t h i r t y - f o u r

The Hoax {34}

---

Ginny and Blaise sat down next to each other in the empty library, staring at each other. "What does Parkinson have against Malfoy that's making him act like this?" Ginny asked as she eyed Blaise carefully. "He didn't talk?"

"Not a word," Blaise replied bitterly, making a face. "It has to do something with Granger—it has to. He loves her and he cares for her, we know that. It only makes sense that Parkinson threatened to hurt Granger or something."

"What can that stupid girl do? She can't even hold her wand properly—better yet remember a spell." She said as she shrugged, shaking her head. "The only thing that girl can do is just sleep around with all the boys in her house—possibly the whole school." She muttered under her breath and suddenly stared at Blaise accusingly, leaning back slightly in her chair. "Di—have you . . . have you shagged her?"

Blaise's eyes widened as he let out a small chuckle, shaking his finger at Ginny incredulously. "I shag everyone and anyone—except that girl. We both can't stand each other, why would we even—no. What made you think that?"

"Well, she has quite a reputation for shagging everyone so . . . I thought you would be a likely candidate."

"After all this time—after becoming great friends, you' think I would stoop so low and be so desperate to shag that girl?"

"Did Malfoy and Parkinson . . . ever . . .?" She let her voice trail off and allowed her eyes to do the talking as she stared intently at him.

"Wha—what do you think we are?! We shag —not pug-faced dogs like her!" He exclaimed and quickly looked around to see if anyone heard. "Draco doesn't even touch that girl."

"Well, that's a relief. Wait, no one seems to shag her. Then her rumors aren't true, huh?"

"No, it's true. She shags Nott – they're shagging partners. They don't have any feelings for each other, which is why he lets that crazy girl go after Draco."

Ginny's eyes widened as she nodded. "Wow, I didn't even . . . that never crossed my mind." She said as she stood up, looking at the books on the shelves. "But enough about her and shagging people . . . I wonder how we're going to hurt Malfoy. I mean, my plan work. We just need him to , possibly mentally and maybe emotionally, but . But then again, he must be emotionally and mentally hurt—we're horrible people if we hurt him physically."

"Well, it was your plan. Do you want to physically hurt Granger, then? No, Malfoy should get hurt. We all agreed on that unanimously last time."

"Yeah, you're right." She said as she quirked up an eyebrow, walking over to the window and leaning against it lightly as she stared at Blaise. "I just . . . I can't believe Parkinson managed to break them apart like that. Malfoy was beginning to open up to us more—he showed more than just anger and bitterness towards us. He even bought us brooms for crying out loud! Hermione changed him and it took so long for that to happen yet, it only took seconds for Parkinson to turn him back into that cold bastard. Why? I thought he changed for good when he bought us those brooms—it was so unexpected of him to and it was kind of him to do that."

"Parkinson has a way with her words and threats . . ." Blaise spat out and suddenly stood up, staring at Ginny. "Parkinson only knows how to fight with her words. She threatened Draco that she would spread nasty rumors about Granger—that has to be it. She was the one who spread that rumor about her and Draco last week. She must have something important and dark of Hermione's—a, a secret of some sort that she's threatening Draco with. Do you know any secrets of Granger's?"

Ginny shook her head slowly. "Not that I know of, no. Hermione rarely has secrets and she always tells us everything."

"Maybe not . . . they trusted each other, right? They must've told each other a secret or two – a secret that only they would know about each other." He said, trying hard to piece the puzzles back together but couldn't find the last two pieces that would complete it. "I . . . but how would Parkinson know about it. No, maybe I'm wrong."

"No, I think you're on the right track. They really did trust each other so much and it only makes sense that they would've told each other their deepest, darkest secrets. Parkinson could've . . . overheard or something about Hermione's secret. And well . . . Parkinson is threatening Malfoy saying that she would reveal Hermione's biggest secrets, yes? And that wouldn't really impact or affect him but then he realized that Hermione would assume he was the one who spread it around since was the only one she told that secret to! That's why he's doing what Parkinson is doing! He's guarding Hermione's big secret."

"H, how bad is the secret that'll make Draco protect it so . . . fiercely?"

"We won't know and I sure as hope we don't find out anytime soon. Okay, change of plans—well, not really. Plan A is to find Pansy's dark secret—everyone has one and she has to have one—so we find her dark secret and use it against her. If that doesn't work . . . well, Plan B—our original plan to hurt Draco and get those two back together."

"If only if it were that easy to find Pansy's secrets . . ." Blaise muttered as he sat back down with a sigh. "How will we do that, then?"

"We trail her . . . quietly. I think you should trail Parkinson while I trail Nott. I have a few classes with him."

"Why trail Nott?"

"They're shagging partners, right? I mean—they must have feelings for each other or a secret, right? How long have they been shagging partners, hmm?"

"Since the summer . . . I don't know when it started but—"

"It's been a while, yes? There to be something between them—anything. We'll start tomorrow morning. We trail the two and then meet back here to share what we've learned. Are you ready to do this again?"

"What the hell, sure, I'm ready." He replied, wearing a tired face. "They better get together again and stay like that or I'll just all their arses."

Ginny let a small laugh escape from her lips as she shook her head. "Right, let's get out of here." She said as they started walking out of the library.

---

"You really screwed up, Malfoy." Draco stayed silent as the owner of the sharp sea green eyes glared at him. "Look, I know you loved her—no you still do. I hate to admit it but you still do. It wasn't easy for Ron and me to hand over Hermione to you, but we did. It took us some time to process everything, she's our best friend and a sister to me . . . I wasn't planning on letting her go to you. But then, I saw how much you two loved each other and I knew . . . I knew that you would make her happy—that you would love her more than we ever did. Are you going to tell me that letting Hermione go over to you was a mistake?" Harry asked furiously as he leaned against the window sill.

"Yes, it was." Draco answered quietly and briefly.

Harry rolled his fingers into a fist as he angrily walked over to Draco, grabbing the blonde by his collar and swinging his fist back and forward until his fist was only an inch away from Draco's face. Harry looked from his fist to Draco's face and threw Draco back angrily, letting out a scream. "Why?!" He yelled as he kicked the wall beside him hard and forcefully. "Why do you listen to Parkinson?"