The Prophecy of Absconditus

Chapter Nine: Development

Ron was crazy. Not just your ordinary, zany kind of crazy, but out-there insanity that pushes all bounds to their very extreme. At least that's what he thought when he rolled over on the mattress to find an empty spot beside him the next morning. There was no sign of Draco anywhere -- that he slept there or even been there at all. His head throbbed as he ran a hand over the empty space where he thought Draco laid. The spot was cold. Yes, Ron was crazy.

Had Malfoy really crawled into his bed last night? Had visions of Bade gotten to him? They seemed like they had. Imagining Malfoy crawling under his covers and wrapping his arms around Ron while he slept? It was ludicrous. People like Draco Malfoy didn't do things like that with people like Ron Weasley.

But why did it seem so real?

Better question: Do crazy people know they're crazy?

If not, then Ron could pass for a sane person with a sound mind. At least if he did imagine Malfoy crawling into his bed, then he could say that he had the common sense to know that it was insane. That was something, and when you grow up poor, you learn fast that something is better than nothing.

Still . . .

Ron crawled out of the infirmary bed and shifted beneath the thin material of his Hogwarts robes. With the Muggle clothing Ron packed, he also threw in several of these school robes without thinking. In retrospect, it seemed like a bad idea. They only reminded him of the school, the siege, and that all led down one self-destructive path to the Bad Place: Malfoy.

He didn't ponder long. The robes were too stiff from sleeping (not to mention that they had that feeling about them when one is sick and wears the same pajamas for several days in a row) to think about it. Leaving the hospital area, he padded into the room Valmont assigned to him. It was empty, and Ron grabbed a fresh pair of boxers, jeans, and an old T-shirt that had gone through three Weasley siblings before reaching Ron. Ginny would own it, too, if Ron hadn't been so brutal with it through the years.

If anything, Ron needed a long shower. That proved impossible. Bathing facilities consisted of two showerheads with bad water pressure in a room several meters away from the infirmary. He supposed Valmont or Snape must have set them up. How likely was indoor plumbing underground? Thankful that he had a place to shower -- and piss -- at all, Ron dressed and headed for his next morning destination: food.

"What are you doing out of bed?" asked Valmont the moment Ron walked into the room.

"Wha -- was I supposed to stay?"

It seemed very silly to ask after being forced into bed yesterday, and then, after his many protests, getting another vision. Precautions had to be taken. At least that's what he imagined Valmont or Snape saying, the latter with a cynical drag on the end that would make Ron feel like a small child. Damn Snape when he got like that.

"I guess you don't have to, but take it easy today. And get something from Sev before you do anything. I'm working on maps and tactics today with fifth and sixth years. You'll have to go with Sev to do Potions if you want to do anything. I know we're running low on headache potions and Circumvetus."

"Circum -- what?"

"For minor injuries. Nothing big. And since no one can go buy Skele-Gro, we need to make it ourselves. Bit of a problem last night. Read about it in the Prophet. Death Eaters removing bones from Muggles so that they can't try to fight back. Find it highly entertaining. Bet some rat like Wormtail was behind a stunt like that."

Ron nodded, making an incoherent sound to show he was listening. Valmont didn't seem to notice. So much for common courtesy.

"Anyway, you can go help out for a little while until lunch, but when it's time to eat, make sure that you do. You need every last bit of energy you can get. After that, go lay down for awhile. Use your room. Draco's working with me after lunch, and Kerry won't be there to disturb you because I already sent him to Hideout C with a message to Rebekah."

"So hang around and do nothing?"

"That's it."

"I can do that. I can do that really well."

Valmont grinned.

"Good. Then after you eat, go down to the lab. Come back for lunch, and then go lay down. I don't care what you do for the rest of the night, just take it easy. And if you have another vision -- especially if it's something worth mentioning -- come tell me. Even if you're just reporting that you had one. I won't make you tell me what happened."

"Okay."

"Then go have some porridge and be off."

"Just for the record, next time Snape's getting a copy of the Prophet, ask him to get something more edible than that mush."

"Don't worry. I'm already on it."

Ron walked to the table where they kept the kettle of porridge and took what he thought his stomach could handle. Food shoveled into his mouth at a pace that defied the terrible taste of the mess. Over the years, he perfected this process of eating as a way of not tasting the burnt toast that tended to land on his plate. Every little bit counts when you're close to starving, and down in this hideout, Ron bet they treaded the line.

*

"Professor Valmont told me to come see you," said Ron.

