Denying Draco

34 - More Of A Man

When returning to Hogwarts, Poppy told her friends she had to visit her uncle in his office and they walked in the direction of the Gryffindor common room as Poppy walked the opposite way. She strolled slowly, waiting for them to be out of sight and then she proceeded to storm through the corridors, her rage and vexation completely eating her up and making no rational or sensible thoughts clear in her mind. She paced in the direction of the courtyard, glancing around when she arrived and she saw Draco's friends hanging around, laughing and joking together. She knew one of them as Blaise but Draco was not with him.

'Where is he?' she barked, as she walked over and stopped near them. 'Where's Draco?'

The group of boys all glanced at each other and began sniggering and Blaise turned back to her, shrugging nonchalantly. 'Haven't seen him.'

Poppy took out her wand and held it up, to which the group of boys howled and laughed and Blaise narrowed his eyes at her, tilting his head slowly. 'Is that a threat, Dumbledore?'

'Did you hear about my duel with Draco in class?' Poppy asked, hoping her voice didn't sound too shaky.

'I think we all heard about that,' Blaise replied, rolling his eyes.

'Then you know I can make fucking good on my threats, don't you?' Poppy spat. 'So unless you want me to string you up by your ankles and embarrass you in front of everyone here, tell me where the fuck he is now!'

'Tell the skank to pissoff, Blaise!' one of the boys, Gregory Goyle barked and they all laughed again.

'Tarantallegra.' Poppy muttered the word and cast her wand towards Goyle, a purple light appearing from the tip of it and suddenly, his legs began jerking around in dancing motions. Draco's friends all gasped and Goyle began crying out loud as his feet appeared to tap dance uncontrollably and the whole courtyard of students erupted in laughter. Poppy knew she was going to get in trouble for that one later, but she was too clouded by anger to care.

'Make it fucking stop!' Goyle cried, as his friends tried to pin him down to stop his legs.

Blaise turned back to Poppy and shook his head quickly. 'I haven't seen him. He got back from Hogsmeade a while ago and said he had somewhere he had to go alone and not to disturb him. I'm telling the truth, alright? Now, make his fucking legs stop moving.'

Poppy nodded and gave a screaming Goyle whose legs were still jerking a once over, giving Blaise an uncaring shrug. 'Sorry...can't remember the counter-spell.'

She walked away and hurried through the corridors, knowing fine well where it was that Draco wanted to be alone.

She reached the seventh floor and as she walked quickly down the corridor towards the Room of Requirement, she spotted Draco sitting in a window bay of the corridor, still, silent and lost in thought. Upon hearing her footsteps, he looked over and instantly got to his feet, shoving his hands in his pocket as he sneered at her. 'Come to apologise to me, have you?'

'Apologise?' Poppy repeated, gritting her teeth as she hurried towards him and slammed her palms against his chest, shoving him back against the wall. 'Fucking apologise, Draco, you fucking... Piece. Of. Shit!' With each word she barked at him she shoved her hands against his chest repeatedly and his face screwed up harder with each hit.

He pushed forward and grabbed her wrists in his hands tightly to stop her from hitting him, shoving her back against the wall and pressing his face to hers. 'Calm the fuck down...now,' he muttered, threateningly. He glanced up with his eyes to check down the corridor before looking back at her. 'Don't ever come at me like that again.'

'Get your hands off me now!' she growled, breathing heavily as she tried to pull them from his grip.

He glowered at her sternly with a look of authority and a clear warning to her that if she dared to hit him again she'd be sorry. She continued to breathe heavily as their eyes remained on one another and Draco slowly let go of her wrists, moving his arms down by his sides. 'Now, you need t-.' Slap! His face jerked as her hand swiped hard across it and the sound echoed through the empty corridor. He snarled and immediately brought his hand up again, grabbing her chin between his thumb and fingers and he tilted her head back as he moved in close to her again. 'Are you trying to make me angry?'

'You deserve it and so much more!' she muttered, as she remained still and didn't resist, making sure he knew his actions didn't scare her. 'How dare you try and embarrass me in front of-.'

'Diggory?' Draco interrupted, letting out a breath of smug laughter. 'Don't tell me you have a crush on that pussy.'

'He's more of a man than you are,' Poppy murmured, turning her face to try and get out of his grip.

The sentence irked him and he slid his other hand between their bodies and grabbed the inside of her thigh under her skirt. 'Is that right? How would you know that? Have you let him show you how much of a man he can be?'

'No,' Poppy replied, her breathing getting heavier as his hand moved higher.

'Exactly,' Draco said, calmly. 'Because I'm the only one who has shown you, aren't I?'

'As you keep continuously reminding me,' Poppy whispered, snarling at him. 'Now take your hands off me.'

He moved his palm to her underwear and pressed it against her centre, causing her to close her eyes. 'You can act as strong and tough as you like, Dumbledore...we both know when it comes to me, you're as weak as piss.'

Poppy gulped. He was right. She did turn weak when it came to him. And I fucking hate myself for it. It was a thought that plagued her greatly.

'If I ever see you flirting with Diggory or anyone else again, I'll do more than just embarrass you,' Draco threatened, finally letting her face go abruptly.

Poppy scoffed and shook her head before letting out a loud laugh of disbelief. 'Do you hear yourself? Why do you fucking care?! You flirt with Pansy right in front of me and I don't do shit because you can do as you please! We are not together! Why do you insist on telling me who I can or cannot involve myself with?!'

'Because I fucking can!' Draco barked, lowering himself to her height as he touched noses with her again. 'And because I know you will listen...rather than find out what will happen if you don't.'

She gulped again and cursed herself in her head. She hated him. She hated the way he treated her, the way he treated everyone, the way he thought he could order her about and control who she talked to. She hated even more that despite it all, he still made her want to tear his clothes off in the midst of a toxic, heated argument and constantly question herself on whether or not there was something seriously, psychologically wrong with her.

'You'd better go tend to your friend,' Poppy said, sliding out from between Draco and the wall behind her, trying to ignore how good he looked in his suit and how paired with his enraged behaviour, it was daring to send her wild.

'My friend?' he questioned.

'He's currently tap dancing uncontrollably in the courtyard,' Poppy stated, turning to walk away from him.

'What the hell are you talking about, Dumbledore?' Draco asked, from behind her.

'You'll see,' Poppy muttered. 'Tell him from me that maybe he'll think first in future before calling me a skank.'

'What did you do to him?' Draco called, as Poppy reached the corner and turned it, out of sight. 'Poppy!' he bellowed, in a furious growl, and she ignored his call to her as it echoed through the halls and hurried back towards the common room, ignoring the intense throbbing between her thighs.