The Valentine's Ball
Everything was pink and red, glistening and glittering, cute and girly, with heart decorations everywhere.
Draco looked around slowly and almost felt frightened. It was all too much! Pink punch, pink garlands, pink and red roses in vases on the tables...
A large shining heart was hanging from the ceiling in the Great Hall, where the tables had been pushed to the side to make room for a dance floor. The lighting was dimmed and the entire Hall had been set up for romance – a great number of small tables with only two chairs each were spread around the room. Entering the Great Hall was a shock – being hit by a wall of pink and red; hearts and flowers. Yet, of course, Pansy had loved it. Draco found it positively ghastly and could not understand how anyone could find the setting lovely. Apparently some people were – at least a group of fourth-year girls – or so he guessed because of the way they squealed and pointed.
Draco shuddered and turned to his Slytherin friends who looked as dumbstruck as he felt.
"What the fuck..." Blaise Zabini mouthed soundlessly. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle stared, their mouths wide open like gargoyles. Millicent Bulstrode chuckled slightly. Pansy tore her eyes away from the large ceiling-heart and looked down at her dark green silk robes.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" she said indignantly, stomping her foot onto the floor, irritated. "I don't match!"
"Shall we go inside then?" said Millicent, clearly amused. They all looked up at her, mumbling in a chorus: "Yeah..."
Pansy turned to Draco, took his arm and they walked along with the others into the ball, passing a large table filled with different puddings such as pastries covered in pink marzipan, red velvet cupcakes with heart-shaped sprinkles on top, a mountain of whipped cream, a large chocolate fountain to dip strawberries in, a large bowl filled with pink punch surrounded by plenty plastic cups, and much more. Next to the punch-bowl there was a sign that read: "Careful not to have a love potion slipped into your drink, you never know on a night such as this..." Draco shuddered once more, at the sight of it.
Pansy snorted at the sign and poured herself a drink. "They would never spike the punch. I mean, they're our teachers."
They went to sit down on a bench. Pansy stirred her drink, and looked down into it, seemingly bored. All the candles suddenly lit up by magic. Millicent began munching on the small chocolate hearts that had been laid out on a plate in front of them. The effort of making everything so romantic had the opposite effect on Draco – it was too much, it was the least romantic setting he could think of. He wanted to sink through the ground. And as he had feared, the only music that played was romantic songs and ballads, meaning for everyone to dance in couples close to one another and probably shag in the bushes outside.
"What a boring night," Pansy said as she fed Draco with chocolate covered strawberries. "Probably the most boring one of my life, yet. Why can't you lot enjoy any of this?"
"Well, we'll have to make something happen then," Millicent smirked. "Pansy, you have a certain talent for making headlines, if you know what I mean."
"Yes, Parkinson," Blaise sniggered, "why don't you go and snog someone? Then Malfoy can get angry and smash the poor lad up—"
"I'm doing it!" Goyle suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Zabini. He was looking at something on the other side of the room. "I'm fucking doing it now, you'll see!"
Pansy stopped feeding and touching Draco and she, along with the rest, turned to Goyle with sceptic looks.
"What?" Zabini said dumbly.
"I'm going to ask Daphne Greengrass out. I'm really doing it now."
They all started chuckling, and Crabbe patted his back. "Well done, mate, go for it!"
Goyle rose, and Crabbe followed as support – they always went everywhere together. The others – Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Millicent stayed sitting, trying to conceal their sniggers.
"Poor thing," Millicent said.
"Goyle?" Blaise asked, surprised.
Millicent chuckled. "No, Daphne..."
They all laughed loudly. "Well, I'm off to find someone to shag," Blaise said. "See you lot later."
As Draco and Pansy began snogging in the sofa, Millicent sat next to them, crossing her arms, looking really bored. Draco snaked his hand in under Pansy's shirt, intensifying their snogging-session.
Millicent cleared her throat. "You're practically having sex already, so why don't you go somewhere more private?"
