Author: Lash_Larue
Title: "Eventual Envelopment" Chapter 11 21
Pairing: Jean/Pansy
Rating: R
Warning * After- effects of traumatic events
Word Count:2740
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling
A/N: Not quite puppies and kittens, but decisions are made.
"Eventual Envelopment"
Chapter Eleven
"Surfacing"
Bertram dropped us off at home, and I thanked him sincerely. Jean thanked him as well, but she was clearly mortified.
"Think nothing of it, Miss. You were the victim of an assault, and you merely defended yourself. Quite capably, I might add. Should you wish to pursue legal action against your assailant, Her Gr-" he coughed to cover the slip, and apologized to me with his eyes. "Her grandmother's, that is of course to say, Pansy's grandmother's, family firm will be pleased to represent you."
"Thank you, but I prefer to put this behind me with all dispatch," Jean said quietly.
"It is of course your decision, but it would be best not to rush to judgment. I have found in my long experience of people that it is never wise to rush to judgment, especially when it comes to people. Good evening ladies, it has been my pleasure to be of some small service."
He bowed and got back into the car, which swept majestically away.
We used the private entrance, and I parked her on a sofa.
"Stay right here, promise?" She nodded. There was no shadow in her eyes now, they were just blank, and I was frightened. I hurried into my bath, which was bigger than hers and had a tub as well as a large shower. Usually I just used the taps, but I was in a rush so I used magic to fill it with hot water and soothing bath salts. I hurried back to her.
"Come on," I said, holding out my hand, and she took it and came with me wordlessly. She just stood staring at the tub, so I undressed her and helped her into it. She sat still while I tended to her cut lip. She was stiff, like a doll you could pose by bending its joints.
Her skin was as soft as I recalled, and I knelt by the tub and rubbed her back, hoping to get her to relax a little. Perhaps I should have given her privacy this time, but I was afraid to leave her alone. I turned on the jets and continued to rub her back, and after several long minutes I could feel her relaxing a little, and her eyes slowly came back into focus.
Here she was, the woman of my dreams, naked in my tub, and I was rubbing her back in the steaming air of the bath.
I had never been less aroused in my life.
Then the tears filled her eyes and spilled over, running down her face, and a furrow appeared on her forehead, and then her chin started quivering and she was weeping, and I pulled her head to my shoulder and held her while making stupid noises that were intended to be soothing.
She felt good in my arms; she felt like home, like she was mine, but I knew better, and I cried some too.
Finally the crying stopped, and she sniffed and scrubbed her arm across her nose like a little kid.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," I replied.
"May I rinse off in your shower?" she asked me.
"Of course."
"You can watch, if you like," she said, and there was the faintest ghost of a smile on her lips.
"Thanks, I'd love to." I tried a smile as well, and I doubt that it was any better than hers, but she was talking and moving and making jokes, so things were getting better, I hoped. I turned on the shower and gave her my arm to steady herself, but she had no trouble getting out, and she stood up straight in the shower and just let the hot water pour over her for a while.
I had a towel ready for her when she stepped out, and a nice thick robe for after that. She wrapped her hair in the towel and did the turban thing.
"I'll start supper while you shower, if you like," she offered.
I was still nervous about leaving her alone, but she was a grown woman and I felt fortunate that she had let me do as much for her as she had. Besides, I couldn't watch her forever.
Furthermore, I stunk. "The sweat of fear", is a very real thing.
"Thanks Jean, I'll just be a minute here." I started peeling off my clothes, and I was ashamed to realize that a part of me hoped that she would stay to watch me, that she would want to, but she just walked away without a backward glance.
I didn't linger, even though the shower felt really good, but I did take time to put on a pair of soft pants and a jumper. My hair dries pretty fast, so I had just toweled it off and let it hang.
Jean was busy in the kitchen when I got there, still in the robe.
"I can take over if you want to change," I offered, "what's next to be done?"
"I thought a lamb stew might be good, sort of comfort food, and these vegetables want cutting up. I'll be right back," she said. Again I felt the stab of fear, because for all I knew she had a little bottle of her own somewhere. But I just said "sure", and cut up the vegetables. When I was done I opened a really good Bordeaux so that it could breathe a bit.
