A/N: Thanks for sticking with me this far = ]

Dandylion_05x

p.s. Read on to discover more about the strange Boggart…

Chapter Thirteen

It wasn't until after dinner that Draco caught sight of Breseis again. Although they were in several classes together, she had never appeared in any, and mealtimes had been just the same. Draco was worried. Breseis had been in an awful state when she left the Dark Arts lesson that morning. He wanted to check that she was okay, make sure that she didn't need anything, or anyone, and possibly most of all, he wanted to find out who the hell that boy-Boggart had been. Because when Draco found out, he would hunt him down and break his neck.

He left dinner early made his way back to what he knew to be an empty common room. Pansy and her friends were still in the Great Hall, speculating as most of the year now was, over what had made Breseis, a Lestrange, so terrified. Who was the mystery boy? Gossip was rife.

On entering the common room, Draco spied Breseis sitting on one of the leather armchairs in the corner, staring into space and twirling her long curls with her fingers. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her arm: she was freezing cold.

"I'll get you a jumper or something, you're freezing," he said, half-smiling at her, his eyes swimming with concern.

"No, don't bother, I'm fine," she said, although her eyes deceived her.

"No really, I'll just be two minutes-"

"Stop," she whispered, "Please stop."

He looked at her with the utmost concern. He hated seeing her so vulnerable. She was strong and powerful and she wasn't supposed to be scared of anything. When she was vulnerable he felt completely powerless, because truth be told she was his power and he needed her so much more than he was willing to believe.

"We have to talk," she said, miserably, "Sit down."

She looked towards the common room door, checking that no one like Pansy or Blaise was around to interrupt before turning back to Draco, who remained standing, towering above her.

"Is this where you tell me who that Boggart was impersonating?" he asked her, his tone stern.

"No," she whispered, her eyes cast down, "this is where I tell you that we have to stop this."

"Okay," he said with a smirk.

"This isn't a joke, Draco," she snapped, looking up at him fiercely.

"Isn't it?" he smiled, "Only I do believe that you have said we had to stop this, whatever this is, before. Yet here we are again. So you'll forgive me for not being entirely convinced."

"Draco, I'm serious."

He looked into her eyes and saw that something had changed. Something about her breathed honesty, and her expression was full of pain. He knew in an instant that she meant what she said. His face fell as her eyes began to swim with tears.

"But, Breseis," he began in tones of urgency, "I lo-"

"Stop," she interrupted him, "Just, stop."

"No, Breseis, I won't. This is ridiculous," he watched her blink back her tears, "Look, I'll leave Pansy and we can stop messing about, because I've had enough."

She looked away and wiped under her eyes, but two fresh tears rolled down her cheeks and her shaking hands just couldn't catch them. Draco turned her face towards him. He crouched down in front of her and placed his hands on her cold cheeks, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. She let her face rest there in the palms of his hands and the tears slipped freely down her face; raindrops spoiling a perfect day.

"No," she whispered, "It will cause too much trouble. I can't be that person. I left that person behind."

"What person?" he asked, his eyes searching her face, "Has this got something to do with that- that boy. The one with the Durmstrang robes. The Boggart?"

She pulled away from his hands now, shakily attempting to wipe away her tears by herself.

"Forget about him, he's not important," she said, her voice every bit as shaky as her hands. She cast her eyes down and took a deep breath. Draco wasn't convinced.

"What did he do to you?" he coaxed, leaning in further and looking into her eyes.

"Nothing, okay? He's nobody, I just…I just made the Boggart into him," she lied poorly.

"Look!" he snapped, his face angry now, "Will you stop lying to me, please? I'm not an idiot! Why are you scared of him?"

"Don't shout at me!" she yelled back.

"I'll stop when you give me some bloody answers!"

"Draco-"

"Who is he?" Draco's voice boomed across the empty common room, "Come on Breseis, who the hell is he?"

"I've already told you," her voice was every bit as loud, her face every bit as angry, "He- is- no one!"

"Why are you lying to me?"

"I'm not!"

"Yes you are. Just tell me who he bloody is?"

"He was my boyfriend, okay?" she shouted, tears flowing from her eyes now and her voice breaking into a tremble, "are you happy now? I loved him and he broke my heart."

Draco went rigid as she put her head on the palms of her hands and sobbed. He stood up and lifted her from her elbows and brought her back into the chair with him, so that she sat on his knee, sobbing into the hard muscles of his chest. He wasn't sure how much time was told out only by the sound of Breseis's sobs and the soft rustle of her hair as he stroked it.

"Breseis, tell me why you're scared of him," he whispered.

"I can't," she sobbed.

"You can tell me anything," he said, sitting her up so that he could look into her eyes.

"It's not important anymore," she whispered, "What's important is that no one else gets hurt. Pansy is a nice girl, she doesn't deserve to feel like this," she gestured herself.

