"MALFOY!"
He had been only centimetres away from meeting Jasmine's soft lips, but it was not to be as he and Jasmine turned abruptly to see who had shouted out his name so angrily. It was Fred and George. Malfoy quickly pulled himself up off Jasmine as the twins marched towards him.
"What do you think you're doing!" shouted Fred fuming,
"Jasmine are you alright?" cried George running over to her, "did he hurt you? What happened?"
Jasmine tried to explain that she was okay and that Malfoy hadn't done anything wrong but they were too busy to listen to her as they approached Draco, knuckles cracking –
"So, you think it's funny to attack girls do you Malfoy?" muttered George threateningly, ("He didn't! Fred, George leave him alone!")
"Let's see how funny you think it is to end up head first in the Hogs Head dustbin's shall we Malfoy?" cried Fred through clenched teeth,
"Get away from me you psychopaths!" yelled Malfoy walking steadily backwards,
"If you EVER touch Jasmine again…."
"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!" screamed Jasmine at the top of her lungs; they both turned to her who now looked like she was ready to punch them. Draco took this as an opportunity to make a break for it and ran towards Honeydukes, well away from the twins.
"He's getting away!" yelled George in protest,
"Let him go! What is wrong with you guys!" shrieked Jasmine angrily,
"He was trying to…"
"The ONLY thing he was trying to do was kiss me Fred!" scowled Jasmine,
"Exactly! That's why we wanted to teach him a lesson Jas!" cried Fred in defence
"You don't understand! I wanted him to kiss me guys!" she yelled, "we were that close and then you two had to go and ruin it!"
Fred and George gaped at her jaw dropped and eyes wide open in shock. What on earth was she on about?
"Why would you want to kiss that bastard?" said George sounding bewildered,
"George! Don't call him that! And why do you think I wanted him to kiss me? Its not rocket science you know, even you two could figure it out…" she muttered sounding half embarrassed and half irritated. The twins couldn't believe what they were hearing, Malfoy of all people, they couldn't comprehend how any girl would fancy that idiot, let alone Jasmine who had now stormed off in fury. They ran after her and began to explain how stupid she was for wanting to be with the likes of Malfoy. Jasmine felt immediately insulted by this and refused to believe anything bad they told her about him.
"His father is a DEATH-EATER Jasmine!" exclaimed Fred,
"That doesn't mean Draco is though does it? Not every son turns out like his father you know! Some turn out quite the opposite!" she replied in his defence
"What! Malfoy practically WORSHIPS his father and you-know-who for that matter, he would be the first to betray Dumbledore and join the dark side if he had the chance!" George yelled back spitting.
Jasmine stormed into Zonko's shouting at them, which took Ron, Harry and Hermione by surprise and pretty much everyone else in the shop.
"I refuse to believe that a decent guy like that could have anything to do with Voldemort!"
Everyone except Harry twitched at the mention of his name. Fred and George turned to the trio who looked confused as to what was going on.
"Ron tell this girl why she shouldn't get involved with that sorry excuse for a human being, Draco Malfoy!" said Fred, and Ron immediately glanced at Harry biting his lips as Jasmine turned to him looking incredibly hurt.
"Well…..I…he's….erm.." he hesitated, Fred and George groaned in agitation.
"I think we should go somewhere more quiet…" spoke Hermione looking around at the eyes now all upon them.
Jasmine reluctantly sat down at the table by the window in The Three Broomsticks Pub as Harry, Ron, Hermione and the twins sat down ready to tell Jasmine the truth about Draco. From the expression on her face it was obvious that she really did not want to hear what they had to say, but the twins were determined to make her see sense. Hermione however had decided to take the diplomatic view and gave the boys a stern look to let them know that she was to speak first.
"Jasmine, please don't be offended by anything we say to you about Malfoy, we would never lie to you and the only reason we are trying to stop you from seeing him is because we know what he's like" the boys nodded in agreement, "we love you so much, you're a wonderful person and we think you deserve a lot better than him" she finished. Jasmine forced a weak smile as if to say 'thank you' for the compliment, but the opened her mouth to speak,
"Thanks guys, I love you too, but in all honesty I think I deserve who I want, and who I want is Malfoy, I can't change that"
"Jasmine, Malfoy is scum! For the last six years we've had to endure his taunts and his attempts to get us expelled and his jealousy towards Harry" started Ron, " he's always going on about how only pure-bloods should be allowed at Hogwart's and that Dumbledore is the worst Headmaster the school has ever had!"
