Shaking in Armor

"Your a Malfoy god damn it!" Pansy said loudly. draco's face stung from her slap but his head was throbbing worse from his tears. Blaise stood at the door his arms crossed as he stood watch.

"You need to get a fucking grip." She stood above him her eyes blazing. He wanted to tell her that he was fine that he wasn't going to let this beat him, but every time he opened his mouth he saw Harry's angry eyes as he said he hated him.

"I didn't. It wasn't."

"We know that. Hell everyone knows that. He's the only one that doesn't agree." She waved her hand dismissing Draco's whines.

"He's the only one that matters, Pansy." Draco said loudly. How did no one understand that? They all acted as if one day Draco would realize he wasn't in love with Harry and that he had been over reacting about everything involving the golden boy. Well he wasn't. Something deep inside of Draco knew that there was no way this was going away no matter how much he wished it would.

"Then do something about it." Draco looked at Blaise who was still looking beyond the open door way but he spoke clearly. "A guy like Harry needs to be seduced. He won't come to you Draco. Your in a good position here. He cant run away or ignore you completely. He has to stay. All you have to do is make a move." He walked away from the door and towards the wardrobes. "These should work like mine at home, in that anything is available." He opened the top drawer and frowned. "Guess not." Blaise through a gray sweater on the bed and a pair of pants made of a rough blue fabric Draco didn't recognize.

"What's this fabric?"Draco said holding up the pants.

"It's called denim. Its a muggle material." Hermione Granger stepped in to the room and Pansy gave Blaise a irritated look.

"You were supposed to be keeping watch." She snarled but Hermione only smiled at her.

"Why should he keep watch? You can't even possibly think you could keep a secret in a place like this do you?" She paused for a moment. She walked farther into the room and ran her finger across the dusty night table. "Of course you wouldn't know much about being in close quarters would you?"

"If you're here to attack me I got enough of it down stairs, so you can feel free to leave."

"On the contrary Draco. I'm here to, against my better judgement, to help you."

"Help him with what? There's nothing we can do to get out of here, so what is there to-" Blaise panicked through the speech and Hermione waved her hand stopping him.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Pansy opened her mouth but Draco glared at her. He wanted to know what she knew. "Snape is a worse lier than Zabini over here." She smiled. "He likes you. We all tease him about it, but before you get excited he is in denial. This business with the wand will have only pushed him farther into it."

"But Draco shouldn't have such a hard time getting him out of denial about liking him if he makes the first move." Pansy said. She squeezed Draco's hand and looked down at him but he looked up at her with a disappointed look. She looked at Hermione who was grinning like the cat who swallowed the cream.

"You both would have made horrible death eaters." Draco said shaking his head. "She didn't know anything before you said that. She just had"

"Suspicions. Which are now confirmed. How they made it into Slytherin really does amaze me Draco." She sat next to him on the bed and watched as Pansy's eyes burned with restraint.

"What do you want Hermione?" He stressed her name in a mocking tone of how she used his. She smiled wider but her face soon took on a more serious tone.

"I want Harry to be happy, and despite everything he's been through you're the only one that he's ever been passionate about. Whether it was about hating you or hanging around the quiditch pitch making excuses for watching you fly. I know you love him and that you're more than willing to try. So I'm offering you an in."

"What's in it for you?" Blaise said walking towards Hermione. He and Pansy made a flank in front of the muggle born witch and crossed their arms. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

"I want a friend that isn't to busy saving the world to take anytime for himself or me and more importantly a friend that to busy flaunting his sexuality to apologize for leading me on for 7 years." Her voice was bitter but it struck a nerve in all of them. The last part had particular resonance with Pansy. It hadn't been easy on her when Draco had announced that he was gay. No matter how small the crush was the idea of no hope is always very unsettling. Pansy took a step back letting old feelings of hurt overwhelm her while Blaise stood confused at his friends actions. Hermione's eyes scanned Pansy and gave her a somber nod.

"Alright." Pansy said. Draco watched her as she reigned in her emotions, soon her face would be colder than it was when Hermione first walked in. "I believe you. But you must know that we don't have long. We don't have time to hover and beat around the bush."

"She's right. There are...things that Harry and I need to soon. Unfortunately the faster we do them the faster the war comes and we don't know what will happen he might well-"

"Die. I know. He's been dying since the day he was born." Draco looked down tears streaming his face. "I can't wait for him. I've got to do something."

"I'll talk to him. Try to get him to at least be civil." Hermione got up to leave but stopped a Blaise's next words.

"Civil? He should be more than civil. None of this was Draco's fault, he's acting like a brat. It's just a headquarters, the order will another one."

"You don't understand Zabini. That house was Harry's. Siris gave it to him in his will. It was the only thing Harry really had left of him. No matter how faultless it's discovery was it's still almost irreparable." She said looking nothing like the sly smug girl from moments before. Her hazel eyes held pity and her lips were turned down. She looked worried.

"Well lets hope its not." Draco said sniffing. he couldn't help but blame himself for the whole ordeal and he knew Harry would feel the same way. No time for guilt now, he had work to do if he was going to get what he wanted. He picked up the denim pants and shucked off his own. He started to put his jeans on when Pansy nudged him. He looked up and saw Hermione watching him.

"What? You're in love with my best friend doesn't mean you aren't nice to look at." She gave another of her wild smiles and walked out closing the wood door behind her.

"I don't trust her." Blaise said huffily. Pansy rolled her eyes.

"You're just saying that 'cause you're sleeping with Weasel bee."

"We haven't slept together!" Blaise said defiantly.

"Yeah that will last all of tonight." Draco said. Blaise huffed but didn't say anything. They all knew it was true, even if Blaise didn't want to admit it. Draco stood up in his new outfit. "So how do I look?" Blaise drooled but Pansy took her time.

"Well, its snugger than a death eater robe."



~

Hey sorry for the looong wait. I've been really busy, with my birthday and school starting and everything. Anyway I'll try to keep updating as often as possible at least once a week. It took me so long t find a suitable song and even this one I'm not all together happy with. I wrote one but then decided that it wasn't going in a good direction so i scrapped it for this one. Hope it was worth the wait. CH 8 should be up tomorrow and just a warning there will be smut.

Love always,
ally