'I hope you do know what the fuck you're doing.' Harry commented.
'Oh shut up.' Blaise rolled his eyes as he flicked his wristwatch close so it showed the correct time. He jumped a bit when he felt a sting in his bum. He straightened from his supposed 'bored' posture; lying on a bent arm, and turned around and glared at Harry, who innocently shrugged.
'What's wrong with you?' Draco asked, irritated. 'Are you...' he turned to see where Blaise was looking at a moment ago. His eyebrows disappeared underneath his hair, 'communicating with Potter?'
'No, Merlin, do I look like I've gone off my rocker?' Blaise questioned, raising an eyebrow. Before Draco could reply, Snape silenced him.
'Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Zabini, spare a minute from your chitchat and return your attention to this lesson, the subject is popular for the OWL setters.'
Blaise rolled his eyes and twirled a lock of his dark hair, looking at it, feeling miserably bored. He felt a jab in his rib. His eyes skimmed the bottom part of the parchment, where Draco had written something in his lazy scrawl.
Yes, in fact, you look like you've just had a shag in between lessons. Alicia getting better?
He rolled his eyes.
I'm not inclined to answer.
Draco huffed and childishly turned the other way, refusing to look at Blaise, but it was only after a second before he quickly turned back to Blaise's direction, face flushing. This stopped Blaise's mind works. Draco was flushing?
He craned his neck a bit to see Hermione turning the opposite direction. And Blaise would have bet 10 Galleons that she was flushing too. Then he caught the Weasel's glare that was full of hatred and loathe. Blaise returned him with a glare of his own.
If his plan worked well enough, Hermione and Draco would be back together by the end of the day and he would gladly accept Weasley's look of hatred.
'Thanks for the Stinging Hex, Potter.' Blaise glared as he joined Harry in the hidden alcove.
'It was my pleasure. Now, tell me what you're planning.' Harry demanded as Blaise tried to squeeze into the small space. Clearly the space was too small for two almost-fully grown men such as them.
'I can't. Just make sure Hermione's there. Take the West exit out of the Great Hall at half past one.'
'But the West exit's been the Slytherin exit since the start of time, she'd rather die than walk past it.'
'Ah, but that's your problem, and now I have to go,' he checked his watch, 'and get everything ready.' He jumped out of the place, but Harry grabbed his arm. 'Getting touchy now, Potter?' He turned around with a smirk on his full lips.
'Hardly.' Harry snorted. 'I want to know who did Malfoy almost sleep with. Ron knows about it and if he tells Hermione all this will be for nothing. I need to know what he did so I can try to counter it should Ron ever spill the beans.'
Blaise's smirk disappeared. He exhaled slowly, his calm demeanor forgotten.
'Draco almost slept with Julie Pyatt.' He finally said.
Harry's eyes almost popped out of their socket. 'Julie Pyatt? The Hufflepuff? He actually... God. What do you mean almost? Then what happened? Why did he stop?'
'I walked in on them. Sort of. Well, yeah, I did, with Alicia. They were in the Prefects' Bathroom. So Draco dragged me out of there and I scolded him to his senses.'
'But he regrets it right? I mean, he doesn't want to do it again, does he?' Harry asked nervously.
'No, he doesn't. He regretted the shit out of himself when he gained his head back. He really loves Hermione, you know. I'm not supposed to tell, but yesterday he cried over her.' Blaise told him. Harry's eyebrows disappeared under the disarray of his hair.
'Cried? Malfoy cried?'
'Yeah, he did. Poor bloke, he really wants her back. All the more I should get going now, see you when the lovers reunite.' He hopped out of the space, walking off, but suddenly his head appeared from the corner, stopping Harry from jumping out.
'By the way, I really love the addition you made to my watch.'
Harry felt himself grin in spite of himself. If a pureblood, such as Blaise, found out it was a Muggle invention, he would most certainly die of the humiliation of actually enjoying using it. After all of this is over, I am definitely going to tell him about it. He thought with a wicked grin.
He made his way to Divination; the class where he'd have to avoid Ron for the entire lesson. Not that he'd mind, anyway.
'Hey mate.' Ron grinned cheerfully as he watched Harry approach.
'You're in a good mood,' Harry observed.
'I found out something.' Ron smirked as he returned to his doodles. Harry rolled his eyes. No doubt it would have to do with the knowledge that Malfoy made the stupidest mistake ever.
Harry settled into his seat and took out his books, idly flipping the pages.
'Aren't you going to ask me what about?' Ron inquired, confused. Usually Harry's curiosity would have been burning to such a point that he'd be begging to know what if he waited for so long.
'Er, okay,' Harry said unsurely.