"Thanks," she said when she returned, "I put your robe and towel in the chute."
I nodded, I had actually hoped that she wouldn't do that, because - nevermind.
She put the stew together and set it to cooking. I had wondered if she might use magic to speed it up, but she didn't. She just sat down at her usual place and sipped her wine for a few minutes.
"Obviously I can't keep carrying on as I have been," she said calmly. "If not for you I'd still be in that horrid jail. You're a very good friend, Pansy."
"So are you," I returned, and she snorted, but said nothing.
"Where is a time-turner when you need one?" she said wistfully after a while.
"We can't go back, Jean, only forward."
"So it would seem. Do you know where you're going?"
"Not clearly, no. I'm pants at most things, and thanks to my grandmother I can do pretty much what I want, but that gets old after a while." I shrugged.
"I think I know what I'd like to do, now that it's too late to do it," she said.
"What's that?"
"I'd like to be a dentist, like my parents."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Okay," I said, and she stared.
"Pansy, even if I would let you do it, no amount of money can change my education. A string of "O's" on my NEWT's is not going to get me into King's College, where my parents went. I'd have to start from scratch, and I'm afraid that I could not stand to live through another round of teenage hormones and angst with a bunch of kids. I've enough of both still, all on my own , as you well know, even though I'm no teenager." She took a slightly larger sip of wine.
"Do you think that you're the only witch or wizard who ever wanted to return to the Muggle world, Jean? It happens, especially with people of the so-called "upper" classes. My grandmother did it, she was a Muggleborn witch. 'Pure blood' is mostly a fiction."
"Your grandmother? You gave me hell for being a mudblood when your own grandmother was a Muggleborn?" she asked. I was glad to see her liven up a little, even if she was angry with me.
"I didn't know that when I started school, and then I tried not to believe it. I never said that I wasn't fucked up, Jean. I've got my full share of insecurities, fears, and problems, as you well know. Everybody does, I've seen it in the way they act, the look in their eyes. The men and the women we fuck, they're not so different from us, really. I lucked into money, and you're the smartest witch in the world, and look at us," I shrugged.
"Point taken. What do I need to do?"
"I'll start things rolling tomorrow, tonight we need to eat that stew, drink some wine, and start to figure out where we're headed. I mean apart from you attending King's College," I said.
"I almost believe you."
We made that bottle last until the stew was ready, and it tasted good and settled warmly inside of us, and it did help the hollow feeling a bit. I caught her head when she slumped at the table and then levitated her to her bed and tucked her in.
I hesitated, but after the other things I'd done, this wasn't really so bad, and I really needed to do it, so I softly kissed her forehead and imagined that she smiled.
Granger wasn't the only one in this flat who knew how to slip someone a sleeping potion.
XXXXX
She had breakfast ready for me that next morning too, and it was all that I could do not to take her in my arms and hold her forever.
She had been through hell, and she still got up to fix my fucking breakfast. She also didn't mention the sleeping potion, if she even realized I had done that.
"I need copies of your OWL's and your NEWT's," I told her as we sat and sipped our tea. "I'm fairly sure you have those handy, right?" I tried a smile, and was pleased to see it faintly echoed on her face.
"I think I can find them, yes," she confirmed.
"As I said last night, it is not all that uncommon for a witch to cross over. Officials high up in the Muggle government are aware of our world, and so are many older families. Witches happen, right?" She smiled and nodded.
"So there is a procedure for issuing comparable academic credentials, up to University level. Beyond that you'll have to go the regular route, but you won't have wasted your time, so to speak. And there are certain to be gaps in your knowledge, things that you should know that you might not, and you'll have to work hard to fill those in."
I saw a gleam in her eyes, and my stupid heart started galloping again.
"That's more than I had dared to hope for," she said, and she actually smiled, a real smile that lit up her face.
"It's time for me to call Bertram," I said, and I picked up my phone.
"Should I leave? Do you want privacy?" she asked, making as if to stand.
"No. If you're going to do this you need to know something about how it works. Actually doing it will be easier for you than some, because you are already familiar with that world. But like it or not, politics are going to be involved to some degree. Bertram will handle all of that, but I thought that you should know. Is there anyone at the Ministry of Magic that you would use as a reference?"
