Yeah, I know I haven't updated Ronald Weasley and the Subtle Knife for a while and I'm really sorry. I don't know why it's so hard to write, but it is. I hate Writer's Block!! Anyway, enjoy this chapter and take notice of the Author's Note in the end.
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Ch14: DRACO'S DEAL
Harry didn't have to run far to catch up with Draco Malfoy, but what was surprising Harry the most was that Draco was alone without his usual two goons. Harry smirked.
"Where are your buddies?"
Draco glared back. "Like you care. You only hang around that Weasel and Mudblood girl."
Harry scowled; his temper already surfacing. "Don't call her that!"
Draco smiled teasingly, "Got the hots for her or something?"
"Like I would tell you!" hissed Harry.
"Then I won't talk to you," the blond said with a smirk. Harry suddenly realized that this wasn't going too well.
"Wait," he said, hesitating only a moment before continuing, "what do you know about The Dark Lords threat?"
Draco, who had been on the verge of walking away, froze abruptly. He turned and looked at Harry closely like he had never seen him before, curiosity shining through his grey eyes. For a moment Harry thought he wasn't going to say anything at all, but then the Slytherin said: "What would I get if I tell you?"
Harry stared; he hadn't considered that... "I dunno. What do you want?"
He couldn't believe he was bargaining with a Malfoy.
"I want to join the DA. That's what you call it, right?"
"What? We haven't even decided if we're going to start it again!" Harry had a strong urge to pinch himself in the arm to see if he was dreaming.
"You better then."
Harry shook his head; there was no way he could decide that now. "I have to think about it," he promised instead.
"Don't think too long," said Draco and left.
Harry walked back to the Charms classroom dumbly, just in time to when Flitwick opened the door. Hermione urged him in, Ron beside her.
"What did he say? Did he tell you something?"
Harry shook his head no; he was tired and worn-out, he had no energy to deal with things like that now. "No, he didn't tell me… and he won't until I let him join the DA."
Both Hermione and Ron's jaws dropped. "WHAT?" they both exclaimed at the same time. Flitwick hushed at them.
"Yeah, I know," said Harry gloomily, and - perhaps only out of pure habit - settled for a seat in the front, with Hermione and Ron following suit.
-
He was really lucky to have such good friends, he knew that. He wouldn't even have managed first year without them. However, something or someone was changing, and that someone was Harry.
Harry didn't need anyone to tell him that he had changed the last year. Ever since Cedric died everything had been different. And he knew, that Cedric, Sirius, Kingsley and everybody else that were killed by Voldemort in Harry's dreams were only the first ones of a very long list of people. Harry knew that he would see a lot of them die too - there was no way around it - and he had to kill someone on the way himself if he wanted to live. Just like the Death Eaters.
Harry could feel the pressure on his shoulders so heavily that he barely could keep some attention at all through the lesson.
Flitwick told them a lot about how they could use Charms to defend themselves, and more than once he referred to Harry, though Harry didn't think too much about it. His thoughts slowly drifted away from Voldemort and towards his best female friend. Were they together now? He hoped so. He wasn't sure when it started, but he could barely keep his eyes from her. She had changed from being a little girl with bushy hair and large front teeth to a beautiful, young woman.
Hermione's attention, however, was mostly directed towards the class and not Harry, almost stubbornly. Eventually he gave up trying to get her attention and began to pay attention to what the small professor said again instead.
Flitwick gave a little demonstration by tapping the wand over his head and turning half invisible. Everyone in the class let out a gasp of surprise, except those who had seen or tried it before, like the Trio.
Soon everybody in the class were trying out the new charm. Harry, Ron and Hermione did the same as Flitwick had just done and felt the cold, wet experience over their head as they turned half invisible.
Flitwick beamed at them and awarded Gryffindor thirty point, ten to each of them. Nobody else in the class managed to get the charm right for the next ten minutes.
