Sweetest Sin

Chapter 14

Ron's face was filling with color and he looked furious. Hermione and Harry just looked shocked as Lily smiled and chuckled. Harry tore his gaze away from the sight before him to look over at Ron. He leapt forward and grabbed Malfoy before Harry could react. Ron slammed Draco into the wall, his wand at the boy's throat. Lily shrieked, "Ron! What are you thinking?!"

Draco winced as his head cracked loudly against the stone wall. "Lay off me, Weasley, I wasn't hurting her. I think she was rather enjoying herself, in fact."

Ron growled out, "Cut the shit, Malfoy, what do you think you were doing?"

Malfoy looked down at Ron, who had jabbed his wand in the tender spot underneath his chin. "We were just kissing, Weasel, will you back off?"

Harry tugged Ron back from Draco, who moved away from them as Ginny hurried over. Draco raised his hand to touch the back of his head and grimaced when it came away covered in blood. "Are you happy now, Weasel? I'm surprised you didn't give me a concussion."

Ginny stared in horror as the back of Draco's head slowly dripped blood. "Draco, you need to go to the hospital wing right away!"

Ginny grabbed Draco's hand and quickly led him away, giving Ron a look of loathing over her shoulder. Ron turned around, practically shaking with fury. "That bloody asshole!"

Hermione and Harry were giving him sympathetic looks but Lily just looked at him coolly. Ron's expression softened immensely and he said, "Lily, what's wrong?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't talk to me, Ron."

With that she turned around and stalked away down the hall. Ron stared after her for a long moment before turning to Harry and Hermione, looking completely confused. All he could utter was, "Huh?"

Harry shrugged but Hermione said, "Well, Ron, I don't imagine Lily is all too thrilled to have a boyfriend who wants to curse people into oblivion. Not to mention you cracked his head open against a wall!"

Ron looked incredulous. "But...but he deserved it! He was kissing Ginny! He's obviously plotting something against us!"

Hermione crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Ron, you don't know the circumstances. Maybe they care about each other. Maybe it isn't a huge plot to get at your family. Draco has changed a lot since fifth year and you know it."

Ron's face contorted in anger and he mouthed wordlessly for a moment before he stomped away from them. Hermione heaved a sigh and turned to Harry, who was staring after Ron. "I'm going to go find Lily, okay?"

Harry nodded and Hermione hurried off down the hall. Harry stood alone in the entrance hall for a moment before deciding to head to the library to study for a bit.

A few minutes later, Hermione entered Gryffindor Tower and headed up to the dormitory in search of Lily. She found Lily sitting on her bed, arms crossed, looking upset. Hermione gingerly sat down next to her and took in a deep breath. "Lily, you don't understand our history with Draco Malfoy. He's been a real jerk to us in the past and we all have a bad history with him. So it upset Ron a lot to see him kissing Ginny. He thinks Draco's going to hurt her."

Lily stared angrily at the ceiling. "Yes, well, I don't think Ron is aware of my history with Draco."

Hermione stared at her. "What?"

Lily looked over at Hermione. "Draco is my cousin. We spent summers together as children, but when my family moved to France we fell out of touch. We're not really close or anything, I haven't really talked to him since I've been attending Hogwarts because my free time is spent with Ron. And obviously his free time is spent with Ginny. I mean, I know Draco can be arrogant but he is not a bad person. You don't know what his home life was like."

Hermione was silent for a minute. Then she said, "But why didn't you tell us?"

Lily shrugged. "It didn't seem like a major point to make, I didn't know you all hated him. I mean we haven't really spoken in two years and it's been even longer since I last saw him. I wasn't hiding it but it didn't seem important, I'm sure it would have come up eventually."

Hermione twirled a piece of hair around her fingers. "Well, you need to tell Ron, because he cannot fathom why you are so upset about this."

Lily sighed. "Well it's not just because Draco is a relative. I do not at all approve of the way he acted. It was cruel, and I never knew Ron could be so malicious and violent. It really upsets me."