Several minutes ago, Ron entered the lab and went straight to where Snape was brewing. From the corner of his eye, Ron caught sight of Mal - Draco staring into his cauldron. Every now and again, he would sneak a glance in Ron's direction. He wasn't sure what to make of that. Had Malfoy crawled into his bed last night?

"He let you out?"

"I left on my own. He told me that I should come see you about brewing, but after lunch I'm supposed to go lay down. For my own good. Some rot about preserving energy."

"It isn't rot, Mister Weasley. It's a necessity to keep you good and healthy. That's something we need around here right now. Especially from you, and I'm sure you know why."

"I know."

"Take this."

Snape held out a vial of the headache potion Ron felt all too familiar with. He hesitated, thinking of Valmont's words about their supply on this particular potion. It wasn't often a wise thing to cross Snape, though, and Ron took it, downing the vial.

"We're working on the Circumvetus potion. I trust you haven't learned the procedure yet as this is a potion I reserve for the end of seventh year."

"You would be trusting correctly."

"Then I want you to work with someone who already knows the procedure. Miss Brown, Miss Brocklehurst, Miss Bones, or Mister Malfoy. Pick a person and get to it."

Ron nodded and spun around to meet Draco's eyes. Draco stirred his cauldron but didn't break his contact with Ron. They stared as Draco brewed, and Ron dared to walk over to where Draco stood. There was little discussion as they worked. Draco asked for an ingredient and Ron gave it to him. Ron asked a question and Draco gave him an answer. There were no formalities. No insults passed.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Draco sometime later as they finished. Ron's eyebrows rose high to expose the white around his irises. His lower lip dropped, mouth lax.

"Yes, I did. Great in fact. You?"

"Best night's sleep I've had in months."

"Good."

"We're done with all we can do for today. We'll do the rest tomorrow."

"Okay."

"Don't you need to lie down or something? In case of -- you know -- a vision?"

"Valmont -- Phoenix -- he said I could work this morning but that I needed rest this afternoon. Why? Thinking of coming to visit me?"

Breath stilled in his throat as the last word passed his lips. He watched Draco's lips twitch and the corners curled into a smile. Lungs inflated again, and Ron felt his head clear.

"I might. If I get really bored and it strikes my fancy, that is. Will you be back in the infirmary?"

"Our room. Thought it was for the best. Kerry already left."

"I know. I've had the room to myself. Been rather lonely."

Wood chipped from the corner of this table. Ron would have never noticed if it weren't for his thumb rubbing at the edge. Words could be good right about now, but Draco had this way of wiping coherence out of Ron's head. They used to fight when this happened, and Ron felt his ears going so red that part of him was embarrassed.

"What do we do until lunch?"

"Nothing. Well, I mean, Snape or Phoenix could probably come up with something for us to do, but you can't strain yourself."

"I get visions, Draco, I'm not an invalid."

"I know that. I wasn't insinuating that you were. Getting testy, are you?"

"No." Ron folded his arms over his chest. "What are you doing tonight after dinner?"

"Not sure. Might spend time with my brother. He's upset over what happened to Father and, you know, with just finding out yesterday . . . he's taking it worse than I am."

"You're upset, though, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. He's my father. Phoenix is angry with himself. They haven't been on speaking terms in years. In the back of his mind, I think he always meant to make up. This took that opportunity away from him. It's good, though. Makes me realize that you shouldn't take anything for granted, as trite as that sounds."

"When you don't have much, you know not to take anything for granted. I do it anyway."

"You're a rebel like that."

"Born and bred. We Weasleys know how to push the boundaries."

"The twins do."

Laughing, Ron nodded. "I didn't realize I was being serious. The Weasleys really are notorious rule-breakers. Just not in the way that the Malfoys are."

"The Malfoys aren't notorious for breaking rules. We're suspected, and anybody with common sense knows that we're up to no good, but no one actually accuses us. At least nobody who values their status in society."

"Like my family. We have no where to go but up."

"Not true. People respect your family. They fear mine."

"Maybe they wouldn't if your father didn't carry around that cane and beat house elves with it."

"That was the entire point of the cane."

"To strike fear into the hearts of wizarding kind?"

"Exactly."

Leaning back Ron grinned at Draco. For a moment, Draco's face was blank, and then a slow smile spread across his lips, starting at the corners and working toward the center. Draco bent his head forward as if to examine something on the table, and a piece of white-blond hair fell into his eyes. Ron gripped beneath the seat of his chair and forced himself to breathe.

