A/N: I would like to thank the following people for reviewing:
Whispyraven, Vasquez1987, blackenedsoul, and Reese Craven. Thanks everyone
else who read it!
The First Cut is the Deepest
Chapter 11
....................
Draco got up from the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, and started heading back to his room. He was still confused about what Hermione had said that night. Hermione had said something about him embarrassing Harry, but he would never do such a thing (not on purpose, at least). So, what was she getting on about?
"Hey, Malfoy," a voice next to him drawled.
"Hey, um..." Draco said, turning to the voice, but couldn't place the face.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley," Justin finished for him.
"Yeah," Draco said, continuing his way back to his room.
"So, great show, eh?" Justin said, trying to start up a conversation.
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, stopping to face Justin.
"You know, that one you hosted. With Harry? Don't you remember? You freaked the hell out of him."
"I wouldn't do that to Harry!" Draco said, fists clenching.
"Well, you did. And, I must say, it was hilarious!"
"Shut up!" Draco yelled at him, taking a step closer, ready to smother Justin if need be.
"Yes, your prince!" Justin said smugly, hands risen in surrender.
Justin walked away, leaving Draco to make a quick rum back to the Slytherin Common Room. When he walked in, he ran over to a group of his fellow 6th year Slytherins.
"Guys, I need to ask you," Draco panted. "Where you guys there when I," he gulped, "embarrassed Har...I mean, Potter?"
"'Course. Great work you did with that too!" Blaise Zambini said.
A bunch of the others nodded in agreement.
"Well," Draco continued, "Could you guys kind of tell me what happened. I mean, I just love hearing about it!"
"Sure thing," Blaise replied. "You were standing there at the bottom of the stairs, a bunch gathered around. Then Potter started descending the staircase, and when he reached the last one, you announce that Potter was gay. Something about if he showed up at that exact time, it would prove it. All the Slytherins came, though. We were kind of hoping that more would come."
"Was I wearing anything different or anything?"
"Well, your voice did sound really different. Higher, maybe. And your clothes resembled this one 6th year Hufflepuff kids. BinchLeachy or something..."
"Finch-Fletchley?" Draco asked.
"Yeah," Pansy piped up. "That's the mudblood. Why did you want to know?"
"Just curious," Draco said. "Thanks, guys. I've got to go!" and with that, Draco raced out of the Common Room and up to Gryffindor Tower.
....................
Draco reached Gryffindor Tower, panting. He walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, when he realized that he didn't know the password.
"Shit," he mumbled to himself.
"Sorry," the Fat Lady replied. "That's not the passwords. Please leave."
"But I need Hermione Granger!" Draco moaned.
"I'm sorry, I don't care what a silly Slytherin like you wants. Now, please leave!" she said.
"Malfoy?!" Hermione said, walking out from behind the portrait. "What do you want?!"
"I need to talk to you!" Draco said, his eyes pleading.
"About what?!" Hermione asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Can we talk about this somewhere else?" Draco asked.
Hermione hesitated before nodding. They walked until they got to an empty classroom, where they shut the door and put a silencing charm around it.
"What's this all about, Malfoy?" Hermione asked.
"Alright, I'm going to tell you this but you must have an open mind as I explain some things to you, okay?"
"Whatever."
"Okay," Draco took a deep breath before continuing. "You told me about what I did to Harry, and Blaise Zambini filled me in on everything else. But, you see, I didn't do it."
"Bullshit," Hermione said, getting angry. "Everyone knows that you did it!"
"Listen. I was walking out of the Great Hall, when Finch-Fletchley came over to me and started telling me how impressed he was with 'my work'. But later, Zambini told me that all the Slytherins came, and no one else. How would Finch-Fletchley know exactly what happened if he didn't go!"
"What are you saying?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Also, Zambini said that my voice was kinda high, and I was dressed like Finch-Fletchley, and all the other Slytherins that I was talking to at the time agreed."
"But..."
"My guess is that there was a Polyjuice Potion involved. Seriously, Granger. I really like Harry, and I wouldn't get on his good side by playing tricks on him!"
