Chapter 10
Draco woke the next morning still groggy from the alcohol. He had a vague recollection of things going terribly wrong. He glanced to his side to see Adelaide lying on his bed with his shirt draped over her. His suspicions from the night before were correct… Hermione had stood him up and in a fit of rage, he had slept with Adelaide… it was not just a bad dream.
As his mind attempted to recall all the fragments of memories obtain from the night prior, his pain from being rejected began to return. Hermione had chosen Ron. He wasn't sure why this fact was so shocking… he should have expected her to choose the golden trio over a death eater. Why did he ever think he had a chance? The only thing he knew now was that he wasn't going to give her the glory of seeing his pain. He was determined to show her that she had no control over his emotions. He was desperate to prove to her that he didn't need or even want her.
Draco opened the curtain of his four-poster bed, reached to his bedside table, and obtained a potion for the hangover. The shift of the bed caused Adelaide to awaken. She groaned in pain as Draco handed her the potion to sip. She sat up and laid her head on his shoulder. This moment seemed much more loving than the way they had been together the previous night. Her lips brushed against his skin as she whispered, "this was fun… I'll see you in the hall."
She slid off of the bed, collected various articles of clothing to cover up, and left the boys dormitory. The moment she was out of the room, the curtains of the bed across from Draco's shot open to reveal Blaise looking at Draco with a large grin.
"Now THAT is what I call a rebound," Blaise exclaimed.
Draco rolled his eyes at Blaise and threw a hangover cure to him. To Blaise, Hermione was just another girl… just someone to forget about overnight. He would never understand how the pain of being rejected by her was like poison spreading through Draco's body. It was damaging everything and had no cure. Yes. Draco had slept with another girl… but it was in no way a method to get over Hermione. It was simply a moment of intense anger and a release of his frustrations.
Draco walked to the lavatory to wash up for breakfast. Under the hot shower water, the cuts along his back from Adelaide's nails burned. He scrubbed the lipstick stains off of his neck, but the bruises remained below. He now had several purple marks along his neck to match the one on his eye. To add to the damaged bad-boy look, he also had a gash on his lip from Adelaide's bites. He knew he could use magic to fix it but preferred to leave it as is. Something about it felt right.
He stood under the steaming water for several minutes, feeling the burning sensation on his skin. For some reason, he felt he deserved to feel this kind of physical pain. By the time he turned the water off, his skin was glowing red from the heat. He wrapped a black towel around himself and walked back to the dorm to change into his school uniform for breakfast.
He entered the Great Hall that morning with Blaise and Nott. Adelaide was just behind them, walking with Daphne Greengrass. The girls were likely gossiping about Adelaide's night with Draco. He scanned the room, and his eyes became stuck at the Gryffindor table.
Hermione was sitting with Harry, Ginny and Ron. Her hand rubbing Ron's back. Draco's chest constricted. Before now, he had secretly hoped that there was an alternative explanation. That Pansy had lied about seeing Hermione with Ron, and that she hadn't showed up to the room of requirement for a proper reason. He hoped that he would regret sleeping with Adelaide and everything would end up being a big miscommunication. He hoped that he still had a chance. But seeing her in the hall, with her hand on Ron's back, confirmed that Pansy was right. Hermione had chosen Ron.
He moved his glance away from Hermione, unwilling to watch her with him anymore. Anger grew inside him as he thought about Ron getting to be the one to kiss her… he wanted revenge for her toying with his emotions but wasn't sure how. Then, Adelaide and Daphne walked into the room behind him and Draco knew what game he needed to play. He grinned at Adelaide, causing her to walk towards him. He stretched his arm around her waist and led them to a spot at the Slytherin table.
In clear view of Hermione and her friends, he kissed Adelaide on the cheek and brushed the hair out of her face. If anyone is going to be jealous, he thought, it's going to be Hermione. He slid his hand down her back and rested it there while he began to eat.
Adelaide grinned at Draco, "I'd be lying if I said I expected you to act like this."
"Like what?"
"The kiss on the cheek. The hand on my back. Walking me to a table. I didn't expect Draco Malfoy to care much the morning after."
Draco laughed on the inside. Little did Adelaide know, this couple act was simply a means to an end. A way to convince Hermione he wasn't heartbroken over her skipping their date.
Not wanting Adelaide to catch on, he cheekily responded, "Not many people really know Draco Malfoy." He added a wink for good measure.
Adelaide blushed and then continued the conversation by commenting on the front page of the Daily Prophet, which displayed the latest Rita Skeeter article about more ministry changes initiated by Kingsley Shacklebolt. However, Draco was unable to hear Adelaide's opinion on the topic because he was too absorbed with the commotion at the Gryffindor table.
