HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE DEAREST PTWRITESMORE! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Y'all need to check her out, she's a fantastic author and beyond talented: PTwritesmore on ao3
I won't waffle on too much here because I have done an all-nighter here and coherent words are more of a concept than reality. But here is a plunny that happened and literally had a life of its own. I was merely along for the ride.
Thank you to Canttouchthis and Amarillis39 for alphabeting this and providing some sanity on this journey.
Also, y'all need to check out Canttouchthis's art, who provided the banner for this fic, another b'day gift to PT. Check her out on IG and Tumblr.
I don't believe there are any triggers with this, however, if you see any, please let me know and I will amend this.
Without further ado, grab a snack and enjoy!
The Deal
Time is a tricky little thing. In one breath, it's long, winding, never-ending. In the other, it passes in the blink of an eye.
That was the thing about time that most of the 'great philosophers' espoused, but never quite understood. For all their theorising and navel-gazing about the concept of 'infinity' or 'forever', for all their wondering about substance and 'giving life purpose and meaning', none of them ever really came close to truly understanding the gravity of time.
To be mortal is to be transient. A breath in the wind.
To be mortal was to be in a race against life, to experience - to feel.
Time is the meaning to life, and in turn, life is the purpose of time. Without time, life is meaningless.
When time holds no framework upon one's existence, then life loses its urgency. Experience loses its potency. There's no race, no imperative need to experience everything. Just the next day: again and again and again - repeat infinitum.
And so, it stands to reason that the curse of everlasting, unending time is incessant boredom.
Pansy sighed, lifting her espresso cup to her lips as she watched a woman in too high shoes for her too thin ankles, wobble too wildly down the path of the Senne.
After all the years of living amongst humans, their impetuously frivolous nature never failed to amaze her. They were brash, wild and uncivilised at the best of times, arrogant beyond all measure. And their wizarding population was worse! Give a human a pointy stick and show them how to create some pretty lights, and all of a sudden they'll think they're Gods.
Big G - not little.
Of course, there were some humans that didn't make Pansy's skin crawl with their brutish presence. They used to be known as the Hen Berthynas. In the more caustic modern day tongue, they were known as Old Kin. Those humans had been true kindred spirits with Gaia, who had breathed as Old Mother did, whose heartbeat in time with the pulse of the land beneath their feet.
Except their numbers had long gone, killed by steel and flame. Now, it was rare to find one whose light still shone from within, who didn't leech from the energy of the world to power their own soul.
But she had her suspicions.
Pansy sighed, laying her cup down on the table. She flicked her hair from her face to avoid it whipping into her lipstick and adjusted her sunglasses.
Granted, living - existing - was more peaceful in these modern times. There was less full-scale invasion and more global passive-aggressiveness. The last time Pansy had donned her armour, she had fought alongside the last tribe of Old Kin - a settlement in the very North of Norway, hidden away, sheltered by the mountains and impossible weather conditions.
And yet they'd still come. Marching, shoulder to shoulder, their swords gleaming, their mouths salivating for bloodshed.
She and Theodore had really come to blows that day. He had taken their game too far. For some reason, he had decided to take the side of the Romans, fancying himself a Commander of their Legion.
It had taken them four centuries to speak again.
A further two for Pansy to forgive him.
Her eyes narrowed as she spotted his familiar prowling gait, sauntering down the path coming towards her. Theo flashed his crooked smile at a passing group of elderly women who fluttered and clucked, their hands waving wildly as they tittered away, bumping into one another as he passed by.
Pansy's twitched a perfectly shaped brow.
Their kind had lived among humans for centuries now; the lines between their world blurred beyond recognition, and yet they had remained an untold truth - an obvious shadow caught only out the corner of an eye. Every few centuries or so, one of their kind would raise the age-old argument of why remain in the shadows when they were the ones with power? The same arguments that had brought the darling wizarding world to its knees twice in the past century. But the simple fact of the matter was that every time Pansy's kind did, it wasn't as simple as a war - an argument over ideals and politics. No, that was fun for Pansy and her brethren, hence they had co-opted every war, battle, skirmish and invasion for the last a thousand years.
No, the problem was, whenever Pansy's world showed its true colours, a new religion was born, thus complicating further, an already complicated world.
And so when Theo slipped his glamour, letting a peak of his true form shine through, beguiling the poor human's fragile, shallow hearts, Pansy wanted to grab the nearest object and throw it at his head.
