Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Ronald Weasley's Strategies	By : AidaLily Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 19723 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with Harry Potter. I do not make any money off of this fic.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
A/N: Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing this story. I really appreciate it. I am so so sorry this update took so long. Characters are OOC in some aspects or it wouldn't be fanfiction. :) Enjoy.

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Disclaimer: There is a kiss at the end of this. Sad Ginny. lol

“What on earth would make you think that asking me to put my most painful and/or private memories into a box, was a good idea?” Harry asked not even realizing that Draco had spoken with him on the outburst. Right now, he was just shocked that she would ask such a thing of him. He understood they didn’t talk much, but did she even think of what would happen if those memories fell into the wrong hands. He could see the headlines now.
‘Savior had to sleep in a cupboard’
‘Parseltongue: Things About our Savior Before Hogwarts’
‘Scandal: Savior Kissed Son of Convicted Death Eater’
‘The Savior of the Wizarding World wants to open an amusement park?’
The possibilities were endless. All it would take is for one overzealous fan and everything would be posted everywhere. He’d never have a moment of privacy. Of course, this was selfishness talking and he needed to get back to the matter at hand. “Out of all the ideas you could have possibly had, you just had to choose this one and then to ask the way you did… it is like you don’t know me at all and…”
While Harry was going on a tirade mainly due to shock and anger about the question, Draco was watching Ginny. She seemed completely shocked that Harry would ever respond to her like this. Draco understood where she was coming from, because he had talked to Harry. The green-eyed male had basically been going through the motions of expectation much like she was. They hadn’t any time to figure out if their relationship was something they both wanted. The moment that Voldemort had been defeated was the moment everyone started talking about them and putting them in the papers together.   He had read the papers and had he never had to work with Potter on a class assignment, he would have thought everything was perfect with the relationship.
After all, it was a relationship built on a seemingly strong foundation and yet he was seeing just how imperfect it was. They didn’t know each other. It seemed that Harry had been dating her for a sense of normalcy and may have found her to be reasonably attractive. Ginny, on the other hand, had been swept up in the fever of dating Harry Potter, the boy who lived. They shared mutual acquaintances, slightly similar views, but had a complacent acceptable relationship that no one would really question. If they had gotten married, it would have probably been her going out with friends, buying nice things every now and then, and then her raising children while Harry worked and kept up his name in the ministry if he had wanted to go that route.
In other words, they would have had a pureblood Slytherin marriage!
His parents would have probably eagerly joined Harry’s side if they had known, because there would have been something in common there. Draco could almost laugh at the irony of this situation. Someone, whom he used to hate for no real reason at all, would have had the type of marriage that he had come to despise in the past few years or so. It truly was amusing the way things turned out, but there was nothing amusing about this situation. As he looked at Ginny again, she looked ready to break down and cry if Harry kept going on his tirade.
“Stop…” Draco said in a soft voice as to not startle the other. This wasn’t going to end well at all, but maybe for his new found friend’s sake and the fact that Blaise wanted Ron, he could do some damage control.
Harry didn’t seem to hear Draco. He was just going on an entire list of everything wrong with her idea before he switched to everything wrong with their relationship. All of the frustration that Harry had felt after her proposal was coming out all at once.
“Stop.” Draco spoke a bit louder but short of screaming. He knew Harry wasn’t focused on what he was doing to the girl, but that he’d regret it much later. It was kind of weird. At an earlier point in his life, he would have loved getting one over on a Weasley, but he had realized how stupid that was. Who cares what they could afford and what they couldn’t. Material objects didn’t make one person better than the other. They all breathed the same air, had blood running through their veins, and they all would eventually cease to exist. Money didn’t buy happiness and his parents were a shining example of that.
“…I don’t even know why we started dating. I mean I could understand the threat of Voldemort hanging over our heads and everything associated with that, but to stay together afterwards because some publications wanted us to?! I realized that maybe it was my fault because I never spoke up much earlier, but you have basically been making me wonder if you belong in an insane asylum lately!” Harry continued not hearing Draco for a second time.
Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath before yelling, “HARRY STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!”
Harry stopped and looked at Draco. The other never yelled really nor did he seem to get exceptionally angry at all in the last year. “Draco… what…?” he asked him and then followed the direction of Draco pointing at Ginny. He saw his best friend’s sister in tears, clutching the box to her chest, and sitting on her knees on the ground. “Gin….”
It was all he could get out before Draco cast a silencing charm on him. “Since I now have your attention, Harry. I wanted to point out that this is what you were doing before you started apologizing for everything under the sun. Listen, you two are going to be hurt by your separation. However, you were about to have the marriage of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy should your relationship have continued.” Draco said satisfied when they both looked at him.
“My parents are the poster children for a good old fashioned complacent marriage. My father worked and maintained the Malfoy family name and my mother knew pretty much nothing about him minus things she had heard in school and so on. I grew up in a house where my parents spoke maybe 3,000 words to each other in a given year and most of them were ‘Welcome home’ and ‘Goodnight’. Their words to me were about the same if I was lucky. I suppose I’ve been questioning a good old fashioned complacent marriage for longer than I had thought.” Draco said as he looked at them both.
Draco bent down and lifted Ginny’s head a bit so their eyes met. “You care for him, but you aren’t in love with him. Everyone else wants you to believe and think this way. I could tell when you proposed to him since you were confused that he said no, but didn’t question if he loved you or not. Marriage wouldn’t solve that and neither would this idea. I know you felt it was the best decision because he won’t talk to you, but as I said before if he wanted to then he would have. Do you know his plans after school? His favorite colors? His favorite foods or secret desires?” he asked her still bending down at her level.
Ginny looked at Draco and shook her head ‘no’. “I don’t know any of that. He’s never told me anything and that is why I thought this would work.”
“I know why you thought this would work and for anyone else but Harry, it might have. Those questions I just asked might seem ridiculous, but they are just simple questions anyone in a relationship should be able to talk about. As his friend, I know the answers to each of those questions because he talked to me about them. Communication is a two-way street and you can never force the street to open the other way. It has to come naturally.” Draco said to her. “Do you understand that and why asking him this was a stupid idea to begin with?”
Ginny swallowed and nodded. “I understand. Actually, if I would have thought about it more, then I would have realized that it was a stupid idea before I even decided to do it. Did you know I wasn’t even upset when he told me that he was going to Hogsmeade with you and not me? I just didn’t mind. I guess that should have told me something.”
Draco nodded and then stood up. “And you…” he said looking at Harry. “She was thrown into this situation just like you are. You both kept it up because people expected it, but that was no reason to completely try and destroy her self-esteem or anything like that. You are confused as much as she is.” Draco lifted Harry’s head a bit so their eyes met and he could see the emotions swirling around in them. He removed the silencing charm from Harry and took a step back.
Harry looked at Draco a moment before smiling a bit and shaking his head. “I really hate telling you that you are right, but once again you are.” he said before turning to Ginny. “I’m sorry for how I reacted to this, but…” Harry glanced back at Draco before looking back at Ginny. “Draco is right. I’ve been wondering how to break up because it didn’t feel like a relationship. We barely talked, barely touched, and barely had any passion between us. Without the threat of the war last year, I am not sure if we would have ever dated to begin with.”
“So… you would have never chosen me on your own?” Ginny asked him in a very quiet voice blinking away another fresh wave of tears. Still it was odd. She wasn’t necessarily hurt by what he said but mainly that they would have never even attempted to go along with what everyone else wanted from them.   The tears were more because she had wasted all of this time being, as Malfoy had put it, being in a cold, stereotypically Slytherin relationship. She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been.
