HOW TO BE A HEARTBREAKER

THE AFTER PARTY

( Saturday 23 September 1997 )

Rowan groaned as her eyes fluttered open, her head aching and her mouth awfully dry. She reached for the water that she always left on her bedside table when she went out drinking, downing the whole thing. She regretted it when her stomach flipped, however, the feeling passed, leaving her just tired and groggy.

Memories of last night started to come back. Pansy had been talking to a girl, Rowan had danced with Clay, he'd led her away... Draco was his typical Draco-self and got with the girl his best friend had intense feelings for...

"Come on," Clay whispered against her, his hand rubbing at her hip. "Let's leave before Malfoy thinks we've been spying on him getting head from that Hufflepuff."

Rowan hummed in agreement, tearing her eyes away from the scene before it could get too graphic. She let Clay lead her down the corridor and up a set of stairs, and eventually they made it to the Room of Requirements. All thoughts of Draco's betrayal on Theo seemed to vanish from her head when she was pushed inside and onto the huge king sized bed. Clay climbed on top of her, their lips joining.

It was good sex to say the least. Clay knew how to please the female body, and Rowan greatly appreciated it. The only long-term boyfriend she had ever had was Adrian Pucey, a boy in the year above her. He'd ended things just before he left Hogwarts, not wanting to have any strings attached when he went for his job at the Ministry, but he had been the best she'd ever had.

Rowan was nowhere near as experienced in the sex world as her enemy Draco Malfoy, but she'd had a small handful lovers. Her virginity had been lost sometime after the Yule Ball back in the fourth year, given to her Durmstrang date who she had quite fancied at the time. In the fifth year, Rowan had an on-and-off again friends-with-benefits type situation with Fred Weasley, and at the very start of the sixth year, she'd shared a night with Ernie Macmillan after a party.

So, for a seventeen-year-old girl, Rowan liked to say she was fairly experienced. She knew what she liked and what she didn't like, and Clay was more than happy to attend to her needs. Rowan thought Pansy was probably right about him wanting to make her happy because she was an older girl.

They headed back to the party soon after their hookup. Rowan couldn't risk sneaking back into the girls' dormitory two mornings in a row. Clay was quick to squeeze her arm and then hurry off with his friends. Rowan spotted Pansy dancing with the girl from before, taking breaks to makeout and practically grope each other on the dance floor.

Her smile faded when she saw Draco reenter the common room, no Lorelei in sight. Hanging by the door, his eyes landed on Rowan quite quickly. He raised his eyebrows at the glare on her face.

"Do you ever take a break from hating me, Yaxley?" Draco yelled by her ear above the booming music. "Or am I all you think about?"

Rowan rolled her eyes. "Piss off. You're absolutely vile, Malfoy."

Draco allowed the easy grin to take over his drunk features. "Come on, Yaxley. Don't be like that. What's wrong? Why are you glaring at me tonight?"

Rowan thought about biting her tongue, but she couldn't resist. She got uncomfortably close to his face, to the point where Draco's silver eyes widened slightly. He could smell the alcohol on her breath, see every individual eyelash that she had coated black.

"I know what you did, Malfoy," Rowan hissed, watching as his smirk diminished and his jaw clenched. "Or rather who you did."

Rowan went to back away, but was stopped by his large hand wrapping around her wrist. "Don't you fucking dare tell anybody, Yaxley," Draco spat at her. "You don't want to break Theo's heart, do you?"

Rowan sneered and tugged her hand back. "You did that yourself, manwhore."

And now she was waking up and feeling like absolute shit. How the fuck was she supposed to tell Theo? Maybe it wasn't her place — this was between Draco and Theo, and Rowan wasn't even particularly close with the Nott boy — however, if Pansy had stabbed her in the back like that (which Rowan was sure she would never do) she would want somebody to tell her.

"Morning, Yaxley," Tracey said, moving over to her bed with a vial in her hand. "Would you like some?" She asked. "It's really good for hangovers. I took mine and felt fine ten minutes later."

