Love's Decisions

Draco led me towards Gringott’s bank, where Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise and Pansy were waiting. They acknowledged him, before turning to look at me with confuse and slight disgust. The only one that didn’t look at me as if I was something that should be flushed down a toilet was Blaise, who nodded at me. It was better than nothing, I guess.
“I’m just gonna take off. I’ll meet up with you here again in three hours and we can go home together so Narcissa thinks we spent the day together” I murmured to him, before turning to leave.
“Wait” I heard a voice call, and turned to see Blaise seeming slightly startled that even he had spoken. “…Who… are you going to hang around with today?” he asked, seeming hesitant. I shrugged
“Myself” I responded, turning to leave
“Why not hang with us, then?” he asked quickly, and I turned around again. Everyone seemed shocked, to be honest, as if Blaise had just invited a dementor to a tea party. I was at a loss for words.
“It’s ok, I’ll be fine on my own” I assured him, glancing quickly at Draco, who seemed disgruntled.
“You’ve never really been to Diagon Alley, have you?” Blaise asked. Everyone seemed astounded that he was actually having a conversation with me, and bewildered as to why he was doing so.
“Not really, no. It’s fine” I reassured him, wishing I could just leave now. I didn’t really feel like staying somewhere that I was not wanted.
“No, it’s not safe. You could get lost. Just come with us” he responded, smiling slightly at me. It was kind of surprising to see that I wasn’t the only Slytherin that had a heart. I looked at the others, who seemed less on Blaise’s side. “You guys are ok with that, right?” Blaise asked the others. He didn’t make it seem like a question. They all nodded slowly, and Blaise motioned for me to follow them. I sighed and walked with them, following them into Knockturn Alley.

Crabbe and Goyle walked into a separate shop to me, Draco, Blaise and Pansy.
Draco and Pansy walked into another room that was conjoined to this shop, in order to speak to the shop owner, whilst Blaise and I walked around the room, looking at different objects.
There was a particularly weird looking object that was like a strip of leather that had warts all over it. It was like deformed leather. I was about to reach out and touch it when I heard Blaise shout “Stop!” I turned to look at him in surprise, before he tackled me to the ground. Just as he did so, one of the warts on the leather object burst and sent puss everywhere. Most of it got on Blaise’s back, since he was covering me. He pulled away slowly, and I took a while to recover.
“I’m… sorry” I replied, still shocked. He helped me up, brushing dust off of my shoulder
“Are you ok?” he asked, and I nodded, looking around the shop. Most of the items had been knocked off the shelves, and we’d created quite a mess.
“I should probably clean this up” I mumbled, chuckling slightly. Blaise grinned and started to help me
“What happened here?” I heard a familiar drawl. Blaise and I both turned around to see Draco standing at the door with a raised eyebrow and a curious Pansy at his side.
“I accidentally almost blew up the shop” I mumbled, and Blaise chuckled
“She disturbed the warping wart” Blaise explained, and I frowned before I realized that the warping wart was most likely the leather wart thing. Draco’s other eyebrow rose to unreachable heights as he looked at me. Without another word, he walked back into the room he’d come from, and Blaise and I chuckled in fits of laughter.
“What happened here?” I mimicked, in what I believed to be quite a good imitation of Draco’s voice; which set Blaise off into another fit of laughter.
“Hey, do you wanna get a butterbeer or something? Boring old Draco and Pansy are probably eating each other’s faces in the other room so they’ll be a while” Blaise questioned. There were tears of joy in my eyes as I nodded
“Draco and Pansy are together?” I asked, laughing at the picture of those two being together. They didn’t seem quite right for each other, really. Blaise shrugged, reinserting his hands into his pockets and leaving the thumbs out
“They occasionally get chummy. Like at last year’s Christmas party, they weren’t exactly friends. More like friends with benefits. That’s what describes them best really. Draco has no intention of making Pansy his girlfriend, and Pansy is too uptight and proud to admit that she likes him, so instead they’re friends with benefits” Blaise replied, holding the door open for me as we walked outside.

