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Consequences	By : Aline Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 33797 -:- 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
- 24
- 25
- 26
Chapter 25. Ron�s Problem.

The next week was complete
chaos, there were aurors everywhere and some of the
teachers had allowed the parents to attend their children lessons, to the utter
embarrassment of some of them. The upper grades� schedules suffered drastic
changes to make room for training sessions with the aurors,
and Potions seemed to have mixed up with DADA, that meant more work for
everybody since Snape was not as forgiving as professor Donovan was about
homework.

The Slytherins were nervous and avoiding
everyone as much as possible, their parents were the ones most intent on making
sure that the castle was a secure place, some of them even demanded to test the
wards themselves. Most of the muggleborns were gone
the first day, but the majority of the other students remained. The news that
Draco Malfoy was staying in Hogwarts surprised everyone, and predictably the
purebloods and many half-bloods wanted to know what the boy was plotting.

Some Slytherins were dealing
with family problems, Goyle and Zabini practically refused to see their
parents, while Goyle senior simply shrugged and abandoned the castle Blaise�s mother went ballistic and demanded to see her son;
she even tried to hex Dumbledore when the Headmaster pointed out that, since
Blaise was legally an adult, no one could force him to talk with her. Mrs.
Zabini made half her way to the dungeons looking for the Slytherin�s
common room, before she was intercepted by professor Snape and two aurors that urged her to leave the school. The next day
Blaise received a howler that told to the world that he was no longer a Zabini;
surprisingly the boy seemed rather relieved to hear that.

Draco wasn�t having it so easy;
the Slytherins opted for not bothering him with useless questions, but the rest
of the school was determined to be a pain in the ass. Many had directly gone
and ask him what in hell he thought he was doing, some of the Gryffindors went
as far as to try and coax Harry to show Malfoy his place, but to their utter
surprise Harry and Malfoy were now talking to each other as if the enmity
between them had never existed; sure one wouldn�t say that they acted like best
friends, there still was tension and some times forced civility, but they
apparently were in good terms; the Gryffindors weren�t sure they liked that.

School problems apart, Draco was
too conscious that some of the aurors were keeping a
close watch on him, and some of the pureblooded
wizards wanted to talk with him in private; Dumbledore didn�t allow that,
considering that it would be too much of a risk, but that didn�t stop the
parents from telling their children to follow Malfoy�s every move. The junior
Death Eaters had remained quiet; all that Draco got from them was a note with a
simple statement: �You�re dead
blood-traitor.� He was a little wary of what they could do, but he really
doubted they�ll have the guts to try something big with so many aurors around.

What surprised Draco the most
was that by the end of the week he still hadn�t been notified of his
disownment, maybe now that Narcissa was out of reach, Lucius
Malfoy wouldn�t dare to make a move that could give away his whereabouts. Draco
tried to forget about his father and deal with the actual situation at
Hogwarts, all in all everything seemed to go according to plan, the students
slowly grew used to the strangers and resumed their usual behavior
in classes, many were still not happy with the idea of Draco Malfoy and the
Slytherins� alliance with the light side, but they apparently decided that the
best thing to do was wait and see what would happen, the majority of them
eventually stopped staring at Malfoy as if he had grown a second head.

Ron however was making his
discomfort known, rather loudly, to the world. Draco swore that the boy wanted
to end his days in St. Mungo�s ward for the disabled,
the red-head tried to provoke every Slytherin that crossed paths with him and
was doing his best for getting hexed by both Malfoy and Potter with his
constant comments of betrayed friendship, how nasty, evil people never change,
and how some people were too gullible for their own good. Well, Draco thought
that some other people were just too stupid for anyone�s good; he wished that
Potter had the sense to hex the red-head into oblivion once in a while, he was
going beyond annoying. At least Weasley and Hermione weren�t talking to each
other, that was certainly a good thing in Malfoy�s point of view, but Hermione
didn�t quite agree, she was sad and worried, there were some things in Ron�s behavior that were irrational, she had known the boy for
almost seven years and she had never seen him so fixated as he was now over
her, and she didn�t like the way he was taking his nearly obsessive idea that
Draco Malfoy was evil incarnated.

It was not like Ron to be
aggressive towards Harry and treat him like a traitor without even listen to
him; Ron practically claimed that Harry had chosen Malfoy over him! That was
ridiculous! Hermione knew that Ron could be stubborn and childish, but this
situation was too much, even Ginny was surprised, everyone had assumed that
Harry was doing what Dumbledore asked him to, but the Weasley boy wouldn�t
listen and he started to insult everyone that suggested that Harry was doing
what was best to win the war, the red-head seemed to think that Harry should do
what he, his best friend, said, and that everybody else should keep their
mouths shut. The Gryffindors were starting to think that his jealousy finally had
taken the better of him.

