A Powerful and Painful Addiction

................................................

Chapter 5: Pushing Buttons to Just Desserts

When Draco opened his eyes and turned his head, he noticed a beautifully deep pair of lavender eyes and knew instantly why he wasn't feeling that wanted ache; he knew why he wasn't enjoying the sensation of lips to lips: he was kissing Pansy.

"So that's how it works? You go from sensible to slut in a few hours?"

"Oh shit, Joely!"

"Shit is right, Draco!"

"I thought that...she was -" Draco sputtered trying to expel his coherent sentence while pointing at Joely.

"You always come back to the one you love, don't you, Drakie," Pansy smiled devilishly at her competitor. She began to explore Draco's back in small circles moving lower and lower till she pinched his bum.

Draco hopped forward away from Pansy with a slight yelp. "Get the fuck off, Parkinson!"

Joely glared at Draco when her breathing quickened. Yeah, now that I know about the little rendezvous, he tries to pretend it's a mistake and plays the mean one. "You know, Pansy, I should've known that day in Diagon Alley that there was more between you and Draco. But... I didn't want to believe it. I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt your erotic escapade. Take him. I don't have any further use or want with him." Joely's words had hit him with the immense force of Neville's exploding cauldron. Joely retreated down the corridor running as fast and as hard as her legs would allow.

"JOELY! STOP!" he yelled. Pansy slid her languid arms around him as if she had just won the one prize all craved with greed. She slipped her cold hands down the front of Draco's trousers, grabbing his manhood.

"Damn it, Pansy! You're thick. Let go of me! Don't you get it? I don't want you! I thought you were Joely!" He harshly removed her icy hands, shoving them down to her sides and ran off for Joely; but was halted once again by arms looping his waist. "Pansy, I said LET GO! I have to stop her!"

Pansy twirled him around with anger in her movements. "Draco, let her go, you don't need her. You have me and that's all that matters."

"What the hell do you know about needing someone?" he spat through clenched teeth, thrusting her away and flying down the flag stone hall.

"I know an adequate amount!" she yelled running at a close distance behind him.

"Like what?" he snorted, decelerating in speed, coming to a fork in the corridors. "You think that needing someone is all about sex and what you can get from them, Pansy. It's not all about finding release."

"No, you need me to be there for you at all times; you need me to be what you want me to be. And doing whatever you ask of me without complaint, without hesitation, and without question makes me perfect for you! McGill wouldn't do that for you!"

Draco knew, or assumed that Joely would be heading back to Gryffindor, so he thought the left corridor would be the premium choice. But her familiarity with the castle was a mystery to him. Knowing she was becoming friends with the Mudblood, he was sure Granger had shown her the need-to-know corridors. Or perhaps Potter and the Muggle-lover Weasley had already helped her out with secret rooms and passages that he had on more then one occasion been the eavesdropper of the conversations involving said passages.

What if she's heading for the girl's bathroom? he thought.

"Draco Malfoy, are you listening to me?" she asked with her hands on her hips, clucking her tongue. "Draco!" Her lips now pursed in agitation. "DRACO!"

"What?"

"Are - you - listening - to - me?" She enunciated every word as though he could only read lips.

Draco knew that all three corridors eventually came together near the Transfiguration classrooms, so no matter which one he chose; he stood a one in three chance of meeting up with her. He took off down the far left hall with Pansy keeping up at his heels nicely.

"You doing everything I say proves that you think you can win me over by being my slave. That's bollocks, Pansy! That may work with some, but not with me. For one thing, Joely's not stupid enough to act like a house-elf and bow to my every whim. And, for your enlightenment, I want her just the way she is. She's not about to back out of an argument, she stands her ground, and there's no way in hell she'd change who she is to keep someone in her life. She'll tell you to your face; you don't like who she is then 'tough shit.'"

"Draco..." Pansy said through huffed breath, "a good girlfriend and a good wife," Draco grew queasy at hearing Pansy lecture about marriage, especially considering she was implying into the two of them as the happily wedded couple, "does what her significant other says, when he says."

"HO!" Draco stopped abruptly; he was about to put her in her place.

"It's - about - time - you - stopped!" she said between bated breaths clutching a stitch in her side.

"I know a way you can become 'significant'," Draco smirked while making the quotation marks with his fingers. "Do what I tell you, meaning leave me alone!" He jaunted off again at an increasingly fast pace.

