For Nele, with love :)

Plain Gold Ring

Plain gold ring had a story to tell

It was one I knew too well.

Sitting in a café one could politely describe as quaint located in the Muggle section of London was a beautiful, dark-haired woman. If you were to be critical she was, albeit dressed immaculately, just a tad too thin. Her hair was perfectly styled into a mature bob, her nails manicured with no hint of chipping, her clothes from a well-known, classy brand, and most of all her 'sense' dignified. At first glance, it would have been easy to think her snooty, but she gave a warm and bright smile as well as a cheerful 'thanks!' to the waitress who brought her a fine cup of tea. Porcelain, of course – one must have standards.

You wouldn't have known that once upon a time, almost a distant memory by now, this woman had despised all things Muggle, and would have happily cursed the lot of them to ensure they didn't share the same air as her. In the same way as you wouldn't know just by a glance or two, or three, or more, that she wasn't even a normal woman but rather, a witch. Delicately stirring the café's specialised brand of tea, Pansy Parkinson tested the temperature with her pinkie finger before picking up the cup to take a sip. Things had happened that had changed the grown woman's life.

Plain gold ring on his finger he wore

It was where everyone could see.

Checking the time on her expensive watch – a gift from a suitor she certainly was not going to consider, thank you very much -, a small smile tinged with sadness formed on her full lips. Glancing up, she kept her dark eyes fixed on the pavement across the café she had been a valued customer of for the past twelve years. As the time ticked to exactly 4.23pm, a young girl, no older than nine years, scampered ahead with her white-blonde, curly hair flashing. The girl's usually solemn face creased in laughter as she looked behind her. Pansy's gaze drifted from her to the object of her attention, her heart – despite knowing better – quickening. She could feel it thudding against her chest almost painfully.

It was him. No matter how many times she saw him, she still experienced the conflicting tug of love, adoration, and heartbreak that made it so difficult for her to breathe. Her heart was beating so hard, she felt as though the numerous customers around her could hear it. Idly, she lifted her hand, and pressed it against her breast as her eyes consumed the sight of Draco Malfoy, laughing back at his daughter as her girlish voice called out to him. It was impossible for Pansy to make out the conversation, but she assumed that it was related to her day at school as Draco was holding a scrap of paper, slightly waving it to her. The girl, Jeanette (Jen for short), looked so much like her father, but she had her mother's hair, laugh, and the exact same scrunched up nose. Pansy frowned, craning her neck slightly. Where was Jen's mother? It was Friday, she always the day off on Friday.

'C'mon mummm, stop being so slow! Let's go!'

Leaning back as Jen's voice rang out, nice and clear, Pansy once again smiled, watching Draco turn and reach his hand out for his wife.

Oh, it still hurt.

He belonged to someone, but not me

On his hand was a plain gold ring.

Pansy could still remember the moment the world had shattered so completely for her. It was not when the War had begun or ended, nor was it when her friends died around her, and she found herself as an outcast. Not even when her father had been sent to Azkaban to die via the Dementor's Kiss, leaving her as an orphan. It had been when her childhood friend, the boy she'd grown up with and who she so utterly loved that she felt as though she shared her soul with him, had brought along a girl she hadn't thought she'd ever see again to one of their weekly lunch dates, introducing her as his wife-to-be. Pansy had always thought that it would be her who would be Draco's wife. Right then, it would have been so easy to fly into a rage, to lash out at Draco, but her soul was his. She had looked into his eyes, had seen the apprehension, and her heart had just shattered at the other look she'd caught that was directed at his fiancée. It was love, the kind she had dreamt of seeing in Draco – except she had thought it would all be for her. Somehow, she had smiled and pulled the girl who had managed (without Pansy even noticing!) to clear away the shadows in Draco's eyes, smoothed the hardness of Draco's soul, and put an easy-coming and true-felt smile on his lips, into a genuine hug.

"Congrats, Hermione – you've snagged the best guy going!"

And in my heart it will never be spring

Long as he wears that plain gold ring.

The reason for Hermione's delay was clear when she came into view, looking damn well near as youthful at thirty five as she had been at the age of seventeen even with a sniffling toddler on her hips whom she was murmuring to. The boy, three years old, looked just like his elder sibling with his white-blond, curly hair. They shared their father's long face, and their mother's nose, but their eyes differed. Jen had her mother's hazel brown eyes, but Parker had his father's silver grey eyes. Pansy leaned forward instinctively as Parker suddenly started wailing, thrusting his arms out for his father, who obliged. It had been her holding Hermione's hand as she screeched, pushing to bring her second child into the world. Draco had passed out, the useless man, leaving his best friend to tend to her best friend. They'd named their son after her. Pansy's heartrate became slower as she watched the man she loved reach out one free hand, clasping his thin fingers around his wife's waist to bring their bodies close together. She despaired at the beautiful intimacy the two shared, even as the familiarity of the gesture made her smile. She watched as Jen chattered on, ignoring her baby brother's crying, and her parents' combined efforts to calm him down, until the quartet gradually faded from her sight. Looking down at her watch, she noted the time was 4.28pm. Catching a waitress' eye, she signalled for the bill..

Night time comes calling on me

I know why I'll never be free

I can't stop these teardrops of mine

I'm gonna love him til the end of time.

Leaving the café with a cheery wave, promising she'd come back in a week – as she always did-, Pansy strolled up the pavement away from the direction her two best friend had gone with their children. She would be meeting a disgustingly suitable suitor that she'd without a doubt run off within a month or so. Hermione had found him through a friend of a friend, or so she said, despairing of Pansy's inability to keep a man for more than a few weeks. Best friends or not, Pansy had never told her the truth, nor was she planning on ever doing that. She had accepted her fate the moment the boy she had loved, and continued to, brought home a girl who would become her closest ally and friend, a girl she would love fiercely to the point she couldn't hate her. No, she thought. Her life was painful, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Lifting her chin, Pansy flashed a sultry grin at the man awaiting her at the corner of a pub as he raised a shy hand in recognition.

Plain gold ring but one thing to say

I'll remember til my dying days

In my heart it will never be spring

Long as he wears that plain gold ring.