Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 37
"Essays on my desk now please." Professor Snape demanded sharply as students filed into class behind him. Illy took Draco's essay from his bag while he chatted dully with Pansy and dropped it onto the accumulating stack on Snape's desk with a wink and a smile.
"Today you'll be testing potions not on your own partner, but on a Gryffindor counterpart. If I find out that any student has purposefully made their potion wrong they will fail the assignment. All of you may now begin with the potion listed on the parchment in front of you." Snape instructed before turning to sit and grade papers at his desk.
"Alright, what are we making an A on today?" Draco asked, playing up his arrogance as much as possible in front of Pansy. Illy snorted and unrolled the parchment in front of her.
"Oh look, the ever popular, never heard of Ebullience potion to induce…giggling." Illy said dryly.
"You're kidding? That's like easy-brew-cauldron stuff!" Draco half shouted.
"Just go get the ingredients." She instructed as she set the flame. Draco returned with peppermint, sugar, butterfly wings and a singular shrunken sunflower head.
"I'll crush the peppermint, you powder the wings." He commanded as he took the mortar and pestle from Illy's supplies. Illy started to caramelize the sugar just before adding the butterfly wings, which actually powdered just by brushing a thumb and forefinger together. Draco stirred the potion as it swirled yellow and green before adding the peppermint which added blue and red to the mix, followed by the petals from the sunflower which finished the rainbow sludge of a potion by ribboning the mixture with red and orange. Illy filled two vials with the potion, bringing one to Snape and leaving the second for testing, before pulling out parchment with which to finish the night's history homework.
Just as she finished the small assignment, Snape stood to call the class to a stop.
"Alright, time's up, let's see what you've managed to make." He said before withdrawing a small piece of parchment from the desktop. "Mr. Cook and Mr. Fortuno, you can test your potion on Miss Granger's table. Mr. Frost and Miss Milon, you can test on Mr. Longbottom's table. Mr. Malfoy and Miss Enquirous, you can test on Mr. Weasly's table…" As he continued on students slowly stopped listening and began to exchange nervous looks.
"What is he playing at?" Illy turned to Draco. "He knows you two can't stand one another."
"It's not that I don't like Harry in particular, it's just that abusive boyfriend types sort of make me violent."
"Exactly, so what the hell is he doing?" She asked, choosing to ignore completely Draco's taunts.
"He wants Harry to get angry enough in public to convince people that he's the one who hurt you."
"I never said that he was."
"Oh come on, he's smarter than me and I figured it out."
"Harry did not hurt me."
"And I didn't find him choking the air out of you in an alleyway."
"All of you will test your potion on one another, you may begin." Snape told the class before walking over to where Dolan and Christian had a rather suspicious looking dark blue and black potion held out cheerily to Hermione. Illy watched Jacky try to hold in a snigger before she took Draco's hand as he led her to Harry's table.
"What is that supposed to be?" Draco asked as he looked over Harry and Ron's sickly green potion.
"It's a Wordrigomigus potion." Ron said weakly.
"It's supposed to make you say word associations out loud…for interrogations and such I suppose." Harry explained.
"Well…who'll be trying ours?" Illy asked pleasantly as she moved to stand inconspicuously between Harry and Draco.
"I'm not trying anything Malfoy made." Harry snapped.
"Harry, please don't start a fight." Illy urged. Ron looked as though he could do nothing more than agree with her.
"I'll try it." He said as he snatched the bottle from Draco and downed it all in one swallow." Giggles erupted from his mouth instantly, drawing the attention of the whole class to him. Ron's hand shot to his mouth in an attempt to clamp it shut, that only worked half way, and left him using both hands to trap the laughs.
"Here." Was all Harry would say as he held his potion out to Draco.
"Forget it. I'm not drinking that crap; I might not be able to taste properly for weeks."
"Please Draco, it's not as though Harry's really that bad at this class, Snape just hates him."
"I'm not drinking it."
"Fine, I will." Illy offered before taking a large gulp out of the bottle. Her face scrunched up in a cringe at the flavor that was now in her mouth, and did her best to swallow the potion that felt like a massive bogey in her throat.
"Did it work?" Harry said hopefully. Illy just shrugged.
"We have to test it, it's not as though she was going to sprout wings if your little concoction didn't kill her."
"It was made perfectly, so just shut up." Harry retorted.
"It looks like slime."
"That's how it's supposed to look!"
