Bracelet 84/103
Title: The Bracelet
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
Draco made a very mature face as he turned the corner onto Hogsmeade’s main road. Why Hermione insisted on socializing with that freckled loser of a Weasley was beyond him. But she did and she currently was. And she looked to be having a rather serious conversation with him too. She looked sympathetic.
So that was how she looked when she sympathized? Huh.
She looked up, spotted him, and her expression changed to dismay. Yeah, that was more like what he knew. Add a bit of disgust and it would really make his day. Why was she even dismayed? He wasn’t staring at her or anything. He’d only looked at them for a second and was now carefully minding his own business.
A quick glance back at Hermione and her Weasley Charity Event-yes, Draco had deemed her friendship with Weasley to be just that-told him that she was coming his way, though. Grand. He couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say.
“Hey,” she said as she reached him. “So, um, did you get the potions?”
Draco raised an eyebrow. She was asking about that in public? “Yeah, do you need them now?” He glanced back at Weasley and swore to himself that she wouldn’t be getting the contraceptive potions until he was reasonably sure she wasn’t going to use them.
“No!” She raised her hands as if to stop him. Good! “No…” She looked around nervously. “Later, all right? I just, uh, have to ask you something.”
“Then ask.” He honestly was really curious as to what could make her come over to him in full view of one of her friends. Especially with the way she was fidgeting.
“You know, your ex? Perhaps you could, um, tell me something about her.”
“Depends. Which one and what do you need to know?”
“Oh! Um, Pansy, and what does she, uh, like? Generally, I mean. Romantically.”
Draco stared. Hermione blushed and squirmed. “You swinging that way now, Granger?” he asked, feeling more than a little perplexed at the inquiry.
“It’s not for me….”
She glanced back at Weasley and he followed her look. “No way!”
“Could you please just answer?” She was getting defensive. Interesting.
He laughed. “Tell him to forget it. There’s no way she’ll ever even look twice at a wanker like him. It’s a good one, though. I’ll have to tell her.”
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. Too bad her cloak hid most of the fun. “Can’t you just answer and let her decide?”
He shrugged. “Why go through all that trouble? The answer will always be no.”
“So, you’re saying he’s not good enough for her?” Hermione asked in an ominous voice.
Good thing he wasn’t fazed easily. “Exactly.”
“He was good enough for me!” Hermione angrily tossed her hair back. “But then again, that probably doesn’t matter, does it? We’re good enough to play with and make fun of but that’s it, right? Never mind. He’ll get over it.” She spun around and began walking away.
Uh-oh. Somehow she’d managed to twist the whole thing around and make it personal. Now he couldn’t just let her go.
Pansy would never forgive him for what he was about to do. Damn it!
“What’s in it for me?” he asked, making Hermione stop and hesitate. But she didn’t turn back.
“What do you want?”
“A kiss.”
She slowly turned back. “I can’t promise you anything, but I can ask him if he’d be willing.”
Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m not Poofy Potter, you know. From you.”
Her gaze flickered. She was uncomfortable with kissing him again, it seemed. Too bad. Pansy was his oldest friend and if he was supposed to sell her out, it had better be good.
“Ok,” she finally said. “But it had better be good.”
He smirked at the echo of his own thoughts. “It’s always good.”
She made a face at him that was as mature as the one he’d made when seeing her with Weasley. “I meant the information.”
“It’s not going to make a difference.”
“Just tell me.”
“Kiss first.”
Hermione sighed irritably. “I can’t just go off with you right now. I promise you’ll get it later.”
“No. Kiss first. Right here; right now.”
Her eyes widened as she understood the implications. They were on the main road. A fair amount of people were around and anyone would be able to see them. And then there were the Aurors, a great many of which had been staring at him all day. If he wasn’t mistaken, she even knew some of those people fairly well.
“If this is a way to bother Ron…”
“That’s just a bonus. This is a way to bother you for asking me this.” And a way to get her to kiss him. Publicly. He wasn’t really sure how he felt about that himself, but that wasn’t as important as making her agree to it.
“Don’t you have a reputation to uphold or something?” she muttered.
He couldn’t help the laugh. “Nothing’s left of that, Granger. It’s gone. It would take more work than it’s worth to get it back. Besides, it’s rather narcissistic of you to think that anyone would care. I’m fairly sure only Weasley would. Maybe Potter too if he’s around.”
“Forget it. It’s not going to happen.”
