CHAPTER 03
"When was your meeting with Daphne supposed to take place? According to my watch it should be in ten minutes from now", Draco remarked, when he looked at Pansy who was adding some final touches to her appearance. With a flick of her wand, she had just given her bangs a soft side sweep and added some shiny highlights.
"Hopefully, traveling won't mess up my hair again. I really hate it, when that happens" Pansy said, while studying her reflection in the mirror.
"You're a stunning beauty, Mrs. Malfoy", the mirror squeaked and a self-satisfied smile spread on Pansy's face, when she turned towards Draco.
"How are we travelling to Diagon Alley anyway? I refuse to floo there, since it will make me look like an utter mess with all the dusty remains; people might get the impression that I suffer from dandruff!" Pansy looked at Draco expectantly, but he was distracted by the mirror which had just announced that he had an image of perfection.
Pansy snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, "Earth to Mr. Image of Perfection! How do we get to Diagon Alley?"
"Well, since Mrs. Stunning is too conceited to floo and her date takes place right about now, we should consider apparition, shouldn't we?"
"I'm not conceited! But last time I used the floo-network, I looked like I had just single-handedly battled a Chinese Fireball. My hair resembled a rat's nest and my clothing was in shreds!"
"You're exaggerating… it wasn't that bad." But in spite of everything, a smirk graced his features, when he remembered the incident.
Meanwhile, Pansy decided to ignore his snickering, "I'm not concentrated enough to apparate. My mind always trails off to Daphne and stuff. I'm not really eager to pull a Susan Bones and get myself splinched. As humiliating dandruffs can be, I don't even want to start thinking about becoming the next Nearly Headless Nick, you know!"
With this, Draco burst into laughter, but when he met Pansy's chilling gaze, he composed himself quickly and extended his arms towards her. "Okay, since you're not opting at running late, I'll give you an emergency piggyback apparition-ride."
When Pansy starred at him and did not move an inch, Draco waved at her impatiently, "Come on, amenities don't last long – take it or leave it. And I also have stuff to do in Diagon Alley myself, so hurry up."
"Indeed, your niceties are normally followed by some fine print." Pansy retorted coolly.
"As you can imagine, I'm not really keen on being married to a headless person with all the headless head-lines – and just so you know, my civility has reached half-time by now." Draco stated casually, while he tucked one hand in a laid back motion into the side pocket of his jeans and only one hand remained extended towards Pansy who still just looked at him quizzically.
Slowly, he started counting down, "All right, this offer is going to expire in three, two, one, and – "
"Okay, okay!" Quickly, Pansy took hold of his extended hand and twisted their fingers together tightly. She had hardly time to take a deep breath before Draco continued "- and go!" and the familiar pressure squeezed her chest together and her vision turned into a nauseating whirl of colors.
Just seconds later, a slightly pale Pansy arrived at the coffeehouse, while Draco had headed off towards the Gringotts Bank. Pansy assumed that he would pick her up afterwards, which left her with a time frame of roughly an hour to deal with Daphne.
After entering the coffeehouse through the revolving entrance door, Pansy let her gaze wander through the room and over the various little coffee tables. The room was filled with a low but constant babble of voices and animated talks over steaming coffee mugs. The coffee aroma floated through the air and created a warm and cozy ambience. When Pansy was sure that Daphne was not waiting at one of the tables, she steered towards a small table in a remote corner and ordered a Grande Chai Tea Latte.
Somehow, she was rather grateful for the fact that Daphne was not there yet and she used the moment to recite the things that she wanted to discuss with her friend while she stirred absent-minded with her spoon in the tea cup. Settling herself in one of the plush armchairs, she allowed her thoughts to wander.
Daphne and she went far back: they had been best friends in Hogwarts and even closer companions after the downfall of Voldemort. They had stuck together through all the public scorn and malice that they had earned due to their pureblood upbringing and Death-Eater connection. Pansy had been shunned for her attempt to reveal Harry Potter's whereabouts during the battle in Hogwarts. Nobody was interested in the fact that she had been a student who was frightened to death for her parents and her life. Slytherin pureblood stories did not sell well, hence, no one was interested and avoiding her company had been the common code of conduct. Everyone had ignored her - everyone but Daphne!
Daphne's parents had not gotten personally involved in Voldemort's plot to take over the wizarding world. However, they had donated all their accumulated wealth to *the cause*. When Voldemort's cause was lost, so were the donations and the Greengrass fortune. Daphne's parents had trouble to explain their sudden impoverishment, but the family had experienced much less public disgrace than the Parkinsons or the Malfoys. Like Pansy, Daphne had been used to a life in luxury and a rather decadent and spoilt life style. However, Daphne's extravagances had come to an abrupt end.
