dislike ↠ draco malfoy

twenty-three

I left Pansy with Daphne and I went into the Potion's classroom. Professor Slughorn was cleaning up the classroom with his wand from the last potions class. Bottles of ingredients were whizzing across the room and placing themselves on shelves.

He looked up at me when I entered. "Do you need something, Miss Hastings?" he inquired.

"Sorry to bother you, sir," I said. "But someone gave Draco Malfoy a love potion and he needs the antidote."

"Oh dear," he muttered. "Of course I can brew one, but don't you know how to?"

"W-what?" I stuttered.

"Don't you know how to make the antidote? You are brilliant in Potions class, I would assume that you would know how to make a simple antidote," he remarked.

"Oh—um, well, I've never brewed one before..."

"It's quite all right." He started to gather up ingredients. "I can make one in a jiffy."

"T-thank you, sir," I mumbled.

I stood there awkwardly and watched Slughorn brew the potion. After a few minutes, he poured it into a vial and brandished it in front of me. "One love potion antidote."

I reached out and took it. "Thank you so much, sir."

I walked out of the Potions classroom and made my way back to the hospital wing. Draco was still sitting on the cot.

"Oh thank you, dear," Madam Pomfrey exclaimed and took the antidote from me.

She uncapped the vial and poured it in with a glass of pumpkin juice. She walked over to Draco. "Here, boy, drink this."

"I'm not thirsty," Draco said. "Where's Pansy?"

"Drink it, boy, please," Madam Pomfrey repeated and pushed the drink closer to him.

"Draco," I said, "Drink it."

He looked up at me, and something in his face changed. He reached out and took the glass from Madam Pomfrey. He took a large swig and downed all of it. He grimaced slightly. "I think something's in this pumpkin juice..."

After a few moments, his face changed. His grey eyes became focused again. "What happened?" he asked.

"Pansy slipped you a love potion. Really mature of her," I added in a sarcastic tone.

"A love potion—what—why would she—"

"Because she's obsessed with you," I replied. "If it makes you feel any better, she did say sorry. She feels really bad about it."

"Oh Merlin," he moaned, "did I do anything embarrassing?"

I giggled. "Well, you kept saying that you loved Pansy—"

He groaned loudly. "I hate myself."

"It wasn't your fault, you couldn't help it!" I exclaimed. "If you want to hate someone, you should hate Pansy."

"I do hate Pansy. I knew I shouldn't have trusted anything she gave me. I knew it was weird that she was giving me a spontaneous present..."

"Stop beating yourself up," I said.

He stood up. "I have to go to Quidditch practice."

I rolled my eyes. "You already went to Quidditch practice earlier, stupid."

"Shut up," he said, but it didn't sound like he meant it.

"Let's go back the common room," I suggested.

He nodded and together we walked out of the hospital wing.

When we crawled into the common room, Pansy was sitting on the couch, still sobbing. I didn't know how she had that many tears in her. She looked up when we entered and quickly brought the sleeve of her robes up to her face to wipe her tears away.

Draco suddenly looked furious. "Pansy!" he snapped. "What the hell were you thinking? Giving me a bloody love potion?"

I grabbed the side of his robes. "Draco—"

He aggressively shoved my hand away and strode over to her.

"I'm so sorry, Draco," Pansy sobbed. "Please—"

Draco looked so angry that I swear I could see steam coming out of his ears. His usual pale face was beet red. For a second I thought he was going to hit her, which terrified me. I knew that Draco could get angry, but I didn't think he would get physical with a girl.

"You're such a little bitch, you know that?" he said between gritted teeth.

Pansy flinched and hugged her arms around herself.

"Draco, stop!" I screamed.

He turned toward me. "I have a right to be mad, she drugged me—"

"Don't hurt her!"

His face softened into a look of disbelief. "What— I wasn't going to hit her—why would I—"

"You sure looked like you were going to," I said. Pricks of tears were welling up in my eyes. I didn't wipe them away. I let them fall down my face.

"I wouldn't hurt her. I'm not like that..." He swallowed. "Please don't cry...I'm sorry..."

"I'm so sorry, Draco!" Pansy exclaimed, sobbing slightly less now. "I made a mistake. Please forgive me."

His face hardened again. "No." He turned around sharply and stomped up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.

I wiped my tears off my face with my hand. "Pansy, are you all right?"

She was staring into the fire. She had stopped crying, but her face was still wet and read. "He'll never forgive me," she muttered. "I'm so stupid."

I pressed my lips together. "He might forgive you, Pansy," I said in a soft voice, but I didn't even believe myself.

I thought about how angry Draco had been. Would if have hit her if I wasn't there? The thought wouldn't escape my mind.