Author's Note: This chapter makes me wanna shoot myself. Gahhhhhhh. Just keep in mind there are bigger time lapses in this one, so that's why everything seems to be moving fast when it's really not. I hope you guys like this chapter better than I do. And the ending is really serious for some reason? Idk...but it's a transitional chapter so keep that in mind! The next one will be better. Please, please, please review...I definitely need feedback for this monstrosity. Thanks (:

Draco felt heat rise to his face and his stomach clench up as he was confronted with the sight of Esther in the embrace of Harry Potter. What the hell was she still doing with this prat? The bet was over, why would she choose to still spend her time with him? Then, Draco remembered his accusation that Esther had actually developed feelings for Harry. That thought simply made him want to throw up. How could she possibly like him? He was a Gryffindor…and definitely not as attractive. At least, that was Draco's humble opinion. Either way, he decided to make himself scarce as to avoid an awkward conversation with Esther while she was hanging out with her new boy toy. He shivered in disgust as he headed back to the common room. He felt bad enough that the girl was in tears after having sex with him…and now she was kissing Harry? None of it made sense. Not to mention that Draco hated himself for paying attention to the actions of one girl. Usually, after he banged a girl, he lost all interest in her. That was the major problem with his relationship with Pansy. He just kept her around for when he bored and feeling frisky. But, even though he had already banged Esther, he still wasn't satisfied. Trying to remove these torturing thoughts from his head, Draco headed back to his dorm in the hopes that Blaise would be there to help him sort everything out. He still hadn't even gotten to tell his best friend that he had slept with Esther, that's how distracted he was by all this other nonsense. At least he would get some satisfaction from telling his chum about his latest conquest.

"Wait a minute…you mean you actually did it?" Blaise asked in astonishment after Draco had explained the outcome of the bet and the night he had spent with Esther, "How was it?"
"One of the best I've had," Draco replied smugly, "She likes it rough, that's for bloody sure."

"Brilliant," Blaise laughed, "Just your style."

"Exactly," he agreed with a smirk, "And I plowed Weasley on top of that. Even though, Potter wasn't missing much to tell the ruddy truth."

"That's not exactly surprising."

"No, not at all."

After a moment of silence in which both boys were relishing in Draco's victory, the blonde's smirk faded and a look of anger covered his face as he recalled the sight of Esther and Harry together.

"What's got you all bothered, mate?" Blaise asked as he furrowed his brow, "You should be happy."

"I would be if Esther wasn't still running around with Harry bloody Potter," Draco grumbled.

"Well, the girl has a crush, she'll get over it eventually," Blaise pointed out, "Anyways, who's your next conquest? Given it any thoughts—"

"I mean, what is she doing with him still?" Draco demanded as if Blaise would have all the answers, "Look at him, he's…well, he's Potter. He's a Gryffindor…and he's not even good looking…and I bet he's poorly endowed. You can tell just by looking at him!"

The dark boy shot his friend a strange look as he ranted about Harry's poor characteristics. Obviously, this was not Draco's usual reaction to seeing an ex-conquest with another guy.

"Er…Draco?"

"What?" he snapped, still writhing at the thought of his sworn enemy.

"Uh…is there any chance that you may actually…I dunno…like Esther?" Blaise questioned cautiously.

"Like Esther?" Draco repeated with a chuckle, "Please…I don't 'like' anybody."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Please," he scoffed, the expression on his face changing from amusement to a slight illness, "No…no way…" Draco seemed to ponder this for a moment, while Blaise just watched with interest.

"So…if she were to bang Potter—"

"I'll fucking kill him," Draco interrupted, shocked by his own words right after he said them.

"Hmm…interesting," Blaise chuckled, "That's not how you'd usually react."

"Oh, no," Draco said in horror as realization swept over him, "No, no, no, no, no, no. Blaise, what does this mean?"

"It means you have feelings for her," his friend returned amusedly.

"Oh, bloody hell! Feelings?" Draco repeated in disgust, "Feelings? I sleep with this bitch one time and I catch feelings?"

"Uh…you don't really catch feelings, mate. It just happens sometimes."

"Not to me," Draco said through gritted teeth.

"Well, come on, are you really surprised?" Blaise asked, "I mean, you've been obsessed with the girl for five years."

"Yeah, because I wanted to bed her, not because I wanted to marry her!" Draco shouted, "Once I shagged her, I didn't even think she'd matter anymore."

"Apparently you were wrong," Blaise told him as he burst into a fit of laughter.

"You find this funny?"

"Well…a little," he admitted, "I mean, I never thought I'd see the day that you'd actually like a girl legitimately."

"Forget this," Draco said tensely as he paced the room and thought of a solution to cure this…disease, "All I have to do is sleep with another girl, that'll make this go away."

