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I made friends with Pansy Parkinson within the first week of us being at Hogwarts. We made friendly chit chat while on the train, and she called me over to sit by here when I got sorted into Slytherin. Ever since then, she would not leave my side. It was not like I minded, all except for one small issue- Draco Malfoy.
We were friends with the Slytherin Prince, which I guess you could say was a privilege, but really, it was rather natural. We were all purebloods, and Draco and his two goons were family friends, so they were together right as school started. Pansy and I were very confident people, so we were not shy to talk to the prince, compared to everyone else. Even on the first day, everyone knew who Draco and his family was.
Draco was obviously attractive, and being confident and cocky only added to it, so many girls liked him. That included both my dear friend and I. Bloody hell, my luck, right?
So, when Pansy confessed her love for him to me, I decided to set aside my own feelings and help her get the guy. I could move on much faster than she could, so it was for the best, really.
I was a wing man for almost three years. That was when it all came to a halt, and something unexpected messed with our plans to get them together.
-----
"Tell me," I said, smiling, as I faced the group, "Do any of you all have eyes for someone?" I smirked, watching some of the group pale. Well, more like half of them. Crabbe and Goyle paled, stuffing their faces with muffins to avoid the subject, while Pansy turned red as a tomato, not keeping it secret one bit that it was Draco-she was staring at him- and Draco reddened the slightest bit. A pang went off in my chest, but I smiled regardless.
Draco looked to his side, seeing his friends stuff blueberry and chocolate muffins in their mouths, and flinched at the mess around their mouths, and the open-mouthed chewing. It was not pleasant to me in the slightest either, but I was more used to it since I sat across from them at lunch every day.
"Let me guess, you blokes still think girls have cooties?" Draco asked in a bitter tone, turning his head as to not look at the mess the two were. They looked at each other in confusion, before turning back to look at the rest of us.
"They don't?" Goyle mumbled through a blueberry muffin, and I decided that Draco was right to turn away.
"What about you, Y/n?" Pansy asked, smirking at me. I glared at her, a burning crawling up my neck. I could tell I was turning pink as well.
"And so, what if I do?" Pansy's smile grew larger, and she moved closer to the edge of the cushion she sat on. I felt that if she moved any closer, she would fall on her arse. I tried not to laugh at the thought.
"Well, who is it?" Draco's voice had a slight edge to it that I did not recognize. I shook my head, laughing, showing I was not going to tell. Truth was, I couldn't tell. I could not betray Pansy like that, and I did not want to tell a lie.
"What house is he in?" Pansy asked, raising and lowering her eyebrows in a teasing manor. I was tempted to toss a pillow in her direction but decided against it. My aim was dreadful, chances were that I would hit Draco instead.
I debated on if I should tell them the house. Again, I did not want to lie. I was afraid that if I told them the house, they would spend the next two hours naming every single Slytherin there was. I didn't want that, so I shook my head dismissively.
"Why should I tell you lot?" I questioned, smiling playfully. Draco sighed, disappointed, and Pansy groaned. Crabbe and Goyle were fighting over the last chocolate muffin, ignoring our conversation. Oh, to be so damn carefree.
"You trust us, don't you?" Pansy gave me puppy dog eyes, poking out her bottom lip and putting her hands together in a begging motion. I laughed at her desperate nature, shaking my head.
"'Course I trust you, just don't need you all teasing me for it all the time, like I know you will," Finally, the girl across from me rolled her eyes, huffing and sitting back in her seat, her head thrown back to the cushions. "What about you two?" I rose my eyebrows accusingly, and looked at Pansy, shooting her a wink. She became more red.
"I do," she said, a bit too excited sounding. "He's in our house," She smiled, side-eyeing Draco pretty obviously, making me roll my eyes. She was so bad at hiding her feelings for him, it was almost stupid.
"Draco?" His eyes bore into mine, and I had begun to wonder what crawled up his arse and died, when he opened his mouth to speak.
"Yeah. Slytherin," His voice was clear, like he was trying to make sure it would not waver. I rose an eyebrow in his direction, smirking,
"I wonder if all houses date within each other. Our house seems to do it the majority of the time,"
The group fell into separate conversations: Crabbe and Goyle, and Pansy and Draco. Though it looked more like Pansy was talking at Draco than with him. I could feel the second-hand pain from my friend being ignored, almost every time it happened. Draco wasn't interested in her. It was painfully obvious. But Pansy was never the type to give up on a guy. It just wasn't in her nature. I would cheer her on all the way, like the good friend I was.