"Bonjour," Theo said, his silken voice curled the french exquisitely as he slipped into the seat opposite Pansy. A woman on the nearby table missed her mouth entirely and poured a slosh of white wine down her chin as she gawped at him.
Pansy pursed her lips as she reached into her handbag to retrieve her cigarettes.
"Are you horny or bored?" she asked, sparking the long, thin cigarette that she held delicately between her painted lips.
"I'll take whatever's on the menu," he quipped with a smirk.
Pansy held his stare, unamused.
Theo tutted. "Both." He swiped a hand down his face and ruffled his hair. He glanced around at the cafe, his blue eyes glittering mischievously. "So, why are we here?"
Pansy sighed the burnt smoke through her nose, shrugging nonchalantly. "I stopped here the other day whilst shopping, they have good coffee."
Theo's eyes narrowed slightly but he remained silent. He tipped his head and settled back into his seat - the picture of aloof.
But Pansy knew better.
She had known this man for a millennia or more after all.
While his long form was relaxed, the ease of posture was practised, precise. He slowly surveyed the area, taking in every detail. Out of the two of them, Theodore had always been the hunter in the forest, the sniper in the clocktower.
And just as she knew him, he knew her.
He knew that Pansy didn't have favourite haunts in the human world. The places that she frequented were embedded in her history, not in carbon grey and plastic.
Theo shifted in his seat, meeting Pansy's eyes across the table.
"What else is good on the menu?" he asked, his silken voice was laced with a razors-edge.
The corner of Pansy's lip twitched. "Their pastries are rather divine."
Theo's eyes darkened with the storm that built within him. He laughed low, a rumble of thunder. "Been a while since you played coy, Pantelis."
Pansy crossed her legs, ignoring his pointed look. Theo scoffed softly and hooked an arm over the back of his seat, lounging as if the wicker chair was a throne.
Pansy smelt her before she came into view. The same intoxicating blend of earth and sunshine, of crushed jasmine and freshwater. Pansy fought to remain passive, lest she give any indication to Theo, whose shrewd focus watched her closely.
"Bonjour, que puis-je vous servir?"
Pansy's heart fluttered at the husky tones of the blonde's french.
Theo's eyes widened a fraction as he locked his gaze with Pansy before flicking to the waitress.
"Lavender Brown," he said with lyrical surprise, a feline smirk twisting his lips. Pansy rolled her eyes at him. "How the devil are you?"
Pansy lifted her head in time to see Lavender's handsome features harden as she looked up from the notepad.
"Oh," was all she said, taking a steady breath before reinforcing the cold smile of a salesperson to her pouty lips. "What can I get for you both?"
Her false cheer and wilful attempt to ignore their history, grated Pansy's nerves. The obvious tension between them was uncomfortable enough, without her faux-friendliness. She knew this had been a bad idea, but she hadn't been able to keep away, which was exactly why she had called Theodore. There was just something about Lavender Brown. There always had been.
When Pansy and Theo had opted to try out Hogwart for the third time, to see what was new in the wizarding world, they had never realised what a surprisingly fun little jaunt that would turn out to be. It had not been the first time that Pansy and Theo had opted to be on the same side. The whole exercise had simply meant to be a break from the fae and the politicking. And so they had glamoured themselves for years to age with the rest of their cohort.
It had been fun at first, whimsical and full of innocence that only human children possessed. But fortuitously, as the daily grind had started to err on the side of banal, the delightfully entertaining Voldemort and his gang of merry Death Eaters reared their heads once again. At that point, Theo and Pansy had opted to stay, to see it through, to play a part on the side that they chose, to see where the die they cast fell. After it was done and the dust had settled, they'd agreed to disappear, as they usually did after one of these things.
But somewhere along the way, the little girl with perfect blonde ringlets had caught Pansy's eye. Of course, at that point, Pansy had had no interest in the human child. They had passed in the corridor in their first year with Lavender not giving her a second glance. But Pansy had caught a taste of something. She'd never quite been able to put a name to it, and with each passing calendar, it had grown stronger, torturing the tip of Pansy's tongue, tickling the senses in her memory. She'd never managed to figure out what it was, and then after the war, she concluded that she never would as Lavender disappeared from her life once more.
Until a couple of days prior when Pansy had been on the hunt for the perfect Louboutins to accompany her dress, and the familiar tickle on her tongue had pulled her into the quaint cafe.