"Sure it is."
"IT IS!" Harry shouted.
"Mr. Potter, would you mind terribly shutting up?" Snape asked. Harry turned a light pink shade and looked at his shoes. Snape smirked.
"So…how do we test it?"
"You made it you dolt."
"I just thought you might like the honor."
"You're just a twat. Illy, when I say the word Lucious you think…"
"Rapist."
"When I say parchment you think…" Harry started her off.
"Ink and quill. Now that we know it wor-"
"When I say snog in the hallway, you think…" Draco prompted. Illy tried to put a hand over her mouth but before she could the word had escaped.
"Draco." Harry glared at her, and then Draco. Balling his fists slowly as Illy's bashful silence overtook his chipper mood from having succeeded in making a potion.
"When I say best snog of your life you think…" Harry now urged her, with a smug look on his face. Illy's hands were tight across her mouth. Draco's mouth curved into a thin smile,
"Come on then love, don't be shy, Harry wants to know who can snog you best." He urged as he pulled her hands away from her mouth with minimal effort.
"Draco." Came her now small voice. Harry looked positively malignant as he eyed the pair.
"Thought you'd get her with that one did you Potter?" Draco jeered. "Here I know what'll get her to say your name." Draco suggested as he pushed the sleeve of Illy's sweater back to reveal the dark bruises around her wrist. "When you look at this you think…"
"Harry…." Illy's voice was so quiet that Draco and Harry almost missed it over Ron's sniggering and snorts.
"And when I touch your face here?" Draco asked as he ran a finger over the black eye from the day before.
"Harry…"
"And when I do this?" Draco made the motion to slap her.
"Harry!" She said with a wincing yell.
"I think I've made my point." Draco said darkly. "If you ever so much as kiss her with too much force again, I'll feed your balls to weasel." Draco threatened. Harry turned to see if Ron had caught any of what had transpired, but he was blissfully unaware of what was going on and was tugging at Hermione's sleeve with tears of laughter in his eyes.
"Draco…stop." Illy's soft voice let out as she reached out for his hand.
"Don't touch him. I know he's the one that did that to you. She's only saying my name because she needed me to be there and I wasn't." Harry said as the bullshit story seemed to pour from his mouth before he had even really made it up in his head.
"Sure, and she only said my name before because she wanted me there and instead you were around." Draco retorted before giving Illy's hand a weak squeeze, and turning away to walk from Harry and Illy to where Snape was grading Neville's disaster of a potion.
"Obviously it worked. Now do me a favor and don't become him. She doesn't need some teacher abusing her nerves as well." He ground out through clenched teeth. Snape was silent in response. Draco shook his head, sighed, and turned on his heel to head for the door. Snape reached out for his shoulder,
"I'm not sure what you think you're accusing me of Mr. Malfoy, but I encourage you to choose your words carefully."
"You got Potter to get angry, and now he's going to try and pin the whole thing on me. And to really top off your disaster, now she's going to be pissed off at both of us because you tried to manipulate her, and I did your dirty work, as well as threatened her boyfriend. So congratulations, she hates me even more than she did."
"I did not try to manipulate her."
"Bullshit. You think I don't know you did the same thing to me? Go fuck yourself. I am not your henchman." Draco spat before twisting out of Snape's grip and storming from the room.
"He passed all four of us." Killious impelled as she sat down for lunch with Harry.
"I'm going to talk to Dumbledore about what Malfoy did to you." Was all Harry would say. She reached for a sandwich gingerly as she thought out the best way to phrase her next few words.
"Harry, please…don't do that. He's got Snape on his side, and the Wordrigomigus potion to use against you. Just let it go." She said with a sigh. Harry had taken a liking to the story he managed to come up with earlier that afternoon and seemed to be convincing himself more and more steadily that it was what actually occurred the afternoon before.
"Whatever." He responded snappily as he served himself a bowl of corn chowder.
"It's good advice Harry. Just let things go before you get yourself in trouble."
"You just want to defend that fop."
"I'm trying to defend you, if you would stop being so damn stubborn."
"Why don't you just go fuck him and get it over with? You've already shared that he's better at a few other things." Harry said in heated anger. She turned to look him in the eye.
"Stop acting like such a jealous twat!" She yelled before starting to stand up.
"Don't talk to me like that!" He shouted back as he too stood.
"I'm going to the library." Illy pressed bitterly as she gathered her bag from the ground.