Jasmine looked rather surprised at this and it was obvious that she found it hard to believe what Ron was telling her.
"Jasmine he calls Hermione a….a mudblood" Harry whispered harshly,
"No…no way, Draco wouldn't call someone that…that's foul…" Jasmine muttered,
"Well Draco Malfoy is foul, he's always picking on someone and humiliating them, he's a bully! He tried to get Hagrid sacked once and his Hipogriff Buckbeak was sentenced to death because of him!" said George, clearly trying to convince Jasmine that Malfoy was a bad choice for a relationship,
"Buckbeak escaped and he attacked Malfoy so I'm not surprised he was sentenced to death actually" Jasmine replied acidly.
This enraged Harry, who leapt to Buckbeak's defence,
"No offence Jasmine but you weren't there okay, it was Malfoy's own fault, he provoked Beaky and deliberately faked his injury to try and get Hagrid sacked!"
"He's bad news Jasmine, he's always supported you-know-who and is selfish, manipulative, rude, arrogant and downright detestable" cried Hermione passionately,
"Jasmine he calls my parents horrible things and is always making a crack at our…well the fact that we're not as well-off as other people are…" Fred continued
"You're better off with someone who will treat you right, not a git like that who will always put himself first before anyone else" said Harry and for the next ten minutes the rest of them were pouring more and more foul news about Malfoy into Jasmine's ears who still seemed unconvinced and soon she had had enough.
"Ok ok, I get the picture now, just please, I don't want to hear anymore!" she cried covering her ears with tears in her eyes. Suddenly the others went all quiet as they realised how forceful they had been and felt guilty for upsetting her like this. Harry sighed and reached over the table placing his hand on Jasmine's,
"Jas…we're so sorry…its just you're our mate, and we'd rather tell you the truth then see you get hurt.." he said softly.
Hermione nudged Ron, indicating that they should leave and let Harry speak to Jasmine on his own, Ron understood straight away and dragged the twins (protesting) with him as he got up. Harry watched and waited until he and Jas were alone and looked up at her. Even with tears in her eyes, she still looked so beautiful.
"Well, I guess the chances of Draco and I going to the ball together are slim, cos he's a slytherin and I'm a gryffindor" sniffed Jasmine quietly.
Harry sighed apologetically, and handed Jasmine a tissue from the counter. As she wiped her tears, Harry spoke,
"Jasmine, I know how much you like Malfoy, and if things were different then maybe we would have been urging you to go for it…but as harsh as it may be…life isn't always fair, believe me…I know…"
On hearing these words, Jasmine smiled softly and reached over to touch Harry's arm. With her touch, Harry felt himself warm up inside, it was almost as if he had drunk a glass of butterbeer.
"Oh Harry," started Jasmine, "I'm so sorry, here I am crying as though the world is ending when really this is such a trivial thing…I don't know what I would do without my parents…I don't think that I would be able to find the will to live…" she said looking into his eyes.
"Well, I never even knew them, so I don't even know what my life would have been like if they were still alive, and I guess I get through each day because, well…because I have nothing to compare this life with" Harry replied with a lump in his throat.
Jasmine's eyes began to fill up with tears again, as she gazed at Harry.
"Hey, come on now Jas, don't cry on my account…" Harry whispered wiping away her tears.
Now's the time Harry, if you don't ask her now you never will!
Harry cleared his throat in preparation,
"Jasmine?"
"Yeah?"
"Why don't we cheer ourselves up, and go to the ball together?" he said, "then we can both feel sorry for each other as long as we want, because I'm afraid its time to head back now" Harry was surprised at how easily the words came out, it was certainly an improvement from the previous attempts he had made with Cho in his fifth year.
Jasmine was silent for a while, and Harry began to wonder whether he should have said anything at all, but then Jasmine sighed wholly and spoke,
"Sure Harry, why not? I'd love to go to the ball with you" she replied cheerfully.
Harry's mouth spread with a grin and though he tried, couldn't contain his glee.
"Great!" he cried loudly.
Jasmine laughed at this outburst and as the two 'friends' headed back to Hogwart's, a silver-haired teenager ignored the burning inside his stomach and traipsed off, digesting everything he had just heard from behind the counter in the Three Broomsticks…
