AN: This fic was written for the What If Competition on HPFC. My prompt was: What If Pansy went undercover to act as a guardian for the Trio when they were out hunting for the Horcruxes? Enjoy!
He's back, he's back, Voldemort's back…
Pansy Parkinson froze in her seat. This was bad. Her father might be in trouble. Just like almost every Death Eater that didn't end up in Azkaban, he denied being on his side, following an example of Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery and others. She imagined the Dark Lord wouldn't be very pleased with them and he would let his displeasure be known with a few dozen Crucios. She never really understood just why had her father aligned himself with such a maniac. Naturally, their family despised mudbloods and believed in pure blood superiority, but was actively hunting them really wise? They could have just made some anti-mudblood laws or something. Most of the Wizengamot would agree to that anyway. This way they still could get tried for murder. And then who would lead the Parkinson fortunes?
Pansy shook her head. There wasn't time for this. She suspected people would be glancing her and her friends' way, since most of their parents were Death Eaters. She had to look the part. And I know I will learn everything I need to know when I'll be home in a few days.
And just like she suspected, the moment she stepped into her home, her father took her and her mother into a heavily warded room and told them everything he could think of. Pansy was really grateful for this. In other families, women usually weren't in the know. She knew that her parents had been disappointed that she was a girl, they had hoped for a boy so that they could have an heir, but they still loved and cared for her very much.
As months passed, nothing out of ordinary had happened and Pansy had continued on living her normal life. Fifth year, she became member of the Inquisitorial Squad. Sixth year, she grumbled a bit about Slughorn, just like every other Slytherin and was cheering for Snape when he became DADA teacher. Her life, however, went through a complete turnaround shortly before she was to start her seventh year.
She and her mother, Lenora, had just returned from their dinner with the Greengrasses, and what they found at home changed their life.
An unmoving body of Phillip Parkinson.
Both Pansy and her mum at first couldn't comprehend what they saw. Their husband and father dead? How? Why? It was only after they called for their House Elf to check if the body still had pulse they broke down in tears. Yes, he really was dead. Killing Curse, obviously, since there was nothing wrong with the body. This was bad. Without him, there was nothing that could protect them from the war everyone knew was coming. According to pureblood laws, women were unable to inherit. They would get some compensation, of course, but they were still unable to make business deals, sell properties et cetera. Lenora would have to find a job and it would be much harder to marry Pansy off now that she had next to no money on her name. Things were going to be very hard indeed.
That night both women couldn't fall asleep and they didn't dare to take Dreamless Sleep potion in fear that someone would come and finish the job. Lenora was trying to figure out what on Earth could have he done to deserve such fate. They knew the Dark Lord didn't like killing his servants unless it was absolutely unavoidable, he preferred torturing them. Dead men couldn't do any work, after all.
Pansy, on the other hand, had decided that a vendetta was in order. Her daddy was everything to her and Voldemort had killed him on the whim. The Dark Lord, Pansy thought mockingly, could go screw himself. No one would anger Pansy Parkinson and get away with it.
The next few days were hectic. Funeral had to be organized, preferably before Pansy went to Hogwarts, wills were read, various extended family members were fought. As it turned out, women actually could inherit and be given all control of money, it was just that wizards chose not to do it. Naturally, almost every male relative had already enlarged their respective vaults, so they would have a place to store all the money and valuables they could take, so this came like a nasty shock to them and not a few ended up being barred out of Gringotts for screaming obscenities and threatening body parts.
Goblins were brilliant like that.
The funeral went through, last goodbye were said and Pansy boarded the Hogwarts Express with a feeling of dread. It increased even more when the Death Eater boarded the train. Obviously, they were looking for Potter, but he appeared to have at least a shred of common sense since he was nowhere to be found. That hadn't made her feel much easier as she shrunk away from the seekers. She really hoped they thought she was doing that because of her father. If they found out she decided to get rid of their leader, the results would be… interesting, at least.
I wonder what he's doing… Pansy thought when suddenly an idea struck her. What better way to get revenge on Voldemort than help Potter! It was so simple. Scry him out (luckily, the Parkinson family possessed several grimoires on the subject, and they were rather effective), and then… what? Leave them food? Galleons? Never mind that, she thought, you'll cross that bridge when you get there. They will need help and you will provide it to them.
It took Pansy more than a month before she had located the runaways. She was actually rather satisfied with herself for making the spell work in such a short space of time, since she had nothing personal of his that she could use, so she had to draw on her memories and feelings. Then, she had to find a way out of the castle. She thought the place was more guarded than Azkaban, and that was saying something. Of course, the place now held mudbloods and traitors, but still. The prisoners wouldn't copy what Sirius Black had done a few years back. Fortunately, she had stumbled across the Vanishing Cabinet Draco had used last year. After stocking herself with money and food, she Disillusioned, Glamoured and Silenced herself, stepped into the cabinet and went through.
