Pansy breathed, slowly, in and out.
She'd come up with a blasted plan, just the way Potter had asked.
It didn't need to succeed, she realized, but it needed to be bold.
It needed flash and flare.
She wished she'd been able to bribe the Weasley Twins into being her accomplices. Alas, who of them would listen to Roland Parkinson's daughter? They'd always had flare, and enough cunning to have people asking How'd they do that?
Pansy didn't want to give anyone else credit, either.
This was to be her triumph.
A triumph writ in paisley and polka dots.
But first, she had to test it out. Wouldn't do to have the curse not work on Game Day.
There were few people in Hogwarts that would allow a Slytherin to pull her wand on them. Fewer still that would do so without panicking.
So, it was perhaps fortunate, that Pansy had enough wit to talk with the witless - in this case, Luna Lovegood, a lass of surprising insight and tomfoolery at once.
"Luna, a moment?" Pansy asked.
Luna was outside, braiding poisonous nightshade into a circlet, which she undoubtedly intended to wear. The look would suit her well - belladonna was both a plant of honesty, and deadly poison. It was a keen reminder that Luna's pretense of daftness was just that - a pretense.
"Yes," Luna said with a warm smile.
Pansy envied her that welcoming smile - she'd been just as lonely in Slytherin as Luna had been in Ravenclaw - save Malfoy, who was a friend, but mostly useless when it came to girlish games. Pansy wore knives as presents for those foolish enough to get close, and her tongue was the sharpest of those.
"I was wondering if I could cast a few spells on you?" Pansy asked, daring a thin smile that might have looked more like a smirk. She knew it did not reach her eyes.
"Will they hurt?" Luna asked.
"I don't... believe so." Pansy said, stumbling through the effort to be strictly truthful. She found the words she needed. "I have no wish to hurt you."
"Will they be permanent?" Luna continued.
"No, although I would like to see how long they last." Pansy added the latter, "I will be happy to remove them if you ask."
Luna smiled, "And if I am not able to ask?"
Pansy smiled, a warmer thing than her last, "Then fall over, and I will release you."
Luna smiled, "Will you teach me the spells?"
Pansy said, "Yes, afterwards." By which she meant after she'd used them.
Luna nodded, "Then yes, I will be your practice dummy."
It was hardly more than they'd been doing in the illicit Defense Club (and the other Houses were all fools if they thought Snape didn't know about Defense Club).
"We should go somewhere we won't be seen," Pansy said.
"Oh, yes, very hush hush." Luna said, with a wink. "Forbidden Forest it is. Centaurs and acromantulas and werewolves, oh my!"
Pansy sighed, and said, "So long as they keep quiet, and you do as well."
Luna said, firmly. "I do not betray friends. Mind that you do not betray me, or you'll cease."
Well then, Pansy thought, I knew there was a reason I liked her. Luna Lovegood was always odd, even for a Ravenclaw.
[a/n: Luna makes friends easily because she listens hard. Leave a review?]