"But, Justin wouldn't do that!" Hermione protested. "I know him!"
"You may know how well he kisses, but do you 'really know' him?"
Hermione looked down, blushing.
"I didn't think so," Draco said. After a few moments of silence, Draco continued talking. "Look, Hermione, I don't want to accuse this 'Justin' of doing this, but all things clues point to him. I, personally, would rather it just never have happened at all."
At this point, Hermione started to cry. Silent tears fell down her face as her shoulders heaved up and down. Draco slowly walked over to her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. This just made Hermione cry more.
"I just don't know how to believe you," she cried.
"You don't know how to, or you don't want to?"
"Both, I guess."
"Well, I promise you that I'm telling you the truth. It may have looked like me, but I swear I didn't do it."
Hermione nodded as more silent tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Do you believe me?" Draco asked.
Hermione nodded again. "I just can't believe that Justin would do that!"
"I could be wrong, you know," Draco said, trying to make her brighten up.
"No! You're right, and I was dumb not to see it in the first place. You know," Hermione said, looking up at Draco, "Harry really likes you. And I should have known that you felt the same way, 'specially when I saw you two talking on the grounds. Sorry."
Draco nodded. "It's alright."
....................
Hermoine walked back to Gryffindor after having left Draco on the stairs, where he went to retreat to his room as well. Neither of them knew what to do about the situation, but the hardest was for Hermione, not knowing who was lying. She had been going out with Justin for sometime, and him doing this to Harry, her best friend, didn't seem real. But the way Draco had, just, told her everything, and the way he looked as he did so, it was just so unlike him. Like he really had changed that summer.
Hermione walked through the portrait hole, and, not looking, smacked right into George Weasley, causing both of them to go crashing to the ground.
"Hermione!" George said, finally seeing the person he had run into. "I was in a hurry to find Fred, and wasn't looking where I was going. Sorry. He has my homework and wants to see if he can feed it to one of Hagrid's monster."
George got up off the floor and lent a hand out to Hermione to take. She gratefully accepted and George pulled her up.
"It's quite alright, George. I wasn't looking where I was going either. I apologize," Hermione said, brushing invisible dust off of her clothes.
After a minute, Hermione looked up to see George looking at her kind of funny, but didn't look didn't notice when a small question suddenly popped into her head.
"George, can I ask you something?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, uh...sure, 'Mione," George said, coming out of, what looked like, a trance.
"Um, you don't go to school here anymore. Remember?"
"Well aren't you smart," George said, lifting one of his eyebrows.
"So, why are you here?"
"Promise you won't go completely hostile?" George asked.
"Promise," Hermione said.
"You see," George began, "I asked Dumbledore if I could come here and try to sell some of my stuff to the students here. Thinking you more of a Percy, 'follow the rules', type of gal, I didn't think you would be too happy if you found out the truth. Do you want to buy a Floor Knocker?"
"Um, no thank you."
George now continued to stare at her.
"Um, George, are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Fine. Look, I have to go find Fred. He was supposed to go unload some more Higglebees off of our brooms. Sold out already. But look, um, maybe w-we c-could meet at Hogsm-meade or something in a little while, y-you know, when the school g-goes on it's like, annual fieldtrip thingy."
"Um, sure," Hermione said.
George smiled. "Really? I mean, cool!"
Hermione smiled. "I'll see you then, I guess."
"Yeah, um, bye," and with that, George ran out of the Common Room to go find Fred.
'That was weird," Hermione thought to herself.
She walked over to one of the couches, and sat down, trying to think of what to do next.
'I guess the first thing I need to do is confront Justin,' Hermione thought.
....................
A/N: LITTLE BIRDY: So, did you like it? Did you? Did you? Did you? MANDY: Settle down, Mister (that's really my birdie's name. So original, don't you think?). Let's give the readers some time to think about it. And if they really want to tell me how they liked it, there's a little blue button that does wonders, and it's right down there, at the bottom of the story. They can tell me how they liked then. Bye. LITTLE BIRDY: Bye-bye! Bye-bye! Bye-Bye!