Pansy caught a quick breath and followed. "Problem is, is that I'm not very 'significant' as of yet; and letting your attention stray from me would not be the right way to become 'significant,' now would it?" she quipped.

"Look! Everyone in the school knows what a great talker you are seeing as half the rumors that go around are mutated by you to be so far fetched you can't judge the distance between truth and lie. But right now, shut up!" He glanced over his shoulder, the sounds of his footsteps lingering behind as he argued with her.

"N...No!" Where Pansy had pulled the summoned the courage (or was it gall?) to tell him off she had no idea.

Draco screeched to a halt and looked at her in a very how - dare - you - tell - me - no manner. In a way she reminded him of Joely, which brought him out of his reverie and made him realize how much he needed Joely; now more than ever. He had an intuitive feel that this year was going to be rough; very rough indeed. Whether it would be with marks or something else, that gut feeling of knowledge wasn't sharing its information. Maybe the sunken feeling in his chest was a sign that it was beginning, right now and here. Or maybe it had begun back in that dark corridor when he let his guard down and didn't pay attention.

"Pansy, there are some things that you don't understand, you can't understand, and you don't want to understand." He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and finally talked to her in a calm, friendly voice.

"What things are those?" Her eyes were now sparkling with tears.

"What I'm feeling," he said quietly, staring down the long corridor.

"Yes I do, Draco." A single, heavy tear fell down her face.

Even though Draco was still highly infuriated with her, he couldn't bring himself to yell at her looking at her tear frosted eyes. Over the past few years, when he would pay more attention to the littlest things his father would take out on his mother, Draco found empathy in a woman's tears. He refused to shed tears, wince, or even to succumb to want to break when his turn came round for his father's way of dealing with his anger, but watching his mother shed the drops tugged at his heart.

"Draco, there's no such thing as love at first sight."

She really doesn't understand, his mind blurted out.

His head snapped sharply to look her in the eye. "Pansy, you wouldn't know love if it bit you on the arse!" His anger was building, ready to erupt the Earth's Ring of Fire any moment now. "My father fell in love at the first, at the very first sight of my mum. My grandfather knew the instant he saw my grandmother!"

"They thought they knew!" She tried to sound and act as though she knew more than him about feelings.

"NO! They knew! You know why they knew?" He pointed his finger at Pansy and she shook her head. He placed her hand over his heart and said, "They knew because they felt it here."

Pansy scoffed. "That cow really did a good job at brain washing you."

Draco became more and more repulsed with her.

........................

The tears were falling of their own nature. Joely felt ready to collapse from running and crying so hard simultaneously. She slowed her spree only after looking behind her to see Draco nowhere insight and due to the fact that she was in the beginning stages of possibly vomiting from immense exhaustion. Having slept little the night before from excitement, mixed with today's event, followed up with a huge feast, then this, was taking its toll. She needed to stop and try to mentally purge what just happened and pull herself together instead of crumbling. She checked her watch to find that she had been on her escape from him for over an hour; for her watch hands had just struck on ten minutes until two. She remembered Hermione telling her to ask the pictures for help should she need it, but the occupants were all sound asleep; some snoring, some drooling, while others were moving about as if having a vivid dream.

Considering Draco's ten o'clock tour was most definitely cancelled, she decided that finding her own route back would help her get acquainted with the castle. After all, she was normally very independent. Who was she to think that she needed anyone's help to find her way back? Scratch that, she knew she needed help, and in a hurry. One thing she was always told by her former headmaster: 'Don't hesitate to ask for help when it's needed.' Maybe if she had minded her words more, she wouldn't be in this predicament of a new country, new school, and having to worry about her future. Even though her breathing, with the every now and then hiccup, had returned to normal pace; the tears were still falling. Get a grip, McGill; he's not worth crying over. She turned to the left and journeyed down a corridor with nothing covering the walls but tapestries. It was uncommonly cold and eerie and it felt oddly familiar. She hugged her arms around her body tightly as a wave of chills rushed over her.

................................................

"...that was all she could say!" Ron's face matched his hair.

"How did you mum react when the spell wore off?" Hermione laughed. "Though, that was a bit of a dirty trick."

"She's proud of them for all their accomplishments, but she still wishes sometimes that they had entered the Ministry with Dad and Percy instead of opening a joke shop."

Harry was still rolling on the floor gasping for air. "I never thought that your mum would fall for one of their practical jokes!"

Ron and Hermione's eyes were dripping. "Actually, the rest of us knew better than not to accept so much as button from them. Mum was always their test subject. Oh...oh remember those fake wands in our fourth year?"

