My Father's Only Rule {DRACO MALFOY X SNAPE'S DAUGHTER}

Chapter Twelve: Love Triangle With Two Sides

November 1995 - Hogwarts

Harry had tasked all of us with finding the perfect space to meet up. But everyone was having trouble finding a place. I searched every corridor of the school. I spent the majority of my free time walking and exploring the castle. These walks would have been relaxing if I wasn't paranoid of Umbridge questioning me at every turn. She had gone on a power rampage. She created new rules at every turn and had Filch post them above the great hall. One of them disbanded all student organizations. Meanwhile, Dumbledore was never seen. Nobody could find him, and his absence was stressing Harry out.

After a lengthy study session with Hermione, I needed a break. I decided to take another walk around the castle in search of our meeting place. It was rainy and the sun was setting as I walked through the halls of the castle. I was just beginning to get my mind off things when I turned a corner and ran straight into Draco. My face froze as we awkwardly tried to maneuver around each other.

"Grace," he said. He looked excited and scared all at once.

"Draco," I said promptly. As we tried to maneuver around each other, he seemed to think it was a little funny while it was clear that I just wanted to get away. Not even the corners of my mouth budged. When I was past him I quickly walked away while keeping my head down.

"Grace?" he said, stopping me.

"What?" I said promptly, not even turning around. He slowly walked toward me while I prayed he would just walk away.

"Hey," he said as he came around in front of me. I looked up at him, completely paranoid. "Can we talk?"

"Not now, I'm busy." I promptly walked away, avoiding all contact with him. But he followed me.

"Grace, what is going on with you?" he said, following me down the hall. I didn't stop to talk to him.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Stop lying to me," he said. He ran to get in front of me then tried talking to me while he walked backward. "You're not acting like you. Why have you been ignoring me? What happened to us?"

"I'm not having this conversation right now."

"Grace, why won't you look at me?" he asked. "What happened to us?"

"Draco," I said impatiently as I stopped in the middle of the hallway. "What do you want?"

"I want you," he said. "I want us back. The last time we spoke we agreed to go on a break. So excuse me for wanting closure. I want to know where we stand."

"We don't," I said quickly. "We don't stand Draco. We're not a thing. We're not anything. Leave me alone."

"Are you dating Harry?" he asked.

"Why do you care?"

"Are you?"

"Yes, Draco!" I screamed. "Yes. I'm dating Harry. Good to know that everyone knows."

"Why are you dating him?"

"Why do you care?!"

"Because I love you! I still love you. What do you expect me to do with that?" That sentence used to give me butterflies, but I had become numb to it.

"That's not my problem," I said, walking away.

"Grace," he said, grabbing my hand. I quickly pulled it away.

"Don't touch me!"

"What's going on?" I heard a voice say. I turned to see Harry walking towards me. "Is he bothering you?" Harry walked right past me towards Draco. "Is there an issue, Malfoy?" he asked. Draco changed his composure when Harry got close to him. His body relaxed, but his face stiffened.

"Depends," he said. "Do you want one?" Instantly, they both drew their wands. I threw myself in between them. I felt like the stupid ingénue caught in a love triangle stopping the boys from fighting over her. Stupid ingénue. She's completely pathetic and secretly loves the attention. Her biggest problem is the fact that everyone loves her and she can't pick. Except it wasn't a love triangle if two of the three are in a happy relationship and want nothing to do with the other one. And damn it, I am no ingénue.

"Stop it!" I yelled. "Damn it, you two. Come on, Harry." I grabbed Harry's arm and tried to pull him away, but he and Draco stared intensely at each other. "Harry," I said. "It's not worth it." Harry put his wand away and walked slowly towards me, his back to Draco.

"Alright, Grace. Just don't be disappointed when he doesn't live up to Cedric." 

Instantly, Harry threw himself onto Draco and started pounding him. Draco threw Harry against the wall as they fought.

"Stop it!" I screamed. "Harry, get off of him!" I tried to pull Harry off of Draco, but then Draco pinned Harry to the ground. So I had to pull Draco off of Harry. I tried to pull him off by his arm, but when Draco raised his fist to punch Harry, his elbow hit me in the face and I fell to the floor as my lip busted open. This got them to stop fighting.

"Grace!" Harry said as he ran to help me up. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine." I couldn't bring myself to look at Draco, but I noticed he tried to talk to me.

"Grace, I am so sorry."

"Save it, Malfoy," Harry snapped. "You're gonna pay for that."

"Harry, stop it," I said. He straightened his shirt as he turned around. He put his arm around my shoulder and walked with me back to the common room. He was far more bruised than I was, yet for some reason, mine was more important to him. I didn't look at Draco's face, but his lack of movement told me that he was mortified.

*Writer's note: If you were wondering, Draco went back to his room and cried, horrified at the fact that he accidentally hurt Grace. It drove him crazy for weeks.*

When we got back to the common room, exhausted, Harry and I threw ourselves on the couch next to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

"What happened to you two?!" Hermione asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," I groaned.

"Harry?" Hermione said.

"What she said," Harry groaned.

"Grace, who did that to you?"

"Why is it that Harry's face has got bruises all over it and you don't ask him a thing? Yet one busted lip on my face and suddenly it's the most important matter in the world?"

"It's not uncommon for Harry to be covered in blood," Ginny commented.

"Well, I'm fine," I assured them.

"Harry?" Ginny asked.

"What she said," Harry said back.

"Um, guys," we heard a shy voice say at the door to the common room. We turned to see Neville standing by the door. "You may want to- blimey, Grace. What happened to you?" I flung my hands and gestured to Harry, insinuating that he should be more worried about Harry.

"Why is everyone asking me?" Neville's eyes widened in horror.

"Harry, did you hit her?" Neville asked.

"What?"

"Neville!"

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"No, I did not hit her, Neville," Harry said.

"Oh, sorry," Neville said timidly. "I just thought that-"

"Look, Neville," Harry said. "I'm not having the best of days. Was there something you wanted to tell us?" We all stared at Neville while he built up the courage to speak again.

"Uh, yeah," he stammered. "You may want to see this."

Neville had found the room of requirement. A room that only appears for those who need it, and it appears with all the equipment you need. Harry said it was like Hogwarts wanted us to fight back. So that's exactly what we had to do.