Hermione tried her best to
ignore Ron, but it was getting difficult with his constant glaring to her,
especially when Ginny decided that her brother�s behavior
was, in part, Hermione�s fault for deny their mutual feelings. The red-headed
girl even had the nerve to go and tell the Head Girl that she should consider
stopping her tantrum and making things right with Ron; after two seconds of
surprised shock, Hermione was really angry with Ginny and told her, in no
uncertain terms, that she was not talking to Ron and that she didn�t feel
anything towards him, so Ginny could stop trying to couple them and leave her
the hell alone! After that, the bushy-haired girl avoided every member of the
Weasley family whenever possible.

Saturday afternoon caught
Hermione in a depressing mood, not even the announcement that the ball was
going to be that Sunday, as a way to eliminate the remaining tension among the
parents that were staying at the school, could cheer her. She was walking to
Gryffindor common room after having finished with the dancing group, with her Cdrecorder under her arm. She had to return to the room of
requirement for a meeting with some seventh years, Harry and Draco had decided
that they should chose beforehand which spells and curses the Slytherins would
teach to the upper grades, like Dumbledore instructed. They had already started
over the week with some basic protective spells and rituals and were planning
to cover some offensive spells the next week. Hermione sighed, she could have
stayed in the room of requirement and let the house elves put the recorder on
its rightful place, but she hated to give them more work than necessary,
besides, she wanted to retrieve a book from her trunk.

She was almost in the tower when
the Weasley twins intercepted her, they were staying at the castle too because
Mrs. Weasley wanted to keep them near. Hermione greeted them almost fearfully;
she just knew that they would have something to say regarding Ron. They didn�t
disappoint her.

�Listen Hermione, we don�t want
to get our noses where no one invited us but��

�We heard that you�re having problems
with Ron?�

Hermione gave a suffered sigh
and continued walking while answering.

�Listen guys, we�re not getting
along too well these days, he�s been a bit too obnoxious for me and he doesn�t
listen to common sense anymore. I�m just tired of his behavior.�

The twins looked at each other
knowingly.

�Just say the word Hermione, and
we put some sense into him�

�Yeah, just because you�re his
girlfriend doesn�t mean that you have to put on with his stupidities� Hermione?�

The girl had stopped in her
tracks upon listening the word �girlfriend� and was
now glaring at the two confused red-heads. George talked first.

�What�s the matter?�

�Now, listen you two, I�m sick
and tired of everyone assuming that Ron and I have, or should have, some kind
of relationship! It was never like that between us! We had always been just
friends! Is that not clear enough?!�

The twins blinked at her, and
then they looked at each other not knowing what to tell, finally Fred resumed
the conversation.

�Ah, we�re sorry Hermione; we didn�t
know that you think like that, it�s just� well��

�You and Ron were so falling for
each other when we were still attending school, and we thought that perhaps you
two had finally talked about it.�

Hermione sighed again and her
glare softened a bit.

�Well, at sometime I did have a
crush on him, and maybe I even wanted to be more than just his friend, but that
was a long time ago, I got over Ron since last year. Actually, I was never in
love with him, he and Harry just happen to be my best friends, that�s all.�

�Gezz
Herm, it�s just that, well, I thought that you two could make a cute pair��

�Yeah, and with your friendship
to Harry and all the things that you three had gone through together, I don�t
know, it just felt natural to think that you would end up with either one of
them.�

�Besides, Ron told mom at
Christmas that he was planning to propose to you.�

�He did what?� Hermione blanched
slightly, she was horrified, what Mrs. Weasley would think of her?

�Don�t worry; I think mom would
understand if you choose Harry over Ron, she knows that her sons are less than
perfect.�

Fred grinned to her, but
Hermione paled even more. What in hell? Was everybody convinced that there
couldn�t be any other boy than Harry or Ron for her?

�Tell me Fred, why did you
immediately assume that, since I don�t want to be in a relationship with Ron, I
would want one with Harry?�

Her tone was dangerous, and the
twins noticed it instantly, their eyes widened in surprise at her.

�Mmm,
I don�t know� you don�t hang around too much with the other boys so� well��

Plausible, but Hermione was not
satisfied, she started walking again, feeling very frustrated.

�Well, I do not want anything of
the sort with Harry either! Now, if you excuse me, I have an important meeting
and I had lost enough time already! Goodbye!�

And she hurried to Gryffindor
tower, leaving the two confused twins in the hallway.

She was still fuming when she
got out of the tower again, carrying her book, to return to the room of
requirement. While she walked she was turning the situation over and over in
her head. It wasn�t only what the Weasleys said,
Hermione had already realized that nearly every Gryffindor expected her to
eventually reconcile with Ron, or at the very last turn over to Harry. It was
as if in everybody�s minds she was already married to either one of her two
best friends, especially to Ron.

