Pansy Parkinson was not in a good mood. As she stormed along the busy suburban street, she cursed her family name and the war that had destroyed it. But most of all, she cursed her own actions.
Life was not easy when the entire world knew you as ''the girl who wanted to hand Potter over.'' Anywhere with a large wizarding population was a no-go area for Pansy. She couldn't visit Diagon Alley without being fixed with a hundred icy glares. She remembered the last time she had visited the alley, when she had waved at a small child who had smiled at her, only for the mother to drag the child away when she saw the object of it's interest. She remembered the tears threatening to spill at the fact she was now a pariah. A monster.
She supposed life could be worse. Pansy had been lucky enough to avoid a spell in Azkaban. Neither she nor her parents were actual Death Eaters, but they weren't slow to acknowledge that they agreed with what the Dark Lord was saying. And in the panic and frenzy after the Dark Lord's death, Kingsley Shacklebolt's ministry had made even being a sympathizer a criminal offence. Pansy vividly remembered the Parkinson mansion being raided by aurors in the middle of the night, and the three of them being arrested and charged. Pansy's young age and naivety was helpful to her defence and had managed to get her a lenient sentence. Her parents had not been so lucky.
Both of them had been sentenced to four months imprisonment, though they were released at the midpoint of two months. That two months alone in the mansion had given Pansy a lot of time to think. Draco Malfoy and the rest of her school friends abandoned her, and she was truly alone for the first time in her life. Even with it's reputation in tatters, the Parkinson family had money. Enough money that Pansy would never have to work a day in her life if she didn't wish to. However, having to stand up in a courtroom and hear the worst parts of her said out loud, seeing the glares on the faces of random passers-by, made Pansy want a different life.
Pansy wanted an ordinary life. To be just another witch with a normal wizarding job, not the daughter of two Death Eater sympathisers, who had knowingly chosen to throw the Chosen One to the wolves just to save her own skin. She knew that it would not be easy, but perhaps she could be known for something other than her mistakes. Her parents had gifted her with two thousand galleons to get her started, but she'd insisted that the rest of her money would be earned by herself. Before the war, the Wizarding World was very much a place where money talks. With her family's reputation, she could have walked out of Hogwarts and gotten a job within a day. But now, the name ''Parkinson'' was one people looked at with disgust.
She'd decided her future career lay in potions. Professor Snape had made sure that all of his Slytherins were at least decent at the subject, and she had enjoyed it at school. She tried Diagon Alley to begin with, but it soon became obvious that she wasn't welcome. Eventually, her tireless searching had brought her to an apothecary outside of London, where her efforts had got her all the way to the interview stage!
Sadly, it had proven too good to be true. The manager had told Pansy that ''just wasn't right for the role'', in spite of the fact that she had both the skills and the qualifications. She knew the snotty bitch just didn't want to look at the Potter traitor every single day.
As her high heels clicked along the ground, Pansy had to fight to stop herself bursting into tears. Her mistakes were going to define her for the rest of her life.
She needed to find somewhere hidden so she could apparate back home. She couldn't do it out in the open with all the bloody Muggles around. She cursed herself. Pansy knew it was wrong to hate Muggles, but she'd been raised to hate them since early childhood. It was ingrained in her that they were vermin, worse than animals, and though she did not want to be that person anymore, it would not be easy to rid herself of those beliefs.
Finally, she saw what looked like an alleyway and stepped inside to see if it was empty.
Dudley Dursley trudged along frustratedly. He'd been turned down again! Life had not been easy since he and his parents came out of hiding. Although he was forever grateful to Harry for keeping them safe, the fact that he'd basically disappeared meant that picking up where he left off would not be easy. Restarting his boxing career seemed almost impossible, but Dudley was hoping he would be able to take up coaching or something similar. Perhaps help younger children to not make the same mistakes he did.
Dudley still had nightmares about that night, the night those Dementor things that he couldn't see had attacked him. It was the night that Dudley finally saw what everyone else saw when they looked at him. A vile, cruel thug. It was then that Dudley had realised he needed to mend his ways. He could easily have just let his parents take care of things for him. His dad had offered him a job at Grunnings, but Dudley had insisted that he find a job off his own back.
The trouble was, getting a job when you have barely any experience or qualifications wasn't easy, especially when there are many others applying for the same position. He'd popped into a gym half an hour from his home to ask if they had any work going, but he'd been told there were no vacancies.
Dudley plodded along the street, only to realise that he'd taken the wrong turn. The bus stop was on the other side of the buildings. Dudley mentally kicked himself, but was lucky to find an alleyway which seemed to lead directly there.
Pansy was disappointed to see a group of several Muggle men stood in the alleyway. Not because she took any issue with them, but because it would mean she couldn't disapparate here without breaking the law. She turned to leave, but noticed one of the men pull something from his pocket. It was like a small, metal wand. He pointed it at a man who lay on the ground, cowering.
''You didn't think I'd figure it out?'' the man sneered, ''That I couldn't smell a grass from a mile off? You must be even more stupid than you look.'' He pulled the trigger, and a second later the cowering man's head flopped to the ground in a pool of blood.
Pansy let out a whimper, which drew the men's attention to her. That was a mistake.
One of the men lunged at her. Instinctively, Pansy shot a stunner at him, sending him to the ground.
''What was that?'' the man who had killed the other shouted.
Pansy realised she had made a huge mistake. She had used magic on a Muggle! It was time to go. Just as she was about to disapparate, Pansy felt herself being grabbed from behind. She was hardly physically strong, and stood no chance of getting out of the grip. She also felt a hand pulling at her wand hand, ripping the wand out of her grasp. The killer smirked at her before throwing the wand, as Pansy kept kicking with her stilettos.
Dudley wasn't sure what shocked him more. The fact that he'd just seen a man murdered in broad daylight or the fact that he'd just seen what was clearly a witch. He'd seen the woman blast a man down with what he knew to be wand. However, the gang had overpowered her and taken the wand. Dudley knew he needed to help.
''Oi!'' he shouted. He gave the first man to turn around a hook to the jaw, knocking him to the ground. As a large, muscular man held the witch, two others turned on Dudley.
''You need to learn to stay out of my business,'' one of them said. Dudley gave him a hard blow to the chest, which knocked him back. However, the other man gave Dudley a kick to the shin. Dudley gave a roar of pain, only for both men to jump at him with a barrage of punches and kicks.
Dudley fell to the ground and the men did not stop, until everything had gone black.
Pansy could barely breath, she was being squeezed so tight. She screeched and kicked, but it was no use. At last, the man grabbing her put her arm around her neck and began squeezing tightly. Pansy wheezed and struggled, but she felt her vision becoming blurred and everything becoming less clear, the darkness consuming everything.
I've always sort-of shipped Dudley and Pansy for some reason and have always wanted to write a fic with them in. This will be set entirely in the Muggle world with a Muggle crime syndicate as the villains. I'm not expecting this to be long. Maybe 10 chapters at the absolute most. Hope you guys are enjoying it so far.
Please leave a review and say what you think!