Chapter One: Storm Clouds

I took a deep breath and made my way towards The-Boy-Who-For-Some-Strange-Reason-Just-Wouldn't-Die.

"Potter."

He turned around and, upon seeing my face, didn't bother to refrain from curling his upper lip. Quite rude, if you ask me. Not to mention highly unattractive, which of course didn't help at all, considering the git was ugly enough as he was.

"Malfoy," he gave me a curt nod.

I stared him down in a way that I had hoped was unnerving, before he finally raised his eyebrows in question.

"You don't deserve her, you know," I said.

His eyes flashed as he met my eyes with a hard stare, but he said nothing. We stood in silence for a while, just looking at each other. Even though he didn't answer, we both knew he didn't disagree. That didn't matter though. He was in love, and was too much of a selfish bastard to let her go. But of course I understood, because so was I.

He finally broke the silence. "Neither do you," he countered.

Before I could respond with something that didn't necessarily deny that fact, his eyes suddenly darted to a spot above my left shoulder.

"Draco." I knew that voice all too well.

I turned around as she stepped out of the shadows. I had sensed her presence behind me the whole time. Hell, I had felt it the moment she spotted me from across the room and started storming her way over. She was never as good at being discreet as she thought she was. I put on a look of surprise for her benefit.

"Ah, Ginny! Didn't see you there…"

Her face and stance were deceptively composed. I almost would have believed she was as calm as she looked if it weren't for the white-knuckled fists clenching at her sides, and her eyes... I was always amazed by how expressive they were. I was confused by the array of emotions that whirled in them. Most of all, though, they warned me to stop. So did the voice screaming in my head. But I couldn't.

I winked and gave her one of my winning smiles. "Just give me a second, will you?"

I turned back to Potter and looked him square in the eye. "If you know what's good for you, then you'll stay the hell away from her."

"Malfoy."

I winced at the ice infused in my surname. I turned around and was scorched by those eyes of hers. They were blazing with fury. God, she was beautiful.

"Yes? Is something the matter?"

"Could we talk for a minute?" Her eyes flashed with restrained anger. I fought a shudder at the prospect of our little "talk."

"Of course. After this is settled. Potter and I were just –"

"We'll be with you in a moment, Harry." With that, she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the other side of the room. As soon as we were out of earshot, all hell broke loose.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! I thought we had a deal! Have you completely lost your mind?!"

I glanced at her calmly. "Maybe I have. Or maybe I'm doing you a favor."

Her eyebrows furrowed in indignant confusion. "What are you talking about?"

I finally lost my patience. "You've been mooning over that stupid prat for almost ten years now! It's bloody sick-making! The only reason he's come crawling after you now is because he's jealous, which you and I both know is exactly why you've had me hanging around you for the past few months in the first place! Tell me, Weasley, do you have any fucking pride?"

She shook her head in disbelief.

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it? If you couldn't find happiness, then God forbid anyone else in the world from having a go at it, right? How could you do this to me, Draco?"

I looked into her eyes, but quickly glanced away. I couldn't bear to see her look so lost… so vulnerable.

"Do you really hate me that much?"

Her voice broke, and so did my resolve to ignore her. I struggled to find the words to tell her the truth, and stood there frozen like an idiot for a good minute. I finally tried to reach out to her, but she cringed away.

"Sod off, Malfoy. Your silence said enough."

I sighed in frustration and held her by the shoulders, bending my face in front of hers to make her look at me.

"Damn it, Ginny, listen to me! I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I love you. Despite all the shit we've put each other through, or better yet, maybe even because of it all. As sick and twisted as that sounds, the fact of the matter is that I fucking love you, okay?"

She stared at me in silence, her eyes wide with shock. I looked deeper into her eyes, trying to make her see that I meant every word.

"Which is why I will never, never let anyone disrespect you. Including yourself."

With that said, I went back to Potter and punched him in the face. I heard Ginny gasp as he hit the floor, but I ignored her and calmly waited for him to look up at me.

"You better treat her right, Potter, or you'll be damned sorry that Voldemort never finished you off," I warned him. Then I walked away and, even though it took every fiber of my being to do it, refused to look back.

Maybe I wasn't that much of a selfish bastard after all.