Blessed With A Curse

Chapter 15

On my way back to the common room, I was suddenly stopped. An unrecognisable cry, but by the jet black hair and green cloak I knew exactly who it was. Unsure on how to approach the situation, I sheepishly walked towards her. Her head buried in her hands, which shook maybe from the cold or from her sadness.
"If you're here to make fun of me leave Malfoy." She demanded. Even sad was she spiteful. I took the seat next to her. It was obvious what had happened. She's been rejected, not something she was use to. I felt a tad bit of guilt knowing why Krum had said no. He said no because I'd convinced him that Hermonie was best thing since sliced bread. But that was the bet, if she was going to be so hurt by it she shouldn't have suggested it. That was the problem though, the idiot was so arrogant she believed she'd win. It was too bad she'd met her match.
"I'm not going to make fun of you." My words came out softer than usual. Maybe it wasn't just the guilt, it wasn't nice seeing her so upset, she was a friend after all. However, this situation was uncomfortable, comforting one another wasn't something we do but I knew she needed it. Biting my tongue I closed the space between us pulling her into my chest. To my surprise she didn't resist, hesitate for sure but it wasn't more than a second until she was crying into my chest. I really hoped she wasn't wearing make up, this shirt was perfectly clean. "Krum is a bore anyways." I suggested, trying to make her feel better. "Honestly Pansy, you'd have a better conversation with a pole." Ha! I won a giggle out of her. "Really, you know how agonisingly painful that was for me!" She looked up at me, the pools still in her eyes. She wiped away at them quickly. This would probably be the last time I'd see Pansy weak again, she'd put her wall back up soon.
"Maybe you should have just let me win then?" Her voice croaked. Hiccup. I couldn't help but chuckle and it only led to her giggling.
"Well now I don't have to go to the Ball with Blair, since I won. Do you want to come with me?" God Draco where was this niceness coming from? I'd regret this in the morning. For now, I was glad to see her smile, she pushed me away closing the space I'd created and I could finally breathe, my body not so rigid.
"I don't think I could allow you to go by yourself, would be rather embarrassing." She tried turning it around, I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief.
"Your dancing best not show me up." I retorted, finally getting up from the wall. She gave me a sarcastic squint before skipping off.

I finally reached the common room without no more interruptions. Slouching down in the green chair, I put my seat up onto the table. Goyle came up and sat with me, he had something on his mind but he didn't speak a word. It was just us in here, something seemed off.
"If you've got something to say Goyle spit it out." He waited a moment before he spoke.
"You aren't going to the Yule Ball with Blair are you?" He sounded disgusted.
"No- what are you on about?" I barked. "I'm going with Pansy." I clarified and it looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Oh right well it's just-" he longed onto the words.
"Come on Goyle we've not got all day."
"Well news is she rejected Cedric, I just thought to put two and two together and thought it was because she was going with you." I felt overwhelmingly pleased, she'd said no to him. I bet that was a jab, not only had he chosen someone incredibly younger than him but she'd also said no. Brilliant. But who had she said no for. There had to be someone. Had I been so fooled by their made up love story that I didn't see the truth, who she was really with. Was it Potter? No it couldn't have been.
"Who's she going with?" I bit onto my lip, ready to hear the name of my new enemy.
"No one knows." He shrugged. And it looked like my free period was now going to be absorbed by Blair. It would eat me alive if I didn't know who she was going with, so I'd go to the culprit herself and demand an answer. Shooting up Goyle offered me a confused scowl but let me off anyways. There wasn't many places she could be, but I instantly thought of the lake and just hoped she'd be there.

She sat on the sunken grass, picking up at the stems and throwing them in front of her. She was alone. Her body curled up and shrunk, she was upset. We're all girls crying today or was it just my luck? I was right about the lake though.
"Not taking any swims today now are we Miss Walker." She shot back at me, anger in her eyes. She wasn't happy to see me at all. But nevertheless I took the seat next to her. She didn't stop at her picking, she didn't say one word. "It should be Cedric upset, not you." She dropped the grass she had in her hand and looked at me steaming with anger.
"I'm not upset." She snapped. "I'm confused." Confused? "Anyways Draco I don't need you making me feel worse." She positioned her body away from me but I didn't leave.
"Confused about what?" I asked genuinely concerned.
"You won't understand." She hissed. Where had bubbly Blair gone? There was a time where she trusted me, not anymore.
"Try me." I tested.
"I said no to Cedric." This was information I already knew. "I wasn't expecting him to ask me, I'd planted it in his head that Cho would be a good idea for him, I knew she really liked him." I didn't really think her and Cho were friends why did she care what she thought. "I think I've hurt his feelings."
"So you didn't want to go with him because you knew Cho did?" I tried to summarise the story and she nodded her head, her body now in my direction again. "But you did want to go with him?" I asked
"If I didn't know Cho did then yes, were friends it would have been nice." Friends okay then Blair, I mentally rolled my eyes.
"Why do you care about Cho?" I didn't understand. It took her a few seconds to reply, she looked confused on why I didn't get it.
"She likes him Draco, why would I want to steal him away from her when I don't have feelings for him in that way." She was too nice, too damn nice. She hardly knows the girl but here she is offering her date away. "Don't act like it's different to what you did with Pansy. You didn't want to go with her but you asked because you knew it was the right thing to do." How did she know about? "That was really lovely of you Draco."
"Look enough about that, I wouldn't have asked her if I knew you weren't going to go with Cedric." Maybe I said too much. Did I ever want to go with her? We aren't ever friends at the moment.
"I'm perfectly fine with going alone."
"Alone?" I hissed. Was this girl ok? Why would she even consider going alone? "Why would you want to do that? There's many people that would go with you Blair." I could count the guys on my hand, they'd all love the chance. But she shook her head, she was absolutely impossible. So difficult to work out.
"I'll go with you." I could find Pansy someone else to go with, maybe for Goyle or Crabbe.
"No you're going with Pansy."
"I'll find her someone else." But she wasn't having any of it.
"No offence Draco but I'm perfectly fine not being on Pansy Parkinson's enemy list. I'll be fine, you act like I won't be able to socialise all night, I can still see my friends, I just won't have a dancing partner."
"Stop putting everyone else before yourself." Her eyes caught mine, the emerald green completely grabbing me by surprise. I'd missed the soft touch in her eyes, hating her was really becoming hard. I could see myself falling back in her trap. Memories of last year flooded my mind, Christmas, ice skating with her, her then being the idiot she is and going on the ice when it was the most unstable. We had more bad memories than good, I had really tried pushing her away. I didn't know if it did me any good in the end.
"It's getting cold out here." I arose wiping the dirt from my trousers. "You coming with or would you like to freeze to death?" I offered my hand and she took it. My cold hands instantly went warm with her touch, a spark shooting up my arm. I dropped my hand as soon as she stood, but I only craved it to be against hers again, I thought it back though.
"You're really bipolar." She said as we made our way back to the building. "One minute you're nice, the next you're awful, I can't keep up."
"I'm struggling to keep up myself." I admitted. Another wrong move.