“Fine, then Weasley loses his best shot with Pansy. Be sure to let him know why.”
“Do you honestly think Ron would want me to kiss you?”
“No, but I wonder what he’d say if he knew that you’d sleep with me just because you wanted to, but you won’t even kiss me to help him out.”
Hermione folded her arms across her chest again and smirked cynically. “Maybe he’d say sleeping with you wasn’t worth my time, then?”
Ouch. She sure knew where to aim to make it sting. “Good one. Now run along and tell him he can’t have her.”
He’d only half-turned when she spoke again. “You sure are possessive of your ex-girlfriend.”
If only she were speaking out of jealousy and not just trying to goad him. Highly unlikely, though. “I had some very simple conditions for helping you out, Granger. But if you must know, the thought of Pansy being with Weasley does make me sick. I hope it never happens.”
“It’s none of your concern whether it happens.”
“It’s none of yours either, yet here you are. And why is that, Granger? Are you being a good friend, or are you feeling guilty for not wanting Weasley for yourself after everything the two of you have been through together?”
“You’re such an arse, Malfoy.”
He smiled to himself at her petulant look. “Yeah, but you’re still going to do it.”
“What makes you think that?”
“You’re still here, arguing. You can’t stand the thought that your precious Weasley might not get a shot with his fantasy of the week, so you’re actually going to lower yourself, aren’t you?”
She scowled at him. “Very astute. Let’s just do this.”
“I don’t know if I want to anymore, what with you being so offensive and all.” He carefully studied his nails.
She snorted. “You want to.”
He did. Very much. It took much more than this to put him off. “How astute of you.”
“I don’t need to be astute to know that.”
“Then kiss me!”
To his great surprise, she did. He was so stunned that for a second he didn’t even react. The very idea that she would just step closer to him, put her hands on his shoulders and kiss him was so foreign it only very slowly registered that, yes, she had just done that.
And then he noticed the softness of her lips against his, the way her arms slowly snaked around his neck, how her body was molding to his at the mere suggestion of pressure from his hand on her waist.
In a very short time she was doing a very good job of driving him very much out of his mind with very little effort.
Then her arms weren’t around his neck anymore and she was gently pushing him away and turning her head to break the kiss. “Enough, you got what you wanted,” she murmured.
But he wanted so much more!
She was blushing. At first he didn’t quite understand, but then his brain functions returned and he remembered that this had been embarrassing for her. It should probably have embarrassed him as well but he simply didn’t care anymore. He wanted her.
He had to remember that this had been a trade, however. He cleared his throat. “Pansy doesn’t like to be chased. If he’s currently doing that, he should stop.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “You’re not being obvious there at all, Malfoy.”
Draco shook his head. “I’m serious! I’m not saying he should be completely indifferent, but he’d have to put down the bait and walk away, hoping she’ll bite. If he follows her around with big puppy-dog eyes, he already lost.”
“Is that what you did?”
“I was trying to get her attention for ages, then I gave up and she chased me down. Eventually she admitted that my initial neediness had put her off.”
“Oh. How… modern of her.” Hermione frowned. “Thanks.” She turned away.
“As for bait, she likes pretty things and expensive things,” Draco continued at her back. “But since Weasley is hardly going to manage to give her either of that… she’s also a romantic.”
“A romantic?” Hermione was looking more than a little skeptical.
“Yeah. She likes gestures. Flowers. Notes. Poetry. Moonlight picnics. That sort of thing.”
Hermione turned back, her eyes wide with curiosity. “Wait, you wrote Pansy poetry?”
Draco didn’t deign to answer but merely pursed his lips. “The real question is, will your buffoonish Weasley manage to do it well enough to catch her fancy?”
“No,” Hermione said with a grin he really didn’t like. “I do think the real question is whether you wrote her any.”
“Hey, I helped you out, didn’t I?” he indignantly asked.
Her grin widened. “You’re not going to answer this, are you?”
“Not on your life!”
Normally, he would feel either panic or annoyance at this kind of onslaught, but right now Draco was too busy being mesmerized by Hermione’s smile-not to mention surprised that she was even teasing him like this-to care.
Selling out Pansy had definitely been worth it.
Ron was scowling when Hermione made it back. “What the hell was that all about?” he demanded.
Hermione raised her eyebrows. “I did as you asked?”
“I do not recall asking you to…” Ron looked slightly sick, “flirt and to kiss him and….” He broke off to gag with what didn’t even look like affected disgust.
