CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE FIGHT
Draco Malfoy walked into the Slytherin Common Room, wanting nothing more than to slide into bed for the next hour before even glancing at his assignments that needed to be done. The Gryffindors had their first Quidditch Practise, so he couldn't even go and annoy Harry, Hermione and Ron while he hung out with Buffy. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, stepping into the main area of the Common Room.
Inside, he found the strangest of sights. Usually, there were students from every year crowding the area, but the only people he could see were other Sixth Year students. He shrugged, not wanting to spend too much time thinking about the people he hadn't really spoken to in months. Ever since his friendship with Buffy had struck up, he'd distanced himself from the other Slytherins. He'd never really had any true friends until Buffy, and her friends by extension, and hanging out with the other Slytherins wasn't something that he really liked to do.
He went to walk past them, but Crabbe and Goyle stood up, crossing their arms in front of themselves in a threatening gesture. He just looked at them, one eyebrow raised and tried to move past them. They didn't budge.
"Very funny you two," he said with a scowl. "Move."
"No."
Draco pulled himself up to his full height, which was still a good inch and a half shorter than the other two bulky boys, but he knew how to intimidate people.
"Move or I'll make you move," he said quietly.
Theordore Nott, another Sixth Year boy stood up and moved to flank Crabbe and Goyle. Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode moved to stand on the other side.
"This isn't funny," Draco said.
Pansy smirked and shook her head. "It's not meant to be funny Malfoy," she said, pronouncing his surname with as much disdain as she could muster. "You betrayed us."
"You betrayed yourselves," Draco replied. "Your parents were the idiots who thought that Voldemort could actually bring them to power."
"And if your little girlfriend hadn't have proven herself to be a murderer, he would have brought us all to power," Theodore said angrily.
"We would have been rich…famous. We could have had anything," Pansy continued.
Draco subtly moved his hands to reach for his wand, thankful that they weren't paying as much attention to him as they should have been. He'd been waiting for this moment to come, and he'd grown lax and complacent about it when none of the Slytherins had made their move. But now it seemed that he was about to get the full brunt of their anger.
"We always thought you were one of us," Crabbe said. "But you never were."
"That's a real tragedy," Draco retorted. "None of you ever had a single original thought for yourselves. None of you actually think about anything before doing it. You all follow someone's orders, you try and gain power by making other people feel small. But guess what? You're nothing. You have every chance to change now that Voldemort's finally gone, and you're not doing anything to try and make your lives better."
Goyle stepped forward and looked down at Draco.
"The time for speech giving's over Malfoy," he said threateningly. "So save your breath."
Draco looked at his former 'friend' and smirked. He shrugged. "Okay." Before anyone could really tell what had happened, Draco's fist was buried in Goyle's face, and Goyle had stumbled backwards. Crabbe stepped forward, to defend his fallen friend, his own fist shooting out towards Draco. Draco ducked and aimed a shot at Crabbe's gut, hitting the other boy. Unfortunately, with Crabbe being as large as he was, he barely registered the hit, and his own fist popped out to clip Draco's nose.
Draco stumbled backwards, only to be spun by Theodore, who punched Draco, hitting his eye. Draco, enraged at being caught off guard, summoned his anger and decked Theodore, sending him to the floor. He grabbed his wand and aimed it between the remaining people who were standing. The girls backed off, not wanting to chance getting caught in a fight. The boys, who were struggling to their feet glared at Draco angrily.
"You better watch your back Malfoy," Theodore warned. "You'll never be welcomed in Slytherin again."
"Such a shame," Draco replied. He shoved past everyone and headed towards his room. He quickly stuffed most of his belongings into his trunk, packing it in as tightly as he could. With a simple charm, he'd made the trunk feather light. He turned towards the Gryffindor tower and aimed his wand.
"Accio Potter's invisibility cloak!"
He just hoped that Harry wouldn't kill him later on. Nearly a full minute later, the door to the Slytherin dorms flew open and Draco caught the cloak. Obviously someone had been leaving the Common Room at the time that the invisibility cloak was coming through. He shrugged at his good fortune and threw the cloak over the trunk. He didn't want the Slytherins knowing where he was going.
He made his way out of the dorm and through the Common Room. Thankfully he was ignored by everyone as he left. As the Common Room door closed behind him, he heard someone requesting for them to change the password. He shrugged, not particularly caring whether or not he was locked out of his own Common Room anymore.
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Buffy, Ron, Harry and Ginny made their way towards the Gryffindor Tower, having just finished their Quidditch Practise. They were all decked out in their uniforms, the maroon and gold sweaters, bright red cloaks, cream slacks and brown safety pads covering their bodies. They were each holding onto their brooms. Giles had relented, agreeing to pay for Buffy's new Firebolt that matched Harry's perfectly.
They were halfway across the Entrance Hall when they were greeted by the sight of Draco Malfoy, looking like he'd never looked before. He wasn't quite upset, or angry, or relieved. It was a strange combination of so many emotions.
"Drake?" Buffy asked.
He looked up at his cousin and tried to give her a half-smile.
"What's wrong?"
Draco sighed and lifted the invisibility cloak. It didn't take Buffy long to realise what had happened. She threw her arms around Draco, embracing him tightly. Harry and Ron had the decency to turn away when they saw tears in Draco's eyes. Ginny looked on, feeling her own heart break for the Slytherin boy.
Buffy drew away and looked at Draco closely. His lip was split and she could tell that his eye would be swollen if they didn't do anything about it and soon. She turned to look at Harry and Ron.
"Could you guys take Drake's stuff up to Giles' room? I'm gonna take Drake up to see Madam Pomfrey," Buffy explained.
Ron and Harry nodded and resettled the cloak over the trunk. They grabbed a handle and began walking. Ginny hovered for a moment before deciding to follow Buffy and Draco towards the infirmary.
"You really don't need to come Weasley," Draco said, not unkindly.
Ginny blushed slightly and shrugged. "I just want to make sure you're alright Malfoy."
Draco, too tired to really put up much of a fight, shrugged. Buffy looked at the younger girl speculatively. She could see the blush rising on Ginny's cheeks. There was definitely something more to Ginny's interest than met the eyes. She grinned, wondering what Ron would think when he discovered his youngest and only sister had a crush on the former bad boy of Slytherin.
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Ooo, I nearly forgot. My abandoned fics are up. You can access them through my website. The URL's in my profile, so feel free to go take a squiz if you feel like reading some of my unfinished stories.
DKG