Pansy was bored. Blaise could tell because she was being even more of a bitch than normal. Besides, it was Arithmancy, first thing on a Monday morning, and no-one could survive Arithmancy with Professor Dun while awake. They were currently passing notes. Before Draco had disappeared, Pansy had never bothered speaking to him. Now, apparently, he was her new best friend.
Let's write a list,the note read. Ten ugliest girls in our year.
Before or after Granger left? he wrote back.
After. And anyway, at least she's skinny.
Millicent Bullstrode, Blaise wrote, regretted it when he remembered that Millicent and Pansy were friends. Pansy didn't seem to mind, however.
I know, isn't shehideous? If I looked like her, I'd just die. Especially if I was halfblood as well.
I thought she was supposed to be your friend? Blaise wrote back.
God, don't remind me. More like geeky little tagalong, Pansy replied. Shall I tell you her most embarrassing secret?
Go on then, Blaise replied, making a mental note never to tell Pansy anything more personal than his shoe size.
She's seventeen and she's never been kissed. How sad is that? Pansy turned to him with the smug smirk of a girl who lost her virginity the day before she was legally old enough to do so.
Really? Blaise asked.
Yup. She had a crush on you all last year, though.
Blaise wrote. The noise level in the room rose, and Blaise looked around, realising that the rest of the class were practicing a spell. "What are we supposed to be doing?"
Pansy shrugged. "Who cares?" She continued on her anti-Millicent rant. "Yeah, you should have seen her in our dorm! She was like-" Pansy pulled a hideous face and adopted a fake, high voice, messing with her hair. "Oh, do you think Blaise would prefer my hair like this?" She dropped her voice back to normal. "I was like, uh, no. You look hideous whatever you do."
Blaise doodled absentmindedly on his notes, an amusingly cruel idea forming in his head. "Hey, you know what would be really funny?"
"Buying her a hippo suit for Christmas?"
Blaise laughed, thinking it wasn't funny at all. "But what if I write her a really over the top letter, proclaiming my undying love, just to see what she does?"
Pansy's eyes lit up. She really was a bitch, Blaise thought. "Yeah! She'll go mad! Write it now."
Blaise looked around to see what Professor Dun was doing, but he couldn't see her anywhere. She had probably disappeared to get herself a cup of coffee: she usually only stopped droning on in lessons when she needed a caffeine hit. He got out a fresh piece of parchment. "OK, how should I start?"
"What about, Dearest Millicent," Pansy suggested.
Blaise wrote it down, trying to disguise his handwriting, and then continued, "I know, let's make it into a poem. Dearest Millicent, You are heaven-sent."
"Pure and innocent," Pansy continued.
"I think of you lying in my tent."
Pansy thought for a moment. "Your spots, your voice, your scent."
"I couldn't give you up for Lent." Blaise finished writing, thought for a minute and then wrote, With love from Your Secret Admirer at the bottom "There," he said, admiring the letter.
"Add loads of kisses," Pansy suggested. Blaise did so, just as Professor Dun came back into the room carrying a mug. Blaise pulled his notes towards him, hoping that it would make him look as though he had done some work even though they were weeks old. Pansy must have slipped the letter in her bag, because Blaise forgot all about it until she sat next to him at breakfast two days later.
"Millicent loved your poem, you know," Pansy told him, spreading "Magically Lite!" spread on a slice of toast. "I don't think she's ever had a secret admirer before." Blaise felt a stab of annoyance: it was too early in the morning to be talked at. "Or any admirer at all, actually. I mean, who in their right mind would fancy her, honestly? Ugly, halfblood, completely lacking an interesting personality..." His stomach flooded with relief when he saw Millicent enter the hall. He thought that maybe he and Pansy had been a bit unfair on her: she did have terrible acne and a mane of unbrushed, frizzy hair, but there was something... intriguing about her features. She was hideous, but she seemed to catch and hold his eye this morning, like a spider in a bathtub. He'd never really noticed her before, never looked properly... He blinked furiously to get rid of the idea. It was obviously too early in the morning.
"She's coming now," he told Pansy.
Pansy groaned. "Oh no, hide me!"
"Too late," Blaise said, as Millicent started walking down the length of the table.
"Hi, Pansy," Millicent said, sitting down opposite them and taking a slice of toast.
Pansy adopted an exaggerated, overwhelmingly fake smile. "Good morning, Millicent!" Millicent looked slightly unnerved.
"Hi, Millicent," Blaise said.
Millicent smiled at him. "Hi." She looked relieved that at least someone didn't seem to be making fun of her, and Blaise felt his insides twist with guilt. Blaise watched her spread "Magically Lite!" spread on her toast, and then take a bite. He got the impression Pansy was trying to catch his eye, and avoided looking her way. Bored, she picked up a paper someone had left on the seat beside her and scanned the headlines.
"Oh dear," she said loudly. "Millicent, have you heard from your father recently?"
"No," Millicent said, starting to look worried. "H-has anything happened?"
"Oh, he's not actually mentioned by name," Pansy said. "It's just that more mudbloods are being questioned by the Ministry, and being married to a witch can't be protection for long, can it?"
Millicent went pale. She swallowed her mouthful of toast slowly. "Ca-can I look at that, Pansy?"
"Of course," Pansy said graciously. She smirked as she passed the paper across the table. Blaise watched as Millicent's eyes moved down the page, the agony on her face growing. "I suppose the end justifies the means," Pansy continued. "Although it is unfortunate for those of us who are related to such... people." The delicate pause made it clear that Pansy barely considered muggles people. The expression on Millicent's face was murderous, and Blaise fully expected her to curse Pansy there and then. Maybe Pansy expected her to as well, because she got up and left, making a pointed comment about straightening her hair and putting concealer on a huge spot.
Blaise said he'd see her later, but Millicent didn't even seem to hear her. She was still reading the newspaper article, or perhaps re-reading it. Maybe she was just unable to take her eyes from it. Maybe she just didn't want to look at him. He searched desperately for something to say, but came up with nothing. He didn't even know which side he was on, and anyway, what was there to say? Sorry, Millicent, that the people who hold views I have always agreed with, unquestioningly, want to imprison your dad, torture him, and maybe even kill him? It was a relief when the bell rang and he could leave her there, with a goodbye she didn't even seem to hear, and go to Potions.
A/N: Please review!