Pirate Blood

Chapter 41

Whispers

The group had plenty of people staring at them when they got out of their carriage and back to Hogwarts. Chris was holding Draco's hand while Jesse had his arm wrapped around Hermione. Chris noticed Parvati give her a glare. They all could hear everyone around them whispering. "Bloody hell, you'd think that they never noticed the sexual tension between them." Blaise said. Ginny and Harry wondered if he was talking about Jesse and Hermione or Chris and Draco. Or did he mean both? Neither bothered to ask.

"Well, some of it may be because I already started spreading the news about the incident between Hermione and Ron." Ginny said.

"Why would you do that?" Harry asked.

"Hermione asked me to." Ginny said.

"He obviously doesn't think that what he did was wrong. He thinks that it's not his fault because he was drunk. I figured that if the whole school hated him, then he would realize what he did was wrong." Hermione said in the know-it-all tone that Harry had missed.

"You aren't going to press charges?" Harry asked as they entered the doors of Hogwarts.

"As weird as it sounds, I don't want to put him in Azkaban. I mean, for six years, he was one of my best friends. I'm never going to be close to him ever again, but I just can't manage to put six years behind me. Can you?"

"No, I don't think I could." Harry said. He understood why she was doing this, as did the rest of them.

They were approaching the Great Hall for dinner. "I guess it's going to be a lonely dinner with just you and me Draco. No Pansy." Blaise noted with a sigh. He already missed his friend.

"You know, you could eat at the Slytherin table." Draco said to Chris.

"No, I couldn't. Even if you like me, the Slytherins hate me because I'm a Gryffindor. You know that." Chris told him.

"Well, it was worth a shot. Hermione? You sure that you wouldn't want to avoid a certain Gryffindor by sitting at our table?" Draco said.

"No. The Slytherins hate me because I'm a muggleborn, a Gryffindor, and much smarter than them."

"Oh how I wish I could say the last one wasn't true." Draco remarked.

"We all do." Harry replied. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Draco kissed Chris's cheek, "Have a good dinner."

"Come on, mate. Let's get seats before they're all taken." Blaise said.

"Now I have to go fight off all those Slytherin girls hitting on me." Draco smiled and walked off toward the Slytherin table with Blaise.

"You know I think I might..." Chris started.

"Oh just go, Chris." Ginny said.

"If you insist. I'll see you later." Chris smiled and walked away. She walked at a fast pace to catch up with Draco. She caught up with him and held his hand.

"You got jealous about that last statement." Draco smirked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I am here purely because I don't want Blaise to be lonely." Kaylee said.

"Yeah sure." Draco said.

Around dessert, Chris had noticed that Blaise had barely talked to them. He was staring across the hall. Chris followed his stare to see what was so interesting. It was the girl. Dani. "Blaise," Chris said, but it didn't get his attention. "Blaise." She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"What?" Blaise said.

"You were staring."

"Right, sorry."

"You should go talk to her after dinner." Draco said.

"And what would I say?" Blaise asked.

"Think of something. This isn't your first time talking to a girl." Draco told him.

"I know that, but how am I supposed to get her to talk to me? Should I just say 'Hey I think you're my dead ex-girlfriend'?" Blaise saw a first year give him a strange look. "Piss off." The kid quickly turned away.

"Don't scare the kid. Anyways, just flirt with her. You're attracted to her. It shouldn't be that hard." Chris said.

"Alright, I guess."

"You're nervous! I don't believe it." Chris said.

"What? That's ridiculous." Blaise told her.

"You're nervous that you could be attracted to this girl, and she might not be Isabel."

"I'm not nervous." he protested.

"She'd want you to move on." Chris said.

"I know."

"Did you want me to move on?" Draco asked.

"Hell no." Chris said.

"Why not?"

"I was alive."

"Yeah, but–"

"Draco, drop it." Chris said angrily.

"Alright." he quickly turned back to his food.

(A/N: Well, there's chapter 41! I hope you liked it. As always, please REVIEW! BTW, Happy Independence Day! I promise it won't take a month for the next chapter! L8R, Nikki)