Completely Unprovoked
AN: This is a cookie from The Shotgun Bride, after the events of Chapter 14/ the first half of Chapter 15. Peter Parkinson belongs to Rainpuddle.
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"Ow," Pansy said, tilting her head up so that her mother could get a good look at her nose. "Is it broke?"
"No, sugar, it's just busted up," her mother replied, proffering a dishrag filled with ice to her only daughter.
Peter, Pansy's only sibling, hovered around the island that separated the kitchen from the living room. "What did you do?"
"What do you mean, what did I do? I was viciously attacked. It was completely unprovoked," Pansy said.
"Completely unprovoked?" her mother, Peggy, asked skeptically.
"Completely," Pansy affirmed.
"Who attacked you like that?" Peter asked.
"That Weasley girl," Pansy replied.
"The Weasley girl? The one who went out with that black boy? And Hank Corner's boy? Not to mention members of the Finnigan, Longbottom, Smith, Zabini, and Creevey families?" Peggy asked, astonished. "I didn't think she hung around down here."
"Well, she was," Pansy said angrily. "I happened to be passing the Malfoy's trailer, and I saw her pawing Draco like she owned him or something!"
Peter choked on his Wild Cherry Pepsi. "Malfoy got involved with a Weasley? I know she's a hot little thing, but he sunk that low?"
"It gets worse," Pansy said, forgetting about her busted nose to lean forward to impart some juicy gossip. "She was wearing a ring."
"No!" said Peggy, shocked. "Draco's too wild to settle down with a girl like that."
"Apparently he isn't," Pansy said. "I think she's knocked up."
"You don't say," Peggy said with that particular gleam women get when they hear a particularly juicy bit of gossip.
"But why did she attack you, if you're the one who saw her pawing Malfoy?" Peter asked, confused. Last he'd heard, which had been last night, Pansy was positive that Draco wanted her bad and would go to any length to get her, but Pansy was just playing hard to get.
"She was out of control" Pansy said. "She went after me like a fat kid after chocolate cake."
"Completely unprovoked?" Peter questioned.
"Well, I might of said something about her skankiness, but really, nothing major."
"Pansy!" her mother admonished. "What have I told you about calling girls skanks? You know that you always end up on the losing end. Remember last month, when you came home limping after insulting Millicent Bulstrode?"
"Well," Pansy said.
"And I certainly hope Narcissa didn't see any of this," Peggy continued.
"Um," Pansy said.
"Narcissa Malfoy saw my daughter get wholloped by a knocked up Weasley?"
"Maybe," Pansy squeaked. "She did tell me to tell you thanks for the pie."
Peggy dropped her head against the tabletop, taking long even breaths. "I expect you to go over there and apologize for your behavior."
"Mom! I can't go over there like this!" Pansy exclaimed.
"Well, as soon as the bleeding stops, and you change into something that doesn't look like you've been rolling around in the dirt for money," her mother relented.
"Fine," Pansy said, and flounced off to her room to change.
Half an hour later, Pansy stood in front of the Malfoy's double wide, in nearly the exact same spot that she had been lying earlier that afternoon. She took a deep breath, and then walked up the cinder block steps and knocked on the screen door.
"Come on in!" she heard Narcissa call, and she pushed open the screen door and let herself in. Draco was sprawled on the couch, channel surfing.
"What are you doing back here so soon?" he asked. Pansy glared at him, wondering why she had spent the past five years lusting over him. Then he smirked at her, and she remembered.
"I came to apologize," she said, making sure that Narcissa, who was giving herself a manicure at the kitchen table, could hear. "For how I acted earlier."
"That's fine, dear," Narcissa said distractedly. "Do you think that coral or fire engine red would go better with my leopard top?"
"Fire engine red," Pansy replied without hesitation. Narcissa picked up the bottle of polish and shook it against her palm daintily.
Pansy wanted to talk to Draco, but couldn't bring up the topics that she wanted while his mother was sitting there within earshot. She glared at him a few times, trying to give him the message, but he seemed oblivious, pausing on a channel for only moments at a time before flipping on.
Pansy just perched on edge of the armchair, and felt awkward, despite practically growing up in this house. Things had changed between her and Draco the second she realized that he was getting married to a girl she couldn't stand.
Finally, Narcissa stood, and said, "I'm meeting your father and Severus, you two be good now."
"Okay," Draco said.
"Have a good time," Pansy said.
"Ciao!" Narcissa said, and left the trailer.
Silence reigned for exactly fifty-four seconds.
"Why the hell are you marrying that girl?" snapped Pansy.
Draco said, "It's the right thing to do."
"Just because you knocked her up doesn't mean you have any obligation to her," Pansy said. "Her family can take care of her."
"It isn't just that," Draco said.
"Don't tell me you like her," Pansy said. "I know you have better taste than that. I mean, me, for example."
Draco snorted softly, and Pansy glared at him. Surely he hadn't just laughed at her, had he?
"I don't expect you to understand, Pans," he said.
"And I was expecting too much to think that you would see reason," she replied, standing to leave. "I can't stop you from making this mistake, but I'm going to be right there saying "I told you so" the second all this slaps you in the face."
"Don't waste too much time waiting for that to happen," Draco replied.
Pansy stalked out of the trailer, tripping a bit over the doormat. She cursed her heeled sandals and pulled them off, making her way back to her trailer barefoot and even angrier than she had been after getting punched by that little redhead slut who had roped Draco Malfoy into marrying her.
**
