Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters, or Hogwarts. If I did, you should know that I wouldn't be writing about them, but instead having them act things out.

Pansy left the Slytherin common room in a furious state.

"Grovel? GROVEL! I do not grovel at his feet! The nerve he has…" More angry muttering escaped her lips as she stomped her way away from the dungeon. Her black hair flew wildly behind her. Her hair was usually neat and straight, but now it seemed to radiate her anger.

"After everything I did for him. All the times I defended him! And he thinks he has the bloody right to say that?" Pansy couldn't help all the hurt and anger she felt. She had stuck through Draco's ranting and arrogance for a long time, but this was the last straw. How dare he?

In the past, she had put up with him calling her stupid. Calling her a whore. Calling her almost every bad thing imaginable. She had defended him around other Slytherins when he wasn't around. They were nasty when he wasn't there, and yet respected, and possibly feared him, when he was around.

"Stupid two faced gits…" Pansy was referring to almost every Slytherin now. What had she done wrong? Nothing! No one ever appreciated what she did. Ever. No one even spared a thought to what she might be feeling. She was just another crony to him. Just someone he talked with to help pass the time.

She could feel her eyes stinging with angry tears. Everyone thought she fancied Draco. She knew the whole school thought that. But she didn't. She knew all his secrets, all his habits, and she had studied him for so long. That didn't mean anything though. She respected Draco. She thought so highly of him, knowing what he had gone through, finding excuses for all the horrid things he did to her and his other 'friends'. All she had wanted was for him to be able to be open up a bit, and to stop being snide with everyone.

But tonight he had gone too far. Yelling at her in the common room about how she should stop obsessing over him. About how she always grovelled at his feet… and about how her friendship meant nothing.

"Bloody jerk…" she whispered harshly, blinking back tears that were threatening to escape her eyes. Her feet continued pounding as she glared at the floor.

Suddenly, a body collided with hers.

"Watch where you're going you bloody git!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, tears finally springing from her eyes. A collision was all she needed to bring her over the edge. She clutched whomever she had bumped into and began shaking them violently. "Why can't you pay attention to where you're going? Pay attention!" Pansy was sobbing and screaming, still shaking the person. After shaking this person for a while, she clung to them.

Holding onto the front of the robes, she buried her face into the boy's chest. Her tears flowed all over, but she didn't care if it ruined the boy's robes. She just buried her face deeper and let out another choking sob.

After a while of shaky breaths and sobs, Pansy felt herself calm slightly. She felt a hand rub her back in small circles awkwardly.

"It's okay…" said an unsure voice she recognised. Ron Weasley. Of all the people she had to break down in front, it had to be the redheaded Gryffindork who was one of Potter's friends. Friends. Potter didn't treat his friends like cronies. He cared. Pansy was one to observe things, and study things. Although she still thought the Dark Lord had the right idea about Purebloods, she knew Harry had true friends, and that Weasley was one of them.

These thoughts just made Pansy become angry again. She was through crying though. The blond prat didn't deserve her tears.

"What happened?" asked Ron hesitantly, looking down at the girl still clutching onto him.

"Nothing out of the ordinary…" replied Pansy in a cold tone. She pulled herself away from the confused Ron and went back to walking. She felt calmer now that she had relieved some of her frustrations through shaking Ron and sobbing.

She thought about going outside into the cold night air. It might do her good. She needed to relax and find a way to control her anger for Draco. She'd have to go back and apologize. But not now. Maybe not even tomorrow. But she would have to. Her parent's were Purebloods, and they always told her to stick to Draco, because Malfoys were good people to have connections with. She knew they were right.

Pansy stopped walking towards the oak doors when she heard someone following her. She turned and saw the redheaded boy walking towards her hesitantly. She could tell he was nervous, and it was taking him a lot to find the courage to walk to her. He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

"I'm fine, Weasley." She sighed before she turned back around to continue her walk. She caught a glimpse of him glaring at her though.