"Cappuccino and another espresso for this one, yeah?" Theo said, raising a brow in Pansy's direction. She nodded curtly, her stomach twisting as she watched Theo slip his glamour a little bit more, and turn his dazzling smile to Lavender.
The blonde sniffed impetuously as she made a note in the raggedy book in her hands, before glancing between them once again.
"Anything else?"
Theo's smirk grew as his eyes twinkled with amusement.
"No," Pansy said, cutting his focus. She turned to Lavender, her own lips lifting in a foreign way. "That will be all, thank you."
Lavender raised her chin in a curious blend of acknowledgement and defiance before moving past them, her hips swaying hypnotically as she slipped between the tables.
Pansy kept her eyes down, trying to prolong the silence just a moment more.
"Well," Theo purred, "Little Miss Brown got a little bit delicious."
Pansy's made her face the perfect blank mask, schooling her features as she met his eyes, even while her heart pattered as frantic staccato in her chest. She didn't know what it was about this human girl whose presence had teased her, taunted her for all these years.
"You are a dog," Pansy drawled, tapping her cigarette into the ashtray. Theo cocked his head, his eyes flashing with interest. She didn't move, knowing his eagle focus watched for any crack in the lies they both knew she spun.
Where Theo was a force of power and skill, Pansy had had to adapt over the years just to beat him. When they were young, he had teased her incessantly for her bleeding heart. He was a child of the Night Court and so had never understood the inherent longing of connection that came with the Spring Court's magic.
A thousand years or so later, the prejudice between the Fae Courts had worsened as the world hardened. And as Gaia slowly withered and soured through invasions and industrial revolutions, so too did the Spring Court's magic. Pansy's magic.
For the last few centuries, the predominant power had lain with the Night Court. The lack of morality, the hedonistic bacchanals, the blood-soaked earth that lay beneath their feet after every skirmish, scuffle and war - it all fed into the magic that flowed through Theo's veins.
The last vestige of hope for the Spring Court had died the day that Theo had stubbornly led that damned Roman legion through the Scandinavian tundra.
The cruelty of human politicking paled in comparison to the Fae, where one Court would amputate another through genocide, only to leave them limp along for the next thousand years, powerless to watch their world - their heart, burn.
The Spring Court - Pansy - had had to adapt to survive in a dying world; their last connection to Gaia gone. She and her kin had learned to spin their tales, weaving stories into every breath they took. The fact that humans lived in the security that fae could not lie, was in fact a lie told and perpetuated by the Court of Spring. They had only survived through their Machiavellian ways, spinning untruths to trap their enemies.
It was the only slight advantage Pansy had had over Theo in the last century or two. Pansy was a veritable ice queen, which lent to the facade. However, being so close to the mystery of Lavender Brown had ignited something within her. She felt unruffled, off-kilter.
And Theo was a predator, hunting his prey.
"You may think me a dog," he sighed dramatically with a flippant gesture, "but I'll have her on her knees by the end of the week."
Pansy's chest tightened as she forced out a laugh that sounded dead to her own ears. "You can't be serious."
"Oh I'm serious." Theo's words were like velvet as his blue gaze bore into hers. "Why? You think me not capable? When have I ever failed to get anyone into bed?"
Which is exactly the point that left a sour taste on Pansy's tongue, though she would never acknowledge it aloud.
"She was one of the righteous ones if you remember dear? Potter and his lackeys. We're just…" She twirled a manicured nail, searching for the word.
Theo raised a brow, his smirk growing to a dangerous grin."The bad guys?"
"Precisely." Pansy sat back in her seat, an air of victory surrounding her.
Theo watched her, his dark eyes searching hers until he eventually spoke his soft words: "And when has that ever stopped me before?"
Pansy's breath caught in her throat. He straightened, his eyes alight as a shadow encroached on their table.
"Cappuccino," Lavender snipped, placing the cup and saucer in front of Theo. "Espresso." She placed the tiny cup in front of Pansy, her eyes never lifting from her task.
Pansy felt the blood in her veins sing as she tasted that thing once again; that indescribable, ineffable mystery that had grown with the curious girl before her.
"Tell me," Theo drawled; his glamour slipped just a little more, giving him an intoxicating glow in the midafternoon sun. Lavender paused and turned to him, a look of patient expectancy on her face. Pansy drained the last of her old Espresso in favour of the new one.
