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Only the Ring Finger Knows	By : aoigensou Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 9411 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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A/N: Why is it you only notice mistakes after you�ve
posted the story? I don�t know about
this whole Harry POV thing, I�m having trouble writing it. I think I�m going to go over to a third
person POV like I usually do. Input
anyone?

For this chapter, I�m going to write it in third
person, and get opinions. If enough
people think my first person Harry POV was cooler, I�ll rewrite it in first
person, and stick with that, okay? So
cast your votes!

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Chapter
1

It was a lovely Thursday at the beginning of
December, and the Great Hall was filled with students for dinner. There was the ambient chatter that was
normally there, making the large room feel warm and welcoming. People were having a pleasant afternoon,
with the exception of a few.

Harry Potter was pushing the food on his plate
around without purpose, listening to his housemates complain. And about Draco Malfoy, no less. This in itself would not have been uncommon
in years past, and was in fact a regular occurrence. Nowadays, however, complaints about Malfoy had lessened to the
point of nonexistence, at least among the female population of Hogwarts. The males were a different story.

Malfoy�s change in personality hrougrought the
inevitable effect of attracting girls.
Every girl from every house (and half the males) had looked at him
longingly at least once since the beginning of the school year. Of course, this had happened before; when
Malfoy was still the school�s number one jerk.
It had just happened in secret, the casters of the looks afraid of being
made fun of or looked at strangely for desiring the person who could make
anyone�s life a living hell. The
difference now was that there was no need for surreptitiousness, because of the
change. Malfoy was now one of the
best-liked people in school.

Because of this (it also didn�t hurt that he�d been
made Head Boy), many of the guys had problems getting and keeping
girlfriends. They all were �waiting for
Draco Malfoy to notice them.� The
girlfriendless sector of the school thought that this was ridiculous; Malfoy
had shown no intention of becoming anyone�s boyfriend, or even dating anyone at
all. The guys thought that this was because
Malfoy reveled in the attention.

So there Harry was, forced to listen to the gripes
of his housemates over his former arch nemesis. Today it was the woes of Neville Longbottom.

�Why? It�s
not fair! Parvati told me that she
liked me, why did she turn me down?� the poor boy bemoaned. The last few years had been kind to Neville,
he had grown into his frame and had shot up nearly half a foot in the summer
between fifth and sixth year.

�I heard her whispering to her sister in the hall
the other day,� Seamus leaned in conspiratorially, and everyone within earshot
did the same, �but I don�t know if I should tell you what I heard.�

A collective glare was leveled at the Irishman, who
grinned back. �Tell us Seamus.�

Grinning, Seamus relented. �She told her that she thinks re cre cute and everything, but she
saw �Draco� smiling at her.� He said
the Slytherin�s name with a funny expression plastered on his face, and the
entire group burst out in laughter, with the exception of Harry and Neville.

�You�re putting me on!� Harry exclaimed indignantly
while Neville�s mouth hung open. Seamus
shook his head.

�Honest to god truth, I swear.�

Harry�s eyes narrowed slightly. Everyone was being ridiculous about the
entire thing. He simply couldn�t
believe that the entire population of the school was head over heels in love
with Malfoy.

�I� I� I wish I could hate him,� Neville finally
found his voice again after several minutes of being frozen agape, �but he�s
just so nice this year! He�s been
tutoring me in potions��

�He isn�t!�
Harry couldn�t believe his ears.
Had everyone gone mad? Were they
under Imperious? Did he miss an
important meeting somewhere along the way?

Neville nodded.
�Yes, and he isn�t being rude, or snide, or mean about it at all. It�s very helpful� I haven�t blown up a
cauldron iarlyarly three weeks!�

Harry had the good grace not to laugh. He settled instead for a neutral look.

