Forever Home | Draco Malfoy

Chapter 4-15: The Confrontation

The weeks seemed to drag on for Desiree rather than fly by like they usually had for her during this point in the year. Everyday she felt as though she had lost a part of herself. It had been like that ever since she and Draco began keeping their distance from each other. They managed to keep their separation subtle enough to not raise suspicion from Pansy or Blaise but it was clearly hard for the both of them.

Nonetheless, Desiree awoke one Saturday morning to get ready for a Hogsmeade trip with Cedric. She put on a pair of black jeans and an emerald sweater, her favorite sweater. She was excited for her day with Cedric. Though she still had a bit of worry in the back of her mind that seemed to grow the closer they got to the third task, she still felt happy with him.

She hurried down to the Great Hall for a quick breakfast before meeting Cedric. As she entered, she immediately found Pansy, and to her relief no Draco.

"Oh Desiree, hi. I was expecting you to be with Cedric," said Pansy.

"I'm meeting him in half an hour. I thought I would have a quick breakfast before," she smiled.

"So, what's the plan today?" Pansy turned to her.

"I'm not sure actually. Cedric just said we would spend the day together," she smiled. "But that probably means he'll end up taking me to the bookstore and buying me a book even though I say he doesn't have to a million times."

"That's sweet," Pansy smiled. "It sounds like he'd do anything to keep you happy."

"Yeah, he would wouldn't he?" Desiree grinned as she began to think of the boy that had really done everything in his power to keep her happy. Her smile began to fade as she saw Draco walk into the Great Hall.

"Desiree? Desiree, are you there?" Pansy was now waving her hand in Desiree's face.

"Oh, sorry. I have to go meet Cedric," Desiree stood up quickly.

"I thought you said that wasn't for another half an hour," Pansy called out.

"I have to go!" Desiree kept walking. It was true, she didn't need to meet Cedric for another half an hour but she couldn't be close to Draco. She walked around the castle until she found Cedric sitting on one of the benches in the courtyard.

"Hey, I didn't expect you to be here for another ten minutes," said Cedric as he stood up.

"I just figured I would meet you early," she smiled up to him.

"There's nothing wrong with that," he smirked before gently kissing her.

"So, where to first?" Desiree smiled.

"Well we have to get down there first," he chuckled.

"Haha very funny," she giggled. The walk to Hogsmeade filled with many giggles and rambling about anything that came to mind. Desiree had felt relieved after her almost encounter with Draco earlier. She knew the longer she put off talking to him the weirder it was going to be when they finally did talk, if they talked.

"Why don't we go in the bookstore first?" Cedric smiled to her.

"You know me so well," she smiled as she walked to the door. As she entered the small bookstore her senses were filled with a smell she always loved, the smell of books.

"Well come one," she giggled as she dragged Cedric through the aisles.

"Isn't this the book you've been talking about for weeks?" Cedric held up a copy of Wuthering Heights.

"It is," Desiree's eyes lit up. "I wasn't sure they would have it because it's a muggle book. I mean I was lucky I found Little Women here."

"I'm going to get it for you," he smiled.

"No, Cedric you've already bought me like five books," she looked up to his eyes.

"I insist," he looked into her bright green eyes.

"Won't you at least let me buy myself one book?"

"You can buy the next one," he started walking toward the counter.

"We're just going to do the same thing. You say 'you can buy the next one' and then we end up having this conversation every time. Come on, let me buy it," Desiree lightly nudged the back of Cedric's shoulder.

"No," he chuckled.

"You are impossible," she giggled.

"Maybe," he paused. "But you love it," he gently kissed her.

The rest of their time in Hogsmeade Desiree and Cedric walked to the many shops and eventually settled in The Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer. Through all of the craziness that this year had brought Desiree still knew that she loved spending time with Cedric. But she wondered deep in her mind if it was the love for him or how comforted she felt around him that made her love to be around him. She, of course, tried not to think of that while she was with him because the time they were given alone together was a gift between Cedric figuring out his strategies for each task and his friends being around him.

"I'm going to go head to the common room. I'll see you later," Cedric turned to Desiree as they stood just outside of Great Hall.

"I'm probably going to go read now that I have a new book," Desiree smiled. They connected their lips one last time before going their separate ways to their differing common rooms.

Desiree sat quietly in the common room, reading, until just about everyone had either gone to bed or sat quietly studying.

"Desiree? Where were you? I didn't see you at dinner," Pansy walked up to her.

"I wasn't hungry so I decided to read," Desiree held up her book.

"Look, I talked to Draco today," Pansy sat down. Desiree could feel her heart begin to race in her chest.

"I don't want to talk about this right now," Desiree stood up quickly and began walking towards the stairs.

"Desiree please just listen to me," Pansy chased her up the stairs.

"Why?" Desiree shouted louder than she intended once the two girls arrived in their room.

"Desiree don't shut him out," Pansy looked to her with the most serious look Desiree had ever seen Pansy give.

"You think I want to?" Desiree could feel tears beginning to build in her eyes.

"Then why are you?" Pansy's voice raised.

"Pansy I can't do this," her voice was loud.

"So you're just going to walk away from him? What happened to 'Pansy I can't hurt him'? What happened to that?" she glared at Desiree.

"I can't hurt him. If I keep him close it's going to hurt him. It may hurt me to push him away but I can't do that to him," her voice cracked.

"Desiree why can't you see that pushing him away is hurting him more than keeping him around?" she paused. "Do you ever wonder why I stopped calling you Ally? Because he told me it was hard for you to even let him call you that! And do you know why he and Emma broke up?"

Desiree stood silent for a moment, "No, no I don't. He wouldn't tell me."

"Desiree it was because of you," Pansy paused.

"Why me? I didn't ask for this," she asked as her eyes were now glazed with tears.

"God Desiree, he loves you! Why can't you see it?"

"I do! Everyday that goes by without talking to him I feel like I've lost part of myself!" she shouted. "Pansy I don't know what to do," she began to cry.

"Desiree," Pansy said quietly as she pulled her into her arms.

"What am I going to do? I don't want to hurt either of them," Desiree's voice cracked.

"I don't know," Pansy gently rubbed her back. "Everything will work out in the end."