At the same time, Pansy was living in financial abundance, but due to the social ostracism, there wasn't really any way to enjoy her wealth. Thus, they had ended up partners in crime. Pansy had equipped them with the latest fashion, the jewelry and come up for all additional expenses, while Daphne had ensured entrance to all major red-carpet events and night clubs. They had become an inseparable team and had developed the image of party girls and fashion icons; it had become a competition between them to date the TOP 3 of anything: TOP 3 of the most wanted models, bachelors, the TOP 3 of the richest, hottest actors, athletes and musicians. They had dated everyone famous, rich and with a name to it.
Since then, Daphne had managed to make a small fortune herself over the course of time with advertising, modeling as well as some simple pop music and had become independent from Pansy's resources. Moreover, her notorious and horrendously expensive shopping sprees kept the press nearly as busy as her ever changing affairs and little scandals on the side.
Today, Pansy had set the reunion with Daphne to elaborate on their business/friendship in the future. For Pansy, the times of drinking, partying and random dating were a thing of the past. With the pregnancy, her marriage was finally set in stone – pureblood couples did not break up when children were involved. Children were sacred and ensured the survival of the dynasty and, therewith, the bloodline. And how did one combine a serious picture-perfect family image with a redundant frenemieship on the side? Things had to change and become more grown-up, Pansy thought.
With the typical ten minutes of tardiness, Daphne entered the coffee shop with her classic inconspicuous conspicuity. She had attempted a casual look to blend in with the crowd of regular mortal wizards, but had ended up with a jeans slightly too tight, a shirt slightly too bright, accessories slightly too expensive and a pair of extra huge and dark shades covering half her face. Everything about her screamed: I am an undercover celebrity!
With brisk steps, Daphne crossed the room and settled with a swift movement in the chair opposite of Pansy.
"Well, Daph-Daph has made it here, so what's all this fuzz about? What made you swamp my place with 'vitally important' ringback messages?" Her eyes sparkled expectantly, when she removed her shades and placed them on the table.
"Not vitally important enough obviously to answer my request in a timely manner or to be here on time. I guess, I will probably have to start sending you the real urgent ones in Hogwarts-style and have them flooding through your chimney and the mail slot." Pansy remarked dryly.
"Anyway, what's up? If it's really that pressing, you must be up to something interesting. And taking your weight gain into consideration, it must be something huge – wait! I know! You're finally getting your divorce papers filed?"
Daphne sighed deeply, while Pansy had trouble not to choke on her tea, "I always thought that it was loooong since overdue! Relationships which last longer than three month are the downfall of any flirty party girl image! But seriously, it is such a smart move to think ahead and put on some heartache-pounds. And the cheating-story in this context was sheer genius. You've always been an amazing long-term strategist. Just make sure, that you finish it on your terms and to your advantage. The public has to really feel your pain and to relate to you and…"
Daphne interrupted her speech mid-sentence when she saw the face of her friend darken. "What's wrong, dear?"
Pansy wiggled her right hand, which showcased her stunning 6.04 carat wedding ring, which shone in an unusual blue hue and matched Pansy's eye color in every facet.
Fighting back the annoyance that she felt when dealing with this topic, Pansy proclaimed, "I told you uncountable times by now – Parkinsons only marry once in a lifetime. Girls are raised to stick to their men no matter what. You know the rules of the game, so stop playing the divorce card."
"I'm just being a friend here," Daphne shrugged, "You are missing out on a lot of fun and prospects. We're a great team and I just see you slipping off of those cover pages and headlines. It's all about Draco and his affairs and what do you get? The weight-gain story, while he is having a fling with a blonde hussy. He is turning you into a stereotype pure-blood housewife and I just don't understand why you plainly refuse to profit from the few advantages that we got from – you know – losing *the cause*. Liberate yourself of old-fashioned doctrines of pureblood conventions."
"My marriage has never been an issue here, nor will it ever become one! In fact, there are other pressing subjects that we should be discussing right now." Pansy clarified stiffly. Slowly, her temper began to rise. This conversation was not heading in the direction that she had intended. Moreover, she was rather annoyed that Daphne never passed up a chance to point out her "stupidity" to settle down.
Unimpressed, Daphne rambled on, "Seriously, what has happened to the fun-loving Pansy that went partying and was up to anything? When I get up in the morning, I don't know how the day will end: there's no routine, no obligations - just excitement and going with the flow of things. Why can't we just go back to where we started out? As party dream team! Our image is based on being light-hearted and funny. We were the role models for all single girls out there! We come as a pair – we don't sell well individually. We represent single ladies, best-friends and witch-power!"
