A/N: This chapter was supposed to be updated earlier but it AGAIN vanished. I have been selected for some kind of Achiever's section in my school and it totally sucks. They are turning us into some kind of homework machine which is not my type at all. So... anyways it is barely a month into high school and I already hate it.
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Meanwhile in the library...
"Granger."
Hermione looked up from her parchment to look at the owner of the voice that had called out to her.
"Yes, Parkinson?"
"We have got something to talk about."
"As far as I remember we weren't to meet until a couple of hours to talk about the assignment."
"This is not the assignment we need to talk about right now."
"Then?"
Pansy looked around to see if there were any eavesdroppers and then sat down across Hermione.
"So... yeah. Listen."
"Go on."
"I need your help. Please hear me out before I regret my decision and change my mind. You may ask that why did I come to you when there are so many others here, whom I can ask. You see, as much as I hate to admit this, you are only person who can actually help me. This is about ... Draco. I will understand if you refuse after hearing me. After all, we haven't been exactly civil to each other over the years."
"I am listening, Pansy."
"So, this is it... I don't know if you know or not, but Draco is gay. He told us that in 6th year. And... I don't really know how to explain this... but I know he fancies a certain wizard. Even though, I know he hasn't admitted this to anyone... I can see it. He has been my best friend since, like when we were born. I know everything about him... and I have always known he was all eyes for this person. But in the past year, he has completely fallen in love with him."
Pansy took a pause to breathe.
"You can see it, the way he looks at him. Before it was the way you would look at someone when you have a temporary fling on them but now, you can just feel it, you know. He's completely smitten. I would do anything I can, anything possible, if this person is gay, to make him fall in love with Draco. Not those love potion kind of love. Hell, that's not even love; it's just infatuation. The real true kind of love. You may think how can I even know about true love being a Slytherin? But believe me Granger, there's more to Slytherin than anyone has cared to know about," Pansy smiled sadly.
"Draco has been through a lot during the war. Hell, we all have been. People think that being a death eater it was a whole lotta easier for him. But no, that wasn't the case. And becoming a death eater, it wasn't a choice; he was forced. He just wanted to please his father, poor boy. When Voldemort was staying at the manor, he saw a lot of things you wouldn't even see in a nightmare of your nightmares. He was all alone to face his fears and I couldn't be there for him. After the war, when I went to stay with him at the manor, he was broken. He would break down a lot of times and wouldn't stop until he fell asleep. And then, not long after, he would wake up screaming, crying and thrashing from his nightmares."
Pansy's voice was breaking. Hermione could see her facade slipping away.
"At night, he would wander in the dark hallways aimlessly. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't. I don't think he could hear me either. Sometimes, he would just sit in a corner staring at nothing in particular, as if he could see everything that had happened, in front of his eyes again. He wouldn't eat, he wouldn't talk. Narcissa wasn't in better shape herself, so it was just me to comfort and take care of him. Even several times, he tried to kill himself," she choked on a sob. "I stopped him three times and Blaise stopped him twice after he joined us in the manor. We stayed with him the whole time so he wouldn't try anything like that again. It wasn't until a week before we came to Hogwarts that he talked to us. He cried and said that everyone who died that night ... it was his fault. If he hadn't let the death eaters inside or if he hadn't taken the mark, maybe it would have been different. He said, he didn't deserve to live, he should have died." Tears were running down her cheeks freely now. It seemed that everything she had bottled up inside her, hidden by her facade in the past months, spilled out at this moment.
"We tried to console him, he wouldn't listen. He wasn't the Draco we knew. And at that time, Blaise and I decided that we would come back to Hogwarts. So what if our parents were in the wrong side of the war? We aren't our parents and we would prove that. We weren't going to hide ourselves in our rooms just because we are Slytherins. We would prove that we're not cowards." There was determination in her voice. "Of course, Draco didn't want to come. But we forced him. At last he gave in. When you saw him smirking as we entered the Great Hall, those were just fake expressions. We like to hide our real emotions, no—we were always taught to. But in the past few days, he has been the happiest I have seen him in a couple of years. I know Granger; we haven't been on the best of terms like ever. But this once, can we set aside our differences? Because Draco isn't just my best friend, he's like the family I always wanted to have. And he deserves happiness."
