A/N:... and here's the second. This is just the calm before the storm.
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Misfits.
51- Cold in Hell
"Where did you say Killer was again?" Pansy asked her boyfriend, Draco, as they made their way through the wind and snow to the owlry; letter in his hand, its intended destination the Ministry.
"He's delivering a letter to mum," Draco answered her.
He'd told her earlier, but she'd been a bit distracted since yesterday morning when they'd received the contract that her parents had signed, despite knowing that Pansy was intended for Draco. He had urged her one more time to owl her mum, but she nearly glared him to death at the suggestion. He decided to let her bring that option up, even if Harry and Hermione had urged him to try once more.
So, in the time being, they'd all kept their eyes and ears peeled and listened to hear if they'd heard any rumors while in classes, or at dinner. But nothing came of it, and now it was time for plan B.
"Right," Pansy said, shaking her head. She remembered now. "I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that she's getting better treatment… Now I know why our girl and boy ran around saving people for so many years."
"Bleeding hearts…" Draco said with a smirk.
"It's disgusting…" Pansy replied, with her own smirk.
They laughed.
"But we love those disgusting, bleeding hearts," Draco chimed as they reached the owlry door.
"Indeed," Pansy said with a nod and a smile. "It's not so bad not terrorizing everyone anymore… The peace has been kind of nice. And Lovegood's party was kind of fun!" It really had been fun, especially now that she knew, for bloody sure, that there was something going one between Dean and Seamus. Who stays in a closet for that long? What could two "best friends", who spend every waking- and probably sleeping- moment together, have to say to each other for thirty minutes in an enclosed space?
"It was, and I agree. We at least get to do as we please, now, as long as it's got nothing to do with the Dark side," Draco said as he went to a Snowy owl he decided he liked. Reading the golden plate on the cage, he decided Shirley was a solid name.
"I was never for any side. I inherited that bloody fence sitting from my parents. I just knew that for either side to win there would be a lot of blood-shed… Mostly, I was worried for you, and I didn't want any of it if it meant seeing something bad happen to you. When I heard the report that you were arrested in the mayhem after Harry killed Voldemort, I- I decided that I hated both sides…"
"I'm not surprised, my love. You hate almost everything," Draco responded. While Pansy had been talking, he'd attached the letter, and given Shirley a treat. He ran a finger over her head, and then faced the window. Shirley took her cue, and quit the owlry with a great flap of her wings. He watched her leave, disappearing into the blizzard beyond, and Pansy said,
"Almost. I especially hate whoever sent that contract. You'd think everyone would know that you and I have been under a verbal contract all of these years."
"I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Draco said, turning to her with a small smile. "I'm sorry I didn't send my contract. There was just- so much uncertainty until recently. And though there still is a bit, considering Harry and Hermione, I still know that you and I will be friends forever, like we have been, and that we'll end up together no matter what, like we always have." Pansy smiled at him, and he finished, "When all of this is taken care of, and the person who sent that contract is "taken care of", I'll have Valentino draw up my contract and send it to your parents."
"That's going to strain things at home for a while… I wonder why they'd sign that, even after Christmas holiday!"
"Maybe they signed it beforehand..?" Draco suggested. Over the summer, his family name had been drug into the ground. It wasn't until his release, and therefore his "innocence", was common knowledge, that him and his name rise from the ashes.
"You mean when they thought you weren't getting out of Azkaban?" Draco nodded at his woman's question. "Then they definitely needed to tell us! Arseholes…"
"Maybe they were afraid to. You don't react well to things," Draco said, though he knew a "reaction" was coming… It did.
"What?!" Pansy shrieked, and Draco took the two steps necessary to grab her into a hug before any more words, or fists, could be thrown. But she continued anyway, struggling against him all the while, "If they didn't want me to react poorly to things, they should tell me before it becomes a huge bloody problem!"
"Thanks for proving my point, Madam Squawks-"
"I told you never to call me that!" This new nickname was the one thing about last night she didn't like. She liked to yell when she drank, so what? Finnegan had instigated it all, too!
"- Now it's your turn to deal with your parents. Let's go write them a letter. My bollocks are starting to freeze off, now that I think about it." Pansy stilled in her weak thrashing, and gave him lowered lids as she said,
"I could put them in my mouth and warm them up."
"How you can say that and scowl at the same time is one of the reasons I love you."
"I'm sure…"
Draco let Pansy go as she calmed at his last statement, and he took her hand to lead the way from the owlry, along the walk-way through the storm, and back into the school. From there, he continued to lead her towards their dorm. It was originally planned that they'd go meet up with their Heads before lunch, but Draco wasn't going to let Pansy avoid the subject of her parents now that the ice had been broken. By her, of all people!
"Why are we going to our dorms?" She asked him, though she didn't pull away.
"Come on, Pans. I told you. You're writing your parents and asking them about the contract."
She gave a loud sigh in exasperation, and said, "Fine. But I'm not going back to that owlry today. It's bloody cold. And it's got to be bloody cold if I think so… I'll wait until Killer comes back to send it."
"Fine by me."
They made it to their common room some minutes later, and after Pansy wrote a single sentence note to her mother- which Draco wasn't too impressed by, though he knew the few words would insight a novel length answer from Rose- the blonde pulled his girlfriend into one more hug, saying,
"I hate Valentine's day."
"And you say I hate everything," Pansy laughed at him lightly, before pushing up onto her tip-toes to kiss him. Draco happily returned it, placing his hands on the upper and small of her back, deepening the kiss for good measure, before they pulled away, and Pansy said,
"Let's get to lunch."
Draco grinned back and nodded his agreeance, saying, "Let's."
A/N: I have to mention that the next chapter makes me smile so hard my face almost splits. It's like I'm in Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" music video.
How badly do you want it?
(Cold in Hell)
It's cold in hell
It's cold in hell they say
It's cold in hell in this endless winter