"Those were brilliant." Harry rested his chin in his hand on the seat of the chair. "They were quite useful for those fake fish swords. Remember those?"

Neither of them noticed Hermione leave the fireside discussion for the stairs and were still talking animatedly when she returned in her nightgown and a dressing gown pulling her hair back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck.

"Hey, Hermione, how's Joely? I'm surprised she's already asleep," Ron questioned, setting up the Wizard's Chess board.

"She's not asleep. Actually, I'm beginning to worry, she hasn't returned from patrol yet," Hermione said while staring at the back of the portrait covered door.

"You left her alone?" Ron asked quickly.

"Well I went after Peeves... and...."

"HERMIONE!" the two boys said in unison.

"I think I better go look for her." She pulled her robe ties tighter and proceeded to the door.

"We'll go with you," Harry called jumping up.

"No, you two best stay here should she come back before I do. Besides, if a professor catches me out of bed I have an alibi being a prefect and all. But you two...."

"Hey, Hermione, maybe she's with Malfoy at hospital."

Harry and Hermione glared at Ron in a yeah - right - Ron look. "Fat chance that Madam Pomfrey would still let her be in there with him.... Wait how did you know Malfoy was in hospital?" Her eyebrows elevated.

"Seamus told me that he heard from Dean, who heard from Terry, who heard from someone who was visiting Cho that he punched a wall and broke his hand. That stupid, slimy, blonde git. Deserves every one of those broken fingers if you ask me!"

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"She must have forgotten the password." Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, but when she opened the portrait it was -

"Hello, Blaise. How are you?" Blaise and a Slytherin girl by the name of Tarrah had been fighting neutral during the war and formed a bond with many other students, but especially the Gryffindors, throughout the duration of the battling.

"Hey, Blaise!" Harry yelled. Blaise raised his hand acknowledging Harry.

"Um... Is Joely still awake?" he asked, shuffling his feet nervously.

"I was actually on my way to find her; she hasn't come back from patrol yet."

Blaise's eyebrows reacted involuntarily. "Wonderful!"

Harry and Ron shot up from their chairs and ran to the portrait, nearly crashing into Hermione. They had pushed her slightly forward, but she regained her stance quickly. "What was the 'Wonderful' for?" Harry inquired.

"Well..." Blaise was now biting his thumb nail that gave a click as bits of the nail were bitten off.

The trio just stared with Harry and Ron's arms behind their back like disappointed fathers, and Hermione's arms crossed looking sour. "Well what, Blaise?"

"Two and a half hours ago Madam Pomfrey released Draco and flooed a message to me saying that he was on his way back. Well he hasn't returned; his bed is empty and so is Pansy's for that matter," (hinting that they weren't in bed together). (It wasn't a secret of their past involvement either.) He began chewing his tongue.

Hermione slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp, her eyes bulging wide. "You don't think her and Malfoy...?"

"NO!" Blaise shot.

"How can you be so sure?" Hermione asked wringing her hands together.

"I just do. Draco really cares about her. I've never seen him act this way with any girl."

Ron snorted under his breath.

Blaise cocked his head to get a better eye view of Ron. "No, Ron, he does. Draco's views on women have changed drastically, he -"

"--seemed like the same old ferret on the train."

"That's because Draco still has a lot to learn about showing what he's feeling openly without worrying about his Malfoy pride. He has changed quite a bit over the summer. He's not a redeemed Malfoy, as if that was even possible or anything. He hasn't given you the chance to see this other side of him. Having a father that would treat you so horribly just for treating a Muggle-born with an ounce of respect, then suddenly, and believe you me it was almost that quick, having a father that actually acts as though he gives damn is a big step for Draco. I mean you have to admit, no one can change overnight with sixteen years of blatant disregard for affection being known as normalcy."

"Yeah well...." Ron crossed his arms in a huff.

"Joely is the first one he took a chance at lightening his pureblood pride for. She took the time and put in the effort to actually bring out the...oh let's say 'slightly less asinine' side of Draco. She grew with him in a way as well. You lot haven't given him that chance to prove that he can be a good person."

"He -" Harry was cut off.

"I can't say that I blame you either though." Blaise waved his hand at them. "Draco's trying to... become a better person and Joely has helped him accomplish A LOT! You'll see what I mean...eventually. But right now...."

"Harry and Ron are going to stay here and wait for her. You and I should go look," she began, weaning her way past Blaise.

