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Chapter Nine
Perfectly scared
Day Nine.
Ginny Weasley and Pansy Parkinson were both sitting down at a large table, their arms crossed and frowns on their faces as they looked anywhere other then at each other. It was lunch time and like always they had arrived on time for the meeting that they found they did not want to go to, it was five minutes passed the hour and they where still hoping that Hermione was going to show up today, they had soon come to realise that working with one another without her was not turning out to be the best thing. Even the smallest of problems made the two girls fight uncontrollably and the only person who would be able to stop them was Hermione.
Ginny sighed for the third time and Pansy sent her a harsh glare that she ignored, they were already getting on each others nerves without even speaking.
"Do you think she'll come?" Ginny asked when she could not longer stand the silence.
"How am I meant to know?" Pansy scoffed "What do you think I am, a mind reader?"
They held one another's gaze for a second and Pansy raised hey eyebrows, daring her to say something back but Ginny just sighed once more and looked away while knowing that it would just end up with them having another one of their big fights.
She frowned as she thought about Pansy and the years that they had known one another, she was not really sure when they had started to dislike one another and what reasons there were behind it but she understood all to well what kind of person the black haired girl was. She was nothing but trouble and would never do a good thing for anyone unless she thought that she could get something out of it, and even then she thought that it would be hard for her.
Pansy Parkinson was all about self loving and nothing else.
"Come on" Pansy reluctantly said ten minutes later "She is not coming, we may as well get something done today"
Ginny nodded slightly before reaching into her bag and taking out the one thing that Pansy had been waiting to see: the folder.
"You know, I think that I might have been wrong about something" Pansy muttered lightly and Ginny's head shot up, a look of shock clear on her face. Pansy tried to ignore it as she carried on "I think that you doing Colin would not be the worst thing in the world, even if it does go against a few of the rules that we set for ourselves"
"What rules?" Ginny asked in a calm voice, she did not want to seem demanding.
"Well he is a Gryffindor and you were meant to be doing Hufflepuffs"
"I know" Ginny sighed "but it was so hard to find someone and Colin had the looks of what we needed, alright" Ginny added reluctantly when she saw the look Pansy was giving her "in a few years he may become better looking but the hair and eyes were right if nothing else, I just wanted to be able to find someone"
Pansy nodded.
"Understandable, I mean its Hufflepuff, I don't think anyone could be found in that kind of house, a hard job if there ever is one"
Ginny offered a small smile in thanks and much to her surprise Pansy found herself smiling back."Also I guess I should not of had ago at you for not telling us who you had picked, it was optional and I think I made it a bit of a bigger problem then it really was so that you would say something"
Pansy nodded her head in acknowledgment and once again both girls found themselves looking any where but at one another, they had never gotten on well before and while this had been what they had been working so hard for it still felt wrong to be speaking on such polite terms. Pansy welcomed the distraction of the red headed girl slightly as she opened her bag and reached in to grab the pink folder that she was not meant to have.
"Well" she said in a bright voice that seemed wrong coming from her "like we said we should get something done, I'll make notes, may I borrow a pen please?"
Ginny looked startled from her tone of voice and bright smile but nodded none the less and reached down for her bag, knowing she had but seconds to complete the task for a second time Pansy reached over and grabbed the fake book from across the table, stuffed it into her bag and pulled the real one from her lap. Before she had time to place it in front of Ginny the girl was already sat upright, two pens in her hand and looking confused when she noticed the book missing. She looked up at Pansy and her mouth opened slightly as she noticed the book held tightly in her hands. Much to her embarrassment Pansy could feel her cheeks starting to warm at being caught, what was wrong with her?
"Sorry" Pansy said quickly before Ginny could even think of something to say "when I said writing notes I meant…well I never have before but I thought…I should not of assumed-"
"No!" Ginny said quickly while cutting across her, things were going well and she did not want anything to get in the way "its fine, your right you have not done it yet, its only right that you should have ago"
Pansy nodded slowly as she reached over and accepted the pen that Ginny was offering her, with a small smile and a good mood that had suddenly appeared for reasons she did not know she carefully opened the book and the two girls started the two girls did not understand clearly what had happened that morning one thing was for sure: it was a big step in their friendship.
---*---
Draco Malfoy's knuckles had turned white from the pressure of holding onto his bedpost so tightly, he would of liked to have let go but he had no idea what he would do if he did, he could feel the blood running though his body at fast speeds and in the silence he could hear his heart beating faster and faster as his temper carried on rising with every second that passed.
