Hi there. I am dedicated to completing this story and have already written a fair bit of it, more so towards the end. I'd love more people to write Ron & Pansy stories and if anyone has any recommendations of good ones for me I'd love to hear them. I will update as often as I can and I hope you enjoy.
"The rivalry between houses has unfortunately been escalating." Professor McGonagall paused briefly as she magically poured the pot of tea into her own mug, followed by her companion's mugs. "While I do not think another war will become of it, it is important that we address this immediately."
"And what are we supposed to do about it?" Ron's face wore a look of disbelief and his body language showed he might jump up out of his chair and run out of the headmaster's office at any second.
"Set an example," She replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Ron dared a brief look at the girl sat beside him, Pansy Parkinson, who was sitting patiently, hands weaved in her lap as she watched the headmaster with pursed lips. He found himself wondering why she was so calm about this considering that she'd hated him from the beginning.
"Miss Parkinson, do you have anything to add to the matter?"
After a slight change in facial expression she looked to her hands then focused on Ron, "You were an Auror, Weasley, handling the darkest of creatures, yet you seem to be scared of a little Slytherin?" She wore a smirk on her face, with her newly manicured nails lightly tapping on her forearm.
"I'm not scared!"
"Now, now," the Headmistress intervened, raising a hand up as if to silence Ron from retaliating further, "I expect you both to make appearances together throughout the school. You will be expected to be seated next to each other at meal time, as well as performing nightly rounds together all the while showing the friendliness I know you are both capable of. As your rivalry is one of the most well-known from the war, it would be an excellent example for you both to show the students that you have left the past in, well, the past."
Ron sighed and ran a hand through his hair, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he considered McGonagall's offer. Being a teacher was something he had never even thought of before, but now that the opportunity was in his grasp he couldn't seem to let the idea out of his head. Shaping the future of the wizarding world. What an honour. And to be selected over so many people by McGonagall no less. So what if he had to put up with a little "Slytherin bonding." Surely if Hermione and Draco Malfoy could start dating then he and Pansy could at least pretend to like each other for a few Semesters.
"Alright, I'm in," Ron said, standing up and reaching out his hand over the large desk to shake McGonagall's hand.
Pansy's usually well-guarded expression broke and for a minute she was completely shocked. The boy who had hated her for as long as she could remember, although to his credit she had given him so many reasons to do so, had just agreed to put the past in the past and work together with her?
She quickly recovered and nodded too, also reaching out to make the hand-shake deal.
"Ah," Minverva replied, "the students of Hogwarts are very lucky indeed. I'll see you next week for start of Term."
They both went to leave and awkwardly ran into each other. Ron stepped back and made a hand gesture for Pansy to go in front.
With an almost non-existent smile and a nod, she took the lead out of the Headmaster's office and down the staircase.
Ron followed her out, a few steps behind, heading towards an area in the grounds for them to safely apparate. He was so busy listening to her high heels click against the floor that he didn't realise she had abruptly turned and he proceeded to walk straight into her.
Gripping her shoulders, he pulled her back to standing upright and stepped a metre backwards to put some distance between them.
"Thanks," she said, brushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear as she looked up to meet his gaze, "I just wanted to let you know, I'm glad we can try to move forward. This is as awkward for me as it is for you and I guess, well, if Draco and Hermione can get past all their issues then so can we."
She shifted all her weight from her left foot to her right, waiting for a response. When it appeared she wasn't going to receive one she huffed and stalked off in front, Ron trailing behind.
After another few minutes of walking she heard him speak up.
"I'm not sure I can ever forgive you."
She paused, pursing her lips as she turned to face him. Her stance was defensive, waiting for the worst to come.
"Harry is my best friend. For you to want to hand him over to Voldemort," She flinched at the word as he spoke it, "Well, I just, I'm not sure that's something I can get past."
"I should have known you wouldn't understand," She sighed in disbelief, "Why did you say yes to this job then? Whether we like it or not we are going to have to spend a lot of time together from now on and you're going to have to make it look like you at the very least tolerate me. How do you propose we do that?"
"By pretending?" He responded, with a hint of a smirk on his face.
With that, he apparated away as she huffed in annoyance.
Ron was sealing the last of his boxes when he heard a woosh at the fire place from his living room.
"Is that the last of them then?" Harry asked, making himself at home on their couch.
"Yeah that's it I guess." He briefly glanced at Harry to see him twitching his hands together, "It's gonna be weird not being roommates aye?"
"Yeah, I'll miss living in the frat house," Ron teased, it was an in joke they had come up with based on Muggle University experiences that Harry and Hermione had explained to him, because they were both bachelor's living together, hanging out all the time and doing whatever they wanted.
"And the frat house will miss having you here," Harry agreed. They both knew what they really meant.
"Any ideas who you might get to move in in my place?" Ron asked absentmindedly, throwing a plush basketball at the hoop hanging up on his wall, it was a present from Hermione two birthdays ago.
"I wanted to talk to you about that actually," Harry began cautiously, "Malfoy's asked if he can stay here."
Ron eyed Harry, "Well you don't need my permission," he spoke up after a long while.
"Look Ron, I know you and Malfoy have been pretty civil to each other which is a great start but it's time to start moving forward. I've moved past it, he has, even Hermione has, and none of us ever thought that would happen."
