Chapter 25-Friendship, No Matter What
The days seemed long and the pain was more than he could bear. Each day he wished he could have just one of these things: one more morsel to eat, one ray of sunshine, the voice of a friend, the loving touch of Luna. He choked back the tears in the dark as he flashed back to Luna falling face first to the ground and her face smashing into the corridor floor. Ron was willing to die to ensure she lived. He was equally afraid for Harry.
He was desperate. It had seemed like forever since he had eaten. The lack of light caused each day to seem like a lucid dream. He prayed silently for his friends and family. He couldn't see them, but he knew his wrists were raw where the ropes tying him to the chair rubbed his flesh raw. It was the same around his ankles tied to the legs of the chair. He hadn't lied down in weeks and he was sure he hadn't slept more than a few minutes for what seemed like months.
In fact Ron had been left sitting in that chair for over a month and a half with a dark hood over his head. It had been removed weekly for enough rations to sustain life and prevent starvation. He wished for once he could have peanut butter and jelly or something that had flavor. Ron was afraid of spiders, snakes and a lot of other things that now seemed like silly childish things. He didn't even fear death anymore. He felt he had lived death and he hoped the real thing would take him away from his despair.
He hadn't heard a single sound in what seemed like an eternity. He flashed back again to the image of his wonderful Luna falling in slow motion and hitting the floor face first. He saw that at least fifty times a day. He sobbed.
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"There. Safe and sound as a new born its mother's arms," said Harry as he returned Luna to her new single room designed for her special needs in the infirmary. Carpenters and other craftsman had spent the last two weeks modifying a rarely used office so that Luna could have her privacy but still be where Madam Pomfrey and others could monitor her special needs.
"Yeah, to think only five new bruises today," Luna teased. She knew Harry would blush--which he promptly did.
Hermione looked at Harry as he turned red. She was proud of him. He had taken on so much responsibility for Ginny and Luna in place of Ron, yet had never let her feel left out. Hermione and Harry, in fact, had more time than ever together as their teachers allowed them special time to help Luna and prepare for the Yule Ball.
"Harry, are you ready?" Asked a tired but happy Hermione.
"Luna, do you need anything else? Hermione and I have homework not to mention the final guest list is due to Professor McGonagall tomorrow morning." Harry pointed out.
"Sure, you two have a snogging good time with that homework now. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Luna teased. Nightly she dreamed of the days just before Ron disappeared. They'd nearly made love in their little private hideaway, but made a vow to wait until they could be responsible for the possible results. She knew that it would be difficult now, if not impossible to enjoy the pleasure they'd had together. She smiled at Hermione and Harry as they scrambled for the door. She'd seen that look on their faces before. Homework and guest lists may get done tonight, but she figured they had other plans first.
Luna turned and looked out of the window. The sun belied the fact that the winter chill began to take hold. It was approaching the beginning of December. The news had been the same during each phase of the search. They had new leads to find Ron, but each lead withered as the time between obtaining it and sorting out the details grew longer. Luna was thankful for Hermione and Harry. Without their constant companionship she would have gone crazy.
Luna had begun classes the past week with the help of Harry pushing her chair through the castle. He had learned at the end of his battle with his wheelchair how to use the levitation spell to raise the chair through difficult stairways and tight corridors. The difficulty was getting distracted going up more than one flight at a time. Luna was glad she had no feeling below the waist because she routinely saw her legs bumped into walls and banged on the corners of the banisters. Harry was trying so hard to help that she hated to even mention that if they found a way to reverse the nerve damage, her legs would be so badly beaten up they'd have to spend a month on skele-gro to repair the damage he'd caused. She knew she was being melodramatic, but she hoped that eventually she'd have that problem to worry about.
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Harry and Hermione ate dinner and then ran off to go study in their own special little place. It was really nice to have the time to be alone. Not only was it private, but it was also very quiet for studying. Even when they were listening to music, it was more comfortable than having first and second years running around asking questions all the time.
Hermione was writing out the last of the list of returned invitations and adding the special guests that she hoped would still respond. She knew with all that was happening that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would be there as honored guests as well as Percy, Bill and Charlie. Minister Fudge had mentioned he would be present but had not responded. Hermione was sure it was because all of them were so busy with the search for Ron.
"Harry, sweetheart? Should I put Ginny and Draco together on the list? I know that's what the response to the invitation means but that's not what it says. The Yule Ball's only three weeks away and I can't see Ginny having another date…let alone Draco." Hermione questioned as she looked toward Harry.
"Out of respect for Ginny I think you should. We may not be too keen on it but she deserves the right to choose who she brings. I mean all students are invited, so it's only a matter of making sure they sit together, right?" He said.