*

Early in the afternoon, Draco and Ron left the lab to head for the meeting room. The people milled around to get their lunches, which Ron soon discovered was stale bread and some sort of unrecognizable meat. It flopped onto the Hogwarts plate (nicked, he was sure) and stared up at him. Ron wrinkled his nose.

"How are we supposed to be healthy enough to fight Death Eaters when we're eating stuff like this? We'll be lucky if Voldemort doesn't just blow on us and we all fall over."

"Just because it looks disgusting doesn't mean it's not nutritional."

Ron stabbed the meat and nibbled off the end.

"Tastes disgusting, too. God, where did this come from?"

"Snape used his little-known hunting abilities to chase and stake a wild boar."

"What?"

"Phoenix nicked it from the Hogwarts kitchens before we left."

"Oh. That makes more sense."

"Snape hunting wild boar was a little far-fetched?"

"A little isn't the term I would use."

"You know," said Draco, as they sat at one of the tables, "we're lucky to have food at all. We aren't in the prime location for accessibility to food. I do hope it's better at the other camps."

Ron grunted, staring down at his plate, all earlier thought about Draco incident last night forgotten. He poked at it with his fork again, causing Draco to shake his head. Draco glanced around the hall while he cut his meat into small pieces and raised his fork to put one in his mouth.

"That looks so disgusting," said Ron. He poked the meat again.

"Everyone is staring at us," said Draco.

"I don't even want to know what it is."

"You would think they had something better to do."

"I think it might still be alive."

"It's not like I'm going to go Death Eater and bite off your head."

"What are you rambling about?"

"Me? What are you rambling about?"

"How gross this food is."

"Well you have no choice. You have to eat it. If you don't, you're going to get sick --"

"I might get sick if I do eat it," said Ron.

"Phoenix said that developing Seers tend to pass out from their visions due to a lack of nutrients. Besides, it's not that bad. You've overreacting."

"Malfoy, I didn't know you cared."

"I don't. But we can't afford to lose you."

"That was very sweet."

"Damn. I was going for condescending."

"What were you rambling about?"

"Everyone is staring at me like I'm some sort of bloody psychopath waiting for my first opportunity to cut your heart out with my teeth and hand it to the Dark Lord."

"Or they're staring at my stunning good looks."

"That must be it."

"It was good imagery, though."

"Thanks."

"Let's hope your brother doesn't see. I'd hate to hear that speech on respect again."

"Lucky you never lived with him. Used to practice it in front of the mirror. Claimed no one took him seriously and deserved more respect. Think father told him that speech as a bedtime story."

"Charming."

"Yeah."

A thick silence settled in the air between them at the mention of Draco's father. Ron picked at the chapped flesh of his lower lip. Winter came early when that happened, and Ron registered the thought at the back of his mind. It didn't feel appropriate.

"So, Draco . . ."

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing this afternoon?"

"Trying to work out Death Eater tracking or something. Bloody waste of time, but since Phoenix sent Daubert to Hideout C yesterday, we expect someone back by Friday. Hope they have something helpful to give us."

"Right now, we're shooting in the dark, aren't we?"

"Seems that way. Not a good idea, either. We have no real way to track. Snape has to get copies of the Daily Prophet that people throw away. We're in a bad situation. Snape and Phoenix are both high profile wizards. If either one was seen . . ."

"Way ahead of you. Going to be hard to get anywhere, much less win this thing."

"No one said it would be easy. We all knew it was going to be hard."

"I know that. Still don't like it. I hate it out here."

"Me too, but it's our only chance."

"I'm going back to our room."

"You barely ate."

"I'm not hungry."

"You're going to get sick."

"I'll take my chances."

"Have it your way. Ron?"

Did he just call me Ron, he thought. Ron's eyes widened and he felt his cheeks grow hot. Why was it Malfoy that caused strange reactions on his body? The ones that Malfoy started to cause lately weren't ones Ron wanted to think about.

"Er -- what?"

"I'm going to be in later. You know, to make sure you're okay, see if you need anything. If you have a vision --"

"All right. See you later."

"All right."

Draco fumbled with his fork as Ron stood and strolled out of the meeting room.

*

"I brought you something."

"Who brought me what?"

Ron lay on his stomach, eyelids clenched shut. There was too much light for his eyes to handle. Every limb on his body screamed for mercy. He was tired, miserable, and wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Feeling it was a reasonable request, Ron didn't understand why it couldn't be honored. Rolling onto his back, he stared through squinted lids. Too much goddamn light. Just as he expected.

