healed (dramione)

19 : Draco

Song for the Chapter: Mr Brightside ~ The Killers

Draco's POV

"Draco!" Squealed Pansy. This time, I didn't even bother concealing my eye-roll. I'd been meaning to break up with her for days, and I wasn't sure why I was so scared of her. It wasn't like I wanted to replace her with Hermione. But if she ever did see me hanging around near Hermione, I was pretty sure Pansy would blow up. 

"Um, hey, Pansy, I have something to --" I started. 

Pansy cut me off almost immediately. "I heard you were going to Quidditch practice!" She babbled conversationally, linking my arm through hers and dragging me towards the pitch. "I've come to cheer on my boyfriend. Is that allowed?"

I nodded stiffly. "Sure," I muttered. "But, listen, Pansy, I've got something to tell you."

"Yes?" Asked Pansy. Assuming the thing I had to say sounded very different in her head to mine, I decided to break this to her gently. Even if I did hate every inch of her pug face. 

"I - um --" I hesitated, flushing slightly, then sighed and said, "I want to break up with you. I'm sorry. It was great and all. But, um --" I groaned. "Yeah. You're not...all that great. And I don't really...you're not..."

"I'm not what, Draco?" Pansy shrieked, tears quickly streaming down her cheeks. Jesus, I thought furiously, did she want the entire castle to hear? Probably, to be honest. Well, I certainly didn't.

"Fine. I don't care," sobbed Pansy. "I don't care if you don't like me. I guess I'm just not good enough, huh?" Pansy snorted and crossed her arms. Her face had swelled with tears so that now she just looked more like a...sunburnt pug?

"Pansy..." I tried to get her attention as she stormed away, but to be honest, I was mostly relieved. Finally, she'd stop sitting on my lap, finding excuses to follow me around all the time, and, worst of all, she'd stop kissing me. Ew.

I sauntered down to the Quidditch pitch alone until Blaise caught me up, and as we both changed and talked about - well, mostly Pansy, to be honest - I looked up into the stands and saw Hermione and Ginny Weasley sitting there, talking and laughing with one another. Maybe it was just the freezing cold wind, but my cheeks got pink and I grinned.

Practice was going well. I was shooting Hermione looks and raising my eyebrow every time I flew past, purposefully flying in their direction whenever I could. But then Flint, Quidditch captain, saw them. And he was obviously under the impression that they weren't there to watch play.

Before I could talk him out of it, he was flying into the stands and towering over Hermione. Ginny had long since left, complaining of cold from what I could make out, leaving Hermione totally alone. I touched down beside Flint and tried explaining that they were only there to watch. As you can imagine, it was no use.

"Shut up, Draco!" Hissed Flint. "She's a Gryffindor, isn't she? Mudblood." Hermione flinched, but held her ground and glared fiercely back at Flint. God, I thought angrily, I could throttle him...

"So?" I said after some time. Flint and the rest of the team turned their attention to me, and I immediately regretted it. But after Hermione's grateful, small smile, which I just managed to catch over Flint's shoulder, I started to grow in confidence.

"What do you mean, 'so'?" Demanded Flint. "She's spying on our bloody tactics, Draco! Get her out of here, or I will. The Muggle way." He smiled toothily at Hermione, who flushed pink and took a step back. 

"No," I replied flatly. Flint was like a wild animal, and suddenly I realised how punch-able his face looked. "She's not spying on us, Flint. Just back off. She's not exactly causing a nuisance, is she?" Flint went purple with fury. Yeah. I was screwed.

"You asked for it, Draco," he said simply, cracking his knuckles menacingly and turning his attention to me. And then, before I could stop it, came the first blow. 

Author's Note: Hi! I can't believe the amount of support this story's getting, it's actually crazy XD Since it's the weekend here I'll hopefully be able to update more, since everyone seems to be enjoying the story. Vote and comment! :)