"I'm new to Paris, haven't really been here before, and Pans here is busy from now until the end of time." He threw a dismissive flick of the hand in her direction. Pansy bit the inside of her cheek. "Would you be willing to show me around?"
Pansy rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly as her stomach twisted in knots.
"Leave the girl alone," she tutted, throwing Lavender an apologetic look. "You should probably run before he starts getting really out of control - he's never been good at controlling himself around pretty blondes," Pansy continued, ignoring the indignant squawk from the other side of the table. Lavender's plump lips parted, a look of mild surprise overtaking her flushed appearance. Pansy's mouth went dry at the faint blush that disappeared beneath the strained neckline of her white shirt.
Lavender straightened as she tipped her head, spun on her heel and made a hasty retreat.
"Interesting."
Pansy didn't bother to acknowledge Theo as she reached for another cigarette.
"When was the last time you made a play for the same target as me?" He placed his elbows upon the table and leant into her space. The air around him was thick with his magic, wrapping him in a blanket of heady seduction and poison.
It tickled Pansy's nose, making her want to sneeze.
She shrugged. "I wasn't making a play for her, besides," she said, pouring all of her royal superiority into her enunciation. "You're really barking up the wrong tree there. She's not going to go for you."
Theo ran his teeth over his lip, flashing his sharpened canines. Pansy felt hers sharpen in response.
"So you think you stand more of a chance than I then?" he said.
"I did no-"
"Oh, but you did," Theo sang. "In the space between your words and in every line of your body, you did Pantelis."
Pansy sucked her teeth, blowing blue smoke from her nose. "Well, what of it then Theocles? "
He chuckled and took a sip of his coffee. "That's actually not bad."
"I wasn't lying when I said the coffee was good," Pansy groused.
Theo tipped his head in acknowledgement. "I propose a game."
Pansy's brows rose high on her head. It was only customary amongst their kind to wager a game when they were choosing the flag they would skirmish under.
"A game? What for?"
Theo's feline grin set her on edge. "All is fair in love and war - is it not?"
Pansy's stomach dropped. "She is not a thing to be bartered over," she hissed, leaning forward into his space.
"Fine," he shrugged, picking at the invisible lint on his jacket. "Don't challenge me and leave her all to me. I'm more than hap-"
"Fuck you," Pansy snapped.
She couldn't leave Lavender, the mystery wrapped in blonde curls, to the devil sat across from her. The poor thing wouldn't last five minutes with him.
No. She had to save her from him.
"Name your terms," she sighed.
Theo barked a laugh that rang over the courtyard. Pansy rolled her eyes.
"One week. If neither of us succeeds by the seventh night, we call it quits and leave the girl alone." He cocked his head to the side and ran a long finger across the table in a coquettish manner. " But, if one of us does succeed in getting Little Miss Brown to willingly get to her knees, then the other must not interfere."
Fire.
A tempestuous fire ignited in Pansy's chest. How dare he assume that Lavender was anything to be bargained over, that he could even win her over at all - let alone in a week.
No. Pansy would spend the next week monitoring him, making sure he behaved himself and acted like a respectable gentleman for once in his forsaken life.
She smiled serenely and held her hand out across the table.
"Deal."
The Strawberry
A Parisian midsummer afternoon was the epitome of 'debonair'. The streets were full of people, strolling across the cobbled paths, their eyes shielded by darkened glasses; their limbs loose, their clothes bright. Walking down the Champ-Élysées was more of an exercise in people-watching and window-shopping than a journey with purpose.
Pansy paused at a patisserie to marvel at the pretty little cakes as she caught a melted drip of her gelato. Human art was considerably different to fae; they saw the world through different senses - duller senses. And yet, Pansy had come to appreciate the beauty of it for what it was. Such as the same with their cuisine; the care and attention they put into their foods, eeking out every last favour they could sense upon their lacking tongues was as admirable as it was impressive.
But Pansy had always had a soft spot for their desserts. She couldn't say why; she had dined at royal banquets thousands of times in her lifetimes, indulged on bread and cheese platters, sorted and made from her homeland's resources, taste exploding upon her tongue with even the blandest of bites.
But there was something comforting in knowing that someone had taken their precious limited time in perfecting something as transient as Mille-Feuille.
"Morning." Theo's shadow blocked the glare on the glass as he stood beside her.