I also tried to be a good friend to Draco, though that was harder when I was actively helping a girl who I knew he didn't like to pursue him. There was not much I could do in the situation. I had tried to talk to Pansy about his disinterest before, but she was not going to give up of course.
I listened in to the conversations happening around me, but didn't give any input of my own. I was content just having my friends around me. I was glad to have them. It was peaceful, until Crabbe asked:
"Truth or dare?"
I hadn't replied at first, just stared at him blankly as my mind tried to catch up with suddenly being requested of something. Then, I decided that I had to pick dare, because picking truth would just mean that they would ask me who I liked.
I was dared to try and shove a whole muffin in my mouth at once. It felt disgusting, but I am not a quitter, so I did it regardless. I tried to be facing away from Draco when I did it though. Even if I couldn't pursue him, I did not want him to see me in such a state.
"Alright, Goyle, truth or dare?"
I ended up asking Goyle who he liked instead, in which he replied some long brown-haired girl who sat five seats away from him at lunch.
The game went around the group until:
"Pansy, truth or dare?"
Pansy was dared to kiss Draco. I suddenly felt sick, and Draco looked like he did too, but he didn't stop the kiss from happening. I had to give it to Pansy. She was excited, you could tell, but she did ask him if he was okay with it. He shrugged, so she did kiss him, but it looked awkward.
So awkward that it seemed like neither party liked it. Which was weird.
The game ended shortly after, and I went to bed feeling rather down
-----
Pansy was off the following days, for a reason that no one could figure out. Crabbe and Goyle joked that she got cooties from Draco. Draco was quieter than usual too, and I guessed it was because of the kiss, but no one pushed when he wouldn't tell us what the deal was.
I hoped that my friends would feel better soon, but a week in and it really didn't seem like it. I was relieved when Pansy stopped me from leaving bed one morning, sitting down next to me with a serious but nervous look on her face.
"I don't like Draco anymore." Was the first thing out of her mouth, and my lips parted in shock. She had liked him for years. One kiss ended it? Just like that? I wondered if he was a really bad kisser. Or if him not really kissing her back finally made her decide to give up.
"Okay... Well, I'm glad you don't have to stress about that anymore. Are you happy about it?" She shook her head no at first, but then switched to shrugging her shoulders instead.
"I... I don't know... I would be relieved that I don't have to chase him anymore. It was going nowhere anyway, but..." Silence stretched between us for a moment, and I wanted to ask what was making her so nervous but gave her time to tell me herself instead. "I-I like a girl." Her eyes were shut tightly once she had said it. Probably scared of what my reaction might be.
"Oh..." My instinct was to ask who it was, but I caught myself before I asked. She needed reassurance that I didn't mind first. "Well, that only changes who our target is. Who do I have to set you up with now?" That felt like a better way to say it. Nonchalant, like it was no different at all. Because it really wasn't. Not to me.
-----
It was two weeks later before I was alone with Draco. Pansy usually went to bed before the rest of us, and I would follow right after her, but there was one night where Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy all had gone to bed before the two of us. We were all sitting in the common room before, but the others had decided to turn in, leaving us alone.
The air felt different this night, and I wasn't sure why. There was nothing that should make it different, other than it being Draco and I who were there. We were both sat reading our own books. Mine was for a project, and Draco was reading one for fun, I think. It was quiet for a long while once everyone else had left. No sound other than us turning the pages of our books.
"That day we were talking about crushes, a couple weeks ago?" Draco spoke quietly. If it hadn't been so silent in the room already, I wouldn't have heard him.
"Yes?"
"It was you. The person I like."
I wasn't sure how to reply. I was surprised, obviously. I would have been no matter when he told me, but it was out of the blue and it took me a moment to register.
"I... You too. You were mine too."
His eyes flickered up for a moment before going down to his book again. He fidgeted with the corner of one of the pages, eyes flicking from one side of the page to another. After a moment, he put his book down, crossing the ways and sitting next to me instead. Our eye contact then made me nervous, his growing closeness even more so.
And then he was kissing me. And I was kissing back.