Incurably Criminal

*


Draco refused to speak to Harry after that. He didn't allow themselves to be alone in a room together. Harry was just as angry with Draco. Although neither had any real recollection of why they had fought in the first place, each was sure the other was to blame. Ron had nearly given up trying to get Harry to tell him what was going on.

"Harry, why won't you tell me?" Ron asked, frustrated, one Saturday afternoon.

"It's none of your business, Ron," Harry replied coldly. Ron rolled his eyes and scowled. He'd been trying for weeks and neither party was inclined to reveal any of the details of the fight. Harry's nose had finally healed. It had been broken by Draco and had had to be reset. In turn, Draco's black eye was receding. Ron took it upon himself to figure out what was going on between the two.

"Come on, Harry," he whined. "I'm your best mate. If you can't tell me, what are you going to do?"

Harry just scowled at him instead. "I've already told you. Nothing is wrong. Leave me alone." Harry spoke in a low and dangerous voice as though explaining to a two year old. Ron rolled his eyes but dropped the subject, for now.

Over the next few days, nothing seemed to improve. Draco and Harry refused to talk to each other and Ron was not having any luck with either of them. He didn't understand what was going on and no one was saying anything.

About a week after "the incident", Ron had nearly given up on ever trying to understand. He needed some time to relax, so on Saturday night he went down to the local club to meet up with Seamus and Dean. He hadn't told Harry he was going due to his depressive and lashful nature as of late.

He entered the club and breathed a sigh of relief and contentment. His life had not been fun lately, and he was looking forward to a night of relaxation. He made his way over to the table where Seamus and Dean sat. They both greeted him cheerfully. Seamus looked behind Ron as though searching for someone.

"Hey, Ron, Where's Harry?" he asked curiously. Ron hardly ever went anywhere without Harry.

"He's being a prat. I couldn't take it anymore," Ron told them. Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Really? What did he do?" Dean asked. Ron rolled his eyes.

"He won't tell me what happened!" Ron exclaimed. Seamus and Dean exchanged a confused glance.

"Er...what? What are you talking about?" Seamus asked. Ron sighed and launched into the story of how Harry liked Draco, but then they had a fight, and now neither of them would tell him why. When he finished, Seamus had a surprised expression on his face, while Dean's eyebrows were furrowed as if in deep thought.

"What?" Ron asked Dean, clearly clueless.

"Well..." Dean started. "Sounds to me like it's not just Harry who's involved in this problem."

"I know! But Malfoy won't talk to me, are you kidding? He'd flay me alive if I tried that." Ron scowled.

"But it's so obvious!" Seamus exclaimed, finally coming out of his surprise and shock. They all turned to look at him and he grinned at them.

"What is obvious?" Ron asked.

"Has Harry ever loved anyone?"

"No, so...?"

"So, neither has Draco. They don't know what to do," Seamus explained patiently.

"What's there to do?!" Ron asked in frustration. Dean sighed and patted his arm to calm him down. Ron yanked away his arm and scowled at him. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Well, we can't do anything; they're going to have to fix it themselves."

"No," Ron said.

"No?" Seamus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Ron repeated. "I'm not going to spend all my time around 'the depressed' until they see fit to fix it. I'm going to do it."

"Oh, Ron. That's never going to work; it'll just make it worse."

"I don't care. I'm sick of this. I don't even know what happened!"

"And you probably won't ever find out but interfering is not going to help, trust me," Seamus told him earnestly. Ron shook his head in disbelief, his mind already made up.

"No, I am going to fix this. I'm tired of them being so silent! It's like a morgue in their room! It's creepy in there..." Ron shuddered and Dean and Seamus laughed.

"I really don't think this will work," Seamus said sincerely.

"I have to do something!"

"But why? It'll all work out in the end, won't it?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Ron said skeptically. "Because we all know how not stubborn Harry is. He'll give in to anything!"

Dean and Seamus shrugged in agreement. There was no denying that Harry was a stubborn one. He always refused to give in, and from what they had learned about Draco, he wasn't one to either.

"Well, it won't help to push the issue," Seamus said. Beside him, Dean nodded in agreement.

Ron scowled. "I don't care. I'm not going another week living in the ice zone."

***

Ron knew what he wanted to do. Despite Seamus' warnings and Dean's frown's of disapproval, he was determined to fix this. Harry was his best friend, and he was sick and tired of getting no answers when he asked questions.