"Evening," she replied before catching another drip with her tongue. Theo bent forward at the waist, almost pressing his face against the glass.
"Whatcha up to?" His voice low with preoccupation as he scanned the pastries and desserts.
Pansy nibbled slightly at the cone to get more access. "Eating ice cream. You?"
He popped his lips and leant forward, focusing intently on the display. "Trying to figure out how they make the fruits so shiny on the cakes."
She eyed him from the corner of her eye. His chinos were tailored, like his shirt - light and summery. Handsome and in-offensive. Safe. His hair casually coiffed, his stubbled jaw newly shaven. Pansy rolled her eyes. Theo preferred darker colours, 'easier to hide the stains' he'd always said lewdly when she'd try her quarter-century review of his wardrobe.
Except for when he was trying to beguile a certain doe-eyed blonde apparently. He looked everything he was the opposite too.
Of course, Pansy had been stalking the Champs-Élysées all day, knowing this would be the route that Theo would take to get to Lavender's cafe.
And of course, he would have guessed that she'd be there.
This was his display-of-arms, his war drum - so to speak. He was showing Pansy exactly what Lavender would see: a handsome Prince Charming. Contrite, humble - he'd probably go so far as to apologise without expectation for forgiveness for whatever reason she held against them.
The war. She winced slightly, mentally reprimanding herself. War is a big thing to a mortal life.
"Anyway," Theo said, straightening with a sigh. He turned to her, the entirety of his devilish aura, trapped in the blue of his eyes. "Best be off. You uh -" his gaze followed her tongue around the gelato - "enjoy your ice cream."
Pansy twitched a brow in response and ignored the way he brushed against her as he passed. Her skin prickled at the trace of his dark magic that he'd slipped onto her. She forced herself not to move, to continue eating her ice cream.
"Have a good afternoon now!" Theo called over his shoulder, a mocking tone to his words.
Pansy focused on the ice cream as his magic crept further over her skin. A cantrip, nothing serious ( thankfully) . She felt that darkness slip under her skin like black satin in her veins. Within seconds, her stomach flipped, choking her throat with her gag. She bit down on her tongue as she cursed him, threw aside the last of her gelato and hightailed it in the opposite direction, toward the hypothecary she had seen earlier.
Pansy popped the last of the fermented Mugwart down the side of her teeth and sucked, grimacing against the overwhelming flavour. Fifty yards down the road, Theo flipped through a book that he certainly hadn't had earlier. He had loosened his glamour to the point that Pansy could see his dark magic ripple in the afternoon sun. He looked every bit like a naughty secret, all light and golden with an air of sin and seduction about him.
She tutted and checked her mental tally as another person slipped off the nearby curb, too distracted with staring at him.
She swallowed the Mugwort and took a sip of the herbal tea she'd ordered from the quaint cafe that acted as her lookout spot. She nearly choked as she watched Lavender duck out from the cafe, her steps stuttering the closer she got to Theo.
Pansy's heart thumped once. She clamped her jaw and tightened her grip on the flowery porcelain teacup.
Lavender's hair bounced like waves of liquid gold in the sunlight, her natural glow seemed to pour from every inch of her. She didn't know what it was about this girl that made her so… so…
Theo looked up as Lavender stopped at his table, a crooked smile already on his lips. Pansy watched as Lavender faltered, her delicate fingers coming to the edge of her shirt in a nervous habit.
Pansy had only ever experienced jealousy once in her long life, when she had been very, very young - not into her third decade - when everyone else had been offered the opportunity to hunt, to attend the Spring Rite. Everyone but her. They had said it was because of her innocence, but at the time, the betrayal had burned through her veins like acid.
Which is why it took a second or two to recognise the feeling now, as she watched Theo lean back, using every trick in the book to make Lavender fall further under his spell, whilst she sat there in the shadows, smelling like an off-putting combination of Mugwort and perfume.
She hissed and surveyed the area. He had drawn the battle lines. He had set the terms. He had played to type and struck first.
All is fair in love and war.
A tall woman in a flowing red dress was stalking down the pavement, her long auburn hair hung down her back, swaying with the motion of her rounded hips.
She'll do.
"Aieneith." Pansy felt the glimmer of olde whisper from her lips, pulling energy from the world as the magic wrapped around the woman. Her strident steps faltered and she fluttered her luscious lashes. Her pouted lips parted as the spell took hold, and Pansy crooked a finger. The woman straightened, beguiled by the spell.