There were many things that Draco Malfoy never thought he’d hear. Harry Potter stating that he had only dated the girl under the threat of Voldemort while angry was one thing, but while he was calm? If there was a magical book for the worst things to say during a break up, that would probably take the cake. Now Draco wasn’t one to go off on weird little nonsensical tangents in his head, but really. Harry basically said Voldemort was the only reason they dated. He didn’t condone violent break ups, but this is one time he wouldn’t have batted an eye if the redheaded girl slapped him.
Harry had realized what he said, but it was the way he meant it. Sure, he could have found some way to convey his message without causing Ginny to possibly want to jump from the Astronomy Tower, but sugar coating it might cause another marriage proposal mishap. “I know that sounds awful Gin, but I felt I owed it to you to be honest. You would have never been happy with me. I probably would have become an Auror. We may have built a ridiculously sentimental house in Godric’s Hollow and probably had three kids that we would dote on only to slip back into this complacency when they all went to school or graduated.”
Ginny wiped away the tears that came from Harry’s words. Once she may have fought against them, but it was completely true. She might have even gone on to play professional quidditch and just been fine with Harry being gone all the time. Part of her wanted to fight against what she was saying, but she couldn’t. “I-I understand Harry. It will just take some time for me to move on. I admit I did feel something for you, but I still need to sort out what that was.”
Harry smiled lightly at her and gave her a friendly hug. “Take your time Gin and I am sure you will find the perfect guy just for you.” he said in a more brotherly type of tone than anything else. He was still bothered by everything even though breaking up with Ginny made him feel lighter than he had in a while. The slightly frown appeared on his face as he turned around towards Draco.
The blonde male caught it almost immediately and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Hey, come on with me and we will go sit and talk somewhere alright? Somewhere private to where you don’t have to worry about people overhearing anything.” Draco said out of concern for his friend.
Harry didn’t say anything and just nodded following along. He had a lot of things on his mind and a nice quiet place to speak with a good friend sounded wonderful. A small glance and wave in Ginny’s direction was all he did to tell her goodbye before he turned the corridor.
The young girl had watched their entire interaction with one another and the moment Harry disappeared; she couldn’t help but smile a bit. Yes, her relationship with Harry was over and she was sad about it, but after seeing that exchange she realized that it didn’t matter. Her mind drifted back to Draco’s mini speech to her when he asked if she knew the answers to those questions and her response. It was a piece of Draco’s response to her saying ‘no’ that made her smile now.
As his friend, I know the answers to each of those questions because he talked to me about them.
Harry talked to Draco and told him things that, based on their interactions, he hadn’t even told Ron or Hermione. There were no hard feelings or jealous feelings in her mind. She didn’t know if either of them was inclined that way, but she would be fully supportive of them if it ever happened. Ginerva Weasley felt lighter than she had in a while as she turned and almost bounced down the hallway in search of Neville or maybe Dean. She knew that even if she did still harbor feelings for Harry, there was no way she could compete (or wanted to compete) with Draco Malfoy.
The Astronomy Tower
Harry and Draco had wound up at the top of the tower since it was quiet and most people were still at Hogsmeade for the day. They were both sitting on the floor with Harry leaning on Draco’s shoulder and Draco’s head leaning on Harry’s. Both of their thoughts were filled with thoughts of one another, but more or less the day they had and not anything too risqué. Draco was just waiting for Harry to start talking knowing that the Gryffindor male was just trying to gather his thoughts together. Instead, Draco focused his thoughts on their Hogsmeade trip as he saw it played out in his mind.
Draco walked with Harry trying to figure out how to approach the subject of asking things about Ron. He had never seen Blaise show interest in anyone or anything before this project and he was determined to help his best friend out. At the same time, he had to admit it was fun spending time with his new friend. Both him and Harry seemed to have similar views and opposite views on things that Draco would have never imagined.