Many people had seen him when he had been mad before but this seemed to be something else all together, he could not remember ever feeling like this before, he was shaking slightly and all he could think about was how good he would feel if he could hit someone or cause come kind of pain to someone around him.
The draw before him was open wide and completely empty.
Only a few people even new that he had the book and with his mind set he took a deep breath and slowly let go of the bed post, he stayed there for a few seconds longer while keeping hold of his temper before spinning around and making his way out of the common room.
Someone had betrayed him.
And someone was going to pay dearly for it.
---*---
It was hard being mean all of the time.
Blaise had come to realise this within his first week of Hogwarts and while he had years to perfect his scowl and all of the right looks to hide every emotion that went through his mind he had found himself becoming bored with his cold mask that his father had always forced him to wear.
The upcoming war seemed to be putting everyone's life on hold and he could not help but hate it because of everything that it had already done to stop him from living his life the way that he had wanted too, he had never put much thought into what kind of person he had wanted to be and instead his younger years had been focused on being the kind of person that his father had wanted him to be.
But that was before her.
He had no idea when he had fallen in love with his best friend, all he knew was that he woke up one morning, went down to breakfast and she was just there. Her smile was suddenly the best thing that he had ever seen and her laugh sounded so perfect that it made him smile just by hearing it for a few seconds.
But then everything had changed.
He could not remember the last time that she had laughed.
Blaise's eyes widened slightly and he was brought out of his thoughts as a hand reached over and grabbed hold of the front of his shirt and pulled him round to the side, he stumbled slightly and felt a pain run up his back as he was suddenly pushed into a wall, he felt his head hit the cold stone with the force. Confused, he blinked a few times and frowned when the person who had gold of his came into focus.
"Draco?"
"Did you tell anyone?" his friend demanded.
"Excuse me?"
Draco let out a frustrated growl and pushed him harder still into the wall.
"I said did you tell anyone about the folder!"
Realisation hit Blaise at full force and for a second he debated telling Draco everything he knew about where the real folder was, he had warned Pansy against taking it and anything that would happen to her would be her own fault, he had told her what would happen. Seeing the anger in the blond haired boys eyes and the small pain in the back of his head was enough of a reminder for him to make up his mind.
"No, I thought you had it?"
"If I had it then do you really think that I would be here asking you about it?" Draco was talking through his teeth and Blaise noticed that he was shaking slightly, he had only known Draco to lose his temper at times like this but he had never seen him like this before, there was a look in his eyes that worried him to no end. Draco was not the kind of person to show any kind of emotion, even if it was a bad one.
"Point taken" Blaise replied as calmly as he could "but I did not tell anyone and I could not think of anyone that would"
Some what calmer Draco nodded slightly and released his friend slowly, he backed away from him and straightened out his clothes slightly before turning his attention back to the person that he had been threatening not so long ago.
"Its gone and I think that-" Draco stopped suddenly, his eyes widened a few inches and his scowl returned along with the anger in his eyes. Before Blaise could question him he had already turned around and started to walk off.
"Wait" Blaise called after him "where are you going?"
"Pansy" Draco hissed before turning a corner and walking out of sight.
Blaise stood there for a few seconds and he felt like he could not move, that there was something wrong with his body and his mind was racing, Draco knew who had done it and if he had done that to him, someone that he still spoke to in a reasonably friendly manner then he did not even want to think about that was going to happen to Pansy where Draco finally found that thought still in mind he started to run as fast as he could, he had to find her before Draco did, there was no other option for him.
He would let Draco do a lot of things, but he could not let him hurt the person that he loved.
---*---
Hermione smiled to herself in self defeat, she had tried to stay away from the meetings as long as she could but it turned out that she was very weak minded when it came to things like this. It her books it was something that had to done and could not wait any longer. Pansy and Ginny should of gotten there half an hour ago and while she was not one to expect miracles to happen she found herself praying to god that they had not killed each other in the last few days that she had not been there.
Her mind wandered slightly and she walked and she found herself thinking about Draco Malfoy once more, while she was still thinking about the chose that she had made and all of the things that could go wrong she still could not bring herself to think that she had done the wrong thing in picking him out.
He had all of the looks that they had been looking for and yes, while his personality may not be the best one she was determined to give it a chance.
She turned into the corridor that the classroom was located and stopped suddenly, standing there was Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini in the middle of what looked to be a rather heated argument. They were whispering to one another and their faces were set into such scowled that Hermione considered turning around and walking away, two Slytherin boys were not something that she wanted to be in the middle of.
"Just calm down, she might not have done anything!" she heard Blaise hiss.
