"I don't pray for love. I want something honest and passionate. I don't think those things exist anymore." - Pansy to Gerry as she worked on her glass.

For the second time in her life, Pansy found herself in her home kitchen surrounded by her guards. Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Neville joined them. They watched her with curious and rapt eyes—her guards concerned for her safety while the others were waiting for the next piece of the puzzle.

Except Neville.

He seemed furious, except he kept it contained by remaining completely still, arms crossed and teeth clenched. Watching her every move with golden eyes that didn't blink. She should have felt like a lamb caught in the sights of a great wolf.

It should have unnerved her. But strangely, with him there, it made her feel rather brave. Brave enough that she reached out and opened the flap of the plain brown package with slow, steady movements. Gerry and Harry both cleared it.

She didn't have to worry about another curse. But she and Stella both expected something unpleasant. And they were right. Within the medium sized brown box was a still of her, sitting in the front garden of Longbottom Keep with Draco... and Neville, who had a giant red X marked through his face.

She handed it to him with a sad look—guess their plan hadn't worked as well as they thought it would.

The next picture was one of Draco, sitting in his office chair, a pinched look on his face as he read something from his work desk. He too had an X over his face.

Both were upsetting and had Mattie smacking her gum extra loudly.

But the third picture made Pansy cry out in both frustration and terror.

It was Wayne's family. Him, his wife, and their baby Elise, taking a stroll in what looked like a friendly park. The red drawn on the photo somehow more garish than the others, as if whoever marked the picture pressed in extra hard. With trembling fingers she held it out to him, an apology already forming.

"Found it on the edge of your property, boss," Gerry informed in his stiff tone. Which sounded more clipped than usual.

"They didn't want to take the chance of getting captured like the last one did," Harry said. "So they left it where it would surely be found with minimal risk of getting caught."

She barely heard what they said. It didn't matter that she hired her guards for this very reason, to protect her from the cult that was now stalking her in addition to all the harassment. Because of Pansy, Wayne's family was in danger. His adorable little girl was in danger. She wouldn't stand for it.

"You're all fired," she sputtered out, face heated. "I'll pay your wages until you find new employment. I'm sorry this has happened."

Mattie slapped her hand on the marble of the kitchen island. "Don't start any of your dramatic blubbering, Parkinson."

"Don't speak to me that way, Mattie. Do as I say. No one is getting hurt. Not because of me."

"No offense, Ms. Pansy," Wayne started in his soft, smooth voice. "But this is our job and we've had this conversation once before already. It's a risky job, we all knew that signin' on."

That boy is hands down my favorite, Stella swooned in her head and Pansy suddenly had the image of trees covered in Spanish Moss and a big, white plantation house lit up in the night. His voice reminds me of home.

Home? She wanted to know more about where Stella came from… but her guards had to come first. Pansy turned to Neville and tapped the gold and silver chain around his wrist.

"We have to get this taken care of," she told him, referring to Gus and Stella.

"I understand," he responded, though his mouth barely moved.

The man was absolutely enraged.

God Bless that man. I change my mind! He is hands down my favorite, exceptin' Gus of course. Granted, I don't much care for having to wait to be with my husband...

"Of course you don't," Pansy mumbled with an eye roll. At least Stella could manage to get her mind off the fact that an entire Cult was threatening all the people she loved. She never thought she would want to go back to the way things were before. To the hateful mail and malicious albeit random packages. At least then she was their only target.

She turned to Draco. "Are you angry with me?"

"Like I would admit to that in a room full of people who would kill for you," he replied, eyeing up Neville at her side. Though he was most certainly speaking of her guards… right? "Oh don't fret, Pans, no I am not mad at you."

"That does bring up an interesting question though," Hermione interrupted. "Why haven't the Brotherhood of the Chosen come after you, Draco?"

The man looked positively shocked when the witch said his first name. But he recovered quickly.

"They popped up immediately following the Dark Lord's defeat, but in small numbers with limited funding," he explained. "Pansy made an easy target. Her father died in the fighting. She had no other family to rely on and no money to investigate further, whereas even then my father still had plenty of wealth and power to snuff them out should the insects have come crawling."