Well, fuck them all! Stupid
people! The wizarding world was really screwed; she
would show them a lesson! Suddenly she couldn�t wait to see the faces of the
Hogwarts� students when they realized she had been sleeping with Draco Malfoy.
It was going to be a hell of a surprise!

She put her hand over her belly,
imagining Harry�s face when she�ll tell him about the baby, and smiled at the
image of a shocked Golden boy and a smirking Draco, her mood improved thinking
about her soon to be family. What she cared about what people thought anyway?
She had Draco and their child, and Harry was still her friend. Once Voldemort was defeated everyone would return to their own
lives and would leave them alone.

Her thoughts were interrupted
when someone suddenly pulled her roughly from behind; Hermione yelped in
surprise and let the book fall when her back hit the nearest wall. She was
shocked to see Ron in front of her, his hands were pinning her arms to the wall
and there was a dark expression on his eyes that made her shudder
involuntarily.

�Ron, what are you doing? Let me
go!�

�No! I�m tired of your attitude!
Harry can go and kiss Malfoy�s ass if he wants, I don�t really care if he gets
himself in deep shit! But you are my girl Hermione! And it�s bloody time you
start acting like it!�

Ron leaned his entire body over
hers and grabbed her chin painfully, Hermione yelped and tried to squirm away,
but she didn�t have much space to do it. She couldn�t believe what was
happening; Ron�s mouth was inches away from hers.

�You are going to listen to me
Hermione. From now on you�re not allowed to talk to that little prick who
thinks that is better than me! I won�t have my woman making acquaintances with
the bloody Malfoys!! You hear me?!�

Ron tightened his grip and
kissed her forcefully. The girl was downright scared, this boy couldn�t be Ron
Weasley, Ron wasn�t like this, he could be mad at you, stop talking to you and
would hold a grudge for ages, but he�ll never go and attack someone like this,
at least not the Ron she had been friends with! Hermione panicked and bit hard,
drawing blood from Ron�s mouth.

�Ow! You stupid bitch!�

Ron hit Hermione�s right cheek,
sending her to the floor, the girl quickly tried to scramble away while taking
out her wand, but when she turned around Ron was already over her. He grabbed
her wrist and twisted it painfully, taking away Hermione�s wand and pocketing
it. The girl yelped in pain when she was forced to stand and shoved
unceremoniously face first to the wall, Ron�s body over hers and one of his
hands gripping a handful of her hair.

�Ron, please! Stop it!�

�Shut up you bitch! I�m going to
show you a lesson! You belong to me! And I�m not putting up with your shit
anymore!!�

�No! You�re not Ron! Let me go!�

Hermione trashed wildly, trying
to make the boy lose his hold on her, Ron growled in anger and turned her over,
backhanding her.

�Stay still bitch! Be quiet!�

�Ron?�

Hermione felt the boy turn
sharply and she opened her crying eyes to see a horrified Ginny in the hallway.

�Ron, what are you doing?�

�Go away Ginny! This is between
my girl and me!�

Ginny�s eyes couldn�t possible
grow wider; she stared openmouthed at her brother.

�You hit her. Ron you hit her!
What�s wrong with you?!�

�I said, go away Ginny!�

Ron moved to take out his wand
and force his sister to leave, in the process he gave Hermione the space she
needed to push him away, and she did so with all the force she could gather,
knocking him to the floor, and without losing a second she started to run
towards the room of requirement.

�Shit! You bitch! Come back
here! Now!!�

�Impedimenta!�

Ron barely dodged Ginny�s spell
and stood up furious.

�Stay out of this Ginny!! She�s
going to get away!�

�Who are you? You�re not Ron!�

�Don�t be stupid! I�m your
brother!�

�No! Ron would never hit
Hermione! Never! He loves her!�

�I love her! And I�m trying to
teach her a lesson! It is for her own good so stay
away form it!!�

Ginny cast a stupefying spell,
which Ron deflected and quickly disarmed her sister, Ginny turned around
looking for cover, she had to get away and find help, however Ron hit her with
a jelly legs and then a flying set of armor fell over
her. Ron lost no more time in going after Hermione.

�Don�t be stupid Potter! You
can�t do that with this spell!�

�Why not? It should be easy!�

�Well, it�s not!�

Draco was frustrated, why
couldn�t Potter get through his head that �Dark
Magic� didn�t necessary meant �Evil
magic� and that not all dark spells were meant to do harm. Gryffindors were
so thick! To top it all, Terry Boot and Ernie Macmillan decided that they had
to be present in representation of their Houses and they were bloody useless,
they didn�t know a thing about Dark Magic and all they could do was complain
the entire time about this crazy project of the Headmaster.

