Word Count: 4,578
Date: 9/28/2005
Authors Note: I readily admit this entire plot bunny is from the manga book “Only the Ring Finger Knows.” It’s a wonderful book and I suggest you read it. I just adapted it to Harry Potter because my muse insisted. Any guilt was washed away by the fact I’m already trespassing on JKR’s property anyway.
Betas: Wolfmistress & Littleroo27
Harry smiled. It had been a long and difficult summer once again at the Dursley’s, but letters from his friends had kept his spirits buoyed. He was just sitting on his bed reading a letter from Ron and was rather surprised by the news it brought.
Dear Harry,
A new fad is taking the Wizarding World by storm. I didn’t want you to feel left out when you return to Hogwarts and find out about it. The thing of it is, depending on which finger you wear a ring, it will tell if you are dating, single or looking. If you are dating someone then you wear it on your right ring finger and they wear a matching ring. Wearing a ring on the left ring finger means that you are single.
So be careful if you wear a ring on your hand to school this year.
I’m sending Hermione a ring that matches mine; cross your fingers she accepts, mate!! See you on the train!
Ron
Harry looked down at the ring on his finger. He’d found it while gardening and, since he was old enough to use magic, he had fancied up the plain copper band a bit. It now had a picture of a snake on it that wrapped around a star, making it a pentacle. He was sure it was completely original, so he didn’t think he had anything to worry about.
The next day Harry stood on Platform 9 ¾ looking around for Ron and Hermione. He easily spotted Ron, who was glowering like a little storm cloud. Harry hurried right over. “What’s wrong, mate?”
“Oh hi, Harry. Damn Malfoy is what’s wrong!” Ron growled, staring at a large mob on the crowded platform.
“Ron, what could he have possibly of done already? The school year hasn’t even begun!” Harry rolled his eyes. He was so tired of year after year hearing Ron complain about Draco Malfoy. Personally, he was hoping to avoid any and all fights with the blond completely.
“Hermione won’t wear my ring because of him!” Ron spat. “Look at her! She’s a Gryffindor!! Loads of them are! They should be bloody well ashamed of themselves!”
Harry looked back at the mob and noticed Hermione, Ginny, Lavender and others in the crowd that seemed to be composed largely of girls. Standing on his toes, Harry was able to see over the crowd. He gasped at Draco, who was in the center. It would seem he’d undergone some sort of transformation. He was tan, buff and his long white blond hair flowed gracefully down to the middle of his back. “Oh,” Harry said in surprise. “It looks like the summer was good to him.”
Ron huffed angrily and stormed toward the train. Harry followed with one last look toward the blond. Unless someone else had a transformation, Harry suspected Draco was now the best looking bloke at Hogwarts. Looking back to Ron, Harry noticed he’d grown taller, making him ganglier than ever. If Hermione was fawning over Malfoy, Ron didn’t stand a chance.
As they settled into a compartment, a thought struck Harry. Ron sat across from him with his arms crossed over his chest, grumbling to himself. “Um, but how did Hermione forgive him for the way he’s acted all these years?”
“Malfoy took out a full page ad in the Daily Prophet apologizing for his actions, declaring his independence from his father. Bloody Fudge even had his picture taken with him. His father was given the kiss, you know, and the Aurors have You-Know-Who trapped. You might not have to deal with him after all!” Ron beamed.
Harry felt a huge weight being lifted from him. “You’re kidding!”
They spent the next few minutes discussing the news and Ron showed Harry the paper from the day before that showed Malfoy’s apology and the news about Voldemort. Then Hermione opened the door to the compartment, her eyes glazed over. She smiled at them then put her trunk away.
“Hi, Hermione. How are you?” Harry asked politely.
“Hello, Harry. Did you hear about Draco?” She beamed at him. Harry shot Ron a nervous look to see he was grumbling again and staring out the window. Hermione didn’t even seem to notice.
“Um, yes, I did. Why do you think he apologized?” Harry asked curiously.
“He’s matured,” she tossed her hair then glowered at Harry. ”I don’t want you fighting with him this year, Harry. People will think less of you after he made such a wonderful gesture. You can tell just by seeing him that he’s turned over a new leaf. He looks wonderful!” she sighed and her eyes became doe-like. “Have you seen him?”
Harry wondered if he should answer, but Ron left the room, slamming the door behind him. “Um, yes I did, Hermione.”
“Isn’t he handsome? Oh, he’s simply gorgeous, Harry. I wish he’d consider going out with me! Do you know he doesn’t even have a ring on yet?” Hermione looked concerned.
Harry bit his lip. “What about Ron? I thought he was going to ask you to wear his ring?”