"Pansy and nice? Are you sure you've got the right person?" Draco looked at her sceptically.

"Draco!"

"She's rude, obnoxious, not to mention the way she acts like a petulant child," he listed, "I'm not in love with her."

"You might grow to be," she said softly, "She loves you."

"What makes you think you deserve to feel like this?" he asked, deliberately steering the discussion away from Pansy.

"It's not important," she said, "It's- it's in the past.""

He sighed and pulled her into him again, enjoying the feel of her breath on his chest. His shirt was wet with her tears and rumpled from her lying there. And Breseis herself, well she looked like she had been crying her entire life her eyes were so red.

"Draco, please give Pansy a chance," she whispered, "Please just be my friend. I can't be this girl now. I can't sink that low."

"Okay, we can stop," he agreed, "Just be friends. But you have to tell me things."

She smiled at him and squeezed his arm before getting off his lap and disappearing off to her dormitory to clean herself up. It was Draco's turn to put his head in his hands now. He knew it was cliché but his heart broke as he said those words.

Unbeknownst to either Draco or Breseis, the apparently empty common room was not as empty as they thought. A certain dark onlooker had been lurking unnoticed in another corner and had witnessed every single detail of Breseis and Draco's meeting.

A smile, verging on a smirk, played on the lips of Blaise Zabini, even as the common room began to fill up after dinner. And the plan he was steadily forming in his mind was firmly based around the things he heard while sitting in the leather-upholstered chair in the shadows of the dungeon common room.

The Common Room was full when Breseis returned. She wore green cotton sweatpants and fur lined snow boots, warm remnants of her years living in the far north. Draco almost choked when he saw her dressed so casually. He hadn't been aware she owned anything that wasn't made out of 100% silk. She looked nice, more human. She was almost immediately surrounded by a gaggle of girls checking that she was okay, asking how scared she had been and generally showering her with attention.

Blaise stood up and walked over to the small cluster of girls sitting by the fire. There was a collective intake of breath from everyone in the group, save Breseis, as he walked towards them. Blaise Zabini, by far the best-looking Slytherin, was coming over to them. He smiled cockily at them all, but his attention soon focused on Miss Lestrange. Several pairs of eyes burned with jealousy.

He squeezed her shoulder gently and smiled at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently, smiling somewhat knowingly at her.

She tilted her head slightly, considering him, checking his sincerity. She was unsure what to make of his expression.

"Yes thank you," she replied, returning his smile uneasily.

Across the room, Draco silently fumed. Luckily for him Pansy was also looking in the direction of Breseis and Blaise, and so did not see him boiling with anger. She muttered a goodnight before huffily stomping off towards the dormitories, throwing dirty looks in the direction of Blaise, who was now sitting with Breseis in deep conversation.

She stormed into the dormitory and threw herself onto her bed. Why could no one else see that Breseis was a first class bitch? She had managed to cruciate a Boggart by practically whispering the spell. That was not the sign of a nice person. That was the sign of someone evil. A bitch, say?

She was also, quite clearly, a wimp. Normal people were scared of monsters like giant spiders and vampires. She was scared of an, admittedly very good-looking, boy. Probably scared that someone will come along and distract her from her plans to ruin my life! Pansy thought bitterly to herself.

She glared over at Breseis's bed, it was almost scarily neat and ordered. She was surprised to see something out of place. Something that looked like a piece of paper sitting on the plump duvet, abandoned. Pansy didn't have to think twice before standing up and hurrying over to the bed to pick it up.

She gasped. The piece of paper was in fact a photograph of Breseis and two other people all wearing blood-red Durmstrang robes. One of the other people was a girl who stood beside Breseis, fluttering her long eyelashes. She was blonde and pretty and pouty and Pansy thought she looked every bit as annoying as Breseis. But it wasn't the girl that caught her attention. It was the other person. The boy. The dark haired, muscular boy who Pansy had seen climb out of a cupboard that very morning.

He was even more handsome up close, and smiled devilishly out of the picture, winking cheekily at Pansy. He had his muscular arms wrapped protectively around Breseis and she was holding onto one of his elbows and staring dreamily, lovingly, up at his face.

Pansy turned the picture over. It read,

'Anya, Paris and Breseis, Durmstrang, March 1997.

B, I love you, Paris x.'

Something in Pansy's mind clicked. Paris was her boyfriend. Breseis was in love with Paris. She was keeping him a secret so as to woo Draco and ruin Pansy's life because, as she had already established, Breseis was a mad, psycho-bitch. Breseis was scared of being found out, that's why this 'Paris' had been her Boggart. And obviously, no one wants to cruciate someone they love, no wonder she had gotten so upset. Pansy smiled wickedly with pride. Everything suddenly made perfect sense.

She had no idea how completely wrong she was.

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