Brought To Our Knees...A Draco Malfoy Love Story [Part 15]

*RECAP*

"He loved you."

"What?"  Amy's eyes are wide like a fawn's, and her face lights up so the tears on her face seem to glow like liquid crystal.  For a moment, she's in ecstasy, then her face dims just as quickly.  She has seen something inside Lara's carefully chosen words.  I see it too.  It is my doom.

"Loved?  Not loves?"

Lara's face droops even more.  She plays the part perfectly; it seems as if she's really disappointed to deliver this news.  Her voice comes out as a near whisper, quiet and reluctant, a softened dagger.  "Amy...you know how shallow boys are."

"What do you mean?" Amy asks, a note of panic in her voice.  But I think she knows exactly what Amy means.

"Most relationships with boys...well...they start off for shallow reasons," says Lara wisely.  "When a boy asks a girl out, it's not because he thinks she's got a wonderful personality…it's because he thinks she's hot.  It's the personality that keeps a guy around...as you get to know each other better, it becomes something he likes just as much about you.  It's what keeps a guy from chasing after any other pretty face...he's grown to like you and everything about you.  And I'm sure, if he had been with you for a while, Amy, he would have seen the same wonderful, dazzling girl that I see..."

"No!"  Amy gasps, shocked.  All of her sadness is gone.  All she can think about is how close she's come to being with him, this boy she worships like a god.  "Come on, Amy...you can't expect a shallow boy to keep finding a girl attractive when he's seen her covered in sh*t..."

My insides are roaring with laughter right now...Lara is straight-faced but it's impossible to take her seriously.

Amy can't honestly be buying this.

My eyes flick over to her and I'm startled to see that not only is her face twisted with believing fury, she's running at me with an anger I've never seen.  She throws her wand to the ground and I'm more afraid than if she'd shouted a curse.  What she wants to do to me is far too personal to use magic for.  I can see the flame in her eyes that threatens to burn me alive.

She slaps my face until it feels raw, punches me twice....and then I hear a crack.  Pain like I've never felt before courses through my body and hot blood runs down my face.  My nose throbs so intensely that it feels like a heartbeat.  But Amy doesn't look like she's satisfied.  I watch in horror as she picks up one of her textbooks and slaps me across the face with it.  My knees buckle and I feel a surge of pain as I collapse and my world goes black.

*NEW CHAPTER*

That was where it all ended, where my life did a u-turn and I began speeding uncontrollably in a whole new direction.  I eventually woke up, cleaned up, and prepared myself for the inevitable.  No one would believe what had happened to me even if I told them, no one would ever believe that dear, sweet Amy had just beat the living sh*t out of me.  I would have to keep it to myself, at least for now...the thought of keeping such a secret sickened me.  I felt helpless, hopeless, more lost than I had ever been in my life. 

For years I had thought of our friendship as simple, shallow, completely lacking in depth.  As much as I enjoyed being with these beautiful, popular girls, I was always left with the vague feeling that they didn't provide much more than entertainment value, like a trashy TV show that could be switched off at any time.  I was surprised to find that, now that our friendship was through, I was totally crushed.  They had become more a part of me than I had realized, and I found myself wondering what I would do after classes, who I would sit with at meals, who I would share my thoughts and secrets with. 

I stood up and steadied my throbbing head between my hands, smoothed the front of my skirt, and walked out, hardly breathing, into the common room.  It was empty.  I looked at the clock on the wall...it was 7:45...breakfast.  With small, reluctant steps, I walked out of Gryffindor Tower and towards the Great Hall, unsure of what to expect.  I pushed open the door slowly.
I was surprised to hear the entire hall fall into silence as I walked in.  Everywhere I looked, people turned and stared, burning holes into me with their eyes.  I glanced at my spot at the table, the place where I used to sit sandwiched between my two best friends.  Lara and Amy were still sitting there, as usual, but they were the only two people who did not look at me.  Instead they were whispering furiously and all around them people were craning their necks, straining to hear their conversation.  I wondered how long I had been asleep.  A day?  A month?  A year?  I wondered what terrible things they had said about me and how it had traveled so fast.  For a while I simply stood there, frozen, unsure what to do, until Hermione waved me over furiously, pointing to the empty seat next to her.  Gratefulness suddenly washed over me, and I hurried over to her, dodging glares along the way.

For a while she said nothing, trying to be sensitive, but you could tell the effort was killing her.  She played with the food on her plate for a minute or two before finally turning to me and blurting out, "It's not true, is it?"

"What's not true?" I forced myself to ask.  I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted to hear this, whether blissful ignorance was better than harsh reality.  But I eventually realized that I would piece it together from comments in the hallways sooner or later.  She took a deep breath.

"Lara and Amy have been saying...well...they've been telling everyone about...the List."

All of the color drained from my face.  This was going to be bad, I could tell.  "What list?  What are you talking about?"

“Oh, thank God….”

I was starting to panic now.  “Hermione, what are you talking about?”  My voice was loud and shrill, once again heads began turning my way.

She stood up and took my hand, leading me out of the Great Hall.  “Adrienne, I think we should talk about this somewhere else.  It’s a long story…”

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