Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. What a shame!
Blaise yawned as he scanned his surroundings. It was silent. Not a single voice could be heard. He figured out it was early morning. Well, that was a surprise. As he was definitely not one of the early birds and nightmares weren't really his thing.
He rubbed his eyes and smiled as he recalled what he had dreamt of. Or let's say, about whom he had dreamt of.
Till now, he was sure that Pansy was just one of his best friends. Nothing more, nothing else. But since last few days, he had become quite sure that she wasn't just a friend to him. He had realized that he had rather developed quite a fascination for Pansy.
He wasn't sure if it was love yet but surely it was something different. He liked the way she talked. He liked the way she walked. He liked the way she would become mad on very silly things. He liked her presence around him. He was starting to like her.
Slowly, his smile faded as the reality set in. He liked the girl who was in love with someone else. And that boy was no other than his other best friend a.k.a Draco Malfoy. And the fun fact was that Draco didn't even like Pansy in the slightest. That hurt him even more.
He laughed at his fate. It was not a laugh one had when someone joked or when someone was happy. It was rather a cold laugh, devoid of any emotions.
He sighed and got up from the bed and changed into formal clothes before heading towards the common room.
He expected it to be empty however he saw a figure sitting on the far end of the couch. He narrowed his eyes to get a good look of that person. His eyes widened as he realized it was Pansy.
He was more surprised because Pansy had never in her lifetime woke up this early in the morning. He slowly walked towards her direction, trying his best not to make any sound as he did not want to startle her.
As he moved closer to her, he could hear soft whimpers. He was not getting a good vibe from it. He carefully slouched beside her and noticed that she hadn't noticed him. He gently raised his right hand and put it on her shoulder.
"Pansy?"
Pansy looked up at the touch but made no sound. Her eyes were red and puffy. It was no doubt she was crying.
"What happened?"
Suddenly, she busted into tears and hugged Blaise, her head on his chest.
Blaise's heart ached to see her cry. He had never seen her this broken. And he knew the reason behind her tears.
He wrapped his arms around her, "Shh…what happened, Pansy?"
"He" *hiccup* "won't" *hiccup* "choose me".
Blaise did not question about the person she was referring to but he damn well knew the answer to that.
"He chose Granger over me!" She said between her cries.
"He hasn't and you know it" Blaise tried to sound as genuine as possible. "It's just the dare-"
"No! It isn't!" Pansy shook her head violently. "He looks at her like she is everything. He has never looked at me like that or at any other girl for the matter of fact!"
Blaise tried to calm her down. She did have a point. As much as Blaise did not want to say it, he had to admit that Draco was getting too comfortable with Hermione around.
"Where did I go wrong, Blaise?" Pansy asked looking up at him. "I tried everything to impress him and still everything went in vain"
"Shh…shh" Blaise stroked her head and tried to calm her down.
He was feeling multiple emotions at the same time. Firstly, his heart was breaking into several pieces to see the girl, he liked, cry…..to see his best friend cry. Secondly, he had this urge to beat the shit out of Draco for toying with Pansy's emotions and thirdly, he was dead inside to hear that Pansy loves Draco. Not him.
"All I am saying is why won't you admit it?" Theo asked to the guy beside him, both of them dressing in their robes.
"Admit what, Theo?"
"That you fancy her!" Theo shouted struggling with his tie.
"Fancy who?" Draco asked trying to dodge the conversation yet again.
"Granger, you dimwit!"
"What?!" Draco choked on air and turned around to face Theo.
"Come on, it's bloody obvious!" Theo exclaimed finally putting up his tie.
"What is obvious when there is nothing to be?!"
Theo groaned in frustration and turned to face Draco, "Are you kidding me?"
"You have lost your fucking mind!" Draco said shaking his head.
"You two are so chummy with each other. And it's not like she is daft or something that you have to be ashamed of. Just admit it already mate!"
"Why are you being such a git?" Draco said. "And besides, I thought you were the one getting too chummy with Granger"
"What? When?" Theo raised his eyebrows at the false accusation. Then it dawned him. "Oh"
Draco decided to not look at his friend and rather looked at himself in the mirror.
"I get it, now" Theo said making his lips curl into a big smirk. "You are jealous"
"Now, I'm sure you have lost it" Draco said side glancing at Theo. "I'm pretty sure we can get you a room booked at St. Mungos"
"Draco Malfoy is jealous. Who would have thought?" Theo said with his smirk plastered to his face, ignoring Draco's previous comment. "And that too of me, the charming Theodore Nott"
"And why the fuck will I be jealous of the "charming" Theodore Nott?"
"Because I get to spend much more time with Granger than you"
"That's rubbish!" Draco said walking away from Theo to get to class as soon as possible.
"Is not!" The protested following Draco.
"It sure is!" Draco countered.
"It absolutely is not!" Theo said pulling Draco before he could reach the main door of the dorm.
"You are un-" Draco's sentence was left uncompleted as someone hit his jaw hard. Very hard indeed.
"What the fuck, Blaise?" Theo gasped to see it was Blaise who hit Draco.