'Malfoy had a little rendezvous with Julie Pyatt when he was with Hermione. So now, he can't try to get back with Hermione because I will tell Hermione if he does try, and when I do, well, you know how Hermione gets about loyalty and faithfulness,' he snorted. 'Now that you know how Malfoy is, I bet you'd rather Hermione be with me, eh?'
Harry took his time to consider things. So Ron decided telling Harry so as to get Harry on his side. That was... pretty smart of Ron. He tried to look surprised at the information, trying to think of neutral words to say. He expected it of Malfoy, and even though the knowledge really disgusted him, it didn't disgust him as much as seeing his two best friends snog.
'Er, well... you know...' Harry struggled to say something but was immensely relieved when Trelawney came gliding into the room, mumbling something about her inner eye.
'Hush, hush, children! I see...' she closed her eyes and her brows wrinkled in concentration. Harry gave Ron a 'What can you do about it?' look.
Ron's eyes narrowed but didn't say anything else.
'Hey Hermione,' Harry greeted cheerfully as he approached Hermione. Ron gave her a peck on the cheek, which she dutifully received. Harry tried to swallow the bile that had risen in his throat.
'Hi Harry.' She said, looking a little dejected. 'Ron.'
'Hey.' Ron's smile was blinding. Hermione looked away, feeling uncomfortable already.
'Harry, can I talk to you? Just for a moment?' She yanked his arm away and left Ron standing there, looking after their receding figures.
She led him to a more desolate corner of the corridor and pushed him flat against the wall and folded her arms. Her face had a determined look.Finally, we see some emotion!
'I'm going to talk, and you are going to listen. I don't know what you're trying to do by saying—' she choked, but quickly recomposed herself, 'his name, but I didn't cry because of that. I assure you, I am over him. I am contented with Ronald, now. So stop whatever you're doing with Zabini; I saw you two communicating with the wristwatches. What were you thinking, enchanting the watches so they act as walkie-talkies? If anyone found out that you're using a Muggle invention inside of school, you can get suspended.' Hermione took a deep breath. 'Do not bother me about the topic of him ever again. He has all the ladies he can get, so I will not make a fool out of myself to walk back to him, not after what he did.'
'What he did?' Harry echoed. Crap, Ron told her! 'He didn't shag Julie, Hermione! He almost did, well, but Malfoy was only at the wrong place at the wrong time, and he gave in to the strongest temptation ever, I mean, you know how Pyatt gets when she wants something, she goes all out.' Harry finished.
'He almost slept with Pyatt? The slut of Hufflepuff?' Hermione echoed. 'He did what!'
'You mean, you didn't... know? Isn't that what you said he did?' Harry asked, mentally beating himself up. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, that's it, you're going to the library and look for that muting spell right after this is over.
'I only meant after rejecting him with the flowers. Going back to him would mean swallowing my pride. And the hell I didn't know! But now I do, thanks Harry, now I have all the more reason to stay away from the scum.' Hermione spat acidly on the last word. Harry could see tears forming pools in her eyes. 'Excuse me for a moment.' She pushed past him, running towards the girls' lavoratory.
'What did you talk to her about?' Ron demanded as he ran up to Harry after watching Hermione run away in a burst of tears.
'I sort of... told her, about Malfoy and Pyatt.' Harry said slowly, and watched all the blood rush to Ron's ears in his state of ferocity.
'You told her what!' Ron shrieked, but his voice came out broken. 'I shoulder have told her so that it would be my shoulder she'd be crying on and not the bloody sink!'
He drew his fist back, using the momentum to sink his knuckles into Harry's face but suddenly there was a firm grip on his elbow.
'Now now, shouldn't that be my job?' Draco mused. His voice was quiet, but it was firm and had much intensity in it that it threw Ron off for a moment. He shook himself out of his blank state and shook Draco off.
'Get your hands off me.' Ron growled.
'I'm glad I don't have to anymore.' Draco assured him in a bored tone. Ron raised his eyebrows, trying to will Malfoy to leave them alone so he could continue to grill Harry but Malfoy made no movement and merely stood there, foot tapping in even beats, staring Ron down.
Ron tried his best not to look away but he couldn't stand the glacial glare of Malfoy's that could chill even the blind to the bone. He glared at Harry before stalking off.
'T-thanks.' Harry muttered. Draco nodded.
'I've been thinking about what Blaise said. What you said. What the filthy mammal of your friend said. Maybe I should rethink letting Hermione make her own choices, which directly influence mine.' Draco added silently. Harry felt a grin working its way onto his face.
'Sometimes Hermione can't think straight.' Harry nodded.
'I can think of more than one time,' Draco replied, smirking again. Harry felt his cheeks redden, trying to push the sudden appearance of those graphic images away from his mind.