And exactly why was he dealing
with all this idiocy alone? Oh yes, because bloody Blaise had chosen his
girlfriend over him and had gone with her to find a more suitable place to snog in peace! Of course, the rest of the Slytherins simply
had more important things to do than stay there and watch how he dealt with
Potter�s stupid questions, well Goyle had stayed for moral support, but at the
moment he and Longbottom, who stayed to make Harry
company, were engaged in a game of explosive cards and neither of them were
paying real attention to the discussion taking place. Draco glared at them once
in a while, thinking that it was rather bizarre to see the two of them in so
friendly terms.

Then there was the fact that
Hermione was not present! Draco didn�t realize the moment she got out of the
room of requirement, but he suspected that it could have been while he was
occupied making fun of Potter, because the black-haired Gryffindor had not
enough guts to face Nochland and invite her to the ball and had sent her a
sweet note of invitation instead. Draco was worried about Hermione, the girl
had been depressed the entire week and that was not good, it infuriated him
that Weasley was the cause of her sadness, he really hadn�t a clue of why she
could still want the red-head as a friend, but she wanted it, and the way
Weasley had been acting was really hurting her. Damned Weasleys!
All of them should be banned from the wizarding
world!

To top it all, he had this
unease feeling in his gut telling him that something was wrong, and he couldn�t
quite define it, he somehow just knew that it had something to do with Hermione
and suddenly felt the strong conviction that he should go and make sure that she
was fine. Maybe it was the connection he made with the spell; it was designed
so the magical signature of the non-borne child recognized him as his
biological father and in the process established a weak bond with the mother,
enough for the ancient magic to consider them life partners.

Potter was asking another inane
question and Draco just felt that he would gladly curse the Gryffindor right
then and there, when the door was thrown open and a crying Hermione practically
thrown herself in their midst. Draco immediately stood and supported her, she
looked as if she was about to collapse, Harry quickly joined him.

�Hermione? What happened?�

�I� I� Ron�� she couldn�t stop
sobbing but the name was pretty clear, Draco hugged her tightly and hissed.

�What did that bastard do
Hermione?�

�Hermione, please tell us what
happened.� Harry was aghast, he heard the rest of the boys surrounding them and
whispering, Malfoy was not paying any heed to them and Harry knew that the
blond would not let Hermione go. The girl sobbed and then lifted her face from
Malfoy�s shoulder, Harry gasped in horror while Draco narrowed his eyes at the
sight, Hermione�s face was a downright disaster.

�He� he couldn�t��

�I don�t know if it was Ron
Harry� he� he was not himself� maybe someone using polyjuice�
or maybe under Imperius��

Draco growled and Harry
automatically retired a step away from him, this was not good, they had to find
out what happened.

Draco was ready to go hunting
for the slimy bastard, Imperius or not the son of a
bitch was dead as far as Malfoy was concerned, he was about to leave Hermione
in Potter�s care when the door was thrown open again to let an enraged Ron
Weasley in.

�Reducto!� �Impedimenta!�

That was really fast, Draco
swore and shoved Hermione out of danger�s reach, barely registering the
blasting noise and the fact that the spells weren�t cast at him, someone was
yelling and Hermione was screaming something about Potter, he quickly took out
his wand and aimed. Three Expelliarmus were shouted at the same time and Ron hit hard
the wall, his wand went flying over to Longbottom�s
feet. Draco turned around to see if Hermione was alright, she was beside an
unconscious Potter who by the way was near to a very big hole in the stone
floor and one of his legs was bleeding. Draco wondered why Hermione wasn�t
reviving her problematic friend when he heard �Dermis inflamare!� at his back followed
by a pain-filled scream.

Malfoy quickly turned around
again, astonished of having heard such a curse, he saw McMillan screaming with
his left arm on fire, the others were trying to help him while Weasley looked
dispassionately at them.

�Sorry Ernie, I thought you were
Malfoy.�

The red-head looked over at a
speechless Draco; maybe the polyjuice theory was the
correct one, even the blond Slytherin could tell that this couldn�t possible be
Ron Weasley, he had little time to recover from his shock because the next
instant Ron was aiming to him with Hermione�s wand and casting a bloody �Incendio!�.

Malfoy managed a protection
spell just in time, but the flames spread everywhere around him, suddenly the
very stones were in fire, that was not a common �Incendio�, Weasley was using dark magic that he wasn�t supposed to know!
Draco blocked out the desperate yells of the others, who were trying to
extinguish the fire, and attacked.

�Engorgio!�

Ron deflected the spell and
someone screamed, Weasley paid no heed to the noise and continued with his
fight.

�Furnunculus!�

Draco managed to return the
spell to its caster and had the satisfaction of hearing Weasley scream.

