Chapter Seventeen: We All Make Bad Decisions

"Good morning, Theo."

I might have been overdoing it with the whole using his first name thing. Theo's ears turned bright red as he scowled at me. He leaned against the stone wall of the common room, underneath the tapestry of Merlin, as we waited for the rest of our friend group to join us before heading up to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Practice makes perfect," I said before he could complain.

"But a little less practice would be perfect," he grumbled. "Tracey asked me Saturday if you'd eaten something odd. She doesn't know why you've started calling me 'Theo' all of a sudden."

"You could just tell her you don't like being called 'Nott'."

Theo's scowl deepened.

"You're going to say it's embarrassing, aren't you?"

"Shut it." Theo glared at the door of the boys' dormitory as if he could will Blaise to hurry up and join us.

I figured I'd teased Theo enough. It'd been a long weekend for the both of us. The whispers of the other students seemed to follow Theo everywhere, and sometimes, when the whispers became too much for him, he excused himself from the group and disappeared to some far-off corner of the castle. Pansy and I had considered going after him, but Tracey warned us that sometimes it was best to leave him alone. To make matters worse, Draco had made of habit of cornering Theo whenever he got the chance. I don't know what Draco had to say to Theo, exactly, but I could guess it was nothing Theo wanted to hear.

In my case, I'd spent the weekend buried in my textbooks and avoiding Adrian Pucey at all costs. I hadn't told any of my friends that I'd rejected Adrian, and Sunday night, Pansy had the brilliant idea to call Adrian over to our corner of the common room. He'd thankfully stayed for only two minutes of awkward conversation before politely excusing himself. At that point, I really should've told my friends what had happened, but…well…I wasn't exactly proud of how things went down between Adrian and me. He'd said some cruel things to me, but I'd also used him as a test subject for my feelings. I didn't want to repeat the whole sorry story to my friends. It was easier just to read about the history of witch burnings in Britain and pretend nothing was wrong.

"Are you all right?"

Shaking away my thoughts, I looked up at Theo. There was a slight crease between his brows as he watched ne, and I wondered if I should tell him about Adrian. He had, after all, gone on a "break" with Helen, so perhaps he was just as troubled as I was.

That doesn't make you a good girl, Daphne. That makes you a tease.

I adjusted the strap of my bookbag before saying, "Yes. I'm as happy as a hippogriff and all that. You?"

Theo hesitated. He didn't believe me, I knew that, but he was nice enough not to push the matter. "I'm getting by."

"You know we're here for you," I said.

Theo shot me a grateful smile.

"Have you thought more about what to do about your dad?"

As soon as I asked the question, I regretted it. It was a Monday morning with a long week of classes ahead of us, and the last thing Theo needed was a reminder of his father. Yes, Theo and I had discussed talking to Dumbledore that night after Astronomy, but we'd never really broached the subject again. I shouldn't have been the one to bring it up. I shouldn't push him. It was Theo's dad and therefore his choice.

Despite my fears, Theo didn't seem upset with me. He let out a long sigh and then said, "I don't know. At first, I thought I had to do something to stop my father, but when I think about it, I don't have that much to tell Dumbledore." Theo glanced over at me before continuing, "My father doesn't share his plans with me. What am I going to say? My father's a Death Eater? Dumbledore already knows that."

"You never know though," I said. "Perhaps you have some small piece of information that Dumbledore doesn't. Something your father let slip. Sometimes all it takes is one little detail for everything to fall into place."

Theo ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I was thinking that perhaps I could try to get more information first."

My chest tightened as I stared at Theo. He seemed lost in thought, and I wasn't even certain if he remembered I was there. I chose my words carefully as I asked, "And how are you planning to do that?"

"I could send him a letter," said Theo, "pretending like I'm interested in joining—"

"You're not," I snapped.

Theo's head jerked up, and he stared at me.

"You-Know-Who murders people—magical or muggle—who get in his way," I hissed. I was very aware that we were standing in a common room with several other students, and I tried to keep my voice low. "You're not going to send your dad a letter trying to pry information out of him. Your dad is not an idiot. He no doubt knows you're not wholly on board with the whole future-Death Eater plan, and he's not going to believe that you all of a sudden decided to follow in his footsteps."

Theo watched as I caught my breath. His hazel eyes bored into me, but he didn't say a word.

