Disclaimer; same as previous

Chapter 37; New teachers, old rivals

Pansy

Her plan was working perfectly! All week she blocked that freak, Amy, from getting near Draco. She sat beside him in every class and at meal times. When they had free time, she would be there to steer the conversation and leave Evans out of it completely. It would have been a lot more fun if Amy didn't have the rest of the Slytherin boys (and some of the girls) drooling all over her, especially Blaise Zabini. He was always following Amy around, sitting beside her in classes and talking to her when Pansy froze her out. Draco was pissed about it, she could tell. She wondered if that was the bitch's plan. Was she aware that Draco was lost in her? Pansy wasn't sure. But there were definitely feelings on both sides.

That little orphan wasn't good enough for Draco. Pansy stared at her now, sitting across the table from her. It was breakfast time. Amy was talking to Blaise… Well, Blaise was doing most of the talking. Amy was staring into space in that weird way she sometimes did.
What a freak! Blaise didn't seem to notice this. He was too wrapped up in the totally fictional tale he was telling her about seeing a dragon at Gringotts. Draco was drumming his fingers on the table with one hand, while the other supported his chin. He was being very quiet lately, pining no doubt, for that ginger bitch.

Amy

She was standing in a graveyard. There was a group of people. They were wearing the same black cloaks as the Death Eaters had at the World Cup. Looking down, she saw that she was wearing the same robes. She felt fear coming from every single person in that group. Fear of being punished. Fear of pain. Fear of Him. She knew where he would be before she looked in his direction. Voldemort. His anger exploded through her head, searing her mind with vicious pain. He was duelling someone. The person was blocked from her view by a haze of green and red sparks and grey shadows.

The vision came to an end. She looked up to find Pansy looking at her. Ever since the first day the girl had been really aggressive in her attempts to keep Amy away from Draco. Either he didn't notice what was happening, or he didn't care. What was she supposed to do? Blaise was nice. He sat beside her when pansy took her seat and talked to her when she was alone.

Draco.

The first week of term was abysmal. Amy and Blaise were stuck at the fucking hip for one thing, and Pansy was doing his head in. Though he would never admit it to anyone, a secret part of him had hoped that Amy would get jealous of Pansy, but that little selfish hope was dashed when he saw her and Blaise cosying up together at breakfast. He snuck a peak at the happy couple, every now and again, across the table while Pansy babbled on and on about things he surely wouldn't find interesting even if he were listening. He had wanted to enter the tournament to impress her, as well as his father. The money meant nothing, but the prestige of the thing was another matter altogether. Now that route was gone as well.

Maybe he should just own up and tell her how he felt.

And get shot down.

And be rejected.

And humiliated.

Fuck that!

He looked at Blaise then, beside Amy, and felt a jealousy as potent as basilisk poison. He thought he had only had Perfect Potter to worry about…

That night, Draco sat in his usual seat by the fire (there had been a group of tiny first years sitting there, but they swiftly disappeared as he approached). He stared into the fire, the only cheerful thing in the Common Room, besides of course Zabini, who was bragging to his friends that he was going into Hogsmede with Amy on the first scheduled week.

The Common Room slowly emptied and, at last, he was alone. He picked out shapes in the flickering flames. He was reminded, as always, of Amy."Hey stranger." Said a voice from behind him. It was her. He turned.
"Hello." He replied, as coolly as he could, but his heart was thumping in his chest. She sat across from him, her eyes sparkling with the reflection of the dancing flames. When he said no more, she went on.
"It's nice to finally get you on your own."
"I could say the same to you." He accused her. He didn't know why he was being so rude to her. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she said;
"Well, it would have been a lot easier to talk to you if I hadn't been blocked at every turn by your new girlfriend."

He knew this was true. Pansy was fiercely jealous of every other girl in their year, especially Amy. He knew that he should have made more of an effort to talk to Amy, sit beside her, but he had held back, hoping fiercely that Amy would show some sign of jealousy, some sign that she had feelings for him. He knew what she was saying was right but he was angry now, and as usual, when he was angry, those around him bore the brunt of his feelings. He realised why he was being rude.

Draco stood up.

He walked across to where she was sitting, put his hands on each of her arm rests, and leaned into her. Their noses were nearly touching, at this point. "You are so stupid, Evans." He said. Then, he walked away. When he felt he had put enough distance between them, he turned back to her. She was still sitting there. She looked shocked by his outburst. "You are so blind. Why can't you see through Zabini? He's only after one thing. "She looked him in the eye then.
"And what about Pansy?" There was venom in her voice now. She looked close to tears.
"If you don't know then you really are fucking stupid."He wanted to run back to her, to show her exactly how he felt. Instead, he climbed the rest of the stairs and slammed every door he had to go through to get to his dorm room.

Amy.

She sat in the Common Room, alone and dazed.
What the hell had just happened? She had been so sure he was going to kiss her when he had leaned in like that. Why was he so angry with her? Was Blaise just after one thing? She hadn't really thought about it. She knew deep down that she was only hanging around with Blaise because he was there, he did all the talking and didn't seem to mind that she wasn't paying attention most of the time. Amy was more painfully aware then than ever that Draco knew exactly how she felt about him. She gritted her teeth and wrapped her arms around her knees. Amy really did not want to go back to her dormitory. She stayed in the common room until she was sure everyone would be asleep, and then headed up to bed.

The first class with the new Professor of Defence against the Dark Arts was different to say the least. Professor Moody was a grizzled old ex-auror, who seemed to have gone a bit mad after putting away so many Dark Wizards. In the first lesson, Moody used the Three Unforgivable Curses against the students.