Chapter 11

Draco knew that Hermione and Ginny frequently studied in the northern corridor on Thursday afternoons. It was for that reason, he walked with Adelaide to the that exact hallway for a perfect place to spend some time together after class. As they sat on the bench, kissing each other, it became clear Draco's plan was working. Hermione was watching them, and as she did, her face became increasingly flushed.

"Ouch Draco," Adelaide muttered.

He hadn't been paying much attention to her, and so his hand had wrapped around her hair one too many times. He untangled his fingers from her long locks and mumbled an apology.

"Are you even paying attention? It feels like you're always focused on something else when we're together."

Adelaide turned and followed Draco's eyeline to see what he was looking at. Across the hallway, Hermione was reciting lines from her textbook with Ginny.

"Oh…" Adelaide exhaled deeply.

Draco turned back to Adelaide to see disappointment in her eyes. They began to water as she sighed, "I'm just a prop for you, aren't I?"

Draco crunched his eyebrows in confusion. Adelaide nodded towards Hermione before quietly stating, "Hermione. I'm just a pawn in whatever twisted game you are playing with…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Draco suggested, "Why don't we go have this conversation somewhere more private."

He didn't want a public breakup, especially not in front of Hermione. They both stood from the bench they had been sitting on, and Draco led Adelaide out of the hallway. He wanted to turn back to see if Hermione had noticed but decided it would be too insensitive if Adelaide saw.

When they reached an empty classroom, Adelaide closed the door behind them and turned to Draco. "I'm not stupid. I can see you watching her. You don't really have feelings for me, do you?"

Her tone had become angrier than it had been in the hallway.

Draco awkwardly looked down at his shoes. He was unsure how to let her down gently. Eventually he mumbled uncomfortably, "honestly… no…"

"On the first night, when we were drinking, it was fun. I knew you had a thing for her, but I figured it was just sex between you and me. That was fine because sex isn't that big of a deal to me. But this… this is unfair. It's cruel to toy with my emotions, leading me on, making me think you really like me, just to get back at another girl."

They stood staring at each other for a moment. Guilt was building in Draco's stomach and he didn't know how to release it. She was right, it was cruel to do this to her. Unwilling to let him respond, Adelaide stated, "this… whatever it is… it's over," before storming out of the room.

Draco stayed in the empty classroom for a while to gather his thoughts.


That evening, Draco had to attend detention because of the fight that took place in the courtyard earlier that week. He attended with Blaise and Theo, both of whom aided him during the brawl. The three Slytherins walked into the foyer, where Filch had requested they all meet.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and a few other students from various houses were already in the foyer with Filch. Draco scanned the room and noticed that about half of the student's present had received detention because of the fight. He looked over to Ginny, trying to guess what she had done to secure a spot with Filch this evening.

Blaise, who noticed Draco looking, whispered to him, "she set off a whole batch of her brother's fireworks in Professor Binns' class. It was epic."

"Alright," Filch spoke up, "now that everyone is here, I got a few tasks I've been saving for you."

He laughed a wicked laugh and then proceeded to separate the students into smaller groups, assigning all of them with an unpleasant job for the evening. Nott was partnered with Harry and an unknown Hufflepuff. They were assigned to clean the thestral stalls for Hagrid. Blaise was sent off with two Ravenclaw students to repot mandrakes for Professor Sprout. Ron, Neville, and a much younger Hufflepuff were sent to the library to reorganize all the books. That left Draco and Ginny for the final task.

Filch looked at the peculiar pair standing in front of him with vengeance in his eyes. Filch had always hated Draco, likely because Draco was rather rude to him throughout his entire school career. Draco also predicted that Ginny was one of his least favourite students, as he unfairly blamed her for Mrs. Norris being petrified in Draco's second year. Draco thus concluded that they would be getting the worst punishment of all.

With a large grin on his face, Filch explained, "the new blast-ended skrewts that Hagrid got are getting way too big for their current enclosures. It's your job to move each of them into a new cage and then feed them their dinner."

Draco recalled how much he hated blast-ended skrewts. They had been one of the reason's he stopped taking care of magical creatures. Why on earth anyone would want them as a pet was beyond him. But then again, Hagrid always did have a thing for unusual pets.