"Yes, please, Davis." Rowan accepted the vial being handed out to her and tipped it past her lips as she sat up in her bed. "Thank you."

"How was your night?" Tracey asked, sitting down on her own bed which was nearby Rowan's. "I think you were really drunk. I saw you dancing with Inkwood, and then you were gone. But oh my gosh, Yaxley! Do you know Neville Longbottom? He's the rather shy Gryffindor.... hangs around those two girls in the year below... Well, he asked me to dance!"

Rowan rubbed her head and forced a smile. "Oh, that's nice, Davis. Did you end up dancing with him?"

"I did!" Tracey sighed happily. "He only stayed for a bit. He said he was upse   t... I think he said he had a bad breakup with that Hufflepuff Hannah Abbott. I've never really noticed him before, but after last night... I think I may have a bit of a crush on Longbottom."

"Are you boring Yaxley with that story now, Tracey?" Daphne huffed as she left the bathroom, adjusting the earring in her left ear. "You've already told me and Millicent. It's not like you even kissed him or anything."

Tracey looked embarrassed, her face heating up as she shrugged. "I was just telling Yaxley —"

"I asked her about it actually, Greengrass," Rowan lied, sending a small glare over. "I saw her dancing with Longbottom last night, so I wanted to know what was happening. It seems like he really likes Tracey."

Tracey gave Rowan a grateful smile when Daphne huffed and backed off back into the bathroom. There was a comfortable silence as Tracey bent to grab her shoes off of the floor, pulling them onto her feet.

"Are you heading to Hogsmeade today, Yaxley?" Tracey asked, "We should all grab a drink at the Three Broomsticks like we used to in the third year. It's been so long since we all hung out."

"I will probably give it a miss today," Rowan said apologetically, "Besides, no offence, but I don't feel like recovering from my hangover with Greengrass gossiping in my ear at the same time. She can be... a bit much."

"Fair enough," Tracey said and climbed from her bed. "Millicent, Daphne, are you two ready?"

"Yeah, just coming, Trace!" Millicent called back.

Rowan suddenly realised that there was a lack of curses to shut up and turned to Pansy's bed. It was empty. Her best friend was not an early riser after drinking, so Rowan could only assume one thing — her little pickup line with the punch last night had worked very well.

With an amused smile on her features, Rowan rose from her bed as soon as the three other Slytherin girls were gone. She hopped into the shower and then climbed out to cast a hair-drying spell. Rowan pulled on one of her favourite casual dresses — just a black, sort of loose one, and then accompanied it with her eyeliner. It didn't matter how bad her day was, Rowan always made time for her eyeliner. She barely felt herself without it by this point.

The dark-haired girl yanked her shoes on and headed down into the common room, surprised that the potion Tracey had given her was already kicking in. She'd have to ask her for the name of it — she knew it would be  very useful for the future.

Down in the common room, it was mostly empty. People had either already left for Hogsmeade or were recovering from hangovers in their rooms, but the couch area was occupied by three familiar people. Theo sat down, his arms folded and a distraught expression on his face, Blaise right next to him wearing a sympathetic expression. Meanwhile, Draco sat across from his two friends, unmoving.

Had she just walked in on Draco confessing what had happened last night? Immediately, Rowan wanted to turn on her heels and leave. However, Blaise's eyes landed on Rowan and it was too late for her to move.

"Yaxley, you're a girl. You're probably ten times better at the comforting stuff," Blaise said, "Tell Theo it's not his fault that Robertson had to cancel on their Hogsmeade plans. She's just hungover."

Rowan froze. So Draco hadn't told Theo.

Fuck. And fuck Malfoy.

She hesitated. "Er... Is that – Is that what Robertson said?" Rowan asked, "That she was too hungover?"

"Yeah," Theo sighed, rubbing his temples. "We were just hanging out at the party last night and I went to go get her some water so she'd sober up, but she was gone by the time I got back."

