CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Unexpected Change of Heart

Mystyk's quiet sobbing in the Slytherin Common Room is the reason that roused Draco from his bed and venture downstairs. She is sitting in front of the fire, her knees propped up and huddled close to her chest. She is resting her chin on her knees and her violet gaze fixed on the leaping flames coming from lighted fireplace.

"Mystyk? What are you doing still up?" Draco asked when he reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to their private quarters. He rubbed his eyes and sat on one of the couches near the fireplace.

Mystyk hastily dried her eyes, turning her face away from Draco's direction.

"I could ask the same about you. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I was in bed, but something woke me up." he shrugged, "Now care to tell me why you're crying?"

"I'm not crying." she denied, hiding her face from him still.

"I'm not blind and I certainly am not deaf. I can hear you sniffling all the way upstairs. And just now I saw you wipe away tears from your cheeks."

"You're just hearing and seeing things." she said flatly and stretched her legs, "I think it's time for me to head to bed." she pushed herself off the couch she is using and walked away from Draco and the calming fire on the fireplace, but Draco grabbed her wrist before she could take as much as another step away.

"You're not alright. You and Potter never meet at night anymore. What happened?"

Mystyk tried to be free off Draco's grip on her wrist, but he was holding on to her wrist too tightly for her to shrug off. "I'm tired already, Malfoy. Let me go." she demands.

"Not until you answer my question." he demands, loosening his hold on her wrist but not entirely letting her go.

"And that is?"

"What happened between you and Potter? Why aren't you two hanging out together anymore like you used to?"

"Nothing happened between Harry and myself. And the reason why we're not hanging out anymore is because I'm just not feeling well to venture outside after dark anymore. Now does that answer your question?" she lifted an eyebrow and looked down at the platinum blond-haired boy seated on the couch. "May I have my wrist back now, please?"

Draco let go of her wrist then, but he didn't let her walk away from him easily.

"So I take it that you two are officially over?" he mocked.

Mystyk stopped from taking another step and quickly whirled to glare down at the smirking face of Draco Malfoy, "Harry and I were never together." she hissed through gritted teeth, inching her face closer to Draco's until their noses almost touched.

Draco didn't shrink back from her glare. Instead he grinned broadly and shrugged, "So explain to me why you two kissed?"

She was completely taken aback.

"Y-you saw us kiss?" she backed away from him slowly, staggering until the back of her knees hit the armrest of the couch nearest to where Draco sat.

"Of course. And what a nice place to choose to snog each other. On the first landing from the Entrance Hall. Really, I thought you two would've chosen some place private to snog."

"It's not like the kiss was planned, Draco." Mystyk suddenly found herself explaining to Draco the circumstances behind the kiss, "And what do you care? You're only after your so-called good image."

"I care because..." he quickly shut his mouth before he said something else that would reveal his true feelings for her, but as usual he doesn't know about Mystyk's telepathic abilities hence she read his mind once again. ...I like you so much and seeing you snogging with Potter makes me want to commit murder. He's always been a thorn on my side since that first year I met him until now.

"Why is he a thorn on your side then for years? What has Harry done to you for you to loathe him this much, Draco?"

Draco was completely taken aback by her question.

"How'd you--why--how the hell did you know about Potter being a thorn on my side?"

Mystyk raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest and looked down at the dumbfounded Draco seated on the large couch.

"Haven't you figured it out already, Malfoy? I can read minds." she answered haughtily, "And here I thought you were smart. Harry caught on the first time I read his mind." she wouldn't tell him that like her, Harry could also read minds, but so far it's only her mind that he could read which is weird.

Draco's face quickly reddened. So does that mean you know everything I've thought about? You can hear my thoughts and--Draco quickly stopped his train of thoughts when he noticed Mystyk nodding. Damn, she's reading his mind right now as well!

"Will you stop that? You know you're intruding in someone's private thoughts, you know?"

"Private or not, once you start thinking I have no other choice but to listen to what those little wheels turning in your head are saying."

"So is that why you're passing all your catch-up lessons because you're reading your tutor's mind, hm?" Draco sneered at her.

Mystyk was insulted at what he was initiating.

"How dare you accuse me of cheating?"

"Well, aren't you? I mean, you can read people's minds. Surely you can read all the professors' minds while they're writing the test."

"I never use my gifts for cheating!" she answered indignantly.

"Relax, Rydel. I was just teasing you." Draco chuckled.

Mystyk nearly fell off the armrest of the couch. Draco Malfoy teasing her? Since when did the all mighty Draco Malfoy teased others good-naturedly?

"Hard to believe, eh?" he chortled, "Well believe it, Rydel. But don't say a word about it to anybody else or I'll make sure you have a miserable stay here at Hogwarts." he threatened, the usual menacing gleam seen in his eyes were back.

Now that's the Draco Malfoy Mystyk knows.

"Well, it's nice to know that this sudden change in you isn't a lasting one." she replied mockingly.

"So, care to tell me what is really wrong with you?" he prodded once more, his eyes focused on her face, willing her to look at him and see his sincerity in the depths of his silver-gray eyes. C'mon Mystyk, I am not just doing this to win you. I already know you like Potter more than you could ever like me. All I want is to just be your friend. Your confidant. he didn't say those words out loud, but he knew there's no need for him to voice out. From the startled look on her face he knew she read his thoughts once again, and this time he doesn't really give a damn whether she found out what he's really thinking about.

Mystyk finally gave in to Draco's non-stop insistence. They stayed up really late talking about what has been going on between her and Harry, and she mentioned that dream she had of killing Harry under the insistence of somebody else who looks like Harry but he wasn't really the Harry she knows.

Draco heard her confession and offered her a shoulder to cry on.

She loves Harry.

Hell, she doesn't need to say the words out loud--and he doesn't have to be a mind-reader to know--that her attraction to Harry Potter is something above being friendly. Although it hurts him to find out the truth this way, a nagging inner voice wedged at the back of his head was telling him what to do next.

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~*~ hmm...i'm not sure if this chapter made sense at all. it took me a couple of days before i could figure out what to write in this chapter. i want to show that Draco's not all bad. he's just a guy in love to the girl who loves his mortal nemesis. so, what do you guys think? ~*~