Riddle Me This

Chapter 41

Catherine's POV

I didn't stay in the dorm long. I couldn't. I could hear everyone else, and after hearing 'Do you think it's safe to ask Draco out yet', I ripped my curtains open. Pansy was in the room now, looking at me. I knew my eyes were red, it wasn't anything new.

"Cat?" She asked carefully. I just stood and headed towards the door.

"I need some fresh air." I said as I headed out of the common room. I knew no one would follow me, and that's what I needed right now. To be alone and out of the suffocating atmosphere. Maybe seeing something besides the dungeons will help me out. I completely doubt it, but who knows.

As I walked, I heard another set of footsteps, and let my curiosity get the best of me as I followed them. It didn't take me long to find Draco walking the halls. He stopped and looked around every so often, so I decided to follow him. I wanted answers. I needed answers.

I followed him until a door appeared before him. The Room of Requirement. I hurried behind and slipped inside without thinking. What I was met with was a bedroom, with a warm brown rug, a fireplace, and a four poster queen sized canopy bed, dressed in a royal purple silk bed spread. The room was warm, and inviting, until my eyes met Draco's. And he looked pissed.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" He asked, sneering. I frowned as I stepped back, the door already gone.

"I just wanted to talk to you Draco." I said softly, not breaking eye contact. "You've been avoiding me since you returned from holiday, and before that, you hadn't spoken to me since the first night back."

"I'm trying to do what your father asked of me, Cat. And this." Draco motioned to the room. "Is not that." He groaned. "You're ruining everything Cat." My heart broke.

"If you want to break up with me Draco, just bloody well do it!" I cried, burying my face into my hands.

"What?" Draco asked, genuinely sounding confused. "What gave you the idea I wanted to break up with you?"

"Have you not heard the rumors going around the entire fucking school? Everyone thinks we had a messy break up. Do you know how many Slytherin's have asked to snog me? How many people have asked me on dates? Did you not pay attention when Pansy was yelling at you last month about abandoning me again?"

"Cat-"

"And that!" I yelled. "What happened to calling me Kitty? I loved it when you called me Kitty. It meant something to me. You still mean something to me." My voice began to waver again. "If you don't want me, just hurry up and leave me so I can move on, Draco. It hurts too much to hear the rumors, about if it's the right time for someone else to make a move on you or I. To wonder if it was even real in the first place."

"What the bloody hell did I do to make you question us?" Draco asked.

"Did you not just hear anything I fucking said!? When was the last time you even said hi to me?" I waited for Draco to answer, but he couldn't. "Exactly. I don't know what we are anymore, Draco. I've been trying to understand, I have. But I can't. I bloody well can't anymore. Because it makes me question everything. Like if your were with me because you actually wanted me, or because your father made you. If your feelings have changed over the summer, I could handle that. I could get over it and move on. But thinking that everything's been a lie. Something you were doing because Lucius told you too..." I hiccuped.

"No!" Draco said firmly, storming over to me and cupping my face in his hands. "Bloody hell, never. My father had nothing to do with any of this. He had said something about it, yes. But I told him to sod off, because I wouldn't do that to you. I care too much about you." Draco pulled me into a tight hug. "I didn't mean to distance myself from you. I've been focused on the task the Dark Lord gave me."