Don't lie to me; D. Malfoy

08. Blaise is protective and Draco is jealous

Blaise Zabini was sitting in the Slytherin common room, watching the fire and letting his fingers roam the arm of the chair, feeling the sharp leather. He was never a big fan of leather, didn't feel too comfortable under the skin.

Draco Malfoy had entered the common room with a smirk, Klaus and Stephan following behind with amused faces. "Well, prince, tell us what happened." One of them asked, "Did she confess her love yet?" The other asked with a smirk. 

Blaise's ear had absentmindedly perked up at the topic of the conversation, how thick do they have to be to speak of this so openly?

The blonde rolled his eyes, "No, that's not what I said, was it?" Blaise looked up, growing more and more intrigued by the three new additions to the room. Lucky for them, the rest of the Slytherins were out in the courtyard or in the hall.

Knowing his peaceful alone time was over, Blaise sighed, turning his body away from the fire. "Then what happened?" Klaus asked, clearly less interested. A smug smirk replaced his former expression.

"I asked her to the Yule Ball. And she said yes, of course." He smirked, fixing his tie with a simply movement of his hand. Blaise rolled his eyes at this. He had gotten close to Anastasia these past few days, he honestly enjoyed her company.

Klaus and Stephan didn't look impressed but then shrugged, "Consider yourself lucky, Malfoy. She probably had a list of blokes asking her to the dance, what made her choose you, we don't know." The shrugged again, laughing to themselves.

Draco huffed, leaning against a table, "Sure, look she said yes. Meaning my plan is working, I'll be extra romantic these last few days and on that night, at exactly midnight, after she has confessed of course, I'll tell her it was all a joke, in front of everyone." He laughed at his own cruelty.

The two other boys looked at him in surprise before their surprise turned to pride. "At this point, I think I'll accept defeat." Klaus nodded, looking at his friend, "Yeah, the Slytherin Prince here really did it. I'm impressed." 

This was a shock, this was never the original plan. Draco had seemed to take a more cruel path. This stupid bet was never against Anastasia, it was just a bet. Why did she have to get hurt in the process? Why couldn't Draco simply end things and make up another excuse. Why did he have to hurt her? 

That was it, Blaise had had enough. He hit his hands on the armrests, quickly getting up. He looked royally pissed, "What crawled up your arse?" Stephan asked with a chuckle. Blaise glared at him, "Bugger off! Get the hell out of my common room." The boys looked at each other before leaving the room.

Draco looked back at his best friend with confused eyes, "What's the matter with you, Zabini?" He asked, raising his voice a bit, slightly pushing Blaise away from him. The angered wizard scoffed, pushing him back, a bit harder.

"How about, what the bloody hell is the matter with you? Are you really going to humiliate her like that? In front of everyone? Why?" He asked angrily, only to earn an even more confused look from Draco.

The blonde boy raised an eyebrow, "Uh, because that's part of the bet? Why do you care?" Draco asked, now getting a bit annoyed. "She doesn't deserve that, Malfoy! What has she done to you? You confuse me, there will be times I actually believe you care for her, then there are times like right now."

Draco gulped, audibly, hiding his thoughts from Blaise and from himself. Even Draco himself wasn't sure on how he felt. It felt so real at times, acting the way he did now, it made him feel comfortable, acting like how he used to. With Ana, he acted different, something without thought, just action. It terrified the young wizard.

"Blimey, Blaise! Of course I don't care, it's all for the bet." He scoffed, not meeting his friends eyes. "Is that so? I don't believe it. At one point, it was true. I saw you with her, yesterday, you're telling me, all those looks, the words you said, all fake?"

Draco hesitated to answer, his breath getting caught in his throat. "Of course it was." Another voice called from the entrance to the room. The boys snapped their head in that direction, finding a smirking, Phoebe Michelson. 

"What'd you think, Blaise? That Draco had gone soft on us? Oh, please, you know better than that, don't you?" She walked close to them, keeping her eyes on Blaise. She kissed her teeth, raising her chin high, "Don't tell me you've grown to care for the princess?" She pushed, raising an eyebrow.

Draco looked at Blaise in confusion, awaiting his answer. He didn't understand what was happening. Why is he protecting her? Why is he so mad, he knew this would happen. Unless, the guilt is eating away at him as it is me.

"Don't call her that! You don't know anything about her, none of you do! She has gone through things, things you couldn't imagine." He yelled at them, his anger going through the roof. Draco stared in shock, "I think I know more than you do, mate." Malfoy pressed, clenching his jaw.

Blaise shook his head, "You know nothing. She doesn't deserve this, I do care about her, she's my friend." Phoebe glared at him, "Pathetic. Utterly pathetic. How could you care about her of all people?" The girl scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Draco couldn't speak, he was so confused, it physically hurt his head, or maybe that was all the yelling that was happening. Yeah, that would explain it.

"Because, she's the strongest person I know. Stronger than you, and you and me. I'm out of here." He spit at them, stomping off to leave the room. Phoebe scoffed, taking a seat on the leather couch.

Draco stayed in his spot, at a clear loss for words. He was trying so hard to comprehend what had happened just a few moments ago but the more he thought about it, the more it aggravated him.

Without realizing it, Draco was chewing on his bottom lip, his fingers gripping tightly onto the edge of the table until his knuckles turned a pearly white. He heard that annoyed evil chuckle from the couch, instantly feeling his jaw clench.

"Don't fret, Malfoy." She simply said. But how could he not? His mind was racing.

How could he know me than me? Sine when were him and Anastasia friends? What did he know that I don't? And why in the bloody hell was she the strongest person he's ever met?

These were only a few of the question bouncing off the walls of Draco's brain. He wanted answers, and a part of him knew exactly where to get them. He quickly pushed himself off the table, stomping to the entrance of the common room and stormed out.

Before he realized where he was going, he was storming towards the Hufflepuff common room.