Chapter 5

It wasn't surprising to find Pansy already seated at the corner of the Astrology Tower, quietly gazing out into the velvet night sky splattered with drops of silver blinking into and out of existence every once in a while. Draco strode towards her in light footsteps, not betraying the anger he felt burning inside him. His eyebrows were knotted, his face distorted into an angry snarl. With the crushed piece of parchment in between his curled fingers, he flung it at her face, and demanded to know what was going on right that instant.

"Wha-" Pansy started, the paper catching her off guard and smacking right into her pretty face. Her expression turned nasty, and she scowled at Draco asking, "What was that for?"

"You of all people should know better! You bitch. How dare you do this to me." He seethed, hands shaking by his sides, restraining the thought of choking Pansy right then and there.

Grabbing the paper from where it had landed in front of her robes, she lit her wand with a soft murmur and proceeded to read what was in the letter that had made Draco this mad. Her eyes widened as she skimmed through the letter, and from her look of utter confusion and astonishment, Draco knew that she couldn't be blamed… or maybe she was just playacting. Who knows?

"So bitch. What now?" he spat, slumping against the stone cold wall beside where Pansy was sitting.

"I-I swear I had nothing to do with this!" she cried out indignantly, attracting irritated stares from the couples that were some distance away from them.

"Yeah right and my father's not a death eater," he glared with all the hate he could muster, and that seemed to wither Pansy's resolve to be proved innocent as she looked away from his gaze for just a split second. That was enough for Draco to attack even more furiously. "You knew about this. What a disgrace to the female population you are, you cheap slut. Fancy begging your daddy-o to arrange a bloody marriage?" he ended with a condescending snort in Pansy's direction.

Pansy spluttered about, not knowing how to get her ass out of the shit she was in. "Let me explain-"

"NO. You listen to me. You are going to write a letter to your father to denounce this marriage, understood? Later than 10 pm when I receive the good news from my father come tomorrow night, your body would most probably end up somewhere mangled in the Forbidden forest. I'll get you for this," He stabbed her shoulder with his forefinger, sending jolts of pain through Pansy's body. She grabbed his hand, however, much to the shock of Draco Malfoy.

"You have to listen to me!" Pansy pleaded, her wide plain brown eyes shining with unshed tears. Draco jerked his hand away from the disgusting grip of hers and looked at her coolly, giving her the chance to explain. "This is not what I wanted." She shook her head remorsefully, and stared down at her hands. "I just wanted to tell you that I-"

A soft purr came from the slightly ajar doors of the balcony of the Astronomy Tower, and Draco whirled around to see Little Red standing genteelly in the light cast on her from inside the tower and motioned for her to come to him. Ginny did so willingly and jumped up onto his awaiting palm in smooth ease.

Draco turned back to Pansy, who had lost what little nerve she had gathered just now to redeem herself. Smirking at her, he said, "I'll give you another day. To explain, as well to write to your father. Get out of my sight now." She complied without hesitation, scampering from view in a hurry.

***

Ginny had found out what had happened at the tower from Draco himself, who as usual sat by the window sill fingering the heavy drab curtains that lined the intricately carved wooden frame of the opening on the wall.

"Yeah, Little Red, that was what happened," he finished after relating the whole incident to her. Shaking her head in sympathy, she rubbed her head against Draco's leg, who smirked lightly and shrugged. "She'll come round eventually. It's not that great to marry into the Malfoy family anyway. With Voldemort around, we'll always be slaves to the Dark side," he murmured, talking about the Death eater of a father he had. "He didn't really plan on helping him you know," he continued, looking at Ginny with a wistful expression. "It was a trap. My father was hungry for power. Now that he has it, he's lost his freedom. Hell, not only his, but our future generations as well. There is no escaping our fate" he paused for a while, a strange glint in his eyes. "Unless I beat him." The silence that followed after that was deafening.

It's Harry's job, isn't it? Ginny thought to herself, licking her paws absently. And that means… she didn't finish her thought, because it sounded to good to be true. Does that mean that Draco here was actually willing to join Harry to defeat Voldermort? No, she chided herself mentally, I'm just assuming. He might want to kill him all by himself, she realised. Without anyone's help. Ginny looked up at Draco again; he was staring blankly into the forest, something that he had been doing every so often recently. The kitten stared at him uncomfortably; she wasn't used to this Draco, so quiet and introspective. She was afraid that he might do something foolish, but of course, Draco being Draco, he probably had something up his sleeve. But can he do it alone?