"Yeah, I suppose it isn't that big of a deal. It just seems weird after three years to be putting Draco Malfoy's name on anything." Hermione said.
"Yeah, a year ago you were still writing Viktor's name with little hearts around it, weren't you?" Harry said teasingly.
"Yep, that's the difference between boys and girls. Girls think of romance and boys think of removing girls clothes and call it romance." Hermione retorted with a sense of superiority.
"Well, me thinks that the lady doth protesteth too mucheth." Harry lisped crossing his eyes and turning his glasses sideways on his head.
"Oooooh, you're so weird sometimes Harry." Hermione choked back a snicker.
"But that's why you love me. Isn't it, darling?" Harry said making the last word sound more like Viktor would have: "darlink."
"So, you just won't give the Viktor thing a rest, will you? What do I have to do to get you to get off the Viktor kick?" a slightly angered Hermione said with clinched teeth.
"Come kith me, my darlink Herm-own-ninny." Harry said with even a more pronounced accent.
"I will not. You stop making fun of me. It's not funny anymore." Hermione was truly getting a little upset at this point.
Harry moved over on the silk covered sofa and tried to put his arm around her. Hermione swatted his hand away and looked off in the other direction. She smiled, because she had just seen that puppy dog look Harry got the night she let him have it in the library two months ago. He thought he was really in it deep again.
Harry reached for her again, only this time he tried to use his sexy forgive me voice. "Hermione, I didn't know it really bothered you so much or I wouldn't have…," his voice trailed off as he sensed she was having him on. "Why, I do believe Miss Granger was trying to get me all apologetic by giving me a taste of the angry woman syndrome again."
She tried hard to straighten her face. "I don't know what you're talking about." But as she turned Harry had turned his glasses upside down and was squinting trying to look as pathetic as possible. Hermione laughed. "Do you think that's romantic? What are you trying to do? It's disgusting." She pushed him away and walked over toward the fire.
"Seriously, sweetheart, I have been feeling really down lately and goofing around with you is the only way to feel normal and sane. Even if it takes acting goofy and insane to do it." Harry had put his book down and followed her over to the fireplace. He touched her shoulder and pulled back her hair exposing her neck. He just stood there looking at the fire with her for a moment.
"I know what you mean about things being hectic. I want some results in the search for Ron too. I feel really strange now with Draco hanging about so much with Ginny. Do you get any sense of what's made him change?" Hermione turned to look at Harry as he looked into the fire.
"I still don't get it. You saw him the other day. He was even being nice to Hagrid during class and volunteered to help with his lessons regardless of how disgusting the creature. I didn't want any part of those nasty little beasts we dealt with this week. No one says anything bad about him anymore, because he acts like he genuinely cares about things." Harry explained.
"Do you trust him?" asked Hermione with a quizzical look.
"I do to a certain extent. I would completely trust him if I didn't know what he was like before this." Harry was not sure what he felt, but he knew he was a lot further from the feelings of hate he had for Malfoy sometimes in the past.
"Well, anyway, Ginny asked if they could sit with us at the Yule Ball. I told her I'd talk to you. That's why I asked you about them earlier." Hermione divulged.
"I'd rather it was Luna and Ron, but I guess so."
Hermione moved in closer to Harry and put her hands on his waist. They looked in each other's eyes for a brief second and then kissed. Harry's hand moved from her shoulder down her bare arm as he took her hands in his. The softness of Hermione's skin and tenderness of her lips made Harry feel on top of the world. He felt so many different emotions when he kissed her.
Hermione pulled his hands to her waist and around to her bum where she left them and did the same with hers to Harry. She pulled herself into him so he could feel her breasts on his chest and she could feel him pressing into her tummy. She knew she was breathing heavier than usual, but she couldn't help it with the rising passion she could feel coming from Harry.
Harry caressed Hermione's bum occasionally squeezing her in toward him when she relaxed her grip on him. They were pressing into each other rhythmically and the feeling Harry was experiencing he wasn't sure he liked. She was doing it again. She could make him crazy to the point of orgasm by just moving against him the way she was doing now. He put his hands in the small of her back and slid his hands across the soft flesh of her bum. He pulled her closer as he caressed her bum softly with both hands. He couldn't take it anymore. Harry gasped and felt convulsions he'd never felt before…never like this. He didn't know if he could stand up anymore. So he pulled his hands free and slowly guided the both of them to the bearskin rug.
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked.
He couldn't speak. He pushed Hermione to the rug kissing her chin and neck. He didn't know how but he would do his best to make Hermione feel the way he'd just felt.
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Luna was sitting her room with her books and a new copy of the Quibbler. She had to read what her father had written about the search for Ron. He had included interviews that had been returned to them here from Charlie's and Bill's investigations. The stories about strange goings-on in Surrey and in Manchester seemed to be the biggest news. There had been strange, loud noises three days before in the abandoned home of one of Manchester's most prestigious families. The home had been abandoned almost 7 months since the late part of May. There had been no trace of the family but there were again marks and footprints similar to those found at other disappearance scenes.