"If you say so," Blaise chuckled. Draco shot his friend a dirty look as he tried to think up the perfect girl to make his next conquest.

"You'll see," he said, "Esther Sinclair wasn't the first girl I've banged, and she sure as hell won't be the last."

"So you actually got the job done, I see?" asked a cool voice coming from the door way.

Lucas Briggs trekked into the room, a smug look on his face as he took a seat on his four poster and gazed at Draco expectantly.

"Yeah, what's it to you Briggs?" Draco demanded coldly. Lucas merely shrugged as he removed his shoes and lay back on his bed with his hands behind his head. There was definitely a reason he was so interested in this topic, Draco could just tell that he was cooking up some sort of scheme.

"I dunno…I have interest," Lucas stated simply.

"What'd you mean 'interest'?" Draco inquired.

"In Esther," he replied.

"What? You like her?" Draco asked angrily, staring his fellow Slytherin down.

"Oh, God no," Lucas snickered, "I've just always wanted to…explore the territory, if you catch my drift."

"Please," Draco scoffed, "Like she'd ever hook up with a guy like you."

"Why not?" Lucas challenged, "She hooked up with you, didn't she?"

Draco's nostrils flared angrily as he held back from beating the kid to a bloody pulp. It was bad enough that Potter was interested in her, but now Lucas wanted to bang her? What the hell was this?

"Don't stress so much, Draco," Lucas said patronizingly, "She was just another conquest, don't be bitter if I decide to have some fun with her of my own."

Draco simply eyed him viciously without offering a reply. He didn't know what exactly he was feeling at the moment, but he knew Blaise was right…he did like Esther…

"Dammit," he thought bitterly.

He had a plan though. Sleeping with another girl seemed like the way to go. All he had to do was decide who would be the best target. Pansy crossed his mind, but then he realized that was just his fall back. He had nailed most of the Slytherin girls in his year, so the pickings were slim. Then suddenly, he came up with the perfect person: Taryn Belle. She was a year below him, Slytherin, relatively hot, and a friend of Esther's…that just made it even better. All he had to do was start working his charms on her ASAP, then these feelings he was stricken with would go away…

The next few weeks were interesting, to say the least. Things in Draco's world were completely flipped upside down. His seduction of Taryn Belle was taking way longer than it should have, which freaked him out on many levels. Not only was he off his game, but he also found that his heart wasn't really in this particular conquest. This was all made worse by the fact that he was constantly plagued by thoughts of Esther and the sight of her paling around with Harry Potter. He had taken to ignoring or avoiding her most of the time. On occasion he would taunt her and make conversation, but usually he chose to keep his distance. There was no point in aggravating the 'disease' with her presence...most likely, that would only make it worse. Nevertheless, Draco was determined to bed Taryn no matter what.

However, Esther found that she was pretty happy. She spent most of her spare time with Harry, which tended to have a positive effect on her overall mood. They had gotten a lot closer, and she could see their little 'friendship' developing into an actual 'thing'…which was both good and a little strange to her. In one way, it was what she wanted…but at the same time, she wasn't exactly the dating kind and she had a feeling Harry knew that. Not to mention that Esther was pretty sure he still wasn't over all the stuff that had happened with Ginny, but he had definitely made progress. Though, despite her reservations, Esther was hoping that she and Harry would be official soon. She had never actually liked a guy before, so she was a little taken aback by the strength of her feelings. She used to just like to toy with guys…and part of her wanted to go back to that, but she decided that this thing with Harry was worth the sacrifice. On a different note, Esther had noticed that Draco hadn't talked to her much since they slept together. It made sense, though. Draco was extremely fickle, and grew bored easily. She supposed that all her appeal was gone now that he had satisfied his lust. That's not to say that they didn't talk at all. He still would tease her from time to time for hanging around with Harry, but the frequency had definitely lessened. Esther couldn't tell if she was upset by this or not. Part of her did enjoy the constant banter with the kid, but at the same time Harry was her focus, so in the end it didn't really matter. It was all very strange though, but things were only bound to get stranger from there.

One evening, Esther traveled back to the Slytherin common room after spending some time in the library with Harry. Upon her entry, she was greeted by the sight of Draco Malfoy chatting up Taryn Belle on one of the couches in front of the fireplace. She couldn't help but smile darkly to herself as she watched the blonde boy in action. He was definitely close to getting the girl in bed, Esther could see that by their body language. After gazing upon the scene for a few moments, she decided to head towards her dormitory and get to sleep early that night. Though, once Draco noticed her presence, he left his latest conquest on the couch and came to approach Esther as she walked towards her dorm. She was surprised by this, and also partly amused.

"Evening, Draco," she said coyly, "Now, what could you possibly want to talk to me about while you're right in the middle of a seduction?"