"You should stay too! Snape is out searching the corridors and in a rather foul mood. He's so irritated he would throw you in detention for a week for breathing too loudly if he caught you. The worst he would do to me would be the 'disappointed' speech or a detention."

"You live in detention though," Harry smirked.

"This is true. Detention: my home away from home."

"But if Snape catches Joely he'd love taking points and throwing the book at her of 'violations' she's committed with being new and all."

"Actually, when Snape saw her with Draco he kind of took a liking to her. He's in an impossibly irate mood because she was sorted into Gryffindor and he wanted to show up McGonagall with a McGill. Hopefully, the worst that he might do would be to throw a speech her way. Though with the reputation you Gryffindors have with Snape, he could be quite rotten to her, and probably will be this year."

"What do you mean a 'McGill?'"

"Be careful, Blaise," Harry budged in.

"No, Blaise... Harry let go I want to know! Blaise, what do you mean?" Harry was pulling Hermione away from the door.

"Let me know if she gets back before I find her."

.........................................................

"Draco, she knows she's lost you so just let her go! We can go back to my bed and I will make this and her seem like nothing but a really awful nightmare." Pansy stuck her hands into the waistband of Draco's trousers.

"Take your hands out of my trousers before I hex them off!" With lightning speed, Draco no longer felt intruding icy hands. Now he felt only the material of his slacks upon his waist. "Ugh, where could she be? Damn it!"

"Darling, come on. Let's go to bed. It's been a long day and we've been looking for gods know how long. I think I might have an idea of what spell she cast on you. Maybe we could work on that together. And... " She lowered her voice on each word to hopefully entice him.

"Pansy you know damn well there's no spell on me. I'm going to keep looking for her until either I find her, or I know she's safe back in Gryffindor. And my 'and' part; consider our romps to be forever on hiatus."

"Oh come on, Drakie. Please, darling?" She was practically begging him. "She can't have been that good! I know that I'm better than that little American Priss any day!" She was now full out yelling and flailing her arms like a drowning victim, dead stopped in the middle of the corridor.

Draco didn't even stop walking he just made a U-turn and walked straight at her; eyes narrowed.

"I thought I told you that my needing Joely and caring for her has NOTHING to do with sex!" He pointed a stern, rigged finger in her face. "Where the hell do you get off making assumptions that the only reason that I'm going after her is for a good fuck?" He was really starting to lose his temper and noticed himself fingering his pocket for his wand.

"Draco, you and I both know that apart from me," she held her hand to her chest with pride, "the only thing that you have to do with other girls is a good lay," she spat. "There aren't that many girls here, who can give you as good of a release as I can." She trailed her hands up his stomach and onto his chest, digging her nails into his pectorals. Draco brutally smacked them away.

"You really think too much of yourself. Two words for you, Pansy: Padma Patil."

"Ow, Draco, that hurt!" she whimpered, rubbing the back of her red hand.

"Good, now maybe that will teach you to keep off of me."

Pansy walked around him, her palm purposefully grazing his firm bum, whispering into his ear. One of Draco's weaknesses had always been sensual whisperings and slight dirty talk, and Pansy knew it.

Attack his weak spot and he'll be begging me for play! her mind screamed.

"Son - a - bitch - Pansy!"

......................................................

Joely's head shot up from having been propped against her bent knees when she heard Draco yell. She immediately thought that things had gone to the next level. The two having a row never crossed her mind; was never even brought forth in the back either. Maybe that's why I wasn't able to keep him, she thought. Well if that's all he wanted, then thank the gods that it's over and done with! I don't need him. Who was she kidding, she knew she needed him; he was her reason, her reason for wanting to stay alive to possibly be able to have a life one day, but not anymore. She checked her watch and saw that it was now three in the morning. She was exhausted; she wanted to sleep the weekend and the hurt away. She heard Draco again but this time it was a loud 'FUCK!' and her mind confirmed her suspicions. She wanted to cry but refused the tears.

She had to get back to Gryffindor. Maybe she didn't belong at Hogwarts after all. Even though she had made friends with good people, maybe Hogwarts wasn't where she should be. Hogwarts was everyone else and Salem... well, Salem was... her. "I knew I should've sucked it up stayed in the States," she said out loud. "I don't belong here. I need to go back to Salem."

"And explain to me why you don't belong here exactly," came a male voice.

......................................................

"Harry, I'm really starting to get worried about Joely? What if Snape found her before Blaise did? Or, what if she's with Malfoy?"

