Part Three. Chapter Twenty-five.
Pansy continued...
The Room of Requirement
"Fancy seeing the two of you in a place like this," Theo sneered cruelly. Pansy flinched at his tone. Theo was always reserved, moody, but this tone…they had been friends.
Draco was nearly pressed up to her from behind.
"What can we do for you boys?" Pansy asked calmly, though inside she was screaming. She feigned nonchalance, as if they were discussing evening plans or school gossip.
"P," Greg mumbled and she glanced at him quickly, her shoulders slumping. "Save the joking for later."
She gazed at her friend. Greg had always been her favorite. He was stable, reliable, loyal…
"I'm sorry I missed your wedding," she blurted and he stiffened, turning red and looking away from her, uncomfortable. "All of you."
"No one missed you," Crabbe snapped at her. "We don't tolerate traitors anymore. The Dark Lord rewards us for our loyalty, we are his favorites now."
"That's a lot of words for someone with very little intelligence," Draco retorted, putting a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "I would watch your tone, if I were you."
"You don't scare me anymore, Malfoy," Crabbe sneered, his dopey eyes surprisingly harsh. "We don't answer to you anymore, we don't answer to no one! The Dark Lord has promised us power, you never let us have anything!"
Theo snarled at that, agreeing. Greg had his hands shoved in his pockets and seemed to be slowly shrinking back.
"Well this has been fun," Pansy edged, taking a step back, forcing Draco to do the same. "but, we had better get going…"
"Drop your wands!" Crabbe ordered them, and Pansy realized they were outnumbered. Draco sighed with irritation and Pansy knew they were stuck. They both had been too relaxed and had left their wands hang limp at their sides. She dropped hers with a clatter, as did Draco. She cursed herself for being so stupid.
"That's it," Theo said grinning. "Now, what is this diadem you were talking about in the hall?" He held them at wand point all the while. Greg was unmoving, not looking at them.
"Dunno what you're talking about," Pansy mumbled.
"We heard you talking about the di-dum," Vinny insisted. "Tell us where it is." He flicked his stubby wand out and brought a pile of junk down behind them, blocking their exit.
"Is there a problem here?" A voice broke the tension. Harry was standing there, wand pointed at Theo.
"Potter! CRUCIO!" Crabbe roared and fired the curse, which Harry deflected. Immediately the two began dueling; Harry was as usual controlled and calculated, but she noticed that Crabbe seemed rather unhinged. He began firing the killing curse at random, with no regard as to where it hit.
Theo turned from Draco and Pansy, trying to stop Crabbe. "STOP! The Dark Lord wants him alive!"
Hermione darted out, her wand pointed, as she moved to crouch beside Harry, who had ducked behind a large trunk when Crabbe was distracted.
"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" Crabbed pushed Theo aside, wrestling for a moment, "but if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff — ?"
He turned back toward Harry and noticed Hermione.
"It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!"
"PROTEGO!" Pansy had her wand back in hand and quickly cast the shield charm that would protect Harry and Hermione. She tackled Draco the ground to protect him from the rebound as well.
Unfortunately, it hit Theo, who was unprepared.
She watched in horror as the boy fell to the ground. Dead.
"Theo!" Crabbe roared. "STUPID TRAITOROUS BITCH!" He held his wand up and a wave of fire came down on the pile of junk blocking their exit. She rolled to the side, barely missing the blaze.
"LIKE IT HOT, SCUM?" Crabbe jeered as the fire grew, consuming every piece of junk in sight. He raised his wand to curse her and Harry struck.
"STUPEFY!"
Crabbe was hit. from behind, which brought him down hard. He lay there, nose crushed, unmoving.
The fire was climbing the wall of junk rapidly, almost consciously, and growing.
Greg bent and began dragging the unconscious man away from the fire as they all retreated.
"He set the whole bloody room on fire!" Draco cried tried to stop it with the auquamenti charm, which gave no luck.
"Fiendfyre," she told Hermione, who frowned. "We can't stop it."
"Get the diadem now," Hermione snapped at Harry, who took off running.
Pansy turned to face Greg.
"Get out of here," she snarled at him.
"P," He reached out a hand to her, "I didn't mean for this…" He grasped in the air, fighting to find the words.
"We were all friends," she hissed at him, "I never forgot that, but apparently you all did."
"You are my friend," he told her quietly.
"If that is so, then take my warning and get out," she said coldly. "You can do the right thing and let us go, too."
Greg looked hurt, but nodded, pulling Crabbe toward the door.
She grabbed Draco and Hermione and they began running in the opposite direction, away from the door, searching for Harry.
She found him, clutching a rounded circular-object, the diadem. He was high up above them, on a tower of chairs. The flames were angrily rushing in around them all, blocking paths.
"CLIMB!" Draco shouted and began climbing a tower of furniture. Hermione and Pansy did the same. Slipping and fumbling up a tower of boxes, she looked down around the room to see almost everything was ablaze with the never ending fire.
They were trapped.
"W-what do we now, Harry?" Draco shouted to him. Harry had his brow furrowed, a look of panic on his face.
"Accio brooms!" Hermione cried and sure enough, three broomsticks soared toward them, relatively unburned.
Hermione climbed on the back of a broom, sitting behind Draco. Pansy and Harry clambered on their own brooms.
"Hurry! Toward the door!" Harry shouted over the roaring flames.
"Look!" She pointed to a tower as they soared over the flames. Harry looked to where she was pointing, and he frowned. Greg was climbing a tower in an effort to escape the fire. Crabbe was pursuing him, trying to grab his legs and pull him down.
"We can't leave him!" Pansy cried and leaned forward, diving toward Greg. Harry swore and followed suit.