"Don't be naïve, Sinclair," he returned, "if I were truly about to get some action, we wouldn't be having this conversation, now would we?"

"True," Esther agreed in amusement, "Well, it looks like the girl's taking the bait anyhow. It shouldn't be too long before you check her off your list. Nice work."

"You approve?" Draco questioned arrogantly, "I didn't think you'd want me going after any more of your friends considering what happened with Pansy and all."

"Yeah, well fortunately for you, Taryn's…how do I say this nicely…a whore," Esther told him, "She won't form any attachment to you, trust me."

"Good to know. Speaking of attachment, how's your pathetic little romance with Potter going?"

"How kind," Esther said sardonically as she narrowed her eyes, "It's fine."

"Just fine?" Draco asked, sounding more curious than Esther would've expected him to. She furrowed her brow and shot him a disbelieving look.

"Why do you care?" she questioned him with a laugh.

"Care? Please," he scoffed, "The only thing I care about is getting your little friend Taryn into my room and having my way with her." He offered her a smirk.

"Then get to it," Esther said with an eyebrow raise, "The Draco Malfoy I know would've had the job done already."

"And the Esther Sinclair I know is a tease, not someone's girlfriend," Draco challenged as his smirk grew. He raised his eyebrows at her, "Guess we're both full of surprises."

The two merely stared each other down for a few moments, though Esther felt that this was one of the strangest exchanges she had ever had with Draco Malfoy. She did notice that she had missed their bantering, but that was beside the point.

"Good night, Sinclair," Draco said smoothly before shooting her one final smirk and turning to head back towards the common room.

So many things were on Draco's mind as he and Taryn snogged heatedly on his four poster that night. For one thing, he wasn't even thinking about the girl he was about to hook up with. His thoughts were clouded by the girl he had just had a staring match with not fifteen minutes before he had taken Taryn up to his room. This was bloody awful. He just couldn't focus on what was going on in the moment, which was odd considering that he was mostly an 'in the moment' kind of guy. But as he moved on to kissing Taryn's neck and unbuckling his pants, he found himself more and more distracted by other things. Why had he gotten up to chat with Esther when he truly was in the middle of a seduction? Especially since he had done such a good job of ignoring her lately. It was just an instinct; he just got right off the couch as soon as he saw her. That wasn't the point. He couldn't go back and analyze his past actions, he just had to focus on the girl in front of him.

Taryn seemed to be really into what they were doing, and Draco tried to be…but it just wasn't doing it for him. He couldn't even get aroused, and that truly scared him. What was he supposed to tell this broad? This sort of thing had never happened to him, ever. All of a sudden, he pulled away from her and moved to sit on the edge of his bed. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration and zipped his pants back up. This was going to be a fun one to explain.

"What's the matter?" Taryn asked as she sat up to sit next to him.

"I can't do this," Draco said simply.

"What?"

"Am I speaking a different bloody language?" he demanded impatiently, "Get out."

Taryn shot him a dirty look before readjusting her skirt and shooting up from the four poster. She stomped to the door, and slammed it shut behind her once she had exited the room. Draco rolled his eyes in annoyance at the thought of the girl. She was a definite downgrade anyways, no wonder he couldn't…

"Bloody hell," he groaned angrily as he fell backwards onto his bed.

One weekend afternoon, Harry and Esther had decided to spend some time together in the courtyard. The weather outside was beautiful, and the two wanted to spend some just talking. Though, that didn't mean they didn't steal some kisses every so often. Needless to say, it made for an overall wonderful day. Esther was really happy with the way things had been going, and she had a feeling Harry was too. She had a soft spot for him, and she couldn't quite understand why. She didn't choose to fight it, though. Her gut instinct was definitely guiding her on this one.

After the two decided to head back into the castle, their lovely afternoon sort of went downhill. As they were traveling through the corridors and approaching the Great Hall, they passed by an extremely pissed-off-looking Ginny Weasley. That was awkward enough on its own. She shot Esther a dirty look as she headed in the opposite direction from the couple and merely stared upon Harry with longing. However, they decided to find amusement in the situation and laughed amongst themselves about the over-dramatic actions of the red head. However, their next encounter wasn't quite as amusing. Once they were just outside the threshold of the Great Hall, they were stopped by a cool, smooth voice.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Draco Malfoy said mockingly.

Esther froze in place and closed her eyes, hoping that this was some sort of dream. Dream…that was a good one. It was more like a bloody nightmare. Draco and Harry in the same proximity was bad enough on a normal basis, if you added in the fact that Draco knew everything about why Esther initially went after Harry, the situation was made a million times more volatile. Harry was the first to turn around, but Esther followed his action quickly. She was immediately on the defensive considering how bad her circumstances were at the current moment.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry snapped.