"You mean you're running off to play his whore again." He responded just loud enough for her to hear as she left.
After transfiguring a medium sized bottle of butter beer into firewhisky and promptly downing the whole thing: classes passed quickly and smoothly for Illy. Aside from the fact that she was plastered for the majority of the afternoon studies, she was certain that the day would improve by dinner, which she chose to spend at the Slytherin table, rather than with Harry.
"Are you drunk? Because your breath smells like the bottom of a Jack Daniel's bottle." Jacky asked scandalously after everyone had taken their seat, with Christian to Jacky's left, Dolan on Christian's left, Illy across from Jacky and flanked by Draco, who was being molested by Pansy at the moment.
"No, now I'm just tipsy. In herbology I was drunk…and in charms come to think of it." Illy said with a sedated smile and a surprisingly level tone.
"So, Harry and Draco been getting along famously then I guess?" Christian asked with a grimace.
"Sure, sure. Draco wants to kill Harry for hurting me, Harry claims it was Draco and wants to go to the headmaster, and I blacked out for the whole thing so I'm fucked over."
"That bad?" Jacky said with a hint of understanding.
"That bad." She responded.
"At least you didn't get caught in class…" Jacky tried to be encouraging.
"Yeah, well, I've been drunk for more important things than some stupid boys."
"Are you going to eat something?" Draco asked suddenly, as he had just managed to pry Pansy from his mouth.
"I would advise against that, unless you want her to spew chunks all over your lap." Dolan said with a chuckle. Illy only nodded in agreement and sipped her water.
"What did Harry do?" Draco questioned in a serious voice.
"He's sending your ass over to his pet headmaster." Christian explained.
"What, with that bullshit about my hurting her?"
"That bullshit indeed," Harry's voice rang from behind Draco.
"What do you want?" Draco sneered.
"I'm here to collect my girlfriend. She's drunk and she's embarrassing herself."
"On the contrary good Misses Potter, she's quite the expert drunk. I would go so far as to say she's spent days at a time in a state like this. I might also shed light to the fact that the only reason you know she's had anything to drink at all, is because you've been eaves dropping on us." Jacky jeered.
"Shut your mouth, trashy fucking ponce."
"Now Misses Potter, not all of us are worthy enough to take part in the pursuit scrumptious men you manage, but do be kind." Jacky continued. Dolan and Christian exchanged a quick glance and joined in.
"Of course Misses Potter, we would be honored with your presence if you would like to sit with us." Dolan suggested.
"I might even give you a copy of my Christmas card." Christian said with a wink.
"Ugh, don't even talk to me. You're all a bunch of fags!" Harry exclaimed with disgust. Jacky grabbed Harry's tie and pulled him so close that his lips brushed Harry's ear,
"On the contrary, I believe it is you who had a taste of sweet Mr. Malfoy… Perhaps you even tasted more than his mouth." Jacky said huskily just before shoving Harry back to his spot on the other side of the table.
"Don't you fucking touch me!" Harry began to draw his fist back.
"You touch him, and I'll use your heart in my next potion." Dolan threatened as he almost leapt from the table.
"She's not going anywhere with some git whose got his gender and sexuality all muddled." Draco informed Harry with dry cynicism.
"You're all going to bloody well pay for this." Harry spat.
"Will Misses Potter force himself upon us in vengeance?" Jacky said with a ridiculously foppish accent. Christian chuckled on carried on in a voice several times more over-the-top,
"I daresay that he just might. How will poor Killious handle the news of his promiscuous and violent behavior?"
"She'll probably just down another bottle of firewhisky and go to class." Dolan said under his breath.
"This is your last chance to hand her over Malfoy." Harry prompted with a hint of panic in his voice.
"Honestly Potter, she'd probably rather just run off and play my whore." Draco said in a quiet but firm voice, "So get the fuck out of my sight before I let her hoard of old English fag's loose on you."
Harry fumed for several seconds before finally abandoning all hope of getting Illy to come with him.
"We should get her to bed; she's just transfigured two glasses of pumpkin juice." Draco said with a sigh.
"Jesus, if she gets to develop a drinking problem I want one too." Jacky said with a small smirk as he wrapped some food in napkins and got ready to help Draco with Illy.
Pansy snorted at the scene of all four boys putting Illy to bed. Food sat by her nightstand, along with a butterbeer and a bucket. Draco draped a wet rag over her forehead while Jacky pulled up her covers.
