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SIYE Time:12:32 on 29th March 2024
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Harry Potter and the Prophesized Six
By bengpotter31

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Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:Albus Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, James Potter, Lily Potter, Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape, Sirius Black
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance
Warnings: Extreme Language, Sexual Situations
Rating: R
Reviews: 668
Summary: This is the sequel to my previous story, Harry Potter and the Twists of Fate, starting off a few hours after the last chapter. Harry and his friends are now aware of the part they will play in the coming war. Can their friendship and love hold them together or will they allow jealousy and uncertainty to pull them apart, allowing Voldemort to win?
Hitcount: Story Total: 327554; Chapter Total: 6316





Author's Notes:
I’d like to apologize for the long wait. Unfortunately, other things got higher priority than this story in the first two weeks after I posted the last chapter then I had trouble with some of the details in the chapter. So, that’s out of the way and here is the next one. There are a couple of surprises here and a bit of angst. I hope most of you don’t hate the last part. Please review.




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Chapter 41: The Calm before the storm

When Harry and his friends visited Melinda before breakfast the next day, they found that Melinda’s parents were at her bedside, having only arrived just after lunch the previous day because of the need to find someone to mind Melinda’s nine year old brother and six year old sister. Edward and Andrea Pipper both worked for the Dublin branch of Gringott’s. They were extremely grateful to Harry and the others for having saved Melinda. Unfortunately, they had bad news for their daughter’s friends.

A mind healer who had examined Melinda the night before had said that, though her mental state was less severe than would be expected from such a traumatic experience, she still needed to get away from the proximity of the incident for at least a month. That meant she had to leave Hogwarts. So, her parents were taking her home to Dublin which saddened her fellow Gryffindors. Of course, she still needed to see a mind healer to help her recover.

By a strange coincidence, Seamus’ mum was the only practicing mind healer in Dublin. Another strange coincidence was that the Pippers lived only a couple of blocks from the pub owned by Seamus’ Muggle dad. So Harry and the others were reassured that Mel would get the best care and be updated on her condition.

That evening after dinner, the whole of Gryffindor house gathered in the common room to say goodbye to Melinda. Everyone wished her a speedy recovery, especially a blushing Seamus who promised to visit her during the Christmas break if she wasn’t back at Hogwarts by then. Then Harry, Ginny, Neville, Rose, Hermione and Ron escorted her to Dumbledore’s office from where she and her parents would take a Portkey to their home.

In the Headmaster’s office, Mel exchanged tearful hugs with Ginny, Hermione and Rose. She caught Harry and Neville off guard with tight hugs of their own as she thanked them again for saving her. Ron lamented over losing his reserve Keeper which earned him a smack on the back of the head from Hermione. Once the portkey had whisked the Pippers off, the six friends went back to Gryffindor Tower where they spent the rest of the evening at their usual places in front of the fireplace hoping Melinda would be all right.

Life at Hogwarts returned to normal after that, as normal as it can be with the students confined to the castle and its grounds. James had wanted to assign several Aurors to the school but Dumbledore had assured him that Hogwarts was already well protected.

One strange thing that Hermione noticed was the greater amount of time that Draco Malfoy was spending in the library, usually at a table near her with no other Slytherins around. Of course the Slytherin was studying so she couldn’t say it was suspicious behavior. However, the blonde boy always made it a point to greet her whenever he saw her there. Since he wasn’t doing anything wrong, Hermione decided to be polite and greet him back. However, they never occupied the same table as they did before and so never really talked again, especially since Ron was always with her in the library now and the insanely jealous boy would not let her talk to Draco even for a few minutes .

The Saturday before Halloween, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Rose, Ron and Hermione were covertly asked to see Dumbledore after dinner. When the six Gryffindors got to Dumbledore’s office, they found James and Lily there with the Headmaster.

Dumbledore informed them all that Snape had found out that Voldemort was aware of Rose’s seer powers. How the Dark Lord found out was not known to Snape. However, what Snape also found out was that the evil wizard had ordered Rose’s capture so he could coerce her to use her powers for his benefit.

Naturally, Lily’s first instinct was to pull her out of school and bring her home but Dumbledore convinced her that it would be safer for her in Hogwarts where she could be watched by her friends. Naturally, Rose didn’t care for that but was forced by her parents to promise to always be with her brother or her other friends at all times.

