~Be open. And then the truth follows.~
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Draco always assumed he had a firm grip on his patience. He put up with Crabbe and Goyle, who couldn't think their way out of a cardboard box, on a daily bases. He handled Blaise's seduction techniques with an iron fist. For Salazar's sake, he listened to Pansy squawk in his ear day in and day out, and managed to hold onto his sanity. So what was it that caused him to utterly snap at that particular moment?
He was in the common room. Murky green shadows danced alongside the candlelight, the hearth crackled forlornly, the scratching of quills over last minute assignments. Draco grit his teeth. Beside him Pansy gossiped with Daphne, freely talking of Millicent Bulstrode – who sat not five feet away and could surely hear every ill spoken word. He watched her carefully; and saw her pudgy knuckles gradually whiten into clenched fists as the conversation took a particularly nasty turn.
"…I mean has she ever heard of dieting? Merlin."
Daphne snickered. "Sh! Sh! Maybe she's, like, pregnant or something-!"
"Who the hell would knock up that pig?" Pansy shrieked with laughter and her blonde companion followed suit. A handful of keen eared listeners openly snickered.
Millicent hastily gathered her things together, fingers stumbling clumsily in her hurry. Her lips were tugged in a deep frown, but from what Draco could see, the girl's eyes remained clear and focused. As if she were used to the verbal abuse.
"Oh," Pansy whined, about as false as the eyelashes she magically lengthened every morning, "Where are you going Millie darl-!"
"Shut up."
There. He felt it. The last threads of patience finally dwindling away, slipping through his fingers. He leapt to his feet so violently the armchair jerked back.
"What was that Draco?" Pansy simpered.
"Shut up." the serpent withering inside of him spat viciously. "You make me sick."
Draco stormed out of the common room. Felt their eyes burn holes into the back of his neck. Heard Daphne trying to hopelessly sooth Pansy's hysterics ("But he…he's mad at me!"). Blaise cheered mockingly after him ("You go girl!").
Millicent didn't say a word when he brushed past her.
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