The Slytherin girl felt the guilt pool in her stomach, and she hadn't even been the one that had slept with Lorelei. Rowan moved to sit down on the other side of Theo, glancing across at Draco. He wasn't watching them, he hadn't even said anything to Rowan which was a first. He had his legs flung over the arm of the sofa, and he played with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Why don't you, er, rearrange, Nott?" Rowan asked him, placing a hand on his back. "I'm sure she'd love to hang out with you. Just don't pick a day after a party."

Before Theo could reply, Draco spoke up. "It's like I said, Theo. If she's not interested, she's not worth it. And she's just one girl."

Blaise sent Draco a glare. "She never said she wasn't interested, she's just hungover. Theo's disappointed, he's not heartbroken."

Rowan felt herself grow fidgety, her hands clammy as she rubbed them together. Should she just say it? Her eyes met Draco's and he narrowed his silver ones, as if daring her to speak up. Rowan stared right back, her face hardening.

"I just had a whole day planned out and I'm a little bummed, that's all," Theo admitted, "I don't need the peptalk, don't worry Blaise. But thanks, Yaxley, for trying to help. I'm okay, really. I'll just ask her out for next weekend instead."

Rowan bit down on her lip. Draco didn't move, just watched her.

"Is there anything you want to say, Malfoy?" Rowan blurted.

He looked slightly startled, though he recovered quickly as everybody looked at him. "About what, Yaxley?" Draco said through gritted teeth.

"You look nervous," Rowan replied, "Any confessions you would like to make? Anything you want to lay out on the table, perhaps?"

His face paled slightly, his nails digging into the armchair. Blaise and Theo looked slightly confused, however, Blaise had rolled his dark eyes, not thinking too deeply into it. This was just another fight between Draco and Rowan, after all. Or so he thought.

"Nothing, Yaxley. Do you have any confessions to make?"

Rowan knew he was trying to direct the attention towards her, and she used that to her advantage. He'd played it right into her hands, basically asked her to tell them for her, really.

"I do, actually," Rowan cleared her throat and stood up, turning to face Theo with a sympathetic expression. "I saw something last night, Nott. I'm so sorry to tell —"

Draco stood from his chair. "Yaxley, come with me," he said sternly. "I need to talk to you."

Theo and Blaise looked confused before something seemed to click in Theo's head. He climbed to his feet up too, his jaw clenched as he glared at Draco.

"No, Yaxley, don't go. Tell me what you saw," Theo said.

Rowan sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Yaxley," Draco warned.

"I saw Malfoy with Robertson," Rowan confessed, "I'm sorry, Nott. I felt like you should know that your best friend is a back-stabbing piece of shit that only thinks with his dick."

Rowan half-expected immediate fire. For wands to be pulled out, for swear words to be spat, or for fists to be thrown. When the silence came, she almost craved all of that. She had no idea what everybody was thinking. Blaise looked horrified as Draco stared back at Theo, unmoving, hesitant, calculating what he was going to have to say next to make all of this go away.

Theo's lips were slightly pursed. "Is that true, Draco?" He asked, "Is what Yaxley is saying true?"

Draco didn't speak.

"I asked you a fucking question, Malfoy," Theo spat, "And judging by your lack of speech, I'm assuming Yaxley is the honest one between you two."

Rowan wanted to back away. Whilst she did enjoy seeing Draco get what he deserved, she wanted nothing to do with this. At the end of the day, Draco may be getting yelled at, but it was Theo who was really hurting — he'd be the one to go to bed tonight with an empty chest and perhaps years of trust issues.

"I —" Draco cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. "Look, Theo... I was absolutely hammered last night. I left our dorm pissed off, and I just drank and drank and I —"

"Alcohol's not an excuse, mate," Blaise muttered, shaking his head in disappointment. "You've gone way too fucking far this time, Draco. You knew how much Theo liked the Hufflepuff."

"But you know I would never have done it sober," Draco said defensively, "You two are my best friends. Theo, I'm not even interested in Robertson like that. And — and she spoke to me first, if that makes you feel any better."