-
They had Potions after Charms, and that was the subject Harry dreaded the most. He was afraid that Snape would be worse than ever, and sure enough, Severus wasted no time in telling Harry that he would get no special treatment, no matter how soon the Dark Lord wanted him.
Harry, however, felt a little relieved by that. If Snape had changed his behavior just because of Voldemort's threat then Harry would feel much more alarmed than he already was.
The class was divided in groups with three or four. Harry and Hermione were strangely sorted into the same group, along with Blaise and another Slytherin girl Harry did not know.
Harry quickly figured out that Potions would be much more difficult that year, and Snape hinted more than once that someone didn't deserve the spot, because normally he only took in people with an `Outstanding' in OWLs.
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After the class Harry had decided: He would not let Malfoy into DA without talking to the rest of the team first.
Harry activated the coin he still carried around inside his robes, and all through dinner he got many curious people asking him whether or not the DA was going to start again.
"Of course," answered Harry patiently, Hermione by his side and beaming the whole time. Suddenly Harry felt a couple of slender arm around his shoulder, and, convinced it was Hermione, he hugged her back and twirled her around, only to discover that it wasn't Hermione after all, but Cho.
"Hi," said Harry and blushed slightly from embarrassment. He could practically feel Hermione scowl beside him.
"Hi," answered Cho back, with a look mixed of puzzlement and sadness over her face. "I read the Daily Prophet," she said sadly and Harry sighed.
"Yeah, well, that's some of the things we're going to discuss in the DA meeting tonight," he said, trying to look calm. Cho, however, was nowhere near calm, and gave Harry a new hug, tears already dripping from her eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Harry," she whispered, tracing a finger up and down his spine. Harry shuddered and broke off the hug, holding her safely an arm length away. He didn't feel too comfortable around her and had his limits.
"It's okay," he said, looking at her sternly. "Voldemort has threatened me before; I just have to watch my back..."
He seemed to use that excuse a lot lately.
Cho nodded, gave his hand a squeeze and then went back to the Ravenclaw table. Harry frowned slightly before turning to Hermione, who still had a scowl on her face.
Harry gave her a small smile, before trying to take her hand. However, Hermione took her hand away and gave him a threatening look.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
"What? Cho?" asked Harry, puzzled. Was she jealous? "Hey, don't worry, you're the one I like," he added hastily. Luckily Hermione let him take her hand again in approval after that.
"Can you... prove it?" asked Hermione suddenly, her voice a little teasingly. Harry froze. He could tell she was testing him.
"What? Here? Now? What about-?"
She chuckled before putting her arms around his neck. "Yeah, I know," she said, "but if we're going to be a couple, people would find out anyway…"
Harry swallowed hard, trying to find some Gryffindor courage to do what she had asked him to. It was not easy, however, every time they had kissed it had always been impulsive and in private.
Now she dared him!
Just kiss her! His mind screamed at him and he bent down before he could give more thought to it. Their lips touched briefly before he pulled away again.
"Surely you can do better than that," said Hermione after a while, looking at him closely. Harry bent down again, but this time to whisper something in her ear:
"Meet me in the Room of Requirement a little early, would you?"
She giggled softly, and they went over to the Gryffindor table. both flushing brightly,.
Suddenly the whole table broke into an applause, and soon nearly the whole hall joined in as well as the teachers that were present. Harry blushed bright red and so did Hermione, both wanting nothing more than to skip dinner and run and hide somewhere.
Hermione, however, dragged him the rest of the way to the Gryffindor table stubbornly and sat down beside him.
Suddenly, without warning, Harry felt something, or rather someone, pulling his mind. It didn't hurt, but it left Harry quite puzzled still. Voldemort! He suddenly realized, and blocked his mind with all his might; he would not let Voldemort ruin this. Had the Dark Wizard seen anything?
Harry let out a sight of relief when he felt the connection subside. Luckily it didn't seem like anybody had noticed.
Alarmed, he looked at the place where Ron used to sit, but the seat was empty. Harry swore under his breath.
"Where's Ron?" he asked and Ginny turned her head and looked at him.