"And what if your father does believe you?" I asked. "He's going to want you to become a Death Eater when you're out of school. Can you do that? Or are you going to run away from the Death Eaters? What about becoming an auror? That won't happen if you've got one of those ugly-arse Dark Marks on your arm. You're not going to tell anyone but me about your plan. No one's going to believe you when you say you were doing it for the 'good side'. It's an idiot plan and a sure way to get yourself killed."

Theo's eyes narrowed. "I have to do something."

"And I want you to do something," I said. "Just not something that's so obviously going end up with wands pointing at you."

He opened his mouth to say more, but at that point, Pansy and Tracey emerged from the girls' dormitory.

"We'll talk later," I muttered as we turned to watch Pansy and Tracey cross the common room to join us.

"Are you two all right?" asked Tracey. Her gaze flickered from me to Theo and back.

"Yeah," I said while Theo gave a slight nod in agreement. I was saved from having to answer any follow-up questions by the door to the boys' dormitory opening and Blaise appearing. "Let's get moving. My stomach's starting to growl."

Pansy led the way up to the Great Hall with the rest of us in tow. Theo and I were careful to keep some distance from each other. I walked beside Blaise, ranting to him about how much homework Snape had given us, while Theo walked with Tracey, who was chattering away about some new piece of Hogwarts' gossip.

I wondered if Theo was a little offended that I'd insulted his plan. But, well, it was an idiot plan. I could understand his concerns about not having enough information to be of value, but feigning interest in joining the Death Eaters was not the way to go about it. It was all too easy to imagine his grandfather and father forcing him to get that grotesque skull-and-snake tattoo branded into his forearm the moment he turned seventeen.

A shiver ran down my spine. I'd stop that from happening. There had to be another way.

As we made our way to the empty seats at the end of the Slytherin table, I caught sight of someone waving. I looked up to see Montague grinning at Pansy. When I looked at Adrian sitting beside Montague, he was deliberately staring at his place, twisting some scrambled eggs over with his fork.

"We should go join them," said Pansy, starting towards them.

"Let's not," I said. There was more force behind my words than I'd intended.

My friends all turned to stare at me, and then slowly, Pansy said, "All right then."

I led the way to an empty section of the table, far away from the Slytherin Quidditch gang, and settled onto the bench. My friends sat around me, watching me with curious expressions.

"What happened, Daph?" asked Tracey at last. Her voice was gentle.

"I, uh, told Adrian we shouldn't date," I said. My gaze was fixed on the surface of the wooden table. "And he got a little mad."

"How mad?" asked Blaise.

I knew the tension in his voice too well, and I met his eyes as I said, "Don't you dare try to confront him about this or I swear—" I looked over at Theo as well. "—I'll jinx you both into oblivion."

"You wouldn't hurt a fly," said Pansy. "But what did Adrian say to you?"

I didn't want to tell them. I spooned some yogurt and fruit onto my plate, hoping they'd all start eating and forget I said anything.

"It wasn't nice, was it?" asked Tracey.

"And here I thought he was one of the good ones," said Pansy darkly.

"No," I said, looking up from my plate. "He's not a bad bloke, really. I shouldn't have made him wait so long. I didn't want to come up with an answer. He was mad and he said some things he didn't mean." I hesitated. "He called me a tease."

Blaise glared down the table in the direction of the Slytherin Quidditch gang, while Tracey and Pansy immediately started ranting about how being mad didn't excuse his behavior. Nott said nothing, though he was watching me carefully.

"It's fine," I said. "I don't need you lot to do anything for me—though I appreciate that you want to. All I want right now is space from him. And I'm not just saying that." I added the last past with sharp looks at the boys.

Tracey and Pansy exchanged glances.

"If that's what you want…" said Tracey with a slight frown.

Pansy looked as though she wanted to protest, but she obediently fell into silence and helped herself to some fruit.

"Well," said Tracey with a sigh, "Daphne and Theo's first relationships were short lived."

"Helen and I got back together," said Theo.

I almost dropped my fork.

"What?" cried Pansy, causing several Ravenclaws to look over at our table.

Blaise scowled as if by willpower alone he could force Theo and Dawlish to break up again.

"Really?" asked Tracey. "When that happen?"

I stared down at my breakfast plate. The fruit and yogurt didn't look nearly as appetizing as it did a few minutes ago. I hadn't been Dawlish's biggest fan before, and I was even less so now with her abandoning Theo when he was hurting most.

"Two days ago," said Theo with a one-shouldered shrug.

"And what happened?" asked Pansy impatiently. "What did she say? What did you say?"

