Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sakura ❯ Year Five: Chapter Twenty ( Chapter 20 )

Disclaimer: My name is not J.K. Rowling nor am I part of the wonderful and talented mangaka quartet known as CLAMP.

Title: Sakura

Pairing: RWxDM

Rating: I'm sick of rating every chapter. This story is an NC-17.

Warnings: Slash…and Angst

Spoilers: OOTP and HBP mostly. Maybe some DH…I'm not sure yet.

POV: Ronald Weasley; passive

 

Chapter 20

 

Ron returned to his routine of getting up early for breakfast and leaving the hall before to many people showed up. He'd spend the rest of breakfast in the unused classroom reading his book or working on his homework. He laughed at himself when ever he though of how much he was turning into Hermione. A lot of the times Luna would join him. Sometimes Neville would show up too. Nobody else really did—not on purpose anyway.

He'd go to his classes for the day, returning to the same classroom during lunch and for supper he'd eat down in the kitchens, laughing with Dobby and the rest of the house elves. The first Potions class after the incident he thought about skipping but didn't want to picture what Snape would do to him. He didn't have much to worry about though because Draco never showed up—to any of them. Care of Magical Creatures became very Dracoless as well.

What made it worse for Ron is that the less of Draco he saw, the more he actually thought of him. Something had happened between Draco and him. Something that he just couldn't turn away from and pretend like it never existed—no matter how much he wanted to.

“I think you should talk to him.” Katie Bell said to him one day as she sat down beside him on the bench in the changing tent.

It was early February so the Gryffindor team was working double time to get ready for their match with Hufflepuff. Ron didn't get to spend much extra time with Neville or Luna because of this so when he felt he really needed to talk he'd talk to Katie whom he had formed a sort of bond with. She was the only other team member that would really talk to him.

“Why the hell should I?” Ron asked, adjusting his gloves.

“Because it's driving you crazy,” she said simply as she pulled her shoulder length hair into a ponytail.

“Kind of hard to talk to somebody who's pretty much disappeared,” he said, looking at the ground. “Besides, what I'm I supposed to say to him?”

“I'm sorry sounds like it'd be a good place to begin,” she said. She fidgeted with her hair a little then pulled the elastic out, letting it fall about her face.

“But I didn't do anything,” he said watching her brush her hair back and tie it back into a ponytail. “Why should I apologize?”

“Because you're the git that's punishing him for something he can't control,” she said pulling out a small compact mirror to critique her appearance.

“What's that supposed to mean?” he asked. She snapped her mirror shut and looked at him.

“What I mean is you're only angry with Draco Malfoy because he was just being Draco Malfoy. Nothing's going to change him so you better figure out if you're going to accept it or not so that you can act accordingly.” He gawked at her as she stood up and twirled around a few times in front of him. “So how do I look?” she asked. He blinked.

“Why does that matter?” he asked.

She smiled coyly at him. “Because I invited a very handsome Ravenclaw to come watch the practice and I want to look my best.” Ron could only shake his head and laugh at her as Angela called for everyone to make their way out to the pitch.

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At night when Ron returned to Gryffindor Tower for the night he would wordlessly walk through the common room, trying not to make eye contact with anybody. Up in the dormitory he'd spread his homework across his bed and sit and stare at piles of books and parchment for hours.

Many nights when he grew tired of such things he'd find his attention wandering toward a thin branch, no bigger than half a meter that still sat on his bed side table. It was those nights he found himself dreaming of warm kisses, comforting words and ice gray eyes glistening with tears. It was those mornings that he would wake up wondering if Draco Malfoy was crying somewhere.

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One Saturday after a particularly hard practice Ron was carrying his stuff up the marble staircase, looking forward to falling into his bed, when he felt somebody grab a hold of his hood and start to drag him back down. Trying not to fall he turned around and was surprised to see Blaise who simply just threw him onto the floor.

“What the bloody hell was that for?” Ron roared as he struggled to get up. Not far off he could hear a couple Hufflepuff girls laughing.

“We need to talk,” Blaise said in his deep threatening voice.

“Like hell we do.” It never really occurred to Ron the amount of pain Zabini could cause him. The darker skinned wizard was about the same height as Ron but considerably more muscular; not to mention being in Slytherin he probably knew a dark spell or two and more than likely lacked the morals that would normaly prevent a person from using them. Lucky for Ron Blaise chose to ignore his lack of respect.

“What did you say to Draco?”

“Why is that any of your business?”

“You don't want me telling you all the reasons it is my business,” Blaise said grabbing the front of Ron's shirt. Ron could feel the tip of Blaise's wand press against his stomach so he kept his mouth shut. “What did you say to Draco?”

“Why?” Ron asked and tried not to flinch when he felt Blaise's wand jab his abdomen.

“You need to start going easier on him,” Blaise said as he pushed Ron away. Ron just barely managed not to fall back on to the ground.

“I need to go easier on him?” Ron said in disbelief as he steadied himself.

“You need to decide whether you want to be with him or not,” Blaise said. “No more of this on-off bullshit.”

“Oh and I suppose you're here to tell me why I should take him back.”

“I wouldn't give shit if it wasn't for the fact that your rejection has practically ruined him,” Blaise said angrily. Ron felt something in his chest twist again but he refused to feel sorry.

