kicking or biting distance of some dangerous beast, Trewlaney might be presumed upon to cut down on the clouds of incense she overwhelms her students with...need I go on?\" said Snape abruptly.

\"He won\'t be able to play Quidditch anymore,\" Ron said in a horrified voice.

Snape slapped a hand to his head in frustration.

\"Ah yes, the greatest tragedy of them all,\" he said sourly.

Ron shook his head.

\"He\'ll be badly missed by the Slytherin team, aside from Harry he\'s the best player at Hogwarts,\" Ron said absently.

Snape stared at Ron in astonishment.

\"But back on point Mr. Weasley,\" he said. \"Do go on with your \'reasoning\'\" Snape said in an acidic tone.

Ron snapped his attention back to the matter at hand.

\"Malfoy and I will need to talk---probably a lot over the next few months and I thought that if he was assigned to tutor me in Potions, well no one would make a fuss, do you see?\" Ron said.

Snape steepled his fingers and was silent for some minutes.

\"Very well I agree, but with conditions,\" Snape said tartly.

\"Name them,\" Ron said with great relief.

\"I will not have you use this \'situation\' with Mr. Malfoy to make a travesty of my Potions Classroom. You will indeed receive tutoring from Malfoy and, if your marks don\'t improve, I will immediately remove Mr. Malfoy as your tutor. Do you agree?\" said Snape watching Ron carefully.

\"Agreed.\" Ron said pleased that this had gone so well.

Snape smirked inwardly. \'Not so fast my boy\' he thought.

\"Tomorrow I will announce the tutoring pairings for the rest of the year,\" he said smoothly.

\"Pairings?\" Ron said apprehensively.

\"Don\'t you think it would be a bit chary looking if you and Mr. Malfoy were the only tutoring pair?\" said Snape as he began to drum his fingers on his desk.

\"Yours are not the only singularly dismal marks in that classroom, Mr. Weasley,\" said Snape with an evil smile. \"I\'ll let the class know that you were the inspiration for the new tutoring model,\" he said in almost gleeful fashion.

\'Oh crumb I knew the bastard would find a way to make me pay\' Ron thought sourly. \'My mates are going to kill me\'.

Snape watched Ron\'s face fall with some satisfaction. Some days, not often, but some he just loved his job.

tbc