𝔖𝔢𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔡 ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 (18+ ℭ𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔩𝔢𝔱𝔢)

The Third Wheel

     Each step Draco took as he headed to Hogsmeade felt like he was stomping on my heart's shattered pieces. I shook with hurt and rage. How dare he kiss me and then tell me I wasn't what he wanted.

      I remember the first time I met him at one of my Grandmama's famous galas for the upper-crust in the wizarding world. We were seven, and he told me I looked pretty in my favorite purple dress.

     I've loved Draco Malfoy ever since, so I want him to be happy. However, I didn't spend the entirety of my life becoming what a sophisticated, wealthy, Pure-blood should want in a wife to not be with the Wizard of my choice.

     Flicking the tears off my face, I magicked a mirror to check my makeup and straightened my clothes.

     Keeping a reasonable distance, I followed him. Moving down the crowded streets of Hogsmeade, I drifted behind carts, boxes, and pedestrians to stay out of the sexy Slytherins view. He entered the Three Sticks, slamming the door behind himself.

     Moving to the window, I peeked through the glass. He was sitting with... Harry Potter?

     "Hi, Pansy. What are you doing lurking outside the window?"

     I spun around and sucked in a shocked breath. "Millie!" I grabbed my chest. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, you could give them a heart attack." Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass stood there too, eyes widening like they'd found something juicy to gossip about.

     "Sorry," Millicent said.

     "Who are we spying on today?" Tracey asked as she peered through the window. She jerked back and frowned. "What's Draco doing talking with Potter in public?"

     Daphne sucked in a shocked breath, and Millie shook her head in disapproval.

     "Ruining his reputation." I sighed. "I don't know what to do."

     "It seems that he doesn't realize that even with Potter being a war hero, it still went against the Pure-bloods way of thinking. Draco is going to get the twenty-eight after him if he isn't careful."

     "I know that, Daphne. I was trying to help him see that earlier, but he doesn't seem to understand what he's doing."

     Daphne's blue eyes rolled around in her empty head. "You better explain it to him soon; otherwise, an elder might give him a rude wake-up call."

      "They would never kill him for talking to the unclean," I pointed out. "Being the last of his family line, his blood is too important."

     "Pansy, you and I both know that they will make life for him in the Wizarding world more difficult than it needs to be if he keeps this behavior up."

     "Not to mention, Lucius Malfoy is beyond redemption and in Azkaban. Bad accidents happen there."

     "Lucius made his bed, but Draco is mine, and nothing can happen to him." They were right, and I needed to do something to keep Draco from becoming so socially unclean that Grandmama will never let me keep him. "Ladies, you need to promise me that you won't say a word about this to anyone. If I hear it, I'll know it was one of you."

     Daphne snorted. "Whatever."

     Sticking my face closer to hers, I asked, "Do we have a problem?"

     She clicked her tongue. "No."

     "And you two?" I glanced between them.

     Millicent shook her head.

     "Of course not," Tracey said. She stepped back, glancing over her shoulder.

     "Good. Millie, stay here with me, and Tracey take Daphne back to Hogwarts. Clearly, all of this fresh air has her thinking poorly."

     Daphne stormed off, and Tracey skittered after her. I had a feeling that Daphne was going to blab about this to someone the moment she set foot in Hogwarts, but I didn't have time to worry about her. I needed to keep an eye on what was happening in the bar.

     "What are we going to do, Pansy?"

     I checked my fingernails. "Let's go shopping and maybe get some ice cream while we wait for Draco to finish talking with the half-blood."

     "I could go for vanilla ice cream with caramel syrup," Millicent said with a smile as we headed to a nearby shop.

     Several hours and two ice cream Sundays later, Millicent pointed to the door of the Three Sticks. "Look, here they come."

     Turning, I watched Draco hold the door open for Potter before they strolled the opposite direction of our location. "Let's go." I pulled my little bags of goodies together, and we followed them back to the school.

     We were close to Hogwarts when I was saying, "Draco's so handsome. I wonder if our children will have his eyes and my beautiful hair?"

     "The Malfoys are famous for their hair, so I'd think you'd want the kids to have that and your blue eyes instead of his grey ones. That would make a beautiful combination."

     "You're right, it would." I pictured the cute little boy running around Draco and a baby girl in my arms—the perfect family.

     In the distance, Potter tripped, and Draco caught him before falling. From there, it was a slow-motion nightmare watching that half-blood be so close to Draco. As their mouths touched, I reached out. "N—"

     "Quiet, Pansy," Millicent whispered in my ear as she covered my mouth. "It's too late for him now."

     I was sick to my stomach and felt like the world was spinning out of control. I started sinking to the ground with that image firmly ingrained in my mind. "How could Draco kiss that thing? How could he..." I could hear the panic in my voice.

     "Come with me." Millicent grabbed my hands and led me off the path.

     Sitting on the dusty ground, I leaned against the cold retainer wall and tried to get my breathing under control.

     "Tell me that I fell and hit my head and that I DID NOT SEE what I think I might have seen."

     Millicent scrunched her face. "I'm sorry, Pansy. He was kissing Potter in a way that would make a Dementor feel something."

     I leaned my head back, staring at the pink and purple sky. "Damn."