Ron had been falling asleep during their wait for Joely, so he left to retire leaving Harry and Hermione alone in the common room, snuggling together by the fire. She had conjured a pot of Chamomile tea to try and help her calm her nerves.

Harry pulled her tighter to him. "Shh, love, you need to stop worrying. Blaise will find her." Not another word was spoken as Hermione set her shaky tea cup down. She leant into Harry's side and listened to his breathing. But even the comforting feeling of his rising chest and the rhythmic pounding of his heart beats wasn't settling her anxiety. "You're driving yourself mad for no reason."

Hermione bolted upright. "Harry, this is entirely my fault. I shouldn't have left her alone like that; that was very irresponsible of me. I'm a PREFECT!"

"Hermione, being a prefect has nothing to do with it."

"I was chosen to be a prefect because I'm responsible, and Dumbledore knew that I would look out for those that need help. But what happens, knowing full well that she doesn't know the castle, I leave her all alone in the myriad of corridors to catch Peeves. And what do I say, I told her to ask the pictures to help her find her way back to Gryffindor." She held her face in her hands. "MERLIN!"

Harry slightly jumped back into the arm of the couch.

Hermione lowered her hands. "What if she's mad enough at me that she tells people about us?"

"Hermione, be realistic. Joely may have been hanging out with Malfoy over the hols, but she's a Gryffindor, she's not like Malfoy. She's not going to say anything." Harry was nervous as well, but did a brilliant job of concealing it to stay strong for Hermione.

"But what if she is? What if she...?" Hermione began to ramble and Harry silenced her the best way her knew how: with a kiss.

"Thanks, I needed that."

"Joely's not a baby that needs its hand held, Hermione. I'm sure she's fine." He pulled her against him, sealing their lips together. She initiated the deepening of the blissful kiss by parting her lips, and flicking her tongue against his bottom lip; inviting him in. He entered and allowed his tongue to wander around the torrid opening, invading the space. Their tongues battled for control as he slowly loosened the knot around her middle that was concealing her body underneath. Hermione's arms were draped around his neck teasing the tiny, sensitive hairs at the nape. She moved to straddle his lap creating a low moan that rattled in his throat. Never once was the kiss broken.

Once the troublesome knot had been undone, he moved his hands inch by inch from her stomach, to her sides, then walking his fingers to her back. He found her ticklish spot on the small of her back and she squirmed at the slightest touch. She moved her soft hands to his strong shoulders, grazing her fingertips along his slightly exposed neck and collarbone. Harry was shivering at her touch. She made his mind lose control, prohibiting him from speaking anything remotely close to being coherent. The way she looked in the firelight was egging him to take her. He wanted to act soon. His fingers crawled up her arms creating a tingle that blazed through her, feeling the bumps rise on her arms as he slowly pushed the robe off her shoulders. Hermione removed her roaming hands from his body long enough for him to remove the dreaded dressing gown, and toss it somewhere on the floor.

Hermione's hands returned to the well-defined body in front of her, but this time to the owner's hard stomach and chest. Bless the inventors of long training sessions! her body exploded in want to say. Harry could feel his arousal beginning to rise and harden. Neither of the two had ever been sexually intimate with anyone and he was anxious to feel that pleasure, but wanted everything and the time to be perfect. That perfect time and place would be when she was ready; he knew this. He had no clue when that would be; but he loved her so much he was willing to wait; no matter how long it took, he would wait.

He linked his arms and hoisted her up. She broke from the kiss with extreme anxiety about what he was attempting to possibly do. Harry placed one knee on the cushion and slowly lowered her down onto the couch underneath him. She wrapped her legs around him to keep from falling too fast. Harry was sure that she could feel his erection. Hastily she began pulling his tucked in shirt from the waistband of his jeans and peeling it completely from him as he emitted a low moan. Hermione's mind was rushing with thousands of thoughts. She loved him enough to do this, but not now. He made her feel so secure and confident and seeing him over her made her feel the love that no other person could ever make her feel. But the dreaded horror stories about security becoming less frequent once this point was reached reared its ugly head right behind her eyes. Maybe I am ready for this, she thought. She slowly caressed the bare flesh on his back. Heat was coursing through her veins and she let out a sigh of pleasure.