Theo was slow to answer. "We ran into each other in the library. She asked if she could have a word."

We waited for him to say more, but of course, he didn't.

"I don't like this," announced Pansy.

Theo wore a grim expression, as if he'd already anticipated this response and was now bracing himself for impact.

"I don't either," said Tracey. "She wanted to go on break because Potter named your father a Death Eater."

Theo winced at her words.

"She was too cowardly to date you when you needed it," said Pansy. "And now she's comes back when the rumors have died down. You're better off without a cow like that."

It was a bit hypocritical, I thought, that Pansy was lecturing on liking someone one was better off without, but Pansy had been doing her best to get over Draco since the new year started. And besides, I agreed with her.

"Don't call her a 'cow'," said Theo.

"She's a cow," said Blaise. "She ditched as soon as The Quibbler article came out."

Theo's gaze flickered over to me, and I wondered if he expected me to defend him. Considering I'd never liked Dawlish to begin with, I certainly wasn't going to stand up for her now.

"I think they're right," I said. "But it's your choice, Theo."

He sent me a small smile at the use of his first name.

Pansy made a noise of disgust. "Fine. Don't listen to me. Make your own bad decisions, Theodore. Don't come crying to me when she asks to take another 'break' the next time things get rough." She picked up her bookbag and said, "I'm going to the library." And then, with a flick of her hair, she started off towards the exit.

"I'll go calm her down," said Tracey as she rose from her seat.

"Well," I said as the two girls left the Great Hall. "That went well."

Blaise snorted, and Theo muttered something that sounded like "dead meat".

Dawlish seemed to know that she wouldn't be welcomed among Theo's friends like before, and she made no attempt to hang out with us over the next week and a half. She would simply show up at the edge of our group and asked if she could "borrow" Theo with a sweet smile. I tried to smile politely back, while Pansy and Tracey sent her deadly glares. Blaise treated her with indifference, as if she was nothing more than a toadstool we happened to come across. It became a rule among our group that we simply wouldn't talk about Theo's girlfriend, and we were all much happier that way.

That was, of course, until the Hufflepuff-Slytherin Quidditch match. We were, of course, cheering for Slytherin and had all decked out in our green and silver colors. Pansy had dragged us out to the pitch early, demanding that we get front row seats. Tracey had brought food from the kitchens, and I had Blaise and Theo on either side of me as wind blockers. It was all set to be a fun morning of Pansy acting over-the-top while the rest of us rolled our eyes…and then Helen Dawlish showed up.

"Theodore!" she cried, her voice cutting through the Slytherin stands.

We all turned to see her wrapped in a green and black scarf, making her way through the crowd towards us. By the wide-eyed look on Theo's face, I don't think he expected her to turn up any more than the rest of us did.

"Helen," said Theo. He glanced over his shoulder at me. I could see the plea for help in his eyes. He turned back to his girlfriend and stammered, "G-good morning."

"I'm supporting Slytherin today," and Dawlish. She held up her green and black scarf as if he couldn't see it already.

Theo nodded. I'm sure he could feel Pansy and Tracey glaring daggers into his back. Thankfully, Blaise, me, and Theo all stood between them and Dawlish, so there wasn't any need to worry about them jumping her in the middle of the game.

"I debated turning my skirt green as well," Dawlish was saying, "but Cho convinced me it'd look dreadful, so I kept it black."

"Yeah." Theo seemed to be at a loss for words. Finally, he asked, "Where is Cho?"

"She's hanging out with Marietta in the Hufflepuff section," said Dawlish. She hesitated and then added, "I don't think she can cheer against Hufflepuff right now. You know, it was Cedric's team."

My stomach flipped at the mention of Cedric Diggory. It seemed weird that Dawlish talked about Chang still liking Cedric even though Chang and Potter had gone on a Valentine's Day date together. I wondered if it'd gone badly. They'd seemed to be having a good time when I'd seen them.

"But I had to come cheer for Slytherin with you," continued Dawlish. "It felt rude to cheer against your team."

"Thanks." Theo tried and failed to smile.

Somewhere behind me, I think I heard Pansy mutter something about a "shameless cow".

"How are you doing, Daph?" asked Dawlish with a smile.

The use of my nickname rankled, but I still managed a small smile for Theo's girlfriend. "I'm all right. Studying for OWLs."

"I'm sorry about Pucey," she said. "It must be tough to have to watch him play Quidditch now."