He decided to take action a few days after his conversation in the club. He waited after Chemistry class and cornered Draco outside the door. Draco walked out and caught sight of Ron. He immediately scowled and turned to go in another direction. Ron cut him off with an arm held against the wall to prevent him from leaving. Draco glared at him.

"What, Weasel?" he drawled maliciously. Ron rolled his eyes at the reference.

"Look, Malfoy, I don't know what happened, but it's gotta stop." Ron stated the fact plain and simply. Draco scoffed and tried to push past Ron, but he held him back.

"Get the hell out of my way, Weasel," Draco snarled.

"Not until you tell me what happened," Ron said forcefully, determined to make some progress at least. Draco glared at him.

"And why would I do that? Because I always go around telling my secrets to random strangers whom I'd like to strangle?" Draco forcefully pushed Ron's arm from the wall so he could storm up the hallway.

"You might want to!" he called after him. He glared after him and rolled his eyes angrily. Fine, if the little prick wanted to be like that, let him be.

Draco stomped all the way to the library. When he reached the door, however, he realized he didn't want to go to the library. He turned instead and walked out the front doors. The guards were so useless. They were never at their posts and didn't do anything when kids snuck out.

Draco walked confidently down the front path and out of the gates protecting the school, or supposedly protecting the town from "those delinquents". Draco desperately wanted to forget everything, and where better to do that than the local bar! He walked down Main street and turned off another side street.

On the side of the road sat a rather old looking bar. The paint on the sign was chipping and peeling. Draco looked up at it and sighed. It would have to do, and it would for his purposes. He pushed the old squeaky doors opened and strode inside. There were very few people in, given that it was the middle of the day on a Tuesday.

Draco sat himself down at the bar and ordered a drink. The bartender didn't even glance twice at him and slid the drink down the bar. Draco took a drink and cringed at the taste but drank it anyway. He set it down and sighed, running his thumb over the handle.

He crossed his arms on the bar and laid his head down on them. He heard the chair next to him being pulled out and someone taking a seat. He didn't bother to look up and kept his head on his arms.

The person next to him ordered a drink and Draco heard it slide down the counter. There was the sound of the person picking up the glass and then setting it back down with a dull clunk.

"Having a bad day?" the stranger asked.

'A male,' Draco thought vaguely. He lifted his head slightly and turned towards the voice. A man in a dark coat with shaggy black hair and beard was looking at him. He couldn't see much more about the person, the dark hair covering most of his face, though his eyes seemed friendly.

"I suppose you could say that," Draco muttered, lifting himself up fully. The stranger smiled at him indulgently.

"Did the wife kick you out?" the stranger asked jokingly. Draco allowed himself a smile. Normally he wouldn't have thought of associating himself with such people, but he was too tired to think anymore, and this stranger had something about him that made Draco want to open up to him.

"More like I had a huge fight with a guy I like," Draco said, surprising even himself with how much he was willing to tell. The stranger looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

"Does he know you like him?" the stranger asked. Draco shrugged.

"In an off-beat sort of way. Our relationship is a little complicated."

"Explain it to me," the stranger offered.

"It's kind of long," Draco warned.

"I've got time," the stranger said. Draco looked at him in wonder. No one, besides Lucy, had ever said they wanted to listen to him, especially not a stranger. The stranger smiled at him and waited. Draco felt as though he was receiving a little push and launched into his story.

The stranger listened attentively to the whole tale of starting school and the relationship and how Draco did want more but couldn't articulate it. When Draco finished, the stranger sat in thoughtful silence. Draco sipped his drink and waited for him to say something. Finally, the stranger spoke up.

"You know what you need to do?" he said. Draco gave him a curious look and raised an eyebrow. "Tell him."

Draco scoffed. "If it was that easy, do you think I'd be here, drinking and telling my personal life to a complete stranger?" he asked scathingly. The stranger was not affected by the remark. Instead, he smiled warmly and gave the impression that he knew something Draco didn't.

"Just tell him what you want. From what you've told me, it seems as though he would be open to it."

Draco scowled but knew the stranger was right. "Fine, but if this backfires, I'm blaming you." Draco pushed himself off the stool and stood up.

The stranger laughed lightly at his remark. "Feel free," he replied in a good-natured voice.

Draco paid for his drink and made his way to the door. Just before he reached it, he turned. "Hey, thank you," he said and disappeared out the door.

Back at the bar, the stranger turned around, and the bartender sent another beer his way.

"That was a good thing you did there, Sirius," the bartender said. Sirius smiled slightly and sipped his beer quietly.

********************************

A/N: Please Review!