Chapter 15 :

"Hey, Marcus !" Shouted the Head Girl in the Slytherin Common Room, as she caught up to the cute junior she had a crush on. "Did you hear the last rumor ?"

"Is it about Quidditch ?" Grunted Marcus Flint with a slight frown on his brows. "'Cause Diggory has been seen around the Ravenclaw Seeker lately and I suspect them to be plotting. So I need to think about new strategies and all that."

"Not everything is about Quidditch, Marcus !" Sighed the young woman in exasperation. "Seriously, it's your last year. You should try to open up to the world around you, before it moves on and leaves you behind !"

The Slytherin Quidditch captain didn't answer, glaring at the wall in worry.

"They'll surely come from both sides" he mumbled under his breath. "And then Wood will use their pincer attack as a bait to get us from behind, like the spiteful asshole he is. I don't know yet how it'll translate on the field, but given that this year's Quidditch Cup Tournament is an unofficial one, I got not doubt there'll be lot of cheating involved... What a bunch of cowards !"

The Head Girl rolled her eyes before sitting on a nearby chair. That boy was cute but, Merlin, if he wasn't as dense as a brain-damaged troll ! Still, she waited until he was finished with his so essential Quidditch thinking, to get the conversation back on track. After a few minutes, Marcus finally turned to her :

"You were sayin' ?"

"Yeah !" She exulted. "Seems like Little Malfoy shot himself an arrow in the foot !"

"Ah ?"

"Apparently, that Granger Gryffin' -you know the one- and Parkinson were talking and he took Granger's side !"

"Ah. And ?"

"A Gryffindor, Marcus," insisted the young woman, "he sided with a Gryffindor over his girlfriend ! That's a low blow if I ever heard of one !"

Now fully understanding the horror of the tale, Marcus shuddered in disgust.

"And they call him the Prince of Slytherin" he sneered. "What a thankless bastard."

Dragging his feet in the corridors under the moon, Draco was angry. At himself. At the world. At Nott and Potter for being their unknowingly ticking time bomb self. And most of all, he was angry at Pansy.

It was unfair for her, but he had had expectations of her and she failed them. He had hoped she would understand, for all that he knew she wouldn't. And indeed she didn't.

They had a talk after the incident where he sided with Granger, once back in the safety of their Common Room. Pansy cried, she shouted, she begged and even tried to compromise, but she was unmoved by what he said. No matter how Draco tried to explain himself and to make her understand that he wasn't betraying her but protecting her, she refused to believe him.

Was it really so far-fetched for Nott and Potter to be friends ? It was a dangerous and unholy partnership, yes, but for all that he didn't want to admit it, the young Malfoy had never seen his best friend so happy before. This friendship was doing him good and Draco couldn't even bring himself to stop it anymore. That was why he was constantly doing his best at damage control, you know ?

So why was Pansy refusing to believe it ?

In the end, it didn't matter anymore. This fight opened the whole can of worms, digging up a lot of unsaid grievances. Unable to come to an understanding and both hurt by the lack of trust of the other, they decided to stop there.

They broke up, just as Draco had feared.

The young Malfoy was a free man once again, but he found no joy in it. Anger was consuming him and most all the sadness and -yes- the betrayal he felt were killing him. He didn't want to be alone.

The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons's students were coming tomorrow but he couldn't care less. All he wanted was to find his wayward best friend and cry all night long at the unfairness of Fate. It didn't even matter that Theodore was probably hanging out with Potter right now : he needed his best friend.

AN: Both Marcus Flint and Oliver Wood got held back a year because Quidditch. I don't really like Marcus myself but somehow that very minor no-name Fem OC thinks he's cute. She's the one who got her wet dreams interrupted in the beginning of chapter 3 by the way.