"That man," she highlighted the target with a dab of the spell, "that is Theo. He is yours. He is your fiance. You have been engaged for six months, together for eighteen." The woman blinked, her eyes darkening as the magic took hold. Pansy continued, "He wants to introduce you to his friend, Lavender Brown. They went to school together."
The woman nodded and straightened, and flicked her hair over her shoulder, a serene smile playing across her lips.
"In fifteen minutes, you will be released from this to go about your day." Pansy made a crossing in the air, sealing the knot of the spell. "I thank you." She dipped her head to the woman and to the magic that bound her and sat back, watching in wicked glee as the woman drew closer and closer to her mark.
The look of surprise that dawned over Theo's face was delicious. The woman trailed a possessive hand over his shoulder, a warm smile on her face as she turned to greet Lavender, who was blinking awake from her stupor. A pretty pink blush tinted her cheeks as she demurely accepted the woman's hand in introduction. Within seconds, Lavender excused herself and ducked back inside the cafe.
Pansy drained the last of her tea and picked up the plastic cartons that contained a selection of the pastries and cakes that she'd bought in a moment of self-pity when Theo's magic had railed against her. She meandered through the ambling Parisians, who strolled beneath the shivering trees that lined the pavement.
Theo's expression had gone from delightedly confused to annoyed in a matter of moments. The woman was chatting away, running a hand through his hair, as he turned his hunter eyes to the area. The aura around him had darkened as if swallowing the summer air.
Pansy grinned. The woman had now taken to tugging his arm, jovially urging him to go with her on whatever errand she had in mind. Theo's eyes narrowed as he finally spotted Pansy, who crossed the street to join them.
"Lovely to see you both," she said warmly. The air rippled with the satiny magic of Theo's temper, a low rumble running through his chest.
"Fiance? Really?" He stood from his chair, ignoring the woman as she wrapped her hands around his arm. Pansy snickered.
"What did you even do to her?" he asked, looking at her with a mix of clinical concern and annoyance. "Is this ours or that Imperious bollocks?"
"Just bound her to a temporary string of fate." She popped her trays on his table. "It'll loosen soon."
Theo rolled his eyes. "A tad overkill don't you think?"
Pansy smirked. "I was enjoying that ice cream," she offered by way of explanation. "She'll be confused when the magic lets her go, so until then, I suggest you keep an eye on her."
Theo huffed and turned, stalking past the woman, who skipped to catch up with him after uttering a hurried goodbye.
Pansy tilted her head and watched the pair leave. The spell wouldn't have affected the woman's personality. She did seem genuinely sweet, carrying with her a warmth that seemed to offset Theo's rough-edges.
In another life, maybe.
She settled into the now-vacated seat and picked up the tattered book that Theo had left behind. The Milk Bowl of Feathers . She snorted, glancing at the worn spine. He'd lifted it from someone's pocket along the way without a doubt. The surrealist movement had never been his forte.
"Oh."
Pansy looked up to see Lavender pause by the table. "Hi," the blonde continued, coming back to herself. A practised smile pulled her lips and she flipped the same tattered notepad open. "What can I get for you?"
Pansy suppressed a sigh and ordered the same list of drinks she had the past couple of times she had been there: an espresso, a pot of tea and a glass of ice-cold water. Lavender nodded, turned, and promptly disappeared back into the cafe.
She arranged the cakes before her, admiring the glazed sheen on the strawberries that decorated the tart. It wasn't at all that Pansy believed she stood any chance of winning this whole ridiculous farce of a 'war', but she knew that she couldn't stand to let Theo 'win'.
"Here you are."
Lavender began to gently place the drinks upon the table. Pansy hurried to make room for her, shifting the containers.
"I've always wanted to try Laduree," she said, nodding to the cartons. "Everything there just looks so scrumptious."
Pansy smiled hesitantly, her tongue heavy with nerves and distracted by the tang of whatever Lavender's mystery draw was. She reached forward, selecting the strawberry monstrosity of sugar, pastry and cream and held it out.
"Then you'll have to tell me if it tastes how you imagine it to."
Lavender glanced from the carton to Pansy and back, her eyes widening.
"Right," she said, cautiously reaching for the carton. She held Pansy's gaze and the world stopped. It was as if all the background murmur of the leisure of the Parisian afternoon had just frozen, waiting.
