CHAPTER 10

Harry stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist with a rather nasty feeling that something awful was going to happen and he would rather cover at least half his body when this happened. He walked to the drawer where Draco kept some clean clothes for him and picked from the selection. After having spent such a long time picking out an outfit to wear, he figured nothing bad was going to happen and it was just an aftershock from having spent the night in the forbidden forest so he dropped the towel to get dressed.

Just as Harry reached for the fresh pair of underpants, the door swung open and he immediately shifted his attention to the door and froze. He stared at Blaise and the man stared back, he felt so trapped. Draco was right behind the man but there was nothing Draco could do to help the situation anyways.

Harry couldn't say anything, so he let Blaise break the ice for all of them.

"Harry, what are you doing here?"

"I-ah-I'm putting on clothes?" replied Harry as he cursed himself for making things sound so bad.

"I see." responded Blaise with his arms across his chest, "Why?"

"Because I just took a shower." answered Harry feeling a bit more confident than he had a few seconds ago.

"And what have you been doing to need a shower?" asked Blaise but he continued before Harry or Draco could answer, "Have you been screwing my best friend for a while? Or did this just start? He is the reason why you stayed with me for so long isn't it? Did the last four years mean anything to you?"

Harry watched as Blaise ran the thoughts through his head. He heard the conclusion spill through the man's lips, and he saw the pain that ran through the man as he collided with the conclusion, "Draco and I haven't slept together. He just let me stay here for a few days."

"While I was in the next room, I bet you both had yourselves a great laugh that night I heard you, it was you wasn't it? And my best friend," Blaise turned his attention to Draco, "lied to me and told me I was being insane. You lied to me."

Harry brought the attention back on Blaise, "You cheated on me, after four years of being together, you cheated on me with another man. How can you be angry with Draco for protecting me?"

"Protecting you? How was he protecting you?" retorted Blaise angrily.

Harry's eyes furrowed as he hastily yanked on a pair of pants with his gaze never leaving Blaise, "How was he not protecting me? He kept me from you didn't he? You hurt me, and he kept you away from me. He protected me when you stabbed my heart with a knife and twisted it."

"Harry." pleaded Blaise, "I'm sorry about that, I really am. I didn't mean to hurt you, you don't understand what happened, him and I weren't supposed to-"

"Don't say that Blaise." interrupted Harry firmly as he tried so hard to control himself, "I've already heard it before."

Blaise opened his mouth to respond but all three of them were interrupted by a pop sound and there, standing in the middle of the room was Hermione Granger.

"Stop!" commanded the new intruder.

The three stared at her as they listened to her command and obliged.

"Well?" asked Blaise as the silence simply stretched on.

Hermione snapped out of her Riviera and continued her thought, "Blaise, you don't hold any right to get mad at Draco for all of this, for any of this. This is your fault to begin with. You should not have cheated on Harry in the beginning."

Blaise was about to plead his case when something clicked in his head, "Wait, you knew."

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but Draco beat her to it, "Yes, and what's it to you?"

Blaise took a step forward towards the woman, "You knew and you never told me. How long have you known?"

Hermione debated telling the truth and settled for just that, "I've known since the beginning. It made sense, the only place he would be, would be the last place you would look."

"But I did look here, I asked Draco if Harry was here." replied Blaise.

"Yes, but you didn't search through it like you did all the other houses did you? You did not search through his spare rooms or under his bed to see if Harry hid himself away there. You did not check every corner in Draco's house, did you?"

"I thought he might have been here." retorted Blaise.

"But you didn't check, Blaise. It's the last place you would look, you probably called all the hotels in England and all the hotels in Toronto but you never thought to check in the very house you stayed in."

Blaise held his gaze with Hermione's, "But you knew. You knew where your friend was and you didn't tell me. Why didn't you tell me? Harry and I have been together for four years, how could you not tell me?"