�Son of a
bitch! You�re gonna
pay for this Malfoy! Serpensortia!�

Draco almost rolled his eyes at
the serpent before him.

�You gotta
be kidding me. Evanesco!�

�What is
happening here?!�

Draco turned over to see a very
angry professor McGonagall and he lowered his wand a fraction, which turned out
to be a mistake because the next thing he heard was �Crucio!!�

The curse actually wasn�t so
strong, but the pain was enough to drive him to his knees screaming. He was
marginally aware of McGonagall taking out her wand and interrupting the curse.

�Mr. Weasley! What do you think
you�re doing?!�

To Draco�s
surprise, Ron turned around and stupefied his Head of House, the woman was so
shocked that she didn�t react and she fell backwards, right into professor
Snape, who was just entering the room along with Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Draco saw his chance and promptly aimed to his target.

�Sectumsempra!!�

The force of the spell threw Ron
right into the wall and then to the floor where he remained, Draco fought the aftereffects of the cruciatus and
stood up, starting to walk towards the fallen boy, he was going to beat the
bastard to a bloody pulp with his bare hands, however professor Snape�s voice prevented him from going on with his
intentions.

�Mr. Malfoy, that�s enough!�

�He attacked us!! And he crucioed me!!�

�And I can see that you had
already taken care of him. Now back off!�

�Not nearly enough.� Muttered
Malfoy, but he desisted in favor of going making sure
that Hermione was alright; by that time the girl had already taken hold of
Harry�s wand and was helping Shacklebolt to
extinguish the remaining fire; Potter was still on the floor, demanding to know
what had happened and apparently with a broken leg.

The professors quickly assessed
the damage, and then they gathered the students and proceeded to herd them to
the Hospital Wing for urgent treatment.

Madam Pomfrey was not pleased
when their sorry lot entered the infirmary. Mcmillan
and Weasley were the most injured ones, but professor Snape had successfully
stopped the bleeding that the many cuts caused by the Sectumsempra had provoked on
Weasley, so Madam Pomfrey devoted herself entirely to Ernie, whose arm was
practically carbonized. Draco suspected that it had been damaged beyond repair
and he involuntary flinched remembering what Dermis Inflamare did to a body.

The blond Slytherin received a
stern reprimand form McGonagall, while he was given a
potion to counteract the aftereffects of the cruciatus, because his last spell had been too strong that
it could have killed Weasley had professor Snape not being there to do the
necessary healing. Draco hardly cared. The insane git
had been about to kill them all! He deserved what he got and more! However, he
refrained to speak his mind because Dumbledore was there with Mrs. Weasley and
the woman was already hysteric as it was, she insisted that there was no way in
the world that her son had done the things they said he did; Malfoy couldn�t
bring himself to disagree with her, Weasley�s behavior had been pretty bizarre, Draco realized that
Potter was throwing uneasy glances every once in a while to Weasley�s
bed and scowling, maybe he was waiting for the effects of some hypothetic polyjuice potion to end, Draco was half expecting it too,
mostly because he highly doubted that someone had the ability to cast such a
well done Imperius,
he was convinced that only him, and maybe Blaise and a few more Slytherins were
that talented.

Madam Pomfrey finally finished
with Mcmillan and did a quick scan of the rest of them
before seeing to the Weasley boy. Ginny Weasley was sleeping on a bed, the
professors had extracted her from under a heavy set of armor,
she had been the one to tell them that Ron had gone crazy, she suffered minor
injuries and would be alright soon; Terry Boot and Goyle had miraculously
escaped the mess practically unscratched and were quickly checked out and sent
away; Neville had been the one to receive Malfoy�s deflected Engorgio and he
had an enormous left ear, some bruises and minor burnings, he was given a
potion and told to rest for a while, the boy fell asleep almost immediately;
Potter had a broken leg and a bump on his head, Madam Pomfrey attended him
quickly and ordered him to stay overnight in the Hospital Wing; Malfoy only had
some bruises, but the mediwitch told him to stay
until she was sure that the aftereffects of the cruciatus had worn off and gave him some chocolate.

She took a little more time with
Hermione, the mediwitch was clearly not pleased with
the girl�s looks and she did a complete examination, muttering occasionally
under her breath. Malfoy paid his full attention to them while they were at it,
straining his ears to catch whatever bit of important information about his
child he could hear, apparently all was in order and the mediwitch
gave Hermione a potion and told her to rest. After that, Madam Pomfrey,
professor Dumbledore and the auror took Ron to a
private room to check him.