“He'll get over it,” he said as he tried to walk away. Blaise just pointed his wand back in Ron's direction. Ron froze and quickly looked around to see that the Entrance Hall had become completely empty.

“I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how pathetic he really is regardless of how tough he tries to act,” Blaise said though Ron thought his voice sounded softer, even with him pointing a wand in his direction. “It's something deeper than that though.” Blaise slipped his wand back into his robes.

“Why are you telling me this?” Ron asked as he watched the other boy.

“Because,” he said, the hardness coming back into his voice, “Draco is like a porcelain doll. If you play with him to much he's going to break.”

After he'd said that he turned and walked down the stairs leading into the dungeons—leaving Ron staring after him with his mouth hanging open. Leaving him to ponder the truth in his words.

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The Friday night before Valentines Day Ron was dragging himself up the dormitory stairs as usual after one of Angela's demonic practices. He was sore all over and dreading the all day practice that their wonderful captain had scheduled for the next day. Ron guessed he couldn't complain too much about it though as it would give him less time to feel sorry for himself.

He opened the door getting ready to throw himself under the covers when he noticed Dobby standing next to his bed. His back was facing the door and he appeared not to have heard Ron come in. Ron noticed that he was holding something.

“Dobby?” Ron said causing the elf to jump and drop whatever it was he was looking at. Looking at it on the floor Ron realized that it was the tree branch that Draco had given him for Christmas.

“Dobby is very sorry sir,” Dobby said turning to Ron. “Very sorry indeed. Dobby was only admiring it sir. Dobby swears.”

“It's alright Dobby,” Ron said. He picked up the branch and placed it back on the table. He turned to see Dobby still staring at it. It was an odd stare, a fascinated but frightened stare.

“Dobby is everything alright?”

The little elf jumped and started shaking but still managed to nod his head. “Yes sir everything is alright. It's just,” the elf took another quick look at the branch. “It's just that Dobby was wondering where it was that Wheezy got such a thing.”

Ron stared at the house elf who was again staring at the branch. “Dobby have you seen this before?”

If it had been possible he could have sworn that Dobby began to shake even harder. “Y-yes Dobby has,” he started. “It was d-different then but Dobby remembers it.”

“Why Dobby?” Ron asked. “How was it different?”

“Dobby was cleaning the young master's room after he'd returned during the spring holiday,” he said. His eyes glazed over as he remembered. “Dobby found a g-green bag and was very curious about what was inside. S-so Dobby opened it and when he took it out he saw it covered with lots of flowers.”

“Flowers?” Ron asked. He found it hard to believe that Draco would just have some random flowers lying around.

Dobby nodded. “Yes flowers. Small flowers each with only five petals, all of them pink but so pale Dobby had almost thought them to be white.”

Ron stared at the branch and tried to picture the flowers Dobby had just described. He was sure that they had been beautiful and kind of wished that he could have seen them.

“They sound beautiful,” he said returning his gaze back toward the elf.

“Y-yes very beautiful indeed,” Dobby agreed. “But the young master was very upset with Dobby for touching his things.” Ron didn't need to ask how upset. He was sure he knew what Draco's punishment had been. It only fueled his anger at the other boy more.

“I'm sorry,” Ron said.

“Wheezy does not need to apologize,” Dobby said. “Dobby was used to it. The young master used to hit Dobby all the time.”

“But there was no need for him to beat you just for the fun of it,” Ron said loudly, making Dobby jump.

“N-not for the fun of it sir,” Dobby said.

“You didn't do anything wrong,” Ron said angrily. “You didn't deserve it.”

Dobby stood there shaking for a few minutes. “B-but,” he started and paused, plainly arguing with himself. “But the young master never did either,” he said sadly.

Before Ron could ask him what he meant the room was filled with a loud crack as the elf disappeared, leaving Ron alone again.

………………………&# 8230;…

 

“Oh my god Ron,” Katie said excitedly as she practically pounced on him. She immediately stared trying to flatten his hair—he hadn't bothered to run a comb through it when he had gotten out of bed that morning. “You can't go out there looking like this.”

“Why the hell not?” he asked. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so he was feeling very cranky.

“Because he's here,” she said happily.

“That's great,” he groaned. “But why do I have to get all cleaned up for your boyfriend?”

She laughed at him. “Not him you twit. I'm talking about Draco.”

He felt his cheeks flush and a hoard of butterflies invade his stomach as Katie dug out her hair brush and started working on his mass of tangles. He wasn't sure if Katie was telling the truth. If she was he wasn't sure if Draco watching from the stands would be a good or bad thing. The only thing he was sure of though was that he wasn't going to save any goals during the days practice.

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A/N: There you go. Two chapters like I promised. I know all of you guys hate me right now but I wanted to ask you guys something.

I'm starting to work on some Draco-centered side stories for this fic (since I know all of you would love to know what he's up to) and I was wondering if there was any specific parts you'd like. So far the list of planned pieces consist of Christmas, after Ron storms off in the previous chapter, at least two background stories (little Draco^^), and after Harry blabs in the middle of the hallway as well as many others for parts that have yet to even be written. All thoughts and ideas are greatly welcome.