Part One. Chapter Ten.
Pansy
Ron Weasley was dead.
Potter had tried to heal him, begged Granger to help him, tried to stop the bleeding, but it hadn't been any use. The would was fatal, and unfortunately as time as proven, magic cannot fix everything.
"Harry," The boy had croaked before turning to look at Granger, "Hermione…"
Pansy had turned her head to stare out at the water biting her lip, tucked against Draco's side. Draco had stared at the ground, simply squeezing her wrist every few moments.
At some point, more people joined them and Draco moved her further back.
"You!" An older man shouted raising his wand at Draco. He could only be a Weasley. "What are you doing here?!"
"Bill," Granger whispered, tear tracks down her face, "Mal-Draco, and Pansy, they helped us escape from Malfoy Manor. He…he stopped Bellatrix from torturing me."
"Ees zhat true?" The woman by Bill's side asked. She was startling beautiful, and then with a jolt Pansy realized it was Fleur Delacour, the girl from Beaxbatons who had competed in the Triwizard tournament at Hogwarts. She must had married the older Weasley brother.
"Y-yes," Draco said slowly. He took in the scene, Bill was holding Ron to him, Harry holding Hermione further back, and the beautiful French woman was standing above her husband. This was a family. "We wanted to help."
"Why?" Bill's voice was sharp, he looked up at him again, mistrust on his face.
Draco looked away scratching his head, brooding. "They were killing us there. For months, ever since school let out for the summer. They tortured Pansy every day for weeks, the cruciatus. They knew our allegiance was shifting, they-He, tried to force us to stay loyal."
"They crucio'd you every day?" Bill turned to look at Pansy. She met his hard gaze, saying nothing.
"How are you still alive? Or not completely mad?"
She gave a rough, dry laugh at that. "I hear that a lot."
Bill turned back to his brother, his youngest brother, a look of pain on his face. "Who did it?"
"Bellatrix," Potter said. "She threw it as Dobby was disapparating us."
"Where is Dobby?" Hermione looked up from where she had been smoothing a hand down Ron's leg, trying to ease the wrinkles from his trousers.
There was a pop and the small house elf appeared beside them, a look of sadness in his great orb-like eyes.
"Dobby is returning from telling right peoples that Master Weasley is…is…no more. Others, they are on the way, to says their goodbye."
'Thank you, Dobby," Bill cleared his throat. He looked over to Harry. "Er, I assume you need to stay here for a while, yeah?"
Harry nodded.
"Think it's best, all things considering, if the four of you," he gave a jerk of his head to include Draco and Pansy, "clear off for a bit. Mum will be pretty upset, she might not take too kindly to your…company."
"Right, right, yeah," Harry stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. "We'll just, go over the other side of the cliff, set up the tent for a bit. Just, er, tell your parents that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry-" he broke down at that. Hermione pulled him to his feet and put his arm over her shoulders, propping him up. Draco moved to help her, and Pansy was surprised to see that Harry let him. She followed behind them slowly as they made their way across the sand dunes and down a winding path that traveled down the side of the cliff.
She was sitting with her knees pulled to her chest, hugging. Her chin rested on her arms and as she stared into the small fire Granger had made, using a small glass jar. Granger was sitting with her back against a boulder, Potter against her side. They had both alternated between crying openly and staring into the fiery depths in silence.
Draco was across from her, laying back on the sand, staring up at the sky, which had begun to be painted red. Every so often, he would twitch and move to grab hold of his arm. She knew it was constantly burning.
"What do we do now?" Granger finally asked, her voice thick, eyes dry. It appeared as if she had nothing left to cry out.
"I don't know," Potter sighed, running his hands through his messy hair. "I don't know where we are supposed to look next."
"What are you looking for?" Draco rolled over to look at them. Granger visibly stiffened. Pansy slowly uncurled her legs, fists clenching as she prepared for the muggleborn to attack him.
Granger and Potter exchanged a look.
"Come off it, Potter," Draco stood up and began pacing around the fire. "No need to be careful now, we haven't got any place to go! The moment V-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named lays his beady red eyes on us, we're as good as dead."