Pansy shook her head and started to uncomfortably stir her latte again. She knew that she owed her friend. Without her support, Pansy would probably still be shunned and scorned. Inwardly, Pansy realized that her intention of telling Daphne about her retreat from the party-image was a harder task than expected. They did have a good time back then, but things had changed. She was going to be a mother in roughly six months. She wanted to have a real family – one of the kinds that she never had herself; and both things did not go well together.
Slowly, Pansy averted her gaze from her lukewarm beverage. With a low voice, she tried to reason with her friend, who looked at her expectantly, "Daphne, this is actually, what I intended to talk to you about. Our lives have developed very different lately and I have simply outgrown the party- and frenemie-phase. If we want to keep our outer appearance as best friends attractive to the press, we should talk about the media-image thing. Especially, since we will probably grow apart even further since Draco and I have taken it to the next level. You know, we -"
Pansy did not get to finish her sentence. As soon as her glance locked with Daphne's dangerously narrowed eyes, Pansy realized that something in her speech had triggered Daphne's suspicion.
"I don't get your point – being in different situations did not hinder our media image up to now. Why should our friendship suddenly develop into a problem? Why change something that worked miracles so far?" Daphne asked, her eyes widening in disbelief.
With a demonstrative wave of her hands, Pansy looked her friend into the eyes and said conciliatorily "No, our friendship is not the problem; rather, it is the way we have decided to go on with our lives and this is an irreversible process – we're at the crossroads. And I have chosen a more serious turn, while you are still fancy-free and -"
With a disconcerting gleam in her eyes, Daphne leaned over the table towards Pansy and hissed accusatorily, "What's that supposed to mean? Are life-affirming and frolicking spirits not welcomed in Malfoy Mansion anymore? I tell you something, my dear friend! I might be living for the moment, but I'm living my life according to my rules and my preferences."
Pansy shifted slightly in her chair. From the corner of her eyes, she could see some heads turning into their direction, so she send a fake smile into the crowd to create some diversion. Meanwhile, her mind raced, trying to find the reason for Daphne's mood swing. Had anything she had said been ambiguous or discriminating? This conversation had taken an unexpected turn and somehow, she had to pacify Daphne; an angry Daphne was a force to reckon with.
Pansy took a deep breath, "No, you got me all wrong here. I didn't intend to judge your lifestyle. I just wanted to inform you that we –"
"Spare me," Daphne spat. "I am living for joy and what do you do? You completely replaced the single you with the plural you. Every day you get up for being Draco's fashionable trophy wife. Oh, pardon me – you slipped off the fashion page by now. Rumor has it that fashion became too tight on you. So apparently, you will have to settle for being a cheating husband's wife instead. That sounds like real fun! So who are you to judge me?"
"That's it, Daphne!" Pansy had trouble to keep her face blank, but her eyes shot daggers, "I'm not sure, what you're playing at, but this scene here is bizarre and has not a single thing to do with anything I said. Don't mistake me as responsible for your shallow excuse of a lifestyle. You're proud of being a fun-loving, carefree club slut, but when it comes down to the facts: you missed the point of no return! Nobody wants to get serious with a witch-whore, so leave me and my marriage out of it."
Daphne took a sharp breath, "Because your man-whore is so serious with you, isn't he? Clean out your own closet before you even start thinking about mine."
In mock surprise, Pansy arched an eye brow and snapped with a sugar-coated smile plastered on her face, "It is really sad that you can't come up with something more sophisticated but the same old retort as every time. And just for your apparently broken record: we are expecting a baby and he did not cheat with this floozy. It was staged!"
"Whatever puts you to rest at night," Daphne sneered at Pansy. "Your whole marriage is a scam. You have delusioned yourself into believing this scam. He is a Malfoy after all. So tell me, when was the last time he embraced you other than for the paparazzi? And when you think very hard, did he ever tell you, that he loved you other than on a sofa for interview purposes?"
With a smug smile on her face, Daphne waited dismissively for her words to show effect. She knew that she had just touched Pansy's sore spot.
"I wasn't aware that you would stoop that low. You're life must be awfully lonely when you had to follow my relationship in the media to deflect from your own shallow and pathetic solitude. I pity you." Pansy retorted sharply and watched Daphne's expression go blank.
Much to her relief, she saw Draco's slender figure enter the coffeehouse and observed him scanning the room for her. Quickly, Pansy grabbed her purse, but before she could rise from her seat, Daphne reached over the table and took a hold of her arm, "Apologize!"
Pansy wrestled her arm free and retorted coolly, "I wouldn't know what for." With that, she rose from the chair, slung her purse nonchalantly over her shoulder and without wasting a single glance backwards she made her way towards Draco, who lent casually at the wall next to the entrance waiting for Pansy to come over. Little did she know that the abrupt movement of her handbag caused her tea to spill all over the white jeans of Daphne who was left fuming in her chair.
*****
Author Note: Thanks to all my reviews so far! Reviews really make my day!