Assignment #9 - Wandlore: Task 12 - Write about committing a crime
The Insane Prompt Challenge - 56. Character - Pansy Parkinson
What most people remember about Pansy Parkinson is that once, in a time of danger, she spoke up during that last battle at Hogwarts. She spoke up, daringly for all that she was a Slytherin and not a Gryffindor, and said that all of them – and she meant all of them, the first-years who had spent their time at Hogwarts terrified for themselves and not quite understanding that Hogwarts had once been safe, and those seventh-years who had grim faces and knew, now, healing spells that had never been necessary previously – should give up Harry Potter. It had nothing to do with who Potter was as a person, that he was in Gryffindor, that they could be called enemies. It had nothing to do with her attempt to keep herself safe from harm, but there were many people she looked out for over the years whether they knew it or not.
What people remember about Pansy is that she stood in the Great Hall and said "But, he's there! Potter's there! Someone grab him!" and they do not consider the fact she wasn't just trying to save her own skin. There are dozens of ways to get outside of Hogwarts, especially for a daughter of a Pureblood family with Death Eater sympathies at worst and are Death Eaters at best. Pansy could have left much earlier in the year, and survived probably, but she didn't.
Remember that – she didn't leave. Like all those others, she stuck it out. She wasn't just there to save her own skin. She didn't tell people to give Potter to Voldemort because she wanted to remain out of the war, because they were all part of the war already. She spoke up because that was something important to do, because this wasn't about just her at all. It was about all of them. It was about the war they hadn't wanted but got anyway.
Pansy didn't commit any crimes during the war. Her family did. People she knows did. She didn't though, and even her call for Potter to be given to Voldemort was never a crime. As a Pureblood and a member of the Parkinson House, she was under suspicion for some time with Voldemort's fall and the following persecutions and trials that took place. However, she couldn't be put on trial because there aren't any wrongdoings she could be convicted for.
Pansy knows many people who committed crimes in order to survive, in order to ensure the survival of their family, in order to ensure their friends continued to live. Sometimes crimes are committed because it seems the right thing to do or because you're forced into it so that you're safe or maybe there's blackmail and threats and there's nothing else you can do. In a war, crimes are going to be executed – sometimes with forethought and sometimes without. At the end of the war, though, what do you do?
What do you do with a name printed in the papers, a reward at the bottom? What do you do when your crimes are listed? What do you do when you know people are angry and grieving and hurt and that you're not going to get out of this easily? Punishment will come, and there's little chance of escaping when houses can be searched at any time, when your friends and families and allies are being watched, when there's very little you can use now.
Remember that Pansy Parkinson spoke up and it wasn't just for her. It was for all the others out there too. She spoke up, and that was brave, especially for the time. After the war, Pansy lets her name fade into obscurity, withdrawing from public life. They forget that she had, at one point, kept her ear to the group and hoarded gossip like it was something important – and it can be, it can hold so many secrets and can be deadly, in the right hands. And Pansy's hands? They are the right hands.
Pansy let herself be forgotten in the trials that followed Voldemort's fall, that followed Potter's win, that followed the end of a war that spanned decades and generations. But just because she let herself be forgotten by the public, didn't mean she let herself be forgotten by friends.
She isn't doing nothing sitting in one of the Parkinson many properties. She is, and was, collecting allies outside of the United Kingdom, detailing escape routes on parchment that was burned to ashes and burned into her mind. She is safe, but so many others she called friends and family weren't. Some, she knows, will stay for whatever justice came for them and some she won't offer protection, even if they had been family once.
The crackle of apparition is loud in the silence of Pansy's home. It's easy for her to stand, leaving the warmth of the fire and comfort of the armchair behind. She steps, proudly, loudly, heels clacking against the marble floor, and greets the newcomer with a smile, with a word.
Theodore Nott pulls her into a hug without any warning. Relaxing against her fellow Slytherin, Pansy hugs him back. "We don't have much time," she says, at last, drawing back.
The other – currently with convicted four crimes including destruction of evidence and obscurity of justice and another nine charged against his name awaiting evidence at trial – swallows and nods. Both of them know the time limits, the pressure on them. Still, it would be easy to see them and think they are at ease. Façades and acting are, after all, a rather major aspect of being a Slytherin – especially when you walked Hogwarts' halls during a period of war.
"This will work," Theo says, uncertainty and conviction warring in his tone. Still, he follows Pansy as she leads him through to the sitting room.
"Of course, Theo darling," Pansy replies, flicking her hair over her shoulder like they are children and playing a prank on someone they know, like this isn't Theo and Pansy's lives they're putting at stake. She opens a secret passage, and Theo enters.
She seals it behind them, and they walk in darkness until the tunnel opens up at last, becoming an open room that appears to be a potion master's lab. "Blaise is waiting for your safe arrival," Pansy reminds Theo as she picks up an empty vial. "He'll keep you safe in Italy."
"And you'll be alright?" Theo asks, as he glances nervously at the vial.
Pansy chuckles. "Someone needs to do this and I am the safest of us all," she replies, "sans Blaise, but we need him in Italy."
Theo nods, steps forward and places a kiss on Pansy's cheek. "Look after yourself," he says, picking up the vial.
"You too," Pansy says, stepping backward, "and give the others my love."
Theo has just enough time to nod before he's whisked away by the portkey. Pansy sighs, and hopes that Blaise can keep all of them safe. Theo's the third person they've managed to smuggle across borders and countries so far, but it's better than Theo remaining in a country that hunts him down systematically and are unlikely to consider Theo's family being under threat as a reason for Theo to commit the crimes he did. After all, how could a Death Eater be threatened?
They remembered Pansy for the fact she had been willing to give up Potter to Voldemort, and not the fact she wanted them all to survive. And so, they will not remember the crimes Pansy commits in keeping others safe. But those who know Pansy? They won't be surprised at all. Her goals have always been bigger than just looking out for herself.
This was interesting to write and I liked exploring Pansy, even if I didn't do that much exploring. I'm not sure if it fit the prompt well and I'm a bit unsure how my tenses worked for it all, but I hope people enjoy this. It was a fun exploration and I liked the spin I placed on Pansy giving Harry up in the last book.