AN: He's such an ass, but it's amazingly captivating no

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 8

(AN: Short, but important, and better than that, psychologically unnerving!)

Illy hurried up the stairs to her room and noticed that the common room was clear of students. But it was breakfast, so she brushed it off and opened her trunk to get a new shirt, and a baggy vest to put over it, she felt filthy, but there was no time for a shower.

"I was right…wasn't I?" she spun around to see a very solemn Draco standing in the doorway, shutting the door behind him. "You liked me then, when I was harsh, most girls hate that, they want cute romance not-" A slap to his face cut him off.

"That gives you no right!" Illy was red in the face, and starting to cry a little. He swallowed hard, knowing that now was not a good time to become indignant and foolish.

"You could have stopped me at any second after I released your lips. You know it and so do I; why do you think I did it? I may have rage issues but I'm not a fool, I knew when to give you an honest chance to say no and you didn't take it! So I was right!" She was now buttoning up her new shirt and putting on the loose vest, without making even one motion to respond.

"Even now, look at you! You don't even turn around to put on a new shirt, you just take off your clothes and think nothing of it! You won't deny that what I'm saying is true. Admit it, you like it when I'm rough, and when I tell you what to do, and more than that you do like me, and I did peg you last night!" Draco looked like he had just solved the greatest puzzle known to mankind "and that's why you like it, because it keeps you from feeling like the attachments you make are yours, it makes it feel distant, like it was something someone else was doing to you, not like something you were taking part in" His body was now blocking the door way.

"Move Malfoy" was all she would say to him.

"Then admit that if you would have let go of yourself back there you would have been every bit as caught up in things as I was, because in honesty you do give a shit about me! You want me just as badly as I do, don't think that I didn't notice how hard it was for you to not let loose! I may not me as smart as you, but I'm not dumb, now admit it!" She moved to push him out of the way, but he grabbed both of her wrists, but not in a harsh threatening way, in a soft, kind way.

"Have it your way Killious Quintessence Enquirus, I can be whatever kind of man you want." And with that, Draco Malfoy stole a whole other kind of kiss from her. This was soft, like warm silk brushing up against my lips, the kind of kiss that could make anyone melt where they stood; it lasted only two or three seconds, and ended with a soft tug on her lower lip, devoid of teeth, or rough passion, but it seemed minutes long, as she stood there with my legs giving out from underneath her. When the kiss was over he placed her hands back at my sides, and waited. She was baffled for a moment, but she understood what exactly he wanted.

"Fine…your right…" She grunted under her breath, but he didn't budge.

"Fine, you've got it all down okay! There's some things missing in your theory here and there, because there's a whole side of my story you'll never know about, but you got it. Are you happy? I love that you can be a million different people, just like me, and I love that you're callous but you always give me an out when I want one, but I hate you at the same time. Because you really do want to know what it is that makes me who I am, you even went and dug up my middle name, which I haven't heard spoken since the last time I saw my real mother, and I hate that when you're done pursuing me, and I give in you'll get bored, and I hate that we'll be playing at this forever, because you know I'm the same way! And I hate that you're the only person at this school I can imagine caring much about! And I hate your fucking short hair, it's so much better long!" Illy took a deep breath and he shifted his weight to one foot and stared her in the eye with that smart ass look.

"Go on, your flattery has me swooning"

"And that, I love that smart ass attitude you have, it drives me nuts sometimes! And you know what, you're dad is a prick, worse than you know, and for the rest of my life I'll hate you for your family, and I've never even spent more than thirty seconds with the bastard! And I like that you get so mad over stupid things because your raw passion for everything is so…just so…"

"Sexy" he tried.

"Shut it! But I hate that you can read my mind, and I hate that even though I'm interested in someone else you'll pursue headstrong knowing that it'll be almost enough to break me every time! And I love that aside from your hair the only way you could be sexier is if you picked up an instrument or had a great voice"

"Well I do sing a little." He offered.

"Stop interrupting I'm not done" She said pushing him against the door. "The fact that you think this is hot, not weird is more of a reassurance to me that I'm semi-normal than anything else, which is one more thing to like! But you remember this Draco, I will be no back up, summer fling, or plaything to any man, without full knowledge and willful consent, and you will never get that consent…" She pulled him out of the door way by his arm and gave him one last brief kiss, just as soft and sweet as the one he gave her, but the sensations were twice as hard not to give into. As he put his hand on her waste and gently held her chin between his thumb and fingers, his eyelashes brushing her cheek as he closed his eyes, getting exactly what he had wanted the previous night. She pulled away, repulsed with herself before shoving him toward the beds and opening the door to leave. "…and just so you know, the whole joke was the note, there's not potion that can give you morning wood. Every human gets sexually excited when they dream, even if your dream is about grandma's cookies, unless you're having a god awful nightmare, or if perhaps if a Dementor is in the room, which I might just try to work out as my next prank." She left quickly and quietly abandoning Malfoy to his own thoughts.

Illy had missed breakfast so she went strait to class which just so happened to be double potions, lucky her, and my lab partner for the day, of course, was none other than Malfoy. As she strolled to the class Fred caught up to her and stood awkwardly beside her as she walked, silent for quite a while.

"Look, I didn't think Malfoy would act like that…I really didn't, but…I'm trying to say that I'm sorry I encouraged the prank okay? I mean, really I shouldn't have, I should have known, I've been around him for two years, and you just met him…he's dangerous." Fred finished, shame seeming to emanate from his being.

"It's not your fault in the least, I've delivered things to Lucious more than once, like father like son, I should have known better."

"I doubt his Dad'd be dumb enough to try and get in your knickers though!" Fred joked and she laughed along nervously, feeling suddenly flushed and dizzy all at once.

"Yeah, well, I have potions with your favorite blond now…but don't be too hard on him. I talked to him again, and well, things aren't as bad as they looked, I'm not justifying him or anything, but still, he's not that bad." Fred brushed some hair out of her face softly, and picked up her hand.

"Well Killious, I'm just glad George and I made it in time, I don't know what I would have done…" he stopped and stared at the ground, still holding her hand, but now much tighter, as if he were clutching it to keep her from floating away. "…Hogwarts wouldn't be Hogwarts without you!" He finally said, as his eyes watered a little. He laughed, trying as hard as he could to cover it, and finally gave her a hug. I breathed in the smell of his shaggy red hair and whispered in his ear,

"You know red, for a boy, it's kind of weird that your hair smells like strawberries." He burst out laughing drawing quite a few glances from the students filing into class.

"Yeah, blame George, I just use his shampoo, so does Ron, it's funny actually, I call Ron strawberries sometimes just to mess with him, he's the only one who cares!" Illy smiled and hugged Fred again.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue." She said before giving him a peck on the cheek and heading into the room. As she passed through the doorway she noticed Draco with Vincent and Greg, pointing at Fred and saying something about his hair matching his face.

(AN: I hope that I've got your mind reeling! There will be many more psychological disorders and A-Typical sexual behaviors to follow in later chapters, please R&R, -Richard S.)