Tainted Love

Doubt

DRACO

Draco stood outside the Manor's gates for a second, allowing himself to get his bearings before he stepped close enough for the wards to recognize him and let him in.

Visiting his mother was never easy, but this morning was particularly cold and Draco was particularly on edge.

He felt Iris get in bed with him last night, felt her body on the mattress, the little bit of warmth radiating into the sheets between them. He hadn't reached out for her or tried to wake her up in the morning.

When she woke up it would be to an empty bed. Draco supposed he could've at least left a note telling her that he was going to his mother's, but he was upset with her for a reason that he couldn't fully explain.

The air got too cold to stand any longer, so he took the step forward and let the gates swing open. They would alert his mother to his presence so that she could descend on him as soon as he walked in the door.

Draco loved his mother. He missed her and missed the way they used to be. Most times he was happy to come see her, even if it meant having to endure walking around in the Manor.

Today was one of those odd times where he didn't really want to visit with her. Perhaps it was because he hadn't seen her since breaking up with Astoria. She hadn't been angry over the phone or through her letters, but Narcissa sometimes saved up her anger for private conversation.

And he supposed he would have to tell her about Iris, if she didn't already know from the Prophet. He should be fine with that and he knew it. There was no reason he shouldn't tell his mother about her.

Just like there was no reason for him to be upset with her. But he was.

The only thing he could come up with was that it sometimes felt like she was choosing other people over him - people with whom he had bitter and long-standing rivalries.

Sebastian Daley was a narcissist who should've been sorted into Gryffindor, but he kept out of Draco's way at school and after. Rumors followed Tracey Davis around like first-year boys back at Hogwarts, but she was similarly non-offensive.

Theodore was the issue. Theodore had been the issue for a very long time.

He had the mark just like Draco, but the Prophet still sung his praises and he still got invited to all of the parties and openings and galas - invitations that he turned down as if they were beneath him.

He benefited from being part of Draco's group at school, though he was more on the periphery than in the inner circle. He escaped hazing and bullying and always got good bunks and gifts from the Slytherin parents and the password to the Prefects Bathroom.

And he never had to suffer the consequences. He fell in with Davis and Daley like it was nothing, like they had always been his best friends.

Theodore had escaped the war, too. He was on the outskirts of it, sure, he was marked, but he didn't live in the Manor. He had never even been to the Manor. After his father's death, Theodore was under the radar. At the last battle he walked over to the Hogwarts side as if he should be hailed a hero.

Draco never had that choice.

And he wasn't sure he had ever gotten over that.

Realistically, he knew it was ridiculous to think that Iris was choosing Theodore over him. She had chosen him plainly and simply - she had rebuffed Theodore enough to make him angry at her. It was only natural that she would want to fix that friendship. It made sense that she would want to go out with him and the rest. She couldn't sleep in Draco's bed every night.