"This is ridiculous, she's just drunk." Pansy finally said.
"Why don't you help us out then Pansy, you're a girl; what do you want after a hangover?" Dolan asked.
"Same thing I want right now."
"And that would be?" Christian pushed. Pansy smirked and used both hands to make Draco face her. She moved within an inch of his body and pressed her hips against his,
"A good ride on Draco Malfoy's cock." She responded in her best sexy voice. Draco rolled his eyes and tried to turn back to Illy.
"And how would that go?" Christian continued to question. Pansy started to loosed Draco's buckle,
"First I would get down on my knees," She started. Christian raised an eyebrow as she finished unzipping Draco's pants and took hold on his member, so that she could slip it from his pants.
"And then I would start to suck him off," She continued by putting his barely erect cock in her mouth. Christian and Jacky did their best not to look, and instead both shot their glances towards the now sleeping Illy.
"Drakie, doesn't this get you off?" Pansy asked in a disappointed whine, as he stayed unresponsive. Draco shot a glance down towards Illy just as Pansy began to suck again, the thought ran through him before he could stop it.
"Much better." She said before she continued to bob her head, drawing him in and out of her mouth.
"We're leaving." Jacky and Christian said together. "Don't wake her up." Jacky added before they slipped out of the door towards the boys' dorm. Draco's grip on Illy's night stand tightened as Pansy used her hand to help.
"Pansy, I'm a bit lost as to what you'd do next." Christian whimpered with an evil grin on his face. Pansy smiled back at him seductively.
"Well, after a little while I would get back off my knees," She narrated. "And I would lift up my skirt" She said with a little giggle as she showed off her shaven, pantiless form to both Draco and Christian.
"Stop it." Draco said before she could continue. "Stop it right now Pansy." She only smiled at him.
"It's a bit too late for that now isn't it Drakie." She said as she tightened her grip on his cock. Draco let out a low grunt, which left Pansy's face positively glowing. Draco wrapped his hand around her wrist.
"You see her arms?" He asked harshly. Pansy looked down at Illy's arms for the first time and let out a small gasp. "Unless you want yours to look the same let me go now and get out of my sight." Pansy's face paled considerably as she released Draco and dropped her eyes to the floor. Christian let out a light chuckle while she walked out of the room slowly.
"Stupid wench." Draco mumbled.
"I must say Draco, she has a bit of an imagination doesn't she. She'd do absolutely anything to get you off, but you were as limp as Jacky in the girl's shower until the second that you looked at Illy. Even I have to admit that's a little bit sick." Christian said in a low voice as Draco zipped and buckled his pants.
"The most disturbed person in this room by far is you. None of that would have happened if you weren't such a sick fuck." Draco countered as he pushed past Christian.
"Look, I happen to like Pansy, we work out well together. And I don't really appreciate you using her all the time when you find her about as arousing as shag rug."
"What I use is none of your business you sick bastard. I don't know why she's friends with you, but I won't be, so don't come near me." Draco shot back as he continued towards the door.
"Draco, if it was Illy, you would have done the same thing I did." Christian hollered down the hall after Draco. Illy mumbled just a bit before turning over. "Sorry you had to hear all that…I don't think he knew you were awake." Christian briefly apologized over his shoulder before leaving and shutting the door behind him.
Draco slipped quietly from the room, taking the dirty dishes, and the dictionary he had brought with him. The girl sighed, and rolled over to go to sleep, satisfied with young sir's most recent visit. She faintly heard lingering footsteps on the stairs but ignored them, and pulled her knees to her chest. The dim sound scuffed its way closer towards the door rather than away from it, but still she did her best to ignore, it was probably just Draco considering the option of sitting with her for a few more minutes. The knob of the door finally turned and she sat up with a small smile to greet him. Her grin faded upon seeing who had really entered the room. Sir stumbled drunkenly towards her with a lascivious smirk on his face.
"He came to see you again, how sweet." He remarked. She remained silent, her eyes fixed on the odd metal object he was holding.
"Want to see?" He asked her excitedly. She recoiled and started back towards the wall. "It's an invention of the disgusting muggles. It seems the only thing they can do right is make torture devices and then they don't even used them right." He almost slipped when he went forward to grab her, but recovered and managed to take hold of her arm forcibly. She struggled only slightly, debating internally as to whether a beating from her refusal to obey, or whatever he already had planed would be worse. She didn't have long to think it over before Sir knocked her to the ground and took a heavy seat on one of her legs.