As soon as the mediwitch was gone, Malfoy transferred himself to
Hermione�s bed and took a comfortable position with her head on his lap,
ignoring the murderous look that Harry was throwing his way and the shocked
expressions of McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley, his godfather only glared barely
and then rolled his eyes at him; Draco didn�t care, he was tired of all the
secrecy and anyway they were going to know at the ball on Sunday night,
besides, if Dumbledore wanted Hogwarts attacked they all were going to be in
serious danger, so it was pointless to hide their relationship any longer, he
had decided that it was time for everyone to know that Hermione Granger
belonged to him. The girl seemed to agree with his notion, because she quickly
accepted him in the bed with her and sighed contentedly when he started petting
her hair.

Potter sighed in defeat after a
while and McGonagall had that stern look on her face that said that she didn�t
approve of something, Draco returned the look, daring her to say something, however Mrs. Weasley was the one to speak.

�Hermione, I don�t think that
you should let Malfoy do that, you are dating Ron after all.�

She said it glaring at Draco,
the boy narrowed his eyes to her and Hermione sighed and sat in the bed,
allowing the blond boy to embrace her, to the utter surprise of the elder
witches.

�I�m sorry Mrs. Weasley. Whatever
Ron had told you, we never dated, I don�t want him for my partner, I only liked him as my friend.�

Mrs. Weasley looked taken aback,
her lips pressed in a thin disapproving line.

�Is this the reason for him to
be so angry then?�

Harry coughed and answered the
question.

�Ron doesn�t know about Hermione
and Malfoy Mrs. Weasley, he thinks that they are starting a friendship, he has
convinced himself that Hermione is going out with me.�

Mrs. Weasley was speechless for
a moment and professor McGonagall took the opportunity to speak.

�I must say that this is indeed
a surprise. Does professor Dumbledore know about
this?�

Draco smirked and said.

�As a matter of fact, he was
quite cheerfully making plans for us.�

�Draco.�

�It�s true!�

Hermione rolled her eyes at her
boyfriend and cuddled closer to him, Mrs. Weasley was still stunned.

�I� I don�t know what to say, I
always thought you would be good for my son Hermione��

�Please Mrs. Weasley, I love you
all, you are like another family to me, but even if Draco hadn�t appeared I�ll
never marry Ron, I just never loved him that way.�

Mrs. Weasley wanted to say
something more, but at that moment Dumbledore, Shacklebolt
and Madam Pomfrey got out of the private room, none of them seemed too happy
and the auror excused himself
immediately. Harry lost no time in asking.

�What happened professor? Who
was it?�

�Easy my boy. I�m afraid that there�s no trace of polyjuice
potion in his system, neither the magical trace of an Imperius.�

�What?! But that�s not possible!�

�Dumbledore, are you sure?�

�I�m sorry Molly; he is indeed
your son; however we found traces of another potion, an extremely rare one, the
Aprioris Homus.�

Draco stiffened at the name and
scowled, Weasley�s behavior
was no longer a mystery to him, Harry�s face however
was blank.

�What is that potion?�

�It was widely used at medieval
times.� Said Hermione, of course she had read something about it somewhere.
�It�s supposed to take out the individual�s basic instincts, so they won�t stop
at anything in a fight.�

�Thank you Miss Granger, you see
Harry, the potion suppress any notion of social rules in a person, allowing him
or her to just follow instinct without thinking on the consequences of his
actions and without remorse. People under its influence do things that they
wish to do, but would not under normal circumstances, the moment that their
conscience lacks the notion of morals, ethics and other social impediments,
they let their basic self to take control.�

�But, that spell he cast, I
don�t know where he could have learned it, he�s not much of a library person.�
Said Hermione

�That�s easy enough; whoever
feed him the potion could have taught the spell to him.�

�So, you�re saying that someone
must have been influencing Ron all this time?�

�Well, if you want to see it that
way Potter.� Said Malfoy condescendingly. �I bet Patil
has something to do with it.�

�Parvati?! Are you insane Malfoy?!�

�I have known that girl longer
than you have Potter, in case you don�t remember she is a pureblood and has
been Pansy�s friend for years, even before we started Hogwarts.�

Harry was speechless; he hadn�t
known about Parvati been Pansy�s friend. Professor Snape seemed thoughtful.

�Yes, the Patils
and the Parkinsons had always been very close indeed.
And it would have been easier for the Patil twins to obtain some of the
ingredients of the Potion.�

�It�s a possibility Severus, but
we can�t prove it.� Said McGonagall, a little upset to have this kind of
problems in her House. Mrs. Weasley was anxious.

�But all of this means that it
was really Ron the one to cause all this trouble, what is going to happen to
him? He cast an unforgivable!�

�Don�t worry Molly,� said
Dumbledore trying to reassure her, �Shacklebolt is
doing his report now, but in this case the law protects your son, he was under
the influence of a potion and could not distinguish good from evil, the one who
gave him the potion is to hold the responsibility for Ron�s actions.�

Mrs. Weasley relaxed a little
after that and then started to worry about her son�s health; Madam Pomfrey
assured her that the boy would be alright.

