A/N: Just a reminder: Everything between the line breaks is a flash back.

Chapter Two

Of the list of people I did not want to see any time in the near future, Hermione Granger rated a solid eight. There were five Weasleys, Harry Potter and my mother before her. Blaise had been the top of the list until recently. I couldn't do anything about my desire not to be around him since he was helping me.

If I had been sober, I probably would have broken Blaise's nose and ran away. I'm so mature when I'm sober.

Fortunately for Blaise I was drunk and easy to over power.

Blaise didn't want to risk Apparating though we could both do it. Voldemort wasn't dead and I was drunk. We didn't want to risk me mis speaking and landing us in the Dark Lord's clutches.

That would have been fun. Like five root canals. Performed simultaneously.

So it took us longer, with me whining and bitching the entire walk but we eventually were at Granger's door. By then I was feeling back to my old angsty, self-loathing self. Which meant I was quiet.

Blaise knocked on the door. I looked away as she opened it.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice raw.

"Can we come in?"

She hesitated and I could tell what she was thinking. She wanted to grill me, to torture me, to make me pay for what ever wrongs I'd done to her lately and in the past.

"Get in."

Blaise nodded his thanks and dragged me into the small house.

"Has he been drinking?" she demanded.

"More than a little."

She sighed and I finally looked at her. She looked as bad as I felt. Her eyes were rimmed in red and her hair was shorter than I remembered, sticking out at odd angles.

Clearly she had run across a few wrong spells. A spell burn marked her neck on the right side.

She caught me looking and appraised me as Blaise sat me down. "I'll get a Sober up potion," she said.

I winced as she left. Sober up potions worked wonders but I knew that they tended to be a little hard on the drinker. I had no illusions that hers would be kind to me at all.

And after some of the shit I'd done in the past six months, I deserved it…


Blaise took a seat beside me. I wasn't really in the mood. I was still annoyed at him and Theo for their little stunt yesterday. My lip was healed but that didn't mean my resentment was gone.

"Hey, bright eyes," he chirped. "What's up?"

"Go away, Blaise. I'm not in the mood."

"Clearly you're not in the mood to eat either," Blaise said, looking pointedly at my plate.

"No, I'm not," I snapped pushing my food away. As I did so, something across the hall caught my eye.

I looked over to see it was Ginny Weasley, her crimson hair bright in the hall. She was the only Gryffindor at her table but she was not alone. Theo was sitting beside her, talking to her.

Something erupted in my chest. I wanted to go over there and tear Theo away from her but I forced myself to remain seated. That wasn't going to help me. Instead, I watched with a mix of horror, dread and pain as she sat there talking to him. She looked down at something in her hands and then back to him, talking animatedly.

I suddenly wanted her talking to me. I wanted her to be that way around me. I wanted to go over there and make her be like that with me.

Okay, Draco, sexist, male supremist thoughts like that aren't going to get you anywhere. Deep breath.

I was in the act of taking a deep breath and holding it when Theo suddenly leaned closer to Ginny who now had her eyes closed. He trailed a finger down her cheek and to her jaw. There was nothing overly sexual about that but Ginny seemed to lean into the motion for a second.

Then her eyes opened and found mine.

Surprise flickered across her pretty face for a second. I tried to imagine what my face was telling her but it was hard. Instead I studied her face. The surprise disappeared and suddenly she was glowering at me with unconcealed contempt that bordered on hatred.

What the hell? What had I done?

She continued to glare as she gathered her things. She said something to Theo and left the hall.

I watched her leave. The pain and confusion in me slipped away and annoyance replaced them. What the hell? What right did she have to be pissed at me? It wasn't like I had sworn myself to her? And hell, I wasn't even that serious with Ehnola. She couldn't possibly be pissed at me about that, could she?

I pulled my breakfast back to me and ate it quickly before gathering my own things. I had a few things to take care of. Blaise was grinning about something and as I passed Theo, I made sure to hit him in the head with my bag before leaving the Great hall.


I looked over at Blaise for a second as Granger gathered my potion.

It wasn't fair. He was supposed to hate me right now. He wasn't supposed to be helping me. He was supposed to be hating me so I didn't feel so bad about hating myself.

(A/N: Been a long day. Life sucks when you're broke. Hope you like the chapter!

To Guest: I absolutely plan on finishing. I'm just playing catch up.