We All Burn Sometimes

Chapter 9: Torture

"You broke up with Malfoy?" Ron shrieked. The redheaded boy looked at his best friend like he was crazy. "I thought you loved him?"

Harry Potter nodded. He didn´t even look up from his Transfiguration essay. The two were working in the common room that night while Hermione (who had finished her assignment earlier) was spending the evening with Blaise. Ron was starting to think that Voldemort must have messed him up more than he thought when Harry did not even say anything afterwards. Ron took a deep breath. He intended to get to the bottom of this. He snuck another look at Harry´s unreadable face. It´d be like pulling teeth.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Why did you break up with him?"

Harry sighed and put his parchment down. Ron would never let this go unless he gave him some kind of explanation. He removed his glasses and started massaging his forehead. Thinking of Draco gave him a headache.

"Yes, Ron. I do love Draco. In fact, I love the asshole so much I broke up with him."

"I don´t get it." Ron couldn´t follow his best friend´s twisted logic.

Harry looked at him sadly. Without his glasses, Ron could clearly see the misery reflected there. There was more to this than Harry had been letting on.

"He doesn´t love me, Ron. He has a fiancée, some rich girl called Francesca. For all I know they´re probably going to get married after graduation. He told me this just when I was ready to tell him how I felt."

"Does he love her?" Ron asked softly. He was suddenly thankful that the common room was deserted except for a couple of first years at the far side of the room. Harry looked like he was ready to cry.

But he didn´t. Harry took several deep breaths to recover his composure before he continued. "He gave me a gift, Ron. Something nice. I thought that meant he thought I was special, since he made a big production of it, wrapping the present and all. It turned out that he was just used to giving his lovers gifts. It didn´t mean anything. I was nothing to him." He stopped and picked up his quill, playing with the soft feather. Ron remained silent. After a few seconds, Harry spoke again.

"I couldn´t continue seeing him like that after I found out. It would hurt too much. Do you understand me, Ron?" Harry put his head in his hands. Ron put a hand on his shoulder, hoping that he could at least ease some of his friend´s pain. Harry lifted his head after a few minutes.

"It´s better like this, you know. I could learn to get over him." He straightened and put back his glasses, his face composing back to his calm state. "He doesn´t love me. He never will."

***

Draco chewed on a licorice stick as he sat alone in the common room at five o´clock in the afternoon. Gregory had given him a whole pack of it earlier, hoping it would sweeten the blonde´s dark mood. He had already gone through half of the pack and it still had to work. He felt like shit. He had been like this since that Gryffindor broke off all relations with him six days ago.

So far, Draco thought he was coping well. He had steadfastly ignored Harry Potter. For Blaise´s sake he had been quite civil to Granger, even nodding to her once on his way to his seat during Potions. He had refused to even look at the boy beside her. It didn´t help that Harry was being as nice as possible. In fact, Blaise had been making friends with him ever since he hooked up with Granger. Blaise had told Draco the raven-haired boy wasn´t as boring as they first thought. He said Harry had a great sense of humor. Draco had refrained from commenting. He already knew that. So he just snorted and left Blaise to interpret that.

He did try to divert his attention from Potter. For the past six days, he had been seeing Pansy, Mandy Brocklehurst, and Lisa Turpin alternately. He had not even slept in his own bed during those nights, or even entered the other room. The memories of Harry were too sharp. And Harry was the last thing he wanted to remember. He threw the licorice stick into the fire and watched it melt.

At that moment, Greg, Vincent, and Blaise entered the common room, carrying a gallon tub of ice cream. Vincent was in the process of trying to steal the spoon from Blaise and the two were arguing over whose turn was it to eat.

"Hey, Draco, want some?" Greg called out. The three boys sat beside their housemate who had been clearly moping around since after lunch. It was so unlike Draco to stay indoors the whole day at a Sunday but the boy was in a funk. The others were quite reluctant to ask the reason for this when he almost bit Blaise´s head off a few days ago when the dark-haired boy tried to pose a question regarding Draco´s black mood.