"Hi, Luna, what's that you have there?" Ginny asked as she popped her head in the door. Ginny had been watching Luna for a few minutes as she read the article.
"Oh, it's the printable portion of the interviews around the disappearance in Manchester. There is another short article about something that happened in Surrey too. Isn't that where Harry goes during the summers?" Luna inquired.
"Why yes it is. What did it say?"
"Apparently, there was a murder on Privet Drive. A Mrs. Figgis was interviewed about someone across the street from her gagged and tied up. The first report was from a muggle newspaper and the details were still forthcoming as this was sent to press. It mentions no cause of death. It doesn't even mention who first reported it."
"Ron, my Dad, and the twins went to Harry's once. But they went by the Floo Network. Privet Drive sounds familiar though."
"So, where's your beau?" Asked Luna.
"What do you mean, my beau?" Ginny said with a pang of guilt.
"Oh, you mean the flirting looks between you and Draco are just some form of prehistoric sign language." Luna teased.
"Well, we are getting along really well and he did ask me to the Yule Ball." Ginny stated matter-of-factly trying to avoid sounding too excited.
"So, there you have it. You're just friends and you're going together because no one else will take either of you. I understand perfectly." She continued the assault. She new if she just kept pounding away Ginny would finally give in.
"Okay, okay. So we are seeing one another. What do you care anyway?" She asked in an annoyed tone.
"Nothing really. I am actually glad you found someone. You look happy. Of course, having a former Death Eater's son as a boyfriend could limit your social life in Gryffindor…but other than that…."
"I think Hermione and Harry are getting along with him just fine, thank you very much. I never thought you'd be so mean, Luna." Ginny said with a surprised and hurt look.
"I don't think it's mean to tell the truth. I just want you to be careful. It could very well be your new boyfriend's father and his cronies are responsible for your brother's disappearance. You realize that don't you. Even if Draco has changed, I doubt his evil father has." Luna said with a distinct air of disgust.
"Are you accusing Draco of something?" Ginny responded defiantly. "I won't let you do that. He's been nothing but nice to you and everyone since he got back."
"No, of course not. Not directly anyway. I just don't want his father to summon him home some night and leave you sitting here broken-hearted. I love your family, Ginny and I care about you. I just want to know you're thinking this through." Luna said.
"I'm not some little girl without a brain, Luna. I get it. I asked him directly about all of it." She lied.
"What did he say?" Luna demanded.
"That he had seen what evil his father and all of the Death Eater's were capable of and it disgusts him. He would never let the kind of thing that happened to him happen to anyone else." She lied again. "I think I love him. But I'm not stupid enough to get into that kind of thing without proof." Finally she felt better because she had said something truthful. She believed what she said, but Draco had never said it.
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Ron could hear the approaching voices along with the sounds of something being brought into the building. He was aware of everything around him.
"Set it over there."
"Put those two in the other room next to Weasley."
"Finally, all three of them in the same house. At least we don't have to protect ourselves in two places."
"That was close. I thought they would find us. How are they getting so close? If Voldemort thinks we're being clumsy, he'll kill us both."
"Shut up. Don't say things like that. He could be here and we wouldn't know it."
"When do you think they'll stop looking and let Potter come out as bait?"
"Never. Potter will decide to do that for himself. He'll try to play hero again."
"What do we know about Potter anyway?"
"Well, he and his mudblood girlfriend are inseparable. It's too bad too. If we could have taken her that night, he'd already be dead."
"How did she get away from you? I was meaning to ask how a 95 pound 16 year old girl could get away from you. Did you go soft?"
"Hardly, you saw how I clobbered that other sniveling Lovegood slut. I hear Lovegood was paralyzed. She couldn't even eat without a straw. I thought I'd killed her. I wish I had. I just couldn't get a good grip and get her close enough to grab a hold good. The mudblood was just too quick and had too much adrenaline going. She was strong as I have ever seen a girl her size."
"If Potter doesn't come out soon, Malfoy will kill all of them except Potter. He doesn't know it yet. But he'll be able to have his way and get Potter. Or rather… make Potter wish he were dead. He'll come for revenge then. And we'll tell him where. He won't wait for any help. The best part is no one will suspect Malfoy, because he'll be dead too."
Ron was stunned. So much to process. Luna. More murders coming. Harry being coaxed into the open by him being held hostage. Malfoy killing them. Ron had never felt such rage in his life. He could feel the resolve growing. If he had to break his own bindings he'd get word to them. He'd do it at all costs. For Harry…for all of them.