I stepped on Theo's foot.

He let out a hiss of pain and jerked back from me. Dawlish looked between us, confused, while Theo mouthed the word "sorry" at me.

How could he? How dare he? What right did he have? That arsehole. I was fuming as I turned away from Theo. That wasn't his to share, especially not with his prat girlfriend who he knew I didn't like. A thousand apologies wouldn't make me forgive him, and I half hoped Pansy and Tracey did jump Dawlish during the game.

I was less inclined to treat Dawlish nicely after that. I'd been tolerating her as best I could for Theo's sake, but really, someone should know where they aren't wanted. I didn't respond unless she addressed me directly, and then I would give noncommittal, one-word answers to every question.

She stopped trying to talk to me after the game started, much to my relief. However, she was a very loud Quidditch fan. She shrieked whenever anyone came close to the goalposts with the Quaffle. She shouted insults whenever anyone fouled. And even though she said she was cheering for Slytherin, she cheered very loudly for her friend, the Hufflepuff Beater.

And then, after Montague almost knocked Smith off his broom, Dawlish asked, "Why can't Slytherins play fairly for once?"

Theo took one look at my expression before turning to Dawlish and saying, "My neck's hurting from staring up at the players. Why don't we go watch from higher up, Helen?"

She opened her mouth to protest, but then her glaze flickered over to me. I saw her mouth tighten. Slowly, she said, "All right. Let's go."

I watched as they made their way through the stands. Theo sent another apologetic look in my direction, but I only scowled at him. He still had nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine apologies to go.

Slytherin lost the game to Hufflepuff narrowly, eliminating any chance Slytherin had of winning the Quidditch Cup that year. Personally, I couldn't care less, but judging by the reactions of some of my hosuemates, you would've thought we'd lost a war. Draco seemed especially mopey when he trudged back to the common room, and Adrian looked as though he wanted to crawl into his bed and never come out again. Pansy's eyes were a little teary, while some of the seventh-year girls had actually started crying.

Some overeager seventh years had brought out some firewhiskey in anticipation of the win, and Montague insisted they opened the bottles so we could drown our sorrows. Within an hour or so, the common room was filled with a number of drunk, moody upperclassmen. From what I could tell, the fifth years were drinking to forget about OWLs, the seventh years were drinking to forget about NEWTs, and the sixth years were drinking to forget about both.

Montague had claimed a corner of the common room and was complaining about how Hufflepuff had a shite Quidditch team (even though they beaten both Gryffindor and Slytherin this year), so our group claimed the corner of the common room as far away from Montague as we could get. At Montague's urging, we'd all ended up taking a goblet of firewhiskey. Tracey and I sat on the loveseat, making faces as we sipped the burning alcohol.

"The poor seventh years," said Pansy with a little sniffle. "I know they wanted to win so badly."

"I'm sure the seventh years in all the houses want to win this year," I said.

"Well, yes," said Pansy, "but I don't know them."

I couldn't argue with that. "Personally, I'm cheering for Hufflepuff now."

Pansy gasped and looked over her shoulder as if worried some of the Quidditch team might have heard us. "You can't cheer for the team that beat us!"

"Why not?" I asked.

Tracey shook her head, wearing a half smirk. "Don't you know basic Quidditch fan etiquette, Daph?"

"Hufflepuff played well this year," said Theo. "They deserve it."

Blaise nodded in agreement, while Pansy let out a dramatic sigh. "None of my friends understand how to be good Quidditch fans."

I couldn't give a hippogriff's arse about being a "good Quidditch fan"—especially as I disliked most of our team, and the one person I didn't dislike, I currently wasn't on speaking terms with.

"Oh, lighten up, Pansy," a cheery voice called out. "At least Hufflepuff is better than Gryffindor."

I looked over my shoulder and saw Georgina and Millicent standing behind the loveseat. Their sixth-year friends were nowhere in sight, and I wondered if they'd gotten into yet another fight.

"Well, of course," said Pansy, rolling her eyes. "But we can't talk about that yet. There's a proper mourning period for these things."

Holding a goblet of firewhiskey, Georgina sat on the armrest of the loveseat, near Tracey, while Millicent squeezed her way onto the couch next to Blaise and Theo. Judging by the hazy look in Millicent's eyes and the way Georgina's words slurred here and there, I guessed they'd had a little more to drink than they could handle.

