Chapter 37

Draco made sure to hole himself up in his room all the next day. Though he had seen none of his Professors, he could only assume his mother had sent word to Dumbledore about his…"family emergency." It was the only explanation as to why they had all ignored his absences from classes.

He had his food brought to him by the schools house elves, and ate alone in his room. It was much better that way, as it provided a way to avoid the glares and angry comments of Zabini, for the most part.

It kept him away from Parkinson, as well, which was it's own blessing. The only good thing about getting the hell out of this school is that he wouldn't have to listen to her screechy voice again. Damn was she clingy. She really couldn't take a hint, either.

Draco spent his day, for the most part, packing and unpacking his school trunk, trying to make it look just right. It was a mindless activity, and was much better than thinking about the activities of last night. Organizing his crap over and over was much better than thinking about what a jackass he had been to the person he cared about most.

About how she would never forgive him.

About how she would probably be better off that way, marry Weasley, and have a bunch of ugly, red haired, smart-ass, know-it-all children.

He felt his stomach knot up again and tried to think about something else. Anything else. Ugh.

When it was almost time he levitated his trunk and headed slowly downstairs to the common room.

It was dinnertime by now, so thankfully no one was there. He breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way out into the hallway. He was no longer in his school robes; no point. He was wearing his casual, tailored green robes, stiff white collared shirt, and gray slacks. Huh. Guess his normal clothing wasn't really so different from his Hogwarts wear, anyways…

He made his way slowly through the dungeons, and was about to come to the bottom of the steps when he saw the silhouette of a figure blocking the top step.

Draco assumed his best haughty look, squinting his eyes through the dungeons general darkness to try and make out the figure. He took a few more steps forward, intending to just push past whoever it was, when a spell came flying at him, knocking him back down the bottom two steps and flat onto his ass.

"Ah! What the hell!?" he yelled, wincing as he stood up. That had hurt!

The girl stepped forward, away from the light pouring in from the doorway at the top of the stairs, and she was no longer just a silhouette. He could clearly make out the form of the Weasley girl, bouncing down the steps after him at a hurried pace.

He groaned. Behind her bounded her freckled brother and Potter.

He just couldn't catch a fuckin break, could he?

Although some small part of him was glad. He deserved to be knocked around a bit, afterall. He just would have rather she had done it then his worst enemy at Hogwarts…

"Where in the hell have you been all day? Hands away from your pockets!" The Weasley girl yelled, sticking her wand right in his face. He raised his hands, feeling a trickle of fear. He knew about her talent with Bat-bogey hexes, afterall. Not exactly the way he wanted to greet his mother, with flying bogeys chasing him…

He was still on the floor, the redheaded girl looming over him. Just behind her shoulders the two boys caught up, their wands raised as well.

Draco tried to play it as nonchalant as possibly, raising his eyebrows and asking in a mock-interested tone, "Wow, how ever did you find me?"

"What, since you've been hiding out in your dorm all day?" Potter asked. He raised what looked like a worn piece of parchment up in the air, grinning. "We just waited until we saw you were on the move."

Draco had absolutely no idea what it was Potter was holding, or how he had known Draco was "on the move," as he put it. It didn't really matter, anyways.

"We have some questions for you, actually." The fifth year Weasley girl (was her name Jenny?) said, crossing her arms over her chest.

He frowned. "I don't need to tell any of you shit. If you'll excuse me, I have an appointment…" he said, making as if to stand up. He was rather scandalized to find Jenny's foot pressing into his chest, putting him off balance so he fell flat down again. "Geez! I guess even tiny girls can be barbarians if they're Weasley's, eh?"

"Stuff it Malfoy!" Weasley yelled, coming closer to the front of the mini-mob. His face was red with anger, which, in Malfoy's opinion, was a rather ugly clash with his hair. "How dare you!" He said between clenched teeth, his wand clenched in his fist. "We we're trying to be good, trying to believe Hermione about how you 'weren't so bad.'"

"I think the worst part is that maybe, some teeny, tiny part of us may have been starting to believe her." Potter finished, glaring down.

"Hmph. Pity. I may have had a bit of fun at your expenses too if I had kept up the charade a bit longer, huh?" Draco said, his voice perhaps a bit too flat. The two boy's looked like they might actually start growling any minute while Jenny, closest to him, only frowned. Not the reaction he had been looking for.

"So it's true then? You think you can just treat a girl like that?" Weasley yelled, his voice escalating in volume. "You think you can just use her for…for…"

Draco assumed his best sneer. "For sex, Weasley? Like you would know anything about the subject, yourself. But anyways, yes, apparently I can, huh?"

Jenny stepped directly in front of her brother, effectively blocking him from doing anything too violent. Like kicking in Draco's face. Which is roughly what he appeared to have been gearing up for.

"Malfoy." She said, her voice quiet in comparison to her brother's yell. "You really hurt her, you know. I don't know how many people can say they really and truly trust you, but I think she did. You lost the one person who was really on the side of Draco Malfoy."

Draco felt, for a fraction of a second, his careful mask slip. He was really alone again…everyone either wanted something from him, or hated him. Now she belonged to the later category, too.

He quickly regained his composure, squinting his eyes at Jenny. "Like I said, I have places to be. Either you lot are going to hurt me, or you're going to stand aside and let me past. I don't have time for chit-chat."

"Mobilicorpus!" Weasley yelled, pulling Draco off the floor and slamming him into wall.

Draco stared back at Weasley with as much hate as he could muster, then chanced a glance at Jenny.

She was staring at him with a confused, appraising look.

"You stupid git!" Weasley yelled, nearly jabbing his wand in Draco's throat. Draco was horrified to see Weasley's eyes looking red around the edges and wet. Oh god, he wasn't going to cry was he? For Christ's sake Weasley!

Harry was giving him a cold look, stepping up next to his friend. "I say we stick him in the vanishing cabinet."

"How about a jelly-brain jinx?"

"Or a hair-loss curse?"

"Or Diffindo? What if we see if Pomfrey can grow back his…"

"Boys!" Jenny called out, pulling both of them back by the collars of their robes.

Draco had to admit he was a little worried for a while there. Maybe he shouldn't have goaded them so much when it was three VS one? Then again, they're the goody-goody's…they wouldn't really…would they?

Draco itched to lower his hands to his pockets and grab his wand…

"Not so fast!" Jenny said, snapping her wand back to his face. He cringed.

She took a deep breath. "I think the boys wanted to put the scare in you, and mission accomplished."

"Mission bloody well not accomplished!" Ron protested, but Jenny held up her hand. "We are leaving."

"But, Ginny, come on! Even you wanted a piece of Malfoy. Didn't you hear what he just said?! At least dish out a bat-bogey or two…"

Ginny. Oh. That's her name. Like it matters.

"I heard him." She said. She was closer to Draco then to the boys, and in a muted voice he didn't think the other two could make out, she muttered, "I heard him better than you two."

His eyes widened. No way did she think he was anything but a slimy jerk, right? Dammit. Who would have thought a Weasley could be so perceptive? Maybe she was just the naturally suspicious type.

She turned around and roughly shoved the two boys towards the stairs. "Let's go; I'm starving, and it's time for dinner."

"But…" Weasley started.

"Hermione's eating alone, you know."

That shut them up, and they began climbing the staircase.

Before following them, Ginny whirled around to Draco. "Don't even think of drawing your wand while my back is turned." She growled.

Then she did something very odd. She winked.

In a whispering voice, she left her parting words, "Whatever your reasons, your secret is not at all safe with me, Malfoy."