"Sorry for being concerned!" he said angrily, and she knew he regretted ever feeling bad for her. 'Good,' she thought. 'I don't need people pitying me…'

"I'll forgive you this time." Pansy called back, masking her emotions. Not hearing any more footsteps, Pansy was satisfied. Finally, he'd go away.

"I was just trying to help. You seemed… distressed…"

Why couldn't he bugger off? Was it really that hard? She turned around and faced him irritably. "Well don't. I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help! Not from you… not from anybody!" she spat at him.

Ron seemed to be in an even more awkward position than before. Why was he always so bloody nervous? And clueless? Pansy thought she was being quite blunt in asking him to leave. He was always uncomfortable around Slytherins.

That's all she was: a Slytherin, or one of Draco's followers. Those were the only two ways anyone would ever describe her. She shrieked in frustration at her own thoughts and turned back around to continue walking. Ron seemed even more shocked now that she shrieked, but she didn't care. She needed fresh air now more than ever.

"Am I that bad that you have to shriek at my face?" cried Ron as he followed her. "You know, you're not too nice to look at yourself…" Ron was still confused with everything, but he was angry.

Pansy stopped dead in her tracks. "Excuse me?" she said, turning to glare daggers at him. "Are all guys this infuriating?" she cried out. "What the bloody hell makes you think I shrieked at your face? More importantly, why the bloody hell would you say something like that to me? I realise I'm not pretty. Do you not think I own a mirror? Do you not think people call me 'Pug face' everyday? Bugger off, Weasley! The last thing I need now is a bloody Gryffindor insulting me." She could feel the tears burning her eyes again, as her death glare continued boring into Ron.

Ron, on the other hand, seemed deeply regretful of his jumping to conclusions, his ears slightly red with the embarrassment of it. He also seemed a bit frightened at her reaction. Mostly though, he looked at her with a worried expression.

"I… I didn't mean it like that…" he said hesitantly, as he examined Pansy, probably wondering if she was going to explode again.

"Screw you." Pansy said in a low and dark voice. She stopped glaring at him, and stared at the floor, wishing her eyes would stop watering so much. She shut her eyes tightly as she tried her hardest not to cry. Tonight was too much for her.

"Really. I just… I thought you were insulting me so I –"

"I don't care." Pansy whispered.

"I honestly didn't mea-"

"I don't care!" she looked up at him, glaring once again, but she was seemed less threatening since she was on the verge of crying. "Stop. Stop trying to redeem yourself. I'm just a Slytherin. You shouldn't have to worry about a Slytherin, or what she thinks of you! I'm just a Slytherin... I'm just one of his cronies. I'm nothing but his crony…" she was talking more to herself than to him. Tears began to fall down her cheeks, and she covered her face, hoping by some miracle he wouldn't notice. She couldn't cry in front of a Gryffindor. She couldn't cry in front of anyone.

After some time of her crying into her hands, Ron spoke up. "Did… Did you and Malfoy break up?"

Pansy had now officially crossed the line into hysteria. Her eyes were wide as she brought her hands away from her face, although her tears never stopped. "No…" she said, smiling at the irony of his thoughts through her tears. "Nope. Know why?" she chuckled, but then her face became contorted with anger once more. "Because we never went out. Because I don't fancy him. Because I've never fancied him. We were never together in any way!" Her voice had steadily increased and her arms were flailing around, and now she was shouting at Ron, who seemed like he was about to whimper in fear.

Pansy put her hands back on her face, ashamed she exploded again, and sobbed into her hands. She could already hear Draco scolding her on how un-Slytherin like she was acting. Or worse: How she should be acting like a Pureblood instead of a blubbering mess.

She collapsed to the floor, hugging herself, shaking the thoughts that he was right to scold her that way. She had almost forgotten about the boy who was now approaching her.

"Did he…" Ron stopped, not wanting to say the wrong thing and make Pansy as insane as she had been just a few moments prior. "What happened?" He knelt beside her and watched her, not exactly sure if she wanted him to touch her or not.

Pansy realised how 'Gryffindor' he was acting. Being brave by staying with her, knowing she could get violent any time. Or maybe he was acting like a Hufflepuff, always caring, no matter towards whom. She wished sometimes Slytherins thought it was okay to act that way. Not often, but sometimes.