Rowan couldn't believe her ears. Draco Malfoy really had no clue what it meant to comfort someone, or to give a proper, meaningful apology.

Theo looked physically sick, his face contorted. "You're not my friend," he said finally, "You're everything Yaxley said. You're a back-stabber and you're a piece of shit. I don't give a fuck anymore, Draco, I really don't."

Draco clenched his jaw. "Theo —"

"Leave me the fuck alone," he spat and marched to the exit of the common room.

Blaise sighed loudly as he stood from the couch. "I'm going to go and check on him," he said and then sent Draco a glare. "You fucked up bad. I don't think he'll ever forgive you for this, Draco. Not properly."

Rowan watched him take off after Theo, disappearing past the wall that would lead them out into Hogwarts' dungeons. She turned to look at Draco who retracted his gaze from where his friends had been to her. Immediately he looked ten times more furious.

"You couldn't just fucking leave it, could you, Yaxley?" Draco hissed, moving closer to her. "You shouldn't have said a word. Now look at Nott! Look what you've done."

Rowan's mouth dropped open slightly and she released a bitter laugh of disbelief. "No way! No way are you blaming me, Malfoy? You're the one that can't keep your dick in your pants! You fucked Theo over yourself, I had no part at all in this."

"You're conniving and spiteful, Yaxley." Draco gritted his teeth. "And you'll fucking regret this if Theo doesn't speak to me again."

"He deserved to know the truth — that his friend is everything I've been saying for years now."

Draco rolled his silver eyes. "Don't act like you told Theo out of the kindness of your own heart. You told him because you knew it would blow back up in my face."

"That's not the truth at all, Malfoy," Rowan huffed, "Get over yourself. I actually respect Theo, unlike you, and you clearly weren't going to say anything."

She turned on her heel, but was pulled back yet again.

"How did you even know?" Draco hissed lowly, "Were you following me?"

Rowan laughed. "I have a life, Malfoy. I don't need to follow yours."

This time Rowan did leave, ready to go find Pansy and tell her everything — and to find out about whatever the hell happened with that girl last night. Until tomorrow, where she'd have quidditch practice with the dickhead, Rowan didn't have to think about Draco Malfoy.

She just also hoped she wouldn't come to regret telling Theo the truth.

...

( Sunday 23 September 1997 )

Theo didn't turn up to lunch or dinner that Saturday, nor breakfast on Sunday morning. However, by the time lunch had rolled around, he felt like he could just about stomach seeing Draco's face again. He'd been keeping himself busy with homework, avoiding the boys' dorm room and the common room, putting charms over his bed so that Draco couldn't approach him if he tried.

He wanted to punch him. As soon as Draco sat down at his designated seat opposite Rowan, Theo felt like climbing across the table and strangling him until he was gone. Especially when he saw Lorelei sitting at the Hufflepuff table with her friends, minding her own business and laughing.

"Theo," Draco started as he sat down. "I don't want to argue with you. I know I let you down. I..." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I actually am."

Theo stared back and then rather violently stabbed his fork through his pie. Pansy visibly jumped.

"Maybe not right now, Draco," Blaise muttered. "It's too soon."

Draco sighed heavily. "Fine," he said somewhat bitterly. "But you can't ignore me forever, Theo."

Theo felt a surge of anger as he grabbed his plate and stood up from the table. "Fucking watch me, Malfoy."

He stormed out of the Great Hall, not looking back for a second. Theo faintly heard Lorelei call his name, but he ignored her too. He knew he shouldn't take it out on her — he wasn't in a relationship with Lorelei, nor did she even know he liked her, but every time he looked at her, he could just see her with Draco and feel the heavy weight of betrayal. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

He turned a corner, roughly bumping into somebody. His hands darted out to cling to the person, stopping them from toppling backwards. Rowan released a small, awkward laugh and gave him a wavering smile as they both straightened up. His food had fallen to the ground, a complete mess over Rowan's Mary Janes.