�Neville, Malfoy is the reason why you aren�t at
this moment making eyes at Parvati.
Don�t you resent him for that? And haven�t any of you, for one moment, even considered the fact
that Malfoy is putting on the �nice guy� act?
For fuck�s sake, he�s tormented us for the better part of our school
life! How can any of you buy the fact
that he suddenly �saw the light?��

�Harry, calm down,� Hermione admonished. �Don�t you think all of us are pretty good
judges of character?�

�Well� That
doesn�t mean that Malfoy isn�t faking it.
I mean who goes from wannabe evil fucker to perfect angel in less than
six months? And he�s had his entire
life to practice!�

�I really don�t think that Malfoy would willingly
tutor Neville in potions, and be nice about it, unless he actually did have a
change of heart. He didn�t give Neville
the time of day before, only pushed him around.�

�He even offered to do it, I didn�t even have to
ask,� Neville added.

Harry closed his eyes in frustration. �This has to be some sort of plot.� This statement fell on deaf ears, and he
couldn�t quite believe that his friends and housemates of more than six years
could be so accepting of this.
�Temporary insanity, that has to be it.
They�ll come around, they�ll see that this is some elaborate ploy� they
have to!�

�Have you noticed how he doesn�t seem to notice you
any more, Harry?� Hermione mused, chewing on a slice of roast beef.

�Yeah, and that bugs me.�

�Why, you miss the attention?� Seamus teased Harry,
laughing a little.

�No, I just know what I�m up against with a
mocking, snide Malfoy. This new one is
completely alien. He�s up to something,
I�m sure of it!�

�Oh Harry, why can�t you accept the fact that
people change? They grow up. That�s all that Malfoy has done.�

�Yeah, mate,� Ron piped up, �he�s not the same
ferret that we all knew and loathed.�

�Yeah, right�� Harry�s shoulders sagged, and his
fork slowed its pushing of his potatoes and beef around his plate.

Neville�s huge sigh cut through his thoughts. �I even went and bought mang rng rings for
me and Parvati and everything.� He
reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out a set of gold rings with
decorative knotwork engraved, and showed them to his friends.

�You�re actually buying in to that fad?� Harry looked over at the rings and nearly
shook his head in exasperation. During
las last two years, it had become a popular thing tt mat matching rings with
people you liked, much like wedding rings but without the commitment. Friends wore their rings on the right ring
finger, and more-than-friends (lovers if you will) wore them on the left ring
finger. Harry couldn�t believe that the
fad was still continuing; he had pegged it to last for a year, tops. It was running on two now, and didn�t show
signs of letting up. Ron and Hermione
even had matching rings, on their left hands of course.

�Well, yeah.
I thought that we were going to start, y�know, dating,� Neville�s answer
made Harry chuckle. He was so innocent
that it was refreshing.

�What are you going on about, mate? You have a ring yourself.� Ron finally decided to join in the
conversation, after being on the sidelines before. Harry shrugged.

�This doesn�t mean the same thing. This thing,� Harry held his hand up so that
he could look at his ring, a beautiful silver with a band of gold running
around through the center, patterned like a vine, �is jsomesomething that has
sentimental value. And as far as I
know, it�s the only one of its kind.�

Everyone looked curiously over at Harry�s right
hand. Harry flushed as he found
himself, or rather his ring, the object of scrutiny.

�Oh Harry, where did you get this?� Lavender
breathed, clearly awed by the ring and how pretty it was. Harry shrugged.

�Can�t remember.
It was before the war when I got it, I was wandering Diagon Alley and it
just caught my eye. At first I was wary
of wearing it. That was about the time when the whole �matching rings� thing
started around here, but after I lost it, it just became special to me.�

�Lost it?
So you found it again?� Seamus asked.

�Sort of. I
was washing my hands and I had taken it off, and I left it by the sink in the
bathroom in the potions corridor. By
the time I had realized that it was there and had gone back for it, it had
disappeared. I lookeerywerywhere for
it,� Ron and Hermione gave knowing looks at this statement; they�d been
recruited to help him find the ring, �but it just didn�t turn up. I had given up on ever seeing it again, when
a few weeks later, it turned up on my table in Transfiguration. I�ve treasured it ever since.�

�Why have you treasured it?� Hermione asked. She hadn�t heard this part of the story.

