Delusion Chapter 15

Draco glared at the other three people. Never in his life had he expected to get into a spat of sorts with…Weasley, Hermione, and Finch-Fletchley. Unnerving as it was Draco was usually pretty good at handling unexpected situations. Usually, being the key word.

"I don't know what I'm going to do to you," he prowled around Justin fiercely. "I just don't know what. I cannot believe the nerve of you, you sodding little bastard!"

He glanced over at his partner in crime. She was seething, and her idiotic companion looked like he was about to foam at the mouth. "I should pound you to the ground," Weasley scowled.

For once Draco thought that maybe Weasley should let his unhealthy temper loose. After all, this way, stupid Finch-Fletchely could get the beating of his life, and Weasley could unleash his rage and hopefully get a detention for it too. Draco grinned grimly. "I don't think you're strong enough, Weasley," he noted.

Weasley growled. So far, so good. "Oh, yes I can," he spoke.

"Ron, no!" Hermione held him back.

Well, that wasn't going to work. Giving up because he didn't really care anymore, Draco gave Finch-Fletchley a dirty glance and said, "You better watch your back, arsehole," and sauntered quite dramatically down the hall.

He could practically feel their eyes on his back, and he smirked. Nobody ever forgot Draco Malfoy, oh no, no, no, no, no.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. Spinning around he came face to face with Hermione. Weasley and Finch-Fletchley were nowhere to be seen…he presumed they'd already left. "Party's over?" Draco asked casually.

She nodded her head in the affirmative. "Oh, definitely… but it was quite a hassle convincing Ron that Justin didn't deserve to be beat up…"

"But he did!" Draco scowled. "He did. The bastard. How dare he try and set you up with me!"

"I know," Hermione sighed, "that's just…ridiculous."

Now had it been Draco's imagination, or had Hermione actually sounded a bit soft? How…odd. And how silly of him to think so! Suddenly Draco felt something that he hadn't felt in a while….rather awkward, actually. He didn't feel awkward all that much, but the truth was, he was still a teenage boy, and as a rule of thumb they were generally quite prone to awkwardness. "Why are you here?" he snapped, trying to recover; the only way he knew how was to be rude and snappy.

"Dunno," she shrugged. "I…I guess I wanted to know if we were through messing with Harry and Pansy."

Draco considered. On one hand, he really didn't want to meddle in their affairs anymore. He could hardly believe he was thinking that, but honestly, it was just too damned stressful. And he needed a break, big time. And anyhow, they seemed to have broken up anyway. But on the other hand, Draco couldn't resist the offer. Plus, he was corrupting Hermione Granger in the process. That was a big bonus; not to mention really, really fun. "Of course not," he finally scoffed. "We're not through at all. I love this."

She grinned. "I've grown to accept it," and then she looked worried, and he nearly swooned at how sexy that was, "but still, it kind of makes me feel so guilty!"

"Why?"

"Because Harry wouldn't appreciate it…in fact, he'd be rightly pissed."

"Fuck him," Draco rolled his eyes.

-----

Pansy, Sally Anne, and Millicent observed Draco and Granger in the halls. "Damn it!" Sally Anne groaned. "He's completely infatuated."

Pansy sighed. "You're right. Look at them. Look at the look in his eyes. Wonder what they're saying."

"It doesn't matter what they're saying," Millicent said wisely. "It's all about body language. And look at their body language! They're like, totally and completely in love. It's so romantic."

"Millie!" Pansy and Sally Anne gasped at the same time. "That's horrible. If they're in love," Pansy continued with a sneer, "I'll seriously kill them."

"They're not in love yet," Sally Anne assured, "but by the way things are going…ugh. They're hopelessly attracted to each other. Can't we please please please disfigure Granger?" she begged.

"No!" Pansy snapped. "I hate making other people look ugly. It's so gross. I'm never doing that again."

"But it was so fun," Millicent whined. "And that little girl was ugly to begin with, anyway."