"Fuck!" Theo cried, running a hand through his hair. "Fuck it. I'm so sorry, Yaxley. I didn't mean to do that. Here, let me."

"It's okay, Nott, honestly," Rowan replied quickly as Theo pulled his wand out and cast a quick cleaning spell which moped everything right back up. "It was an accident. We were probably both going around the corner too fast."

"Yeah," Theo breathed, "I just had to get out of there. Fucking Malfoy and his half-assed apologies. Saying shit like 'You can't ignore me forever, Theo', as if that won't make me even angrier at him."

"He's a dick," Rowan growled before her face softened. "And I'm sorry that I had to tell you in front of him and Zabini. Maybe it would have been easier for me to get you alone and say it, but Malfoy was straight-up lying to your face and I just wanted you to know."

"No, no." Theo shook his head. "I appreciate you, Rowan. Honestly. There's no anger between you and I."

"Good," she breathed and then reached forward to squeeze his shoulder. "If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know."

Theo nodded. "Yeah, I will do. Thanks, Yaxley."

Blaise found Theo later on in the library. He'd been there all weekend, hunched over the same essay, rewording it so many times that it was starting to not make sense — all so he didn't have to think about what Rowan had revealed to him. Theo had always known Draco was an arsehole, but he had thought they were a team — a family, even. He was a traitor above all.

"You need to get out of this place," Blaise huffed as he dropped down in the empty seat next to Blaise.

"You need to get out of this place," Theo corrected him. "You reek of sweat, Blaise."

"I just got back from quidditch practice," Blaise sighed, leaning back in his chair without a care in the world for the way that the wooden legs creaked beneath him. "Draco was hard on all of us today, proper had us going for it. He took it out on Yaxley the worst though. Made her do double of everything we were doing. I think he yelled at her more times in the past hour and a half than he has in our entire Hogwarts careers."

Theo frowned deeper. "What a cunt."

Blaise released a small laugh. "Trust me, Yaxley had a lot worse to say. Even Inkwood told Draco he was out of order for some of the shit he said to her."

"I seriously think Draco likes Yaxley," Theo admitted, "Deep down, he's drawn to her. I reckon he thinks he hates her, but... C'mon Blaise, it's almost painfully obvious."

Blaise nodded in agreement. "Oh, yeah. Trust me, I've been alone in a room with them before — I could feel the sexual tension."

Theo scrunched his nose up. "Yaxley wouldn't go for him though. Thankfully, she has standards."

They sat there for a while in silence. Blaise asked the question he had been itching to ask.

"Do you think... that maybe you will ever be able to forgive Draco?" Blaise asked.

Theo shrugged. "He'll just do it again. He's obsessed with sex. He lost himself, Blaise. I don't know if I want to be friends with someone like him, anyway. It really opened my eyes up. Yaxley's been right the entire time, and Draco does this shit to a new girl every single week."

Blaise sighed. "I know, but..." He couldn't come up with anything.

"You know what I want, Blaise?" Theo said.

Raising a brow, Blaise was almost scared to reply. "What do you want, Theo?"

"I want revenge," he breathed, almost like it was a relief to admit it. "I want Malfoy to know exactly how it feels to have his heart fucking stomped on — to be betrayed by someone you care about, someone you think would never ever hurt you that way."

"Do you have something in mind?" Blaise questioned.

"Wait. You're in?" Theo looked surprised.

"Draco needs humbling, Theo. He's turned into some sort of a sociopath, and I want the old Draco back," Blaise admitted. "So I'll help you if you need it."

Theo smirked. "Well, I have a couple of ideas. We just need to get some of the finer details down."

Oh Merlin would Draco Malfoy pay. In fact, what he did to Theo would be nothing in comparison to the pain he'd be feeling by the end of the year.

...

AHH im so excited for the next few chapters! also, i forgot to mention in the last chapter, but im making clay inkwood's faceclaim freddy carter. i'll add it to the first chapter soon!

thanks so much for reading and hope you enjoyed :))

word count: 3.8k

dyiansobrien.