Halloween itself passed without incident, much to Harry’s surprise. He had expected Voldemort to try something considering it was the anniversary of his first defeat by Harry but it seemed that the Dark Lord was still incapacitated.

It was good that the Death Eaters were quiet. Harry could concentrate on other things like the Defense Club which was now held for two hours every Sunday afternoon. After the recent attack on Hogsmeade, it was obvious that Hogwarts itself would be attacked in the future. It was considered necessary to prepare the students to fight. For this reason, the meetings were now conducted as mock battles with the members divided into two sides.

The terrain they fought over changed with each meeting, ranging from wooded areas to mock ups of Hogsmeade and the castle. Each battle had set objectives. Sometimes, one side would pretend to have hostages while the other side attempted to rescue them. Other times, it was like a capture the flag scenario or holding an area for an amount of time. At the end of each battle, they reviewed it and critiqued the performance of each side. So far, the members had done quite well, making Harry proud.

Harry and his circle of friends had their own more intense training sessions on Sundays. They used the Floo in the Room of Requirement to get to Potter Manor to use the Dueling Room there. These sessions also had the added benefit of allowing Harry, Rose and Hermione to see their younger siblings on a regular basis. It also gave everyone a safe place to practice their animagus forms.

Unfortunately, not everything was roses for Harry and his friends. Complicating things for them was the relationship between Ti and Romilda Vane. The raven-haired girl was very reluctant to leave Ti’s side. She was even present during some of their Quidditch practices at the end of which she was often loudly telling Ti how he could have done better than his other teammates. In the DC’s mock battles, she refused to be on a different team than Ti. Her reluctance to be apart from him even caused Ti to miss a few of the New Marauders’ special training sessions. But there was nothing they could do since it appeared that Ti was quite taken with the girl so they tolerated the situation.

The Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in the second Saturday of November was the first time after the Hogsmeade attack that the students showed any sign of excitement and happiness, in spite of the increasing cold weather. Luckily, it hadn’t snowed yet.

Ron gave a pre game speech that Oliver Wood would have been proud off, much to Harry and Katie’s distress. However, Ron got an enthusiastic response from the team when he said that they should dedicate their upcoming win to Melinda. When they came out to the pitch, they found the stands filled to capacity with cheering students. Spirits lifting, the Gryffindor team rose into the air to face their opponents from the House of the Badger.

Fired up by the idea of dedicating the game to Melinda, Ginny, Rose and Katie scored goal after goal over the hapless Ravenclaw Keeper. Silently cheering his soulmate and other teammates on, Harry scanned the Pitch looking for the Snitch. Just on the edge of his vision, he could sense Cho Chang watching his every move.

An hour later, there was still no sign of the Snitch and Gryffindor was leading Ravenclaw 110-20. Harry was getting tired of Cho shadowing him so he put on a look of concentration on his face and sped off toward the far end of the Pitch, angling toward the ground. He was aware that Cho was following him and allowed her to catch up a bit.

When Cho was only five feet from him, he went into a steep dive, his arm stretched out in front of him as he sped up. He felt Cho gaining on him. Then, when he was a few feet from the ground, he pulled hard on his broomstick’s handle and leveled off a mere six inches above the grass of the Pitch. Cho was not as lucky. Her broom brushed against the ground as she pulled up, causing her to be thrown off the broom which flew straight up like a missile. It was soon lost in the clouds.

Harry didn’t see this since he had just spotted the Snitch hovering above the Ravenclaw goal posts where the rest of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams were. Harry immediately sped off in that direction, dodging other players as he streaked toward the golden ball. He rolled to one side to avoid a Bludger sent his way by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters. He then stretched his arm out to snatch the Snitch, sealing the victory for his team.

The party they had after that victory lasted well into the early morning hours, causing McGonagall to come into the common room at 2 am, demanding they go to bed. Of course, Harry and Ginny weren’t there anymore by then, having retreated to the Room of Requirement for a little private celebration of their own.

After their celebration, they fell into a contented sleep. It was near lunchtime by the time they left the Room of Requirement and returned to Gryffindor Tower. When they entered the common room, they saw Hermione, Ron, Rose and Neville sitting at their usual places in front of the fireplace and headed for them. The common room was otherwise empty.

“Where have you two been?” Hermione demanded, as soon as the couple sat down, “You both missed breakfast and we haven’t seen you all morning. We were worried and thought you were somehow kidnapped.”

