I Learned Your Pulse

"Like back-stabbing, murderous traitors?"

Draco was so unprepared for the sentence, and the name in it, that he nearly toppled off the seat. "W-what?" he sputtered angrily, jumping to his feet.

Blaise raised his hands a if to say 'I surrender'. "I'm just saying," he said, "That if you got over loving somebody dead you'd be able to love somebody who's not."

Draco clenched his fists tightly. "I will never love," he spat tightly, through teeth shut as tightly as his fists. He felt his nails dig into his palms. And as an afterthought, he added, "Again."

Blaise sighed. "Fine, whatever. But when you realize you already are, don't come crying and shouting about how Pansys the only -"

"Don't say her name as if she's a old piece of trash to disregard," he growled, his nails cutting his skin like little daggers.

Blaise looked surprised. "No, she wasn't trash, Draco, never trash, she was my friend too. But you need to move past -"

"Don't tell me what to move past. I notice you haven't looked at another girl since you went with Liccy to the Yule Ball. That's like being stuck in a rut."

"We're dating!" Blaise exclaimed, throwing his hand up. "You're -"

"Engaged!" Draco shouted back. "We're engaged, even if the wedding can't ever happen."

Blaise seemed to let that sink in, and then relaxed his posture. "That's... Draco, this isn't right. Move on."

"Forget Pansy? My first friend, my first love, my only love, my fiancee? No."

And with that, Draco turned forcefully, knocking into Blaise's shoulder with gusto, and flung open the door, stepping out and slamming it behind her.

That makes two people slamming doors because of the mention of their ex-lovers, he thought. He swept through the hall angrily, thinking only of Blaise's words, how stupid they were, how wrong he was. How could anyone get over somebody like Pansy?

He stormed past room after room alone, looking for trouble, for anybody to yell at. He stalked past ghosts and shouted at them to leave; he walked past a stray toad and managed to restrain himself from kicking it; he walked past an open classroom door and shut it loudly. He didn't know where he was going, but eventually he found himself standing in the halway where he and Hermione had kissed.

He stared intently at the wall where she'd been...

For one split second, the only things that existed were she and he; there was no lethifold, no imminent threat of death, no darkness, no light, no snow, no fear - just them, their lips moving in synchronization as she furrowed her brow in concentration, trying her hardest to fill him with the happiness that seemed to evade him. She threw her arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist, their body heat mingling, their hearts racing each other but exactly in time with the other.

He shook his head, trying to clear it, but came across another memory instead.

Her lips were moist with her tears, and that was odd; she didn't cry. Unless she couldn't help it. Alerted by the saltwater stains, he knew something was terribly wrong. But he found it so hard to focus when she was kissing him like this. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her so close to him he could feel the individual stutters of her heart as his fingers massaged smooth circles on her hips. She, in response, used her hands to do the same to his neck. His skin was aflame with the feel of her and he pulled her closer, but they were as close as could be. He backed up into his head and fell down, her on top of him. for a moment, they lay there, panting, gauging the reaction of the other; and then they kissed once more with a passion that could only be described as lust as the thin layer of clothing between them was removed.