�He�s going to be fine in about
a week; however that last curse could have killed him.�

Madam Pomfrey turned to look
severely at the caster of said curse, and that was when she noticed that Malfoy
and Granger were practically cuddling together, she was stunned for an instant.

�Mr. Malfoy! What are you
doing?!�

�What? I�m not bothering her.�

The boy had the temerity to
glare at the mediwitch, stating firmly that he was
not going to move from his spot. Madam Pomfrey was utterly confused while
Dumbledore smiled to the young couple.

�Well, you can�t keep
appearances forever. Don�t worry Poppy; I�m sure they�ll be alright. Now, we
have some other things to discuss, let�s go Molly.�

The professors and Mrs. Weasley
abandoned the Hospital Wing, leaving the students to recover. Draco and
Hermione cuddled closer together, ignoring the disapproving look of the mediwitch and that Harry rolled his eyes at them.

Snape looked idly at professor
McGonagall�s back while she exited the Headmaster�s office. The woman had not
been pleased with the notion of Draco and Hermione Granger being more than just
friends, she had voiced to the Headmaster her concerns for the girl, feeling
that somehow she was being pressured into a dubious relationship with a boy she
disliked, only for the sake of the war; of course the Headmaster diminished her
concerns and that had angered her. Well, she may have motives for distrusting
Draco Malfoy, but Snape knew that the deputy Headmistress hated to see one of
her most prominent Gryffindors with the likes of a Slytherin; he was going to
enjoy seeing her face when she�ll found out who was the girl Potter finally
invited to the ball.

In the meantime, he still wanted
to talk a little more with Dumbledore.

�I hope that this incident with
the Weasley boy convinced you of the necessity of doing something about the
Dark Lord�s followers, McMillan was severely hurt and it could have been worse,
Mrs. Granger�s child could have been lost.�

�Don�t worry Severus, we had
taken the necessary measures for the child to be safe, this incident was most
unfortunate, I must admit that I wasn�t expecting the students to try something
like this. Now the damage is done, but at least we wouldn�t have to worry about
Ron Weasley for the moment.�

�Ah, yes. The boy was still
under the illusion that Mrs. Granger was �in
love� with him.�

�He was starting to be a
problem, but I think that he�ll be quieter now, with the added bonus that we
wouldn�t have to deal with him in the ball. As for Voldemort�s
followers, we will have to take some additional precautions indeed, but I�d
prefer not to confront them directly, there is still chance for them to
reconsider their actions.�

�As you wish, but I think that
the rest of the students would be safer if the black sheep knew that we are
watching them.�

�Indeed. Maybe you should start
to give them some specific �orders� Severus, just enough to keep them quiet.�

�Of course. After all, the Dark Lord would be most unpleased if he had to
change his plans because a bunch of children made a silly mistake.�

�I�ll leave them to you then,
just make sure that they�ll be quiet tomorrow, we wouldn�t want to have
problems in front of the Minister of Magic, he�ll may
decide not to stay after all.�

Personally, Snape thought that a
lot of problems could be avoided if the Headmaster wasn�t so forgiving, but as
he was in no position for voicing that particular idea, he remained quiet and
followed Dumbledore�s orders.

Malfoy was kicked out of the
Hospital Wing at dinner time, he hadn�t wanted to go but Hermione begged him
not to fight with Madam Pomfrey and she assured him that the girl would be
alright; she was going to stay in the infirmary overnight and would be at the
tower on Sunday morning. Hermione also promised that she wouldn�t try to see if
Ron Weasley was ok. Finally, Blaise appeared to see if Draco was fine and the mediwitch took the opportunity to send the Slytherin away
with his housemate.

Draco was still fuming, he was
sure that Parvati was the one to blame for Weasley�s
temporal insanity, the girl knew that the git already
thought that Hermione should be with him and she used it to her advantage,
besides, angering Ron Weasley had always been easy enough, he was the perfect
subject for Patil�s plot. Malfoy wanted to strangle
her.

�I�m telling you that it was her
Blaise! She and Weasley had been too close these days!�

�But you can�t be sure Draco,
what about the others?�

�Oh, please! They all are a
bunch of lousy Ravenclaws, they have no imagination!
She�s cleaver in the dark arts and her sister surely helped her! That bitch was
the one to do this, I�m sure!�

�And what are you going to do?
You can�t do anything without getting in troubles Malfoy!�

�I�ll think something, she�s gonna be very sorry of having endangered my future wife
Blaise, very sorry!�

Blaise stopped walking and gaped
at Malfoy.

�Wife?! Draco, are you serious?�

The blond turned around and
smirked at his friend.

