Asking the Secret Keeper

~~~~~

“Come ON, Draco,” Ginny said, exasperated.

“I still think that you should talk to Ron about this alone.” Draco replied. They were standing outside of the Gryffindor common room, and Draco was having serious second thoughts about going in.

“Oh, stop being such a baby. He’s just my brother!”

“Last I checked, he was not very pleased with me. He would most likely attack me before we even got a chance to ask him to be the one to protect me. And if we get that far, he probably won’t agree. Wait a minute...why are we doing this again?” he asked, pulling back yet again.

“Because he’ll keep our secret because he’ll want to protect me. Now let’s go! Bezoar!” she said, causing the Fat Lady’s portrait to swing open.

“Fine,” he grumbled as they stepped through the doorway.

“Hey, Ron!” Ginny yelled, spotting him sitting near the fire playing chess with Harry.

“Ginny! How dare you bring that...that...Malfoy into our common room!” Ron spat out as he walked towards them angrily.

“I told you so,” Draco muttered to Ginny.

“Oh, shut up,” she whispered back. Louder, and with her eyes blazing in a way that clearly said she meant business, she advised, “Ronald Weasley, don’t you dare do anything you will later regret.”

Hermione, registering the argument ensuing, looked up from her book, walked over to Ron, and took his hand in hers. Playing her usual role as the peacekeeper, she said, “At least listen to what they’re going to say.”

“Fine. What are you here for?” he grudgingly asked.

“We wanted to talk to you, in private,” Ginny said.

“Only if ‘Mione comes with.”

“Sure. Let’s go find an empty classroom.” At Draco’s laugh, she added, “Not for that, you pervert!”

“Okay, if I’m supposed to try and be all civil here, then you can NOT force those images into my head,” Ron said with an extremely disgusted look on his face.

“Sorry,” Ginny said with a giggle as she led the way back out of the portrait hole.

~~~~~

Once they arrived at one of the unused Transfiguration rooms and sat down in four of the old desks, Ginny began to talk. “Before we can ask you the favor we need you to do, you should know a little more about Draco. Tell him, honey.”

Draco looked at her, slightly shocked, “What? You want me to talk?”

“Yes. Now go.”

With a sigh, Draco began. “First, before I say anything else, might I mention that I love your sister and I will not abandon her ever, so you don’t need to kill me.”

“Draco...” Ginny said warningly.

“Alright. I suppose I should start by saying that I am not, nor will I ever be, a Death Eater like my father. I am a spy for Dumbledore. I have to at least pretend to be on the other side, or my father will kill me.” Draco continued to tell Ron and Hermione about the danger that Ginny’s pregnancy brought all three of them. “And so we need to go into hiding. That’s were you come in. I’ve talked with Dumbledore, and he said our best option was the Fidelius Charm. It’s a charm where one person has to-“

“I know what it is,” Ron interrupted coldly.

“Okay. Umm, well then,” Draco said, a tad nervously. “We were talking, and we thought that the Secret Keeper should be you.”

Ron just sat there, still trying to process all of this.

Ginny started talking at this point. “We really hope you’ll do it. We trust you to keep our secret.”

“Let me get this all straight,” Ron said slowly. “Malfoy, the ultimate Death Eater, has gotten my little sister pregnant. But guess what? He’s not really a Death Eater, he’s a spy. And if You-Know-Who finds out about said pregnancy, she and the baby could be killed because it would be considered a betrayal. And now they’ve all got to go into hiding to stay alive. And it’s all Malfoy’s fault. Wow, I’m so very thrilled about all of this. But now I can be even happier. I have the chance to help protect Malfoy from the evil wizard that’s after my baby sister because of him. When do I start?” he finished sarcastically.

“Ron, we are both sitting right here. You don’t need to talk like we’re not in the room.” Ginny responded. “And we would really like it if you could help us. You would be protecting not only me, but your niece or nephew. You would be preventing them from having to grow up around Voldemort and all his little cronies like Draco had to. Because if he finds this child, that’s what will happen. We could always find someone else to do it, but I don’t trust anyone as much as I trust you.” At this point, she made sure her face was plastered with an angelic smile.

“I dunno about this,” Ron said, looking thoughtful. “I have to think about it. I’m still not sure that I believe he’s really not a Death Eater. What if this is all just an excuse for him to let You-Know-Who torture me for information?”

“Ron, get over yourself. This is not about Draco’s ‘personal revenge’ on you,” she said, quoting with her fingers and everything. “This is about him loving me and wanting to protect me. At first, he didn’t want you to be our Secret Keeper because he was afraid you would give him up within a day. But he loves me enough to agree with me on this decision. He’s trusting you, one of his biggest enemies, with his life simply because I asked him to. What does that tell you?”

Ron just sat there in silence, dumbfounded. Hermione leaned over and whispered into his ear, “You know, I think they’re telling the truth. Maybe Draco really isn’t a Death Eater. Maybe you should listen to them.”

“Okay. I’ll believe you about the whole spy thing. But I’m not sure if I want to be your Secret Keeper. That’s such a huge responsibility. I’ll have to think about it.”

“Please?” Ginny said, looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes.

Ron sat in silence for a moment. The other three in the room just sat there looking at him, waiting for his answer.

“Alright. I’ll do it.” he finally declared.

“Good for you!” Hermione said, planting a kiss firmly on his cheek.

Ginny turned to Draco. “I told you so.”

~~~~~

On to Pickles and Ice Cream
Back to The Safe House