"Of course she has, do you really think that someone like her would be able to keep her mouth shut for more then a few seconds. She is weak and someone like her would never be able to look at the bigger picture" Draco replied in the cold tone that she knew all too well.
Blaise moved forward slightly and for a second Hermione's eyes widened as she thought that Blaise was going to hit Draco across the face, the dark haired boy breathed deeply for a second before replying in an overly calm voice:
"I'm going to ask you not to speak about her like that. For all you know she had nothing to do with this and it could just be some misunderstanding"
They carried on talking and their voices got so low that she found she could not longer hear them, her mind when back to the idea of just walking away when she mind suddenly thought about Pansy and Ginny, within seconds her mind was suddenly set. With a false smile she started on walking forward and hoped that she could act like she had seen nothing.
Her steps echoed around the corridor and both boys turned to look at her, Draco looked pained but still angry while she spotted Blaise roll his eyes and look at the floor, almost like she would be able to know everything that had just happened by looking at him.
"Malfoy, Zabini" Hermione greeted calmly with a small nod of her head.
"Granger" Draco replied quietly but Blaise still did not say a word and acted like she was not even there, Hermione tried not to take it too personal, they had never been on friendly terms before and she could think why that would change now.
"I'm sorry if I interrupted something"
"You didn't" Blaise said in a small voice as he turned and gave Draco a pointed look "In fact I think you will find that we were just leaving"
The two boys stared at each other for a few seconds before Draco raised his eyebrows and looked at Hermione.
"I was just looking for Pansy, I had been told that I could find her in one of these classrooms"Hermione's heart felt like it had missed a beat and she felt suddenly sick, who would of told them where they could find her? What was she meant to say she was doing here with them? As though Draco could read her mind her carried on talking.
"At least that what was I had heard, something about a detention, I had rather hoped that it would be over by now"
"Yes" Hermione nodded with a relieved smile "yes I think that it should be over by now, would you like me to get her for you?"
"Don't worry about it, I'll go in there and-"
"NO!" Hermione yelled before she could stop herself, she had no idea what they would walk into if they went into there unannounced. Both boys turned to look at her in confusion and she smiled sheepishly as her cheeks started to heat up under their gaze, she had never looked so silly in her life. "That is to say that I should go in and let her know. If a professor is still in there like I think then it would do no good to have you just walk in there would it?"
Draco looked at Blaise for a second before he nodded and smiled almost thankfully at Hermione she froze in mid step and looked at him for a second, she had never seen him smile in any kind of way before now. The fact that she liked it scared her slightly.
"Thank you Hermione"
She nodded slightly and smiled at the use of her name before opening the door and walking into the class room, she had no idea what was happening but she found that she liked it slightly.
---*---
"You're joking" Ginny asked in a slightly shocked voice "someone did that to you as well?"Pansy nodded and smiled sadly.
"Yep and they were not even sorry about it. I was mad as hell though, I mean come on how bad of a break up line is it: I love you but I'm not in love with you. They say it like there is meant to be some kind of difference that we are meant to be seeing and we keep in missing it"
Ginny nodded in agreement.
"Tell me about it" Ginny paused before she smiled slightly "Its good to know that someone else had been going through the same kind of things that I had been"
"Yeah" Pansy replied in a small voice "It looks like you and me have are not as different as I thought we were"
"At least we know now" Ginny said brightly "I think that things are going to get better now, you watch before you know it there will be no more problems with the project and then the whole thing will be over"
"Yeah" Pansy said as she felt guilt wash over her "It'll be over…look there is something that I think you need to know. When this whole thing started I-"
The door suddenly opened and both girls turned around to see Hermione walk in and close the door behind her. Ginny smiled brightly and sprung out of her chair to greet her friend.
"Hermione" she greeted happily as they hugged "I did not think that you were going to show up again today"
"I almost didn't" Hermione replied honestly with a large smile "but I found that I could not stay away and I was right, here you two are working and no one is dead yet!"
"Yeah" Ginny said while she turned to Pansy and smiled brightly "I'm thinking that working together is going to be better from now on, you'll have nothing to worry about"
"That's good then, Pansy Draco and Blaise are waiting out side for you"
There was a loud crash and both girls turned around to look at Pansy, her eyes were wide and her face had turned slightly white, she did not even bother to look down at the floor to see the bottle of ink that she had just dropped while packing away her things. Her mind was buzzing and she found that it took everything she had to stop herself from screaming out loud, there would be only one reason that Draco would be here to see her. Blaise had done just what he had said he would and told Draco that it had been her who stole the book.
He was going to kill her.