"Now give me your hands." He commanded. She pulled them away, but he had her trapped beneath him and managed to take hold of them easily, in one hand.
"It's a blow torch. They produce a controllable, super concentrated flame. Muggles use them to bind metal, let's see what it does to flesh." Her eyes widened as Sir pulled a set of goggles over his eyes and started the torch. She could feel the heat from the flame before it touched her leg.
Skin, muscle, all of it, just melted like butter under a hot knife for the blowtorch. Sir started out inches away, and came slowly closer to the ankle of her free leg. She was howling with pain before it touched her. She had never squealed so loudly in her life.
The torch started to ease its way up to her knee with excruciating sloth. Her whole body was writhing with pain. Sir could hardly hold her still beneath him while he cackled at her fits of kicking and bucking. He had placed one foot on the knee of her afflicted leg to keep it still.
"If you were so energetic when I fuck you, you might make a half decent whore." He snapped when he turned to torch off momentarily. The smell of her burning flesh was intolerable in her nostrils. Her lungs rejected the scent, and her ears tried to ignore the sound of her skin and blood sizzling. Her body was still involuntarily convulsing when the torch started again. She could feel herself starting to loose consciousness in the pain, she bellowed out a last resort at the top of her lungs,
"DRACO HELP ME!" She had never called for him before, and she could only pray that he would come before she slipped into black, still flopping about beneath Sir, even when she had lost her ability to even perceive the pain.
It seemed like hours before she could feel again, but it must have only been a matter of minutes, Sir still hadn't reached her knee when Draco flung the door open.
"Would you like to try Draco?" He asked maniacally, as his son gapped. After a second or so of silence Sir turned the flame of the torch back on and started to lower it to the girl's leg again.
"You! …Y-you leave her a-alone. I'm c-c-calling S-sna-"
"You'll do no such thing!" Sir interrupted vehemently.
"I will. I already woke mom up." Draco stepped aside to let his mother come in the door.
"Narcissa…" Sir said softly, bowing his head and seeming for a fraction of a second…ashamed?
"I'll call him unless you get up stairs! I may not be enough for you but this is ridiculous! Are you so twisted that this is what it takes?" She screamed in a raspy voice as tears trickled down her face. "I've followed you through everything! But this bastard child has been here too long!" She bellowed, pointing a finger to the girl, who flinched as though she had been slapped.
"Don't talk about her like that!" Draco suddenly interjected. "Just because that sick fuck has been beating and raping her on a regular basis doesn't mean she's not a good person."
"Draco don't be so sympathetic, she's a mud-blooded, fatherless, whore." His mother said quite plainly, as though she was reminding him that the sky was blue.
"She is not!" Draco yelled.
"Son, she's just a little half breed." Sir said, suddenly feeling as though being on his wife's side might get him out of trouble.
"Shut the bloody hell up!" Draco snapped savagely. "She's beautiful, and she's smart, and she's nice, and all you can do is destroy her, just like you do everything else!" Draco shouted back. His voice quavered lightly in the face of his father and mother. They just sneered at him and rolled their eyes. Narcissa leaned down to face him, putting both hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes,
"Draco, she doesn't deserve to live. She doesn't deserve magic. And I'm not saying she deserves this, but really." She shook her head and stood again.
"I found his coat in here, the last time I was down." She could hear Sir whisper to Narcissa, but Draco missed it, as he made his way to where she lay.
"Hey Sweetie…I promise I'll fix this." Draco said in a hush as he motioned for the girl to let him see her leg. She tried but the pain was too much.
"I'm going to help you sit up, so that I can look at it. I have to know what I need to heal it." He told her, while he choked back tears of his own. She nodded in response. He placed an arm around her waste and lifted her up,
"Is this your bad leg?" He asked her while he stared into the open wound. It produced the same effect as a train wreck, he couldn't stop staring, and he could hardly keep the panic rising in his stomach from erupting.
"No, that's the left one." She said in a surprisingly level voice. Draco nodded; the adrenaline in her system was already helping her cope with the fresh injury. He sighed before looking up at his parents who were eyeing him as though he were touching a decaying body.
"She needs help. I'm going to get the potions from upstairs…and I'm going to send for St. Mungoes."