"How long is this 'mourning period'?" asked Georgina. "I bet you Montague and Bletchley will be cheering for anyone but Gryffindor by tomorrow morning."

Pansy wrinkled her nose. She knew Georgina was right, but rather than admit it, she took a long sip of her firewhiskey.

"Why didn't anyone bring butterbeer?" asked Theo, staring into the depth of his own goblet.

"Or at least halfway decent firewhiskey," said Pansy. She finished her drink with a delicate cough.

"It's not like we're asking for Blishen's Firewhiskey," muttered Blaise.

"Your tastes are too expensive," said Theo. His gaze flickered over to me, as if expecting me to have some remark, but I remained in stony silence.

I still hadn't forgiven him for telling his girlfriend about my troubles with Adrian. I wasn't snapping at him or anything like that, but every time our eyes met, I would look away and suddenly become very interested in whatever Pansy or Georgina was saying.

I knew avoiding him wasn't the most mature thing to do, and we still had to make a plan of attack for approaching Dumbledore about Theo's father. But, well, I couldn't help the anger and hurt that welled up in my chest whenever I thought of Helen Dawlish and that she knew Adrian had called me a tease. How could Theo do that to me? Even if she was his girlfriend, that was still private. He had no right. No—

"What a wretched game."

Snapped out of my thoughts, I looked up to see none other than Draco standing over me. His upper lip was pulled back in a definite sneer as he looked about the group. "Hufflepuff stumbled arse backwards into that win."

"Summerby got lucky," said Pansy, jumping on Draco's words. "Everyone knows you're the better Seeker."

Draco nodded. "The Snitch flew right under his nose—only an idiot would miss that."

From what I'd seen, the Hufflepuff Seeker had caught sight of the Snitch first and beat Draco to it, but I knew better than to say that aloud.

Unfortunately, Draco decided that tonight was when of those nights where he just had to hang out with the rest of us fifth years. He, of course, had Crabbe and Goyle in tow. They pulled up chairs, while Draco settled, to my horror, on the armrest next to me. There was barely a centimeter between us, and I could smell the firewhiskey on him. What a fun night this would be. Perhaps I could slip away to bed now, and I could hear about all the shite that went down tonight from Tracey in the morning.

At first, the conversation was innocent enough. Georgina and Tracey talked about OWLs, Blaise and Pansy compared notes on what the best brand of firewhiskey was, Millicent tried to compliment Theo while he responded as politely as he could, Draco and Crabbe talked about a funny encounter they'd had with Filch. But slowly, the conversation started to change. Draco's voice grew louder, and the other voices started to die away as we heard what Draco was actually saying.

"Our families should sue Potter for defamation," said Draco. His looked at Theo when he spoke. "Putting blame on our family names—names that go back centuries in the wizarding world—all to support his fantasy about You-Know-Who's return."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tracey and Georgina exchange glances, and I knew neither of them believed a word Draco was saying. And why should they? We all knew Draco's father was a Death Eater. No one bought Lucius Malfoy's pixie shite story about the Imperious Curse.

"Our fathers are hardworking Ministry officials," said Draco. "Likely, Potter and the Weasleys are trying to drag our fathers out of their positions so Arthur Weasley can finally get a promotion from his Office of Useless Artifacts. As if blood-traitor trash like that could ever take over the positions of our properly pureblood bred fathers."

Theo was getting paler with each word that came out of Draco's mouth. Draco had gotten so loud that sixth and seventh years in the common room were turning to listen.

"The Minister knows what good wizarding blood means. He won't let those tainted by their fondness for muggle rise in the Ministry." Draco laughed. "The Minister knows our fathers come from the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and he'll do whatever they say, like a good lapdog, to stay in their good graces."

I opened my mouth, ready to distract Draco or cut him off or something, but someone beat me to it.

"Would you shut up already, Draco?" snapped Pansy.

Stony silence fell over the Slytherin common room as we all turned to stare at Pansy. Everyone from seventh years to first years knew that she fancied Draco and don't think any of us had seen her speak one word against Draco since she'd declared him the love of her life when she was twelve years old.

Even Draco seemed thrown, he opened his mouth and then closed it again. Then, for once in his life, he did exactly as Pansy told him to and shut up.

I don't think anyone knew what to do with that. We all sat, wide-eyed and open-mouthed like goldfish. What should we say? What should we do? Pansy had just told Draco Malfoy to shut up. It was the end of the world.