Hermione felt her spine stiffen with annoyance. “For your information, he was very much against helping you out and this was the only way to get him to cooperate. But if you don’t want to hear what I found out, then fine, I won’t tell you.”
“You didn’t have to tell him it was for me, you know,” he muttered.
“And what would I have said? ‘Hi, I was randomly wondering how to charm your ex for no particular reason at all’? Besides, he figured it was you all on his own. What with you standing there and all.”
“All right, all right!” Ron grimaced. “I appreciate your… sacrifice.”
“No, you don’t.” She crossed her arms and pouted a little.
He snorted. “Well, it didn’t look exactly like a sacrifice either, what with you smiling and laughing at him like that.”
Hermione ignored her burning cheeks and stuck her nose in the air. “That was simply a reaction to a mention of poetry!”
That seemed to stop Ron short and he blanched. “Poetry? Good God, I really don’t stand a chance, do I?”
Hermione reached up to pat his suddenly slumping shoulders. “You never know?” she tried, knowing it was a weak encouragement.
The look he sent her was beyond skeptical. Well, perhaps it was better if he didn’t get his hopes up.
Poetry, indeed.
“See, I told you it would be ok.”
Hermione slowly turned towards Theo, who had been the speaker. “You just like sneaking up on people and seeing them jump, don’t you?” she asked.
“It’s rather gratifying, yes.” But he wasn’t smiling.
Not that Theo ever smiled. Lately, he seemed much less thrilled to come across her in their office. She knew she’d hurt him on more than one occasion, but there seemed to be something else these past couple of days.
“I didn’t see you down in Hogsmeade,” she tried with fake cheerfulness.
“That’s because I had no reason to go. I heard you had fun, though.” His voice was eerily toneless.
Hermione wrinkled her nose, instantly getting what he meant by ‘fun’. “Not really.”
“I would appreciate not being lied to. You probably think you’re sparing me. You’re not.” Theo went past her to sit down at his desk.
Hermione defensively crossed her arms, embarrassed by the implications. “Yeah, I kissed Malfoy. You know what he’s like. Everything’s a trade-off. Ron needed-”
“You seem to be deluding yourself,” Theo coldly interrupted. “For one thing, Malfoy can’t deny you anything at this point and you know it.”
Hermione felt a slight twitch at one eye. “And for another?”
Theo sighed, looking rather weary. “For another, you both bloody well keep inventing these games just so you have an excuse to touch each other. Honestly, Granger, at this point, even those of us that violently do not want you to get together are just waiting for the two of you to grow up and move it along.”
Hermione’s jaw fell open. “W-what?” she sputtered. “I do not-we do not-this is… I can’t believe I’m even listening to this!” She turned away in a poor attempt to disguise her flaming cheeks. She had never heard such an absurd statement delivered so bluntly before in her life!
“You slept with him. Unless you’ve made it a habit to randomly sleep with wizards you can’t stand, you have feelings for him.”
The feeling of betrayal was swift and merciless as she swirled back to face Theo. “He told you that?” she quietly asked. Somehow it just hadn’t occurred to her that Draco might use their night together to hurt Theo and rub it in his face. It was cruel to Theo and degrading to her.
Actually, once she thought of it, it was just the kind of thing Draco would do.
She’d been so stupid.
“No,” Theo simply replied. “And that’s beside the point, anyway. Why is it so hard to admit that you want him? Is denial really that much easier? What happens when your next boyfriend realizes that it’s impossible to stop these games? Or when Malfoy gives up on you and you become jealous of his next girlfriend? He won’t wait for you forever, we both know that. Will you seduce him again and make him betray her, too? It’s selfish and you know it. Selfish and juvenile. If you truly don’t think it can work, then fine. But isn’t it time you made a decision either way?”
Shaking her head to clear the webs of confusion, Hermione muttered, “No, I don’t… fancy… him. I don’t want to be with him.” She didn’t. Honest! “There was just some physical attraction and we worked it out. One time. You weren’t supposed to know about it.”
“Yeah, from what I heard, you really have it out of your system.” The sarcasm was so thick you could cut it with a knife. “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it and... I really do hate to say it, but you’re certainly not doing it indifferently.”
Hermione didn’t want to hear this. She really didn’t want to hear this. Theo was wrong. There was no way in hell that she actually wanted Draco after all the things he’d done-all the things he’d done to her. She wasn’t a masochist! It was just… stupid.