"I -- being Draco Malfoy -- brought you -- being you -- something."

"And what is something, Draco Malfoy?"

"Potion and food."

"Gross Hideout B food?"

"Yep. Sorry. It's all we've got."

"What potion?"

"Pepperup. Snape decided it would be better since you haven't been eating."

"And how did he know I haven't been eating?"

Ron never thought he'd see the day when Draco's face would turn bright pink while a smile twisted his lips. All the same, there he was, looking properly ashamed. The sheepish grin was so cute Ron had half a mind to grab the boy by the shoulders and kiss him. Lucky for them both, Ron kept his urge under control. God only knows what could happen in an instance like that.

"I didn't bring you much because I knew you wouldn't eat it."

"What is it?"

"More stale bread. I think the meat is liver."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm looking into getting us some spinach around here."

"What about chocolate?"

"Chocolate is not good for you. You've got to develop better eating habits."

Ron mumbled.

"What time is it?"

"Late. Almost everyone's gone off to bed. Snape, Phoenix, and a few people are still hanging around. You've been asleep since just after lunch. I came to check in on you just before dinner, but you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you."

"Great. Now I won't be able to get back to sleep. I'm an insomniac unless I wear myself out."

"Also a bad habit. Do you have any healthy ones?"

Probably not, as all I'm doing lately is thinking about you, ran through Ron's mind. It wouldn't be one of his best comebacks. It wasn't a healthy habit either. It did things like driving Ron to the point where he thought Draco crawled into his bed at nights (okay, it was one night). Mind you, Draco acted strange today, but that could have been Ron's insanity working again.

Ron found it was quite fun to be insane.

He sat up in bed and scrunched up his nose. Draco uncovered the plate he carried and handed it to Ron. As Ron picked at the meat (pinching his nose as he chewed), Draco undid the potion vial.

"Drink all of it," said Draco.

Pepperup Potion wasn't terrible to the taste buds. What really got you was the steam billowing out of your ears, which was so hot sometimes that it burned. His face ached when he swallowed. The glass of water Draco offered seemed like the most luxurious oasis. Ron got more of it down his shirt than in his mouth.

"Thirsty?"

"I hate that stuff."

"I do, too. Because I'm so pale, it makes me look really red. You aren't so bad. You've got darker skin than I do and all those freckles so it doesn't look so comical. I'm like a cherry on top of vanilla."

"Sounds yummy. I'll have to try that sometime."

Ron covered his mouth, eyes wide. Draco smirked.

"Were you referring to the cherry and vanilla or me?"

"The cherry and vanilla, of course."

"No chocolate in that?"

"No. I think it would ruin it. Keep it pure."

"Pure," said Draco. He dropped his eyes to the plate on Ron's lap. "Are you going to finish that?"

"I ate half of the meat and all of the bread. That should be enough."

"I'd be pushing my luck to ask for more."

"Definitely."

"All right. You did well. Give me the plate." Ron handed Draco the plate, the vial, and the glass. "I'm going to take these down to Phoenix. He's on dish duty tonight with Susan Bones and Crystal Hawkins. I actually had to do it last night. Snape thinks it's funny making Malfoys work. Anyway, you should lie down again. At least try to sleep."

"In other words, lie on my back and stare at the ceiling."

"You catch on quicker than I thought. I'm almost impressed."

Draco doused the candles and left the room.

"What are you doing?" said Ron, staring into the darkness. "I'll have to try that sometime."

What was he thinking? How could he have let something with so many suggestions slip? The last thing he wanted Draco to know was how things changed. It was November third, and Ron learned about the Mages only two days ago. The merger was happening too fast, and Ron never even noticed until he couldn't stop it. Bade and Draco were one. Ryan and Ron were one. The way it affected their comfort levels was obvious. Today was the first day that they had ever acted friendly in public, and the difficulty factor was zero.

Ron threw his head back as the curtain opened, then pulled shut. Footsteps padded to the bed across the room, and Ron's heart sank. He knew he had been crazy, but he had hoped . . .

"Ron?"

"What?"

"Do you mind if I sleep with you again tonight?"

In the dark, Ron couldn't smile. His lips tugged into a half-grin. Relief like he never imagined pounded on his chest.

"Come here."

The footsteps crossed the room and the sheets yanked back. A pillow flopped beside his, and Ron shifted to make room for Draco. With his left arm stretched across Draco's waist, Ron didn't mind if he couldn't sleep tonight.