Author: Shirley
Title: Obsession (1/1)
Rating: PGish
Word Count: 1025
Pairing: Draco/Hermione, Draco/Ginny
Summary: You can't always have what you want.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
Notes: My actual Draco Fic A Thon entry, since the other one didn't want to be finished. Tonya wanted a mention of Draco/Ginny and angst.
Additional Notes: There is more than a mention of Draco/Ginny, and Draco/Hermione is more implied, but obvious. Sorry.
Draco Malfoy had never wanted anything so badly in his entire life. Mostly because he always got what he wanted right when he had wanted it.
But there was always an exception to the rule. His was her.
He had never had to ask more than once. He was, some would probably say, spoiled. The idea that there was something he wanted that he could not have was almost foreign to him. No, not almost. It was foreign.
He didn't quite understand why he was dwelling on this. Perhaps it was because he knew he could never have her. But then, that didn't explain why he wanted her in the first place.
She was nothing to him. She was mudblood. She was a Gryffindor. She was friends with Potter. She was everything he had always hated. And yet.
He sat in the Great Hall, staring at the Gryffindor table. No. Not at the table. At her. Of course, everyone assumed he was working on some plot to get to Potter during the next Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match. That was fine with him. He wasn't sure he wanted the fact that he was actually growing more obsessed by the minute with Hermione Granger, the mudblood-Gryffindor-Prefect, getting around the school.
Draco hadn't always been aware of these feelings. Not this intensely. He had known he wanted her. But knowing you want something and realizing how badly you wanted that something were two completely different things.
After supper all of the Slytherins walked back to their common room in the dungeons. Expect Draco.
Despite the fact that he was a Slytherin prefect, he very rarely went back with them after meals. They didn't dare ask why. Draco wasn't afraid to threaten them or act on those threats. The younger students had seen it happen to many times, and his friends (if you could really call them friends. They were more like his followers) didn't dare get on his bad side.
Draco walked down the corridor that lead to Gryffindor tower. He knew the Gryffindors were all safely back in their common room now. They had always insisted on leaving for meals earlier than the Slytherins. Draco suspected they were afraid of getting ambushed on their way out. They were probably smart in thinking that.
He waited outside the portrait of the Fat Lady for no more than five minutes when he saw her come out.
"Malfoy?" She whispered into the corridor.
"Right here Weasley. What, were you afraid I wasn't going to show up?" he smirked slightly, "When have I ever let you down?"
"Do you want me to answer that Malfoy?" she asked, looking slightly annoyed.
She always looked annoyed. Draco often wondered why she always turned up, but he never complained. Why should he? Getting to be the youngest Weasley's dirty little secret was appealing.
"I wouldn't have asked you had I not wanted an answer."
"I hate you."
"Oh, that hurts Weasley," he paused for a moment, his smirk growing, "If you hate me so much why do you continue to meet me here?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and began walking down the corridor.
Draco knew where she was going. He walked a step behind her until they got to the empty classroom they had always gone to.
"Let's just get this over with."
Draco watched her. Ginny Weasley wasn't exactly his idea of a beautiful girl. She had that Weasley-red hair that he hated and freckles (which he also hated), but she was there. Not that Draco Malfoy couldn't have anyone he wanted. He could.
No, that was a lie. He knew that was a lie. There was, at this point in time, only one person he wanted. One person he, for the life of him, could not figure out why he wanted her, that he wanted.
And he couldn't have her.
So he was here with Ginny Weasley. And she was snapping at him to get it over with.
Draco knew what this whole thing was for himself. She was a substitute for the one he really wanted.
She wasn't a mudblood, but the Weasley's had always loved everything that represented mudbloods. It was one of the reasons his father had always said they disgraced the pureblood label. She was friends with Potter. She was even friends with Granger. And for someone who is obsessed, you will do anything to be close to the object of your obsession.
And Draco feared he was obsessed. No, he didn't fear it. He knew it.
And yet he didn't quite know why. But you never really understand obsession, do you?
"Are you going to stand there all night and stare, Malfoy?" Ginny was standing right in front of him.
When had she gotten that close?
He blinked and looked at her for a moment.
She wasn't who he wanted. And for the first time, he began to wonder if he was doing the right thing.
No. He didn't care whether or not he was using the Weasley girl. He had known that all along. She wasn't the first girl he had used for his own purposes, and she certainly wouldn't be the last.
However, for the first time, he looked at the girl. Really looked.
He looked at her red hair. Her freckles. Her tattered robes. And didn't want to be there. It wasn't enough to have something that was close to Hermione Granger anymore. He didn't want a substitute.
He wanted the real thing. Really wanted the real thing.
That was how obsession worked. When you first become obsessed with something, you aren't quite obsessed. You want it. Then you want it more. Then you will do anything to be near it, including sneaking around in dark classrooms with that something's friends. And then suddenly. It's not enough.
But Draco knew he could never have the real thing. Despite that, he took one last look at the girl in front of him and walked out of the deserted classroom.
She is the one thing Draco wanted that he knew he could never have. Yet he continues to be obsessed.
Because that's how obsession works.