𝐔𝐍𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇𝐘; Draco Malfoy

X

A week had never felt this long and exhausting. Elena tried her hardest to avoid Draco while also trying to avoid her thoughts about the sleepover that was happening that night. She distracted herself with Pansy and Elio, while also avoiding any conversations about Draco.

It was snowing outside, so Draco made sure that the bed was warm enough for her and that the fireplace was lit. He had neatly made his bed and hoped that it looked comfortable enough for her to sleep in.

She had been walking around with nervous cramps in her lower belly all day and was unable to eat. Pansy noticed her odd behavior later that day. "Sweetheart, you've been so stressed since this morning, what's going on?" Pansy asked, sitting down next to her in the common room.

Elena looked down, embarrassed with herself for being nervous to see the boy she was in love with. Pansy smiled, tucking El's hair behind her ear so she could see the side of her face. "It's about Draco, isn't it?" Pansy said softly.

"He and I aren't really friends anymore and know I have to sleep next to him." Elena mumbled, able to hear her heartbeat from how fast it was racing. "He's so in love with you. What happened to make you hate him so?" Pansy asked curiously.

"He lied to me." Elena said, turning her head to look at Pansy. Her throat started burning the second she mentioned it again. Oh, how she missed him. Pansy let out a deep sigh, sitting closer to her. "And can you find it in your heart to consider forgiving him?"

"He's not sorry, that's the worst part. He'll lie again and again if that means he'll get what he wants. He doesn't play fair." Elena said quietly, making Pansy frown. She knew him much better but didn't quite know the dark parts of Draco. "But he likes you— a lot. He talks about you all the time. I've asked him about it—why you two were so distant, but he immediately sneered at me. He does look like he's sorry. He's been miserable these past few weeks." Pansy explained, totally clueless.

Elena remained silent, shaking her head helplessly. Her emotions weren't exactly on her side. "But being apart from him doesn't look like it's doing you anything good either. It just looks like you're on edge all the time," Pansy continued, then her face changed. "What'd he lie about?"

"He made up this whole story about Elio. Draco was jealous and didn't want me to be friends with him, so he manipulated me and convinced me that Elio was bad. It worked until the truth came out." She explained, looking down at her lap.

"He was just scared he was going to lose you to another guy." Pansy tried to say, but Elena didn't want to hear anything of it. Pansy sounded exactly like the feelings in her heart. "It wasn't his place. He wasn't my boyfriend. We just kissed a few times." She said, pretending to come over as heartless.

"It was his first kiss! That's not something that just happens, right? Or didn't it mean anything to you?" Pansy said, raising her voice a little but not hard enough for others to hear. "Of course, it meant something to me. It was my first kiss too. But I can't trust him anymore. He's gonna break my heart anyway." She said.

"Break your heart?" Pansy scoffed. "Honey, that boy will still adore you if you were to rip his heart out of his chest, stomp on it and light it on fire."

El managed to smile a little, though it felt like Pansy was kind of exaggerating. "And he told me that he did regret lying to you." Pansy whispered with a little grin, resting her chin on her hand. "Only because he got caught." Elena said stubbornly. This whole heartless act was becoming exhausting.

"I'm serious. He was drunk one time and told me that life wasn't worth living without you," Pansy said. Elena widened her eyes, her insides twisting in oddly comforting ways. "And he had every right to be cautious for Elio. When I saw you two in the library a week ago, you looked like you were about to kiss." Pansy said.