Theo was wrong.
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
Draco made a very mature face as he turned the corner onto Hogsmeade’s main road. Why Hermione insisted on socializing with that freckled loser of a Weasley was beyond him. But she did and she currently was. And she looked to be having a rather serious conversation with him too. She looked sympathetic.
So that was how she looked when she sympathized? Huh.
She looked up, spotted him, and her expression changed to dismay. Yeah, that was more like what he knew. Add a bit of disgust and it would really make his day. Why was she even dismayed? He wasn’t staring at her or anything. He’d only looked at them for a second and was now carefully minding his own business.
A quick glance back at Hermione and her Weasley Charity Event-yes, Draco had deemed her friendship with Weasley to be just that-told him that she was coming his way, though. Grand. He couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say.
“Hey,” she said as she reached him. “So, um, did you get the potions?”
Draco raised an eyebrow. She was asking about that in public? “Yeah, do you need them now?” He glanced back at Weasley and swore to himself that she wouldn’t be getting the contraceptive potions until he was reasonably sure she wasn’t going to use them.
“No!” She raised her hands as if to stop him. Good! “No…” She looked around nervously. “Later, all right? I just, uh, have to ask you something.”
“Then ask.” He honestly was really curious as to what could make her come over to him in full view of one of her friends. Especially with the way she was fidgeting.
“You know, your ex? Perhaps you could, um, tell me something about her.”
“Depends. Which one and what do you need to know?”
“Oh! Um, Pansy, and what does she, uh, like? Generally, I mean. Romantically.”
Draco stared. Hermione blushed and squirmed. “You swinging that way now, Granger?” he asked, feeling more than a little perplexed at the inquiry.
“It’s not for me….”
She glanced back at Weasley and he followed her look. “No way!”
“Could you please just answer?” She was getting defensive. Interesting.
He laughed. “Tell him to forget it. There’s no way she’ll ever even look twice at a wanker like him. It’s a good one, though. I’ll have to tell her.”
Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. Too bad her cloak hid most of the fun. “Can’t you just answer and let her decide?”
He shrugged. “Why go through all that trouble? The answer will always be no.”
“So, you’re saying he’s not good enough for her?” Hermione asked in an ominous voice.
Good thing he wasn’t fazed easily. “Exactly.”
“He was good enough for me!” Hermione angrily tossed her hair back. “But then again, that probably doesn’t matter, does it? We’re good enough to play with and make fun of but that’s it, right? Never mind. He’ll get over it.” She spun around and began walking away.
Uh-oh. Somehow she’d managed to twist the whole thing around and make it personal. Now he couldn’t just let her go.
Pansy would never forgive him for what he was about to do. Damn it!
“What’s in it for me?” he asked, making Hermione stop and hesitate. But she didn’t turn back.
“What do you want?”
“A kiss.”
She slowly turned back. “I can’t promise you anything, but I can ask him if he’d be willing.”
Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m not Poofy Potter, you know. From you.”
Her gaze flickered. She was uncomfortable with kissing him again, it seemed. Too bad. Pansy was his oldest friend and if he was supposed to sell her out, it had better be good.
“Ok,” she finally said. “But it had better be good.”
He smirked at the echo of his own thoughts. “It’s always good.”
She made a face at him that was as mature as the one he’d made when seeing her with Weasley. “I meant the information.”
“It’s not going to make a difference.”
“Just tell me.”
“Kiss first.”
Hermione sighed irritably. “I can’t just go off with you right now. I promise you’ll get it later.”
“No. Kiss first. Right here; right now.”
Her eyes widened as she understood the implications. They were on the main road. A fair amount of people were around and anyone would be able to see them. And then there were the Aurors, a great many of which had been staring at him all day. If he wasn’t mistaken, she even knew some of those people fairly well.
“If this is a way to bother Ron…”
“That’s just a bonus. This is a way to bother you for asking me this.” And a way to get her to kiss him. Publicly. He wasn’t really sure how he felt about that himself, but that wasn’t as important as making her agree to it.
“Don’t you have a reputation to uphold or something?” she muttered.
He couldn’t help the laugh. “Nothing’s left of that, Granger. It’s gone. It would take more work than it’s worth to get it back. Besides, it’s rather narcissistic of you to think that anyone would care. I’m fairly sure only Weasley would. Maybe Potter too if he’s around.”
“Forget it. It’s not going to happen.”
