Chapter 3

The common room was empty. She made her way to the room that they had shared for two years and sat on the bed, staring blankly at the wall. She glanced around the room and looked in disbelief at the pictures of her and Draco on the walls, their clothes hanging together in their huge cupboard, the way his books were mixed up with hers, the way his bed side table had a picture of them smiling and waving at the camera. A few hours ago she had sat in this room, had laid on their bed and had thanked god for her blessings.

Suddenly, a white hot rage overcame her and she tore the sheets off the bed, god only knew if he had made love to Potter on those sheets, sheets she had chosen because they were his favorite color. She tore the pictures off the walls and threw them onto the floor, she threw his photo frame at a wall and threw all her clothes into her trunk and dumped her books in after them. Grabbing everything she could possibly think of, she dragged her trunk to the girls dormitory.

Pansy, Daphne and Millicent were still up, looking at magazines and gossiping. They fell silent when she came in. She headed for the empty bed and drew the drapes shut around her, cast a silencing charm and proceeded to try to wrap her mind around the fact that the boy she had been in love with nearly all her life, probably didn't give a damn about her.

She found herself imagining Draco with different people, she didn't cry, she just lay there, too shocked and heart broken to shed tears.

In the dim light, she looked at her engagement ring. Beautifully wrought in platinum, a delicate pattern of diamonds and sapphires that made up the Malfoy crest, claiming hers as Draco's and him as hers. She hadn't taken it off since she was 12 years old and Narcissa Malfoy had pressed it into her hands, smiling, and calling her 'daughter'. Lucius had hugged her, an unusual demonstration of affection for him and Draco himself had smiled at her, a smile that had made her fall in love with him. Slowly, she pulled it off and held it in her hands, just looking at it. Her hands felt bare without it. She felt alone and unprotected, naked. Clutching it in one hand, she buried her face in her pillow.

Then the tears came.

Pansy Parkinson was worried. Shanara had moved back into the girls dormitory, something that none of them had ever anticipated. And she had quietly gotten into bed and Pansy could've sworn that she heard her whisper a silencing charm before shutting her drapes.

Shanara and she had been friends for a very long time. They had played together as children, laughing and shrieking, running around their huge and dusty mansions. As they grew older, they would often stay up all night and talk about their respective fiancés. She had listened to Shanara talk about Draco all the time and Shanara had listened to her long stories and problems with Theo. Pansy loved Theo but she knew that it paled to the relationship that Shanara and Draco appeared to have. There were a lot of rumours floating around about Draco but she figured that they must all be malicious gossip, who in their right minds would give up what they had.

Deciding that she would find out exactly had happened the next morning, Pansy gave in to sleep, having no idea that two beds away from her, a persons world had been turned upside down.