Chapter Twenty-six

Demonstration

Draco stormed into the Slytherin common room, causing almost every student there to glare at him. He ignored them and made his way up the stairs to his dorm.

He was pleased to see that no one was there and flopped down on his bed, needing to breathe and relax. With one hand he touched his cheek, it was swelling from Potter's right punch.

Would he still be near the forest with Hermione? Would they be snogging again?

He snorted, annoyed at the direction of his thoughts. Why did he care? Hermione could do as she pleased.

But with Potter... no, not him.

What bothered him was that it was with his nemesis, not that Hermione was kissing someone who wasn't him.

Yes, that was what was wrong with him, the reason why he was so pissed off.

But then... Why was he still so fixated on her? And why was he missing her? He hadn't noticed anyone else, no other girl caught his eye.

Draco frowned, puzzled by his own attitude. He'd seen many times a small group of Hufflepuff girls staring at him, attracted by his bad boy air, but not one of them had interested him.

He sighed, staring up at the greenish canopy of his bed, lost in thought as his hand unconsciously slipped under the pillow where the small vial of Amortentia was hidden. He pulled it out and after uncapping it, he brought it to his nose, enjoying the fruity aroma he loved so much.

"What the fuck am I doing?" he grunted, realising what he was holding in his hand.

He threw the vial to the ground, hearing it shatter into a thousand pieces.

Surely if he approached those girls, one of them would seem good enough for a quick encounter, and thus he'd prove to Pansy that he wasn't in love with Hermione as she claimed.

He smirked and got up, heading back down to the common room.

Operation 'forget Hermione' was underway.

At dinner time, Hermione was walking with Ginny at her side towards the Great Hall.

"Look who's there" Ginny whispered, nudging her slyly.

Hermione looked in that direction and saw Draco standing next to a group of girls, talking to them. She frowned and averted her gaze.

"It looks like he's magically healed his cheek" Ginny commented once they were seated at the Gryffindor table.

"Of course, Harry did the same thing with his lip" Hermione replied with a shrug.

"What about my lip?" Harry asked, sitting down next to her.

"Nothing, but I hope it stays away from mine forever" she grunted, narrowing her eyes.

"Don't complain, it worked very well. He couldn't have been more jealous."

"I'd have loved to see that" Ginny muttered, sighing.

"And why are you sitting next to me instead of your girlfriend?" Hermione questioned, arching a brow.

"Bloody hell, Hermione... you're the smart one. He thinks that I broke up with Ginny this morning, and that I want to be with you. If he sees me next to her, he'll know it was all a lie. Let him believe it for a couple more days."

She rolled her eyes and her two friends laughed.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked.

Ginny, Hermione and Harry exchanged glances between them.

"We'll tell you, but only if you promise not to get mad at Harry."

"And why would I be angry?" asked Ron, frowning.

"Because you're too protective of me" Ginny said.

Ron narrowed his eyes, glaring at Harry.

"What have you done to my little sister?"

"He didn't do anything to me, Ron. Shut up and listen" Ginny grunted.

Draco sat between Theo and Pansy, a mischievous grin on his lips.

"What are you up to?" Pansy asked curiously.

He took a quick glance towards the Gryffindor table and furrowed his brow as he saw Harry sitting next to Hermione. Draco looked away and focused on his friend.

"Do you see that little group of four Hufflepuff girls?" he whispered, gesturing with his eyes where to look.

She and Theo followed his gaze, watching the four girls sitting at their house table.

"What about them?" Theo asked.

"I'm going to fuck the one with the long curly hair tonight, we're meeting up later."

"You guys disgust me when you say those things" Pansy commented, clicking her tongue in contempt.

"Boys, speak well. You're in front of a lady" Blaise added, winking at Pansy.

She gave him a big smile. Theo rolled his eyes and Draco looked at her.

"We men have certain needs, Pansy... I can draw you a picture if you like" Draco replied in a mocking voice.

"Shut up, you idiot. And why today?"

"Because I want to" he answered, glancing sideways at Hermione again.

"You know... that girl you're talking about reminds me of someone" Pansy muttered, raising both eyebrows.

Draco gave her a warning look and Theo blinked several times.

"Of who?" Theo asked.

"One of your blond friend's former lovers" she replied, smiling scornfully.

"Shut your mouth" Draco growled angrily.

