Love used to be just a word | Draco Malfoy

- ELEVEN -

After class I packed my books and walked off, knowing the youngest Malfoy would follow me. I hadn't said a word to him, although we'd been working together at feeding some Kneazles (which are cat-like creatures, but not always as adorable to say the least).

As all other students were gone, I stopped dead in my tracks, making Malfoy almost bump into me. "What in the bloody hell were you thinking?" I snapped at him as I turned around to face him. The guy stumbled back at my sudden outburst, acknowledging it wasn't the best time to stand too close to me. "What's your problem all of a sudden?" he asked in a calm voice, but before I could even answer his question, he interrupted me "You were alone, I felt bad for you." He admitted shamelessly, and my eyebrows shot up in confusion.

"Draco Malfoy, feeling bad for someone? Well, there really is a first for everything," a small, sarcastic laugh escaped my mouth. "Seems like it," he shrugged, and I eyed him suspiciously. Something seemed off about him – very off.

Every inch of trust I had for him crumbled into little pieces as I noticed all of the little things that were different. His posture seemed down - as if he was a little kid who'd done something horrible and didn't want to admit it. The grey eyes that had been staring at me with fierce confidence lately were almost like an empty shell. Other than that, the youngest Malfoy had his brow furrowed - as if he was thinking deeply about every single thing he was doing or saying. The little pieces almost clicked together into the whole picture, but I couldn't grasp it. Why is he so different all of a sudden?

"What's wrong?" the words rolled over my lips before I could stop myself. Panic flickered in his eyes for a second before he straightened himself and tried to act as usual. "Your concern about my wellbeing is getting old," his voice was sort of monotone, almost as if he was bored with my question. I folded my arms and kept on staring at him in an attempt to intimidate the guy.

He's playing you, that's what's wrong.

Always my lovely subconscious stating the obvious, but I wanted to know why. Although I've known - or rather really known - Draco for about a month now, he'd never been like this and that's what bothered me. Well, let's play along and find out.

The moment I made the decision we heard footsteps stopping just behind us. I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was before she spoke. "Well, if it isn't the lovebirds," Pansy shrilled in her usual annoying voice. "What's your problem now, Parkinson?" I said her name as if she'd been the most disgusting creature anyone had ever seen, and her pug face tightened as she clenched her teeth together.

"We –" she mentioned the group of girls behind her, whom looked as if they were dragged here "- were wondering something. We haven't seen you two kissing or anything - are you sure you're in a relationship?" she fumed with pleasure in her eyes. She knew she had us there and I stared at Draco who looked utterly bored by her presence. "Pathetic," I chuckled menacingly as I looked back at Pansy. "Maybe we don't want to bother single people by snogging under their noses all the time," I snapped at her - thinking it was a pretty good comeback. The moment I saw her face light up I knew I made a mistake somewhere. "Oh, but I know Draco better than that," she snickered, clearly thinking she'd won.

Oh no you don't.

I wasn't sure if my subconscious was talking about Pansy winning or about the idea that just popped inside my head. I turned back to Draco in an attempt to take a step closer to him, but to my surprise he was already behind me. It seemed as if he'd had the same idea. I never knew I'd go this far just to win an argument. And a useless one at that. But my hate for Pansy Parkinson grew with every passing day and I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of winning – ever.

Without any warning Draco pulled me close and laid his left hand on my waist. A soft tingling feeling went down to my stomach as his other hand found its way towards the side of my neck. Even though I'd known it was coming, I never thought I'd feel this... odd.

His grey eyes stared into mine with a longing I'd never seen before and for a moment - although there were people watching us - it felt as if we were all alone on this world. He came a little closer and pushed his lips onto mine. They were surprisingly soft, but what surprised me the most were my feelings. I never expected it, but I felt the feeling growing stronger inside of me.

I wanted more, I wanted to keep on kissing him and never stop.

I deepened the kiss, but we broke apart not long after that. At that exact moment I felt what I had seen in Draco's eyes before - longing. It confused me, consumed me even, as we kept on staring at each other. Both a bit dumbfounded at what we'd just done.

I regained myself and looked back at the bystanders. Pansy's mouth hung wide open, her eyes full of disbelief at what she'd just witnessed. She'd hoped to reveal the rumor as a lie, but instead she made it worse. For herself that is.

I walked over to her, somewhat reluctant to leave Draco's side, but this needed to be finished accordingly. I leaned in close to her ear "You don't know what you're missing out on," I whispered with a low chuckle as I pulled back a little to stare in her eyes with a smirk on my face. "Oh wait - you do know," I shrugged to show I didn't care about her emotions at all before smiling innocently at her. "Your loss," were my last two words to her before I walked off towards the castle and made my way inside.

It was hard to restrain myself from running once I was finally inside the castle, but after I knew I was alone my feet dragged me in a sprint towards the nearest toilet. I locked myself in one of the stalls and sat down on the toilet breathing in ragged breaths. Once I left the scene, I couldn't even look Draco in the eyes - I was too shocked about what had happened. It seemed like such a good idea and I definitely won the argument, but at what cost? I buried my face in my hands in an attempt to stop my thoughts. My heart was still racing, but that could also be from running to hide in the toilet, right? Right.