Heartbeat

Completely infuriated, Elizabeth strode down the corridor that lead to the Slytherin dungeons, her quick, determined strides eating up the stoned floor. Along the way, she mentally scolded herself for even getting herself in this mess in the first place. If she’d simply told him no, and followed her better judgment, then she wouldn’t be the person that people were whispering about as she passed them. Her cheek’s flamed when she recounted what had happened to her earlier that day, her hands fisting as well, and it took quite a lot of willpower to stop the streams of tears that were threatening to escape from pouring out of her pale blue eyes. She wasn’t about to act as if someone had slammed their hand through her chest, ripped her heart out, and stomped on it, no, because that would give everybody around her the satisfaction of seeing her finally crumble into the mess they figured her to be. She would simply wait till she was alone, away from watching eyes, and then she’d release all the emotion’s that were swimming around chaotically inside of her.

When she reached the green and silver decorated common room, she eagerly searched through the many people that were lazily lounging around on its plush chairs and couches. He was easily pinpointed amongst all the others, and she let a few second’s pass as she just starred across the chamber at him. He was laughing softly at something Blaise had said while twirling his wand idly around in his hand, not seeming to have a care in the world, though she knew better. She knew of the task the Dark Lord had laid upon on his wide-set shoulder’s, and knew of the trouble’s he was having in fulfilling it.

Draco was a complex person when you took the time to see past the vicious sneers, harsh words, and protective walls. Because of how he was raised, with his father constantly telling him that anyone who was not pureblood was the scum of the Wizarding world and because he wanted anything but to let his father down, he portrayed himself as a self-centered, pureblood-prejudiced, snob that didn’t care about anyone that didn’t ‘belong in his world’, as his father had put it. But when he’d finally given into his feelings for Elizabeth, he’d showed her that he could care, and that he was capable of loving another being besides himself. Or at least, that’s what she’d thought he’d been doing, was caring for and loving her; but, obviously not.

She’d always thought he was having such difficulty with the assigned job because he truly cared for their old headmaster, but now, after what had happened, she doubted that was the real reason. Maybe he was scared, or was stumped on how to go about it, but she highly doubted it was because of the fact that he cared for Dumbledore. After all, he’d proven to her that he was nothing but a liar that was able to charm his way into anyone who he fancied lives, and she wasn’t going to let him make her out to be a stupid fool anymore.

As she slowly started to make her way over to him, she could feel her self-composure slowly slipping, inch by inch, and new that publicly berating him as she’d planned wouldn’t be happening. She’d have to get him off by himself somewhere, then, with whatever was left of her, tell him that he’d been caught. Sucking in a deep breath through her slightly parted, trembling lips, she managed not to completely shatter when he looked up at her and smiled.

“Libby, love, where’ve you’ve been? We’ve been waiting to head down to dinner with you,” he said.

“I had something to take care of. You three,” she said, turning to the three, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle, that sat behind her, “go ahead and go down-I need to talk to Draco alone.”

They starred at her for a moment, each wearing a look of confusion, before slowly rising, and beginning the trek to the main hall. When they were well out of sight, she turned back to Draco, and yanked her hand quickly away when he tenderly took it in his own. He looked at her as the other three had done, searching her face for answer’s to unasked question’s as she simply turned to head away from the room full of Slytherin’s that had already returned from dinner.

“Libby, what’s the matter with you,” he questioned, while grabbing her in the crook of her arm.

“I need to talk to you alone somewhere,” she hissed through gritted teeth, pulling out of his hold once again.

She started out of the room again, this time going unstopped by Draco, and didn’t stop till she’d found a deserted classroom she was sure hadn’t been used in a year or two. She waited till he walked passed, ignoring the quizzical look her gave her, and then shut the door behind him.

“You’re worrying me, love. What’s got you so upset,” he asked.

She turned to face him, her look of slight calm completely evaporating as she did, and bit her lip to prevent it from wavering. His eyebrow’s furrowed when he saw her face, and he moved to take a step towards her, but stopped when she inched away.

“Would you like to inform me on what you were doing two nights ago, when you said you couldn’t spend the night afterwards?”

The words were strained as they came out through heavily gritted teeth, and her hands, which rested by her sides, had formed tight, angry fists.

“I explained that to you. I had something that needed tending to. What’s this all about?”

She scowled at him, her nail’s digging into the palms of her hands, and shook her head slowly.

“Honestly, Draco, did you think you could brag about sleeping with two people in the same night and not expect the entire school to find out,” she spat.

His eyes widened dramatically, and he went to take a step closer, but stopped when she sneered viciously. He ran a hand through his sleek hair, and shook his head frantically, his eyes still larger than normal.

“No, no-that’s not what I did at all. I just told Blaise that so he wouldn’t ask questions. Honestly, Libby, I promise. I haven’t been with anybody but you since we’ve been together, I promise.”

She watched him with narrowed, watery eyes, figuring on believing his story or not, before deciding that the proof she’d seen was far too true to fall for the scene unfolding in front of her.

“If that’s so, then why is an article of another girl’s wardrobe being floated around, too? They’re saying you took it as sort of a trophy. Got another lie to cover that up as well,” she questioned.

“What? I don’t know where’d they get that! You honestly don’t believe that I’d never do anything to hurt you after everything? After everything I told you, Libby, you actually think that I’d do something so cruel?”

“Your past isn’t a very good benefit on you part right now, Draco. Besides, I’ve figured out why you did it: maybe I wasn’t good enough, or maybe it was because you finally got what you wanted from me, either one are very believable. So, tell me, which one is it?”

He scowled unbelievingly at her, and spun around on his heel before beginning to pace to the other side of the room. From there, he just starred at the ground, and continued to shake his head. Tears welled up in her eyes at the realization that he wasn’t even going to answer the question, and she covered her face with her hands, letting the loud sob’s echo off the walls as she crashed. She’d at least expected him to offer up a little bit of a reason as to why and, when he hadn’t, that only added another crack to her half-there heart.
As she sobbed, her anger slowly built up, and by the time she’d collected herself enough to removed her hands, she was on the verge of killing him.

“Fine, if all I was to you was a lay, then I guess there’s no reason for you to stick around.”

He nodded, his trademark sneer appearing on his face as he pushed himself up off the desk he’d been leaning against. He strode over to her, moving till they were standing shoulder to shoulder, faces inches apart, and delivered a nasty look.

“Guess not. Don’t know what I ever saw in you, anyway.”

And with that, he harshly slammed his shoulder against hers, and left the room.
She slowly crumbled to the floor, burying her head in her arms as she sprawled out on the floor, her heart painfully throbbing with every beat it gave.