"I don't know. He hasn't showed up yet," she said. Her voice sounded strange, empty somehow. Harry felt even more uncomfortable.
"Shit…" he cursed and got up, "I got to find him!"
Harry dreaded the reaction he would get from Ron. After all, the Weasley had a hard time getting on good terms with Harry again after the last time, that was reported in the Prophet.
Without having anything to eat, Harry escaped the great hall and the stares in it with quick steps. There was no way to avoid it; he had to talk to Ron before someone else told him what had just occurred.
He continued to swear under his breath as he hurried towards the Gryffindor common room, praying that Ron was still there. He couldn't help but think that it was very unusual and out of character for Ron to be late for a meal. Unless-
Harry was just running past the Transfiguration classroom when he heard something that made him trip and fall hard on the floor.
"Oh Ronald!"
Harry, not daring to believe his own ears, slowly got up to his feet and peeked inside the classroom carefully. There - on the teacher's desk - were no other than Ron Weasley and Luna Lovegood snogging.
Harry let out a cry of surprise before he could collect himself. Ron looked up; his eyes huge and then he blushed a very, deep shade of red.
Luna giggled and poked Ron in his chest, making Ron blush even more, something that Harry didn't think was possible.
"Ron!" he finally cried out, after some embarrassing moments in silence.
"Uh…"
"How long?!"
"Er…" said Ron, passing Luna uneasy looks. "Since now?"
Harry goggled. "What?"
Ron, however, looked down at his feet, a soft smile playing in the corner of his lips, no longer blushing. "Yeah, and we'd like to continue if you don't mind…"
Harry shook his head at them and left them alone, making his way back to Hermione. He felt relieved and a bit scared at the same time.
-
Hermione did indeed meet him in the room of requirement a bit early. Harry felt his throat go dry when he saw her enter, and Hermione bit her bottom lip nervously. Harry knew only too well what he had meant when he had told Hermione to meet him a bit early, but now as the present had caught up with him, it seemed like his courage had left him at the same time.
"Hi," he managed to croak out, feeling as pitiful as Snape used every opportunity he had to tell him he was.
Hermione smiled. "It's just me, Harry. No impostor, no Death Eater in disguise. Promise!"
He grinned back. Trust Hermione to know a way to ease the tension. And she was right, even though Harry looked at her a bit more different than he had a year ago; she was still the girl he had known for five years. He shouldn't feel so nervous.
They sat down on a couple of pillows beside each other, saying nothing, only looking at each other and holding hands.
"You know," said Harry after a while when he felt that one of them should say something. "I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to relationships."
Hermione laughed softly, and then took her finger on his lips.
"Before we do anything though," she said, "you must promise me to continue with Occlumency lessons. I care about you so much, and I would do anything to make sure that you're as prepared as you can be when the… when the time comes."
"All right." Harry agreed without hesitating.
"All right?" asked Hermione, as though she had expected him to protest quite a bit with her before he gave in.
"Yeah. You're right. I should be prepared, and it certainly won't hurt." The truth was, Harry had already agreed with himself to continue with the lessons, in one way or another.
Hermione smiled, and kissed him gently on his cheek. Harry blushed and brushed away some hair of her face, not knowing what else to do and feeling a strong urge to do so.
"You're something special, you know that?" he said drowsily, then froze. Had he said that out loud?
Hermione giggled. "Oh, thank you Mr. Potter... what have I done to owe this pleasure?"
"Being you," said Harry, and kissed her softly. Somehow that wasn't so hard to do anymore.
-
Seamus, Dean and Ginny interrupted them ten minutes before the DA meeting began. Shortly after even more people joined in: Ron, hand in hand with Luna, Neville, Parvati, obviously friends with Lavender again, Susan Bones with Hannah Abbot, Cho Chang, Katie Bell, Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and everyone else that had joined the DA last year, except Marionetta and the ones that had graduated.
Everyone found a pillow to sit on and arranged themselves so they sat in a half circle around Harry, watching him expectantly.