Her hands retreated back to his chest and stomach, tracing the imaginary lines of his abdominals. Harry gingerly eased his hand under her nightgown to place one hand on the pert globe of her right breast. She gasped at the wonderful and explosive sensation. She arched her back pushing her breast more firmly into his cupped hand. He smiled at her movements. He delighted at seeing that he, he, was the one causing this sensual side of her to take over. She raised her head to kiss his chest and traced his nipples with a soft touch of her tongue. He lowered himself a little farther and her eyes widened and breath quickened at feeling his erection. Her core was moistening and her aroused nipples throbbing. She cherished this feeling, but the thought of where it was quickly heading nerved her. She had never considered herself sensual, but in Harry's mind she was dripping with sensuality.

"Harry... Harry, I'm not ready."

"I know, this is as far as we'll go tonight, love, I promise," he said, sealing his promise with a kiss.

.........................................................

"I mean I don't belong here. I should be home at Salem," Joely answered the unfamiliar voice.

"Miss McGill, you belong here and you know it, you feel it. In fact probably more so here than Salem Academy. Your family has history within these walls. This castle can take quite some time getting used to though." The teacher walked around to face a quaking Joely. "Which brings me to question you on why you are roaming the halls this time of the morning?"

"I was patrolling and am seriously lost." This particular teacher gave her an eerie feeling.

She recognized him from dinner. Sitting at the head's table, clad in all black. But the scowl wasn't there anymore. He seemed... well... tolerable.

"I'm sorry, Professor. Could you please point me toward Gryffindor Tower? Again I'm sorry I'm out this late." She knew she sounded weak and pathetic, but she had to seem lowly to hopefully stay out of trouble her first night. Joely sometimes had a gift of weaning her way out of serious trouble if it was warranted, but then again, those that knew her hardly, if ever, fell for it anymore. And no matter how much Snape seemed to be lacking in venom at this moment, he didn't appear to be the type to test. Her father though, was a different story. She could never get out of trouble with him.

"I know Miss Granger was to be filling in for Mr. Malfoy tonight; where is she?" The scowl had returned when he mentioned Hermione. That infamous scowl he reserved for Gryffindors. He was actually hoping for a reason to take away points.

Joely felt her mind being invaded. It was bringing on a splitting migraine, as past memories replayed themselves. But just as suddenly as it had appeared it had disappeared; regaining her posture from her hunched lean. "I threatened to hex her to pieces if she didn't let me do it on my own. I'm a big girl," she stated very collectively but also with a bit of sarcasm on 'big girl'. Oh yeah he's buying it! her mind jumped.

"Very well." He was rather skeptical. "Follow this corridor down -"

.....................

"Oh shit!"

"What, darling? What's wrong?"

"Joely's in trouble."

"Big fucking deal. How do you know? I don't see her big head anywhere." Pansy chuckled at her own joke. Draco said a few choice words and she coiled.

"I can feel it." Did Draco have a psychic connection to Joely? How could he sense that something wasn't right with her? Draco felt a white-hot liquid shoot through his body as a hazy mental image reeled through his head of her trembling in front of...a teacher...or was it someone else? The image sharpened and immediately, he recognized the man.

"Oh god! Snape caught her!"

"Yes!"

"Does your mind still possess my warning from dinner, Pansy?"

.....................

Joely began heading in the right direction for a change with Snape still watching her until she was out of eyesight. After twenty minutes she finally came to a corridor that looked familiar.

"Thank the fates!" she praised, clapping her hands together into a praying position. She knew she was almost "home." She was recollecting the day's and night's events in her head. The ride to King's Cross with Draco, the time they spent alone in that compartment (the bum smacking), the sweet whispers into her ear as the carriage rolled on; the kiss on the back of her head (that she failed to notify that she had been well aware of it), the sorting hat's knowledge of her life; making friends so quickly.... But then the nightmare resurfaced: seeing Draco kissing and grinding against the wall with the same girl he had called a slag to the many on-lookers of Diagon Alley.

"I should've known better," she cursed herself. Again she was crying. You're pretty pathetic if you think crying will make the hurt stop! her mind added in to her verbal and mental beating. If crying abolished hurt, nothing would be painful. Suddenly a man popped out from behind a tapestry.

"AHHHH!"

.....................

Draco and Pansy stopped dead in their tracks; the female's piercing scream smashing their ear drums.

"JOELY!" Draco yelled. He had heard stories about weird things roaming the corridors late at night, but always thought them to be jokes to frighten first years.

"So that's it, she screams louder than me so you take a liking to her! Well for your information, Draco, I can scream as loud as you want me to."