For instance, as they were walking to Hogsmeade, Harry admitted that he thought muggleborn witches and wizards should be placed with pureblood families when their powers were discovered. Draco felt that family was something that should always stay together regardless of blood and magical ability. Harry countered his argument with that is how the dark lord came about because he wasn’t placed into an acceptable wizarding family. Draco argued that some of the brightest witches and wizards came from muggle families such as, Harry’s own friend, Hermione Granger.
They had both stopped and looked at each other before bursting out laughing. It was actually kind of odd that they had the opposite views of what they had always fought about. While Harry didn’t agree with the slurs used against muggleborns, he had agreed that it would be better for the magical community to have children raised by the magical community. Draco felt they should perhaps start a different school to help muggles get better integrated in wizarding customs and everything should be fine. No one would have ever guessed that from either of them based on all the years they used to be at odds.
The rest of the day had passed by pretty fine without incident and Draco had fun debating various positions with Harry. He had even managed to speak to Harry about Ron a bit stating that he couldn’t understand why Ron wouldn’t grow up a bit. Harry, of course, said he didn’t understand either before being the forever loyal friend and talking about all the good qualities in Ron. It was almost like he was trying to sell Ron, but just short of that.
Draco felt his cheeks turn a bit red as he remembered the rest of the trip. He had been thoroughly annoyed with Harry’s reaction, but at the same time, Ginny’s random timing took away that annoyance for pure shock factor.
All of the sudden, he felt Harry tugging on his robes. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but the other seemed unable to stop himself from falling. Draco had turned to grab Harry and help the green eyed male regain his balance. What had ended up happening was that they both fell. He had barely managed to brace his hands on the ground to stop from crushing the other and then time froze or some other cliché thing he thought of at the time.
They hadn’t been that close since that kissing prank in the Great Hall. He couldn’t believe that he was once again staring into Harry’s eyes with their mouths barely inches apart. It was like some cosmic force in the universe was trying to put this idea into their heads, but he had no idea why. Neither of them had anything but animosity for each other before Draco assisted in Voldemort’s defeat and then nothing until Draco asked Harry to ensure his father would go to Azkaban and then their school project together for DADA.
Draco hadn’t even been sure why they stayed like that for several moments just staring. Anyone could walk past at this moment and perhaps tell Harry’s then girlfriend what had happened or spread rumors around the school. There could have been reporters and more that would have loved to drag Harry’s name through the mud with a so-called scandal even though nothing really happened.
It felt as if they were like that for twenty minutes, when in reality it was closer to five minutes. It was still one minute too long for them to stay there until Harry made that annoyed comment about him getting up. Draco had shot back with the fact that it wasn’t him that caused them to fall and they had a spirited debate all the way up to the school. The decision was to go and work on their project and Draco was going to find out more about Ron for Blaise.
Draco sighed and just closed his eyes as he continued to rest his head on top of Harry’s. It was strange that they had become friends and how they had become friends. Who forms a friendship after something as intimate as a kiss? In that same aspect, who stays friends because of one? They had learned a lot about each other after that day though and Draco did consider Harry a good friend. It may not have been that long ago, but it was nice to have someone he could be more open with.
Harry heard Draco’s sigh and just continued to rest his head on Draco’s shoulder. What on earth had possessed Ginny to ask what she did? Of course, he knew why she did it. After all, she had explained it to Draco and himself. It just bothered him that she even thought to do it at all. She could have asked to talk more, but then she had no reassurance that he would say anything to her. On top of that, he had been so angry that he may have hurt her if it hadn’t been for Draco.
Draco Malfoy, now there was an enigma. They were bitter rivals and enemies up to fifth year. They were indifferent towards one another and perhaps distant companions during the war in their sixth year and now they were friends. It had been the project that had gotten them to first talk to one another, but the project didn’t necessarily promote friendship. They truly could have given each other notes on what they had completed and then worked together only when necessary. A presentation could have been practiced in the company of friends, but he had started to see Draco as a friend before then hadn’t he?
