A/N- Hi guys. Ok, heres chapter 11, I hope you like it. The lyrics in this chapter are Burn by Usher. Oh um, angelface- my cousins were in the June 4- 6 Calgary Feish, but I don't know what it's called. I was at the Coast Plaza hotel I think, but I can never remember. But anyways, on with the story. (Oh, and thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!)
Draco snuck out of the party a few minutes after Hermione's little show ended. His blood was boiling; he didn't think he'd ever been so angry in his entire life. This was very odd to him. Why was he so upset that Hermione was dancing like that with some guy. Really, he should be feeling sorry for the poor guy, having her draped all over him. Wait, did he just refer to her as Hermione! What was wrong with him, she was just Granger. No, she was just a disgusting little mud, a, mud, mud, he couldn't make him self say it. He couldn't even make himself think it.
"What's wrong with me," he screamed, walking up to the portrait guarding the door. The man who had four birds flying around his head in the picture sort of shrunk back, as if afraid that Draco might reach into the picture and hit him.
"Nothing?" the man stuttered, staring at Draco with wide eyes.
"Excuse me," ask Draco, as he was jerked out of his thoughts.
"You asked what was wrong with you, and I replied that there was nothing wrong with you." The man in the picture seemed to have regained some of his courage.
"Oh, who asked you," snapped Draco.
"Well no one, but you sounded awfully upset, I thought you might like some positive feed back." The man explained.
"Oh, and what do you know," Draco sneered, expecting the man to once again recoil in fear. But this time the man held his ground.
"Quite a lot actually, I've been hanging all around this school for many years. I've herd it all, everything from problems with school work, to romance stories fit for any number of great novels. I'm sure your problem can't be any worse then any of the others."
"Right, well isn't this just bloody wonderful. I'm getting Romance advice from a painting. How the great have fallen." Draco complained to himself.
"Ah, so it is a about a girl then. Why don't you explain your problem? I've given advice on getting the girl to some of the other students, and it never once failed."
"Argg. I don't want to "get the girl"," said Draco, his voice dripping with distain. "I hate the girl; I never want to see the girls face again. I wish the girl would drop dead."
"Ah, the best kind of Romance, the hatred turns to a passion that will never be broken."
Draco began to laugh. "That is quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever heard, passion between me and Hermione. Hahaha, you're quite the comedian. What was your name?"
"Aengus, or Angus, if you'd prefer." (A/N- He was sort of the Irish God of love. To read the blurb on him go to ).
"You simply need time. I've seen situations like this before. Come back when you've reconsidered."
Once he was inside Draco collapsed on one of the large chair in the common room. Imagine him and Hermione, in a passion filled relationship. The idea was ludicrous.
(Girl, understand why, see it's burning me to hold onto this. I know this is something I gotta do, But that don't mean I want to.)
Wasn't it, how could he, Draco Malfoy, king of the Slytherins ever find himself feeling anything but hatred for Hermione Granger.
(What I'm trying to say is that I-love-you I just, I feel like this is coming to an end,
And its better for me to let it go now than hold on and hurt you. I gotta let it burn)
No, it wasn't just ludicrous, it was insane as well. He and Hermione, no, Granger, could never even be friends. Hell, they couldn't even be casual acquaintances.
(It's gonna burn for me to say this, but it's comin from my heart. It's been a long time coming, but we done been fell apart)
She was a part of Gryffindors golden trio, or at least she had been. And the second that some sort of trouble plagued the world they would join back up again, all differences forgotten, best of friends until the end. All he could ever be to her was an arch nemesis. Not that he wanted to be anything more of course.
(But I don't think ya gonna change ya, I do but you don't. Think it's best we go our separate ways, tell me why I should stay in this relationship. When I'm hurting baby, I ain't happy baby. Plus theres so many other things I gotta deal with. I think that you should let it burn)
Oh who was he kidding? No matter how many times he told himself that she was not even worth looking at, and no matter how many times he tried to convince himself she was nothing more then a pathetic mudblood. The thought of how he wanted to be with her never went away. Even just as a friend and he'd be happy. And the thought of her being with, or even dancing with, anyone but him caused a rush of anger and jealously to surge through his veins. (When your feeling ain't the same and your body don't want to. But you know gotta let it go cuz the party ain't jumpin' like it used to. Even though this might bruise you
Let it burn, Let it burn, Gotta let it burn)
This was hopeless. Why was he torturing himself like this? It was impossible. They were complete opposites.
(Deep down you know it's best for yourself but you, hate the thought of her being with someone else. But you know that it's over, you know that it was through. Let it burn, Let it burn, Gotta let it burn)
Fire and ice, that was what they were. A beautiful picture in theory, but completely impossible in practice. Like fire and ice they would only extinguish each other.
(Sendin' pages I ain't supposed to, Got somebody here but I want you. Cause the feelin ain't the same find myself callin' her your name)
He just had to work this out of his system. It's just infatuation, that's all. It's not that he wanted to date her or anything. No, his heart was just being naive.
(Ladies tell me do you understand? Now all my fellas do you feel my pain? It's the way I feel, I know I made a mistake, now it's too late. I know she ain't comin back)
He would never be anything to her. She could choose anyone in the school, hell; she could have anyone in the world. Sure, he had money and when he inherited it he would also have power, but that would mean nothing to her. It was dirty money, made by his forefathers and all of their horrible doings.
(What I gotta do now, to get my shorty back. Ooo ooo ooo ooooh. Man I don't know what I'm gonna do, without my booo. You've been gone for too long; It's been fifty-eleven days, um-teen hours. Imma be burnin' till you return (let it burn))
She would never even glance at him with out hatred in her stare. She hated him, and he didn't blame her. She deserved someone who was like her, good, and pure and perfect. Someone on the side of right, someone like Potter, or even like Victor Krum. Someone she could trust completely, someone she wouldn't have to choose between. Because there would inevitably be a choice, and it wouldn't be in favor of him.