Hermione took a step towards the man as anger boiled in her veins, "How could I not tell you? Do you not remember the conversation that just took place at my house a few minutes ago? I explained why I would never give Harry and you my blessing. You hurt him Blaise. Someone who hurts my friend does not deserve him."

There tears in Blaise's eyes but he refused to cry in front of Hermione or Draco or Harry. Blaise took out his Portkey without meeting any of their eyes. His movements were quick and swift so decisions were made quickly.

"Wait, Blaise." said Harry gently and the man stopped what he was doing and listened, "Blaise, I know what you have done to me. I know you cheated on me and you betrayed me. But I still love you, Blaise. I can't stop thinking about us."

Draco's heart stopped as he heard this. He didn't get the chance to speak much tonight but this was definitely not what the wanted to hear. Especially not from the man who meant the world to him but he kept on listening. This was when Draco finally realize what it meant when people say that knowledge is like a drug because no matter how much the knowledge could hurt him, he continued to listen and continued to take in that knowledge.

"But after all that, Harry-" responded Blaise.

"After all that, I realize that I still love you. I know what happened and it was my fault for not marrying you. I forgive you Blaise."

Then Harry and Blaise embraced each other like misunderstood lovers and all Draco could do was stare as it all happened. It felt like Draco was watching something horrible happen but having no way of stopping it. And with a movement from Blaise's hands which were wrapped around Harry's back, the two were gone as the Portkey was activated.

Draco stared at the spot for a while before he was brought back to reality by Hermione clearing her throat in the room.

"They won't appear again no matter how long you stare at the spot." stated Hermione calmly.

Draco glared at the girl and turned to leave the room but she stopped him with her simple yet powerful words, "He doesn't love him."

He turned to see what she was talking about but whether she was talking about Blaise not loving Harry or Harry not loving Blaise was lost to him, too bad he didn't care at the moment. He wanted to hear what this woman was speaking of.

"I know when Harry is in love, I've watched him through the years. And I don't see the sparkle in his eye when he looks at Blaise."

"But he just said that he loves Blaise."

"Yes, he loves Blaise. But he doesn't love Blaise."

Now Draco was thoroughly confused as to what this woman was talking about and the expression on his face portrayed just that.

"I mean that he loves the idea of Blaise. He loves the idea of them because they were together for four years. He loves how they held it together for so long. But he doesn't love Blaise. He can't love Blaise."

Draco still looked confused. He knew what the woman was trying to say but he just could not bring himself to believe the words.

"How can anyone love someone who hurt them so badly? They can't. Harry is with Blaise because he is afraid that if he enters the world alone, without Blaise, that he won't find anything else. I'm not saying he loves you, though it's pretty evident that you still have feelings for him, but he does not love Blaise." explained Hermione clearly.

Draco looked at the woman for a while, "What do you mean by 'still have feelings for him'?"

"Oh, come on, I've known you for how long? I've watched you throughout the years. Don't you think I pay attention to the Quidditch games or in class or in the halls? Everything you have ever done was to compete with Harry. Trying to get his attention because you never knew him. You thought that Harry was someone with everything handed to him. You thought that Harry was treated like a God all those years so you thought that in order for you to get attention from him, your only hope would be to beat him so you competed. What a logical way of thinking Draco. What would make the world's most perfect person notice you? By being on top of him, then he must notice you, mustn't he? If you beat the perfect man at something, he would have to see that you were just as good as him, or even better, good enough for him. So you competed with him, at Quidditch, at school work, at magical and physical skills. Oh yes Draco, when you thought my head was in a book all those years, you never knew that I was watching it all. I watched as you pined for him all those years, trying as hard as you could to get his attention, and it worked, sort of. You became his greatest enemy, his greatest rival. After all those years of hearing about him from your father, you were finally worthy. You were worthy enough to be his rival, you were worthy enough for him to hate."