'Uh, right, sure. I've er, got to go see how Hermione is doing now,' Harry said, practically running away. Draco bit his lips, refraining from laughing. Little Harry Potter blushing? I bet he was thinking something a little too dirty—for his likes, at least.
With every gasp Hermione felt her heart breaking into another half. From a half, it became a quarter, then an eighth and so forth. But she didn't care, she continued to cry.
First she thought she was doing the right thing by leaving Draco for Ron, because Ron needs somebody and he doesn't have anybody else but Hermione whereas Draco had plenty of good-looking girls around him, and most of them were of pureblood status, somebody that could match up to him perfectly.
But leaving Draco was probably the worst thing she had ever done. Not being a masochist, she hated feeling any desire for Draco whenever she saw him, or caught a whiff of his spicy scent, because the desire will be promptly followed by the feeling of pain because she had pushed this work of art away from her, even when he had presented her with her favourite flowers in front of Ron, which seemed to be the sweetest thing he had ever done for her besides all the shags, because by doing something affectionate in front of a witness, he was proving to her that she meant so much to him that he didn't mind making their being-together a known-news.
Every day she kept herself occupied by being all smiles around Ron. Or at least trying to be all smiles around him. And she also had to try her best to concentrate on lessons now, or she'd just fall into this black abyss and start screaming. Literally. She never knew anybody could experience such a pain like this just by being physically away from the one person that could ever make their heart race, or stop their breathing, or if they got too close she'd just stop her heart beat altogether so she could hear his. But now she knew. Because she was the one experiencing them.
Every night when everyone else was silent would those memories creep up on her, making her breath hitch as she remembered every movement, every spark of friction caused by movement between them. She would remember the adrenaline pumping in her as she led him to the empty part of the library. She would remember the way her name rolled off his tongue. She would remember how she woke up to see him so at peace. She loved every memory. And she hated herself for remembering.
What was worse was that he didn't seem that much affected by her absence. At least she didn't think so. She always looked the other way if she ever crossed him in the hall, refusing to have any contact with him. She knew she'd only just break down in front of everyone if she did. She didn't trust herself enough. She wouldn't know how he was now, the only time she had actually looked at him in a moment of weakness was during Potions, when he caught her eye as well and they both looked away abruptly.
Was it only 3 days she had last touched him? It felt much longer than that. Every lesson of Potions, or Care for Magical Creature, or any other brief encounter with him in the Great Hall left her burning with the desire of just closing the space between them, tangle her hair in that silken, blond hair of his while kissing him senseless. But also, part of the burn was because she hated herself for pushing him away, for telling him to get out of her life and for ensuring herself that being with Ronald was good enough for her. Because all of it was a lie. Especially the last part. That was definitely a lie.
Just thinking about his name opened the great gaping hole in her chest that she was sure will remain there forever and reminiscing made her cry. She was planning to put an end to this all. For everybody. It would be for the best, she had assured herself. She fingered the compact bottle in her pocket, which contained enough pills to knock out a troll. For good. She sobbed, caught up in between decisions; should she continue this miserable life, trying to please those around her, or just end it all with the swallowing of about ten little pills? Could she bear to leave behind her parents, whom she knew, if she did swallow the pills, would never fetch her from the train station any longer? Or what about Harry? Could she bear to leave him alone with Ron, who would most probably go ballistic and blame Harry for her fate?
She heaved herself up on her elbows, looking at her reflection, studying herself. Her hair was messy and tied with a rubber band she found in her purse. Her eyes were red and puffy from all that crying and her cheeks were still blotchy. She cast a simple freshening spell on her and her face was back to normal. She tried to smile at herself but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
She swallowed and took out the bottle, studying it. Could she? She looked like the living dead right now, for God's sake. Oops, can you actually say the Lord's name if you want to go to Heaven? She shook her head, putting the bottle back into the pocket, where the bouquet of flowers were as well. She had placed a charm on them to make sure they never wilt. She brought them out and held them gingerly, pressing her lips to them softly before putting them back in her pocket.
She shook her head, leaving the question beforehand undecided.
'All right, Potter, bring her to the exit now.' Blaise ordered into his wristwatch. He straightened before anyone could see him talking to his watch. He caught Harry's eye from across the room and darted his eyes to the exit. Harry nodded ever so slightly, standing up and whispering to Hermione, who looked up in surprise but followed him anyway. Ron hurriedly trailed after them, much to Blaise's annoyance. Oh well, they'll just have to make do.
'Come on, Draco, we've got to meet Snape for some lecture.' Blaise ordered, pulling a reluctant Draco from his seat.
'Hmph,' Draco grunted. Blaise walked first, a knowing smile spreading on his face.
This should work just nicely...
A/N: Cliffhanger! But you've got to wait a while for my next one, because I have to head off for camp today for 3 bloody days, so yeah, well, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right:D