A/N: What? No reviews? Not even a flame? And here I wanted to know if this story sucked...
Chapter 2 - I love you. Not.
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So he went down into the common room, still in his pyjamas. It was unlikely for someone to be there - not this early in the morning. And he was right. The common room was empty and he flopped down into an armchair by the fireplace. Someone had left a book lying on a table next to him. It turned out it was Uric the Oddball Biography by Radolphus Pittiman - one of Draco's favourite books. He could never stopped laughing at Uric's stupidity.
Suddenly he heard a footstep behind him and he turned around. In the middle of the room stood Pansy.
"Oh," said Draco. "It's just you." And turned back to the book. Inwardly he was relieved it hadn't been someone else.
Pansy threw herself onto the couch opposite of Draco's armchair. She pouted.
"What do you mean: 'oh, it's just you'?"
Draco didn't respond, just turned a page of the book. He knew how to annoy Pansy...
"Okay, okay, but I mean, it could've been Rhiannon." She spit the name so full of hate that Draco immediately knew what Pansy would talk about for the next quarter of an hour.
"I've seen how you looked at her last night. During the Sorting. You were undressing her with your eyes. And you only talked to her. You're old friends. What kind of 'old friends'? You slept with her, didn't you? I bet she's the kind of girl who sleeps with everything that moves."
"Why, that faithfully describes you, Pansy," said Draco nonchalantly, smiling at Pansy.
Pansy's eyes grew as big as saucers and she gaped. Draco thought she looked more like a fish like that than a pug.
"Yes, yes, let's count: Blaise Zabini, Marcus Flint, Clive Warrington, Miles Bletchley, Adrian Pucey and Zacharias Smith... oh, and myself. So that makes seven." Said Draco, ticking them off with his fingers. "At least it makes seven persons that I know of. Probably there were many more, weren't there?"
He watched with glee as Pansy's face turned crimson. Then tears sprang to her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
"Draco!" she screamed her voice so shrill that Draco felt as if his head would split in two.
"How... How could you?! Did you think I slept with them for fun?!"
"Yes," said Draco.
"I didn't!!!" screamed Pansy. "I wanted to make you jealous! I love you, Draco, I really do! I'd do anything for you!"
Draco just sat there. That was too much for him - and it wasn't even seven o' clock yet...
"Well," said Pansy. "Don't you have anything to say?" She stared at him, hands curled into fists. Draco stood up and looked down at her.
"I never loved you. I don't love you and I never will," he replied coldly. Pansy felt like thousand arrows of ice were piercing her body and she lowered her head.
"I won't give up... I will make you love me, Draco," she said, heaved herself up and went up the staircase to her dorm.
"Is that a threat?" Draco yelled after her but he didn't receive an answer.
Draco waited a few seconds before returning to his room to change into proper clothes. Pansy had been right about one thing, though. It could have been Rhiannon coming into the common room. Or anybody else, for that matter. And being seen in his pyjamas would certainly not help his image of being Head Boy.
In his room he changed into black jeans and a dark green sweater before he went back into the common room. When he entered the common room again some girls in their fourth year were standing in a corner, giggling and once or twice casting him shy glances. In the armchair Draco had occupied a few minutes ago sat Rhiannon, flipping through Uric the Oddballs biography. Today she wore a light grey sweater with three black strips over her chest, a black, knee-length skirt, tights and a pair of black combat boots.
He went over to her and she looked up.
"Morning," he said. "Dreamt anything?"
"Morning. And yes, I did dream something, but I don't remember. Why do ask?"
"A lot of people say, the first dream you have in a new bed becomes true."
"Oh," said Rhiannon. "Then I'll try to remember it."
"It's not that important. Anyway, would you like me to show you around? You probably don't know much of the castle yet," Draco offered her.
"Thank you, I'd like that," she answered, put the book back on the table and stood up.
They left the common room and Draco first showed her the most important dungeons, then the library and then a few different class rooms. The last part of their tour was the Astronomy Tower.
They stepped out onto the balcony of the Astronomy tower and the chilly September wind blew around them. Rhiannon folded her arms in front of her chest, leaned onto the railing and looked over the grounds.
"This is the Forbidden Forest," Draco told her, pointing towards the forest. "And that's the Black Lake."
"It's beautiful," said Rhiannon. Draco took a look at her. Her hair was flowing around her, her blue eyes sparkled and she had a smile on her lips.
She looks beautiful, Draco thought. Then he remembered he didn't know why Rhiannon was here. Something was wrong with that. He knew Rhiannon's parents were dead and that his parents had raised her instead. So why had they sent her to Hogwarts? He had always thought she would receive a more simple education than he did.
'Why are you here?' he asked. Rhiannon turned her head towards him.
"Well, if you ask me that, you obviously remember me from Blackheath Mansion. And you know your parents raised me after my parents died. Is that all they ever told you?" She looked at him expectantly. Draco nodded and she smiled again, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"Then they've only told you the half of the truth. You see, the thing is, all these years your parents raised and educated me to be the perfect bride for you."
Draco stared at her in shock. This bit of information hit him like a ten-pound-weight. He just couldn't believe it. He was young, he was Quidditch Captain and half the girls of the school were after him. He wanted to enjoy his life, goddamn! Not be married off as soon as he graduated.
"Yes, Draco, the two of us are going to be married - like it or not. That's why they sent me here. They knew we didn't know much about each other. So I had to come here to be friends with you and maybe even fall in love with you."
"But... but..." Draco stuttered. "You and I... I mean, you're nice and everything. But... but... I don't love you."
"That's the way I feel about you too," Rhiannon said, turning back to look over the Hogwarts grounds, the smile now gone from her face.
They both remained silent for a long time.
"Let's go inside," said Draco finally. "It's getting cold."
Shortly before they reached the Slytherin common room, Draco stopped in his tracks. Rhiannon also stopped and looked at him, quizzically. They hadn't talked to each other since they had left the balcony of the Astronomy tower.
"Before we go in there I have to tell you something," said Draco.
Rhiannon didn't respond. She just looked at him with her big eyes.
"Pansy hates you."
"I know. I noticed the way she was looking at me yesterday evening. If looks could kill I wouldn't be alive anymore."
"She'll try to destroy you."
"Don't worry about me." Rhiannon grinned. "I know how to fight back."
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