“Yeah,” Rose said, “I even looked at the Marauders’ Map and couldn’t find you two. We thought you weren’t in the castle anymore.”

“Oh yeah,” Harry said, “Well, um, we went to the Room of Requirement just before curfew. I guess we forgot the time and fell asleep there.”

Ron looked at them suspiciously, “Just what were you doing there all night?” He took a sniff of the air around Harry and Ginny and then blurted out, “You two have had sex!”

“H-how did you….?” Harry asked, his eyes going wide like a deer caught in front of a car’s headlights. His face then turned red as he realized what he had admitted.

“I can smell it on you,” Ron growled in a low voice, “Dog animagus…remember? The scent of recent sex clings to people if they haven’t showered or bathed afterwards.”

“Wait a minute, Ronald Weasley,” Hermione said, “How the bloody hell do you know the scent of recent sex?” The others turned to the bushy-haired girl in surprise at her language but she didn’t bat an eyelash over their surprised looks.

“Err…I, uh, smelled it on Sirius a few months ago and asked him about it,” Ron said sheepishly, “What he told me was, and I quote, ‘That, my boy, is the smell of someone who’s had a great shag.’ But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Harry broke a promise to me. He said that he’d wait until they got married before taking that step with my sister.”

“Well, he didn’t break his promise, Ron,” Ginny said with a smirk on her face.

Ron turned his ire on her, “What do you mean he didn’t break his promise? He just about admitted the two of you had sex last night and I don’t see a certain ring around your finger.”

“It doesn’t matter if I don’t have that ring, Ron” Ginny said, “The fact is that we’re married anyway. Tell him, Hermione.”

“W-what?” Ron asked intelligently, turning to Hermione, “How can that be?”

“She’s talking the Soul Bond, Ron,” Hermione said softly, “The bonding acts like a marriage ceremony. From the moment it formed, they were considered to be married. It was in the book I read about the Soul Bond but I thought it would be too soon for them to know that.” She turned to Harry and Ginny. “I’m sorry for keeping it from you but I thought it would have made you two act a bit weird if you knew you were already married to each other. It already seemed a lot to take that you were bonded together so young.”

“It’s all right, Hermione,” Harry said, wrapping his arms around Ginny from behind her, “We probably would have felt awkward about being married. Now that we’d gotten used to the Bond, being married already is just icing on the cake.”

“He’s right, Hermione,” Ginny said, “It would have felt even weirder then.”

“Wow,” Ron said, shaking his head, “They were married from the moment the Bond formed? I can’t believe it, my best mate actually been married to my sister for almost three years now.” Then he smiled, “I bet Mum’ll be chuffed when she finds out, her only daughter married without a proper ceremony.”

“Actually,” Ginny said, “She already knows. In fact, she’s the one who let me know.”

“When did that happen?” Rose asked.

“That night I stayed over with Harry after the Death Eaters attacked Hermione’s family,” Ginny said.

“What!” Rose said, “You knew then? And you didn’t even tell me? I can’t believe you didn’t try to jump Harry that night.”

“Believe me, I was tempted,” Ginny said, “But it would have been awkward since Harry wasn’t feeling well after being in Tom’s head so I decided to wait for a more time.” Then she smiled wickedly, “Actually, last night wasn’t the first time we did it.”

Harry groaned, “Did you have to tell them that, Gin? Now, Ron will really feel like killing me.” He looked at Ron who was now glaring at him.

“Nah, he wouldn’t dare,” Ginny said, “He’d have to face me if he tried.”

“So you’ll be my hero?”
Harry asked.

“Anytime, Potter,” Ginny said, “You’ve always been mine.” She then glared at Ron and said, “Get over it, Ron. Mum said she wouldn’t mind as long as I don’t get pregnant so back off or eat Bat Bogeys.”

Ron gulped and looked away.

“All right,” Harry said, “Now that the inquisition is over, I’d like to talk with you guys about the plans for the DC meeting tonight.” With that, the other five Gryffindors turned their attention to him with eager looks on their faces.


The weather turned colder as November turned into December. By the time of the next Quidditch game, between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, in the first Saturday of December, the first snows had fallen. In fact, it was snowing during the game, with the addition of strong winds. Harry and his friends were thankful that it wasn’t them out there.

