The days after her departure from the hospital wing were very crucial for her. Almost the whole time, she was busy with her school work. She now sat with the Slytherins during classes but very briefly interacted with anyone. After her continual failure with her portrait, she had abandoned any more practices. One day she when she was revising her notes in the Slytherin common room, she was disturbed by Draco walking in the room door.
He generally came back very late so Pansy usually spent the time in the common room. But today, the room was relatively empty. Pansy was in common room late than usual while Draco had returned early. Not only was he not completely sober, Pansy observed by his swaying limbs, she gathered her notes quietly and was about to go her room noticed. "Pansy" Draco called, his speech slightly slurry and a drunken smile on his face.
Pansy looked around the common room, except a few fifth years no one was around. Even Blaise and Theo had gone to bed a few minutes before. "Pansy" Draco called again as he acclaimed the chair in front of the fire. Pansy was still rooted on her spot. Draco signaled her to come and sit with her near the fire with a half smile.
Pansy felt no compassion for the man, at last this was what she told herself when she placed her notes on the table and turned towards him. "Pans! How are you?" Draco asked her. Pansy placed an emotionless mask on her face and went to sit on a chair placed on the other corner of the fire. "I am fine Draco." She replied. She would have been angered by his drunken stupid-ness on a school night but right now she felt nothing for whatever he did anymore.
"Oh Pansy" he said and stood up from his own chair and occupied the one close to her. Pansy was becoming annoyed by his repeated use of her name. "I want to talk to you Pansy." he said in a slightly loud voice. "I want to tell you something. Pansy. Pansy will you talk to me?" he said leaning towards her chair.
" I can hear you just fine Draco. " she said shifting in her chair" " What do you want to talk about"? she inquired hoping that this fiasco would be over soon. "It's about Hermione" he said. Pansy looked up at him to see smile on his face, not the drunken kind but a sweet charming, could light up a room smile. This annoyed her more. "You know Pansy she is so sweet Pansy." he continued ignoring Pansy's annoyed expressions. Draco continued to look into the fire and said, "You know what she is like.?" Pansy watched him step closer to the fire. He was now kneeling near the fireplace.
"She is like these ambers, dazzling and beautiful" Pansy quickly pushed his hand away from the fire. He was trying to pick the amber with his bare hands but Pansy was not quick enough. Draco cursed loudly as his hands burned by the ambers. Pansy huffed at his drunken tactics and held his burned hand. she pulled out her wand and casted a cooling spell on it. Draco was saying "Hermione is just as fierce and I thought…" he looked up at Pansy a crazy glint in his eyes. Pansy saw him transfixed holding his hand in her hand. "I thought I would burn like this if I tried to approach her. But look she had healed me." Draco said.
Pansy looked down at his burned hand. She was the one tending it, like always she was the one taking care of him, waiting for him while he was away far away in his own world, leaving her behind. Tears filled her eyes as she saw the burn on his hand. Draco was still speaking, "She feels so good, so pure. Hermione is salve to my wounds Pansy. She is the one I was waiting for all my life." Pansy's head was dropped down, still watching his hands. But now tears were running down freely from her eyes. She casted a few more healing spells on his hand and helped him up on the sofa.
Draco did not even register tears rolling down from her eyes. He was saying, "Hermione, my love. She is my life." Pansy watched he place his head against the cushion, sleep gripped him. Pansy watched him sleep peacefully muttering about "Mione" once a while as free tears rolled down her cheeks. The common room was empty now but she felt suffocated in there. So she ran.
Pansy gripped her wand tight in her hand and ran from the common room. She ran without considering if anyone would see her. She ran to the other side of the castle and in front of the great wooden doors. She was huffing but the constriction that her heart felt was still too much. She eased out of the small trap door and ran towards the black lake. She ran till her lungs lunged for oxygen. Then she fell on the snow beneath her in a sobbing pile.
She held her head. It felt as if it would burst out any moment. Then she remembered promise that she made to herself and calmed herself down. She would not cry over a boy anymore. She rubbed her cheeks even when new tears were leaking from her eyes. Then she held her wand and stood up facing the lake. "Vocare Glacies" She whispered and a small lump of snow gathered together. "Vocare Glacies" she repeated more strongly this time to see a bigger lump of snow accumulating in the centre on the grounds.
Then she began working on it. She puts charms and spells and complex wand work that she had practiced all summer. She casted spell and after spell. Then applied charms to smooth the edges and make the perfect shaped. She then polished the edges to give it a crystal; shine. She collected more snow and bigger her sculpture grew. It was now almost the height of a small tree. It was vast, it spanned over the area of a large room. She hollowed out the space under it and made the curves glisten.
Then she worked on its upper side to reflect the stars and the moon. After hours, she stepped outside. It shined in the moonlight. She had created another masterpiece. It was a room made of snow with numerous round pillars placed close to each other each ornamented with wild twigs and creepers. The ceiling of the room had hollowed circles that showed the sky outside while the floor had pattern of the waves crashing on the shore of the black like. The whole sculpture gave out the eerie feeling of the snow but still managed to look outstanding.
Pansy enjoyed it for a while then returned to the castle. When she was halfway to the castle, she turned and looked at her ice wonder. "Adolebitque" she said lifting her wand towards it. It was her masterpiece. She made it and it was hers to destroy. She watched as her snow castle burned in blue flames. With the castle, she burned her love for Draco Malfoy.