The First Cut is the Deepest
Chapter 11
....................
Draco got up from the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, and started heading back to his room. He was still confused about what Hermione had said that night. Hermione had said something about him embarrassing Harry, but he would never do such a thing (not on purpose, at least). So, what was she getting on about?
"Hey, Malfoy," a voice next to him drawled.
"Hey, um..." Draco said, turning to the voice, but couldn't place the face.
"Justin Finch-Fletchley," Justin finished for him.
"Yeah," Draco said, continuing his way back to his room.
"So, great show, eh?" Justin said, trying to start up a conversation.
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, stopping to face Justin.
"You know, that one you hosted. With Harry? Don't you remember? You freaked the hell out of him."
"I wouldn't do that to Harry!" Draco said, fists clenching.
"Well, you did. And, I must say, it was hilarious!"
"Shut up!" Draco yelled at him, taking a step closer, ready to smother Justin if need be.
"Yes, your prince!" Justin said smugly, hands risen in surrender.
Justin walked away, leaving Draco to make a quick rum back to the Slytherin Common Room. When he walked in, he ran over to a group of his fellow 6th year Slytherins.
"Guys, I need to ask you," Draco panted. "Where you guys there when I," he gulped, "embarrassed Har...I mean, Potter?"
"'Course. Great work you did with that too!" Blaise Zambini said.
A bunch of the others nodded in agreement.
"Well," Draco continued, "Could you guys kind of tell me what happened. I mean, I just love hearing about it!"
"Sure thing," Blaise replied. "You were standing there at the bottom of the stairs, a bunch gathered around. Then Potter started descending the staircase, and when he reached the last one, you announce that Potter was gay. Something about if he showed up at that exact time, it would prove it. All the Slytherins came, though. We were kind of hoping that more would come."
"Was I wearing anything different or anything?"
"Well, your voice did sound really different. Higher, maybe. And your clothes resembled this one 6th year Hufflepuff kids. BinchLeachy or something..."
"Finch-Fletchley?" Draco asked.
"Yeah," Pansy piped up. "That's the mudblood. Why did you want to know?"
"Just curious," Draco said. "Thanks, guys. I've got to go!" and with that, Draco raced out of the Common Room and up to Gryffindor Tower.
....................
Draco reached Gryffindor Tower, panting. He walked up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, when he realized that he didn't know the password.
"Shit," he mumbled to himself.
"Sorry," the Fat Lady replied. "That's not the passwords. Please leave."
"But I need Hermione Granger!" Draco moaned.
"I'm sorry, I don't care what a silly Slytherin like you wants. Now, please leave!" she said.
"Malfoy?!" Hermione said, walking out from behind the portrait. "What do you want?!"
"I need to talk to you!" Draco said, his eyes pleading.
"About what?!" Hermione asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Can we talk about this somewhere else?" Draco asked.
Hermione hesitated before nodding. They walked until they got to an empty classroom, where they shut the door and put a silencing charm around it.
"What's this all about, Malfoy?" Hermione asked.
"Alright, I'm going to tell you this but you must have an open mind as I explain some things to you, okay?"
"Whatever."
"Okay," Draco took a deep breath before continuing. "You told me about what I did to Harry, and Blaise Zambini filled me in on everything else. But, you see, I didn't do it."
"Bullshit," Hermione said, getting angry. "Everyone knows that you did it!"
"Listen. I was walking out of the Great Hall, when Finch-Fletchley came over to me and started telling me how impressed he was with 'my work'. But later, Zambini told me that all the Slytherins came, and no one else. How would Finch-Fletchley know exactly what happened if he didn't go!"
"What are you saying?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Also, Zambini said that my voice was kinda high, and I was dressed like Finch-Fletchley, and all the other Slytherins that I was talking to at the time agreed."
"But..."
"My guess is that there was a Polyjuice Potion involved. Seriously, Granger. I really like Harry, and I wouldn't get on his good side by playing tricks on him!"
