Quidditch Reserve League, Season 1, Round 1: Relationships

Position: Captain

Prompt: Romance - A pairing of your choice, write something that is romantic between your two characters. It can be as fluffy or as angsty or anywhere in between as you wish it to be, however, be sure that it is romantic.

Word Count: 1,144

In this fic, I wanted to go for an example of romance that doesn't sweep the characters off their feet, but requires consideration and dedication to work.

~End of Author's Notes~

Azkaban was sterile. Its halls were dark, narrow, crafted to exact specifications and maintained by magic. There was not even enough variety to have a cobweb in a corner, something that Pansy was sure contributed to her girlfriend's current slumped state.

"Luna," Pansy called as she stepped up to the parapet that Luna leaned against. Beneath was a vast expanse of churning dark water, the kind that would have denied a quick dip to even the thickest-skinned witches and wizards. "Guess what? I'm finished here."

"Oh, good." Luna didn't pull her gaze away from the depths, but she did hold out a hand in Pansy's direction. It was seized by Pansy's slender fingers and offered a chill in return. "Did you have a nice chat with father?"

"Eh?" Pansy furrowed her brow. "I didn't see your dad."

"Hmm." Luna purse her lips. "Father's hall is a dead-end, and I didn't leave long before you, and there aren't any bathrooms, and I don't think you wanted to visit Humberto McClay You've said many times how much you dislike potters."

"Yeah, but..." Pansy paused, then snorted in amusement. "Good one."

"Thank you." Luna's lips twitched into a smile. "I thought it would distract you from feeling prickly about me figuring out what you were doing."

Pansy pouted, then stopped herself.

"Your dad was nice," she said. "He didn't even hold the whole...thing against me."

"My father is a good man."

"Your friends hold it against me." Pansy felt Luna's hand squeeze hers and it helped the bitterness just a little.

"They're good, too, just differently. And you were, and can be, cruel."

Pansy's first instinct was to bite back, to spit some bile back at the people who weren't even present...but she swallowed it instead.

"I'm trying," Pansy muttered. "Anyway. Don't make this about me! I wanted to do something nice for you, so let me do it already."

"You do?" Luna smiled then, as she turned away from the parapet and gazed into Pansy's eyes. Like that was going to make her less nervy. "Tell me."

"Okay, I will." Pansy straightened out her robe. "I'm going to do it right now."

"Good."

"It is."

Luna gazed at Pansy, who found that her mouth wasn't moving. It was sitting completely still. Funny how that tended to happen, but if she had something mean to say it would have pounced out of her mouth in a second. And...she still wasn't talking, just standing there, thinking introspective thoughts to avoid the weight in her pocket.

"Your nose is going rosy," Luna pointed out. "Would you like to hold hands inside?"

"No! I can do it here!" Pansy huffed. It was perfect, she thought. It was metaphorical or something. "Look, what I want to say is that you're great. You're nicer than most people I've met, and you don't judge me when I say something that's maybe not the nicest thin-"

"Rude. Something rude."

Pansy blew a raspberry at Luna.

"Fine, something rude. And you explain it, and then I can do something about it instead of everyone going oh, look at Pansy, isn't she a bitch?" Pansy paused. "But that's unfair and you can't expect everyone to be patient with you if you're not patient with anyone. Right?"

Luna nodded, her eyes sparkling.

"Right!" Pansy nodded. "And you like things, new things, and you're curious, and you help me with Potions and...all of those things. And you're beautiful, so..." Her chest tightened. "Stupid...heart is doing things, trying to undermine me."

"You can be nervous," Luna said. "It's normal. I was nervous when I was on the trail of the Dire Nargle, although it didn't turn out to be the culprit-"

"Being cute won't make this easier!" Pansy shot Luna a feigned glare. "What I wanna say is that you're great, and I think you like me-"

"I do."

"Good, because..." Pansy retrieved a small box from her robe pocket, flicked it open, and held it out to Luna. Inside was a silver band with an ornate diamond at the front. "I want to marry you."

"Oh..." Luna blinked at the ring, then at Pansy, and pulled the other woman in. They shared a brief kiss, one made slightly less romantic by how chapped their lips were from the cold. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"W-What?" Pansy felt all her old habits rushing to seize her. An insult, anger, a dismissive comment, anything to spite the source of the humiliation batting at her skull.

"I do love you," Luna said, "but we are very young, and you still have some bad habits that would make for a poor marriage. You have a temper, and you're defensive, and I don't think that you really want to get married."

"Yes, I do!" Pansy snapped. "I got a ring! I asked your dad!"

"I think you're worried that you won't have me for long." Luna squeezed the hand that was still in hers and held it to her chest. "I think that you think that you might make a mistake and I'll go, or someone will judge you in a way you think is unfair and convince me to go, or that you have to marry quickly because your parents did and it's proof that you did it right." She hummed for a second. "Actually, I think it's all of those."

Pansy looked at the ring box in her other hand. She wanted to toss it into the sea, watch it get swallowed, to yank her hand away from Luna and run off. But she didn't.

"But...I do love you..." Pansy said through clenched teeth. "I do."

"I know. But getting married might only make your bad habits worse, because you already have my approval, because we'd be married. So let's not do that, and keep doing this instead." Luna used her free hand to touch Pansy's cheek. "Being together, and being happy, and I want to do it for as long as you do."

Pansy listened to the wind, to the crashing waves, and the beating of her heart. She closed the box and slowly put it back into her robe. Then she leaned against Luna and buried her head in the other girl's shoulder.

"Hate you," Pansy muttered.

"Oh?" Luna patted Pansy's head.

"Was trying to be nice...and romantic...and make you feel better about your dad and instead you keep being amazing. Idiot."

Luna smiled and rested her head against Pansy's. Eventually, they heard the door creak, announcing the imminent arrival of other visitors to Azkaban and they had to break apart.

"I'm hungry," Luna said as she retrieved a handkerchief from her sleeve and dabbed away a few of the tears Pansy had shed in their embrace. "Shall we go to the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Urgh, no." Pansy wrinkled her nose. "That place is infested with blibbering humdingers."