They pulled apart. "Yes," Draco smirked, "Brace yourself, woman," he teased Pansy, "you're positively mad, you are! Can't keep your hands off me for two seconds!"
Pansy playfully hit him, but then began nibbling his ear, making Draco smirk and lean back.
A while later, Pansy had convinced him they should have at least one dance, and they were close together on the dance floor, swaying slowly to the sound of the Weird Sister's most romantic lyrics. As soon as the song ended, Draco said: "Do you want to go outside for a bit? I have to get out of this pink nightmare."
Pansy giggled and took his hand. That was what he liked about her – she didn't speak more than necessary, which was amazing, since he needed to rest his ears from whenever she did speak. She led him out of the Great Hall, through the entrance hall and out onto the dark Hogwarts grounds. They had a pleasant time, talking and kissing and joking around.
Yet, the evening ended with the two of them shouting their lungs out at each other on the way down to the common room after a few too many glasses of pink punch.
Pansy's face was deeply read after screaming so much. "How can you do this to me? On Valentine's Day!"
Draco sneered confidently, never thinking she would take his words seriously: "Fine, go on, dump me, then!"
"Certainly!" Pansy shouted. "Have it your way. It's over, I'm splitting up with you, goodbye, we're OVER!" and then she stormed off to the girls' dormitory.
Whoa... A little temper could be sexy but this... This was just scary. Where was the Pansy he had talked to, danced with, kissed – just a couple of hours earlier? Her audacity, daring to dump him, made him want to tell her to piss off and stick her wand someplace the sun didn't shine, but he couldn't because she had left him. Ah, well, girls, he thought. Odd creatures. But not to worry, he'd have her back by tomorrow probably, Draco thought as he lay in his bed trying to fall asleep. He imagined precious Pansy in her own bed, crying her eyes out over him, or perhaps winging about him to her bitchy girlfriends. Ah, dear old Pansy.
The following morning he walked up to breakfast with Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle. Goyle had already gotten over his depression over Daphne, and was as cheerful as ever (if cheerful meant bullying first years and glare threateningly at a group of fifth-year Hufflepuff girls, followed by stuffing his mouth full with an unnatural amount of porridge.
And to Draco's great surprise, Pansy ignored him completely. That was odd. Draco had expected her to be there the second he sat down, feeding him bacon and telling him how sorry she was for over-reacting the previous night and that she was nothing without him – sob – and attaching herself to his arm for the rest of the day. Well, then. Pushing his darling girlfriend out of his mind, he conversed with Blaise and Theodore Nott for a while, looking at Pansy from the corner of his eye. And then the gang of girls rose, and Pansy, taking the lead, began walking down the Slytherin table, closer to Draco, with her giggling blonde girlfriends hurrying after her. As she was just about to pass him, Draco smirked confidently and said: "Do you want to talk now, Pans?"
Pansy straightened up, didn't even look at him, and completely ignored him, walking past him, and out of the Great Hall, her sniggering girlfriends following her. Draco's face suddenly felt very hot and every Slytherin boy was looking at him, and he silently cursed Pansy for embarrassing him like that in front of everyone. She knew what she was doing, that was for sure. Anger rose in him and he decided that he would not let her play this game. Did she really think she could play with him? Nobody ignored Draco Malfoy!
He turned back to his friends and plastered a smirk on his face. "Dear old Pansy, eh? She just can't take no for an answer. You know how she's like. Very persistent." Draco sneered at his friends and the others chuckled, thank Merlin, Draco thought.
The tides will turn, my dear Pansy, Draco thought, smirking. He would get her back, and along with that, his pride. She would learn her lesson, indeed, and never humiliate him again. Nobody strung Draco Malfoy along!
Draco began thinking of vile and horribly mean vengeance plans. Perhaps he would include Zabini? Zabini had always enjoyed being cheeky to Pansy. Yes, he thought smugly, they would gang up on her. Yes, yes, excellent.
Now all he had to do was to set his plan in motion. This was going to be so much fun...