"He was acting his usual self towards me, and I realised… that is his usual self. No matter how much I tell myself it's just a mask, I know it's not. No matter how much I tell myself it's a façade, I know its not. I'm not his friend. He doesn't treat me like a friend, and I kept telling myself he just needed someone to get close to him so he could let more people get close to him. I tried being that one person to make him realise that hurting people for no reason wasn't what he really enjoyed doing, but it is. That really is who Draco Malfoy is. He goes out of his way to start fights. He knows what ticks people off and he uses that against them, against me."

Spilling her heart out to Ron wasn't as bad as she would have thought. She hadn't planned on telling him all that, but it just came out. It was as if he were her verbal diary. She had never kept a journal, and now she wondered if maybe she had, this whole situation could have been avoided. She felt so much more relieved now that she had told him what was on her mind. Ron hadn't spoken, and she was grateful for that. Whether it had been because of shock or lack of anything to say, Pansy wasn't sure. She knew it wasn't because of understanding though, since she knew he wasn't the brightest Gryffindor.

Pansy stayed on the floor, but her breathing had gone to normal, and she was relatively calm. She realised Ron wasn't the best person she should have confessed to. In fact, he was one of the last people she should have talked to about this. She was shocked, but still pleased that she had finally worded what had been bugging her. Not that she was pleased it was Ronald Weasley, who would probably spill everything to his precious Potter as soon as they saw each other.

She turned her head slightly to look at the redhead. "Weasley?" she asked in a whisper. He was gaping at her, his eyes trying to narrow and widen at the same time. Had he been that way the whole time? He almost looked like he was twitching. Hearing his name made him blink, and he opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. Pansy groaned, now thinking of the repercussions of her little episode.

"I was… I was kidding…" she mumbled, looking at the floor. She looked back at him, somewhat desperately. He was still shocked and didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth and after a half-second of not closing it, Pansy realised he was going to talk. "Don't tell anyone. Please? I just needed to tell someone, and now that that's done, I'm okay. I'm perfect now. Don't tell anyone Ron! No one needs to know I think that. Please don't tell." Pansy pleaded, not caring that she seemed so desperate and vulnerable. Hopefully, no one would know but he.

Ron stared at her, his eyes showing that he was having an inner battle of some sort. He seemed concerned, but Pansy was panicking now. He opened his mouth to talk again, but Pansy hugged him, which caused his newly restored shock to close his mouth.

"Please don't tell anyone, Ron. Please don't tell…" she buried her face in his robes again. "Please, Ron. Please…"

"Pansy…" Ron said her name in a strange voice, not used to calling her by her first name, or calling her anything for that matter.

"Pansy!" someone called through the hallway. The voice was distant, but Pansy's head shot up at the sound. "Pansy! Where the bloody hell are you?" She scrambled to her feet and looked in the direction the sound was coming from.

Ron stared at her, then down the hall, then back at her. She looked down at Ron who was still on the floor and gave him one last pleading look.

"Thank you for listening to me tonight, even if you didn't want to." Pansy was whispering, scared the source of the voice would hear her.

"Pansy! Are you going to come back into the common room? People are starting to wonder. I hope that was the first and last of your dreadful outbursts."

Pansy looked quickly down the hall, hearing the voice come closer. She felt like she'd be able to apologize to Draco tonight, now that someone knew that she didn't like it. She felt like her own mask had fallen, and someone had seen the real her. Even if it was just one person, and that person was a Gryffindor, it still felt good.

"Please don't tell anyone about tonight, Weasley…" Pansy left down the hall and as soon as she came into sight with the blond Slytherin, began her apologies.

Ron listened, still on the floor, too shocked and in thought to move. His shock passed and he stood up and dusted his robes, looking down the hall where he could still hear her asking for forgiveness for her irrational behaviour in the common room.

He started back to his dorm, completely forgetting the kitchens that he had left the common room to visit in the first place.

"I promise I won't tell…" he whispered almost inaudibly, before walking up the stairs in the opposite direction and heading for bed.