"Certainly not the Minister... Harry, I suppose, and Arthur Weasley... no, better not list Arthur, not after Ron. Griselda Marchbanks, I think she's still there," she supplied.
"Harry will be enough, the people who will review this know him. We'll use McGonagall and Flitwick from Hogwarts, anyone else?" I asked her.
"Professor Vector and Madame Pince, and Madame Pomfrey."
"Great, I'll throw in Sprout, too, but I'll leave Trelawney and Dobbin out of it."
"That would be best, yes," she agreed, and the smile peeped through again. "Oh, I should contact them first, just in case. I let Harry know that I was all right a few days after I moved in, but I haven't communicated with him since. I asked him not to owl me."
"There will be time, you can start your messages now and we'll post them from Diagon Alley. Your transcripts will go by Muggle post, and it will take a few days for things to be processed. Have owl post sent to you care of me, I have arrangements for that. I'm sorry I didn't mention it sooner."
"I didn't need it before," she said with a shrug.
I dialed Bertram's firm.
"Pansy Parkinson for Bertram Winters, please," I told the person answering the phone. It did not take long.
"Pansy, always a pleasure, how may we be of service? I do trust that things are well with your friend?"
"Getting better, Bertram, and thank you again for your help."
"It is my honor to serve, ma'am."
"Could you handle a crossover for me?" I asked.
"Certainly, ma'am, that's part of my job, to be sure. Dare I hope that..."
"Dare to hope anything you like, but this one is for my friend Jean. Her scores are top-drawer, straight firsts on her NEWT's, and her references are impeccable," I promised him.
"That's good to hear, makes my job easier. And the field of interest?"
"Dentistry, King's College."
"Very well, I shall set things in motion. I trust that you recall what I require in the way of documentation?"
"I think so, since you send me a monthly letter reminding me, to say nothing of the odd missive from Uncle Winston."
"We all do live in hope, Mistress Pansy," he confessed.
"Well you can stop that for good and all, Bertram," I said emphatically.
" I see... well I can't pretend that I am not disap-"
"You'll get my documents too, Bertram, it's time for me to look into it," I interrupted. There was a thick moment of silence on the line, then -
" Huzzah, Your Grace! Your Uncle shall be thrilled, as am I, of course," he practically screamed.
"Hang on, Bertram, you know better than anyone that that's not yet proper address, and this is just between us for now. I have much to learn, and to consider, and much may happen. Let's not get Uncle Winston excited until I'm certain and we know I can be confirmed," I cautioned.
"As you wish, ma'am, and please pardon my enthusiasm, but your grandmother had no doubts at all on the subject, nor do I. I eagerly await your post, and my very best regards to your lovely friend."
I could hear him bellowing for his assistants before the phone hit the cradle.
"Is everything all right?" Jean asked. "I could hear him clear over here."
"Yes, he's just happy to help."
"Did I understand that you are crossing over as well? Do I have the term right?" she asked.
"Yes to both. My uncle has been sort of looking out for things since my grandmother died, but it is really time for me to take over some family obligations. I'll have a fair bit to learn, but as I have a feeling that this place is going to turn into a library pretty soon anyway, I might as well fit in."
"That's great! It will be such fun!" she exclaimed happily. That girl did love to learn.
XXXXX
We ordered lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and Tom seemed pleased to see us.
"The food isn't as good as our pub back home," Jean said, sniffing at something on her fork.
"We'll go to Ananda's this evening. Leave it, Tom will serve it to someone else, and we'll be helping his profit margin. I'll leave him a good tip."
Jean assumed that I was kidding. I knew better, as did Tom, who whistled as he carried the plates back to the kitchen.
There were some surprised looks as we walked to the Owl Office, carefully avoiding Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but no one spoke to us and we were back home well before dinner.
We spent the time before dinner on the terrace, just relaxing.
It was all I could do not to reach over and take her hand.
Dinner was excellent, and we were both wrung out by the time we got home. I watched her wash up and brush her teeth, and it might have been me she smiled at before she cut off her lights and crawled into bed.
It was her that I dreamed of though, and that was certain.