With the aid of the snow, the Snakes managed to get through the Puffs’ defenses quite easily. It was surprising that they hadn’t had to resort to their previous tactics that were just a tad short of outright cheating. When Ron commented on this to Harry, Ti, who was seated behind them, told them that Draco, who was Slytherin team captain, had devised a new training program that would not allow illegal tactics.

Their attention was drawn back to the game by a roaring shout from the crowd, focusing on the two Seekers. They saw that Malfoy was in a close race for the Snitch with the Hufflepuff Seeker. Then, a Bludger was skillfully sent the way of the ‘Puff who was forced to swerve away to avoid it, allowing Malfoy to catch the Snitch and win the game for his team.

After the game, Harry and his friends discussed the new way Slytherin was playing. It was important for them to devise ways to counteract them since they were playing against them in the next game in January. Harry smirked at the thought of the amount of time Ron would spend thinking about it. That would be of benefit to Harry since it would allow him and Ginny to slip away for some ‘alone time’.

Since finding out that his sister and best mate have had sex, Ron had become like a shadow to them, never letting them alone for more than a few minutes. Ron would be even more obsessed over beating the Slytherins since he still didn’t like Draco. Harry, on the other hand, was warming up to the idea that Draco was changing for the better, especially after hearing of the change the blonde boy had made over his Quidditch team’s tactics.

*******

Hermione was again in the library on the following Monday night working on an assignment for Ancient Runes, this time alone since Ron was playing Wizards’ Chess with Harry and Ginny was quite comfortable snuggled up against her soul mate. Hermione wasn’t sure where Neville and Rose were but then that was Harry’s worry.

While she was working, a shadow passed over her and someone asked her in a lazy drawl, “Mind if I sit here, Hermione?” The blonde boy was gesturing to the seat beside her.

She looked up to see Draco. She smiled and said, “No, I don’t mind. Go ahead.”

“Thanks again,” he said, taking his seat and pulling his ‘Advances in Ancient Runes’ book out which reminded Hermione that they shared that class. In fact, they were the only Gryffindor and Slytherin, respectively, in the class.

”Are you working on that assignment translating the Babylonian runes to Nordic runes?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said distractedly. “I don’t want to put it off until the last minute even if it’s due Friday.”

“Oh,” Hermione said, “Well, good for you. Ron probably would have done that. That is, if he was in Ancient Runes.”

Draco didn’t reply but just nodded his head. They then worked side by side. Occasionally, Draco asked Hermione for help which she gladly provided. There were even a couple of translations that needed them both to work it out. After an hour, Hermione was done.

“Well, I’m done,” she said to Draco, “I’m going to head back to Gryffindor Tower.”

“Wait,” Draco said, “I’m just about done. Whatever else I need to put down, I can do it in the Slytherin common room.”

They packed up their things and left the library. They walked down the corridor in silence. There appeared to be no one around. Finally, they reached the main staircase. Since the Dungeons were down the stairs and Gryffindor Tower was higher up, they had to part ways.

“Well, I guess I’ll head up now,” Hermione said, “It was good working with you, Draco.”

“Same here, Hermione,” Draco said. Just as Hermione was starting to walk up the stairs, Draco said, “Wait, Hermione.”

Hermione turned around again, a puzzled look on her face which turned to surprise and shock when he pressed his lips to hers for a couple of seconds before he broke away. Mumbling a ‘sorry’, he fled down the stairs while Hermione stood staring into space in shock.

“Hermione!” a familiar voice called from behind her, “What the hell did I just see?”

“W-what?” Hermione said. Turning to whoever was talking to her, she was stunned to see Ron standing in front of her, his blue eyes icy cold.

“Did I just see you and Malfoy snogging?” Ron asked his tone very cold.

Hermione was still stunned by the kiss and could not muster an answer.

“Never mind,” Ron said after several seconds, a furious look appearing on his face, “I guess that’s it then. We’re through.” He then turned around and ran up the stairs, headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

Ron’s last words finally broke Hermione out of her daze. “Ron! Wait!” she cried, “No, it’s not what you think!” She ran after Ron.

Unfortunately, his longer legs kept him ahead of her though he had to stop to get the Fat Lady to open the Portrait Hole, allowing her to catch up a bit. She called out again to him. “Ron! Wait! Please, let me explain. It’s not what you think.”

But Ron ignored her and passed through the entrance hole without a backward glance.