"I can understand you." Hermione said giving her a napkin to wipe off her tears. Then she leaned forward and hugged her, patting her back a little. Honestly, she felt a bit awkward comforting the other girl. When she pulled back, Pansy was more or less back to normal. Hermione could relate to her. Draco was that to Pansy what Harry was to her. After the war, Harry had been like that too. He had been a mere shadow of his former self. He hadn't even talked to them until the day he decided he would come back to Hogwarts. And talking about being in love with someone, if Harry was in such a case, she knew she would have done the same as Pansy. They were different yet they were similar. But she didn't get something. Who was this guy and why did Pansy think that Hermione could help?
She looked up at Pansy. "Okay, but a couple of questions. First, who is this guy? Second, how can I help you?"
"The guy is ... Potter. Harry Potter. I don't think I need to answer your second question."
Hermione looked at her blankly. "Are you telling me, Draco Malfoy has been in love with Harry Potter?" She paused for a moment and then continued.
"But of course, it makes sense. They always fought with each other for no real reason. They were the centre of attention for each other. And no one could get under Harry's skin like Malfoy. Now about the chances that they could date... well, let's see ... Harry has broken up with Ginny so—"
"Wait. Potter broke up with the She-weasel? Could he be gay?"
"Yeah they broke up after the war. They said that they had changed a lot and well, it was mutual. But they are still pretty close as friends and hang out a lot so maybe that's why you thought that they are still dating. But anyways, Harry said that he felt like Ginny was his little sister so he couldn't date her. Though there could have been another reason too. You see, when we had talked about this before, I noticed that they would look at each other and have a silent conversation with their eyes, like they knew something that we didn't. I think maybe... Harry is gay. This is a big maybe. And if he is then Ginny knows about it. And what I can do is I can talk to Ginny and ask her about this."
"Yeah. That sounds fine. So do we meet here again for our homework?"
"Well, we were supposed to meet at five but it's already going to be five in 20 minutes. There's no point in going and coming back with our notes here again. Let's do one thing. I will go and talk to Ginny now. We can meet up in the common room in an hour and do our assignment as well as talk about what I learn from Ginny."
"Cool. See you later."
"And one more thing. Call me Hermione please."
"Yeah. Hermione.
OoOoO
"Ginny." Hermione called out to her as she came out of the Transfiguration classroom.
"Hey, Hermione!"
"What were you doing here?"
"Oh nothing much. Detentions. Apparently, becoming Head Girl doesn't guarantee you detention-free days. But anyways, what were you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
"Let's go out to the lake, shall we? It will be refreshing to talk there."
"Sure."
"So what did you want to talk about?" Ginny asked as she leant back against a tree. Hermione sat down beside her.
"It's about Harry."
"Listen Hermione, if you are going to talk about us giving it another go, then I'm really sorry but—"
"No, no, no. It's not about that."
"Okay..."
"I'm just gonna ask it. Is Harry gay? Is that another reason why you broke up?"
"No! What makes you think Harry's gay? He's bi actually. Now he wouldn't have been snogging me if he was gay, right?"
"Ohh... but, he could have snogged you first and then realised later that he was gay. And then you could have broken up for that. I'm just saying."
"Yeah, possible but the point is that's not what happened. He'd told that he was bi from the day we started dating."
"Oh. Now this was one awkward conversation. But... those times when you'd look at each other as if you knew something that we didn't. What was that about?"
"That?" Ginny grinned. "I would tell you if you promise me not to tell Ron. My poor brother won't be able to take so much information. And I don't want anyone getting murdered."
"Alright."
"You see, after we broke up, I told Harry that Malfoy was in love with him."
"You knew?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? And wait... does that mean you knew that before I told you?"
"Well, I came to know about it a couple of hours ago."
"Mind telling me how?"
"Sure." Hermione narrated how Pansy had come to her and asked her for help but she left out the details. She felt like those weren't hers to share. The other girl listened with attention.
"Oooh. Parkinson came to you, huh? Wow. But the best part? My guess was right. Harry just wouldn't listen to me. He would just say that I was being paranoid. If he could just listen to you right now," Ginny snorted.
"It makes sense actually. You'd look at each other and you'd be still insisting him to believe you whereas he'd be just like No."
"Yeah."
"Anyways, I should be going. I have an appointment with Pansy in fifteen minutes," Hermione stood up.
"Yeah me too. I'm way behind on my homework. I was planning on completing them tonght."
"So, see you later."
"Yeah. And tell Harry, I want to meet him tomorrow afternoon in the pitch. It's Saturday, right?"
"Yeah, it is. I will tell him."
"Bye, then."
"Bye."
