Pansy set about her day with every intention of ignoring Luna Lovegood for the rest of her life. Who did that filthy blood traitor think she was, getting Pansy to kiss her? It was a small moment of weakness, that was all. It didn't mean anything except that she hadn't gotten laid in ages. At this point, apparently any woman would do it for her. Loneliness was necessary, Pansy thought. With anything but loneliness, you end up getting hurt. Love and lust don't last longer than the time it takes to put your clothes back on. It was better that she stopped things with Luna before they could go too far. She was an impenetrable fortress, and no one could influence her emotions or her actions. Pansy tried not to think about how soft Luna's hands had been as they stroked her hair, or the fire that had filled her veins when they kissed. Those weren't important. She made her way to the greenhouses, banishing the intrusive thoughts that wouldn't stop filling her veins. Luna would be in this class. She was studying naturalism, which required herbology and care for magical creatures. Pansy had made sure she would arrive slightly late, so that Lovegood couldn't choose a spot next to her. Professor Sprouts voice was ringing across the greenhouse, as Pansy chose a spot at one of the tables near the back.
"Devil's Snare is a tricky plant to cultivate," she was saying. "It detests all forms of light, which damage its growth and energy cycles. It is one of the few plants we will deal with this year that does not use photosynthesis. Instead, Devil's Snare relies on water and a few key nutrients to produce the energy it needs. It tends to grow far underground where less light will reach it. In tunnels, and cave systems, mostly. Gringotts, for example, has large populations of Devil's Snare as a protection for some of the more expensive vaults. As I'm sure all of you who have done the reading know, Devil's Snare is an excellent defense mechanism, as it will attach to anything it perceives as living, and strangles its prey within its vines, until it can digest it, not unlike a spider. The Devil's Snare we will be working with today is in the Forbidden Forest, so if you all would please leave your belongings here, except your wands, and follow me." Professor Sprout stood up, and there was a clamouring of chairs scraping along the floor as students rose to follow her. Pansy was careful to stay near the back, but of course Luna found her there anyway, dancing back to her side as the class made their way across the grounds towards the dark forest.
"Hello, Pansy," Luna said in an infuriatingly cheerful tone. Pansy ignored her, and stared at her feet as she walked.
"I do hope we don't see any crumpled snorkacks in the forest. They feed off of misery, you know." Pansy thought she would make an excellent meal for any snorkacks they came across, but didn't say anything. If she ignored Luna for long enough, maybe she would disappear.
"The thestrals that pull the carriages live in here, you know," she continued, unbothered by the fact that Pansy was ignoring her. "I come here and feed them sometimes. The young ones are particularly wonderful."
They traipsed through the forest grounds, being careful to avoid tripping on any of the large roots creeping out from the trees. Professor Sprout stopped the group for a moment to hand out a few small green lanterns to students, which she explained were the only light they would be using as they approached the Devil's Snare. Pansy stared at the light of someone's lantern in front of her as she walked, pointedly ignoring Luna who was still prattling on about some mythical creature or another. The ideas in that girl's head were stranger than she had believed possible. Until now.
"Now today, class, we will simply be tending the vines of the plant," Professor Sprout said, once she had stopped the precession and gathered them all around a dark, round expanse of vines. "It is very important that you stop moving immediately if you are grabbed by a vine while we are trimming around the edges. If you do this, the plant will leave you alone after a few moments. If you don't…" her voice trailed off menacingly.
"Everyone come up and grab a pair of shears. Stay to the edges of the plant, and do not get too close to the center. We will cover that next week." Pansy and Luna moved forwards to the professor and grabbed shears. Pansy walked around the Devil's Snare, in between two Hufflepuff students where she knew Luna couldn't easily follow her. She trimmed the vines near her, making sure that only three leaves were on each vine. Occasionally, one of the tendrils would reach out towards her wrist, but she remained still and calm until they released her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luna skipping around the Devil's Snare, possibly trying to get closer to her, when the blonde girl tripped forward and landed near the center of the vines. Pansy's heart almost stopped as the vines quickly surrounded Luna, pulling her down as they sensed their prey was trapped in their web. Before she knew what she was doing, she had leaped after Luna armed with nothing but her shears, and began chopping at the vines desperately, reaching for the other girl, who remained quite calm. Pansy grabbed Luna, and tried to pull her out of the plant, but now they were both covered in the vines, being squeezed roughly. Pansy felt a vine curl around her neck, and suddenly she was losing air. The pressure increased. Everything was going dark. Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared and the vines shrank away from her. Other students quickly moved to help Luna and Pansy out of the vortex of plant limbs. Luna was looking at Pansy with an expression that was almost smug.
"Miss Parkinson, we do not chop up the plants we are tending to. We discussed how to get vines to leave us alone, and Miss Lovegood was remaining still as she was told to do. She would have been fine. 5 points from Slytherin," Professor Sprout said, sternly. "It's lucky that I only exposed them to light for a moment or we would have seriously damaged this rare species beyond repair. As it is, we will have to leave it alone for a week. Everyone return to the castle. We will resume our studies with the effects of moonflower next week."
There were some groans and mumbles from the class. Some of the students looked at Pansy accusingly. Pansy was a little shocked at her own actions. Why had she jumped in after Luna? It couldn't have been because she cared about the other girl's safety. She just did it out of instinct. Perhaps she should change her career goals to healer, because it appeared that she had the impulses of someone who risked themselves for others. That had been almost an action of a Gryffindor, she realized, scandalized. But of course, it had just been on instinct and it was a one time occurrence. She brooded on her way back to the castle, trying to stay ahead of Lovegood. That didn't last for long.
"You tried to save my life," Luna observed, with a small smile on her lips.
"I tried to save the plant. Your thrashing about right in its center was clearly hurting it," Pansy snapped back.
"Of course that must have been it," Luna agreed. But that infuriating smile was still there.
"You don't want me deaaad," the girl continued, in a sing song voice. "You don't want me deaaad. You fancy me enough to save me from the evil Devil's Snare."
"Oh shove off, Lovegood," Pansy grumbled. But she couldn't fight off the grin that was trying to creep onto her face. She turned away from Luna instead, and strode off towards the dungeons.