*******

Harry was revising for Charms by reading his textbook while sitting on the couch in front of the Gryffindor fireplace which was providing some much needed warmth to the room, his right arm around Ginny who was snuggled up against him while she read her Transfiguration for her own revision.

Earlier, Ron had once again trounced him in Wizarding Chess. Sometimes, Harry wondered why he ever agreed to play Ron since he had never won a single game in the many years they’ve known each other. After doing his traditional victory dance, Ron had noticed that it was almost curfew and wondered why Hermione wasn’t back yet from the library. He then decided to look for her and accompany her back to the tower.

Harry suddenly felt a small warm hand make its way under his jumper and shirt to caress the skin of his abdomen. He grinned inwardly and looked covertly around the room. Though it wasn’t full, the common room still had at least twenty Gryffindors of various ages scattered around, but no one was paying them any attention.

So, Harry let his right hand slowly wander down Ginny’s side until it could slip under her skirt. Then he started to caress the skin of her thigh. Ginny’s hand stopped for a moment as she gave a small moan before resuming its activities.

Then he felt her burrow her head deeper under his arm as she started to plant feathery kisses on his neck. Harry felt a lower part of his anatomy respond to her. Just as he turned his head to catch her lips with his, the Portrait Hole opened up and he heard Hermione call out, “Ron! Wait! Please, let me explain. It’s not what you think.”

Turning his head toward the entrance to the common room, he saw Ron enter the common room with a furious expression on his face. The redhead did not stop but continued moving swiftly up the stairs to the sixth year boys’ dormitory. Hermione then made her appearance, a mortified look on her face as she looked around for Ron.

The other students in the common room looked at her with curiosity. Ron and Hermione’s fights had lessened since they had become a couple but they still happened. Usually, however, she was the one who was furious and Ron the one who looked scared and apologetic. It was unusual when the roles were reversed.

Hermione’s expression changed to one of relief when she saw Harry and Ginny. “Where is he?” Hermione asked as she hurried to them, ignoring the other Gryffindors.

“He’s gone up to our room,” Harry said. “What happened, Hermione? I’ve never seen Ron so mad before.”

The mortified look came back to Hermione’s face. She sat down on the couch beside Harry and Ginny, the latter having straightened her position.

“He broke up with me,” Hermione said, softly.

Harry and Ginny exchanged stunned looks.

“He broke up with you?” Ginny asked. “What in the world happened for that to happen?”

“Ron saw Draco Malfoy kissing me,” Hermione said.

“Wait a minute,” Ginny said, “Draco Malfoy, as in Ti’s brother, actually kissed you? You better explain that further.”

Hermione told them about Draco being in the library whenever she was for the past weeks. Then she narrated her strange evening studying with Draco Malfoy until the point where he kissed her.

“So he just kissed you without any sort of warning?” Harry asked, “He didn’t even give you a hint like saying, oh I don’t know, Hermione I like you?”

“No, not a word,” Hermione said, leaping to her feet and starting to pace, “He just kissed me, the prat. It was so shocking. Then it appears that Ron saw the whole thing. He asked me to explain what happened but my mind was still frozen from the shock of the kiss. When I couldn’t answer, he said we were through.”

“So he just broke up with you?” Harry asked. “Where was Malfoy? I would have thought Ron would at least hex him or punch his lights out.”

“I guess Draco was embarrassed that I didn’t respond to his kiss,” Hermione said, “He mumbled an apology and ran off. That’s when Ron came up to me. He probably thinks I like Draco Malfoy. I know how Ron’s mind works. I bet he thinks I like Draco because he’s richer and good looking. That would be just like Ron to put himself down,” She stopped pacing and faced them, an earnest look on her face as she continued, “But that’s not true. Malfoy may be rich and good looking but I don’t care about that. It’s Ron I like, though maybe like is not strong enough a word. I think he’s better looking than Draco and far richer with the love he and his family have. Why can’t he understand that? Oh, what am I going to do?” She collapsed on the couch and started sobbing.

Ginny gathered Hermione in her arms and allowed the older girl to cry on her shoulder. Ginny looked at Harry. “This is not good, Harry. It’s just like to Ron to overreact like this.”

“Yeah,”
Harry said, “I know. All right, I’ll go talk to him. You take care of Hermione.” He got up and headed for the stairs to the boys’ dorms.