And then, Georgina sighed and said, "I need another drink," and the silence was broken. Everything seemed to happen in a whirlwind of motion. Conversations started up again around the common room. Pansy agreed to get a drink with Georgina, and the two of them helped Millicent up from her seat on the couch. Draco still seemed too stunned to function, and it was Goyle who suggest they grab a bite from the refreshments table. Tracey then saw some seventh-year girls she was friends with, and within minutes, the crowd had vanished, until it was me on the loveseat facing Blaise and Theo on their couch.

"I didn't know Pansy had it in her," said Blaise.

Theo and I both nodded.

"She's been working hard at getting over Draco since the new year," I said.

"It shows," said Theo. He offered me a small smile, but I pointedly looked away.

"You'd think he'd get the hint when everyone else goes silent and grim when he talks," I told Blaise. "But no, he just has to keep talking."

"Draco's used to getting support from Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy." Blaise stared into the depths of his empty goblet. "Sometimes Georgina and Millicent as well. I don't think he expected it."

I snorted, remembering Draco's stunned expression. "That's an understatement. I think Pansy rocked his entire world."

"I'm going to get some more of that disgusting bottom-shelf firewhiskey." Blaise rose from his seat. "I'll be back."

Theo and I watched him go in silence. I noticed how the eyes of some of the sixth and seventh year girls followed Blaise as he passed. I hoped they knew their admiration was wasted.

"Sorry."

I glared over at Theo. He was watching me through steady, sincere eyes. I scowled and said, "You still have nine-hundred-and-sixty-three apologies to go, you prick."

Despite the cold anger in my voice, the corners of Theo's mouth twitched up into a half-smile. "Are you keeping count, Daph?"

His amusement only made me angrier. "I'll hex that smirk off your face. I'm really mad, Theo. You have no idea. You had no right to tell her that. She had no right to know. I trusted you, and you told her about-about that." My voice shrank as I remembered the humiliation front the Quidditch match. "How could you?"

"I'm sorry, Daph."

I shook my head.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to betray your trust. I realize now that I did." His voice sounded genuine, and a part of me was ready to forgive him even though he had nine-hundred-and-sixty-one more to go. But then, he had to go and ruin by adding, "But she's my girlfriend. I was furious, and you wouldn't let me talk to Pucey. I needed to vent my frustrations to someone—"

"So you told Dawlish about my private business." My voice had gone back to its icy cold tone.

Theo winced. "She's my girlfriend."

"She's a right cow who abandoned you because your father was named as a Death Eater. I'd rather you date a banshee than her."

"A banshee, really?

"I think a banshee would be a vast improvement."

We were beginning to draw some attention. A group of sixth years nearby were looking in our direction. We weren't shouting, and we were both doing our best to keep our volume low. But our tones were strained, and our body language certainly wasn't friendly. My eyes were narrowed, and I'm sure my facial expression look contorted as I tried not to scream or cry. Theo, for his part, looked more contained. His shoulders were slightly hunched as he leaned forward on the couch.

When he spoke, it was in a voice unexpectedly small and hurt. "I thought you were on my side, Daph."

On any other day, his tone of voice would have made me pause, and I probably would have spoken more carefully. But I was mad. And I snapped at him. "I am on your side. I'm telling you that she's a cow and I don't like her. You deserve far better than her."

"Like a banshee?"

"At least the banshee wouldn't leave after reading a Quibbler article."

"Will you stop going on about the bloody Quibbler article?"

At this point, I think we both realized that the conversation could only get worse from there. Theo abruptly got up from the couch and turned away, probably looking for Blaise, and I stormed off in the opposite direction, stomping my feet a little like the mature sixteen-year-old I was.

At first, I didn't know where I was going, and I just walked into the center of the common room, right in the middle of the giant green rug with a curled serpent sewn on it. Panic filled my chest, because I didn't want Theo to know that I had nowhere to storm off to. Then, I spotted Tracey on the far side of the hall. I breathed a sigh of relief and went over to her. She was having a conversation with seventh year Leslie Garcia, and she looked over her shoulder when I reached her. I took the goblet of firewhiskey out of her hand and took a huge gulp.

"What happened?" asked Tracey.

"Theo's a right prat," I muttered, handing the goblet back to her with only a few drops left.

"They're all prats," said Leslie. "My mum always says they're no good until they're forty."

I snorted. "Mine says they're only good when they're in the ground. Of course, that's usually when she's on the piss."

"Divorced?" asked Leslie.

"Yeah. Seven years now."