(When your feeling ain't the same and your body don't want to. But you know gotta let it go cuz the party ain't jumpin' like it used to. Even though this might bruise you
Let it burn, Let it burn, Gotta let it burn)
It nearly made him physically sick, knowing that he could never be good enough for her. He would have all the money in the world, but it wouldn't do anything for him.
(I'm twisted cuz one side of me is tellin' me that I need to move on, on the other side I wanna break down and cry (ooooh). I'm twisted cuz one side of me is tellin' me that I need to move on, on the other side I wanna break down and cry (yeah))
He was a boy with a heart of gray, and he knew one day that heart would turn black. It was his role in life. And he had pretty much accepted that. He figured his life would turn out pretty much the same as his fathers. He would marry a typical trophy wife who would then give him one child, a male heir. He would live his life becoming more and more cruel and cold, until one day his evil ways would finally do away with him. He'd probably die of a heart attack in his sleep when he was eighty. And he'd been perfectly fine with that future.
(Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh oooh Ooh ooh oooh (can ya feel me burnin'?)
Ooh ooh ooh oooh ooh oooh. So many days, so many hours, I'm still burnin' till you return)
It wasn't fair. What gave his heart the right to fall in love? Not that he was in love with her of course, not by any means. He really didn't think he could fall in love. Or that anyone could truly love him. (If he had ever gone to a psychologist he would have been told that he felt he was unworthy to love and be loved because of the lack of attention given to him by his parents in his early years of development.)
(When your feeling ain't the same and your body don't want to. But you know gotta let it go cuz the party ain't jumpin' like it used to. Even though this might bruise you
Let it burn, Let it burn, Gotta let it burn)
But then again, he couldn't help but think. What if she did, what if she could. What did he have to lose really? Maybe his future wasn't set in stone after all. Because Hermione was anything but a trophy wife, not only was she beautiful, but she was just as smart as him. They'd be the perfect match for each other, intellectually equals, yet different enough to never become boring. And hey, if he failed, he could always just pass it off as being one big joke. Hermione would get over it; she was the bounce back type.
(Deep down you know it's best for yourself but you, hate the thought of her being with someone else. But you know that it's over, you know that it was through. Let it burn, Let it burn, Gotta let it burn)
But how to get her? That was the real question. How do you convince the girl that hates your guts to be your girlfriend? Or even just a friend. He'd have to work on his attitude for one, and he'd have to prevent himself from making her life a living hell, that sort of thing tended to make girls hate you even more. This was a lot harder then he had thought it would be. Usually Draco didn't even have to lift a finger. Girls just flocked to him. Then he remembered the offer of the man in the painting, Aengus, or Angus, or something like that. Not that Draco was really certain he wanted to put his faith in a painting that was obviously crazy, but then again, this whole thing seemed to be sort of crazy. What harm could a little advise do.
So Draco walked out of the door and stood to face the portriat, to Aengus's obvious delight.
"Ah, so you made the right choice I see." Aengus exlaimed.
"What do you mean?" asked Draco. "You wouldn't belive the number of men and weomen who have walked through the door, and never even gave love a shot. But all of the students I have counciled, I have never heard of a case that didn't end in a love that lasted forever."
"Oh, and can you give me an example of one of these great romances you brought into play?"
"Certianly, hmm, let me think, who would you know. Oh yes of course, their son goes here. James and Lily Potter. (A/N- oh, like you didn't see that one coming)."
"Right, well of course, bloody saint Potter would come up in this somewhere," sneered Draco.
"Oh, I see. Well, pehaps it would be better to tell you about the man who walked away from my advise about the same girl." Aengus said solemnly.
"Oh please, indulge me," replied Draco sarcastically.
"I belive you know Serveus Snape," said Aengus coyly.
"No way. Snape ahd a thing for Potters mom!" Draco exlaimed.
"Indeed. She was the only girl out side of Slythrin to ever give him even a shliver of respect. But he desided not to chance it, feeling that his heart was to fragile to take anymore rejection. And look at him now Mr. Malfoy, look at what he has become."
"Hey, hes not that bad. He just needs a hair cut, or something like that," Draco said as he rushed to his favourtie teachers defence.
"True, but then you must think of what he could have been, if the fair Lilly had returned his affections. Of course, I knew she would not, thats why I let him walk away so easily."
"Oh, and what made you so sure?" Draco was beginging to think that Aengus knew a lot more then he had suspected.
"The passion between James and Lily, not unlike the passion between yourself and Mrs. Granger, was great. It had been centered mostly in hatred, at least on Lilys side, but it was still there. It didn't take much for Lily to realize it as well."
"Ya, well. Potters parents were ment for each other, they had no obsticals standing between them. They were in the same house, probably shared many of the same friends. Hermione and I, we've got nothing but differences."
"But you see, some times it's those differences, those obstacles that make it worth being in love. It would be very dull if you were perfect for each other, and your relationship never ran into any bumps along the road. That would make you friends, not lovers."
"Right, so you're telling me that if I walk away from this, I'll end up like Snape."
"Yep, or possibly worse," said Aengus, almost cheerfully, knowing he had concinced Draco.
Draco shuddered, imagining his life being worse then Snape's. "Ok, fine. I see your point. So what do I do?"
"Well..." started Aengus. (A/N- Ya, I'm not going to go into that, just know that Aengus tells Draco things like be kind, be respectful, do insult her. Don't go to fast, ect. There, the next like five pages, the cliffnotes version.)
And as Draco walked back into the common room to wait for Hermione, he felt far more prepared, and almost happy.
A/N- Ok, so, what did you think?