Pansy didn't even dignify that with an answer. Turning her attention back to Draco and Granger, she noticed unhappily that Sally Anne was absolutely right. They did like each other. "Gross," she moaned. "I'm going to confront Draco about this."

"No, don't," Sally Anne argued, "He'll just get mad. You know how he is about his feelings," she groaned.

"Men," Pansy agreed. "So fucking insane about their feelings. Won't talk about them at all, especially idiot Draco. I'm still upset at him for cheating on our bet! Bastard! And the way he treats me is ridiculous!"

"I know," Millicent agreed, "But he does it because his father thinks women are inferior."

"Fuck his father," Sally Anne grinned. "But you have to admit that the man is unbelievably sexy."

Pansy scowled. "He's like a father figure to me," she pointed out, "so that's just gross. Shut up Sally Anne! Go play with Blaise."

"I think I will," came her derisive reply. "More fun than stalking Draco and his girlfriend."

"Don't call her that!" Pansy screeched after the other girl, but she knew she had to face the truth.

"Millicent," Pansy turned to the girl next to her, "we've got to do something. Setting them up… is ridiculous. That would only make him happy," she spat, "and I don't want to see Draco happy. No way."

"We could try and break them up," Millicent suggested.

"No. Harry's already bent upon that and I know that no amount of 'breaking up' will keep them apart. This calls for drastic measures."

"What are you going to do?" Millicent asked innocently.

"I don't care what Sally Anne says," Pansy sighed in defeat, "I've got to tell Draco how he feels. Hopefully he'll go in a crazy rage and keep the hell away from Granger."

"Probably will," Millicent agreed. "When are you going to tell him?"

"Right now."

------

Ron Weasley was shocked. He would never have believed that Justin Finch-Fletchley had tried to set Hermione and Malfoy (who were on a first-name basis, disturbingly enough) up, unless he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes. It was difficult enough to comprehend that Hermione didn't seem to hate Malfoy all that much…and Malfoy hadn't called her a mudblood. What was wrong with them?

And what was wrong with Harry? Harry who had looked like he had been hired by someone to off Hermione; the way he was following her around? As Ron mused his feet walked him back to the Gryffindor common room, where oddly enough, Harry was studying.

"What is wrong with you?" Ron asked, disbelieving his eyes. "You don't study until you absolutely have to, and we don't have any sort of exam tomorrow!"

Harry shrugged. "I figured I might be able to think more like Hermione if I did what Hermione does. So I'm studying."

Ron scratched his head, truly confused. "Um, all right, Harry, can we talk a bit? You know, man to man?"

Harry looked up, bewilderment etched on his face. "Man to man? We're hardly men, Ron."

"Oh, you know what I mean," Ron rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. Put down the book, Harry. This is important."

"Well the hippogriff release of 1294 is important too," Harry argued faintly, but Ron was having none of it. Grabbing the book he chucked it clear across the room and glared at his friend.

"I do not care about the hippogriff release of 1294…wait, when did we start studying hippogriff releases? We never do bookwork in Care of Magical Creatures…it's all dangerous things!" Ron realized.

"General knowledge," Harry mumbled. "Ok, Ron, you want the truth?"

"Well yes I want the truth!" Ron practically screamed, utterly annoyed with his friend. "And don't start about how aliens—whatever they are—abducted you. I don't even know what a bloody alien is."

"It was just a joke," Harry hastily assured Ron. "The deal is that…Hermione…Malfoy…"

Ron froze. Oh, no. Was there something huge that he was missing? Was there? WAS THERE? Had Hermione not told him something very, very important such as that maybe she was gasp! shudder! kissing Malfoy? "What about Hermione…and Malfoy?" he finally asked, slowly.

"I'm trying to break them up," Harry said quietly. "Because they've gotten awfully friendly with each other…if you know what I'm saying."

"I do not know what you are saying!" Ron yelped. "What are you saying?"