�Did I surprise you Blaise? What
did you think I was playing at?�

�I� I don�t know, I just thought
you were doing that exactly! Just playing! That and maybe you wanted to get
murdered by Potter and Weasley; I didn�t think you were that serious!�

�And why wouldn�t I?�

�Well, you were never serious
before.�

Malfoy stared at his friend,
thinking that it could be a hint of hurt in his last statement, he arched an
eyebrow in askance but Blaise smirked at him.

�Now, don�t get me wrong Malfoy,
it was fun and I�m happy with Alice, I just never thought you were going to
fall for someone, let alone a Gryffindor and a ��

Blaise stopped in mid sentence
and bit his lip; Draco rolled his eyes at him.

�Just say it Blaise.�

�Well, a mudblood, and exactly the one that used to infuriate you
the most. To have her as your lover is one
thing, but I never really considered that you�ll want to marry her.�

Malfoy smirked and continued
walking, he couldn�t blame Blaise, it was really out of character and he wasn�t
sure how things ended this way, but he needed Hermione Granger, and he wasn�t
going to let her go. Both Slytherins continued talking on their way to the
Great Hall, and started plotting what Malfoy could do for revenge. They paused
a moment before entering, Draco knew that he was going to be the center of attention and he didn�t like the perspective, but
he wanted to see the reactions of some specific students. As soon as they
entered, everyone had their eyes on the blond, especially the adults, Draco
could feel the looks from the table that was added for Hogwarts� guests; he did
his best to ignore the gossip about him saving Potter�s life and being close
friends with Granger, and occupied himself in studying the Dark Lord�s
supporters, remembering that he had already started a plot regarding these
idiots, he decided to talk about it with Blaise later in the dormitory.

Alice Anthera was not a happy Ravenclaw at the moment, she was pacing back and forth in
front of the door of a deserted classroom, thinking how in hell she had gotten
herself in this trouble, she loved Blaise, she really did, and she didn�t want
to betray his trust, but survival was survival, and she was doubting that her
boyfriend�s loyalty to Malfoy was going to be useful. Anyway, she had been
listening to Thorney�s promises for about two weeks
now and she wasn�t sure of what to do anymore, after all she was not a
pureblood, she was a half-blood, but she had been told that it wouldn�t matter
if she did things right, no one had cared to tell her what would imply to do
things right!

She didn�t have time to continue
arguing with herself about the many reasons for not to
be there, the door suddenly opened and a seventh year Ravenclaw
glared at her.

�Well, about time Anthera, you
shouldn�t have been late in your first meeting!�

�Sorry.� She said lamely and
entered with her housemate.

There were around ten students
in the classroom, Ravenclaws the majority of them,
three Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff, Alice almost
huffed at the irony of the lack of Slytherins, Thorney greeted her and proceeded to ask her if she
had any information that could be useful. Of course everyone had already
recognized her as Blaise�s girlfriend. Alice took a deep breath
and told them about Malfoy�s suspicions regarding Ron Weasley.

�So, they know what was the cause of his behavior but
don�t know who brewed the potion.� Stated Thorney.
�Right Alice?�

�Yes, but Blaise said that
Malfoy is sure that Parvati is responsible.�

�It doesn�t matter.� Said Parvati from her seat on the desk. �He can�t prove it
and he can�t do anything about it. The fact is that he saved Granger again!
Tell me, do you know what his goal really is?�

�Well, they had been very close
lately.�

�It�s clear that he wants
everyone to think that he�s Potter�s friend� said another Ravenclaw
�But I wouldn�t think that he was as insane as to lower himself to make friends
with the mudblood.�

�Mmm,
well, according to Blaise they are more than just friends.�

There was shocked silence after
that last statement; Padma was the one to recover
first.

�Are you telling us that they
have some kind of closure? That�s not possible!�

�Blaise implied that they have
been sleeping together, and that it has been going on for some time.�

The students were enraged, they
couldn�t believe it, Thorney
demanded that they do something about it, but Parvati reminded them that Snape
had been very clear in his instructions.

�We must remain quiet, the
professor managed to keep Dumbledore thinking that somehow Weasley drank the
potion outside Hogwarts, there are certain spells that could have made its
effects to show after a long time, but we can�t do anything now.�

�Maybe if we tell professor
Snape about this��

�I�m sure that he already knows,
besides, the Dark Lord would attack soon, he has told us that.�

�Well, what do we do?�

�I�ll deal with Malfoy, leave
him to me.�

�But Parvati,� said Alice �he already
suspects you, and he wants to get revenge for the incident.�

�He wants revenge? Well let him
try it! Let�s see if he dares to do something at tomorrow�s ball, we can�t do
anything on the open but we can surprise him.�

They argued a little while over
what to do, and decided at last that they would go to Snape for advice.
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Consequences