His glare was so lethal it could not be mistaken for anything but murderous. "I warned you, Pansy. My relationship with Joely has no foundation on her and I having made love!"

"Love making?"

"Yes, love making, Pansy. In case you are clueless to its definition, it -"

"I know what it means, Draco! But you've never used that term with me. It was always just -"

"Sex. So the light finally goes on, all you and I were was just sex."

"You used me? I know you care though, Draco, because we have something special." He stared at her, cocking that eyebrow saying 'HA yeah right.'

"If I say yes will you leave me alone?" he smiled half-heartedly.

"No," she stated matter-of-factly. He only growled in return.

........................

"Shh, Joely it's just me!" The man raised his hands as though he was surrendering.

"Damn it, Blaise, you scared the hell out of me!" Joely was gripping her heart with her hand and breathing spasmodic. She removed her hand and he noticed she had left five crescent moon shapes above her breast.

"Well no more hell, so no more naughtiness then, huh?" he chagrined and she smirked a rather small grin in return. He noticed the trails the salty tears left on her cheeks. To him, she appeared very distraught, but yet she still glowed in the moonlight filtering through the windows.

"Have you been crying? What happened?" He set out toward her, slowly at first, to ward off any suspicions that she might be harboring that he was set out to attack her. He didn't know if she might have had a run in with someone that might have or tried to harm her. He assumed that with her quaking, something terrible had indeed happened to her. "Joely, did Draco hurt you? Did he force himself on you?" He finally closed all empty space between them and took her into his arms in an embrace of protection and care. Hugging her tightly like a mother to her just nightmare woken child, he felt her collapse and crumble into him as she drenched his shirt in her tears.

"No he didn't force himself on me."

"But did he hurt you?" She didn't answer and he asked again. Still no response after asking for the third time. He struggled to pull her face away from his chest, but she was clinging on like a baby to a bottle; everything from her shoulders up was immovable. After having finally let go, her knees buckled and she sank to the floor. Being caught off guard by her sudden decline, Blaise grasped around her waist to halt the impact from being a painful one.

"He hurt you though, didn't he?" Blaise was nervous. Maybe she's covering for him? he thought. Blaise was more than ready to beat Draco down to within inches of his life and leave him for dead. But unfortunately, someone would've found him eventually and Madam Pomfrey was too damn good at her job to let him die.

"What did he do?" he asked quickly in hopes of a quick reply. Ideas were rushing through his mind of what he knew Draco was capable of. He remembered Malfoy boasting once about taking a Ravenclaw by force, but even with the way his parents and home life used to be; he knew Draco didn't have the guts to rape. Or did he?

"H...He...I - caught - cough - him - cough, cough - making - out - hiccup - with - Pansy," she mumbled against him, her head under his chin.

"Joely, I'm so sorry. I thought he had changed."

"And he..." She told him everything that happened that day leading up to that. Blaise listened to every word she spoke and interrupted not once until she concluded the tale with hearing about how they had finished their adventure.

"I'm going to kill that bastard!" he said grinding his teeth in anger. "Joely, he's not worth it."

"He was to me, Blaise! I should've known, but I was blinded by a stupid school girl crush. I was just the attempted flavor of the month. That's all he wanted from me. He didn't care at all, except for him and little Malfoy."

Blaise picked her up and carried her back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Love, what's your password?" He tried to rouse her but she had cried herself into a heavy sleep in his arms.

"Password?" the fat lady asked.

"Look, she's asleep. Can you just let me in?" The fat lady shook her head and peered at Blaise as if he was out of line, or nutters one, for asking such a ridiculous question as that.

"Joely, you need to wake up we're at Gryffindor." She didn't stir. She looked so peaceful even with all that she had just dealt with. "Please just let me in, as you can see she won't wake up!" he growled.

"This once, young man," she said huffily and swung open.

"Thank you." Blaise entered very carefully as to not bump her against any walls. The last thing she needed was a splitting headache in the morning from him being careless and smashing her head into a wall. He saw Harry and Hermione cuddled on the couch by the smoldering embers. He assumed Gryffindor was like Slytherin and the girl's staircase was on the right so he proceeded. Though he thought twice as there were no staircases in the Slytherin Common Room as they were underground. There were separate halls. Deciding to continue and see where he ended up, he finally reached a portrait door of a little girl with a plaque next to it that read: Prefects: Hermione Granger, 6^th year; Joely McGill, 6^th year.