�Well, when you�ve given up on finding something
important to you, and it comes back, that�s something to treasure.� The people around Harry nodded.

�Did you ever find out who found it and gave it
back?� Lavender asked, still entranced by the ring on Harry�s finger. Harry shook his head.

�Nope.
Whoever it was, though, I wish I could thank them.� Everyone smiled at Harry and his wistful
expression. Things seemed to quiet down
after that, when suddenly, Lavender�s eyes darted up and she squealed
unexpectedly.

�Draco Malfoy is looking over here!� she said
excitedly. �Maybe he�s looking for
me!� Harry gave a large, exasperated
groan and stood from the table amidst argument over whom Malfoy was looking for,
his food having barely been touched aorgoorgotten.

�C�mon Neville, let�s get outta here.� He grabbed the other boy�s hand and hauled
him up.

�Where are wing,ing, Harry?� Neville allowed him to drag him along.

�We�re going to go find something to drink.�

�Oh.�

Amidst a sea of people all seeking out Draco
Malfoy�s attention, a disgruntled Harry Potter led a bemused Neville Longbottom
out of the Great Hall and back up to Gryffindor Tower. Nobody noticed they�d left.

^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V

Harry and Neville had a memorable evening, except
for the fact that Harry couldn�t remember bits and pieces of it. Not long after they had gotten back to the
Tower, Harry raided Seamus� stash of alcohol and started generously doling it
out to the both of them. Not too long
afterward, Harry was stark raving drunk, and Neville wasn�t far behind. With his inebriated state, Harry�s tongue
loosened and his brain wasn�t quick enough to stop himself from using it.

�What�s so great about Malfoy anyway?� Harry was
heard saying sometime near nine o�clock in the evening, after having been
joined in the dorm by Ron, Seamus and Dean, who gladly joined their drinking
party.

�Well, besides the fact that everyone thinks he�s
gorgeous� He�s smart, he�s witty, he�s nice,� Harry snorted at this point in
Seamus� list.

�Like I said, all a big act. Getting people on his side, going to do
something to us all� But I�ll stop him.
Malfoy isn�t going to get the best of me, nuh uh.�

�Mate, you�re not making any sense,� Ron muttered
into his bottle of butterbeer.

��Course I am.
Malfoy�s a git. Gits don�t
change their attitude and personality unless they�re up to something. Ergo Malfoy�s up to something.�

�Ergo?
Harry, you�ve been hanging around Hermione too much,� Dean snickered.

�Whatev.�
Harry grabbed another shot of firewhiskey and continued his
diatribe. �Just because he�s being a
little nicer to people, why is everyone falling all over him? It just isn�t right? He�d been a dick to most of theool
ool
forever! How can he be forgiven so
quickly?�

�Don�t you believe in second chances?�

�Not for Malfoy�� Harry muttered darkly, downing
yet another shot of alcohol. �And Ron,
why are you so accepting of this? You
used to hate him as much as anyone.�

�Oh>�Oh, well he apologized to me at the end of last
year. Apologized to Hermione also, said
he regretted the way he�d been acting up till then.�

�What?! Why
didn�t you tell me?�

�Hmm, I wonder�� Seamus said sarcastically, and the
entire room burst into giggles, except for Harry, who glared at his friends and
reached for the bottle again. Neville
pulled it out of his reach.

�I don�t think you need any more of this,
Harry.� He put the cork on the bottle
and gave it over to Seamus, who put it back in its place. Harry griped about his drink being taken
away and his friends taking his enemy�s side against him and that the world
hated him before he started drifting off into a drunken stupor. Ron shook headhead, and pulled the poor boy
up from the floor where he was lounging on to his own bed.

�Sleep�ll do you some good, mate.�

�Mmmmfnnrgng.�

�Good night to you too.�

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Saying he had a headache would be a major
understatement. To Harry, it felt like
someone was pounding on the inside of his head with the wrong end of a
hammer. His temples throbbed with his
heartbeat, and his eyes felt dry and scratchy.
His mouth felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton. His limbs felt heavy and he most definitely
did not want to move from his bed anytime soon.