"What´s that?" Draco lifted his head listlessly. He wasn´t hungry but he wanted to get the taste of licorice off his mouth.

"Ice cream," Blaise answered happily. Vincent had succeeded in taking the spoon. "Hermione gave it to me earlier when I told her how much I loved it."

"What flavor is it?"

"Vanilla."

Draco was out of there in a flash, leaving the others staring after his wake with their jaws hanging open.

***

"Blaise?"

"Yes?"

Hermione turned her head slightly to look at her boyfriend. They were sitting on a bench overlooking the gardens and part of the lake, watching the sunset. Blaise had his arms around her. For the past few minutes, they had been mostly quiet, just enjoying the view. But Hermione had noticed that he seemed rather distracted.

"Something´s bothering you. What´s wrong?" she ventured, concerned, "Maybe I can help."

He laughed softly. "I doubt it. It concerns Draco."

"Why? What´s wrong with Draco?"

"That´s what´s wrong. He won´t tell us." Blaise shook his head in wonder. "He´s been walking around with a black cloud over his head the past week and he refuses to answer any inquiries we make."

"Well, I don´t know him, of course, so I can´t really tell but didn´t you mention some time ago that he was seeing someone?"

Hermione had a sudden hunch that Draco´s foul humor may have something to do with his and Harry´s break-up. Days ago, Harry had confided his reasons for breaking-up with his Slytherin lover. Personally, Hermione believed that if you loved someone that much, then he must be worth fighting for. But, as a friend, she respected Harry´s decision and she meant to support him all the way. But now that Blaise mentioned his best friend´s current depression, there might be a chance that Harry could be wrong about Draco´s feelings for him. And Hermione fully intended to help her friend if there was just the slightest suggestion that Draco cared for him.

"He wouldn´t even tell us who the girl is. Would you believe that guy? Actually, I believe they broke up. He´s not sneaking around so much anymore. That and the fact that he´s been on a dating spree lately, sleeping with every girl who bats her eyelashes at him."

"Do you think he took this past relationship seriously?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

Blaise thought back and smiled. "Come to think of it, I think he did. So far, I think it was the only time when I´ve seen Draco that serious about someone he´s seeing. With others, well, he never really cared for them. He´d sleep with them and ignore them the next day, even tell us the full details of the encounter. But he´s been awfully secretive about this one. And he´s obviously torn up about it, from what I see." He paused and pondered for a while. "Yeah, I would say it´s the girl. He really invested for this one. He found them a private room and even bought her a gift, a--"

"A jade snitch pendant," Hermione finished softly.

"How did you know?" He turned to her, surprised. "I was with him when he bought that. But I didn´t tell you about it, did I?"

"No." She shook her head sadly. "No, you didn´t." Poor Harry and Draco. They were both too afraid to admit their feelings for each other. Now they were both walking around like miserable zombies.

"Herm, is there something you´re not telling me?" Blaise inquired curiously.

She sighed. She had to tell him. It was the only chance Harry and Draco had. If they left it to those two they´d both die of depression before they admit it to each other. Harry was going to kill her if he found out but Blaise had to know.

"Blaise, before I tell you anything I have to ask you something."

"Sure. Go on."

"Do you honestly believe that Draco cares for this person?"

"Well, yes. I do. He was incredibly happy when they were together. I´ve never seen him laugh so much as he did during that fortnight."

"Ok then. Are you willing to help get him together with his... his lover?"

"Yes, if that will make him happy. I will."

Hermione took a deep breath. It was now or never. "I know who he was seeing and... it´s not a girl."

"Not a girl?" Blaise looked confused.

Hermione shook her head. "No. It´s not a girl. That´s why he never told you."

"Well, if it´s a bloke, then who is he?"

"It´s Harry. Harry Potter."