Hagrid sent us an invite to see his dead spider friend get buried.

"HE'S TAKING THE FUCKING PISS!" I roared, memories of nearly being eaten by the hairy monster still haunting my mind.

Did Hagrid seriously expect us to cry over its horrible hairy body?!

"Well I'm going," Harry said haughtily, heading to his dormitory to grab his Invisibility Cloak.

"But it's against the rules!" Hermione quivered fearfully.

My god, and she's supposed to be a fucking Gryffindor.

Harry took some of that liquid luck before he left, and the next thing we know, Ginny is dumping her boyfriend.

Hmmm, a little convenient, I thought.

The next day, Harry informed us that he had got some memory off of Slughorn and Dumbledore was really happy with him.

"Great, well done, Harry," I scoffed bitterly, "you couldn't get your nose further up his fucking arse even if you tried."

"It's important if we want to save the world, Ronnie." Harry said with the kind of severe gravitas that made me want to laugh.

Why the fuck saving the world is up to that four eyed gimp, I'll never understand. And who made Dumbledore the lord of the fucking dance, anyway? Didn't we have a Ministry to deal with this kind of shit?

Besides, I had other things on my mind to worry about other than Harry's little high school dramas.

Draco. Although he was still keen to meet up, it always seemed like something was on his mind, distracting him to the point of sickness.

"I'm sorry," he had apologised one evening when, for the first time, he couldn't get it up. "I'm just... exhausted."

"It's okay," I reassured him, as I hastily buttoned my blouse back up. "We can just cuddle."

I couldn't help but feel panicked that he had stopped fancying me, though.

But he had seemed more than happy to snuggle down on the sofa, holding me tightly in his arms.

"Talk to me." He murmured quietly, looking down at me with a softness in his eyes as he stroked my face.

"About what?" I asked, feeling slightly alarmed. We didn't talk. We fucked.

"I don't know," he sighed. "Anything. I want to hear more about you. I'm sick to death of hearing about Potter this and Potter that when all I want to know more about is his best friend."

A smile tugged at my lips and, quite bashfully at first, I started telling him the story about how when I was nine years old, the night before he returned to Hogwarts, I'd swapped Percy's wand for an identical looking twig I'd found in the garden after he had bad mouthed the Chudley Cannons in front of me.

A story that appeared to greatly amuse Draco, especially the part about Percy only discovering the switch when he tried to perform a basic locking spell after he'd sat down on the train toilet with his pants around his ankles ("Apparently, Penelope's screams could be heard all the way up and down the train and an emergency stop was made in the middle of nowhere. She obviously liked what she saw though because just a few years later she got a piece of Weasley action.").

"Can you promise me something?" He had chuckled in my ear afterwards, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"What?" I asked, curious as to what Draco Malfoy would ever want from someone he considered to be a blood traitor.

I could never have anticipated the answer he came out with, though. Not in a million years.

"Never change, Weasley. You're perfect."

*****

I will never forget the horror of the day when Harry came flying into the common room, dripping wet and covered in blood.

"What the fuck?" I exclaimed, looking up startled from my Transfiguration essay as Harry flopped in the armchair opposite, panting heavily.

"I nearly killed Malfoy."

The world seemed to violently tilt around me.

"Harry, what the fuck have you done?" I breathed as my heart thudded horrifically in my chest.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione gasped at the exact same time.

"I didn't know what it was going to do!" Harry implored, although I had no fucking idea what he was going on about. "It said it was a hex to use on your enemies!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" I bellowed, panic making my throat start to close up.

"HE WAS GOING TO CRUCIO ME!"

"HARRY TELL ME WHAT YOU FUCKING DID BEFORE I CRUCIO YOU MYSELF!" I roared, already reaching for my wand, as I leapt to my feet.

His eyes blinked from behind his glasses as he looked up at me.

"I used that spell, Sectumsempra, and it cut him up a bit. But Snape saved- hey, where are you going, Ronnie?"

I was already flying through the portrait hole - I didn't have time to answer that fucktard.

I ran all the way to the hospital wing, desperate to see him; desperate to make sure he was okay with my own eyes.

"NO VISITORS ALLOWED!" Madam Pomfrey bellowed as I tried to get past her at the doorway.

"Please!" I cried, and to my horror, I realised tears were actually rolling down my cheeks. "I need to see if he's okay."

Madam Pomfrey looked momentarily taken aback, my torrent of emotions seeming to soften her slightly.

"If you're talking about the Malfoy boy, then yes, with plenty of rest, he will be fine."

I still didn't move, causing Pomfrey to sigh heavily and order me to wait a moment before disappearing back inside.

She came back to the door moments later and grudgingly allowed me to enter.

I gingerly stepped inside and my heart thudded as I saw Draco lying in the far end bed looking worse than he had ever done; his body covered in bandages; including over his torso and arms.

I swept across the room to him, and he drowsily turned his head to look at me, his eyes immediately lighting up and lips twitching into a crooked smile.

"Weasley, you're cute when you worry."

I did the only thing I could think of doing and hit his arm in a space where the bandages weren't covering.

"You- and- Harry- need- to- keep- the- fuck- away- from- one- another-" I spat angrily, punctuating my words with smacks.

"It's difficult when I care so much about his best mate." Draco growled as he grabbed my wrist to stop me slapping him.

My heart stilled and I blinked down at him, not knowing what to say to that.

"Draco-"

"I do, Weasley," he said, scooting aside and patting the space on the bed next to him. "I care so much about you."

Not knowing what else to do, I carefully climbed in and relaxed against him as he scooped me tightly into his arms, sighing blissfully as he pressed his lips against my forehead.

"I'll never forgive him for hurting you." I muttered against his chest, trying to squeeze back the tears that were stinging behind my eyes. "I hate him."

"No, you don't." He stated. "And besides, I don't think the idiot even knew what he was doing."

I felt a flicker of irritation at the self-assuredness of his voice. I looked up at him, scowling.

"Stop telling me what I feel."

"You're going to need him, Weasley. Don't push him away." He said, almost sadly, as he brushed my hair behind my ear.

Our eyes met and I felt a moment of utter panic.

"You're the only one I need." I whispered, silently cursing myself at the neediness in my voice.

"Don't say that." He said fiercely as my heart started to break.

But I did, he didn't understand. When I heard that Harry had hurt him, it made me realise how much I needed Draco's existence in my life. I wondered how on earth it had managed to get to this: to a place where I suddenly couldn't imagine him not being there, the thought scaring me more than anything else in the world.

"Draco, I lo-"

"Don't."

It was like a slap. He looked at me; sadness mixed with regret and longing. It certainly didn't match the harsh tone of his voice.

I tried to pull away, feeling suddenly so hurt and humiliated, but he held me tighter, restraining me against him. "Stay," he whispered.

I said no more. Neither did he. And Madam Pomfrey didn't seem to object when, despite my heavy heart, I closed my eyes and fell asleep in Draco's arms.

It was almost as if she knew what lay ahead for us.

*****

'Cause we belong in a song that I've written,
about you and I at the best of times,
'cause I've found what I need to get through,
it's all in the shape of you,
'cause I found what I need to get through,
and it's you.

*****