"You will not!" Narcissa roared. "You know that your father would get in serious trouble if anyone found out about her. I don't even know how you can touch that…thing." She said as she pointed.
"He's been fucking her twice a week, why don't you have him give you a crash course." And with that Draco disappeared up the stairs, only to rush back down two minutes later. His parents hadn't moved, they were quietly fighting over what was to be done, and neither of them even noticed the bottle Draco held in his hands until it was too late.
"Don't waste that on her!" Sir yelled just as Draco poured the singular phoenix tear from the bottle and onto the girl's open wound. The tear stung as it burned away bad skin and replaced it with fresh flesh. The girl's fingers raked down Draco's back at the sudden shock of having her bone re-grow.
Illy shot up right in bed, running a hand instinctively over her right leg. She traced her fingers lightly over the long, thin, discolored portion there. The skin was permanently lightened by scar tissue.
"And ice skating accident." She assured herself before climbing out from beneath her comforter. As she stepped away from her bed she was sharply reminded of the night before when she noticed the food on her end table. Without sparing time to brood about Draco she picked up the butterbeer and downed it quickly on her way to change for a good hard run.
Draco was in the common room when she came out of the girl's hall for her morning run. She gave him a funny look before he lifted one sneaker clad foot in the air and shook it lightly,
"Let's go for a run." He said smoothly.
The cold air was crisp and sharp in Illy's lungs, the crunch of the now thin layer of snow relieving, the blow of the wind kept her from over heating at all in her long-sleeved shirt, and yet amidst the perfect running conditions, Draco's presence was more intrusive than welcoming. His mood was just a notch above grumpy in her presence, meaning that in all reality he was mad as fuck. She had passed her mood onto him by running him as hard as she could. He'd always been one of the faster people on the quidditch team, but regardless she could overtake him in a foot race any day. His breaths were becoming jagged as he did his best to keep up with her. Even she was started to feel the pain in her lungs from taking in the icy air too often and trying to process it too fast. As they separated to navigate a small patch of trees on their second lap Illy ventured to break the silence, "Why the sudden decision to start running?"
Draco responded by sucking in a large breath of air and calling out "Break!" She smiled and walked to the end of the clump of foliage to meet Draco, who had both hands on his knees to support himself while he gasped out breaths.
"Or more aptly, why the sudden decision to start killing yourself?"
"Fuck you."
"We tried that once, you're fucking Pansy now remember?"
"Not…as of….last night." He managed to get out between breaths. Illy snorted and started to keep walking.
"I think that as of last night she was pretty confident of facts that say otherwise." Draco had started to follow her, but stopped in his tracks when she finished the statement.
"Did Christian tell you something?"
"He only apologized for letting that little display of affection go on while I was still awake." She said bitterly, before picking up her pace to a light jog.
"I didn't know… I would have never…"
"But I just so happened to wake up, so let's not talk about what you would have done while I was passed out next to the two of you." Draco's irritation was giving him fuel to run faster,
"That's not even fair! You snog my worst enemy in front of me all the time, so you have no place to talk!"
"And yet I'm best friends with my boyfriend's worst enemy, maybe we just need to rethink who has rights to say what!"
"You don't even give a damn about him."
"And you care a hell of a lot about her! You couldn't even get it up until you looked at me!"
"Who says it was you?"
"So you're going to deny the fact to me, but not to Christian? Cut the bullshit Malfoy."
"Don't call me Malfoy, Enquirous!" Draco shouted at her as they approached the portion of the lake facing the castle once more.
"Stop acting like a child and go home!" She finally screamed before taking off into a sprint and leaving him to gasp at air for the rest of his walk back to a shower.
Draco's morning only turned more sour as he made his way from breakfast to each class, during which Illy would take care to linger by Harry and show him more attention than he had ever naturally roused in her.
"So, do you want to work on our potions essay, or head out to see Hagrid first?" She asked Harry sweetly as they started to leave their potions class hand in hand. Draco took note that his grimace of disgust was mirrored by Snape's. His expression only sank further when Harry responded,
"Let's do the essay, that way we can work in the back of the library, by ourselves." Harry said with a foolish, lusty, grin that managed to deceive all of no one as to what he was really planning for the library trip.
Illy bit her lip at the thought of going through another boundaries oriented fight with Harry.
"I dunno, they'll be a lot of people in the library, I mean we've all got the essay, and it is due tomorrow."