As him and Ginny walked out of the castle, towards the creature cages, he began to wonder what would be worse, the blast-ended skrewts, or being alone with Ginny.

They were barely halfway there before a jinx hit Draco in the back, causing him to fall down the hill.

"What the hell!" he yelled at Ginny.

"You're a complete arse Malfoy," Ginny yelled back. "I warned you not to hurt her!"

She shot another jinx at him before he could get his wand out. He flung backwards again, landing hard against a tree. He managed to pull his wand in time to block the next jinx that made its way to him. Ginny approached with her wand drawn.

"I hurt her?" Draco exclaimed. "She's the one who never showed! She's the one…"

Before Draco could yell about how Hermione had left him for Ron, Ginny disarmed Draco, catching his wand midair. She then cast a silencing charm, preventing him from saying anything else.

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses. You're an arse who led her on and is now flaunting his new girlfriend right in front of her. You better keep all of your snogging away from her!"

Draco couldn't respond because of the spell. He chuckled silently to himself at how ignorant Ginny was being. He wasn't the one who led her on. It was the opposite really. He wondered what twisted story Hermione had told them to gain their forgiveness.

On the bright side, his girlfriend act with Adelaide clearly did its job. If Hermione was sending Ginny after him to make it stop, she must really be flustered. Too bad Adelaide had ended things earlier that day, Draco would have loved to shove his pretend romance in her face a little longer.

Draco stood up silently, keeping his eyes on Ginny. He debated trying to find a way to argue with her about the details of him and Hermione's previous romance, but figured it wasn't even worth the fight. There was no way he would ever convince Ginny that Hermione was the guilty one. Gryffindors would always think they were in the right and Slytherins would always play the villain in their stories.

Ginny, still holding Draco's wand, turned and walked towards the blast-ended skrewt cages as if nothing had happened. For the entire detention, she refused to return Draco's wand or release the silencing charm.

Moving the creatures into their new cages was much more difficult without his magic. Draco's hands were blistered from the shots of fire they kept expelling and he had no way of healing his wounds or blocking the heat.

Once the final blast-ended skrewt was rehomed and fed, Ginny threw Draco's wand at him and turned away without a word. By the time Draco managed to cast a silent spell to release Ginny's charm, she was out of sight. Even if he wanted to set the story straight, he couldn't.

Grumpy from the events of the evening, Draco trudged back to the castle and into the dungeons. Adelaide was sitting with a group of girls in the center of the common room. They all looked at Draco as he walked past and whispered behind his back once he was gone. He didn't really care. At least he deserved their resentment, unlike the hate he was receiving from Hermione's friends.

He threw himself onto his bed and immediately closed the curtains to block out his roommates. That night, and every night for the rest of the week, Draco would dream memories from his childhood. Most of them involved his father's cane hitting the back of his head for something he did or didn't do. It angered Draco that his father still had such a strong hold on him despite being in Azkaban. At least, he didn't have to hear Hermione's screams in these memories.


Draco woke up and turned to his calendar. The date read November 15th. Today was the day his mother was planning to visit his father in Azkaban… Draco was dreading this day.

That morning, he was bombarded by letters,

Dear Draco,

I have arranged travel for you to Azkaban if you change your mind. Please do consider coming with me. It would mean so much to me if I could see you and your father together again.

If you do decide to join the family, meet the headmaster in her office at 2 PM.

Love,

Your Mother.

Draco tore the letter apart and set it ablaze, just like he had done with all the previous letters asking him to join her. He picked up the next envelope and began to read its contents,

Son,

You are expected to act like a Malfoy man. Do not disappoint your mother.

See you this afternoon,

L.M.

Once again, Draco set the letter on fire and watched the ashes fall to his plate. To his surprise, the next letter was not addressed by either of his parents,

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing you to inquire about an interview later today. My sources say that your mother is visiting your father today in Azkaban. I would love to hear your stance on the matter. Will you be attending the visitation? Are you still supporting his extreme beliefs? Do you and your mother plan to aid him in any way?

Talk soon,

Rita Skeeter

Draco threw the letter on the table. What a shitstorm, he thought. The media had already got a hold on the story and were preparing to further ruin the Malfoy name.