“All right,” Ginny said. She started to whisper comforting things to Hermione which Harry tuned out.

As Harry came up to the door to his dorm room, he sharpened his hearing which was more powerful now than an ordinary human’s due to his tiger animagus form. He didn’t hear a thing from within the room which was disconcerting. Usually, when he was mad, Ron had a tendency to rant and throw things around, usually his own things.

Gingerly, he opened the dorm’s door and peeked inside. The room seemed empty. Where was Ron? Then, he heard a faint sniffling which appeared to be coming from Ron’s bed. He then noticed that the curtains around the bed were drawn closed. He walked softly up to Ron’s bed and parted the curtains slowly. What he saw shocked him.

Ron was lying on the bed on his stomach, sobbing softly into his pillow. It almost broke Harry’s heart hearing his best mate crying. He slowly sat down on the bed and gently shook Ron’s shoulder.

“Hey, mate,” Harry said, “What’s the matter?”

Ron didn’t answer at first but after a few minutes, he turned over and looked at Harry with sorrowful and pain filled eyes.

“I broke up with Hermione, Harry,” Ron said, tears still flowing down his cheeks, “I saw her kissing Malfoy of all people. I asked her what was going on but she didn’t answer me. If she likes someone like Malfoy who’s rich and handsome, then what chance do I have?”

“Mate,” Harry said, “I think you read the situation all wrong. She didn’t want to kiss Malfoy. He just kissed her without any warning. She was just too shocked by what happened to answer you.”

Ron looked at Harry uncertainly, “You sure?”

“Yes,” Harry said, “She told us the whole story. She likes only you, you daft prat. She doesn’t care if Malfoy rich or is good looking. She prefers you, though I have no idea why.”

Ron punched Harry lightly on the arm, “Git. She actually said that?”

Harry sighed, “Yes, though I think she more than likes you.”

“What does that mean?” Ron asked, “More than likes me?”

“I can’t explain it to you, Ron,” Harry said, “You’ll have to ask her yourself. She’s downstairs in the common room. I think you should go and talk to her.”

“She isn’t mad, is she?” Ron said, cringing. “After all, I broke up with her.”

“Not right now,” Harry said, “But I bet she will be if you don’t fix this right now and get back together with her.”

“All right,” Ron said. He shakily got up and walked to the door. Before he exited, he turned back to Harry, “Thanks, mate.”

Harry grinned at him, “Any time, Ron. Just remember, she’s like a sister to me. You muck this up and I’ll come after you.”

Ron gulped but nodded his head and went out the door, the sound of his footsteps slowly fading as he descended the stairs.

“Very well done, Harry,” Ginny said in his head, “I can’t believe Ron was crying. I guess he really loves her.”

“Yeah, I know,”
Harry replied, “I guess Hermione does, too, if we interpret what she said correctly.”

“Oh I’m sure we did,”
Ginny said, “I managed to calm her down. Oh, I see Ron. Well, here goes.”

*******

Ron slowly walked down the stairs to the common room. He descended the last step and looked around apprehensively. He saw Hermione with Ginny on the couch in front of the fireplace. Thankfully, the common room was empty but for the two girls.

His heart ached to see that Hermione had been crying and it was his fault. He shouldn’t have told her that they were through but he had been shocked and hurt when he saw Malfoy kissing her. Even if Malfoy was an evil git, he was still a rich evil git. He could give Hermione much more than he, Ronald Weasley, ever could, being the last of six brothers.

At least Ginny had Harry and his wealth. But all Ron Weasley would ever have was whatever he’d earn from whatever job he’d land in after Hogwarts. How could he have ever thought Hermione would stay with him?

But then, according to Harry, Hermione had said that she didn’t care about Malfoy or his wealth; that she preferred him over the more handsome and rich Slytherin. He took a deep breath and walked over to the two girls. When he got to them, he knelt down in front of Hermione.

“’Mione,” he began, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I should have waited for you to say something before opening my fat mouth.” He took hold of one of her hands, “It’s just that I really care for you. If you want to be with someone else, I’ll understand. I just want you to be happy.”

“Oh, Ron,” Hermione said, “When will you get it into that thick head of yours that I don’t want anyone else? It’s you I want, no one else. Not Malfoy, not Harry, no one else but you.”

“You really mean that?” Ron asked, “So that kiss with Malfoy meant nothing?”