"Excuse me, Potter…who was talking to you?" Draco returned coldly as his eyes flickered over to Esther. She shot him a deadly look and he merely smirked.

"Who else would you be talking to?" Harry asked.

"I was actually wanting to have a chat with Sinclair, if you don't mind Potter," Draco spat.

"Wait…what…?" Harry whipped his head to look down at Esther. She bit her lip awkwardly as she attempted to deal with this situation.

"Draco, do we really have to do this now?" Esther inquired impatiently, ignoring Harry's confused comments.

Draco raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged, then began to laugh as he feigned realization.

"Ooh, wait a minute…is this a date?" Esther rolled her eyes as she continued to stare at him piercingly. Harry just looked plain pissed, but that was to be expected. Draco's smirk became even more wicked as he continued on.

"Well isn't that cute," he taunted, "No really, you two are just bloody adorable."

"Malfoy…come on…" Esther cut in as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"By all means, continue your date," Draco pressed on, "Tsk, tsk…Potter and the whore of the Slytherin house together…the temperature must've dropped in hell…"

"Draco," Esther nearly screamed, "Just stop…"

"Alright, I'm done," he said arrogantly as he began to back away from the scene, "You better find me in the common room later, Sinclair…I'm holding you to that."

"Bye," Esther yelled impatiently in return as she grabbed Harry by the sleeve and turned him around to face the Great Hall.

The two finally went inside, though the tension between them could be cut with a knife. Harry was obviously angered by the whole encounter with Draco, and she supposed she couldn't blame him. They were enemies, after all. She also had never mentioned to him that she and Draco were acquainted….and if he knew their entire history, he'd probably never speak to her again. But what Harry didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"So…you're friends with Malfoy?" Harry demanded suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Well, kind of…" Esther began cautiously, "but it's really not that big of a deal, really."

"It is to me."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want that creep talking to my girlfriend," Harry shot back. In an instant, nothing else mattered to Esther. Harry had just used the term 'girlfriend' to describe her. That was definitely a new development.

"Girlfriend?" she asked with a pleased yet quizzical look.

"Er…well…I mean…" Harry trailed off, obviously embarrassed by his slip up, "You don't have to—I didn't mean—"

"Stop," Esther interrupted with a laugh as she placed her fingers over his lips, "Girlfriend works for me."

Harry offered her a bright smile as she boldly grabbed his hand and held it in hers. Suddenly, the whole Draco issue was put to rest, at least for the time being. Of course, Esther wasn't dumb enough to think that it would never come again, but for now they would just let it be and enjoy their newly established relationship status. Esther couldn't believe this was happening. She was happy, but it was strange…there was still an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Despite this good news, she felt as though things were going to change from here. And it wouldn't necessarily be for the better.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Draco trailed off angrily, simply staring at Esther after she made the announcement about her and Harry. As promised, she had sought him out in the common room that night after dinner. Though it seemed as though Draco really had nothing in particular to talk to her about; he was just messing with her and trying to get a rise out of Harry, which Esther supposed she should have expected. Nevertheless, she was eager to see his reaction to her news. She had a feeling it would make for some interesting conversation.

"Don't act so surprised, Draco," Esther said haughtily, "You saw us together this afternoon, or have you already forgotten?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd actually date the prat," Draco returned, seeming more upset than Esther would've thought he'd be. She was under the impression that he'd make fun of her as he always did, not that he'd show actual disdain over the relationship.

"Well I am," she verified, "…I'm waiting to hear the jokes at my expense…come on, I'm sure you've got tons of them." She smirked and raised an eyebrow, hoping that Draco would accept the challenge.

"There's nothing funny about this," Draco told her bluntly, "I can't believe you'd actually lower yourself and date this tool." He shot her a look of disgust and Esther merely stared at him as the smirk on her face faded.

"Come on, Sinclair," he went on, "This isn't you. You're not the dating kind and you know it."

There were a few moments of silence as Esther processed all that he was saying. It actually hit a nerve. He did have a point, and the fact that he was so openly conveying it to her simply confirmed the speck of doubt she had. It took her awhile to formulate a reply as she gazed at the blonde boy in front of her.

"Well, maybe I've changed…"

"Not bloody likely," he shot back as he cocked his eyebrow.

"…Why're you being like this?" Esther demanded.

Draco narrowed his eyes and took a few steps closer to her so that they were only inches apart. He was so close that Esther was tempted to back away, but for some reason she stayed frozen in her spot.

"Why're you ruining something that was already perfect?"

Esther's expression became puzzled as he shot her one of the nastiest looks she'd ever seen before he turned on his heel and strutted away from her. That wasn't exactly how she had expected this conversation to go. Lately, nothing had turned out how she had expected it to be.