“And blow my chance with Draco?!” Hermione looked incredulous. Harry was starting to wonder if everyone was under some sort of spell. Although even he had to admit Draco had grown up well. He knew he’d grown some over the summer too, but with the second hand clothes and horrible glasses he knew that no one would ever notice him.
He spent the rest of the trip listening to Hermione go on and on about Draco Malfoy, how lucky the Slytherin girls were and how impressed she was with his change. Harry felt very sorry for Ron and dreaded how he’d act at the Welcome Back feast. He also wondered where he was.
Harry was grateful later when, at the feast, Hermione sat with a bunch of the girls, who immediately began to discuss Draco Malfoy. Ron sat by him immediately. “Did she mention me at all?”
“Um, sorry mate, but no,” Harry said, patting Ron on the shoulder in sympathy.
“Bloody hell,” Ron flipped open a small box that contained the ring he was going to give to Hermione. Reluctantly he moved his ring to his middle finger.
“What does that mean?” Harry asked, remembering the ring codes Ron had owled him about.
“Single and looking, although the way the girls in the school are fawning over Malfoy, no one really has a chance,” Ron grumbled.
Harry looked toward the Slytherin table, where Draco was holding court over the table. Every single girl and quite a few blokes were hanging on his every word. Somehow the blokes bothered Harry more than the girls, but he shook it off and spent the meal trying to get Ron’s mind off of things.
~
It had been a long first week of school. Ron hadn’t snapped out of it yet and Harry was looking forward to when the Malfoy craze ended. Yet Malfoy had become the epitome of the perfect gentleman. Even Harry was surprised. He’d seen it first hand.
Harry had gone to the Great Hall for breakfast early before Double Potions and was trying to finish the last of his homework when he heard Malfoy’s voice. “That’s Mandrake Root, not Moonwort, you’ve got them reversed.” Harry looked down and saw with embarrassment that Malfoy was right.
“Um, right, err, thanks Malfoy,” Harry said, looking up with a genuine smile. Malfoy seemed taken aback then smiled too and walked away. Right then and there Harry decided if this was the new Draco then he was impressed with the change around too. The breakfast crowd soon shuffled in and Harry put it to the back of his mind.
It was in Double Potions that Harry realized he’d lost his ring. With a start he deduced that he’d taken it off to wash his hands before he’d gone to the Great Hall. There was no way that Snape would let him out of class so he just hoped and prayed that it would be there when he returned. As soon as class let out he explained things to Ron then ran off after it. He searched to boy’s bathroom high and low, but it was gone. Harry was very upset to lose his special ring and just hoped that someone would turn it in.
A month had passed and Harry admitted defeat. Despite asking everyone he knew if they’d seen a ring matching the description, no one had. His ring was lost for good and, to make matters worse, everyone kept looking at his hand for it. Then they’d whisper stories about him. Harry hated having rumors spread about him. This year looked to be no different. The rumors ranged from he was too stuck up to his heart had been broken; they seemed to get wilder each week.
It was after yelling at a particularly nosey person about losing his ring that he stormed into Double Potions. To his surprise, there at his regular desk sat his ring. He smiled brilliantly, a true smile that lit up his whole face before he slid it onto his left ring finger, signifying that he was single but not looking. After all, who’d want to date him anyway? The whole school was still in the Malfoy madness. Ron was positively sour about it.
But Harry felt slightly sorry for Malfoy. After all, it wasn’t his fault he’d gotten so good looking over the summer. Or that his high bred manner and etiquette was finally showing through. Half the boys in the school, if not more, hated his guts. The rest either simply were jealous or fancied him themselves.
Ron had convinced Harry that weekend to go get drunk on a bottle of fire whiskey that he managed to smuggle into the school. Unfortunately, Ron spent the entire time complaining about Malfoy and bemoaning Hermione. To make matters worse, Hermione had flat out told Ron that she was in love with Malfoy. Ron was beside himself one minute and furious the next. Harry figured the least he could do was to get tanked with Ron.
But Monday morning he regretted it. He had Double Potions with the Slytherins again and a hangover to boot. Ron was no worse for wear; apparently he’d done this sort of thing before with Fred and George. But Harry’s eyeballs felt like they were on fire and his tongue had been licking Fluffy all night.
In an effort to get over it, he went to the bathroom to splash water on his face. As he was reaching for a hand towel he heard, “Oh, here, they’re out; you can use this.”
“Oh, thanks,” Harry said and dried off his face with the velvety soft cloth. When he opened his eyes he was startled to see Draco Malfoy standing before him. He looked just as surprised to see Harry. Nervously, Harry handed it back.