"It seems they are swarming now," she said, unable to help the tremble in her voice. It happened whenever her late Father was brought up. His body had been found floating in the Black Lake a few days after the final battle at Hogwarts, and no one knew how he died.

Most likely a Killing Curse, as there was never any physical evidence to prove otherwise. And who wanted to investigate the death of one of the Dark Lord's supporters. The good guys won, her father died. End of story.

What little money he left to Pansy had been later used to hire Gerry. And buy a whole lot of glass and paints.

"Here's what we're going to do," she continued, shoving all thoughts of her Papa in the past, where they belonged. "Gerry will stay with Wayne and his family. I need you to be safe and two of you will handle any intruders better than one."

"And what about you?" Gerry asked, sounding as if he already didn't approve of her plan.

"Mattie will come with me to Longbottom Keep. No one will stay here until we find a reliable Warder to protect the property." She turned to Neville. "Is that alright with you?"

Except he looked just as unhappy as all her guards did. He looked between her and Mattie, and finally decided not to argue. "Whatever it takes you make you feel safe."

Wayne kissed her cheek gently, "Don't worry about us, Ms. Pansy. If anyone makes a move, we'll be there. And we'll get them. I promise."

Gerry didn't say a word and left with Wayne without even a glance in her direction, which, if she were being honest, hurt her feelings. What could she have done to inspire the silent treatment? And from Gerry of all people? Her first guard. The one she'd known the longest.

But Neville broke through her confused thoughts. "You said money wasn't an issue, what is taking so long to get find a Warder?"

That question he directed at Draco, who previously had taken up the task. "Ah, well," the man looked at everyone besides Pansy and Mattie. "The few qualified enough to provide adequate enough wards refuse to do it."

"What for?" Neville nearly shouted.

Draco's eyes turned to Pansy, but she only nodded in understanding. "It's fine, I'll find someone," she insisted. Used to such treatment.

"Wait, what's the problem?" Harry asked before Neville could shout again.

"None of you seem to grasp the reality of Pansy's situation," Draco told them in a stern voice. "The Brotherhood of the Chosen may be on the extreme side, but they aren't the only ones who believe she should be exiled for her role in the war."

"'Role in the war'?" Neville asked, each word pointed and frankly, a little hostile. "What role?"

He turned on her, deciding not to deal with Draco anymore. Suddenly, he seemed twice as tall when all his energy was focused on her. And scary. Way scarier than an army of Mallards or a bloodlusted cult. She took a step back involuntarily when he said, "What did you do during the war?"

"Uh," she stumbled into the kitchen sink, which just made him angrier. She leaned back as he leaned in. The move made it seem like they were the only two in the kitchen, their friends forgotten.

"C'mon! Tell me!" he demanded, so heated she couldn't help but wonder why? The disruption to his life? Or to hers...? They'd been spending all their time together recently. Neville wasn't the kind of man who got angry with women and took it out on them. But his anger was a passionate thing she couldn't ignore, and she decided then that it wasn't due to the inconvenience on his life.

But to hers.

"You want the easy answer or the real answer?" she asked, happy to find she didn't feel afraid of Neville anymore. Not truly. It might be the ghosts, but the knowledge that he would never hurt her was bone deep. He would never hunt her.

"Real. Always real," he said, dead serious.

"I hid in my dorm room like a scared mouse! There. Happy? You think people are mad because I 'sold out' Harry? No! They're mad because I didn't do anything to help. I didn't revolt, I didn't fight in the battle. While other students were taking up arms and joining the battle fearlessly, I stumbled under pressure and spoke in fear. I fucked up, okay?!" she shouted.

"So what are you gonna do about it then?!" he shouted right back at her. "Keep hiding in your house and make jam the rest of your life?"

"No!" she pushed at his chest, breathing hard. Why did he always manage to get under her skin? "I'm going to go and figure out a solution to my problems!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

They separated, upset and huffy, and turned to see everyone staring at them in awe.