Draco wiped the blood that was coming out of his mouth and turned at Blaise's name.
"Are you mental?" Draco asked in a voice full of confusion and rage.
"I could ask you the same question" Blaise replied looking like he would throw one more punch at Draco's face.
"Blaise, what's gotten into you?" Theo asked.
"Why are you doing this Draco?" Blaise asked completely ignoring Theo's comment.
"What do you mean? What exactly are you on about?" Draco asked with a confused look.
Draco glanced at Theo in hope that he would know something about this situation but Theo shook his head and shrugged which clearly meant he had no idea either.
"Tell me, do you like Granger?" Blaise came straight to the point.
"What?" Draco wasn't able to figure out where this question was coming from. "No"
At this, both Theo and Blaise raised their eyebrows at Draco.
"Why are you both looking at me like that? I told you I don't fancy her!"
"Alright screw Granger! Why are you toying with Pansy?" Blaise said stepping closer to Draco.
"What are you implying at, Blaise?"
"Does she mean nothing to you?"
"Of course she does. She is one of my best friends. I care about her."
Theo was not sure what to do at that moment. He just stood there hearing the conversation and shifting his glace between his two friends.
"Nothing else? Just best friend?"
Draco gave a short laugh at this, "Now I understood what this whole drama is all about. Pansy is jealous, isn't she?"
"You are well aware that she likes you" Blaise said.
"And she is well aware that I only think of her as a friend. Nothing more, nothing else"
"You never said this clearly"
"Well now I am saying it"
"She will break down if she hears about this"
"Well I am very sorry I didn't know that I have to love every girl who loves me. I think it should be my choice to choose whom I like and whom I don't"
"Then why did you sleep with her?"
"Now now now, that's kind of personal, Blaise. Don't you think?" Theo interrupted the heated conversation.
"Answer me, Draco" Blaise said ignoring Theo again.
"Because she wanted to and I didn't have any objection to sex. I even told her that I didn't have any feelings for her but she still agreed to keep the physical relationship"
Blaise didn't say anything for a few seconds. He just continued to stare at Draco.
"Just a gentle reminder, Draco. You come from an ancient and one of the most respected pureblood families and Granger is a mudblood-"
Both Theo and Draco had their wands out and pointed at Blaise just at that word.
"Call her that again and you are dead" Draco said.
"She has proven us better than any of us. I think she deserves a little respect" Theo spoke.
"And you say you don't like her?" Blaise looked at Draco and asked.
Draco just stared at his friend with clenched jaws.
"You two have lost your mind" Blaise said before walking away from them.
Draco and Theo watched their friend walk away. Theo was thinking about what Blaise had said and the thought of Pansy dawned him. Theo mentally stabbed himself for not even giving a single thought about Pansy. He knew very well that she liked Draco. On the other hand, Draco was thinking what made him point his wand at his friend. Sure the 'mudblood' word triggered him but it never did before. In fact, wasn't he the only one who called Hermione a 'mudblood' before anyone else?
Theo turned towards Draco, "You need to tell Pansy directly if you don't like her"
Draco nodded, "I will"
"And you need to tell her you like her"
To this, Draco turned to face Theo with a confused look, "Tell who I like her?"
"Granger! You moron!"
"You are unbelievable" Draco shook his head and exited the dorm before Theo could start again.
"What is with you all and walking away?" Draco heard Theo shout before he closed the door.
Draco rubbed his forehead. This year was proving to be the worst. He looked around to see if Hermione was in sight and then he remembered why would she be there? He slightly banged his head on the nearby wall.
"What is happening to me?" He said before walking towards his Potions class.
"I told you guys it's nothing!" Hermione protested as Harry and Ron continued questioning her while Ginny was laughing.
"But it's Draco freaking Malfoy!" Ron said in annoyance.
"Hermione you can tell us if he is harassing you" Harry said keeping his one hand on Hermione's shoulder.
"Guys, I just walked with him to the class not to some torture cell" Hermione said calming both his best friends and glaring at Ginny because she was the one who started it all.
"But he is Draco Malfoy!" Ron said…..again.
"I am very well aware of that"
"Hermione you need to be cautious" Harry said.
"Harry I am not five anymore"
"But he is Draco Malfoy!" Ron said for the third time.
"Ron you need to stop saying that besides why are you people so worried? It's not like we are friends or even close. We just bumped into each other and he was unexpectedly civil so we just walked together. No big deal!" Hermione explained.
"No big deal? You have been fraternizing with two Slytherins and it's no big deal?" Ron said in a quite dramatic way.
"But look at the positive side. Both are hot as hell" Ginny said as a matter of factly.
To this, the other three Gryffindors looked at her gaping.
"What? I spoke facts"
"Hot? You got to be kidding me!" Harry and Ron said together.
"Listen-" Ginny was cut off when Hermione interrupted her.
"We reached our class so let's stop for now"
Ginny glared at both the boys and went for her class while the trio entered their Potions class.
