Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Word Count: 1602

Challenge: Are you Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge

Prompt: 546. (theme) Making a friend in another house

Challenge: The Golden Snitch Forum - Kasai, Mahoutokoro - [Challenge] Through the Universe

Prompt: 56. Ejecta — (character) Pansy Parkinson

Challenge: The Golden Snitch Forum - Kasai, Mahoutokoro - [Event] International Women's Day 2018

Prompt: Liesel Meminger - Write about a character making friends with someone who everyone warns them against.

Bonus prompts used: (word) knowledge, (word) reading, (object) textbook, (setting) the bridge, Hogwarts

Challenge: The Golden Snitch Forum - Kasai, Mahoutokoro - [Challenge] Ollivander's Wand Shop

Prompt: 10–11 inch: Write about a Slytherin character.

Pansy rested her head against the tree, basking in its shade as she turned the page of her book. She was back for her eighth year at Hogwarts, and to say the vast majority of the students were angry about it would be a gross understatement. It had taken a personal warning from Professor McGonagall to prevent the student population from burning her at the stake like some of the old pureblood rituals her parents had taught her with the help of some childhood bedtime stories.

After all, she did try to hand over their Golden Boy to the Dark Lord; it was understandable, she reasoned to herself – the Death Eaters would've done something far worse to a traitor had they won the war. The Cruciatus would feel like a utopian dream compared to what one should expect if they crossed the Dark Lord.

Of course, that didn't mean she was happy about her position; she was supposed to be superior to these filthy idiots, they didn't deserve her presence at this crumbling hovel they call home. She should be their Queen, and they: her servants.

But the world has changed now, and if she wanted to stay alive she had to fit into it. That was the only thing she did not like in the Dark Lord's vision of the world – the necessity to give up your life for the cause. She did not understand why her parents followed him to their death – placed his word over their life.

And now, she sat just on the other side of the destroyed Hogwarts bridge, where nobody could reach without a broom; reading her charms textbook so she could hope to pass her NEWTs and leave this filthy country behind; and hoping that none of those ungrateful non-Slytherin groups flew down there to harass her again. Instinctively she drew her wand closer to herself – this time she would not hold back her hexes, despite whatever additional regulations the Ministry had been placed on her to ensure her 'good behavior'.

"Hey!" Pansy heard a voice call out to her from behind; her first response had been to hex the intruder, but she held herself back when she realized there was none of the usual malicious intent behind the voice.

She turned back to find a familiar Ravenclaw smiling back at her; she considered calling the oddball by her nickname, but ultimately decided against it. "Lovegood, what are you doing here?"

"I'm searching for Gulping Plimpies." The younger girl replied gleefully. Pansy responded with a confused stare, lowering her wand as Luna wasn't a threat.

"There were eye-witness reports that they moved to Hogwarts after the war destroyed their previous home, and this is the only place without any Gurdyroots." Luna answered confidently, as if Pansy understood and accepted everything she just said.

"I'm sorry, what?" But her words fell to deaf ears as the younger girl returned to her search through the nearby bushes for the seemingly evasive creature.

Pansy wasn't necessarily irritated by Luna, she just couldn't understand her. Even though many of her dorm mates constantly ragged on the girl for being odd, occasionally encouraging Pansy to do so as well, the former 'Queen of Slytherin' never found a reason to waste her efforts on Luna, instead preferring to put the 'know-it-all mudblood' in her place.

"Didn't your friends warn you not to talk to me?" Pansy asked Luna with a scoff.

"Hmm… Oh yes, they did." Luna replied nonchalantly as she settled on examining something on the ground.

"And yet you continue to talk to me. Why the surprising act of defiance?"

Luna stood up from her crouched position and turned to Pansy, calmly sighing at the lack of any sign of Gulping Plimpies nearby. "Because I do not think you are someone I have to be afraid of – you are not a bad person."

Pansy raised an eyebrow – that had been the first positive thing anyone had said about her since the war ended. The non-Slytherin crowd was out for her blood, her returning Slytherin comrades typically preferred to hide themselves behind ignorant silence, the Ministry branded her as someone who needed to be under continued surveillance, her teachers ignored her existence entirely until trouble arises, and the Death Eaters were nowhere to be found.