"Sorry for the hesitation, Malfoy," Potter stood up and met him in front of the fire. "Sorry I can't seem to shake the years of fighting with you, you little prick. Sorry that I'm not entirely sure why you're still here, or even why you helped us back there!"
"I TOLD YOU!" Draco roared. "They were killing us! Slowly!"
He took a deep breath, as if to calm himself.
"I couldn't kill Dumbledore that night, because I knew it was wrong. Ever since then, I paid for it, over and over and over again." He looked over at Pansy. "Her, too. But believe me Potter, they never changed my mind about the fact that what they've been doing is wrong."
"What do you have to say about all of this?" Potter rounded on her. Pansy gave him a bored look, lounging back and resting her weight on her hands.
"I go where Draco goes," she replied after a moment of dramatic silence.
"Do you agree with Draco, do you think what they've been doing is wrong?" Granger piped up.
Pansy tilted her head, contemplating as she mulled it over in her head. "I think their tactics are…idiotic. Personally, I don't like to be told what to do, so I'll side with whoever is going to respect that."
Potter simply grimaced at her and Granger rolled her eyes.
"Listen, Potter," Draco shoved his hands into his pockets. "What I'm trying to say, what we are trying to say," he glared over in her general direction, "is that we don't have anywhere else to go. I'd like to help you, in any way possible, if only for the chance for me to right some of the wrongs that I've done."
"You want me to help you ease your conscience?" Potter scoffed.
"You couldn't possibly," Pansy spoke up for him. "Mine would be ten times worse than Draco's is, and even then, wounds leave scars."
"Yours would be?" Granger raised her eyebrows.
"Who's to say I have a conscience?" Pansy smirked as Draco smacked himself on the forehead in irritation.
"She can't help us!" Granger cried out in exasperation, turning to Potter. "I trust Draco as far as I can throw him, but even he is better than her!"
"Whatsa matter Granger," Pansy grinned, "did you honestly think you would have the same moral standards as a nasty death eater girl like myself"
"PANSY!" Draco snapped at her. "Enough! Save the tough guy act for someone else, no one here is buying it."
She shut up, but flashed Granger a Cheshire cat grin every time they made eye contact.
Potter began grudgingly explaining that they had been tasked with tracking down random objects, called Horcruxes that Lord Voldemort had created in order to preserve his soul. Thus, he could never die as long as the objects existed. It was dark magic, something Pansy had always been fascinated by, to create a Horcrux. One had to intentionally murder and then performs a complex spell to separate the damaged part of the soul left behind after committing the unforgiveable act.
It occurred to her briefly that it meant her soul was marred already as well.
So far three Horcruxes had been destroyed, and three more were still out in the world somewhere.
"By the way that Bellatrix freaked out when she saw we had Gryffindor's sword, we have reason to believe that she might be keeping one of the Horcruxes in her vault at Gringotts," Granger explained.
"Yeah, and we think it's Helga Hufflepuff's cup," Potter added.
"So…" Draco leaned back against a beached log. "How do we know if it's there for certain?"
Granger and Potter exchanged a look.
"We break into Gringotts and get into the vault, it's the only way to be sure," Granger said.
"Y'know, Pansy and I know a lot about how pureblood vaults work," Draco drawled. "Pansy really knows her stuff when it comes to old spells and curses, and I know how to get to the vault and how to get past the Goblins."
They all looked at her.
"Yeah, I always fantasized about being a curse breaker," she mumbled, embarrassed, "I'm good at that kind of stuff."
"Dark magic," Granger sniffed. Pansy ignored her.
"So what do you say Potter, do you want our help or not?"
"Hermione," Harry turned to her, "I don't really think we have a choice."
AN: And so the hunt carries on.
Thank you everyone for sticking with me! I'm glad that you have found something you like in our messed up little friend. Some of the details have been changed to fit the story line, but I work hard in my research to keep it as true to the original plot as possible. Of course, everyone experiences situations slightly different, so it's only natural for Pansy to have different vantage points and reactions to things that Harry may have not noticed or cared about. I think this gives a nice outside opinion.
Part Two will start popping up very soon.
I love you for reading, -O.