"Are you alright?" Ginny asked with concern in her voice "is something wrong, you don't look too good"
"Did he say what he was here for?" Pansy asked in the calmest voice that she could, her question was directed to Hermione and she tried to block Ginny out. She had been getting so close to the small red haired girl and as she thought about how close she had been to telling her everything she closed her eyes and had to hold back tears, she had been so close to something that she knew she could never have, Draco waiting for her was a painful reminder of what her life was really like. This class room was just a few hours a week.
"No" Hermione replied with concern on her face that matched that of her friends "He just said that he had been looking for you…do you not want to see him? I always thought that the two of you were good friends?"
"We are" Pansy replied with a small laugh "I just did not think that he would be here to see me is all, after all he can not see anything that's in here right?"
Hermione nodded slowly.
"Well" Pansy muttered while packing away the remainder of her things are doing everything she could to keep herself smiling, she would of loved to never have to leave this room but she was going to have to face it sooner or later. "I guess I should be going then, he hates to be kept waiting for too long, could you clear the ink up for me?"
Hermione nodded once and Pansy smiled brightly.
"See you later then!"
With that she walked to the door as fast as she could, her hand rested on the handle for a second before she turned back and smiled a small sad smile. Her expression was so sad that Ginny was reminded of someone who was saying good bye for the last time.
"Thank you" Pansy muttered "Really, thank you"
The door closed with a small snap and Hermione and Ginny shared a worried look, there was something very wrong here - they just had no idea what it was.
---*---
"Please" Blaise said as soon as Hermione was out of sight "please don't do this to her. For all you know it was someone else that took it, the person might not even have anything to do with this whole thing"
Draco gave him a small look but his expression did not change. His mind had been made up and there was nothing that was going to change it.
"Were you not listening before?" Draco asked "My mind has already been made up, she is the only one that would be weak enough to let that silly heart of her get in the way"
"And yet you still confronted me?"
"I wanted to keep my options open to anyone"
"And yet you have not asked Theo about any of this?"
Draco frowned slightly at Blaise words, it was true that he had not yet asked the third party that has known about the folder but he still found it odd that Blaise would drag on of his friends so openly into a problem when he had other options in front of him.
"Would you like me to think that it is Theo then?"
"What? No, of course not- I just - I simply meant that-"
"I know how you feel about her Blaise"
There was a small silence as Blaise thought about his reply, he would have wanted to lie and tell Draco that he was wrong but there would have been no point to it, calling him a liar was not going to get him any where right now.
"This has nothing to do with what's happening right now and you know that"
"Considering the fact that you just tried to bring Theo, your very good friend into the picture I would say that it had everything to do with that. Your trying to protect her and I don't like that very much. I take it you do remember what I said last time the two of you, how should I say…moved your relationship forward?"
"Of course I do" Blaise replied tightly "Every word"
"Then remember it"
The door opened and both boys turned to look at it, Pansy slowly walked out, her head hung low and her hair was covering most of her face, for a second Blaise thought that he could see tears in her eyes but as she finally looked up her face was dry and looked as hard as stone.
"You wanted to see me?" she asked with no emotion in her voice.
"Yes" Draco sneered "I think that there are something's that you and I need to talk about Pansy"
The black haired girl nodded.
"Shoot"
Quicker than she thought possible he had moved the few steps in between them and took hold of her arm, his grip was so tight and she let out a small yell and almost dropped her bag from the pain, she did not want Hermione and Ginny to come and see what was happening, then everything would be gone.
"I would not tempt me right now, I know it was you""Draco…" Blaise stepped forward and Pansy could see a slightly panic in his eyes, before he could move a step closer Draco had pulled out his wand.
"Protego!"
An invisible shield was suddenly in between Blaise and Pansy and Blaise stumbled back slightly from the force of it, he could not think of what to do, he could not even think about what Draco was going to do to her.
"Let her go" Blaise said as he pulled out his own wand, he knew that there was nothing that he could do but he hated feeling helpless like this, there was something good about having hold of his wand. "She has not done anything."
"I think I'll be the judge of that. I warned you about this, getting your emotions messed with business is never a good thing Blaise"
Before he could even think of something to reply Draco had tightened his grip on Pansy's arm and started to pull her along, tears were in her eyes and the whole way she had her head turned to look at Blaise in pleading for something that he could not do. She did not call out to him or even scream his name but he knew that she wanted his help.
"You'll be alright!" he called out to her hopelessly "Everything is going to be alright!"
Suddenly he had no idea who he was talking to, her of himself.
*Shock!* Oh my god, what's going to happen? = )
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