“Watch it when you’re washing your face; you got me all wet,” Draco snapped. Harry blinked in shock. Suddenly Malfoy had gone back to being a total git.
“Why are you here on this floor anyway?” Harry snapped back.
“The Dungeon bathrooms are otherwise filled. Or aren’t I allowed out of the Dungeons when precious Potter is here?” Draco groused.
“Look, Draco when did you suddenly revert back to being a total shit?” Harry retorted.
“I don’t recall giving you permission to use my name. You may call me Mr. Malfoy.” And with that Draco turned on his heel sharply and left the room. Harry stood with his fists at his sides, shaking with rage. Draco had the whole school fooled. Even he’d believed it for a bit. But he was the same pompous git Malfoy that he’d always been.
He grabbed his precious ring off the sink and stormed off to Double Potions. Arriving early, he was aggravated beyond belief. He sat down next to Ron. “What’s wrong with you mate?”
“My bloody ring won’t fit!” Harry growled. “My fingers must have swollen or I gained weight or something.”
A shadow loomed over him. “I believe you have my ring. Here is yours.”
Harry looked up at Draco Malfoy in confusion. “What do you mean? This is a one of the kind. No one has the same ring.”
“Well, I do. Didn’t you notice it didn’t fit on your finger?” Draco snapped irritably.
“Um, well yeah, I just thought I’d gained weight or something,” Harry replied sheepishly, holding the ring out. Draco rolled his eyes and dropped his ring into Harry’s hand then scooped out his own. For perhaps a count of ten, they were standing there with their hands clasped together like lovers in front of the whole class. Harry felt warmth surge through him and his cheeks blush. Draco, for an instant, looked at him in a way he never had before.
“Sit down class!” Snape demanded as he swept dramatically into the room. The spell was broken, and Harry watched Malfoy go to his seat and almost felt sad that the moment had ended. He shook his head. Was he falling under the Malfoy spell too, even when he’d been a complete git?
“You know, I think I’m starting to see what Hermione sees in him,” Ron said quietly. Harry’s mouth dropped open. It was weird enough to be thinking thoughts about Malfoy himself but for RON WEASLEY? Seeing Harry’s face he whispered,” Well he is rather …um…good looking.”
“WHAT!?” Roared Harry.
Snape spun around sharply. “Mr. Potter,” he drawled,” Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention with Mr. Filch.” Harry moaned, but made sure after the glares from his housemates not to say another word.
“What was all that about?” Ron asked after they’d left.
“Stupid Malfoy had my ring!” Harry yelled loudly. Suddenly a mob of girls surrounded him.
“YOU HAVE THE SAME RING AS DRACO!” one of them screamed snatching Harry’s hand.
Pansy Parkinson pushed forward. “I’ll buy it; how much, Potter?” She whipped out her wallet from her purse.
Harry snatched his hand back and was horrified to see it was Hermione that had grabbed it in the first place. “It’s not for sale! He has my ring, not the other way around. I made it myself!”
“I want it!! Oh please Harry, we’ve always been friends, please let me have it!” Hermione groveled.
“Get off, sister!” Pansy shoved Hermione. It soon became a cat fight and Harry felt someone yank him out of it by the collar. He looked to see it was Ron.
“Wow, do I owe you, mate!” Harry panted. His clothing had been ripped and his hand was bleeding where the girls had trying to forcibly rip the ring from his hand.
Ron looked at him seriously. “Don’t worry about it mate, just please, please promise me that you WON”T GIVE IT TO HERMIONE!!”
Harry’s mouth fell open. “I’m not giving it to anyone; I made this ring!” He stormed off angry at everyone. Ron ran to catch up. They were walking across the outside grounds so Harry could cool off and calm down when a mob of girls almost ran them down.
“OI! Bloody hell, we were here first!” Ron yelled after them.
“What’s going on?” Harry asked curiously.
“Oh, that’s right. The Slytherins were talking about some pick up Quidditch after class,” Ron remembered. Harry wondered if there was really time for such a thing during break, but shrugged his shoulders.
“Did you want to see it?” Ron asked, running to catch up to Harry as he suddenly headed toward the pitch.
“Um, yeah,” Harry replied. “Come on, I want to get a good seat. Maybe we can find something out about their strategy.” Ron shrugged and together they found seats and sat down. The game was already well underway and the side that Malfoy was playing for was ahead by 30 points.
“Wow, look at him go,” Ron said in awe. Harry was surprised too. Malfoy was playing Chaser instead of Seeker. There obviously wasn’t time to deal with catching the Snitch. Malfoy was a dominating force on the pitch. As they watched, Malfoy made no less then four more goals driving the score to 70-10.