"Well you need to talk to him soon, Lily. Ron isn't normally like that, he just really dislikes Draco and he is very protective of his only sister," Hermione said.

Lily laid back on the bed. "I have no intentions of talking to Ron tonight. He needs to cool down and so do I. Maybe in the morning I will. In the meantime, I am staying up here for the rest of the night."

Hermione looked down at the girl. "Want me to leave you alone? I can stay here and we can talk or whatever."

Lily shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, Hermione, but I would rather just be alone. I think I'll study and then I'll probably just sleep."

Hermione stood up and exited the room, shutting the door behind her. She decided to head off to the library to study with Harry. She found him sitting at one of the long tables and plopped down next to him. "So get this, Draco Malfoy is Lily's cousin."

Harry turned sharply to look at Hermione, his mouth open in shock. "So that's why she's mad?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes and no. She wouldn't be happy about Ron's actions regardless, not so much because it's a relative. But Ron doesn't know, so don't tell him."

Harry grimaced. "I don't think I wanna be there when he finds out about that. Well, then again I think he'll be more pissed about Ginny dating the guy or whatever she's doing with him."

Hermione sighed and opened up a book. About a half an hour later, Harry and Hermione looked up as Ginny and Draco entered the library. Ginny's smile quickly faded from her face when she saw them. Draco tried to turn around and leave but Ginny grabbed his hand and pulled him over to their table. She said softly, "Is Ron here?"

Harry shook his head. "No, we don't know where he is, he stormed off after... ya know."

Ginny heaved a sigh and slid into a chair across the table from Harry and Hermione. Draco sat down next to her, eyeing the pair warily. Hermione said tentatively, "Is your head okay?"

Draco shot her an angry look. "It's as fine as can be expected, Granger."

Harry said angrily, "She's trying to be nice, Malfoy! You might show the same courtesy! We're not the ones who attacked you, okay?"

Ginny soothingly rubbed Draco's arm and Hermione then asked, "How long has this been going on?"

"About a month," Ginny responded.

Hermione hesitated a moment. "And are you... a couple?"

Ginny had a fiery look in her eyes and she defiantly said, "Yes."

Harry glanced back down at his book, not looking at either of them. Hermione put her hand on Harry's leg and he raised his eyes to meet hers. He could tell from her look that she wanted them to get along and he sighed. There was a long awkward silence at the table and finally Harry said, "So, want to head down to the Great Hall?"

Hermione nodded and stood up and Ginny and Draco reluctantly followed suit. They walked down to the Great Hall which was cheerfully decorated for Christmas. As usual, there was just one long table and they quickly located seats. Draco and Ginny sat across from Harry and Hermione, who were looking around the Great Hall. Hermione murmured, "I was hoping Ron and Lily would show up, neither of them is here."

Draco glanced at Ginny and she gave him a smile, leaning in to give him a quick kiss. Harry studied Draco carefully as he looked at Ginny. There was tenderness in his expression that Harry had never seen before. Draco turned and caught Harry looking at him and his expression because cool again. "Have a staring problem, Potter?"

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Hermione, who just gave him a sympathetic look. He put on a smile as the food appeared on the table, steaming and delicious-looking. Harry quickly loaded up his plate and remained quiet for most of dinner. The girls kept up a lively chatter and Harry looked up as Ginny exclaimed, "That necklace is gorgeous, Hermione! Where did you get it?"

Hermione smiled and said, "Harry gave it to me for Christmas."

Hermione leaned over to give Harry a quick kiss and a short while later, they had all finished dinner and it was time for dessert. Harry looked up quickly when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Ron standing there. Ron glanced across the table at Ginny and Draco and then he said quietly, "Can I join you for dessert?"

Harry glanced across the table and Draco seemed to be concentrating on his plate and Ginny just nodded. Harry motioned for Ron to sit next to him. "Sure thing, mate."

This was going to be interesting.