Leslie nodded. "Mine got divorced during my first year at Hogwarts. I think they'd been waiting until the last kid was away from home, so none of us would be there to see all their fights during the divorce process."

I grimaced. My parents had done no such thing. Then again, I didn't think they could wait that long.

"Have you seen Pansy?" asked Tracey, frowning as she scanned the groups of Slytherins. "I can't find her."

I shook my head. "No. I've just been over with Blaise and that prat this whole time. Do y—"

"Daphne?"

All three of us turned to see who had called out to me. Adrian stood a few paces away, his hands shoved into the pocket of his robes and his gaze fixed on the floor. My eyes narrowed. Adrian had spent the weekend ignoring me just as much as I'd been ignoring him. I had only one guess as to why Adrian would want to talk to me right now, and after the fight I'd just had with Theo, I was in no mood to hear it.

Sure enough, in a quiet voice, Adrian asked, "Can we talk for a moment?"

I wanted to say no. I was tired. I wanted to stay in this corner and have another goblet of firewhiskey. But Leslie was watching me and I didn't want to come off as a right cow. With the barest nod of my head, I agreed.

"Thanks." Adrian offered me a small smile. I'd once found that smile charming but right then it just exhausted me.

I shot a pleading look back at Tracey before I followed Adrian across the common room. I wasn't sure what I expected Tracey to do to help me. After all, I was the one who'd agreed to talk to Adrian. Any suffering that came of this was my own fault. I think I just wanted someone to know I was suffering throughout all this. I really should've followed my own advice and gone to bed at the beginning of the night. It would've saved me a lot of time and stress.

Nevertheless, I followed him down to the statute and out of the common room into the dark, chilly corridor beyond. I didn't see the need to go this far just to hear his apology, but if he felt more comfortable doing it farther away from our schoolmates, then so be it. There was a slight stagger to his steps, and I wondered how much firewhiskey he'd needed to work up the courage (or foolishness) to approach me.

After rounding a corner, he came to a halt and turned to face me. "I'm sorry." He blurted it out so quickly that the words blended together and it took me a second to sort out what he'd said. It felt like I was hearing those words a lot tonight.

"It's fine," I said. "You didn't mean it. I know."

"I'm really sorry," he said again, completely ignoring my words. "It was terrible, and I shouldn't have said it."

"It's fine."

"I was a right prick. I should not have said that. It was rude and hurtful and completely untrue. You didn't deserve that. You've been open with me every step of the way, and you deserved the same kind of honesty and respect.

I stared up at the ceiling of the corridor, wondering when this apology was end. I hadn't needed or wanted to hear it, and yet here I was. What I wouldn't give to be cozy and warm in my bed, having missed out on my fight with Theo and not listening to Adrian's redundant apology in that cold hallway. Maybe I would've missed out on Pansy telling Draco to shut up, but Tracey could've reenacted that story for me in the morning…

Finally, Adrian finished his apology. We stood in the corridor, neither of us speaking. I think he was waiting for me to say something, but I had the feeling if I said anything, it would just send him off another rambling, drunk apology.

"I'm tired," I said at last. "I want to go to bed."

Adrian winced, but he nodded his head. We headed back to the common room in silence. What else was there to say? It was over. It'd been over for awhile, but apparently it wasn't that easy to let go, especially when there was firewhiskey involved. Perhaps it was stupid of me, but I hoped that one day, we'd be able to go back to being friends.

As we rounded the corner, we came into the full view of the statue that marked the entrance to the Slytherin Dungeon and the two people snogging next to it.

I fought back a groan. This was the last scene I wanted to see with Adrian of all people. To make matters worse, we were going to have to ask them to move so we could get back into the common room.

And then, I noticed the girl had sleek, black hair and the bloke was a tall blond with sharp features. My brain started to put the faces together.

Pansy and Draco.

Pansy and Draco were snogging like their lives depending on it in front of the Slytherin common room.

I really, really should've just gone to bed.

A/N: I'm baaack. Sorry it had to be with such a downer chapter, but really, what did you except with a chapter titled "We All Make Bad Decisions".

Also, even though I write him as a selfish, elitist prick and have my central characters bad mouth him, I really like Draco as a character. Same with Pansy. Sometimes, we have to fall, and drink some firewhiskey, and fall some more, before we get the character development we need.

Please, please leave a review! (Also check out my other HP story "The Hidden Diadem" because I'll shamelessly self-promote.)