Hermione abruptly stood from her table and hastily left the great hall before finishing her breakfast. As she ran from the room, her hand was near her face, seemingly hiding tears.
"Draco?" Adelaide asked trying to get his attention.
Once Hermione was out of the room, he turned back to Adelaide. "Sorry, what were you saying about the ministry?"
"Just that it's about time they replaced that barbaric statue with something more humane."
She was referencing the Magic is Might statue that had been erected when the death eaters infiltrated the ministry. It was torn down directly after the war, but an empty hole had remained in its place until now. Adelaide passed the paper to Draco. The front cover contained a large image of the new statue. It was a marble depiction of a witch and wizard standing alongside a goblin, elf, and centaur in harmony. The title of the article read, A Symbol of Hope for the Future. Ever since the war, the ministry had been working tirelessly to improve relations with their fellow magical communities.
Draco nodded to Adelaide in agreeance. He had never really spent time with her but was pleasantly surprised that she had some Hermione-like qualities. Caring too much about other beings' rights was one of Hermione's trademarks. Draco halted his train of thought. He needed to stop comparing every other girl to Hermione. He needed to forget about her… but how?
When Draco got to potions class that afternoon, the only seat left at the Slytherin bench was the one that directly faced the Gryffindors. He reluctantly took his seat and hoped Hermione wouldn't face him when she got to the room. The last thing he needed was to look straight at her for an entire class.
She entered the room a few moments later with Harry. She kept her eyeline to the other side of the classroom, avoiding looking at him. To Draco's relief, she took the seat that faced away from his table, and Draco instead was to look at Harry during class.
As Slughorn lectured about the potion they would be making, Harry repeatedly shot aggressive stares at Draco from across the room. This made Draco's blood boil. The Gryffindors always thought they were so high and mighty, and it made many of the Slytherin's, including Draco, detest them. How could Harry have the audacity to look at him like that, when Hermione had been the one to stand him up and move on with Ron. Somehow, the Gryffindors always made it out to seem like they were innocent and that the Slytherin's were the bad guys. Maybe that was normally true, but today, Hermione was at fault.
Hermione had been the cruel one who led him on. She had been the one who acted like she understood him, like she truly liked him. But it was all just an act… Probably some messed up way of getting revenge for his part in the war. Draco laughed to himself about how fucked up their sense of humor had to be to think toying with someone's emotions was fun.
As class continued, the angry stares from Harry subsided, but that only left Draco to focus on Hermione. He wanted to be mad at her, he wanted to hate her, but he couldn't. While trying to brew his potion, he kept becoming distracted by the little things she would do. The way she would fidget her hands around the ingredient vials, the delicate way she poured liquids, the way she smelled the fluxweed before adding it to her cauldron, and the way she visibly counted how many times she had stirred her pot.
Draco snapped his attention back to his own work as it began to bubble and ooze over the edge of the cauldron. Slughorn walked by and shook his head down at his potion, "distracted today Malfoy? It's not like you to add the wrong ingredients."
Draco looked at his hand to see he was holding lovage leaves instead of knotgrass.
Slughorn continued, "You should have added knotgrass, not lovage leaves. No way to save it now. Might as well pack up."
Draco flicked his wand to make his destroyed potion disappear. He sighed as he packed away all of his utensils and books. It was extremely frustrating to be so consumed by someone who wanted nothing to do with you.
As he put away his last measuring spoon, Draco overheard Slughorn talking to the Gryffindors, "Oh my!"
He looked up to see that Slughorn was looking down at Hermione's smoking cauldron in disapproval. He was surprised to see that she had made a mistake… Hermione was too smart for that. He determined that she must have been distracted by something but was unsure of what.
"Today is not going very well! All of my best students seem to be too distracted to brew anything. I think it's best if you both stop here, before you or Mr. Malfoy burn down the castle. You may be dismissed and go to the library to write out a paper about the errors you made while brewing today."
Great… Draco thought to himself. If he had been sent to spend alone time with Hermione a few days ago, he would have been thrilled. But now, this was the worst form of punishment.
They made their way out of the room and down the corridors in total silence. Draco stayed a few steps behind her, attempting to decrease the awkward tension, but it didn't help.
The way she walked tall and unaffected by him, was driving him insane. There was no way Draco was spending the remainder of class with her. He didn't need any library books to explain why lovage leaves were the wrong choice for the potion. He already knew all of their properties, and so, he decided to skip the library and write his paper alone in his dorm. He turned away from Hermione without looking back.