“Fine, then Weasley loses his best shot with Pansy. Be sure to let him know why.”
“Do you honestly think Ron would want me to kiss you?”
“No, but I wonder what he’d say if he knew that you’d sleep with me just because you wanted to, but you won’t even kiss me to help him out.”
Hermione folded her arms across her chest again and smirked cynically. “Maybe he’d say sleeping with you wasn’t worth my time, then?”
Ouch. She sure knew where to aim to make it sting. “Good one. Now run along and tell him he can’t have her.”
He’d only half-turned when she spoke again. “You sure are possessive of your ex-girlfriend.”
If only she were speaking out of jealousy and not just trying to goad him. Highly unlikely, though. “I had some very simple conditions for helping you out, Granger. But if you must know, the thought of Pansy being with Weasley does make me sick. I hope it never happens.”
“It’s none of your concern whether it happens.”
“It’s none of yours either, yet here you are. And why is that, Granger? Are you being a good friend, or are you feeling guilty for not wanting Weasley for yourself after everything the two of you have been through together?”
“You’re such an arse, Malfoy.”
He smiled to himself at her petulant look. “Yeah, but you’re still going to do it.”
“What makes you think that?”
“You’re still here, arguing. You can’t stand the thought that your precious Weasley might not get a shot with his fantasy of the week, so you’re actually going to lower yourself, aren’t you?”
She scowled at him. “Very astute. Let’s just do this.”
“I don’t know if I want to anymore, what with you being so offensive and all.” He carefully studied his nails.
She snorted. “You want to.”
He did. Very much. It took much more than this to put him off. “How astute of you.”
“I don’t need to be astute to know that.”
“Then kiss me!”
To his great surprise, she did. He was so stunned that for a second he didn’t even react. The very idea that she would just step closer to him, put her hands on his shoulders and kiss him was so foreign it only very slowly registered that, yes, she had just done that.
And then he noticed the softness of her lips against his, the way her arms slowly snaked around his neck, how her body was molding to his at the mere suggestion of pressure from his hand on her waist.
In a very short time she was doing a very good job of driving him very much out of his mind with very little effort.
Then her arms weren’t around his neck anymore and she was gently pushing him away and turning her head to break the kiss. “Enough, you got what you wanted,” she murmured.
But he wanted so much more!
She was blushing. At first he didn’t quite understand, but then his brain functions returned and he remembered that this had been embarrassing for her. It should probably have embarrassed him as well but he simply didn’t care anymore. He wanted her.
He had to remember that this had been a trade, however. He cleared his throat. “Pansy doesn’t like to be chased. If he’s currently doing that, he should stop.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “You’re not being obvious there at all, Malfoy.”
Draco shook his head. “I’m serious! I’m not saying he should be completely indifferent, but he’d have to put down the bait and walk away, hoping she’ll bite. If he follows her around with big puppy-dog eyes, he already lost.”
“Is that what you did?”
“I was trying to get her attention for ages, then I gave up and she chased me down. Eventually she admitted that my initial neediness had put her off.”
“Oh. How… modern of her.” Hermione frowned. “Thanks.” She turned away.
“As for bait, she likes pretty things and expensive things,” Draco continued at her back. “But since Weasley is hardly going to manage to give her either of that… she’s also a romantic.”
“A romantic?” Hermione was looking more than a little skeptical.
“Yeah. She likes gestures. Flowers. Notes. Poetry. Moonlight picnics. That sort of thing.”
Hermione turned back, her eyes wide with curiosity. “Wait, you wrote Pansy poetry?”
Draco didn’t deign to answer but merely pursed his lips. “The real question is, will your buffoonish Weasley manage to do it well enough to catch her fancy?”
“No,” Hermione said with a grin he really didn’t like. “I do think the real question is whether you wrote her any.”
“Hey, I helped you out, didn’t I?” he indignantly asked.
Her grin widened. “You’re not going to answer this, are you?”
“Not on your life!”
Normally, he would feel either panic or annoyance at this kind of onslaught, but right now Draco was too busy being mesmerized by Hermione’s smile-not to mention surprised that she was even teasing him like this-to care.
Selling out Pansy had definitely been worth it.
Ron was scowling when Hermione made it back. “What the hell was that all about?” he demanded.
Hermione raised her eyebrows. “I did as you asked?”
“I do not recall asking you to…” Ron looked slightly sick, “flirt and to kiss him and….” He broke off to gag with what didn’t even look like affected disgust.
