SLF: Yay! New chapter! This one's a bit of a doosy but all the kinks are smoothed out next time I promise so stay around, k? Love you and have fun reading Round Seven!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Oh! By the way, for those who wanted this from Draco's point of view I am not going to do it because my dear friend witchdivasirenqueen started when I started. She should be posting it round by round today so be sure to check it out!


Round Seven

When I came to, the morning after the incident, he was gone. No platinum head greeted me in the morning. I knew instantly he had no idea I knew he carried me. He couldn't expect it to remain a secret. After all, according to Madame Pomfrey he carried me all the way to the Infirmary in the middle of Potions. I was excused from my classes that day for which I was very thankful; it gave me a chance to assess the newly presented situation.

Instead of going to the common room which would certainly be empty at this time of day, I headed to the library. The library was the scene of most of the headier interactions between the two of us. It just seemed to fit. I sat down at our table- it had ceased to be mine from that very first day he came- and stared at the book shelves. The questions flooded my mind instantly, without prompting.

I thought our game was of a purely physical nature. Sure we had established a, a friendship of sorts, but it was always fueled by attraction. The talking just filled the silence; didn't it? It was at this point that I first lamented my lack of experience with boys. Sure I had Ron and Harry, but they were just friends, with no underlying attraction. Draco and I, well, we could never be just friends. Friends, yes. But 'just friends' did NOT cause each other to force down desire at every meeting.

I did have Viktor for a very short period of time in our fourth year. Viktor Krum was kind, totally different from Draco, and…more like a sweet older brother than anything romantic. Although, I wouldn't use the term 'romantic' to describe anything between me and Draco…except perhaps this incident.

Why would he be so protective of me? So…sweet even? To carry me and make sure that I was alright and personally see to my welfare? It didn't make sense in the equation. My friends didn't have such a strong reaction, so that rules out the possibility of him just being a friend. Our game is simply one of attraction and that motive doesn't make sense. So what is between friendship and lust? What is that gray area in the middle where this would spring from?

My eyes widened. This couldn't possibly mean that-no. There wasn't anyway Draco Malfoy could actually…care about me? I couldn't bring myself to cough up the "L" word under any circumstance. That four letter word meant no going back and the possibility of extreme humiliation. No, for now it was best to stick to…dating? Friends with Benefits? What? What were we? I had no label ready to apply to our situation. I liked how things were but…I needed some title, some label. Why? The label hadn't mattered before so why now?

Did I like him? I've always wanted him but this was something entirely different. Did I want a relationship? I dreaded the realization I was coming to. The realization that I might have fallen for Draco Malfoy. This seemed the ultimate death sentence. The loss of the game. My face crumpled. How could this have happened? I wondered. We've spent months playing this game and I had never ONCE worried that I might fall for him. How foolish of me. Round seven; and all future rounds to one Draco Malfoy.