WHAT YOU DO TO ME | Draco Malfoy

Year Seven - Part Five

Ron and I were standing in front of a small cafe now. I slowly tried to catch my breath as Ron and I just stared at each other. We hadn't spoken in weeks and now we were stuck with one another in some random England town. I felt like I could punch him and hug him at the same time.

"What now?" I asked him. I was feeling helpless.

"I'm hungry." Ron muttered as he looked in the window at the pastries on the counter.

"I guess we should eat something then." I shrugged as I looked at the front of the cafe. "It's open."

"Do you have any money?" Ron asked me with concern. I reached into my pocket and pulled out some muggle money that I always kept in my pocket in case of emergencies. This felt like a fitting time to use it. "Brilliant." He smiled at me for the first time in ages and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. We walked inside and got a table. Ron ordered for the both of us and we sat in silence until the food came and processed what had just happened. Only after Ron had scarfed down most of his meal did he speak to me again.

"So you're really in love with Malfoy?" He asked. He didn't sound angry anymore. He was simply curious. Also, a little disgusted, but I could not fault him there. I had grappled with that feeling myself many times over at this point.

"Yeah." I sighed, "I was. But I can't be anymore."

"But you are." Ron said as he pointed at me with his fork. "You can see it in your face."

"It's killing me inside." I admitted. I couldn't look at him as I said it, "The guilt weighs heavily on me, believe me."

"But why Malfoy?" Ron groaned, "He's... He's... he's bloody Malfoy!"

"You think I don't know that?" I frowned. "I hate him just as much as I ever loved him. I fully acknowledge the fact that he's a slimy git. In the end that didn't matter to me. There was just something there. I think it was always there as corny as that sounds." I blushed and thought back to all the years of arguing that was definitely our weird way of flirting.

"But what about Fred?" Ron asked again. That seemed to be what hurt him the most about all of this. It was what made me feel the worst about myself.

"Ron. I love Fred. I really do." I assured him as I reached over the table to grab his hand. We were both instantly comforted by each other's touch, "But it was never right between us. We never found our footing no matter how hard we tried. I've accepted that and I had hoped that Fred would too."

"But you found what you wanted with Malfoy." Ron was still trying to wrap his head around it. I felt like I could see his brain trying to process the information in real time.

"I dunno, but it just felt... It all felt like it made sense. I don't know how to describe it." I shook my head and frowned. "It is Kind of like you and Hermione. Which We still need to talk about by the way! It's been killing me watching the two of you."

"There's nothing to talk about." Ron sounded dejected, "You saw her. She made her choice and she chose Harry Potter, the chosen one."

"No she didn't." I argued, "You put her in a terrible position back there. She loves you Ron. She always has."

"What do you mean always?" Ron frowned, but he still looked kind of hopeful.

I groaned, "Ronald Weasley! You two have been fighting this since you were twelve. Did you ever wonder why we really didn't work out? It's because Hermione was in love with you. I knew even back then even though you two didn't. I couldn't in good conscious date you and hurt Hermione like that. And I knew deep down you were harboring feelings for her too. That's why you were so mean to each other. You didn't know what to do with those emotions. Clearly you still don't. You have the emotional range of a crumpet."