Taken In Adultery
Shadowed by shades and spied upon by glass
Their search for privacy conducts them here,
With an irony that neither notices,
To a public house; the wrong time of year
For outdoor games; where, over a gin and tonic,
Best bitter and potato crisps, they talk
Without much zest, almost laconic,
Flipping an occasional remark.
Would you guess that they were lovers, this dull pair?
The answer, I suppose, is yes, you would.
Despite her spectacles and faded hair
And his worn look of being someone's Dad
You know that they are having an affair
And neither finds it doing them much good.
Presumably, in one another's eyes,
They must look different from what we see,
Desirable in some way, otherwise,
They'd hardly choose to come here, furtively,
And mutter their bleak needs above the mess
Of fag-ends, crumpled cellophane and crumbs,
Their love feast's litter. Though they might profess
To find great joy together, all that comes
Across to us is tiredness, melancholy.
When they are silent each seems listening;
There must be many voices in the air:
Reproaches, accusations, suffering
That no amount of passion keeps elsewhere.
Imperatives that brought them to this room,
Stiff from the car's back seat, lose urgency;
They start to wonder who's betraying whom,
How it will end, and how did it begin --
The woman taken in adultery
And the man who feels he, too, was taken in.
-Vernon Scannell
She knew that it was wrong, what they were doing, what they had done over a lengthy course of years. She had a husband and he had a wife, but it was complicated. It was not that she didn't love Blaise, she did so very much, it was just something about that tall blonde that she had never been able to resist. His every word was like a command to her, his every desire she yearned to fulfill. It had always been that way, at least for her, she had felt the need to please him since they first met those many years ago.
How her heart had shattered into thousands of fragments when she read the wedding announcements in the Daily Prophet. She had always hoped, dreamed, that one day he would come begging her, down on one knee, to marry him. He did come begging her, but it wasn't to propose. At the time, she had hit a rocky patch in her marriage, she had been vulnerable. When he came to her she did not put up much of a fight against Draco's pleas, all she wanted was to feel loved.
But now, looking back on it, Pansy knew that Draco had never felt anything towards her, he never had and he never would. It did not make it any easier though, as one would have thought, to put a stop to what was happening between them, those wrongful get-togethers. Draco would never love anyone, not even his wife Astoria, and definitely not her. Even with this knowledge, she still hoped, deep down, that she would be the one to warm his stone-cold heart.
She knew that she had to put an end to this, neither one of them was benefiting from it, not truly, they both knew it. Blaise was getting suspicious, he had recently started to ask her questions about where she was disappearing to, her lies were getting less creative. Pansy did not want to lose her husband, he was very good to her, so much better than Draco was ever capable of being. She was done being the other woman, her emotions were not capable of dealing with it any longer, it was killing her inside. Would Draco care? She strongly doubted it, he would probably just find someone else, even though it was affecting him more than he would admit to anyone, even himself. He would never be faithful though, he did not believe in love, he only married Astoria because she had been pregnant with Scorpius. At least, that was what he had told her time and time again.
Pansy would put a stop to it, tonight for sure, there was no other way around it, it was the only thing to do. For once in her life she had to do what was right, not what was easy. It would be better for the both of them this way, it had to be.
A knock echoed off of the front door and when it reached her ears she knew that she was not strong enough to deny him, she would fall like a fly to his smooth, seductive voice the second he opened his mouth.