Hermione felt her spine stiffen with annoyance. “For your information, he was very much against helping you out and this was the only way to get him to cooperate. But if you don’t want to hear what I found out, then fine, I won’t tell you.”
“You didn’t have to tell him it was for me, you know,” he muttered.
“And what would I have said? ‘Hi, I was randomly wondering how to charm your ex for no particular reason at all’? Besides, he figured it was you all on his own. What with you standing there and all.”
“All right, all right!” Ron grimaced. “I appreciate your… sacrifice.”
“No, you don’t.” She crossed her arms and pouted a little.
He snorted. “Well, it didn’t look exactly like a sacrifice either, what with you smiling and laughing at him like that.”
Hermione ignored her burning cheeks and stuck her nose in the air. “That was simply a reaction to a mention of poetry!”
That seemed to stop Ron short and he blanched. “Poetry? Good God, I really don’t stand a chance, do I?”
Hermione reached up to pat his suddenly slumping shoulders. “You never know?” she tried, knowing it was a weak encouragement.
The look he sent her was beyond skeptical. Well, perhaps it was better if he didn’t get his hopes up.
Poetry, indeed.
“See, I told you it would be ok.”
Hermione slowly turned towards Theo, who had been the speaker. “You just like sneaking up on people and seeing them jump, don’t you?” she asked.
“It’s rather gratifying, yes.” But he wasn’t smiling.
Not that Theo ever smiled. Lately, he seemed much less thrilled to come across her in their office. She knew she’d hurt him on more than one occasion, but there seemed to be something else these past couple of days.
“I didn’t see you down in Hogsmeade,” she tried with fake cheerfulness.
“That’s because I had no reason to go. I heard you had fun, though.” His voice was eerily toneless.
Hermione wrinkled her nose, instantly getting what he meant by ‘fun’. “Not really.”
“I would appreciate not being lied to. You probably think you’re sparing me. You’re not.” Theo went past her to sit down at his desk.
Hermione defensively crossed her arms, embarrassed by the implications. “Yeah, I kissed Malfoy. You know what he’s like. Everything’s a trade-off. Ron needed-”
“You seem to be deluding yourself,” Theo coldly interrupted. “For one thing, Malfoy can’t deny you anything at this point and you know it.”
Hermione felt a slight twitch at one eye. “And for another?”
Theo sighed, looking rather weary. “For another, you both bloody well keep inventing these games just so you have an excuse to touch each other. Honestly, Granger, at this point, even those of us that violently do not want you to get together are just waiting for the two of you to grow up and move it along.”
Hermione’s jaw fell open. “W-what?” she sputtered. “I do not-we do not-this is… I can’t believe I’m even listening to this!” She turned away in a poor attempt to disguise her flaming cheeks. She had never heard such an absurd statement delivered so bluntly before in her life!
“You slept with him. Unless you’ve made it a habit to randomly sleep with wizards you can’t stand, you have feelings for him.”
The feeling of betrayal was swift and merciless as she swirled back to face Theo. “He told you that?” she quietly asked. Somehow it just hadn’t occurred to her that Draco might use their night together to hurt Theo and rub it in his face. It was cruel to Theo and degrading to her.
Actually, once she thought of it, it was just the kind of thing Draco would do.
She’d been so stupid.
“No,” Theo simply replied. “And that’s beside the point, anyway. Why is it so hard to admit that you want him? Is denial really that much easier? What happens when your next boyfriend realizes that it’s impossible to stop these games? Or when Malfoy gives up on you and you become jealous of his next girlfriend? He won’t wait for you forever, we both know that. Will you seduce him again and make him betray her, too? It’s selfish and you know it. Selfish and juvenile. If you truly don’t think it can work, then fine. But isn’t it time you made a decision either way?”
Shaking her head to clear the webs of confusion, Hermione muttered, “No, I don’t… fancy… him. I don’t want to be with him.” She didn’t. Honest! “There was just some physical attraction and we worked it out. One time. You weren’t supposed to know about it.”
“Yeah, from what I heard, you really have it out of your system.” The sarcasm was so thick you could cut it with a knife. “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it and... I really do hate to say it, but you’re certainly not doing it indifferently.”
Hermione didn’t want to hear this. She really didn’t want to hear this. Theo was wrong. There was no way in hell that she actually wanted Draco after all the things he’d done-all the things he’d done to her. She wasn’t a masochist! It was just… stupid.
Theo was wrong.