Can You Love Me? (A Draco Malfoy Love Story)

Torn Apart- Chapter 12

Torn Apart

Chapter 12

            It was close to Christmas and everyone was on their weekend trip to Hogsmead. For Aris it had been a few weeks since she'd seen Draco with Pansy Parkinson. Since then she'd tried her best to ignore him. It was hard because if she did ever see him her heart beat would race and she had to force herself not to look at him. Aris did find out that whatever he and Pansy had didn't last long because she now saw him alone a lot and Pansy was dating Blaise Zambini. But Aris was sort of seeing Cormac McLaggen. Not that she wanted to, she just didn't care, and deep down she hoped that it bothered Draco. She guessed she should feel bad about using Cormac but she really didn't feel anything.

            Aris, Cormac, Lanie and Eric were all at the Three Broomsticks drinking a butterbeer when in walked Malfoy. Aris moved closer to Cormac, her side touching him and she asked him to tell one of his usual stories about himself. She saw Draco out of the corner of her eye sit down in the back of the room and she could feel his eyes on them. After flirting with Cormac for a bit she saw Draco walk by them and head through a door toward the bathrooms. It wasn't long until he came out and left the pub.

            After a bit Aris turned to Cormac, “I think I'm ready to leave now.”

            “Sure, anything you like,” Cormac told her. They told Lanie and Eric bye and headed out the door into the snow. It was cold out, Aris pulled her scarf around her neck, put on her wool cap, and buttoned up her coat. They finally got back to Hogwarts and headed for the Gryffindor commom when suddenly Cormac pulled her into a dark corridor. He tried to press his lips to hers but Aris started pushing against him, “Stop it,” she told him loudly.

            “Come on Aris, just one kiss,” Cormac pleaded, trying to hold her by the shoulders.

            “I think it's a little too soon for that Cormac.”

            “I don't think so,” he said grabbing her arms harshly and pressing himself into her, pushing her against the wall, he again tried to kiss her.

            Aris struggled to get her wand as she fought off his kiss, but it was stuck in her coat pocket, “Stop it,” she screamed.

            And then suddenly Cormac was ripped off of her and slammed into the opposite wall. She looked to see who her rescuer was and there stood Draco.

            “Are you okay?” he asked concerned. He looked like crap. The dark circles under his eyes were worse than ever and he looked like he'd lost a lot of weight. She had to force herself not to be concerned about him.

            “Yeah, but I could have handled him,” she said angrily, looking down at Cormac who lay out cold where Draco had slammed him into the wall.

            “Right, sure you could,” he sneered, getting angry, “that's why I found him about to do god knows what with you.”

            “What I do is none of your business anymore,” she sneered back.

            “Your right,” he said harshly, “I should have left you to him. If you want to be a Gryffindor whore for someone like Cormac it's none of my business.”

            What happened next happened quickly. She slapped him so hard that even she was shocked, and she could see his cheek already turning fiery red. Then he grabbbed her to him, his lips on hers, and as much as she despised him right now, she couldn't help responding, kissing him hungrily and wrapping her arms around his neck. Their kiss was deep and then he broke away from her and pushed her away from him, “forget being a Gryffindor whore, you'd make a better Slytherin whore.”

            And then he pushed her completely away from him and left her standing there trying to get her wand out, and then the tears started and she slid down the wall to the floor, her face in her hands sobbing. Draco was tearing her apart.

            Draco had turned the corner and stopped his face against the wall. He punched it hard several times, and knew he would probably have to go to the hospital. He heard her crying and it tore him up. He didn't have to say what he did to her but he had been angry after seeing her with Cormac. He'd wanted to kill the bastard. Especially when he'd seen him all over Aris. The only good thing that had come out of it was he knew she hadn't wanted Cormac and when she'd kissed him he realized she still had feelings for him, but that was no good because he couldn't return the feelings. Still he shouldn't have called her a whore. What they shared was special and shouldn't have been compared to something sleazy.

            Aris was back in her own dorm. After checking to make sure Cormac was breathing and okay, she left him where he laid, "the pervert." She was just coming down the stairs to the common room when she heard a commotion of voices downstairs. She overheard that something had happened to Katie Bell.

            “She was cursed,” Ron told everyone, telling them about what he, Harry and Hermione had witnessed.

            “Do they know who did it?” Dean asked.

            “No,” Hermione answered.

            “Please, we know who did it,” Harry said angrily, “it was Malfoy.”

            “Harry we don't know that,” Hermione argued.

            “The thing that cursed Katie had been meant for Prof. Dumbledore. I'm willing to bet everything that Malfoy hexed Katie into giving it to Prof. Dumbledore, but it ended up cursing Katie.”

            "Is she going to be alright,” Aris whispered, not wanting to think Draco could have anything to do with it.

            “They don't know. She was sent to Saint Mungoes, but Prof. McGonnagel said she was lucky to be alive,” Ron commented. Aris had to confront Draco about it.

            Aris waited and waited outside the Slytherin common for Draco to come out. She hid herself in a seperate dark area and finally he came out and he was alone. She followed behind him at a distance. Where was he going? She thought he might be looking for the Room of Requirement. He turned a corner and when she followed him suddenly she found herself hit with a spell and pushed hard into the wall, unable to move, a wand at her throat. When the wand tip lit up it was Draco, a shocked look on his face.

            “What are you doing sneaking around?” he asked, lowering his wand and releasing the spell on her.

            “I might ask you the same,” she said smartly.

            “You know sneaking up on people is a good way to get yourself hexed,” he sneered.

            “What, like you did to Katie Bell?”

            “I don't know what you’re talking about Aris,” he replied running his hand back through his hair.

            “Harry seems to think you are the one who did it,” she said not wanting to believe it. He wouldn't look at her.

            “So what if I did?” he sneered. “Look, you know that Potter and I can't stand each other. He's going to accuse me of every bad thing that happens at Hogwarts.”

            That was true, Harry hated Draco and everything was either Draco or Snape's fault. Aris started walking away, heading back to Gryffindor. “A word of advice Donavon, quit following me around and don't sneak up on me again.”

            She didn't bother giving him the satisfaction of a reply but simply kept walking, she flipped him off by giving him the finger; she didn't even look back at him. She was tired of being torn apart by his attitude and coldness.