Draco didn't say anything as he focused his attention on the girl. It wasn't that he agreed with the girl but it wasn't that he disagreed with her either. It was more a realization of the situation as she spoke. And somehow, by the look on his face, she knew that too.

"I know it's hard to take this all in at once and I know this is all from your side. But I also want to tell you about Harry's side as well. If you did not spend all that time going after him, he never would notice you, this is the truth and I'm telling you now. You may not like to hear it but if it weren't for your efforts, Harry may not even come to notice that you are alive right now. But that is what matters isn't it? The fact that you did something about it instead of doing nothing and letting life go by is what makes the you now different from the you which you should be. It was your choices, it was your actions that made you who you are today."

"But none of it mattered." replied Draco with enough unease to sound like a whisper, "Harry's still not with me."

"You can't look at it like that, Draco. There is a reason he is not with you, and that reason is four years. Not love, not because he wants to spend forever with Blaise. It's four years, it's the four years they were together, it's the four years they dedicated to each other. And honestly, even after all you did to us in school, I still choose you over Blaise for Harry any day."

"Why's that?"

"Because there are things you can just tell, a feeling that there is something there. There is something between you and Harry that Blaise can never share with Harry. And I think that somewhere in Blaise's heart, he knows it too. He knows that Harry and you hold a connection that he can never live up to, that is why he is holding on to Harry for as long as he can. He does, even after he cheated, still loves Harry with all his heart and I know it. But there are just some things that I know about Harry and he may think that he can live with the thought of being cheated on, but he can't. I'm also not saying that Harry secretly loves you or that he ever pined for you. I'm just saying that there is something between the two of you that Blaise and Harry don't have."

"But that's the problem isn't it? There may be something between Harry and me, but what if he never realizes it? And he's back with Blaise now, it's not like I can do anything about it. There's nothing I can do about that. They are together, and they seem happy. So, no matter how much I tried and how much I have changed, it doesn't matter. We are still not together and I'm at the end of trying so hard and losing him time and time again."

"But Draco, you don't understand-"

"No, I understand perfectly. He and I are never going to be together."

"But Draco-"

"No, don't try to change my mind and make me feel differently about this. It's time I give up Harry and that's exactly what I'm going to do. It's over between him and me and I know it. I've just been hanging on for too long. But now I know, I know what I am to him now. I'm nothing and I'm going to end this feeling of being useless and meaning nothing to him."

Hermione wanted to set the other man at ease but there was nothing she could do or say without lying because, truth be told, she was in the dark as to Harry's feelings for Draco. She hoped that Harry felt the connection but what if she was wrong? What if he didn't feel anything for Draco at all?

AN: I would like to thank everyone who read and/or reviewed this fic. Even if you don't review or havn't or stopped, I would like to thank you for sticking with this fic for so long. It is finished, I just need to edit the last chapter. There are only a few more chapters after this one so it won't go on forever.

I would like to give special thanks to Oreopet for the wonderful reviews that makes me smile.

I would also like to give Pink Cherry Blossom a very special thanks for the wonderful review that took forever to read. It really made me smile. I have edited or totally re-written a few of my old fics. If you like, you could always read them over. Thanks for reading my other stories and this one as well. You're review was wonderful.

Also, thanks Lyonessheart for the review. It's very cute and encouraging.

Thanks to Morena Evensong for the continuously wonderful support. It really gives a boost to the confidence. Thanks.

Thanks Fefs for the review, I didn't think it was meant to be mean.

Lykaios Nyx, I liked that scene too! haha yeay, you see the connection.

Thanks JadeLilyMalfoy for your support. Which graduation fic are you talking about that I wrote? Thanks for reading my other fics too by the way.

Know Thyself, thanks for the review and haha, all in due time. Though I'm pretty sure Blaise won't be getting physically hurt any time soon...

orlin, thanks for the lovely review and I'm glad your computer is doing well. I get so scared when something goes wrong with mine. My whole life is on there. So, I get a bit unnerved.