Draco, Part 2

                                        

                                              
Draco, Part 2
                              


                              
"Really? Granger?"
                              
"Yeah... apparently, I have an unconscious desire for brainy, know-it-all Gryffindors," Pansy muttered.
                              
Draco frowned. "What happened?"
                              
"The fuck I know! I came to reassure you first, prat."
                              
"Thanks," he whispered. She had always been a good friend. Willing to stick with him until the end, when people wanted to hex him right and left.
                              
"Anything for you, darling... but let's go through this one more time. Potter is gay and wants you. You want him. You've been after him since day-fucking-one. Potter this... Potter that... I reckon that even if you marry the prat, that you'll still call him Potter."
                              
Draco winced. "We aren't getting married. Never mind that my father would surely kill me and disinherit me... in that order. The press will eviscerate us... and call for an investigation. Hate mail and-and death threats...."
                              
"I'm pretty sure that Potter is used to it."
                              
"Well, I'm not. I'm tired of it, Pans," Draco groaned. "I spent the last three years in constant fear of dying and being tortured. The Dark Lord Crucioed me so much that I have nerve damage. I want to feel safe."
                              
"Potter is safe, Draco. Potter would protect you."
                              
"We don't belong together. Like fire and ice. He's too hot to touch... and I'm... too dark, cold...lifeless. Emotionless."
                              
Pansy sighed. "No, you aren't. Salazar... you are the most melodramatic person I've ever met."
                              
"Are you forgetting about the Dark Lord? 'Potter must die, and I must do it! Because I'm the Lord of Darkness.'"
                              
Pansy laughed. "It must be okay to joke about him, then?"
                              
Draco frowned. "I guess. What happened with Granger, then?"
                              
"She freaked a bit and told me to get out."
                              
"That's what I told Potter," he grunted.
                              
Pansy leveled with him. "Then I apologized for treating her poorly, sincerely. She tried to stop me from leaving, but I told her to figure out what she wants and left."
                              
"Just like that? You apologized?" he asked. Pansy never apologized.
                              
She rolled her eyes. "Yes... and I meant it. You mean it, too."
                              
"Maybe. But it isn't... it shouldn't happen."
                              
"It should. It's supposed to happen..." she said and then stared at him. "Draco... you have to take the Remembrall Potion! You'll remember what happened, what Potter told you. How he made you feel!"
                              
"I know it will. That's why I can't take it."
                              
"Draco... you can't deny what happened... the chemistry between you two!" she insisted, and he knew that was why she had pushed this potion idea on everyone.
                              
"I'm not denying it. I'm avoiding it, so more fuck ups won't happen. I should have never taken that potion."
                              
"Draco!" she gasped and took his arms. "Potter isn't going away! We still have classes for the rest of the year. Even after we leave... you'll see him. He's going to be an Auror. He will go to galas and quidditch matches. He's going to run into you in Diagon Alley! That's a lot of heartache to carry every time you see him."
                              
Draco looked out the window. The sun had risen properly. The morning mist off the lake had dissipated. It was a cool, late autumn morning. "You're right."
                              
"Thank Morgana."
                              
"I should apply to take the NEWTs early," he declared.
                              
Pansy's eyes went wide. "What? Why? Wait... that's not going to solve anything!"
                              
"Then I can apply to healer school in France... problem solved."
                              
Pansy's mouth dropped open. "You're going to run? Run away from your true love?"
                              
"True love? It's not true love. That wasn't a true love potion... it was an Anti-Inhibitions Potion. Yeah, I'm sure we had great hate sex, but we are two different people, too different to be together."
                              
"No... it's not that... but you can't leave me here alone, Draco!" she said, a little desperately.
                              
"I... don't know. Maybe I'll finish the year... but I'm not going to stay in the country," he muttered as Pansy looked at him in horror. "I'm going to go for a walk. Air out my mind. Forget him." 
                              
He wiped the tears that were starting to fall and walked out the door, down the hallway to the side door outside. He set out for the lake, desperate for some peace. Draco couldn't live in a place that had exactly what he wanted, but he couldn't have it. He had been through enough... and so did Potter.