We turned out of Knockturn Alley and walked back through Diagon Alley towards The Leaky Cauldron. Blaise pulled out a chair for me, and ordered two butterbeers and two iced muffins for both of us.
“So, Blaise, why are you wasting your time with them?” I asked, getting the conversation ball rolling.
“Well… they’re Slytherin royalty. Their families are some of the most important people in the wizarding world. And so are mine. So we just sort of have to be around each other. We’ve been around each other since we were babies, because of our families. It’s not like I can exactly ignore them, now can I?” he asked, a slight hint of a smile on his face. I liked this Blaise – the one that let go of all of his guards. The one I enjoyed spending time with. I shrugged
“I don’t know. It just seems like you’re being wasted on them. You’re too good for them” I responded, stirring my butterbeer slowly with a spoon.
“Then who am I good enough for?” he asked, leaning in so that I could feel his minty breath on my face. I gulped to allow myself thinking time
“Someone…something…” I mumbled, not paying attention to the fact that I was making a complete and utter fool of myself.
“Hmm” he responded, studying my face. I licked my lips nervously, my eyes falling to his lips as I did so. “Do you want to kiss me?” he asked, cocking his head to one side. I was caught off guard as he asked me this. I didn’t expect such a forward question from anyone.
“I….” I replied, looking down at his lips again. Blaise leaned in unexpectedly all of a sudden and pressed his lips against mine, before pulling back into his original position on the seat. It had been so quick that I had to wonder if it had even happened. I took a while to steady my breathing, looking down at the table as I did so. “Why me?” I asked finally, looking up into his eyes. Blaise looked confused. “Why do you like me?” I furthered me question. Blaise smiled
“Because you’re too good to be a Slytherin too” he responded simply. I gave him a plain stare. How would he know anything about me? “I’ve seen the way you are. You’re always nice, always considerate. You’re not corrupted. You’re not after dark magic or evil or wealth or power. You have good in you that no other Slytherin has. You’re different to the other girls. That’s why we match. You think I’m too good for Slytherin, and I think the same of you. We are one of a kind” he responded, smiling at me in a way that gave me a dry throat.
“You don’t even know me that well” I replied hoarsely. Blaise grinned
“Then tell me about you. I want to learn everything about you” he replied, his head cocking to the side. He leaned in again, and I almost pulled away in case he pulled another ‘quick kiss’ scene on me. “I like you” he told me slowly and determinedly. “Is that so hard to believe?” he asked, looking down at my lips. I took the time that he wasn’t looking into my eyes in a way that made me melt, to think of my response.
“Yes. It is. Because I don’t belong in Slytherin. We’re not the same” I responded, my voice still a whisper. Blaise smiled as he looked back up into my eyes
“And you think I do? It’s probably because I’m a pure blood too. Because my parents don’t want me to be a wizard completely. Because people think I’m a freak just because my parents want me to go to university as well instead of just limiting myself to a wizard’s life. I’ve never felt like such an outsider. I’m not saying I belong in Gryffindor. I have evil in me. Just… not enough to be a Slytherin. Not enough to become a death eater when I’m older. Not enough to belong in Slytherin” he whispered, before leaning in to kiss me again, this time he took longer and was more gentle as he kissed me. This whole situation was confusing and agitating and I knew I just needed some time to sort through my thoughts and feelings. But right now, I let everything go and kissed him back. When we pulled away, Blaise smiled at me before his smile slightly faltered as he stared at something behind me. I turned around to see Draco, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle at the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron. Draco had his signature raised eyebrows. He walked over to us slowly, before stopping at our table to examine us.
“Hope I’m not interrupting anything” he drawled in a disgusted tone. I flinched slightly under his glare, whilst Blaise held his own. “Come on, we have to go” Draco started, grabbing my elbow and pulling me up
“Let her go” Blaise growled, leveling a glare with Draco.
“Don’t. Tell me. What. To do” Draco responded through gritted teeth.
“Its fine Blaise, I have to go back to the manor now anyway” I replied, trying to stop the riot that would surely break out in the Leaky Cauldron soon. Blaise glared at Draco, almost snarling, before turning to look at me.
“I’ll see you later” he promised me, and I smiled at him before I allowed myself to be dragged away by Draco.

***

We arrived at the manor, and Draco did not say a word to me. Instead, he continued to drag me upstairs, past the startled house elves that were cleaning. I was honestly frightened of him right now. He pushed me into his room, and slammed the door shut
“How dare you embarrass me like that?” he growled, and I retreated quickly. “You are not going to date Blaise, understand?” he asked, glaring at me so menacingly that I almost felt like crying. “You and our people do not mix. You are a half blood and always will be. Don’t ever think about being with a pure blood” he spat, before opening the door again and shoving me out. I gulped as I walked away quickly, the tears pooling in my eyes.