Mine

[13]

After a night of barely being able to sleep, I wasn't able to pull myself out of bed in time for breakfast. I basically had to run to class to make sure I wasn't late.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at me as I threw myself down in my seat beside her. "Glad to see you made it." She said. "You look..."

"Awful?" I suggested, chuckling breathlessly. "I couldn't sleep last night and then I nearly didn't get up this morning."

"You alright?" She asked softly. I nodded in response, quickly pulling out my book. Hermione and I sat in the front of the classroom, so I didn't want to be visibly unprepared when the professor started talking.

* * *

Classes seemed to drone on forever and by the time my final class of the day had come to an end, I was relieved. I went straight back to the Slytherin area and crawled into bed, sleeping until it was time for dinner.

I walked in silence to the Great Hall with Blaise until he spoke up. "Are you alright?" He asked. "You seem really out of it."

"Oh, yeah," I said, waving him off, "I just woke up from a nap. Didn't sleep well last night. Once I get some food in me, I'll be better."

And it was true, I had shoved some food in my mouth as soon as we sat down and I was already feeling more alive. I was basically dancing in my seat as I ate my food, rolling my eyes at a laughing Blaise.

"You're so embarrassing." Pansy said as she sat down at the table, eyeing me with distaste. "No wonder your supposed boyfriend doesn't want to be seen with you."

I frowned at this, realizing that Draco wasn't present. I was too focused on finally eating some food that I hadn't noticed. I shook off Pansy's words, giving her a careless shrug as I continued to eat.

"Some of us Slytherins have a little bet going, you know." Pansy said with a sly smirk, leaning closer to me over the table. "You see, some of us think that this is all a big stunt, but we're taking bets on the reason for it. Some people think you were pathetic enough to beg him to pretend to date you so that you wouldn't seem like so much of a loser. I think Draco's taken you on as a pity case but realized his mistake and that's why he's been so actively avoiding you."

"Thank you for the concern, Puggie. It's nice to know that you're always looking out for me." I said with a sarcastically sweet smile. Knowing Pansy, no one had actually said any of these things and she was just saying they had to get under my skin. Or she was trying to spread the rumors herself. Either way, I knew that I hadn't begged Draco to be my boyfriend and I highly doubted he'd taken me on as a pity case. The only part that stung me was the general idea of him realizing he'd made a mistake. I had to admit, the thought had crossed my mind. That maybe that night after we returned to Hogwarts he realized this was a mistake, or maybe the next morning he woke up realizing that this was not what he wanted, and that's why things were weird. The one thing I did know was that I was not going to let Pansy see that anything she said had bothered me. Not today.

* * *

Classes for the week had come to an end and the weekend was upon us. The rest of the week had gone basically the same as those first two days of classes. Draco didn't just not act like a boyfriend, but with each passing day Pansy was breaking me down more with her taunting. As much as I didn't want to admit it, she was getting in my head. Draco and I still spoke minimally and the most affection I'd gotten out of him was a daily goodnight kiss on the forehead. He had worked on homework with me in the common room one night after dinner, but announced he was going to bed less than two hours after we'd sat down. I didn't think that I was a clingy or needy girlfriend, but the more Pansy teased me for being pathetic, the more self-conscious I felt. I didn't even know how to describe what I felt. Self-conscious? Paranoid? All I really knew was that I felt uncomfortable and a little antsy. I had no idea where I actually stood with Draco, again, but this time it was worse.