"But, Justin wouldn't do that!" Hermione protested. "I know him!"
"You may know how well he kisses, but do you 'really know' him?"
Hermione looked down, blushing.
"I didn't think so," Draco said. After a few moments of silence, Draco continued talking. "Look, Hermione, I don't want to accuse this 'Justin' of doing this, but all things clues point to him. I, personally, would rather it just never have happened at all."
At this point, Hermione started to cry. Silent tears fell down her face as her shoulders heaved up and down. Draco slowly walked over to her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. This just made Hermione cry more.
"I just don't know how to believe you," she cried.
"You don't know how to, or you don't want to?"
"Both, I guess."
"Well, I promise you that I'm telling you the truth. It may have looked like me, but I swear I didn't do it."
Hermione nodded as more silent tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Do you believe me?" Draco asked.
Hermione nodded again. "I just can't believe that Justin would do that!"
"I could be wrong, you know," Draco said, trying to make her brighten up.
"No! You're right, and I was dumb not to see it in the first place. You know," Hermione said, looking up at Draco, "Harry really likes you. And I should have known that you felt the same way, 'specially when I saw you two talking on the grounds. Sorry."
Draco nodded. "It's alright."
....................
Hermoine walked back to Gryffindor after having left Draco on the stairs, where he went to retreat to his room as well. Neither of them knew what to do about the situation, but the hardest was for Hermione, not knowing who was lying. She had been going out with Justin for sometime, and him doing this to Harry, her best friend, didn't seem real. But the way Draco had, just, told her everything, and the way he looked as he did so, it was just so unlike him. Like he really had changed that summer.
Hermione walked through the portrait hole, and, not looking, smacked right into George Weasley, causing both of them to go crashing to the ground.
"Hermione!" George said, finally seeing the person he had run into. "I was in a hurry to find Fred, and wasn't looking where I was going. Sorry. He has my homework and wants to see if he can feed it to one of Hagrid's monster."
George got up off the floor and lent a hand out to Hermione to take. She gratefully accepted and George pulled her up.
"It's quite alright, George. I wasn't looking where I was going either. I apologize," Hermione said, brushing invisible dust off of her clothes.
After a minute, Hermione looked up to see George looking at her kind of funny, but didn't look didn't notice when a small question suddenly popped into her head.
"George, can I ask you something?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, uh...sure, 'Mione," George said, coming out of, what looked like, a trance.
"Um, you don't go to school here anymore. Remember?"
"Well aren't you smart," George said, lifting one of his eyebrows.
"So, why are you here?"
"Promise you won't go completely hostile?" George asked.
"Promise," Hermione said.
"You see," George began, "I asked Dumbledore if I could come here and try to sell some of my stuff to the students here. Thinking you more of a Percy, 'follow the rules', type of gal, I didn't think you would be too happy if you found out the truth. Do you want to buy a Floor Knocker?"
"Um, no thank you."
George now continued to stare at her.
"Um, George, are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Fine. Look, I have to go find Fred. He was supposed to go unload some more Higglebees off of our brooms. Sold out already. But look, um, maybe w-we c-could meet at Hogsm-meade or something in a little while, y-you know, when the school g-goes on it's like, annual fieldtrip thingy."
"Um, sure," Hermione said.
George smiled. "Really? I mean, cool!"
Hermione smiled. "I'll see you then, I guess."
"Yeah, um, bye," and with that, George ran out of the Common Room to go find Fred.
'That was weird," Hermione thought to herself.
She walked over to one of the couches, and sat down, trying to think of what to do next.
'I guess the first thing I need to do is confront Justin,' Hermione thought.
....................
A/N: LITTLE BIRDY: So, did you like it? Did you? Did you? Did you? MANDY: Settle down, Mister (that's really my birdie's name. So original, don't you think?). Let's give the readers some time to think about it. And if they really want to tell me how they liked it, there's a little blue button that does wonders, and it's right down there, at the bottom of the story. They can tell me how they liked then. Bye. LITTLE BIRDY: Bye-bye! Bye-bye! Bye-Bye!