"GREG!" Pansy shouted, reaching out a hand to help him, but had to swerve when Crabbe lunged at her. He managed to grab hold of her broom and was forcing her down, his weight too much to keep her aloft. She struggled to remain on the broom as he jerked it, trying to shake her off.
"If I burn, you burn with me, traitor!" He roared.
"LET GO!" Pansy kicked at him repeatedly, finally smashing into his face and shoving him off.
She watched Crabbe fall backwards into the flames.
Shaking, she flew higher, away from the flames, up toward Harry had Goyle with him on the broom.
They kicked it into high gear, racing to reach the doors before the wall of flames enclosed on them. Draco and Hermione screaming at them to get out.
Pansy hit the ground running as she broke through the doorway. She couldn't stop her momentum and tumbled, rolling across the floor.
Harry and Greg landed in a heap behind her.
Pansy rolled over and saw the diadem laying a few feet away from her. They still needed to destroy it.
She lunged toward it and picked it up.
"Pansy-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Hermione shouted as Pansy flicked her wrist, tossing it back through the doorway and into the flames. The fire exploded upon contact, a giant dragon formed in the flames, rising up over them, poised to strike down at them.
"ENOUGH!" Harry roared and forced the doors shut with his wand. There was a loud boom from inside the room, and then nothing.
Immediately, Harry fell, clutching his scar, writhing on the floor.
"It's…destroyed," Harry groaned, eyes squeezed shut in pain, forehead pressed against the carpet. "He's hurt. Bad."
Pansy let out a cry of relief at that and sank back to the floor, breathing heavily beside Draco and Hermione, who were trying to catch their breath as well.
Greg sat against the wall, staring at nothing, as if in shock.
"What's next?" She asked Harry after several moments.
"The snake," Harry said after a moment, glancing at Greg before deciding the boy wasn't a threat any longer.
"Good," Pansy sighed and stood up, brushing ash off of her pants. "I'll leave you lot to it, I have to meet back up with the twins."
"Thanks," Harry said to her, awkwardly. She glanced at him.
"For what?"
"It seems like you always come through for us in the end," he added. She looked away, uncomfortable.
"It's nothing, don't mention it. Really."
"What do we do about…?" Hermione looked at Greg, still sat in the corner.
"I'll handle it," Pansy sighed. She went and knelt beside Greg, who continued staring at the wall.
"Greg…?" She shook the boy, who startled, turning to look at her. "You…okay?"
"Am I a bad person?" He whispered, eyes wide as saucers. "Are…are we—am I on the wrong side? Am I one of the bad guys?"
She sighed, closing her eyes.
"You aren't a bad person," she murmured finally. "I've done worse things than you." She turned to look at him finally, and she noticed his eyes were glittering with unshed tears. "You know that, though, you know what I've done. You always pretended you didn't, but you knew what I did to Gibbon and Freya."
"You aren't evil P," Greg assured her quickly. "I always knew it. You're kind to me, always, everyone else treats me like I'm dumb, well, except you and Millie."
"No, I'm not a very good person," she laughed weakly, "but I'm trying to reform. Be a better friend, stop killing people, even though lately it's kinda been accidental."
"Do-do you think that I can? Reform, I mean?" Greg sighed, leaning his head back against the stone wall, but she could tell he was waiting anxiously for her answer.
"Yes," she reached out and put her hand on his. "I think we all can, if we really, really try. It's hard."
"I want to go home," Greg mumbled, and she thought he sounded like a tired, scared child. "I want to be with Millie, I don't want to be here anymore, I can't face it. My dad is here, too, I can't look at him."
"Go home, Greg," she soothed him, squeezing his hand. "Go home to Millie and tell her I still love her and that I miss her. Go home and be safe," she felt her voice catch in her throat. "I still love you too, you big stupid bear."
He laughed quietly at her old nickname for him.
"Go," she encouraged him and helped him to his feet.
He stuck his hands in his pockets, uncertain.
"Do you forgive me, P?" He asked quietly. "Are we still friends? You me, and Draco?"
"Of course," Draco answered from behind them. They both turned to see the beautiful pale boy smiling sadly at them. "That hasn't changed."
"Good," Greg nodded, soothed. "I hope I see you again."
Pansy hugged him quickly and Draco clapped him on the shoulder. She watched him apparate away with a loud crack as the wards had been destroyed. She almost envied him that he could just wink away, to safety, in the blink of an eye.
However, she changed her mind when she turned to look at her three friends standing there. Bloody, bruised, and burned. Utterly exhausted and in way over their heads, and she knew she couldn't give up, not ever.
"Hey!"
She looked up to see Fred, George, and—
"Charlie!" She breathed in relief as she watched the three brothers walk toward them.
"You're a sight for sore eyes," George grinned.
"Merlin, P, if you were so bored waiting you could have just read a book, you didn't have to set yourself on fire!" Fred nudged her.
"Where are you lot off to?" Charlie asked as he put an arm around her waist, kissing her temple.
She looked to Harry.
"I'm not exactly sure," Harry admitted. "We have to find the snake, and that'll be with Voldemort."
"Not sure where he is," Charlie said.
"Might as well join the fight," Draco said and Hermione nodded slowly, reluctantly. Harry agreed finally as well.
"Can we go with them?" She turned to the three Weasley's.
"It is on the way," Fred said with a smile.
"Right on, lead the way, Harry!" George picked up his rucksack.
"Finally," Charlie whispered in her ear, "I get to watch you in action." His hands traced along her waist and up her sides, and she shivered.
AN: Pansy, still the magnet for death, no matter how hard she tries.
I tentatively think that I am going to finish Part Three within the next five chapters, and then post an epilogue. I admit, I have most of it finished already, it's just the matter of posting it, which has been difficult, because I'll really miss writing for it when it's over.