It was the day Ginny proposed and Draco had essentially stopped him from making the biggest mistake of his life. The same day that he realized that Draco held marriage and relationships at a higher standard than most people their age. As they got to know each other better, Harry found that some of “Draco’s” views were his and vice versa.   A small smile appeared on Harry’s lips as he thought of their conversations to and in Hogsmeade. It had been quite an eye opener to find out that Draco had no issue with muggleborns being allowed to stay with family while Harry had thought muggleborns should be taken from their families and raised with magical ones. Their other conversations had been similar in nature.
Harry had changed the conversation to the wands that children receive and whether or not there should be tracking charms on them. He disagreed with tracking charms on wands saying that it allowed for students to be attacked with no way to defend them from enemies. It also was that practicing magic was increasingly hard for people if they accidentally hit someone with the magic they were practicing. Should practicing witches and wizards be subjected to disciplinary review due to simple protection or locking charms?
Draco said that they should, but he disagreed even with Draco’s rather good points. What if some 14 year old was pissed enough at his parents to accidentally cast an unforgivable on them? How would the ministry be able to track the person who did it? Harry had pointed out that they could just do it when they are adults, but Draco argued that sometimes traits like that appeared much earlier on such as the case with Voldemort.
They had spent the next fifteen minutes arguing their points before the conversation changed to that of their friends. Harry saw it as a perfect opportunity to talk about Ron. He had added bits about Hermione naturally, but in all honesty he was trying to give Ron an advantage with trying to catch Blaise’s attention. If Draco told Blaise about the meeting, then there might be more of a chance for his best friend to find happiness.
He hadn’t planned on falling and if truth were to be told, he only grabbed on to Draco because of how close the other was to him. His hope was to steady himself and when Draco tried to help, he thought that they would avoid falling. It was just not to be. He fell and to add awkwardness to this situation, Draco fell with him… right between his legs. Anyone could have seen them and thought something less than decent was going on between the two friends.
Harry didn’t move. He couldn’t move. He didn’t seem to be able to tell Draco to move. Here they were in a situation similar to the one he admittedly thought about from time to time. Their lips were barely inches apart and they would have probably been kissing if not for Draco’s quick thinking. Oh he could just imagine Ron’s laughter at him tripping and being sprawled out and panting beneath Draco-flipping-Malfoy. However, he kept staring at Draco and both their thoughts were probably similar to one another’s or something. This ‘spell’ had to be broken.
Without thinking much, he told Draco to get off of him and made some odd comment about it that he couldn’t remember. Harry’s voice had been filled with annoyance and that started their next debate all the way back up to Hogwarts and then Ginny…
Harry slowly released the breath that he was holding. “Was it wrong to break up with her like that after I made her cry?” he asked Draco.
“It would have been wrong if you tried to stay with her because of it. Tell me Harry, was it truly fair to either of you to be forced together? I know you know the answer to that question. You’ve told me the answer to that question before, but it seems you once again need to be reminded that your relationship with her was more like poison without an antidote in sight.” Draco said still not moving from his position.
“No. I still shouldn’t have made her cry though. Thank you for stopping me from doing that. I don’t think I could have ever forgiven myself if I had hurt her irreparably.” The raven haired male sighed.
“Irreparably? Well, it does seem like my influence is starting to rub off on you, Potter.” Draco said with light teasing behind his words. “Pretty soon, you will start using words like ‘exquisite’ or something.”
Harry snorted. “Like what? To tell you that you are being an exquisite pain in the arse, Malfoy?” he said with a smile breaking out on his face.
Draco thought about that sentence for a bit. “I am not quite sure it works in that sentence, but not a bad effort. Maybe you should start with smaller words. You know like ‘cat’.” A smile began to take over Draco’s face as well.
An ‘hmph’ noise left the mouth of one Harry Potter. “I will have you know Draco that I have a wonderfully humongous vocabulary.” he told him having purposefully used the word ‘humongous’ when there were probably a thousand other ways to say that sentence and in much better context.
