Pansy Parkinson knew there was no such thing as "the best". Which was why she always strived to be better, better than everyone else at whatever she chose to do.
A year after the war she found her calling. It wasn't a painful journey of self-discovery, oh no. It started more as a call of desperation. Her father died during the war leaving her with a crumbling business empire. She knew she had to act fast or she would be forced to give up the lifestyle she was accustomed to. So she used her Slytherin cunning.
That cunning led her to sell her father's business empire to a price that was not so horrible—a price that would be enough for her to start her own venture. What venture was that? Well, it was something Pansy had watched her mother, Narcissa Malfoy and countless other society women do. It was something she had been bred to do, but because everything was changing and everyone was busy, the society woman of today did not have time to do it anymore. It was something the Slytherin House had relied on her during her Hogwarts days.
Pansy Parkinson, at the age of eighteen, had started her own party planning business. Because she always strived to be better, at the age of twenty-two (a mere five years after the war), she was already better than everyone else.
Ever since she was a little girl Pansy had always wanted to become center of attention. She saw herself in the middle of a ballroom (her fantasies were usually set in Malfoy Manor's grand ballroom—how fickle of her) being a perfect hostess, with all of her society friends and their families showering her with adoration and enjoying a party she had put together. No war, no Voldemort, and certainly no Draco Malfoy could ever derail her from achieving her dreams.
She remained unfazed during Draco's engagement to Astoria Greengrass. The Malfoy heir would always remain one of her closest and dearest friends. She could care less about romance nowadays. All that mattered was that she was the most sought-after, adored and successful party planner in all of Wizarding Britain.
Sure, she was usually faced with snooty upper class mothers too busy to prepare their children's birthdays, or couples so involved with each other that they would hand over the reins to Pansy for their own wedding, but all in all she was happy. There was nothing like the thrill of ordering people around and making dreams come true to keep her satisfied.
Pansy, young as she may be, had earned a formidable reputation among the Wizarding World. A Pansy Parkinson party was the latest accessory, the gateway to a social event that would be talked about. Which was why she was extremely picky in her projects. Make no mistake; she had thousands of party proposals at her desk every morning. From the first sentence of a proposal she could already deduce if that party would be a successful one.
A yes from Pansy Parkinson would mean the whole world to anyone who she deemed worthy of it. She certainly earned it, too. The struggles she faced from the beginning of her business were challenging, but nothing her Slytherin charms couldn't overcome.
It was the third anniversary of the war's end that made her star rise. After an hour of conversing, negotiating, and close to begging on her part with her former schoolmate Harry Potter, the latter had conceded to let her plan the party. It was a grand affair in the gardens of Hogwarts that left everyone, including Rita Skeeter, amazed. The morning after, her breakfast was interrupted by about thirty owls from people asking her to plan their parties. Those thirty clients got her enough galleons to secure a respectable office in the business district.
A month later, a blurb in Rita Skeeter's column cemented her reputation. Certainly, the social event of the season could not have been possible without the talents of emerging party planner Pansy Parkinson, owner and proprietor of Parties by Pansy.
Now she commanded a staff of ten, owned a three-room office that had a beautiful view of the west of Diagon Alley, had partnerships with all the top restaurants and caterers, and most importantly, was finally the center of attention.
Yes, life was good for the enduring, surviving Pansy Parkinson.