"What, the Knight Bus?" Harry grinned. "I've got to agree with you on that one. I'm still recovering from the last time I rode it, back in third year."
Exhausted, you closed your eyes and leaned your head against the lumpy, yellowed pillow. You suddenly felt extremely exposed in the small bed, feeling eyes on you.
Sighing, you opened your eyes to see Draco glancing at you.
"What?" you asked, annoyed.
"Nothing," he sighed. "Good night."
* * *
Diagon Alley was bustling by the time the Knight Bus dropped the three of you off early that morning. Yawning, you pulled your drawstring purse from your robes.
"Breakfast is on me," you said sleepily, heading toward a small cafe. Harry squeezed your arm.
"I'll be right there," he said. "I'm going to Flourish & Blott's to read up on silvite."
He started toward the bookstore, and you turned to Draco. "You hungry?"
He shook his head, looking away.
"Too bad." You took his cold hand and practically dragged him toward one of the cafe's round tables.
After the waiter had come to take your order, you looked right into his eyes. "Look, Draco, I know you're upset about me and Harry--"
"It's fine," he spat coldly, in a tone that suggested that it was not fine at all. "I'm sure you and Potter will be very happy together. You've always wanted a hero, haven't you? Well, now you've got one."
"If it weren't for you, he and I would both be dead by now," you hissed. "How's that for heroics? Anyway, I wanted to talk to you because...well, I'm starting to realize that--"
"It was the bloody silvite!" Harry exclaimed, taking a seat at the table. "If you drink it, it renders you unable to Apparate for twelve hours. Why didn't we listen closer in Potions?"
"Well, even if we had known, we didn't exactly have a choice," you reasoned. "Besides, we'll be able to Apparate in a few hours. We can get back to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore."
Draco glanced at you. "What were you about to tell me, Ellen?"
"Oh, so you're on a first-name basis with her, are you?" Harry glared at him.
"And why the hell shouldn't I be, Potter? Because you don't like it?" Draco taunted.
"Yeah, that's why!"
"Overprotective of our little girlfriend, are we, Potter?"
Harry stood up abruptly, his metal chair crashing to the pavement, and started toward Draco. Draco slowly stood, smirking.
"What are you gonna do, Potter, kill me? You'd like that, wouldn't you? Then you'd have her all to yourself."
You could have sworn you saw steam pouring out of Harry's ears as his fist swung toward Draco.
"Get away from him!" you cried as they began beating each other like there was no tomorrow. You leaped up and grabbed Harry, but he shook you off and continued to punch Draco.
Draco delivered a harsh blow to Harry, who retaliated. "Stop it, you two! Stop it right now!" you screamed, desperately trying to pull Harry away. People were staring, and shopkeepers were poking their heads out the doors to see what the commotion was.
Finally, you stepped between the pair and shoved them apart. "You two are acting like children!" you shouted.
"What's gotten into you, Ellen?" Harry looked hurt.
"What, you mean besides the fact that you two are beating the hell out of each other?" you replied, your teeth gritted. Your face was beet-red in embarrassment. "Why wouldn't I have a problem with that? Now sit down, both of you, and eat your breakfast like civilized people."
* * *
"Only fifteen minutes, and we can Apparate," you reminded Harry as you thumbed through an issue of Teen Witch magazine. He nodded absentmindedly and continued to leaf through a Potions book.
A headline on the glossy pages of Teen Witch screamed, "Harry Potter in Love at Last!" Below it was a moving picture of the two of you on the Hogwarts grounds, holding hands and laughing.
How did they get that? you wondered, scanning the article. The caption below the picture claimed, "Harry Potter and his girlfriend, Helen Rose, are very happy together."
If only they knew...
"What are you doing?" you questioned, putting the magazine back on the stand.
"There's a Potions test next week, remember? Do you really think Professor Snape will let us out of it?"
You laughed and walked out the front door of Flourish & Blott's, the bell attached to the doorknob jingling after you. Draco was seated on a bench outside the shop, not appearing to have moved since you and Harry went inside.
"Now will you tell me what you were going to say?" he asked, not looking at you. You sat next to him on the bench.
"Well...Draco, before you started acting like a jerk, I was completely in love with you. But I hated you for what you did at the start of school. So when Harry asked me out, I said yes. But the truth is, Draco, I'm not in love with him."
You put a hand on his arm, and he finally turned to look at you, his ice-blue eyes boring into yours. They looked like they had that summer; full of love and adoration.
"I still love you, Draco," you breathed.
He bent his head toward yours, and you were about to comply, but then snapped back up. "No, Draco, not with Harry here."
"Why haven't you left him?" Draco asked, his eyes questioning now.
"Because I don't want to hurt him. I--I wish he'd fall out of love with me."
The bell on the doorknob tinkled, announcing Harry's presence. "Let's go."
Whee!
Thanks for reading! Rates and comments would be appreciated!
Love, Liamme :3
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