He had been thinking the same thing for a few seconds, but it had nothing to do with that.

Her hair was Hermione's style, but not quite. And, though her eyes were brown, they were much darker... they didn't have the same almond colour. No, Draco definitely hadn't noticed her because she reminded him of Hermione.

When they were almost done with dinner, Hermione saw Draco standing up. Their gazes met for a second, and then he looked around the Hufflepuff table for someone.

He walked out of the Great Hall and, a moment later, a brunette Hufflepuff girl got to her feet, following him. Hermione looked away and sighed slowly, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked quietly. She had noticed the sadness crossing her friend's face.

"Nothing I wasn't expecting... at least he's waited three weeks" Hermione muttered under her breath.

She finished the last bite of her dinner and stood up.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Ginny asked with a worried face.

Hermione looked at her two friends, and saw that Harry was tense as well.

"I need to be alone. I'll see you in a bit, Ginny. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow, Luna. And you," she added, raising a threatening finger at his green-eyed friend. "Don't you dare do anything."

"He's gone off with a girl, hasn't he? Is that it?" Harry asked, frowning.

"Don't do anything, Harry. He can go off with whoever he wants" Hermione said, walking away and out of the Great Hall, heading for her room.

Harry searched his best friend's gaze.

"Are we going to mess with him?"

"Count me in" Ron replied, starting to stand up.

Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and looked at her brother.

"You're not going to do anything. If Malfoy wants to do something stupid and lose Hermione forever, that's his decision. He doesn't value her and she'll be better off without him" she said in a low voice.

Both boys grumbled but sat back down.

"I can't imagine what would have happened if they had started dating. We'd have had to put up with Malfoy from time to time" Ron said, resting his chin on one of his hands.

Harry shook his head.

"Ugh, I wouldn't want to have to deal with that. But she really loves him, Ron... and the worst thing is that he feels the same way" he acknowledged in a whisper.

"He's an arsehole, full stop. Fuck him" Ginny growled angrily.

Luna frowned and slumped down on the table, staring blankly and saying nothing. Everyone was silent for a few seconds, controlling their rage.

"Are you leaving with Neville now?" Harry asked suddenly, looking at Luna.

She raised her head and looked across the table to where her boyfriend was chatting with Seamus.

"Yes, when we finish eating we're going to walk around the grounds for a while" Luna replied, sighing and blushing a little.

Harry smiled and gave her a little nudge.

"You're doing really well with him, aren't you?"

Luna nodded and her cheeks coloured a little more.

"Leave her alone, she's embarrassed to talk about him with you guys" Ginny protested.

Harry laughed and they all got to their feet, leaving their blonde friend alone. Luna looked in Neville's direction and met his brown eyes watching her.

Draco walked into the girls' bathroom on the second floor, where his ghost friend was.

"Are you coming with someone?" Myrtle asked.

He nodded.

"Granger?"

"No."

Myrtle folded her arms.

"Are you serious, Draco?"

"Go away" he replied in a hard voice.

She closed her eyes, shook her head and, after giving him one last look, disappeared through one of the walls. Not even a minute had passed when the bathroom door opened again, and a girl in a Hufflepuff uniform began to approach Draco.

"Hello again, Johanna" Draco murmured, giving her a crooked smile.

She responded to his smile and reached out to him.

Draco brushed her hair aside, kissing her neck. She smelled like flowers, nothing like that tropical scent of Hermione that drove him crazy. No, he couldn't allow himself to think about her anymore...especially not when he was with another girl.

"Is it true that you don't like kissing?" Johanna asked softly, wrapping her arms around Draco's hip.

That fucking question again, dammit. As if he needed help remembering the person who'd asked it for the first time.

He lifted his head, staring at her again. She was a little shorter than him and had funny freckles on her nose, like someone he didn't want to think about. Draco looked down at her lips and something uncomfortable grew inside him, like every time he had thought about kissing a girl until he got to know better...

No, he couldn't kiss her. He didn't like the idea.

"Is that a problem for you?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Johanna shook her head.

"I'd rather we forget about the kissing and focus on what's interesting" she murmured with a mischievous grin.

Draco grinned.

"I think you and I are going to get along just fine" he said in a deep voice, attacking her neck again as he began to undress her.

Yes, I know Draco is a prat... but trust me :P

I have a lot of free time now, so more chapters are coming very soon!