Title: Smile

Pairing: Pansy x Daphne

Characters: Rodolphus Lestrange

Word Count: 996

Rodolphus was amused. It was hard not to be and he, once again, thanked his lucky stars that he was so observant and most people around him was not. Because if they were as observant as he then all hell would break lose. If only they saw the way Pansy Parkinson looked at Daphne Greengrass. If only they saw the way that the two women took every measure possible for the chance of briefly touching each other. But they didn't. No one did. Other than him.

He had always known that there was something peculiar about those two girls. He remembered thinking it when he first saw them as children being presented to the pureblood world. They were only four years old at the time but wore big dresses which made it hard for them to do anything other than being carried around by their nannies or sitting on their chairs with the other pureblood children.

Daphne was a pretty girl with black hair that already at that age reached the middle of her back. She had big brown eyes and full lips that was either drawn out and resembled a thin line or pouting. She looked at things in a way that made it look as if she was miles and miles away and she was oblivious to the attention she drew to herself. Pansy was a square girl with a hard face, short dark hair and almost black eyes. There was something about her that made her look observant. She didn't need to turn around to know what was going on behind her back and she certainly didn't need to turn to know that her friend wasn't smiling.

Pansy dropped the stern expression and nudged Daphne with her shoulder. "Smile." She whispered and pretended to push the corners of her mouth upwards.

Smile. Such harmless instruction told from one child to another.

A lot changed as the two girls became teenagers. Both of them became taller and they went from being anonymous in the pureblood festivities to being the centre of attention especially for the mothers who wanted the girls to marry their sons.

Daphne's childhood cuteness had turned into beauty. Her cheeks were still rounded like when she was younger, her eyes equally distracted and her lips as plumb as always but there was something different. She carried herself in a different way, was more aware of the fact that she was given attention and did her very best to ignore it. Smiling came easy to her in every social setting except pureblood parties.

Pansy hardened even more. Her eyes became more stable, her jaw firmer and though she wasn't beautiful in the sense that Daphne was it was still clear to everyone around her that she was pretty. She was powerful, straightforward and fearless. She said what people most of the time was afraid of saying out loud and did the things that people thought about but didn't know if they could go through with. And she was fiercely protective of her best friend.

It was at some point during their teen years that something changed. Rodolphus could see it. Especially when he found them standing in the middle of the crowd with people's eyes on them and Pansy turned to Daphne and said smile. Because that was all that it took for Daphne to actually smile as she blushed. They were hidden in plain sight. No one thought about looking for the things that Rodolphus saw and because of that they never found it.

Smile. A harmless instruction from one teenage girl to another.

Then the war came. The parties no longer took place as often as they used to. People were fleeing, fighting or doing whatever they thought was the best thing to do. People were at the edge of their seats and didn't know what to expect or how to react to the things that happened. Rodolphus went between the pureblood families and tried to figure out exactly what was going on and how they were planning on acting. His role, according to the Dark Lord, had always been to lurk in the shadows and see things no one else saw.

Rodolphus saw many things; some that made no sense to tell the Dark Lord.

He saw Pansy running from her house with tears flowing down her cheeks carrying only her wand. And when he followed her he saw Daphne come running from the opposite direction. He saw the way they clang to each other as if the other person was the only thing holding them upright in this world. He saw the passion, the desperate need in their kiss and he could always feel the strength of their love.

Rodolphus didn't move. He didn't say anything. He stood completely silent and tried to hear what they were saying. So far, no words had been spoken. He had only heard sobbing, gasps as they stopped kissing just long enough to fill their lungs with the air that their minds believed they no longer needed when they had each other.

"Hey," Daphne eventually spoke softly and with a smile on her face as she leaned her forehead against Pansy's. "Smile."

The war ended. But nothing was ever the same. Rodolphus saw it coming all along. He was not shocked by the fact that those two women had fallen in love with each other. Just as he was not surprised when the world remained unknowing about their relationship. But he saw it in every little thing they did. He saw it in the way they didn't want to leave each other's sides. The shared smiles and often told each other the one thing that had kept them afloat, steady and strong in this crazy pureblood world that they had grown up in; that one single word that said everything they could not say in public among the pureblood society.

Smile. No longer a harmless instruction from one young woman to another.

The end