Draco knew if he decided to accept the interview, even if he said he was completely against his father, Rita Skeeter would find a way to twist his words and make him out to be the bad guy. He figured his best option was to refuse the interview, and let his actions speak louder than his words. Not attending the visitation would be a clear enough signal to the public that he was no longer affiliated with his father.

No longer feeling the urge to eat, Draco grabbed his bag and headed to potions class. Being the first one there had its perks. He was able to choose a seat facing away from the Gryffindor bench. That way, he wouldn't have to look at Hermione and Harry throughout the entire class. His day was already shitty enough as it was. He didn't need to make it worse by seeing Hermione acting like the perfect princess everyone thought she was.

Nothing, however, would go right today for Draco. As soon as class started, Professor Slughorn announced that he would be pairing students for a special assignment where they were to create a simple potion that had practical uses for them and their partner. Just Draco's luck, he got paired with Hermione.

Draco stood from his bench and tried to act casual as he walked towards Hermione. He hadn't been this close to her since the beginning of November. Even from across the table, he could smell lavender on her hair. He wondered if it was from her shampoo.

Attempting to seem as indifferent about the situation as possible, Draco flatly said, "Well, let's get this over with." Although he worried that his tone of voice might have made him seem angrier than he was going for.

Hermione fumbled with the piles of paper in front of her. "Yes, ummm…"

Cutting off her awkward attempts to start the project, Draco stepped in, "Slughorn said to create a simple potion that we both would find useful. What would the golden girl need to make her life even more spectacular?"

Hermione snapped back, "what would a death eater need to make his life even more glorious?"

She knew his pain too well. She knew just how to make him hurt. He pulled his sleeves further down his arm, hiding the mark tattooed into his skin. "Got a potion to reverse time Granger?"

That was what he really needed. A do over. A chance to go back to before the war and make all the right choices. Maybe he could pull a Potter and ask the sorting hat to place him into Gryffindor. His parents would detest him for it, but maybe then he would be able to do something good with his life.

"Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly sound like a simple potion to invent. You might have to send in an application to the ministry for a time-turner. Although I suppose even that won't give you what you're looking for."

For a moment, they sat quietly looking at each other. Already, Hermione's eyes had grown softer. There was no longer hostile air surrounding them.

Eventually, Draco broke the silence. "I'd suggest a love potion, but you don't seem to need it."

Saying that was apparently the equivalent to him putting his foot in his mouth, because Hermione looked at him as if he had just slapped her. Attempting to explain, he added, "You and Weasley right?"

"Ron?! Why would you think I was in love with Ron?"

Now Draco was truly confused. "You got back together with him. That's why you didn't show up."

"We're not back together… he broke his leg, and I spent the night in the hospital wing with him because he's my friend and he asked me to. I would have explained everything to you, but you had already run off and found yourself a girlfriend. Congratulations by the way, Adelaide is absolutely stunning."

If Draco weren't consumed by regret, he might have noticed the hint of jealousy in Hermione's voice. A week ago, Draco had hoped everything would be a big miscommunication. But when he saw her with Ron, he was so sure he had done the right thing. He should have known that he always did the wrong thing. He should have given her a chance to explain before running off with Adelaide.

He had so many things he wanted to say in response. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to ask her to go back in time with him and forget that the past few days had ever happened. But most of all, he wanted to tell her that he never stopped wanting or thinking about her.

Despite everything he wanted to say, he only managed to get out, "yes, she is. But she's not my girlfriend…"

He wished he had the courage to tell her how stupid he felt. How he wished he had done things differently. But Draco wasn't brave… he never would have belonged in Gryffindor even if he had asked the sorting hat.

"Pain relief," Hermione said quietly. "The potion, we could both use pain relief."

Shared pain. The thing that had brought them together in the first place. It seemed fitting that this was the potion they would create together.

Draco nodded and then began to discuss various ingredients they could use. No more words were shared about their miscommunication. When class ended, Draco wasn't even sure where they stood with each other. He missed Hermione and was hopeful that their relationship could be mended. Unfortunately for Draco, he couldn't focus on that now because his mother was about to make the dumbest decision she could possibly make, and Draco would likely be dragged down with her. For now, he needed to focus on protecting himself.