 A gentle knock sounded on the door, and Draco glanced at it briefly before snapping his fingers to open the door. The door swung open silently, revealing a dark robed figure, its hood covering the face of the guest. Draco raised his guard, and grabbed his wand that was lying on his bedside table. Holding it in a relaxed position in his hand, he commanded the figure to step in. "And you are?"

The maroon clothed –girl- Draco noticed as she stepped into the light of the room, slowly took off her hood and shiny mahogany hair spilled out, uncovering the face of - Draco rolled his eyes skyward. "Pansy."

She nodded, biting her lower lip nervously. She stood at the foot of his bed, not too sure what she wanted to do next. Darting her gaze furtively around as if there were security cameras or something, her eyes finally fell on Draco's, and she stared at him in the eye, refusing to back down.

"What do you want?" his voice, glacial shot through the air at her in icy shards. Although the tone was cutting, she didn't flinch, but stood there unmoving. Draco sneered. Most likely petrified, he thought smugly.

"I need to talk to you." She enunciated each word carefully, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Draco nodded, barely moving his head at all. Steeling herself, Pansy said stolidly, "Draco. I have sent a letter to my father to cancel the engagement," a hesitant pause. "Well, I came here to tell you that…" another pause. "Um." She stopped, cursing softly.

"Um what?" Draco mocked, his attention temporarily captured by the stuttering girl in front of him. He shifted his position, standing up to lean his butt against his study table and crossed his arms on his chest, looking quite bored.

"I want to tell you that I really, really like you."

Silence.

"Is that it?" Draco finally said, blowing on his nails and pretended to admire them. He glanced up at her, and saw that her brown eyes were slowly narrowing in impatience. He shrugged a shoulder in reply, and said, "I don't know. What am I supposed to say to that? I certainly don't like you back," he stood up and walked towards her in slow steps. Inching towards her, he continued, "What makes you think I, an heir of Malfoy would ever like such a-," he paused, fumbling for a word, "a cheap whore like yourself?" Pansy took a step backward in shock as he stood in front of her, then another and another as he advanced.

"Not to mention what a spoilt, uncouth, ruthless, immature, and selfish brat you are," he towered over her menacingly, glaring at Pansy with fire in his stormy grey eyes. The girl on the other hand was staring straight at Draco's chest, not daring to meet his fierce and intense glare. Her own orbs were shimmering with tears, but she wouldn't let herself cry. Not like this. She shook like a leaf, not so much from fear now, but hurt and disbelief and of course, anger. Was she really such a person, no, a beast to Draco? Did she deserve this shit that he was dumping on her now? Pansy was backed against the door now, and had no choice but to push him away with all the strength she could muster and fled away from his dormitory, her choked sobs echoing hollowly as she ran down the quiet corridor.

Draco landed squarely on his bum, but he was smirking in glee. He stood up and dusted his hands against his sides; the conceited look etched on his face like a Halloween mask. Ginny stood by the windowsill looking at him in disgust, and growled furiously at him, earning a grin from Draco. "How was that, Little Red?" he walked over and tried to pick her up, but ended getting a ferocious bite from her. His hand retracted sharply as he cursed, cradling his arm gingerly. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Choosing to ignore him, she turned around and stuck her tail up at him haughtily. Draco scoffed, and told her, "You don't know a masterpiece when you see one. What you saw just now was truly a magnificent act. She would never ever come near me again." He stated triumphantly. He rummaged his drawer for a bandage to cover his wound inflicted by the sharp needle like teeth of his beloved kitten. "Ow… Damn! Your teeth are sharp."

As if biting him wasn't enough, Ginny hopped onto his bed and started clawing at him. Her nails were like razors as she vented her anger on his robes, shredding the thick material into pieces in a second. "What the-" Draco said startled as he tried pushing the half crazed kitten away from him, trying not to let his hands get in the way of her chopping. "Little Red!!!" he screamed at Ginny, who was now ripping his bed sheet apart. Clutching his hair in frustration, he took his wand and pointed it at the kitten. "If you don't stop this, don't blame me for cursing you into space!" he warned.

Ginny ignored him blithely as she continued her rampage on Draco's bed, now tearing through his pillows, sending feathers flying all over the place. A small one fell on Draco's nose and he blew it off, sighing in defeat. "What?! You want me to apologise to her?" Ginny stopped immediately, nodding in affirmation. "No way!" the clawing started again. He stood there for a moment, and finally relented. "Ok, ok! I'll apologise the first thing next morning alright? Now would you stop it?" he sighed, putting his wand down.

Ginny looked at him smugly, swishing her tail in the air and frolicked in the sea of feathers. Oh, how she loved having power over Draco.

END CHAP 5.