Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Nor do I make money.
History
He watched her watch them.
She had been doing it all evening – from the moment, they found Weasel and Pansy curled up together on the couch fast asleep. It hadn't been long before she had crawled up into the chair that kept her in the shadows with a large book on her lap. Anyone who knew Granger would have thought her to be studying the large tomb but only he evidently had noticed that she never turned a page.
He watched as others had stopped their activities to do the same as she – watching the sleeping couple. The others though only watched Pansy and Weasel for minutes here and minutes there but not like her, she had watched them for hours.
She didn't even go to dinner with the rest of them. He had watched Potter try to get her to go to dinner and smirked when he heard her tell him she wasn't hungry and she needed to get her book read for Arithmancy. Hell, he wanted to laugh and point out that the book on her lap couldn't help her with Arithmancy – it was a book on veelas. However, she was so fascinating to watch, that he kept his mouth shut as Potter left with the youngest Weasley to go to dinner.
The entire time the common room was empty due to dinner, she had stayed in the over-sized wingback chair, just in the shadows and watched them; as he watched her.
He was fascinated by the extremes in her emotions that she was displaying: jealous one minute of the couple but then, almost out of regret and remorse, she would show those emotions that one would expect in this situation.
Yet most of all, he wondered at what was going through the mind of the know-it-all. The things that the emotions written on her face couldn't explain. The things that a lifetime of histories with her would only just scratch the surface on.
He, himself, had never understood the attractiveness of the weasel but Granger sure saw something in him. However, in the seconds that he would allow his eyes to leave his target to glance upon the girl he had forsaken; he could see it. The weasel could give her a future; something he could never do.
Most importantly, the weasel was everything that he wasn't.
He would never have shared his tears with her. He would never hold her like the weasel did – like she was the most precious thing in the world. He would never have gone to her in her moment of need. He would never have been gentle or warm. He would never have offered comfort with chaste kisses. He would never be there for her.
Especially since he been told not to. And Malfoys always did what their parents told them to do.
He had forsaken her because his father told him to do so. She now had no value in their world because she was no longer a virgin. She was worthless to her family and their society because she had been raped. She had no business being a friend of the Malfoys since she brought nothing to the table.
He wanted his eyes to linger and watch his best friend manage to find some peace in his enemy's arms but he wouldn't allow it. For it would remind him just how awful a person he really was. So he settled on watching Granger.
Watching her fits of jealousy mixed with moments of increasing sadness, he reveled in her discomfort and misery because it mirrored his own bubbling to the surface.
Taking a deep breath, Draco realized what he needed to do as he watched another bout of jealousy overcome Granger's face. He couldn't save nor could he help Pansy. He may not be able to be her best friend publicly but he knew how he could protect her while she healed from everything she had suffered. He knew what he had to do to give her time to find a life outside the one they grew up in and if the weasel – no, Weasley – was what she needed to survive then he would make sure nothing and no one would take that away from her.
He had already done enough damage to her for one lifetime, it was about time he did something right by her.
Standing up, he moved to the Gryffindor boys' room where he knew Potter to be. Entering it, he saw Potter lying on his bed with the littlest Weasley, both studying. He was momentarily thankful that none of the other Gryffindors were in the same room. If they had been, he knew he couldn't say what he needed to to Potter. Him and Potter's history was already more than he would ever want to overcome.
Closing the door behind him, he watched as Potter sat up with his Weasley. They looked at him hard before Potter said, "What do you want Malfoy?"
"We need to talk about Granger."
A/N: Special thanks to Yenny2206 who pointed out that I somehow managed not to put up 'History' which comes before 'Talent'.