Draco emphatically shook his head. “No. In fact, I plan on spending the rest of my life not doing her, but… it was never about me, you know that. It was about you.”

“You’re such an arrogant prat! Who told you that you could make decisions on my behalf?” she fairly shouted.

“I damn well can when they involve me!” he returned.

“You just don’t understand, do you?” she asked. “It never mattered. All you did was deny me my first time with someone I loved.”

“No!” he replied. “I saved you so you could have your first time with someone who loved you!”

As soon as he’d said it, he wished he could take it back. Pansy looked as if he’d struck her as the words echoed between them in the silence.

“I see,” she finally said, her eyes distant and unfocused.

“No, Pansy, you don’t reali—“ he began.

“Excuse me,” she mumbled as she pushed past him, stumbling back to the dungeons.

For quite possibly the first time in his life, Draco truly felt like an arse.

He gaped at her. “Are you completely out of your mind? Or are you just striving for martyrdom? This bet is about loopholes!”

A faint smile tugged at her lips. “Not to me it’s not. It’s about allowing someone to bait me into a stupid bet and then accepting the consequences.”

In an instant he realized that they were both playing a game… but it wasn’t the same game. They didn’t play by the same rules. It should have been obvious from the beginning, but it hadn’t been. Not to him. He hadn’t believed that she wasn’t secretly doing what he would have done. Now it was suddenly clear to him that she hadn’t been lying or pretending; she really just did want to honor her part of the bargain.

This made him strangely uncomfortable.

Abruptly he stood and gathered his things. He felt as if he might suffocate. He couldn’t stay another second.

“Ah, there you are,” Blaise jovially said. “I was going to check whether you were still alive after lunch.”

“You were going to check if I was alive… after lunch… Thanks, mate,” Draco muttered sarcastically.

Blaise skipped a new stone. “Did you see her?” he then hoarsely asked.

“See who?” Draco quietly asked.

“Tracey,” Blaise said the name a bit too quickly, as if forcing it out so it would cause him less pain. He swallowed. “She’s taken up with a-a... someone else. She’s over me. I saw them together everywhere today.”

Draco didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t noticed Tracey at all today. He hardly ever noticed her unless it had to do with Blaise. “I’m sorry, mate,” he finally said.

Blaise nodded rather stiffly and flicked out another stone. “They were whispering in class. He was touching her. She… she was smiling. It’s been a while since I saw her smile.”

Again, Draco just stood there searching for something to say.

Apparently he didn’t need to say anything, because Blaise went on, “She kissed him too. Not in public, though. They went off after classes were out and I… I followed them. I don’t think they saw me. But I saw them, kissing.” He flicked another stone and then let his arms drop. “How can that be? Just a week ago she said… she said she was in love with me and now… It’s only been a week!”

“I’m sorry,” Draco repeated, feeling useless.

“Did she even really mean it then?” Blaise asked, looking down at his hands. “Could she have meant it if she’s now smiling and kissing someone else? Am I a fool for…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but the feeling behind it was clear in the way he clenched his jaw and swallowed again.

“No, of course not,” Draco soothed. “I’m sure she meant it.”

“How dare he kiss her,” Blaise suddenly growled, picking up another stone and flicking it with greater force than any of the others. “She’s mine! Tracey is mine; she belongs to me! She belongs with…” Again he just stopped, as if lost in thought.

“You can win her back,” Draco said, not sure about the truth in his own words. “You can make her see.”

“Maybe…” Blaise said, sounding infinitely sad. “But I realized something. She’s happy now. I want nothing more than for her to be happy. If he hurts her, I’ll break his legs, but right now… she’s happy. She has someone who can hold her hand and kiss her in public, someone who can ignore her blood status. I couldn’t and I can’t… she was never really happy with me. I can’t be what she wants, what she deserves.”

Blaise’s hands were shaking and his eyes were becoming suspiciously shiny. Draco tactfully looked away. “Why not?” he heard himself ask. “I mean… I know it would be a big shift, but if you really care about her like that, wouldn’t you want to be with her?”

“I love her,” Blaise whispered. “I never fully understood that before… I’d do anything to be with her. But… it’s my mother, Draco. I’m... I’m afraid for Tracey’s safety.