Ron frowned and Harry continued, "Look it's not like I'm saying you guys should start man-hugging and wearing matching t-shirts but it would be nice if you could become friends. If not for me, for Hermione."
"Yeah alright, I'll give it a shot," Ron muttered.
It wasn't that he was holding a grudge against Malfoy as such, he was simply being cautious. To Malfoys credit though he had been very civil over the last few years since the war, and even more so when he and Hermione started dating a year ago.
Harry grinned and threw a square pillow at Ron before they both started laughing at the whole situation.
Draco Malfoy was lounging on his roommate's couch in a pair of trackies and Ugg boots, trying to solve a muggle toy Hermione had given him known as a Rubix cube. Now and then he would mutter frustrated sounds. He'd been at it for hours and so far he could only make one whole side match up but none of the others were working.
Pansy laughed out loud when she heard him say "Stupid muggle game," under his breath before throwing it away from him onto the floor.
"Granger sure has done a number on you aye Draco," Pansy teased.
With a roll of his eyes, Draco sat up, "Yeah, yeah I've never heard that before Pans. I have to admit though, some of the muggle things she likes really aren't so bad. I should show you this thing they call a tee vee." He drew the syllables out, as though it was a hard word to remember.
"It plays moving pictures except you can keep playing it over and over again whenever you want," he elaborated. Pansy noted the way his eyes lit up at the subject. Never in her right mind would she have thought she would ever see that day where Draco Malfoy was willingly getting to know the muggle way of life.
"Yeah sounds good. You can show me next time I come back here to visit you."
Draco shifted uncomfortably, "Yeah about that," he trailed off, not knowing how to begin telling Pansy the truth, "I um, thought that I might move in with Potter actually."
Pansy's head snapped up to look at him, unsure of whether or not he was joking.
After a few minutes went by, Draco asked, "Pans, you there?"
"Yeah, I just, um. I guess that just really caught me off guard. I thought you would have kept living here is all."
"Well I thought about it, but it is your father's apartment after all and I thought it might be a good chance to try something new," he paused briefly, "besides, you should have seen the way Hermione lit up when she heard us discussing it. Never seen anyone so god damn excited since Fred and George Weasley released Puking Pastels, giving us all the option of getting out of class."
Pansy smirked at the memory of buying her first batch.
"I hope Weasley and I can at least try to hide our dislike for each other when we get to Hogwarts. I cannot believe that I am going to be teaching potions. It's like a dream come true. I am surprised though to be honest. I mean, who would have thought anyone would ever want the daughter of a death eater, the girl who attempted to sell the boy who lived to the Dark Lord, teaching the next generation."
"Don't do that to yourself," Draco scolded, his face turning hard.
"Why not? It's what everybody thinks!"
Draco pursed his lips in a hard line and examined Pansy with narrowed eyes, "What did Weasley say to you?"
"Nothing," Pansy lied, "You and I both know that our past doesn't just go away."
"Yeah but other people, they don't understand what we went through. Merely kids, being tortured and manipulated and forced into doing things, seeing things that we never should have had to do or see."
They stayed like that for a while, in a comfortable silence, the only sounds being the folding of clothes as Pansy packed up the remainder of her stuff with her wand.
"Look if I could go back and do it over, you know I would," Pansy whispered, her eyes glazing over with tears.
Draco's face softened, "I know," he whispered back, walking over and embracing her in a hug, "I would too."
Ron couldn't help but grin as he followed Harry, Hermione and Ginny into the Leaky Cauldron Saturday night. The three had been adamant about celebrating his new career and being pretty stoked about it all himself, he couldn't help but go along with them.
The two girls walked off in search of a table while Ron and Harry went to the bar to order some drinks.
After pushing through the crowd – which was always surprisingly easy when you were two of the three main heroes from the war – they ordered eight shots of Hogwarts Surprise and four glasses of Firewhisky before lifting the tray in search of the girls.
Ron paused when he realised that Hermione was sitting on Draco's lap, next to Ginny and Pansy who were chatting animatedly. Harry noticed his hesitance and frowned.
"Ron, it's time to move forward. I've moved forward. So should you." He patted his oldest friend lightly on the pack before moving over to the table. Ron sighed before following reluctantly.
"Hey Weasley," Draco greeted with a smirk, "Have you heard that I'm officially your new replacement at this 'fram house' or whatever you two were calling it?"
Ron snorted, "It's 'frat house' Malfoy. It's a muggle university thing, and yeah I heard the news. You've got some pretty big shoes to fill, and I mean that in the figurative and literal sense," he joked, holding up his large sneaker.
Pansy was amused by this, "Typical man, Weasley, always having to brag about size."
Ron glanced her way in confusion before realising her inference, blushing lightly as he took a sip of his Firewhisky.
Harry shared a glance with Draco, "So…shots?" as he passed them around to each person. He deliberately passed two each to Ron and Pansy, muttering something about them being the cause for celebration.
"Here's to," Ginny paused thoughtfully, "The next generation of Hogwarts. Shall they learn from Ron's mistakes."
They all raised their glasses, even Ron in humour and shot back the drink.
Ron was about to shoot back his second glass until Ginny stopped him, "No, you have to make another toast."
Ron and Pansy looked at each other speechless, before Pansy spoke up quietly, "To change."
He stared at her briefly before offering a small nod, "To change."