Chapter 30: Friends In Need
"This better be fucking important Potter, I was this damn close to shagging my girlfriend." grumbled Draco as he sat in the Room Of Requirement with equally annoyed Ron and Blaise, having been torn away from their girlfriends. The boys used special coins Hermione had came up with that would alert them of when they needed to meet with each other. Draco's had almost burned a hole in his pocket due to his initial refusal to answer it.
"You touch my sister and I'll kill you, ferret!"
"What's going on Potter?" asked Blaise, seeing his friend looked devastated.
"We broke up. Well, she broke it off with me." said Harry, looking out of a window. "She knew about the bet."
Blaise and Ron tried their best to fake surprise. Draco, on the other hand, scoffed.
"Can't say I'm too surprised." said Draco in a matter of factual voice. "Perhaps if you would have done like we told you-"
"I DON'T NEED THIS SHIT FROM YOU, MALFOY!" yelled Harry.
"The fuck did you expect from me, Potter? Did you expect me to coddle you? Feel sorry for you? We told you to tell her, did we not? Shit, you should have known how Pansy would have been yourself!"
"Well you lot got to keep your girlfriends and they all found out!"
Draco crossed his arms ad Blaise and Ron looked guiltily around the room that resembled Gryffindor common room.
"Actually mate, they all knew." said Ron. "Pansy told them and they actually had plotted against us as well."
Harry's jaw dropped.
"They were going to hurt us before we hurt them." said Blaise.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! You knew? You knew all along and you didn't tell me? You just sat around and let Pansy play me for a fucking fool?!" snapped Harry.
"You and Zabini were the two that made selfish bets actually." said Draco, earning a glare from Blaise. "My only bet was to get Ginny out on a date. I never said I would dump her on Valentine's Day. Weasley here is more innocent than the rest of us."
"Mate, we didn't know that Pansy had decided to break it off with you." said Ron, trying to console his best friend. "The girls figured that she would come around, but-"
"She didn't. Obviously" said Harry, finishing Ron's sentence. "She didn't, and it's all my fault. I shouldn't have made that bet. None of us shouldn't have."
"Actually, I'm kind of glad we did make the bet." said Blaise. "I wouldn't have Shida if we didn't."
"Oh good for fucking you, Zabini."
"Don't take your hurt feelings out on me, Potter."
"Can we not debate this?!" asked Ron.
"Really. I have shit to do, and I don't feel like having a pissed off girlfriend right now." said Draco, growing rather impatient.
"What do it do?" begged Harry. "What do I do? Someone tell me, please. I want to fix this. I need to."
"I don't know what to tell you, Potter." said Draco, throwing up his hands. "Beg? Shower her with affection or some shit? Stay in her face. How about you figure this shit out, while I go and make sweet lo- pies with my girlfriend."
Ron balled up his fists. "I swear to Merlin, you-"
"I'm out. Let me know what you come up with." said Draco, making his way quickly to the door, shutting it fast.
"Fucking prick."mumbled Ron.
"He's right though, Potter." said Blaise. Apologize to her and show her that you are real. Earn your forgiveness. Maybe try to be actual friends before doing the relationship thing again."
Both Ron and Harry looked at Blaise as if he were an alien.
"What?"
"Since when have you been so profound?" asked Ron.
"Look at who my lady is." laughed Blaise.
Draco returned to his room where Ginny was lying across his bed, reading a magazine. He excitedly climbed in beside her, latching his arms around her.
"So what did Harry want?" asked Ginny as Draco started kissing her neck.
Draco didn't want to really about it. His only focus was the witch in his arms. "It was nothing. He just didn't have the best of days today. He will be alright." he said, going back to planting sweet kisses and nibbles on Ginny's neck.
"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Ginny, concerned. "Did something happen with him and Pansy?"
"Yeah, they broke up, and he-"
"They WHAT?! yelled Ginny, breaking away from Draco's hold.
'Dammit.' thought Draco. "Yeah, he said that she broke up with him and the git is all hung up about it. I'm sure it will be resolved by-"
"Oh no! Poor Pansy!" said Ginny, hands on her cheeks, shaking her head. "I know she has to be devastated right now! I gotta go check on her!"
Draco grabbed Ginny's wrist. "But Ginny, this is supposed to be our Valentine's Day!" he whined. "Can't this wait until the morning?"
Ginny wriggled her wrist from his hold and got out of bed. "No this can not wait until the morning, Draco! My best friend just broke up with her boyfriend! And not just any best friend, it's Pansy, and she is probably distraught and beside herself right now! I have to check on her, you'll be just fine." she said as she slipped on her shoes and her robe.
Draco stared at Ginny, jaw dropped in disbelief that this was actually happening.
"I may or may not be back. It all depends on Pansy. See you later." she said, giving his a quick kiss on the cheek and running out the door.
Draco slumped back onto his bed. "Fuck you, Potter." he mumbled in frustration.
Ginny rushed down to Pansy's Head Girl dorm and whispered the password to the doorknob. She let herself in and seen that Pansy wasn't in the common room. She noticed that Pansy's bedroom door was closed, something she never did unless the girls slept over and she wanted to sleep earlier than they did.
Ginny gently opened Pansy's bedroom door. Her friend was laying in the fetal position on her bed, staring at the wall, her face tear streaked.
"Oh, Pans..." whispered Ginny as she climbed onto the bed and proceeded to rub Pansy's back.
"So, I take it you know." said Pansy in a croaky voice.
"Draco just told me that Harry told him and the others. Apparently he's very much upset."
"Of course. Well, I had to do it. It had to be done."
"Why? It seemed like things were going well. As if the bet wasn't what was keeping him around." said Ginny.
"Does that matter? If it wasn't for that idiotic bet, he would have never been like this towards me. He wouldn't have dated me. It was all about sex to him. I'm not an object, Gin." said Pansy, sitting up.
"Of course you're not. And I think Harry had gotten to realize that. Maybe he had changed just like Blaise and Draco."
"Maybe, maybe not. I'm not giving him the chance to hurt me. I can't be hurt by him."
"Hurt? I thought you said that you didn't really care. I'm actually shocked to see you like this." said Ginny, lying. She knew all along that Pansy indeed fancied Harry and that this would crush her.
"I...I smelled him in the Amortentia this morning. I smelled him as if he were standing right beside me." whispered Pansy.
Ginny gasped. Though she knew that Pansy fancied Harry, she didn't believe it ran that deep inside of her to smell Harry in the potion.
"I couldn't give him the chance to break my heart like that."
"So you break your own?" asked Ginny. "You're here crying and devastated over him and you would much rather feel that than see if Harry has learned his lesson and changed his ways?"
"Better I break it than he." said Pansy. "At least I can try to heal myself rather than have Harry poorly attempt to fix shit only to mess it up even more."
Ginny felt helpless. She didn't know what to say anymore to help. Hermione and Rashida was much better at comfort of this kind than she was. Still, she sat there and listened to Pansy's irrational ranting, knowing that someone to talk to is mainly what Pansy needed at this time.
"Thanks for coming to check on me." said Pansy when she was done talking. "You didn't have to. I'm sure you and Draco were together."
Ginny waved her hand dismissively. "He'll get over it. I'll make it up to him tomorrow or something. He knew I would come here to see you."
"I'm happy for you two. All of you actually. You all have something real."
"Maybe it will be real for you and Harry too someday, you know?" said Ginny, putting a reassuring hand on Pansy's knee.
"I don't want to talk about Harry. Let's talk about that lovebite on the side of your neck." giggled Pansy.
