Pansy sighed and set her cup of coffee down on the table. She'd never been a morning person even at the best of times, and today would not count as one of those times. Not after the humiliation of last night.
Her frown deepened when she opened the door and saw that it was Harry Potter who had been knocking outside her flat. She could think of few people she wanted to see less at the moment.
"I'm surprised you're on your feet this morning," she said. He'd never been much of a partier, which made it all the more shocking to watch him get absolutely smashed during the auror Christmas party last night.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure hippogriffs are dancing around inside my head right now," he said. He chuckled weakly, but she didn't have it in her to smile back at him.
"So why are you here instead of sleeping it off at home?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Uh...can I come inside, please?"
She was tempted to say no and tell him to just go home, but discarded the thought immediately. Things would already be awkward enough between them at work on Monday, and letting this fester would only make it worse. Wordlessly, she stepped back and held the door open long enough for him to step inside her flat.
"If you're here to apologize, don't bother," she said before he could speak, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible. "You were drunk. People do and say stupid things when they're drunk. It's not a problem."
"If even half of what I can remember really did happen, it absolutely is a problem," he said, shaking his head, then wincing and rubbing his temples. "I made a complete arse of myself and I embarrassed you in front of everyone in the department. I'm sorry."
He had made quite the spectacle of himself, there was no denying that. It had been amusing at first, watching the usually serious 'Auror Potter' loosening up. It lost its humor once he declared her the sexiest woman he'd ever seen, talked about their close connection and how much he trusted her and finally tried to ask her out, though he vomited all over Dawlish's shoes before he could actually get to the point where she'd have to give him an answer. She was sure she'd be getting teased around the office for months thanks to him.
"Don't worry about it," she said. "It's not like anyone took it seriously anyway."
"Why wouldn't they take it seriously?" he asked slowly, furrowing his brows.
"Come on." She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You're the saviour. I'm the 'dark witch' that tried to hand you over to the Dark Lord. Your adoring public would have a heart attack."
"I don't really care what they think," he said. He shrugged, then grimaced at what the motion did to him in his current state. "They don't know me at all. All they know are stories, some exaggerated, most absolute rubbish. And they don't know you at all either."
"Don't they?" she asked with a smile. "They think I'm a bitch, and they're not wrong."
"No, they aren't," he agreed, returning her smile. "That doesn't change the fact that I meant every word I said last night."
Pansy's smile dimmed and she cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Don't be so quick to say that. Half of it was meaningless rubbish," she said.
"Not what I said about you," he said seriously, not allowing her to deflect. "I'm sorry about doing it while I was a drunken idiot, and in front of our coworkers. But I'm not going to apologize for what I actually said. I like you, Parkinson."
In what was a very rare occurrence, Pansy found herself at a loss for words. Yes, she'd privately agreed with the general consensus of the female population of Hogwarts that Harry Potter was cute, though she'd never dreamed of sharing that opinion with even her closest friends. And yes, every preconceived notion she'd had about him as a person had been shattered as she'd truly gotten to know him at the auror academy.
She'd been an outcast when she first enrolled, just as she still remained in society at large ever since 'that day.' There were mutterings amongst her fellow auror recruits, and the more brazen individuals hadn't bothered to hide their hatred of her. Not a single one of them would willingly partner with her for any of the training exercises. None except for Harry himself.
He'd stunned her and the rest of their fellow trainees the first time he came over and offered to be her partner, and he'd never stopped surprising her in the three years since. She quickly discovered that everything she thought she knew about him was wrong. He wasn't the attention-seeking brat Draco had always portrayed him as; if anything, he hated his fame and actively tried to avoid it. He was serious, earnest and hard-working, and he didn't let their past history at Hogwarts get in the way of their training. He'd given her a chance to prove that she had enrolled in the training program for the right reasons and was willing to put in the time and effort to succeed, and she hadn't disappointed. They'd frequently worked together in training, and once they became full-fledged aurors it didn't take their superiors long to realize how good they were as a team.
The senior aurors loved to talk about how you'd spend more time with your partner than with anyone else in your life. For most it was an exaggeration, but it was actually true in her case. She wasn't close with her family, and the few friends she still had were too wrapped up in their own burgeoning careers/new families. Harry Potter was her closest companion. And for several months now, she'd been falling in love with him.
She'd fought it at first. She'd called Millicent stupid when she'd suggested it, and for a while she'd even denied it to herself. Yet even after she'd finally been forced to admit the truth to herself she'd resolved never to tell him. They were far past the point where she worried about him holding what happened at the Battle of Hogwarts against her, so that wasn't the issue. He'd simply never shown any interest in her, not that she'd picked up on at least, and if she brought up her changing feelings she feared it could get in the way of their partnership. That was something she couldn't bear to even think of. So she'd decided she would be content to be his partner, the one he trusted to have at his back with his life on the line, while he found some other witch to pop out green-eyed babies with.
And now, this. She'd been so sure that what happened last night was nothing more than drunken rambling, but here he was insisting he'd meant every word even now that he was sober.
"I'm sorry if that makes this weird for you," he said, grimacing, taking her silence to mean that she hadn't taken his confession well. "I just wanted to be honest with you and make sure there wasn't any misunderstanding about what happened last night. If you don't feel the same way, that's okay. I just hope we can at least still be partners."
She tried to answer but found that words were still failing her. So she decided to put her auror training into use. When talking wasn't an option, it was time for immediate and decisive action.
Pansy wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and leaned up slightly on her toes so she could bring her lips to his. Thankfully a potion had removed all evidence of his rough night, so she could kiss him without any reservation.
Her actions had more than made her point, and her partner got the message. He pulled her in closer, hugging her body tightly to his. Reveling in the closeness, she moaned into his mouth and began running her hands through his untidy black hair like she'd been wanting to for months.
Pansy Parkinson and Harry Potter made for an incredible if unlikely team, and now they were going to be partners in every way possible. Pansy had never been more grateful for the existence of Firewhisky. Dawlish probably disagreed, but his shoes were a small price to pay as far as she was concerned.