Hermione was still arguing with Ron and didn't look who was in her way. So, she collided with someone and closed her eyes as she was falling backwards. But she didn't really fall. Someone had caught her by her waist. She just hoped it not be Theo again.
She opened her eyes slowly and found herself staring at none other than Draco Malfoy. She could feel his hands around her waist holding her tightly and his eyes never leaving hers. She watched the corner of his mouth lifting up to form a smirk which she had to admit looked quite good on him.
He lifted her up so that she could stand. But his hands never left her waist. And then he suddenly leaned in and Hermione slightly gasped as his lips touched her cheeks and went straight to her ears.
"Easy there, Granger" He whispered in her ears which brought a slight shiver to Hermione's body. "People will start assuming you have fallen for me"
"Look what we have here" Theo said grinning from a corner.
Draco pulled away at his friend's voice and looked at Hermione who looked flustered and speechless at the same time. This made Draco grin.
"Professor's coming" Someone shouted ad Draco turned towards his seat with a last look at Hermione.
Hermione came out of her trance as well and turned to see everyone was staring at her. She blushed and took her seat beside Harry and Ron.
Both the boys turned towards her and opened their mouths to speak when Hermione put a hand in front of them, "I don't want to talk about it"
Hermione turned her head to glance at Draco. When she turned, she found he was already staring at her. This gave butterflies in her stomach and she quickly turned to face forwards.
Professor Slughorn entered the class with a bright smile and greeted the students.
"Students today a new boy is going to join us. He used to study in Durmstrang but from today he has joined Hogwarts. Due to some problem, he couldn't join you all earlier. So, without further wasting our time, let's welcome our new student Mathew Jones" Professor completed by looking at the door.
Everyone turned towards the door to have a look at the new student.
Slowly a shadow emerged and soon a figure could be seen. Mathew took the first step in the class and most of the girls were already looking at him like an eagle. He wore a jeans at the bottom with a shirt and a leather jacket on top. He was not slim neither was he fat. He had just the right body.
He looked around the class and smiled, well it looked more like a smirk.
"Here is my boy" Professor Slughorn gestured towards him. "Introduce yourself to your new classmates, Mathew"
Mathew nodded and turned to face the class. He looked that all girls were stunned and were gaping at him. But this was a bit common reaction for him. He moved his head in the other direction and saw that one girl didn't have the same reaction as others. She was just standing and even rolled her eyes at other girls' reactions. Mathew found it rather interesting. There were only few moments when something like this happened.
That girl was no other than Hermione Granger and he stared at her for a few moments before speaking.
"I am Mathew Jones. I come from a pureblood family and I have been sorted into Gryffindor"
To this, Lavender made a sound out of excitement and started smiling like an idiot.
Mathew gave a little laugh at Lavender's behavior and again looked at Hermione who was giving a weird look to Lavender.
Draco from the other side was watching Mathew and he noticed he was staring at Hermione from a long time. This made him furious for some reason and he clenched his fists beside him.
"Jealous much?" Theo whispered in Draco's ears.
"Shut the fuck up, Theo" Draco replied still glaring furiously at Mathew.
"I tend to move a lot due to my father's job. Before joining Hogwarts, I was at Durmstrang. I hope I'll be able to make amazing friends here"
"Thank you, Mathew" Professor Slughorn said. "The column on the left is of Gryffindor. You may take any vacant seat there"
"Thank you, professor"
Mathew walked towards the Gryffindors. He saw that the fifth seat was vacant and started walking towards it. On the way, he paused beside Hermione's seat. He stared at her and Hermione noticed it and blushed a little. He noticed her blush and smiled a bit before walking towards his seat.
"I am going to kill that bastard" Draco said through clenched jaw.
"So, you do fancy her?" Theo said not missing the opportunity.
Draco glared at Theo, "Alright. I might fancy her a bit"
Theo choked on air, "What?"
"I won't say it again" Draco said.
"Oh fuck! You just admitted you like Granger! This will always remain in my memories. Draco Malfoy just admitted he liked Hermione Granger. I can't-" Theo's mouth was forced shut by Draco's hands.
"Shut the fuck up before anyone else hears you, you dramatic asshole" Draco said to Theo.
Draco didn't even know when that came out of his mouth. Love would be a big word for the emotions he felt for Hermione. But he was sure he liked her because whatever he has done till now was not the part of the plan for completing the dare. Heck, he had almost forgotten about the dare. And he was also sure that the new Gryffindor had some fascination for Hermione as well. And them being in the same house was driving Draco mad.
The class ended with stares and deathly glares. Well this was becoming an everyday schedule.
Everyone was packing up when Professor spoke, "Miss Granger and Mr. Nott can you please show our school to Mathew during your patrols today?"
Hermione and Theo stood up at their names and looked at each other for a second before nodding.
"Perfect" Professor said and exited the room.
Draco was so done for today. Why did it have to be Hermione?
Author's notes: Long time no see guys...oh god I suck at this. I know I promised I won't be leaving you all hanging but life sucks! I apologise for the delay. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I'd love to hear about your thoughts in the review box xoxo