Hermione shook her head, “No, he just kissed me without my permission.”

“Then I take back what I said earlier,” Ron said, sitting down beside her, “I don’t want to break up with you, ever.” He leaned down and kissed her.

His heart swelled when she immediately returned the kiss. He ran his tongue over her lower lip, seeking entrance. Hermione parted her lips slightly, allowing Ron to run his tongue inside her mouth where her tongue entwined with it. They continued kissing as their arms wrapped around each other.

After an unknown amount of time, they broke apart just enough for Hermione to place her head against his chest. Ron tightened his arms around her.

“I’m sorry, Hermione,” Ron said again.

“Shh, Ron,” Hermione said, “It doesn’t matter now. We didn’t really break up. Don’t worry about it.”

“All right,” Ron said, “But I have to think of a way to keep Malfoy away from you.”

“Leave him alone, Ron,” Hermione said, “He’s just confused. He’s going through a rough time. If he tries to kiss me again, I’ll just tell him we can only be friends. I’m sure he’ll back off then.”

“He’d better,” Ron said darkly. Or I’ll make him.

*******

Draco was lying on his bed, still fully clothed. He looked at his watch for the time: 2am. He went back to contemplating the event that was keeping him from sleeping: he had actually kissed Granger. True, he had fled as soon as he realized what he had done, but still, it had happened.

He shook his head in frustration. He didn’t know what compelled him to kiss her. Well, if he was honest with himself, that wasn’t completely true. After all, he had been trying to get close to her since the start of the new term on orders from his father. However, he hadn’t realized until tonight how attracted he was to her.

He snorted, feeling momentarily disgusted with himself for having any feelings other than loathing for the Mudblood. But then, she was no longer the bucktoothed unattractive female he first saw during their Sorting. She had managed to straighten her teeth in time for the Yule Ball during the Triwizard Tournament then had developed a figure and bosom that was better looking than most of the girls at Hogwarts. She was even more attractive than the Weaslette who was now practically attached to Potter’s hip.

Now, there was something that Draco couldn’t figure out. With Granger almost always in his presence, how could Potter have fallen for that bird from the biggest bunch of blood traitors in England and one that was as poor as church mice at that? She was smaller than Granger, with an almost tomboyish figure though her chest was adequate. Weaslette’s skin was also quite pale with so many freckles. He couldn’t understand what Potter saw in her. Yet, Ti had told him that she and Potter were really into each other. He shook his head in wonder. Nope, Granger was definitely more desirable to him than Weaslette.

Thinking about Weaslette led him to think about another redhead: Potter’s own sister. She was marginally better looking than Weaslette. It was a pity her fling with Ti didn’t last long. He could have managed to get more information about Potter and his little group if it had. After all, that was the reason he had given Ti that pendant for his birthday last term.

The pendant’s enchantment had allowed him to listen in on any conversations Ti was having since it picked up any voices within twenty feet of it. He heard whatever it picked up on a similar pendant he had on him. Through it, he had found out all about their little training sessions they had during the term and in Potter’s house. But it was less information than he could have gotten if Ti and Rose had been a couple.

Still, it wasn’t important now. He hadn’t been able to get anything out of it since they got back to Hogwarts. At first, he was afraid that its enchantments had been discovered when it’s chain had broken and Ti had given it to Sirius’ wife to get fixed. However, he hadn’t heard anything about it so he assumed it had lost its enchantments somehow.

Anyway, that was all unimportant. His problem now was what to do about his attraction to Granger. He sighed. He doubted Granger would break up with Weasley. Of course, maybe Weasley would break up with her if he knew Draco had kissed her. But then, she’d hate him for telling Weasley and breaking them up and he didn’t want that. He wanted her to want him.

He ground his teeth in frustration. These feelings were going to complicate his task of getting close to Potter through Granger. Potter would never accept him into his circle if he caused his best friends to break up. No, the best thing was to avoid Granger for now and wait until the spring term, pretending he was confused and sorting out what happened. Then, she’d be more sympathetic and let him get closer to her.

Having decided what to do, Draco rolled over and closed his eyes to get some sleep. Maybe once the Dark Lord had won, he’d allow him to keep Granger as a concubine. After all, he couldn’t have a Mudblood for a wife and be a proper Pureblood, could he? That was the last thought he had before sleep claimed him.
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