Chapter Four

Two weeks earlier

Pansy Parkinson was not a nice girl, and she knew it. She was vengeful and cruel on her best days, something she was admittedly rather proud of. So when she overheard Draco telling his friends Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott that he was breaking up with her, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She was going to humiliate Draco Malfoy back into her bed, but she had to do it in such a way that she took no blame. It was a damn good thing she was Slytherin to the core.

That was why in the days after her breakup with Draco she was following him around the castle underneath a Disillusionment Charm between classes. Surely if she watched him long enough she'd stumble across something she could use to ruin him. That first day yielded no results whatsoever. Draco had to be one of the most boring and predictable people she'd ever met. So she continued to follow him around on the sly.

The Saturday after the end of her relationship, she finally learned something that she would be able to exploit. She had stopped several yards behind him in the entrance hall just as he approached the Golden Trio. Pansy smirked. Still so predictable. Draco nudged Crabbe and pointed at the three people he hated most.

Or . . . perhaps only the two people he hated most.

Pansy crept closer so she could hear what her ex-boyfriend and his rivals were arguing about.

". . . don't know anything," Draco sneered. "Why, if my father were here—"

"But he's not, is he?" Potter snapped. "Your lousy father will never do anything."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "You know perfectly well why that is, Potter."

Granger turned a stern gaze to her friend. "Harry, that was uncalled for. You should apologize."

Pansy's eyes widened as Draco turned his attention on Granger. His scowl had lessened significantly.

"What's it to you, Mudblood?" Draco ground out.

"Really, Malfoy?" Granger snarked. "After everything we've been through in the war, you're still holding that stupid prejudice over my head?"

"It's still true, isn't it?" Draco hissed. "Why should I stop saying something that's a fact?"

Weasley pointed his wand at Draco's face. "Shut up."

Draco shoved Weasley's hand out of the way, making his wand clatter to the stone floor. He took a step into the other boy's personal space. "Make. Me."

Weasley drew back a fist as if to hit Draco, but Granger stepped between the two of them and shoved Weasley back a step.

"Knock it off, Ron," she snapped. "You're being ridiculous. Go back to the common room. You too, Harry!"

Potter and Weasley spent a few more seconds glaring at Draco before storming off to the Grand Staircase. Draco waggled his fingers at them with a smirk as they retreated. Granger squared off with Draco.

"And you!" she nearly shouted. "Professor McGonagall chose you as Head Boy, and this is how you behave? You're an arrogant prat! Give me one good reason I shouldn't report you!"

Draco folded his arms. "You couldn't get the Slytherin prefects to do your bidding without me, and you know it."

Granger huffed angrily, and without another word, stomped off to join her friends. Draco simply smirked in triumph.

"Bugger off," he said to Crabbe and Goyle. "I've got business to attend to." He strolled away down the corridor with his hands in his pockets, leaving his goons to make their own way back to the dungeons.

Pansy smirked to herself. This was going to be good. She practically ran back to the Slytherin common room in search of Blaise Zabini. She found him sitting in his usual armchair in front of the fireplace.

"Blaise."

He spun around. "Oh, hello Pansy."

"You'll never believe what I just found out."

Blaise raised an elegant eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Draco has a thing for Granger."

Blaise busted up laughing. "You're just now figuring this out?"

Pansy's mouth dropped open. "Wait, you knew?"

"I'm surprised you didn't," he answered. "Everything with Draco for years has been Granger-this or Granger-that. Nowadays I just ignore him, and he doesn't even know the difference."

"Well, whatever. I need your help."

"With what?"

"I need to get back at him for leaving me," Pansy explained. "I want to break him."

"How can I help?" Blaise asked.

"Just like that? You'll help?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm a Slytherin, Pansy. I live to make other people's lives miserable."

She nodded. "I want to humiliate him. I want to use his attraction to Granger to do it."

"I'll make a bet with him that he can't woo any girl besides you," Blaise immediately piped up. "He'll deny it, of course, and that will set the stage for you declaring the girl must be Granger. Foolproof."

Pansy smirked. "I'm so glad I know you, Blaise."

He brushed fake lint from his shoulder. "Everyone is."

"So how will we get Granger to think the bet is her idea?"

"We plant the idea in her head."

"Weasley's a moron. What if he overheard us talking about Draco's crush on Granger. He'd be sure to mention it to his friends," Pansy mused.

"He always has been the dumbest one in the group," Blaise agreed.

Pansy spent the next few days following the Golden Trio around as often as possible. Exactly one week after she'd discovered Draco's little secret, she decided to put her plan into action.

She dragged Blaise down to the Quidditch pitch during one of Gryffindor's practices with the agreed-upon ruse of making out in the locker room. Slytherin's locker room butted up against Gryffindor's, and they were sure to be overheard. The two friends waited in the locker room until they heard the Gryffindor team leave after their practice was over.

"You go ahead, Harry," they heard Weasley say. "I'm gonna fly a bit longer."

"Okay, Ron. See you back up at the tower, then."

Pansy immediately started in on her rehearsed lines. "Oh, Blaise," she moaned. "I'm so glad we decided to do this."

Blaise bit back a snicker. "Shut up and kiss me," he said lowly.

Right on cue, they heard Weasley as he was leaving the Gryffindor locker room stop dead outside the entrance to their locker room.

"Blaise," Pansy said sadly, "I'm glad we're together now, but I'm still so confused about why Draco ended things. Please tell me why."

Blaise grinned broadly at her and said, "Between you and me, I think he's got a thing for Granger."

"What?" Pansy pretended to shriek. "How could you think that?"

"I don't know if Draco is aware of it himself," Blaise explained. "But he does stare at her an awful lot, and most of the things he talks about are Granger-this or Granger-that. It's maddening."

With that, they heard the rapid retreat of footsteps, indicating that Weasley had sprinted away. Hopefully he was off to tell his friends about what he'd "overheard."

Pansy smirked gleefully. "You'll start the bet with Draco in one week, right?"

Blaise nodded. "Make sure to accidentally walk in at the right moment, though."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be around."