Rain

Chapter Twenty-Four

Please Forgive Me

'Shattered…My whole world shattered in a single second…with a single action…' thought Dorothy, staring blankly out the window from where she lay on her bed. Her face was still sleek and wet with tears and her eyes were half-closed, puffy, and very, very red. Hermione had left her alone only an hour before she had only moved her head to look out the window.

After a few more moments of complete silence, Dorothy shakily got to her feet and stepped down the stairs into the empty common room. She dragged a large, black overcoat down with her and wrapped it around her body, along with a Gryffindor scarf, after reaching the portrait hole. She then pressed her pale hand against the back of the Fat Lady's frame and pushed very weakly, but with enough strength to make an opening. Her feet padded lightly against the carpet as she stepped down into the seventh floor corridor. The portrait of the Fat Lady swung closed again and Dorothy started down the hall.

"Uh, Ms. Agel, dear," said the Fat Lady, twisting her pink dress nervously. "Someone was here to see you earlier. Mr. Draco Malfoy. He seemed quite worried about you and told me to tell you that he was looking for you."

"…" Dorothy gave no answer but simply stood where she was, expecting the Fat Lady to go on.

"He's come back one every hour, asking if you were still inside and every time I told him that you were, he looked downcast and walked away. The last time he even smashed his head into the wall in frustration. He looked dreadfully miserable. Won't you see him?" begged the Fat Lady, still fidgeting anxiously in her frame.

"No…" replied Dorothy in a whisper.

She turned the corner and walked away from the portrait hole and toward a window at the far end of the corridor that overlooked Hogwarts' grounds. She stood there for a long while, just looking at the students frolicking in what was left of the snow. She wanted to scream at them and tell them that not everything was as perfect and careless as they were acting. That the world was a dark and painful place but the only thing she did was finally allow the tears to spill over cheeks.

"I hate you…" she mumbled, clenching her fist tight and wiping her tears away quickly. "I hate you!"

…

Draco panted heavily as he reached the top of the grand staircase and stepped heavily onto the red carpet of the seventh floor hallway. He gripped the railing of the stairs to keep from passing out as he gasped for breath. Something gave him the feeling that he had to get up to the seventh floor immediately. After his legs regained some strength, he hurried to where the fat Lady's portrait was and saw her staring expectantly at him.

"Well?" he asked, leaning on the wall and gripping his chest as if it were going to tear in two.

"She left down the corridor a few minutes ago but she said she didn't want to see you. What did you do?" Half of what the Fat Lady said was not heard by Draco because the moment he heard that she was somewhere down the hall he raced away in search of the missing maiden.

However, when he found the girl he sought, he stopped short. Her body was shaking with silent sobs and her clenched fists her against the glass as if she was going to bang upon it. He could hear her muttering something under her breath and when the words that reached his ears his eyes became sad and distant.

"I hate you…I hate you!"

Draco felt a very sharp pain in his chest and took a few steps back before listening on.

"You hurt me so bad you selfish jerk, how could you?" she managed through her sobs.

Without think, the blonde Slytherin ran forward and wrapped his strong arms around the crying girl's waist, her back against his chest. She let out a small gasp but then looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes still red and puffy and dripping with tears.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered in her ear. "It wasn't my fault, honest…She kissed me."

"What difference does it make?" Dorothy asked, limp in his arms as he held her close. "You didn't push her away…you just kept kissing her…"

"I was in shock!"

"Draco, you once told me all I had to do was give you one chance and if it didn't work out, you'd never bother me again," said the Gryffindor girl, her voice monotonous.

"Dorothy, I—"

"I gave you one chance, Draco," Dorothy continued, pushing his arms away. "Why won't you just leave me alone? You hurt me so bad and I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't get you out of my head. Everywhere I go, I remember you. I'm going to go insane if I don't get you out of my mind."

Draco was still for a moment, then swiftly, he grabbed her by the wrists and pushed her against a nearby wall.

"Just hear me out, please?" he begged, gripping her wrists tightly as she struggled against him.

"No! Just leave me alone!"

Hermione, who had been coming up the stairs to the seventh floor to check on Dorothy herself, heard the racket, as did Harry and Ron who'd been with her. Hermione raced down the hall and saw Malfoy pinning Dorothy to the wall as the smaller Gryffindor girl thrashed about trying to get free.

"Stop it! That hurts!" cried Dorothy.

Without waiting another second, both Harry and Ron flew into a violent rage and ran over, prying Draco off of Dorothy and throwing the Slytherin to the ground.

"What do you think you're doing, huh?" asked Ron, holding the struggling Malfoy down. Malfoy, on the other hand wasn't listening to Harry or Weasley, he was looking directly at Dorothy who had Hermione at her side.

"Please forgive me, Dorothy! Please!" Harry and Ron then dragged Draco toward the grand staircase.

The two Gryffindor boys threw Draco at the stairs and the blonde Slytherin managed to catch himself before he fell down them. He looked back at Harry and Ron who both looked extremely irate.

"Get out of here!" yelled Ron. "Before we call a professor on you!"

"Don't come back! If we even see you smirking, pointed face on the seventh floor or if we ever catch you harassing Dorothy again that face is going to be a bashed in mess of blood!" added Harry, taking a few steps toward Draco in a threatening manner.

Draco sneered at them and his grey eyes followed Dorothy and Hermione as the two girls walked cautiously toward the portrait hole. With a disturbed look, the Slytherin turned and started down the stairs blocking out each one of Harry and Ron's jeers and threats as he returned to the Slytherin common rooms for the rest of the day.

A/N: I know ya'll probably hate me for this but I wanted to end the year with Draco and Dorothy avoiding each other…yes that means that the next chapters are the last for this particular story and then I'm going to write a new one. Be on the alert for the second story of the Draco/Dorothy Trilogy called 'Conquest of the Heart.' Well, ciao for now. I'll be updating soon with the last two or three chapters and details on the sequel.

WEM