It turned out the other twin was in Borgin and Burkes. Good. At least it wasn't a mansion of some paranoid Pureblood or something like that. She wasn't very skilled with wards so she was lucky she ended up somewhere where none were. I hope…
It turned out she was partially right. The only wards on the place were the Anti-Apparition ones. So after one silenced doorbell she was out and Apparated near to one of the Parkinson properties. There she activated her tracking device and found out the Golden Trio were nearby. Another Apparition later she found herself near a river. Activating the scan again, she followed the lead and soon had a rather accurate idea of where they might be. Although she didn't see anything, she knew they were where her scanner showed them to be. They might Disillusion how much they wanted to, they wouldn't get past a Parkinson scrying device. Of course, it is possible to guard against them as well, but Pansy knew Granger was with them. She was the most powerful out of three and it wasn't a well guarded secret that she didn't believe in Divination, so of course she wouldn't protect against scrying. Oh well. It was her fault.
Pansy was wondering what would be her next move when something else drew her attention. Her scanner beeped and it showed that there were other five beings nearby. Three humans and two other sentient beings. Hm. Perhaps today's treat would be information…
Quiet as a mouse she followed them. They were sitting in a circle, frying fishes and talking. Pansy frowned. How could she make them go down to river? In the end, she had decided she would Confound them and make them think they needed more fish. Then they would go down to river and talk there. Who knows, maybe they'll spill something useful.
Her plan worked. Pansy smiled. Mission accomplished. She returned to Hogwarts with a feeling of satisfaction.
Unfortunately, there were no other opportunities like that in the next months. She only dared to venture out for a few minutes every week, so there wasn't much she could do. She had, however, planted various berry bushes near their campsites. Leaving prepared food around like that would be suspicious, so she had resorted to this manner. She didn't know whether they found it or not, and most of the time it seemed rather useless, but despite everything she continued. It made her feel rather rebellious, and she didn't get much space for that in her short life. It was like a drug. Pointless, but addicting. Not to mention if anyone found out, there would be trouble. Big trouble. But she didn't stop.
It was over Easter holiday when things had gotten downhill. Pansy heard a band of Snatchers descent on the trio. In the end, they were taken to the Malfoy Manor. She dropped on her knees. This was it. It was over. There was no way they would get out of this. She might as well give up. Then everything went dark.
When she woke up, she found that all of her charms as well as her wand had been stripped away from her and that she had been bounded. She blinked and zoomed in on the only person she saw.
"Good, you're awake." the guy said.
Pansy didn't say a word. He was obviously Snatcher, but the way that he was talking to her creeped her out beyond belief.
He lifted an eyebrow. "So, care to tell me what are you doing here?"
"No." It flew out of her mouth before she could control it.
He chuckled. "Thought so. You were always a spitfire…" he drifted off, as if remembering something.
"Do you know me?" Pansy didn't like this one bit.
"Actually, yes." He looked at her with a sombre look. "Pansy Parkinson, daughter of Phillip. May he rest in peace."
Apprehension was replaced by confusion. "Who are you? One of my father's friends?"
"Yes. And I want you to know I am really sorry about what happened to your father. He was a great man."
"Do you know what happened to him?" Please do, please tell me…
The mystery man sighed. She supposed she could identify him if she tried, but right now there were more important things on her mind.
"Your father was asked to do something he couldn't bring himself to do." He seemed to be contemplating something. "And… the Dark Lord told me to kill him."
Now Pansy was all out raging. "It was you," she breathed out. She wanted to strangle the man before her, but then the fact that she could not move reminded her that she was bounded. "I hate you," she snarled. "You claim he was your friend, yet you killed him."
Now the guy looked straight into her eye. "Do you think I had a choice, girl?" he snapped. "It was either him or me. As much as I respected your father, I'm not about to get myself killed for it."
He soon deflated. "But it was fast. Avada to the chest. He didn't feel a thing," he whispered.
Pansy felt like crying. She had never forgotten her father, the man that caused her to go on this useless adventure. With Potter out of the way, she just wanted to go back to Hogwarts, to forget this had ever happened.
The man had pulled out a vial. "He told me his last wish, you know? He wanted you and your mother to be safe." He looked at the vial. "And this potion will do just that. It's a 'Dark Lord Loyalty' potion."
He looked at her again. "I know it's unethical, but it's the only way you can get through this. Now that he's got Potter, there's nothing to stop him. It's the only way. I'm sorry."
Pansy wasn't even able to protest. He poured it down her throat that quick. With one last "I'm sorry" he unbounded her, dropped her wand on the ground and Apparated away, leaving Pansy there, in the forest, with a feeling of burning shame.
AN: And the rest is history. If the end isn't clear, I meant that Pansy was feeling ashamed of herself since she was betraying Voldemort by helping Harry. I like that ending so much, I just couldn't bring myself to changing it. Reviews are always welcome!