"They fancy each other, okay, Ron?" Harry scowled. "It's just so obvious. And so I'm trying to remind Hermione that he's a bloody git."

"She knows he's a prat… doesn't she?" A pit of fear had formed in Ron's stomach. "Well, doesn't she? Oh, where is she! I have got to talk to her about this."

"She won't care," Harry cried numbly, "I reminded her that he called her a… you know, mudblood…and that he was generally mean and devil spawn, and she goes, oh, I know, whatever. Can you believe that? Can you believe that? How is she so blinded by true love?"

Ron's heart had grown cold. "True love?" he echoed. "Well…blimey. That's… deep. I thought they were just…fooling around, but…oh no! This is awful!"

Harry's eyes were glassy. "So tired. Hate studying."

"There is no time for studying!" Ron cried. "We have much more important things to do."

"Such as?" Harry's eyebrows shot up.

"Such as telling Hermione that she's bloody in love with Malfoy. Maybe hearing it from someone else will shock her out of her, ew, bliss. Come on! We have to find her right now!"

Both boys departed in search for the girl in question.

They found her tucked neatly in the library, as usual. She was poring over her Charms essay (not due for another three weeks) and making contented little noises. Very typical Hermione with the books.

"Hey, Hermione," Ron said gently, slipping into the seat next to her, and Harry went and sat across from her.

"Hello boys," she mumbled, not looking up from her work.

"Honestly, Hermione," Harry rolled his eyes, "I can't see how tickling charms are more important than your two best friends."

"And I'm surprised that you actually knew what the assignment was about," Hermione looked up with a grin. "It's not due for a bit."

"Exactly" Ron chimed in. "You are so ridiculously ahead that it's nearly impossible to keep up with you."

"Okay, what do you need?" Hermione looked pained. "I want to finish it. I've just gotten to Blofreg the Bombastic's misuse of the tickle charm in 1837, which led to a ministry prohibition for ninety-two years, and just recently they've developed a milder version of the tick—"

"Nobody cares," Harry told her forcefully. "Look we wanted to talk about Malfoy."

Was it just Ron, or had Hermione tensed up a bit? "What about Malfoy?" she asked nonchalantly. Too nonchalantly, Ron thought. Much too nonchalantly.

"Just how you've been spending so much time with him," Harry began and looked over to Ron for some help.

Ron picked it up. "Yes. And don't tell us its for your potions project because that's due in three days and knowing you you'd have finished it a month ago," he accused crossly. "And you've been spending time with him quite recently. Out with it Hermione!"

Hermione had a typical deer caught in the headlights expression on her face, but only for a moment. Soon she looked positively normal. Too normal, Ron thought grimly. Much too normal.

"Look, boys," she pacified gently, "project took a little longer than expected. And anyhow, once you get to know him, he's really not that big of a git. A prat, yes, but not utterly and completely pratty."

"Oh, really," Harry remarked dryly. "I doubt that somehow."

"Oh, stop it, Harry," Hermione snapped, "it's because of you that I got myself in this silly little mess anyhow."

"Because of me?" he gasped, and Ron had to admit that was completely unexpected.

"You and Pansy Parkinson," she accused.

Ron turned to Harry with an expression of disgust. "Pansy Parkinson? I thought that was ages ago! Please tell me you… oh… HARRY! I can't believe you! You want us to get mad at Hermione because she loves Malfoy when you're sitting here all fine and dandy thinking about Parkinson!"

Harry turned red. However, he wasn't given the chance to reply because Hermione had jumped in, "I love Malfoy? I love Malfoy? How could you possibly think I love Malfoy!" she gaped.

"Because," Ron said, feeling helpless and silly that he'd let that slip already (and here he had been trying to work up a good momentum before letting that out), "you are always with him. You claim it's for other things but we saw the expression on your face. Face the truth Hermione. You're completely infatuated with him!"

Hermione's mouth opened and closed furiously. She looked positively woebegone. Too woebegone, Ron thought. Much too woebegone.