“If he played Chaser against us we’d be sunk. Lucky he plays Seeker.”
Harry had to agree. Malfoy was a vision and a natural as Chaser. The girls in the stands were positively swooning and cheering loudly with each goal he made. “Did you see that?” Ron asked.
“What?” Harry had been watching the sea of girls drooling and not the game.
“Malfoy, he saw you and gave a smile like he was happy to see you here,” Ron explained.
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Harry snapped, but he felt oddly happy with the idea.
Suddenly Malfoy signaled to the others and left the game. The reserve player came in and took his place. The girls screamed in disappointment. “Wow,” Ron said,” did he get hurt?”
Harry was up and running for the ground before he even realized what he was doing. As he made the turn around the building for the showers he stopped, wondering which way Malfoy had gone. “Miss me?”
Biting his lip, Harry turned to look directly at Malfoy. “Um, no I was just thinking that maybe you were hurt.”
“I didn’t know you cared,” Malfoy smirked.
Harry got his back up. “I never said that. If…if you were hurt, I’d want to tell Ron.”
Malfoy laughed then grabbed Harry’s hand. He looked at the ring. “Yes, it is the same as mine.” He bent over and kissed the ring. Harry inhaled sharply and felt his face flush. “Thanks for the concern Potter.” Malfoy turned and went into the Slytherin locker room, leaving Harry standing alone and blushing madly.
Harry was sure that Malfoy had just made fun of him by kissing the ring. He still recalled the bathroom incident and the ring switching. Malfoy was just trying to get him to pick a fight so he’d look bad in front of the rest of the school that was afflicted with the Malfoy Madness.
Later Ron sat next to him in Charms. “So did you find him?”
“Wh- what?” Harry stammered.
“Malfoy, I saw you chase after him. Do you fancy him? I’d understand, it’s not like you’d be alone. Half the school does. In fact, I wish you would.”
“HUH!?” Harry exclaimed.
Ron shrugged his shoulders. “If you take him off the market then Hermione might notice me.”
“But…but his father is a Death Eater!” Harry exclaimed.
“His father got the kiss, remember? Besides Malfoy has been nice to us all year. If we don’t accept him it will make us look bad in front of the girls. You already have the same rings.” Ron said in a matter of fact tone Harry was used to hearing from Ron’s mother.
“He- he doesn’t think of me that way,” Harry stated, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks.
“Come on Harry, be a pal!” Seamus gripped. “None of the girls will even look at us sideways. And you know there’s always been something between the two of you.”
Before Harry could reply, Professor Flitwick started the class, much to his relief. He didn’t take any notes and was lost in thought the entire time. Did he fancy Malfoy? He was glad that the next day was a Hogsmeade weekend; maybe he could use the trip to clear his head.
The next day, however, only made things worse. Harry had found a nice small part outside of the town and was strolling through it when he heard Malfoy’s voice. “…I’m so glad you came to visit.”
Harry peeked out over the bushes to see Malfoy walking with his arm around a very pretty blond witch. “Oh Draco, you always know just what to say to me. I’ve missed you so much. You’re so good for my ego.”
“Well, someone should tell you how wonderful you are,” Draco replied.
“How is your ring that I made you?”
“Oh, fine, fine, just fine, there was a bit of a ruckus about it during the school and I had a mix up with it, but see it’s still quite intact. I take good care of it since it was made by you.”
Harry turned away. He felt sick. Ron found him sitting on a bench looking totally lost. “Harry, what is it?”
“Malfoy’s already got a girlfriend,” Harry explained.
“Are you sure?” Ron asked in surprise. “Why hasn’t his ring changed fingers?”
“Maybe it’s the only one it fits. I don’t know. Look, can we just go back to the school?”
Ron nodded, put an arm around Harry for support, and they went back to Hogwarts. But Harry didn’t want to be there either. People were still whispering about his ring and Malfoy’s. So he let it be known he’d seen Malfoy with a witch in town and that he was off the market. At least the rest of the guys at the school would be able to date then.
By the end of the night there was a thundercloud over Draco’s head. Girls were crying and throwing themselves at his feet when they found out he had a girlfriend. The problem being he didn’t have a girlfriend, nor did he want one since he was gay and wanted nothing to do with the overly soft womanly bits. It took him all night to track down who’d started the rumor. When Harry arrived in the Great Hall Sunday morning Draco grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the Hall and into the first empty classroom he saw.
“Why the bloody hell did you start that rumor that I was seeing someone, Potter?” Draco yelled angrily while tossing up a silencing spell.
“I saw you with…with HER…don’t try to deny it!” Harry grumbled.
“What?? Who?” Draco asked.
