The Ties That Bind Us

I

  "Are you sure?" Draco asked and tilted his head so his ear was closer to Pansy's fast-moving lips.

  "I'm positive," Pansy whispered a little too loudly. Several students looked their way, but the knot of Gryffindors standing on the other end of the hallway didn't appear to hear them. Pansy knitted her brow and lowered her voice. "Daphne swears it's what she heard. The Weasley girl point-blank accused Potter he was gay."

  Draco sneaked a glance at Potter's morose expression. The renowned Defeater of the Dark Lord grinned at something Finnigan said. The late afternoon sun lit up his face making him look untroubled and content, but the mood swing had been too sudden to be real.

  "But, he denied it," Draco mused more than asked.

  "Well, yes, but when your own girlfriend claims you're gay . . ." Pansy giggled. "She would have noticed, wouldn't she?"

   A wicked smile curled Draco's lips. "I dare not think what he asked of her to make her draw that conclusion." He gave an exaggerated shudder. Pansy covered her mouth with her hand to muffle her laughter.

   Potter glanced their way, but looked at Finnigan again before he could meet Draco's eyes. His expression turned serious again.

   Draco reached into his pocket to wrap his fingers around his wand. "You're positive they've broken up, though?" he asked, his gaze fixed on Potter.

  "I heard the Weasley girl say so herself."

  "Brilliant." Draco grinned widely.

Ever since the war had ended, bad things refused to happen to the glorified Chosen One. Draco hardly had anything to mock him about; except his glasses, his lack of fashion sense and his poor choice of friends, but no one found those insults amusing anymore. Other students tended to stare at Draco oddly when he commented on Potter's pitiful appearance. Blind idiots. Just because Potter defeated the Dark Lord — well, no, annoyed the Dark Lord until the latter couldn't stand it anymore and had no choice but to commit suicide — they refused to see that their hero was a scrawny, four-eyed mop. And a ponce, apparently.

   Finally, Draco had the chance to provoke and ridicule the unsightly git. Smiling, Draco straightened his back and walked purposely toward the Gryffindors. He heard Pansy groan beside him, but he ignored her.

He reached Potter quickly, leaving a mere few feet of distance between them, and said loudly, "So tell me, is it true, Potter? I heard the Weaslette dumped you because you weren't a man enough for her." Draco paused dramatically. "Or should I say because she wasn't a man enough for you?"

The hallway went silent as Potter looked at him in confusion. Draco thought he could see Potter's cheeks losing colour. Silence lasted for a couple of moments and then Potter finally spoke.

   "Go bully some first years, Malfoy. That's where your true talent lies." Potter turned around toward Granger in clear dismissal.

Draco's hand tightened around his wand. "I plan to do that later," he said. "I just wanted to give you my condolences. Why, the two of you were a heart-warming sight. Every time you walked into the Great Hall holding hands, my insides positively fluttered. Ask Pansy."

   "They fluttered," Pansy said promptly.

   "In fact," Draco continued when Potter turned toward him again, "sometimes they fluttered so much I had to run to the bathroom and vomit."