A/N: I don't own Harry Potter
Warning: contains mentions of bigotry, prejudice
Word Count: 934
Pansy had at first thought she was imagining things. The crying at night seemed to disappear as suddenly as it started. Once she had almost gotten out of bed to investigate, but instead the sound had seemingly vanished. Pansy had chalked it up to a weird dream and gone back to sleep. Tonight, she was sure she heard it again, this time, she raised her head, listening closer than she had ever listened to anything before.
There was someone crying, but she could tell it wasn't coming from her dorm. It was echoing down the pipes that lead to the lake. Pansy grabbed her robe, slid it on over her pyjamas and slipped out of the girls' dorm. The common room was empty. The sound was fainter here, being further from the pipes.
She debated going back to her bed, but part of her knew she had to find out who was crying. Someone might be hurt! Pansy knew she didn't really care if someone was hurt, well, maybe a little if not to make it worse. She'd heard the things they said about her. They said she didn't care about anything or anyone, save Draco Malfoy.
They said she was stupid, that she only cared about money and status. That might have been true once upon a time, before the Dark Lord had risen to power. She still pretended those things mattered, she had to. It was nothing more than a matter of survival.
Pansy knew if anyone found out the truth about her, about her family, about her real deep dark secret, they would use it against her. Pansy hadn't seen her sister in nearly ten years. Ori had been different from birth, never crying, never interacting with the family the way she should. Pansy had been six when Ori was born, a mistake, her father had said. Ori didn't have magic.
They waited and waited for it manifest. It never did, at least not by the time Ori was seven. By that point, it was clear she wasn't ever going to be the same as everyone else. She did things different, didn't speak, twirled her hands in strange ways.
Pansy had loved Ori, that was part of the reason her family had waited until Pansy was away at Hogwarts to rid themselves of the girl. Pansy didn't know what had happened to Ori, no one would tell her anything, only that it was no longer a problem, that the blood line taint would never be discovered.
That was the moment Pansy's heart had become hard. That was the moment she had stopped caring about anyone or anything. Everything, everyone, she cared about disappeared, vanished. She'd thought throwing herself at Draco would change that, he didn't care about her, she didn't care about him, but he'd tossed her aside in the end.
Pansy pulled herself from these thoughts as she continued to follow the sound, the faint echo of someone crying. The sound finally started to increase in volume. Pansy hurried, hoping to catch the person before they stopped their midnight sobbing.
She had finally reached the source, an abandoned classroom. The door was ajar and Pansy took a deep breath before gently nudging it open. She didn't want to frighten the person inside. She didn't want to have them think she was a threat. She wasn't. She wasn't even sure why she's followed the sound this far, she decided to blame it on curiosity.
Sitting in the corner of the classroom, knees folded to her chest, her arms were wrapped around herself. Pansy was sure she'd never seen this girl before.
"Hello?" she called softly, not sure how to act. She wasn't the sort that people found comforting. They always found her brown eyes too full of malice, her smirky smile not caring. She couldn't help how she looked. The girl raised her head, looking towards Pansy.
"Um, hi? I'm sorry? I can leave?" she whispered, scampering to her feet. Pansy shook her head and slowly crossed the room.
"Don't, I heard you crying, and I wanted... I wanted to make sure you were alright. I'm Pansy," she stated, looking at the girl's robes. They were decorated in black and yellow. The girl must have been sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Astoria. I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone could hear me."
Pansy sat down on the floor next to the girl. Something about her reminded her of Ori, maybe it was how young she looked, maybe it was her red rimmed eyes, or the quirky little missing stripe on her left eyebrow.
"Why are you crying?"
"I... I'm cursed, apparently. It skipped so many generations, it manifested in me. I'm doomed and they don't want a doomed child," Astoria stated, wringing her hands slightly. Pansy's eyes watched her movements, so similar to ones she'd seen Ori make. Rage boiled in her chest. Her family had abandoned Ori for being different and here, this girl, maybe the same as Ori, was facing the same thing. She gently wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.
"I'm here, I'm not leaving because you're doomed," Pansy stated, the urge to protect this girl growing stronger. Yes, she was a sixth year Slytherin. Yes, this girl was everything she was supposed to despise, but she knew right now, right here, Astoria was in her protection. She hadn't been there to save Ori, but she would keep Astoria safe, no matter what.
"Really?" Astoria asked, curling against Pansy.
"Really," Pansy vowed, holding Astoria as the exhausted girl fell asleep leaning against her, finally having found someone who cared.