�Kill me�� he groaned as someone threw open the
hangings around his bed and light streamed in, hitting him in the face.

�Hangover?� Ron asked cheerily, pulling the covers
off of Harry�s body, trying to rouse him.

�Major. Go
away.� Harry tried to reclaim his lost
bedding, but found that he didn�t have the will to try and fight with Ron this
morning. His best friend was grinning
like a madman.

�You�re going to be late for breakfast if you don�t
get up soon, you know.� Ron finished
uncovering Harry and tried to pull him out of bed. Harry struggled feebly.

�Ron.
Shhh. Speak in small
syllables.� The sounds of the voices in
the dormitory were echoing in his brain, adding to the hammer aly pry present,
and the thought of food wasn�t doing anything for Harry whatsoever. He felt nauseous just imagining what was
waiting.

�Heh, to think the Boy Who Lived was brought down
by a simple hangover. Who woulda
ght?ght?�

�Dun call me th Har Harry growled, pushing Ron away
and swinging his legs slowly over the edge of the bed.

�Sorry,� Ron replied, not looking sorry at
all. �Listen, you go take a shower,
it�ll do wonders for you, and I�ll save you something.� Harry nodded, slowly working his way toward
standing up, still feeling some of the effects of the drinking binge from the
night previous.

�Ron� little help here?� Harry pleaded.yes"> They were having a pleasant conversation, that is until the door
to the classroom burst open and one Draco Malfoy was seen standing in the
doorway. Harry groaned and put his head
on the desk, hoping that Malfoy would just go away. That wasn�t to be.

�Potter, where are you?� Malfoy demanded, searching
the classroom with his gaze. Spotting
the groaning boy with his hair sticking out all over the place (his hair having
dried naturally a while ago), he sauntered over and stood next to the
desk. Harry looked up, an unhappy
expression on his face.

�What is it, Malfoy?�

�Hold out your hand.�

�What?
Why?�

�I have something of yours, that�s why. Now do it.�
Malfoy sounded impatient. Harry
rolled his eyes.

�Fine, whatever.�
Harry did as he was told. Malfoy
smirked.

�That was rather trusting of you, don�t you
think?� Harry glared.

�Just do what you came to do and leave.� Malfoy shrugged one shoulder elegantly and
dropped something into Harry�s outstretched hand. Harry brought it up to his face and examined it. What he saw made his eyes widen and his
mouth hang open. He was holding his
ring.

�Wait, that�s impossible. I have my ring right here�� Harry reached into a pocket of his
robe and brought out an exact replica of ringring that Malfoy had just given
him.

�That one�s mine.
See, the one I had doesn�t fit any of my fingers, except my left ring
finger strangely. They must have gotten
switched in the bathroom this morning.�

�Wha� when� why do you have a ring that matches
mine??� Harry was truly flabbergasted.

�Don�t ask me, Wonder Boy, just give me my ring
back.� He stretched his hand out in the
same manner that Harry had, palm upward, waiting for something to be dropped
into it. Harry reluctantly complied,
still not believing his eyes. Draco
took the ring between his thumb and forefinger, looked it over, and once
satisfied, slipped it onto his right middle finger. �Thanks,� he simply said, and walked out of the classroom as if
he had no worry in the world. Harry
stared after him, his ring clutched in his hand, his mind whirling at the
thought of sharing rings with Draco Malfoy.

Why was his life so complicated?

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After-chapter noteage: Well that was the quickest chapter I�ve ever written. And all because of the lovely reviews that
I�ve received! I can�t thank you all
enough for your support! I hope you�ll
continue to do so� And for the next
chapter� let�s shoot for ten reviews before the next one! (I�m hoping that�ll give me a tad bit more
time to write) I don�t know if the rest
of the chapters will be quite this long, but I needed to get the plot
rolling. I�m just lucky that I had a few
spare moments at work every now and then when I could jot down a paragraph or
two�

Now
I need you all to vote. First person
POV or third person POV? Will Lizzie be
rewriting a chapter?
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