"Yeah thanks to you two." Draco said mostly to himself. Harry turned around suddenly to face the blond,
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that the whole reason we have extra homework is because my lab partner kept running off to flirt with you." Draco informed dryly.
"I'll meet you at lunch." Illy said before slipping away to avoid witnessing yet another of the fights that had broken out during the day.
"It was a group assignment we were aloud to move from table to table." Harry said bitterly.
"But she spent the whole time with you! He's not stupid, he knows when his students aren't working."
"You two normally spend quite a bit of time together that he conveniently doesn't notice."
"We're lab partners, and not only that, we always get our work done. You didn't even submit your work."
"Well Illy did, so what do we have to do with the essay?"
"It's an essay on all of the potions you happened to omit an analysis of numb-nuts!"
"Lot's of people didn't make proper analysis' of those potions!"
"But you were the only dumb fuck who failed to even so much as look at all of them!"
"Don't get mad at me because I got to spend my class hour with my girlfriend while you got to sit and wallow in your own hurt pride because you fucked things up with her!"
"You probably don't even know what we're fighting about do you?" Draco spat. Harry opened his mouth to reply before realizing that he, in fact, had no idea what Illy was mad at Draco about, and for that matter, he really never did.
"She keeps her quarrels private. They're not my business."
"Yeah, they're only the business of myself, Jackquinne, Dolan, Christian, and sometimes Hermione and Ron."
"She doesn't tell her friends anything that she wouldn't tell me."
"Then why don't you ask Dolan what we're fighting about?" Draco tempted as he pointed to Dolan who lethargically came to do his friends bidding.
"Fine then, what are they fighting about?" Harry inquired.
"Pansy gave Draco oral last night when we went to put Illy to bed because she got shit face after you upset her at dinner. Draco tried to make her stop, but she wouldn't, and he failed to notice that Illy was in face awake for the whole even." Dolan said quickly, only slowing pace to answer before moving away from the fight that was now making everyone in the hall so uncomfortable that they were practically pressing themselves up against the walls to avoid the pair.
"No wonder she hates you." Was all Harry said before turning to leave. "That's way worse than slapping some sense into her now and again Malfoy." He called over his shoulder with a mischievous look in his eye.
Draco let out a sigh and decided against pursuing the fight further. The hall was now almost clear of students, as they had all headed to lunch. He considered joining them but decided that eating was the last thing he wanted to do right now. So instead he turned around and headed back to Snape's room, still feeling heated and ready to fight the teacher for answers.
The knock resounded angrily against Snape's door, as Draco's knuckles sought the release of hitting something.
"Yes" Snape said as a welcome.
"It's time to tell me what happened to her."
"Who?" Snape asked coolly.
"That girl my dad had in the basement all those years ago." Draco let out in frustration. Snape stiffened in his seat.
"Mr. Malfoy… We're not going to discuss this."
"I'm not little kid; if she's dead just say so." Draco demanded.
"Fine…She's dead." His voice quavered slightly with the lie in his mouth.
"You're lying." Draco said with narrowed eyes.
"The little girl you knew is dead. She's never going to show up and declare herself the love of your life, she's never going to show up at all. Let it go."
"This is bullshit. I got you because I thought of all the people I knew you would help me."
"I did. I got her out of there. There's no reason that you should think that means I would spend my life guarding her."
"You made a blood oath."
"If you wanted an insurance policy you should have gone through the rituals to bind me to my word."
"If I had known how to I would have!" Draco shouted, and then went silent. "Actually, I wouldn't have. I would have assumed that you meant to keep your word…" The boy's sudden loss of fiery passion startled Snape. His second favorite student stood broken before him.
"You and Illy are fighting I take it."
"When aren't we?"
"What's it about now?"
"Nothing I care to repeat to you…" Draco instinctively let out, before sighing and explaining. "Just stuff with me and Pansy. She's aloud to run around with that prat Potter all she wants, but if I have a girlfriend she's jealous…There's no way to make her happy. She doesn't want Potter, and she doesn't want me to be with Pansy, but…"
"There are things she needs to find out about herself before she'll be ready. Be patient."
"I am being patient! Do you see me pestering her? Do you see me trailing after her like puppy dog? No, I'm just trying to make things less frictional."
"Maybe Potter is better for her than you think."
"You're one hundred percent full of bullshit." Draco said blankly before leaving and heading out to finish his morning run during lunch.