"Are you sure about that, Lovegood? I did try to hand Potter to the Dark Lord that night in the Great Hall."

"Yes, I'm sure that you're actually a good person." Luna replied confidently, her response irritating the raven-haired girl ever so slightly.

"How can you be so sure of that?" Pansy questioned.

Luna settled herself down to Pansy's right – hands on her knees and her body leaning back against the tree. "You did not try to kill anyone during the war, and you did not try to attack anyone this year. Instead, you just want the year to pass peacefully. During the war, you didn't want to fight, you just wanted it to be over – win or lose."

"I still think all mudbloods should be thrown in a room together and murdered in one go; I still believe in blood superiority." Pansy countered.

"But you continue to live in a world where that will never happen, and show no sign of fighting for what you believe."

Pansy had nothing to answer for that, it was a question that had plagued her since the day the war had ended – Why did she have no intention to fight for what she believed in? What happened to the knowledge that her parents spent so many years instilling in her? Did she let them down by choosing to live?

Her rampant thoughts were stopped by a delicate hand gripping her shoulder. She turned to face the odd girl who had been drawing up many of her insecurities.

"Pansy, it's okay to want to live peacefully, even though you believe in something else." Luna's words directly answering Pansy's insecurities, leading her to internally wonder if the girl could perform Legilimency. But that theory was abandoned instantly as Pansy herself was a skilled Occlumens, like Draco and Snape.

Pansy found herself involuntarily surrendering to the optimistic Ravenclaw's words. She let out a sigh of relief as she felt an enormous weight lift off her shoulders; a weight she didn't know she had been carrying for the past few months. Perhaps that was all she needed – someone to say that it was alright to want both; but nobody had stepped up to that spot until the blonde beside her, and Pansy felt a tiny bit grateful that she did.

Luna rose up from her seat. "I have to go now, the Nargles need to be fed soon and I don't want the little ones to stay hungry. Let me know if you find any Gulping Plimpies – they're like Plimpies but they make gulping noises when they move around. I'll come again sometime to look for them. Bye-bye." She strode away happily, reminding Pansy of a cute white bunny or a hare as she skipped past the bushes to the hidden path back to the castle – something Pansy found out about recently.

Looks like Pansy finally made a friend.

3 Years Later…

Pansy opened the front window to her moderately small terraced house in Amsterdam, to let in a large rainbow-colored owl. To this day, she had no idea where Luna found this 'owl', if he was even meant to be called an owl – he lacked the usual thick eyebrows that all other owls possess, and he had a slightly larger beak with bright, almost glowing, silver eyes.

Luna insisted that Pansy refer to the 'owl' as a male, even though nobody could confirm the species, let alone the gender.

Xen the 'owl', as the Lovegood girl had named him after her father, quickly snatched up the bread crumbs and crackers Pansy usually offered him whenever he came by, holding out his leg afterwards for the former Slytherin to detach her letter. As soon as she untied the knot, Xen flew away, not even waiting to finish eating the crackers.

With a knowing smile, Pansy turned to the letter in her hand.

Hi Pans,

How are you? Hope you're well and happy.

I finally found a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, and of all the places, it was in my backyard. The Quibbler audience will be very happy when I release this month's edition; as always, I'll be sure to send you an advance copy.

Ron and some of the others still do not like that I'm friends with you, but it's alright. You are a good person and they will understand when they see it. Hermione says hi.

Write back to me next Monday – I will be out feeding the Nargles on Sunday.

-Luna

Pansy still smiles whenever she's reminded of her best friend's never-ending optimism. It's what got her through that last year at Hogwarts, and it's what got her to finally accept after many months of talking, later joined by the muggle-born extraordinaire herself – Hermione Granger, that her parents' opinion of blood purity might've been completely skewed.

Now, she was better off because of it, and she has only the blonde oddball to thank for approaching her as a friend that day in front of the bridge. So, she makes it a point to sign every letter with a variation of 'Thank you, Luna', no matter how many times the younger girl ensures her that she doesn't need to.

Pansy walked back inside to fetch some parchment to write her response, a peaceful smile adorning her face – she was happy and free.

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