The little girl giggled uncontrollably and Blaise rolled his eyes. "Password?" she asked through a snicker.

"Look! I just had a hard time with the fat lady, don't you give me rubbish too! She's sound asleep and I can't wake her, so therefore I can't get the password! So be a good little guardian portrait and let me in!" The little girl puffed her cheeks at his rudeness and swung open with a loud bang. Blaise said 'thank you' and she giggled again. It obviously didn't take much to please her.

He checked the trunks at the foot of the beds for the one that held her initials and found fortune in the covers having been turned down already. He laid her down very gently as if she were made of glass and removed her shoes. He tucked her in, placed a friendly kiss on her forehead before whispering 'goodnight' and exiting Gryffindor Tower for Slytherin.

He was a mere two corridors from his common room when he heard familiar bantering. At once he recognized it as that of the old married couple minus the vows and rings. He quickened into a jog to catch up to them, but when the bickering stopped he knew they had entered the common room. They were still quarreling when he stepped in.

"DAMN IT, MALFOY!" Draco whipped his head around to see Blaise rushing him.

"What now, Blaise? Pansy, shut up!" Draco threw his arms up before pointing a firm finger at Pansy's rambling face.

"Well since you missed dinner in the Great Hall I heard you had Pansy instead!" Blaise said with the utmost amount of disgust in his voice; Draco cringed and appeared to be on edge of retching at his words. "So I thought that I would give you dessert!" Immediately Blaise's fist contacted Draco's jaw and he fell to the stone floor.

"Fuck, Zabini! What the hell was that for?" Draco ranted, his split lip bleeding heavily.

"That was for Joely, you prat!" Blaise stormed off and Draco instantly knew that he had been the one that had found her.

"Oh, sweetheart, let me fix that!" Pansy cooed, fawning over him like a newborn in a pram.

"Get away, you bloody cow; this is your fault!" That was the last thing Pansy heard from Draco that night, until his portrait door slammed brutally into the jamb, waking a few students.

................................................

Draco entered the Great Hall the next morning having not slept a wink. His mind would not let him forget what he had done to Joely. This constant feeling of guilt was pissing him off, but he knew he deserved the lip and the punch from Blaise. He had never imagined that he would be on the receiving end of blunt force trauma because he had kissed the wrong girl.

When Joely and Draco had begun a journey into finding more about each other, Draco's views on Muggles and Muggle-borns hadn't changed and Joely had grown distant from him, telling him flat out that she despised people with that opinion. Granted it was his opinion, but she still felt it to be morally wrong. If Draco thought that they're small budding friendship had been over then, then he knew now that it was with a doubt finished. That thought made him decidedly queasy and he pushed his plate away, in the beginning stages of self pitying. All the Slytherin girls took mind to his stupor and rushed to his side in hopes of returning that cocky smile, they all loved and adored, to his perfectly pale face.

"Oh look it's Malfoy's pity party."

Crabbe and Goyle stood up and Draco ordered them back down. "Sod off, Zabini!"

"Hey, you lost her, you screwed up, mate. It was all your doing." Draco couldn't bring himself to admit it, but he knew Blaise was right.

Draco saw the Gryffindor table starting to fill and watched the doors for Joely. Five minutes later he noticed the trio walking in, talking in bare whispers in a huddle; but not one person graced the threshold that made Draco's heart skip. He pushed the "party" away and proceeded to the Gryffindor table. Usually having never stepped foot anywhere near them if at all possible unless it was for insult purposes, he edged his way toward them.

He stopped beside Harry. The three didn't acknowledge his presence until he cleared his throat rather loudly then was able to be ignored. They stared him down through squinted eyes looking ready to beat him to a bloody pulp.

"Where's Joely?" he asked with his hands in his pockets rocking on his feet.

Harry, Ron and Hermione thought him to be very brave to step anywhere near them, let alone speak to them after last night.

"You've got balls, Malfoy. You've got shit for brains, but you've got balls."

"Thank you, Potter," he smirked. "But spare me; I'm not wasting my precious oxygen on you, nor do I have the time or want to confirm your last statement for you. Where is she?" His temper was heating to fiery and explosive; he grasped his wand in his pocket, ready for the draw.

Hermione clucked her tongue a few times looking away from him toward the head's table. She rolled her head and lowered it from the ceiling to look him dead on into his icy gray pools; her chin set and strong in its raised position. "She's gone..." But, before the next words left her mouth, Draco flew out the doors of the Great Hall straight for Dumbledore's office.