“That blond witch you were with Saturday in Hogsmeade,” Harry said, pouting slightly.
“Potter, that is not my girlfriend you idiot!” Draco grabbed him by the arms.
“She’s not?” Harry replied in surprise.
“No you great twat. She’s a daughter of one of my mother’s friends. Anyway she’s not my type anyway. She’s like a sister to me for crying out loud.”
“You mean that?” Harry replied hopefully.
Draco shook his head. “Would I do this if it wasn’t the truth?” Draco pulled Harry into his arms and kissed him. At first it met with resistance, and then, ever so slowly, Draco felt Harry’s arms reach around his neck.
Harry suddenly stopped and pushed Draco away. “Wait! She made you the ring. You said she was special to you! Stop hurting me! I don’t want this stupid ring!” Harry tore the ring off his finger and threw it against a wall he ran out of the room, leaving Draco standing in shock and dismay.
Ron was smiling when he saw Harry. “Did Malfoy admit he loves you?”
“No Ron! I told you already!! Oh forget it. Just forget it. I got rid of the stupid ring and it’s all over!” Harry yelled.
“What?! Ron froze in his tracks. “Where is it? Hermione might find it!”
Harry rolled his eyes. “It’s back there in that classroom with HIM.”
Ron ran back toward the classroom and Harry continued on in the other direction. He threw open the door to find Draco looking around on his hands and knees. “Serves you right you git!”
“Shut up Weasley, you don’t know anything.” Malfoy spat.
“I know that you love him and that you probably paid someone to make that ring for you, am I right?” Ron smirked crossing his beefy arms over his chest.
Malfoy stood up. “How did you know that?”
Ron rolled his eyes. “I’m the one that wants to date a bookworm, remember?”
Malfoy snorted. “Fine, what do I do?”
“First,” Ron pulled out his wand and Malfoy quickly pulled out his in self-defense. “Accio Harry’s ring!”
Malfoy groaned. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Ron smiled. “And you call me dumb. Look, take this ring and tell Harry everything and then PLEASE ask him out so I can have Hermione back!”
Draco smiled. “Thanks Weasley.”
“Don’t mention it! EVER!” Ron grinned tossing the ring to Draco. The blond quickly ran out of the room. “Good luck.”
Harry was sulking and, worse yet, he knew it. A sinking feeling of everything had settled in his stomach. Even though he was high above the Quidditch pitch he didn’t feel better. He couldn’t even do a decent loop-de-loop he was so depressed. Feeling tears run down his cheeks, he wiped them off with part of his robe.
“Can we talk?” Harry sniffled and looked up, hoping Malfoy hadn’t seen him crying.
“What about?” Harry said quietly.
“We could discuss the fact that I’m an idiot, or that I did everything for you, then got cold feet.” Draco admitted.
“What did you do for me?” Harry asked, feeling a slight hope rise in his chest.
“I took out that ad in the paper apologizing, hoping you’d forgive me. Then I changed how I behaved so you wouldn’t think I was a git anymore. And when I found your ring…”
“You’re the one who returned it to me?”
Draco smiled proudly. “Yes, that was me after I had an exact copy made by that friend you saw me with yesterday. I stayed, you know, and I watched. The way you smiled, it reminded me why I’d fallen in love with you in the first place.”
Harry’s head was spinning so he clung onto the last thing Draco had said. “You love me?”
“Yes, I love you. And it was seeing you smile that tamed the Dragon. But I got scared that day in the bathroom, afraid you’d see our rings match. So I reverted back to the old Malfoy. I even made a special brew of cologne so you’d be attracted to me, but instead it seemed to attract everyone else. I’m sorry. Maybe you can’t forgive me, but can you ever love me back?” Draco asked, slowly letting his broom descend to one of the stands.
Harry’s broom landed next to him in the stands. Their brooms clattered to the floorboards together. “Yes, Draco, I already do.”
“Say it again, Harry.”
“I love you, Draco.” This time Harry watched as Draco fought back tears.
“Then I think we should exchange rings,” Draco grinned and took Harry’s hand, putting his ring on Harry’s right ring finger. Harry smiled and placed his ring on Draco’s right ring finger. They watched them glow as they magically sized themselves then simply admired them.
“Everyone is going to be wondering about our rings,” Harry whispered.
“Let them, we know the truth,” Draco grinned, pulling Harry to him once more and kissing him soundly, while back at the school Ron Weasley smiled at the windows with a set of Omniocculars in his hands. It was time to go show Hermione the last play.
“Oh, Draco?” Harry asked after the kiss.
“Yes, Harry?”
“No more cologne!”
The end
Rings of Truth by Keikokin [ - ]
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