He felt very, very guilty all of a sudden. Perhaps there was a slight margin that she hadn't realized how she felt about him…and to have it broken to her in such a manner was horrendous.

"And plus," Harry finally spoke, "you've been sleeping with him… you ought to have realized that will have some effect on your feelings of him!"

"Sleeping with him?!" Hermione looked livid. Ron couldn't even process the information fast enough while Hermione smacked Harry with her book bag and huffed out of the library. "How dare you, Harry James Potter," she called over her shoulder, "accuse me of sleeping with him! I hope you do get back together with Parkinson, what do I care if you ruin your bloody life! I'm through helping you with anything!"

Ron turned to Harry, who was rubbing his head in pain. "She's sleeping with him?" he asked numbly.

-----

Draco scowled at Pansy. "What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked sharply. "Because honestly I could care less about what you have to say."

"Believe me Draco," Pansy shot back just as ugly a glare, "I wouldn't be talking to you if I wasn't concerned for your well-being."

"Give it a rest," he argued, knowing Pansy Parkinson never concerned herself with anyone's well-being. "And tell me the truth."

"Okay, Draco," Pansy smiled beatifically, immediately putting Draco on edge, "I'll tell you the truth. The whole truth."

"Well, I'm waiting," Draco snapped, although he felt a bit nervous.

"I have observed you lately," Pansy began as if she was a drill-sergeant, "and I have noticed you have been spending a lot of time with Muddy Granger."

Draco grimaced inwardly. The last thing he wanted was for Pansy to discover this. And somehow he didn't like the fact that she'd called Hermione Muddy Granger…and two months ago he would have laughed and agreed.

Because truthfully, Hermione wasn't all that muddy. At all. "I have not," he said simply.

But Pansy seemed to have notice the amount of time it took him to reply. "Yes you have. Whereas it's perfectly acceptable to spend time with the woman you're sleeping with…it really bothers me that you've fallen in love with a bloody Gryffindor, and I'm surprised you're taking it so well! I thought you didn't even believe in love!"

"I don't!" he yelled, shocked beyond words. "Not at all! And I haven't been sleeping with her! What are you on about? I don't even like her!"

"That is a lie Draco," Pansy responded shrilly. "You're obsessed with her. Everything you do is just to see more of her!"

"That is NOT true!" Draco shrieked, not caring that he did sound a bit like a girl, "Not true at all! I am NOT sleeping with her! Where did you get such an asinine idea?"

"I heard you talking to her!" Pansy shrieked back, "and it was perfectly obvious what the two of you have been doing on pretense of your potions project!"

"Well if it was so obvious then how come you ended up breaking up with Potter! Only because Hermione and I were behind it!"

"What?" Pansy looked shocked.

Uh-oh, Draco thought furiously. He'd really blown it now. Holding his breath he prepared himself.

"I BROKE UP WITH HIM BECAUSE OF YOU?! Draco you CHEATING scum I hope you rot in Merlin's underpants! I cannot believe you! And you involved Hermione Granger in it too? No wonder she was trying to chat with me! I am appalled, Draco," Pansy looked livid, "and I'm never speaking with you again. Now if you'll excuse me I've got to go tell Harry what you've done."

"Don't tell Potter, Pans," Draco began, hedging, but it was no use. She had already left the Slytherin common rooms.

Forlornly Draco sighed and looked at the floor. Things had really blown up now. He wondered, however, if the thing with…if what Pansy had said was true. Of course he wasn't in love with Hermione…but there may just be…ugh. He hated to admit it, but he was slightly infatuated with her.

Crap.

A/N: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This fic is drawing to a close. Just a few more chapters left, I hope. This chapter was the beginning of what I like to call the "Unraveling". Where everyone finds out everything. Anyway, please tell me what you thought. I love reviews and I love feedback… hint hint! Oh and remember to put your e-mail in the review (and tell me if you actually want to be on it) if you want to be on the mailing list.