There was silence.
It stretched on for a few seconds before both Harry and Draco began laughing together. The laughter was washing away all of the strangeness of today. They were not thinking of their schoolwork, their futures, or even their friends.   At this time, it was only them and the astronomy tower having fun like two teenagers who hadn’t seen enough fun in the past few years of their lives. After the craziness of the past few weeks, they deserved this moment to unwind and just enjoy being students and friends. There were no houses up here, no overbearing parents or guardians, no friends, not even the swish of Snape’s obviously enchanted robes.
Therefore it made perfect sense to someone like Ron why the two had gotten closer. The next moment would have had Ron squealing for joy and groaning about clichés. It would have had Ginny smiling and hiding back in the shadows before going off somewhere. Hermione would have been shocked and talked to Pansy about what she had seen in hopes it might be able to convince Blaise. Pansy would have talked to her about it and tried to form a strategy with Hermione even if she felt Blaise’s interest was someone else. Blaise? Well Blaise would have been explaining to Ron how sometimes clichés worked for ‘the greater good’ before laughing and reminding him that they still had planning to do. This was an accident from an emotionally charged two weeks. Ron would only respond with how he wished they were together already.
The laughter died down finally and they both fought to catch their lost breath. It didn’t take that long for them to calm down and look upon each other with smiles on their faces. A similar yet different thought passed between two minds. Why couldn’t relationships be as easy and as comfortable as friendships? The sun was setting and they both got up to go down to dinner together with Draco helping Harry off the floor.
“Thank you. I needed that.” Harry said stretching his arms over his head and looking at Draco. “After everything that has gone on in the past few weeks or so, I really needed to laugh and not think about anything else. Everything with Ginny, Ron, Hermione… you… there is just so much going on. I guess I shouldn’t have hoped for a particularly normal year.”
A soft hum filled the room. “Ron is your best friend who is trying to find his way. Hermione wishes to have a normal ‘girl’ experience, but I would hope she doesn’t try to get pregnant or something. It would be awful if she tried to have that experience before graduating outside of a committed relationship of course. Ginny just needs a moment to find herself and realize what she wants.” Draco said looking at Harry.
“As for me… well… our story is just beginning is it not? There is no point in obsessing about a future that we haven’t gotten even close to starting. Right now, we could decide we hate each other and leave this tower casting hexes. We could decide that we annoy each other and to end our friendship here and now without ever getting to build that amusement park or find out what each other’s favorite ride is. We could decide right now that this friendship means more to us than our friendships with others and call it some kind of exclusivity to each other when it comes to friends. We could decide many things in the next moment or in the next two days. So don’t stress so much over me.”
Harry looked at Draco after his words. “Why is it that you always seem to know the right things to say?” he asked.
“Who knows? Perhaps you just think that now because of the stress you are under.” Draco answered him. “Or maybe I just say the things you’ve always wanted to hear. I am not sure.”
“I hate losing friends and so if we ever get in a fight, then let’s promise to hear each other out and see if we can settle things without ending our friendship. Ok?” Harry asked Draco nervous about his answer.
Draco blinked and just stared at Harry. “I don’t like losing friends either. So if we fight, I promise that we will hear each other before hexes are thrown.” he said with a smile.
Harry smiled at that moment. Part of him felt bad because he had never thought to make a promise like that with Ron when he should have, but the other part of him was happy to have been able to make such a promise with a new friend and not be too afraid of his thoughts. Of course, back in fourth year, Harry had still been trying to be comfortable with who he was and now he was more confident and looking forward to his future. “Then Draco Malfoy… I think it’s time we had our first fight.”
Draco raised an eyebrow and looked at Harry. “And what would we fight about?” he asked.
Harry stepped closer to Draco. “This…” he said before wrapping his arms around Draco and kissing him.
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Ronald Weasley's Strategies