Shiro Tsubasa here with a one-shot and my first ever Harry Potter fic! This idea, in some variation, has been bouncing around my head for 3 months at the time of writing. This is actually part of an idea I had for a larger AU 4th year fiction but the idea has since been trashed as I've grown fond of Dark Harry stories and this was going to be light-aligned, so yeah, that was never going to work for me. With the writing of Shadows (to be posted later) I've got my AU dark Harry so I doubt I'll ever come back to this idea and I doubt I could do this pair justice anyway. Let me know what you think and when you first guessed the pairing, I'm curious if I was too obvious in my early hints. Reviews are loved but flames make me a sad panda, so keep them away please!
Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, claim ownership of the Harry Potter franchise or anything within it. The rights belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.
Legend:
"Speech"
'Thought'
§Parseltongue§
*Great Hall, Day of the Yule Ball*
Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with a small smile upon his face, waiting on his two best friends to arrive. One might wonder why he was happy, what with his forced participation in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the Yule Ball taking place that night, and up and in the Great Hall before both Ron and Hermione were even out of bed. The answer to both was the same, Harry Potter was going to reveal to the world his biggest secret, his girlfriend of a year and a half. 'Well, not girlfriend anymore,' Harry thought with an even wider smile.
*Flashback to the night before*
"What's wrong love?" Harry was startled out of his thoughts by the, surprisingly, concerned voice of his girlfriend. "Nothing, I was just thinking of something." He replied as she continued to stroke his hair. 'I guess now is as good of a time as any,' he thought. "Actually, there is something, can you let me up so I can do this properly?" With a bit of reluctance she allowed him to stand. 'What is that crazy man up to now?' she wondered with a touch of worry.
"So, I talked with your father during the last Hogsmade weekend," the Boy-who-was-nervous-beyond-belief started, "I know how much it means to you so I finally decided." At this point, his girlfriend was staring in shock. 'He didn't, did he? Oh Merlin, I hope he did!' "I love you more than anything and this year and a half has been the greatest time of my life." By this point Harry was on one knee with a ring box and tears were springing to her eyes against her will. 'Damn it, I'm a pureblood, I don't cry over stuff like this,' she chastised herself, despite it doing no good. "Will you do me the greatest honor of being my wife?" he finished, not realizing most of his speech was drowned out by her inner yelling, not that it mattered to her, nothing he said would of made the choice any easier than it already was. "Yes, yes, oh Merlin YES!" she, though she would NEVER admit it to anyone, squealed.
*Flashback end*
Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by a rather loud thump and a mumbled "Morning" from his left and a slightly less mumbled "Morning" from his front. "Morning you two, finally decided to join the rest of us?" Harry smirked at his two best friends. Hermione shot him a small glare while Ron ignored the comment in favor of the food laid out before him. "Why are you here so early and in such a good mood? You didn't even wait for us this morning." Hermione chastised. "Well, remember how I told you guys about my girlfriend last week?" Hermione gave a small nod, recalling the shock she experienced at learning Harry had a girlfriend for over a year with no one being any wiser. Ron grunted slightly as he chewed, showing he was listening. "Well, I proposed last night and she said yes!" He exclaimed with a slightly excited voice, both at telling his best friends the great news and the fact that it was close to her normal time to enter the Great Hall. Ron began coughing and choking on his food at the thought while Hermione gave a rather surprised congratulation.
After saving his best friend from a rather untimely death (though Ron would probably not be too sad about dying doing one of the things he loved) he told them that she would be there soon. "I'm going to warn you now; she's been planning her meeting with you for a while, so I have no idea what's going to happen." Harry warned, though he had a pretty good idea of how it was going to go down. Even now she wasn't much different than when they first met, but he loved her all the same. At that moment Draco Malfoy and his little gang walked through the door and up to the Golden Trio. "Potter." Malfoy greeted without his usual arrogance. 'She already told them, spoil sport.' Harry thought to himself. "What do you want Malfoy?" Ron questioned between bites of bacon with slight disgust at the thought of Malfoy being anywhere near his food.
"It's not me, I'd rather be eating." Malfoy replied before looking towards Pansy who was standing to the side of him, staring at the Gryffindor table with a completely unreadable mask. That is, to anyone not named Harry, who could clearly see the amusement dancing in her eyes. She stood there just the same as always, her hair and clothes impeccable with her "I'm better than you and I know it" air in full force. The only difference was a diamond ring on her right hand, which Hermione picked up immediately. She gave a small gasp then shook her head as if to deny her own thoughts. Pansy noticed and gave a slight smirk, "Anything wrong Granger?" Hermione gave another start, Pansy using her last name instead of mudblood? Something was definitely up, and Hermione was wondering if she was going crazy. Ron, normally oblivious, had stopped eating to stare at the obvious confusion on her face. "No, nothing's wrong Parkinson, it's just my imagination going crazy." She replied.
Harry looked at his best friend, wondering why she was trying to deny the obvious. 'She probably thinks I wouldn't be caught dead with her, I guess we have to step it up a notch.' Catching Pansy's eye he gave her a small nod to let her know they needed a bit more convincing. The brunette smirked and did something that surprised not only the Great Hall but her own fiancé; she plopped onto Harry's lap and promptly made out with him. Harry heard a thud but was too busy enjoying the kiss to really mind. When they finally came up for air they noticed they had the attention of the entire Hall, sans one Weasley female who was currently passed out a few seats down. Ron was staring with his mouth wide open while Hermione wasn't in much better shape. Malfoy gave a small sigh before walking away. "I'll leave this to you two, I'm hungry." He called over his shoulder.
When Hermione's brain finally restarted and Ginny was awoken from her mini-coma everyone was treated to another shock. Pansy was cuddled into Harry's side while they were feeding each other and steadily ignoring the looks from the room. "Love, I think we broke them." Pansy stated with amusement. "S-so, you were dating Parkinson?" Hermione questioned, finally getting over the shocks of the morning. Harry gave a nod of confirmation. "And you're engaged?" He nodded once again, wondering where her questioning was going. "But what about how she's treated us? How she's treated you? Wasn't she all over Malfoy? Why didn't he say anything about it? Where was the animosity you usually show each other?"
That was all she was able to get out in one breath but as she was gearing up for round two, Harry stopped her short. "That's enough Hermione. To answer your questions: it took a while for her to get over her animosity towards the two of you," "Though I still don't like you," she admitted, interrupting and earning a playful glare. "Yes, I haven't been able to convince her otherwise yet. Anyway, most of the last year and a half has been an act on our part, so as to not draw attention to our relationship. The thing with Malfoy was more for his benefit than anything but you would have to ask him to explain. He didn't say anything because he's known the entire time as she has a hard time keeping quiet. As for me and Malfoy, we've gotten over our disagreements for the most part, more for the sake of Pansy than anything."
After his impromptu explanation everyone went back to eating, or rather, gossiping while looking like they were eating with the exception of Ron and Hermione. Ron looked as if someone had shot his puppy at the thought of Harry and Pansy engaged and being on humane terms with Malfoy. Hermione was analyzing everything she knew about Pansy trying to determine just how this could have started, what Harry saw in her, and whether or not she was just using him for her own benefit. Harry gave a sigh before kissing his fiancée on the cheek and going back to feeding Pansy. "This is going to be a long day." He grumbled to himself. Pansy just smirked and continued to receive her royal treatment.