"Right," said Harry, and tried to appear confident. "I'm sure by now all of you know what stood in The Daily Prophet this morning, right?"
Everyone murmured and nodded in agreement.
"And we'll support you in any way we can, you know that," said Justin.
"Yeah, whatever it takes man," said Dean.
"We won't let you down," whispered Parvati and blushed slightly.
Harry's chest warmed. They cared.
"It appears-" started Hermione, "that Draco Malfoy knows something about this."
Everybody looked over at Hermione, their mouths open. Ginny in particular looked extremely angry. Hermione shot Harry a look. "Harry talked to him today," she told the DA.
"Yeah," said Harry, "but he wouldn't tell me anything. Unless-" Harry interrupted himself, because people had started to mutter angrily among themselves, "-he was allowed to join the DA."
Silence.
Harry cleared his throat. "That, of course, is out of question."
Some seconds passed without anybody saying anything, but after a while Ginny cleared her throat too, still looking furious. "I think," she started, "that let Malfoy join the DA is a small price to pay compared to lose you."
This seemed to catch everybody's attention. "Yeah," said Parvati, and soon the whole class murmured their agreement.
Harry didn't know what to say.
"I don't care about Ferret boy," said Ron and scowled slightly, "but I care about you... besides, I wouldn't mind kicking that slime ball's ass from time to time without getting detention."
Harry broke into a grin.
"Thank you, guys. That means a lot to me… I still don't like it though."
"Well, neither do we, clearly," said Zacharias Smith sarcastically.
"So… what's this thing between you and Hermione?" asked Lavender, batting her eyelashes towards Harry.
Harry grinned sheepishly. Ron's head snapped up, and stared at him like he had grown an extra head. Hermione looked down, flush creeping up her chin.
Harry arched his eyebrows at Lavender, not answering, but still making her giggle.
"Oh God!" cried Zacharias. "You girls make me sick! Why's Harry so bloody special?"
Several more girls giggled and looked at each other with knowing grins. Harry glared at them, totally bewildered. Hermione nudged him, and he realized that everybody was looking at him, as though they expected him to answer.
"What?" he snapped, "just because I've escaped Voldemort a few times doesn't make me any different from you guys!" That was a downright lie and Harry knew it; but there was no reason whatsoever for them to know about the Prophecy.
"Gees, stop saying his name already!" said Dean, rubbing his neck awkwardly.
"Yeah," said Seamus, "there's no reason to say it!"
Harry frowned, "Is there something else you'd like to discuss, except me and Proph- I mean the Dark Lord?"
Several of the people in the group gasped, and Harry cursed under his breath. He hadn't meant to say Prophesies; it had just slipped his mind.
Hermione turned around and looked at him searchingly; a worried look etched over her face.
"What did you say?" gasped Susan.
"What?" asked Harry, desperately trying to buy himself some more time.
"You said the Dark Lord!" exclaimed Susan, and Harry sighed in relief. She wasn't talking about the Prophecy after all.
"Well, yeah, you didn't want me to say Voldemort, so-"
"You've said it before!" said Hermione suddenly, "I don't remember when, but you've said it!"
Harry glared at her angrily. "So…?"
"Only Death Eaters say `the Dark Lord'," muttered Ginny under her breath, but everybody heard her.
Harry's insides turned to ice. "I'm not a Death Eater! Honestly, you should know!"
"We know," said Ron instantly, "but it's weird, that's all."
Harry felt horribly insulted, but deep down he couldn't help but agree. Since when did he say the Dark Lord instead of You-Know-Who or Voldemort?
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A/N:
I got a deal for you: For each review I get, a day sooner I'll post the next chapter, it's written actually. If I don't get any reviews at all, you won't get the chapter before July the 5th.
If I get ten that means I'll update June the 25th, and if I get 20 then next chapter will be up June the 15th. (Did that make sense?)
Hopefully I can post two chapters before I go to Oxford this summer for three weeks, but that's up to you to decide. Cheers!
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