A/N: Yessss, it's another random oneshot based on a song. HARDEHARHAR :) Yeah, so this fanfic is based on "Teardrops On My Guitar" by Taylor Swift. I've been playing it over and over again and I can't help thinking about this plot. So today I finally wrote it down.
Tell me what you think after reading, yes? :)
Another day, another time of endless torture.
Draco Malfoy dragged up the staircase towards the Great Hall, still yawning. He rubbed his still-rusty eyes to see properly. He had been up all night wondering about the next day, and sleep had only gotten to him at around two in the morning.
Sitting down on the Slytherin Table, he got some milk into his cereal. There was a commotion behind him, and he looked over his shoulder, interested. But then his attention faded away when it was just his girlfriend, Astoria Greengrass, giggling with her friends and looking at him.
"Hello, dear," she cooed into his ear. He internally rolled his eyes, fixed a smile on his face, and faced her.
"Yes, err… good morning," he said between a yawn. "So, what were you telling those friends of yours again?"
"They were telling me how lucky I am that you got to be my boyfriend," she said happily, nuzzling into his neck. He so badly wanted to cringe away.
The doors to the Great Hall burst open, and Harry Potter and Ron Weasley bounded inside and ran to the Gryffindor Table, to where Ginny Weasley was.
"Ginny," Harry screamed. It was broadcast to the whole Hall. "You seen Hermione?"
"We didn't find her," Ron added. "She didn't come downstairs."
"Don't worry," Ginny replied calmly. "She's just nervous."
"Nervous?" The Boy-Who-Lived asked incredulously asked. "And that reminds me, she hasn't returned my Cloak yet."
Why would Granger borrow a cloak from Potter? Draco thought to himself, staring down at the lumpy contents swimming in milk.
"What are you thinking, dear?" Astoria chimed beside him.
"Oh… nothing…" he replied.
Just then, Minerva McGonagall, the present headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, stood up. She fished out her wand, pointed it at her throat, muttered, "Sonorus," and said, "Good morning, everyone! I'm assuming all of the members of their Houses are here?" She looked at each of the prefects, and they nodded. "Well, then! Best we get on with today's singer and their song, yes?"
Draco groaned. It was the same every morning, with the day starting to some Muggle songs being played by people from random Houses. The singer would have to go to a secret room and sing, and it would be heard by the whole school. Thankfully, the name wasn't mentioned, so they could get away and avoid humiliation.
It had started with the Ravenclaws on Monday, and one of them had sung "Love the Way You Lie" by a tandem: Eminem featuring this girl named Rihanna. It was a bit catchy, but they couldn't quite understand the rapping part, merely because the singer was having a hard time to breathe. On Tuesday it was a Hufflepuff, and he sung "Stay Close, Don't Go" by an American singer by the name of Secondhand Serenade. On Wednesday, it was a Slytherin, singing "Wouldn't Change a Thing" from an American Disney Channel Movie named "Camp Rock 2".
And today, Thursday, was the time for a Gryffindor to sing what he or she felt in the past week. In the back of his mind, he rubbed his palms excitedly. This will be good.
"Today, as you all well know," McGonagall announced, "is the time for a Gryffindor to be brave and step into the limelight. Oh, and this Gryffindor here had said that she will be playing the guitar! Well, then, let's hear it!"
Draco noticed the word "she" in the Headmistress' speech. So it was a lioness, eh?
The Great Hall was suddenly filled with strummings and pluckings from a guitar from an unknown source, and all went deathly quiet. The tune was a bit sorrowful, dragging on slowly. It made Draco's heart clench a bit.
And then the anonymous singer sang:
Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see
That I want and I'm needing everything that we should be
I'll bet she's beautiful, that girl he talks about
And she's got everything that I have to live without
Drew talks to me, I laugh cause it's so damn funny
That I can't even see anyone when he's with me
He says he's so in love, he's finally got it right,
I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night
He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star
He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do
Drew walks by me, can he tell that I can't breathe?
And there he goes, so perfectly
The kind of flawless I wish I could be
She'd better hold him tight, give him all her love
Look in those beautiful eyes and know she's lucky 'cause
He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star
He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do
So I drive home alone, as I turn out the light
I'll put his picture down and maybe
Get some sleep tonight
He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar
The only one who's got enough of me to break my heart
He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do
He's the time taken up, but there's never enough
And he's all that I need to fall into…
Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see…
The song ended with the singer dragging the last word. And then it was silent once more.
