Tainted Love

Tension

IRIS

Iris was alone in her house, which had become somewhat of an anomaly lately. She was used to having Theodore around, but he had worked late last night and hadn't come over. Things with him were peculiar lately.

He had been seeing Daphne more. Not that often, but often enough that Iris noticed. He had never lied to her about it, but it still felt like he was sneaking around behind her back. That wasn't fair, though - it had been their agreement from the beginning that they were allowed to see other people. Well, two specific people, anyway. Seeing Iris and Theodore together seemed to have awakened an urge in Daphne to have Theodore to herself.

Which was great. For Theodore.

Iris had made no progress with Draco. They hadn't spoken at all since their brief argument a couple of weeks ago, and he had made no appearances at the Leaky Cauldron like he used to. He was with Astoria now. He had only ever wanted Iris for her body and now he had a different body to want.

The Daily Prophet slipped under her door as she ate a quick breakfast before work. She eyed it, wondering whether it was even worth picking up. It would save her a lot of trouble if she burned it without ever flipping to the gossip column.

Draco and Astoria had been a figment of the gossip column lately.

Perhaps Iris wanted to hurt herself, or perhaps she would rather be hurt than ignorant. She flicked her wand lazily, summoning the paper to her and glancing briefly at the headlines, which included one about the upcoming Christmas Eve Ball.

When Theodore first asked her to it she thought it would be a bit of fun, an elevated version of their normal Friday night parties. But Draco would come with Astoria and Daphne would be there too and Iris wasn't sure she could get through the night without having a mental break.

She flipped the pages until she saw his face. He wasn't in the foreground of the photo and neither was Astoria, but they were in it all the same. In some art gallery, staring at a piece on the wall. Well, Draco was staring at it. Astoria was staring at him.

She tossed the paper down.

Seeing Draco and Astoria together was a peculiar type of hurt, different from what she felt about Theodore and Daphne. It was a hurt that she shouldn't be feeling at all, which made it worse. Jealousy, probably, but she wasn't sure who she was jealous of.

Iris didn't want to be Astoria. She couldn't be her even if she tried. It wasn't Astoria's hair or face or dress that she wanted - no, it was whatever she possessed that tied Draco to her. She could have Draco all the time without wondering what exactly was happening between them.

He was committed to her, committed enough that he didn't mind the public knowing that they were together. She could fuck him whenever she wanted. Even if he didn't love her, even if he was still with Pansy somewhere between them, Astoria had something that had drawn him in. Something that Iris lacked.

It wasn't that Draco didn't want to be with anyone - it was that he didn't want to be with her.

Iris stared at Astoria for another second before setting the paper down. She looked a little bit like Pansy, especially around the eyes. Pureblood society girls, raised to impress anyone who laid eyes on them. Raised to date people like Draco, to walk around on their arms.

Iris wasn't like that at all.

She should've seen it, really. She had managed to convince herself that Draco had some semblance of feelings for her, but it was becoming clearer by the day that he had a type and that she was the opposite.

He had been leading her on and she was so naive that she had believed it.

She still found herself being naive even now. Some voice in the back of her head whispered that maybe Draco had liked her, maybe he had, maybe he had been confused by his own feelings and that's why he rejected her.