Pansy open Grimmauld's front door to find Draco.

"I bought pastries," he grinned.

"Chocolate, I'm sure," Pansy said, as she took his wool coat and hung it on the coat stand by the door.

"Filled with and covered in, just how I like them, and some boring creme ones for you."

"You're so thoughtful," she teased as she led him to the kitchen. "I've got tea made," she said. "Thanks for coming over."

"You gave me an excuse to let Astoria host her sister and mother without my interference," he told her, sitting down at the table.

"So it really was not a problem for you, you're saying," Pansy said with a grin.

"And I wanted to talk with you about the other night," he said, pulling out a chocolate-covered confection from the bakery bag.

"I did warn you," Pansy said, grabbing her own pastry from Draco's bag.

"You did," he said, licking some errant chocolate from the side of his thumb. "I was just thinking that maybe a dinner ambush wasn't the best way to go about our reintroduction," Draco said.

Pansy sighed. "I know."

Draco moved to touch the hand she was resting on her napkin. "It doesn't mean I'm not willing to try again, though."

"I'm glad," Pansy said, squeezing Draco's hand in return.

"What about today?" Draco asked, taking another bite which left a trail of chocolate ganache across his upper lip.

"He's not up yet, I don't think. I'm not sure what he's up to…" Pansy said, as Harry entered the kitchen, door swinging behind him.

"Uh, hi," Harry said, running a hand through his bedhead.

"Good morning, Harry," Pansy said.

Draco stood up and offered his hand to Harry. "Morning, Potter."

"Malfoy," Harry said as he shook it for a moment before turning to grab a mug out of the cupboard. "Early for you to be in my kitchen."

"I came to see Pansy," Draco told him, pushing the bakery bag in Harry's direction. "Breakfast if you want it. And I was hoping to talk to you too."

Harry stood with his back against the counter and a full mug in hand. He eyed the bag of pastries before looking back at Draco. "About what?" Harry asked, as he took the seat next to Pansy and moved to reach into the bag. "Thanks," he added, tipping the pastry towards Draco before taking a bite.

"I know we didn't have the most...productive conversation the other night," Draco began.

Harry shrugged.

"I was hoping you'd be amenable to trying again," Draco said.

"I don't know why you want to talk about feelings with me so badly, Malfoy," Harry said, while flaking apart the layers of pastry on his plate.

"I was actually hoping you might come flying with me," Draco offered. "I just got the new Nimbus and the latest Cleansweep and was thinking we could have a go."

Pansy saw Harry's spine straighten and his shoulders roll back. "Both models?" he asked. "Where do you fly?"

"On the Manor grounds," Draco said, brushing the crumbs off his jumper with his napkin. "I'm sure we could find somewhere else if that's a problem."

Harry hesitated, looking over at Pansy, before turning to Draco and shaking his head. "No, that's not a problem. I'll come fly with you," he said. "It's been a long time since I have," Harry admitted.

"Then I look forward to catching many snitches in front of you today," Draco smiled.

Harry smirked. "In your dreams, Malfoy," Harry said. "Let me go get my gear and floo Hermione to say I won't be coming over." He drained his tea and set the mug in the sink. "Ten minutes," he said as he went to leave the room.

After the door swung closed, Draco turned to Pansy with a smug grin she'd seen on his face thousands of times since their childhood. "You're not the only one with skills, my friend," he told her.

"I'm impressed," Pansy said. "Just make sure to return him in one piece," she said, taking the last swig of her tea. "And, you know, if the serious stuff comes up, don't push him too hard. Don't be a ponce."

"Yes, mother," Draco replied, before grabbing her hand again. "You know I know."

"All too well," she said, patting his hand on hers. "Draco...thank you."

"Wouldn't be here without you, love."

"Me either," Pansy returned, gripping his hand even tighter.


Harry found Pansy in the back garden, illuminated in the dark by the lights from the house, when he returned home from flying with Draco, windswept and flushed and smiling. It made Pansy's stomach clench and her heart hurt and she quickly looked away to spot Axel meandering around near the fence.

"I wanted to ask you something," Harry said. "It's…"

"What is it, Harry?" Pansy looked up at him, the waves of her hair falling from under her knit cap.

"I...uh...wanted to ask you if you would…"

"Oh my god, no happy endings, Harry! I am your healer!"

"No!" he interrupted. "No, god."

Pansy raised her eyebrow at Harry.

"You've been sleeping with me," he said.

"Because you've been pulling me down and holding me to you when you wake up with nightmares, yes," and Pansy crossed her arms, against the cold or the weight of the conversation, she wasn't sure.

"Right," Harry said. "But...uhm...the thing is, is I don't know if you've noticed, but when you do, I don't have nightmares. I can actually just...sleep."

"Yeah," Pansy admitted softly, meeting his eyes. "I've noticed."

"Could you...would you mind...I mean…" he paused to collect himself. "Thinking about you sleeping with me keeps me from thinking about how to get more dreamless sleep," Harry admitted. "I was hoping you'd be okay with...continuing. To sleep in my bed. On purpose. Every night, for the rest of the month," he said and then quickly looked away. Pansy watched his eyes searching for Axel in the bushes.

She considered his request, what it had taken for him to ask her, and that he seemed oddly bolstered after his day with Draco. He watched her with his green eyes more open to her than she'd seen them. The healer in her knew the proper answer, but what fell out of her lips was, "Yes. Yeah, I suppose that would be okay. Since it works."

Harry looked momentarily pleased, and Pansy's stomach clenched. She knew, knew so deeply in her bones, that she was in trouble.

"I'm going to tell you again, I recommend you find a mind healer, Harry. Living with you is making it fucking hard to be objective in the way a mind healer really needs to be, especially now, if we're going to be in the same bed every night...So just, please, Harry. Find someone else to work with, too."

"I'm thinking about it."

"Thank you," Pansy said.

"Draco told me how much it helped."

Pansy tried to shutter the surprise from her face before responding. "Yes, it really did," she said before pausing. "I'm...going to bring Axel in and go get ready for bed, then."

"Okay."

"I still want to continue the touch treatments, though. You're not getting out of them."

Harry smiled, and bumped her with his shoulder. "I was hoping you'd say that," he said before calling for Axel to follow them in. He opened the back door and gestured for Pansy to enter ahead of them, the scampering crup getting underfoot as they walked through the door. "I'll see you soon, then," Harry said.

"Soon," Pansy replied, pulling the cap off her head as she watched Harry and Axel climb the stairs ahead of her.


A/N: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, as always! Just a quick note about tomorrow's chapter, it will either be posted much earlier than normal, or much later, due to some real life stuff (who schedules an office holiday party on a Monday?!). Anyway, THANK YOU!