A Rose's Thorn

Steps

Draco was bent over panting. Blood leaking over his eye from a rather nasty cut. Harry was laying flat on his stomach. His breathing more regular than Draco's, but he had a rather ugly bruise showing on his jaw. Neither said a word to the other for two reasons. One reason was that they were both too drained. The other reason was that neither wanted to talk anyway. Harry groaned as he turned over onto his back his ribs aching as he inhaled. Draco dropped to his knees giving up on trying to stay standing. His breathing less rapid now. They looked at each other slowly. Both boys wearing a mask of indifference towards the other. Both just wanting the fights to end. Both too stubborn and prideful to admit they were wrong. So that was how they spent the first 4 hours locked in a room together.

*~*

Pansy and Hermione had ignored their boyfriends request to sleep early. They were hauled up in a pile of books at the back of the library. Blaise and Dean laid under two or three of the books the girls were reading. They had given up trying to get them to stop and made themselves comfortable. The girls, whatever was going through their heads at the time, ended up using them as side tables.

"I think I got it!" Hermione yelled triumphant.

That earned an unpleasant "shhh" from madam Pince. Hermione just grinned as she showed Pansy the book she had been looking at. Blaise muttered an apology for his girlfriend. He had learnt rather quickly that when it came to knowledge Hermione would never apologize. Even if she caused a racket in the process. Dean sat up wanting to see the book as well. That earned him a smack from Pansy because the books that were on him fell closed.

"This is brilliant Hermione." Pansy smiled. "It explains how we aren't effected by the rose."

"Yes, but I think the inclusion of this spell might have caused the other one to be weaker." Hermione reasoned with a smile.

"I think not. Look at this." Dean handed the girls the book he was holding.

He had been trying to reopen all the books, all three of them, to where Pansy had left them. Not wanting to stay on his girlfriend's bad side. Or better yet not wanting to have her moan about having to go through all the pages again. He had always known how dramatic Pansy was, and if he was honest it was one of the things he loved about her. While trying to find the pages the title of one spell caught his eye. That was what he was showing them now.

"Shouldn't there be like instructions or something to effectively bind all the spells?" Blaise asked from his spot on the floor.

Pansy and Hermione shared a look. They smiled and silently decided to call it a night. They turned to their respective boyfriends and kissed their cheeks. Both boys happy to have helped connect a few more dots in their problematic situation.

"You guys are brilliant." The girls said.

"After class tomorrow we can look again." Blaise suggested as he sat up.

"After talking to Professor Snape about it." Dean clarified with a smile.

Of course there was no point in looking if such a thing didn't exist. They quickly put the books away and made their way out of the library. At the door Blaise and Dean exchanged their usual, "Take care of my girl or else", conversation and the two pairs separated to return to their respective houses.

"Why do you have to do that all the time?"

"Because Hermione, what kind of boyfriends would we be if we didn't make sure our girls were safe." Dean shrugged with a smile.

"It's rather silly if you ask me. Blaise treats Pansy as if she were his sister. And we're as close as family as well. Blaise knows that." Hermione reasoned.