The Gryffindors broke into cheers. Ravenclaws applauded. Hufflepuff hooted and clapped, screaming, "Encore! Encore!" The Slytherins put their hands together for one or two times, and that was it.
"Well, I guess there are talented people in Gryffindor," McGonagall said, a knowing twinkle in her eyes. "Carry on with your breakfast!"
The Hall broke loose with its unending chatter, and Draco had the chance to think. A lioness singing about heartbreak? Hmm… maybe it was Weaslette? No, she was in the table… The lion-Patil? Nah, she was in the Hospital Wing for migraines…
"What are you thinking, dear?" Astoria said again. "That song was marvelous, wasn't it? I hope I get to see the singer in person…"
"Yeah, yeah…" He said absently.
And then the doors burst open again, and in came Hermione Granger, her sleeve hanging from her shoulder, her hair flying, her bag dangling from her elbow. She ran to the Gryffindor Table and sank gratefully beside Ginny, who was munching on a muffin.
With spy senses tingling, he stared at the Golden Trio, reading their lips.
"…where were you? We were dead worried…" – Ron Weasley.
"I… overslept…" – Hermione Granger.
"Have you got my Cloak, Hermione? What do you need it for, anyway?" – Harry Potter.
"I… err… here, just take it..." – Hermione Granger.
"Have a little tact, Harry…" – Ginny Weasley.
"Sorry…" Harry Potter.
Weaslette patted Granger on the back encouragingly, with a sad, understanding smile on her face. Maybe she was telling her that it was alright she overslept, or something.
But the bell rang, and he hurried off to Defense against the Dark Arts. It was one of the two subjects strictly mandatory in Hogwarts now, apart from Muggle Studies. He sat down in front of the teacher's desk, and Hermione Granger grudgingly sat beside him, as this was the seating arrangement for the whole year.
"You overslept, eh, Granger?" he said to her, smirking behind his hand.
""Y-yeah…" she said, rummaging in her bag for her quill and ink bottle and some parchment. Something sparkled on her zipper, and he grabbed it.
It was a key chain shaped like a guitar. "Where'd you get this?" he asked. "I haven't seen it yesterday."
"Oh, it's my guitar," she replied absently, her hand still elbow-deep in her belongings. "I shrunk it this morning."
"Why?"
"W-well… I was kind of practicing playing the guitar last night and I slept with it still around my shoulders. Then when I woke up, I ran around and down the marble staircase with the guitar still slung around me. I had to shrink it."
He could sense she was lying, what with the speed of her talking, but he decided not to press it. "It's too bad you didn't have time to hear the Gryffindor who sang today," he said casually. He had a guess it was Granger who sang that song, but he wasn't quite sure. "It was great, too."
"The song?" she asked. "When I went inside the song had finished. What was the title?"
"I think it was 'Teardrops on My Guitar'…"
"Ah," she said, nodding. "I love that song. It's my theme song for the week."
"Theme song?"
"You know. The song that I can relate to." She sighed. "It's about this girl who had a boy for a friend, and she liked him just recently. But then this boy got a girlfriend, and the girl kept the feelings to herself."
He stared. "So this 'Drew' guy was the insensitive git?"
"Well, you could say that," she said. "But remember, he doesn't know, so I think the insensitive part wouldn't count."
Draco stopped replying suddenly. He was friends with her. He had recently just gotten a girlfriend. Maybe it was him she was singing about?
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
He looked at her. Just looked at her.
And she instantly put a smile on her face. It was pained, forced, fake. There was hurt in her eyes, and it had lost its shine that was always there when he looked at her.
"Yes?" she said, cocking an eyebrow as though nothing was wrong.
"It was you," he whispered. Her face fell. She was in shock. He put a hand on his face, realization hitting him like a sack of bricks. "I… I'm Drew... And you're... And... Astoria..."
Her eyes widened. After a few moments, her gaze fell to the floor. "I... I'm sorry..."
"No," he said, squeezing her hand. "I'm sorry."
He stood up, picked up his bag, and ran to the door, bumping the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher on the way out.