Pansy swallowed and tried to rearrange her features into something friendly, an alien task for her.
"Are you sure?" Lavender continued.
"Of course," Pansy said, gently pushing the carton into the blonde's hands. "Enjoy."
She felt the corner of her lips twitch into a smile, mirroring Lavender's shy look at her. With a quiet thanks, she turned and left, holding the carton as if it were precious.
The world started once more, the twittering of the birds and the hush of conversation came rushing back into focus, jolting Pansy from her trance. Her heart fluttered an unfamiliar pattern in her chest, and she gulped to steady her breathing. With fingers that felt like jelly, she reached for the water and allowed the icy liquid to temper fire in her veins.
The Gambit
Pansy stopped at Laduree again. She took her time choosing a wider selection, from glazed fruit tarts to desserts that quite frankly looked more like works of art than food. She made a note to get a selection of their dark chocolate desserts; Theo had only deigned to speak to her with chocolate covered lips, after finishing the last one, following his whirlwind engagement.
Ladened with desserts, she left the quaint store and started towards Lavender's cafe. The sky was overcast; the grey of the oppressive clouds seeped into the old buildings, adding to a generally grey existence. The air was cloying, thick with a storm ready to break.
Pansy rounded the corner, turning onto the cafe's street and stopped.
Ahead, Theo was in place outside the cafe, running his hands through his hair as he spoke. Lavender sat opposite.
Disbelief was her general feeling, as her feet took her forward. Surely there was a reasonable explanation. It felt like she floated towards them in a daze, her brow fighting to furrow with every step. As she got closer, she noticed the tense lines of Theo's shoulders, the sympathetic tilt of Lavender's head.
The fuck is he up to?
"Morning," she said, announcing herself to them. Lavender started, flicking a hesitant glance up at her. Theo turned, a smirk growing on his lips.
"Evening," he purred.
The pause of quietude teetered on awkwardness as Pansy looked between the two. She distinctly felt like she was interrupting. Lavender looked around as if searching for something to break the growing tension, a look of guilt upon her face.
She began to rise from her chair. "I should-"
Shit, Pansy could feel Theo's triumph. If Lavender left now, whatever they had been discussing would remain their secret - a bond between them.
"Stay," Pansy blurted. Theo straightened in his seat, looking between them. Pansy ignored him and continued, "I didn't mean for you to feel like you needed to leave. Of course, you're welcome to join us." She attempted to push her lips into a friendly smile. "Besides, I have more cake."
Lavender stilled, her eyes darting between Theo, Pansy and the plastic containers she held in her hands.
"If you're sure," she said hesitantly, sitting back in her seat. Pansy nodded reassuringly and placed the containers on the table before pointedly pulling up a chair to sit between them.
"Sorry," Pansy said, turning to Lavender. She felt like she had finally found her feet once again as she gently slapped Theo's questing hand from the cakes. "What did I interrupt? You two looked so into your conversation."
"I was just telling Lavender about my situation," Theo said, reaching again for the containers. Pansy made a questioning noise as she gestured to Lavender to help herself.
"I was telling Lav about the predicament of my engagement."
Pansy froze while she indulgently watched Lavender peer thoughtfully at the cakes.
"Pardon?" Pansy blinked slowly, turning to Theo to see the Cheshire glint to his eyes that hid amongst the mask of innocence.
"It's okay Pans," he said softly. "You don't need to keep on, I told Lav about the arrangement."
"It's awful," Lavender said as she reached for a particularly fabulous cake. "Truly evil for his father to bind the marriage contract to the estate."
Pansy felt herself nod ridgely, as she watched the lie unfold in front of her. Theo would play the part of the tortured soul, luring Lavender into a false sense of security. He'd place the forbidden love card, telling her he'll throw away his estate for her.
Sacrifice.
"Yes, it's a truly heinous ploy isn't it," Pansy said in a clipped tone. Lavender nodded enthusiastically before plopping the strawberry slice from her cake into her mouth.
Particularly Blind
Over the next couple of days, she watched as Lavender slowly warmed to Theo. Her smile became a little wider when she saw him, her eyes lighting up just a little more. Pansy could see the girl beginning to show genuine affection towards him, and she was at a loss about what to do.
On the one hand, she knew it was their deal, their competition that had led them into this predicament. So she sabotaged where she could. Conjuring rainstorms over their brunches, sending cantrips and curses alike at Theo to distract him and waylay him. She'd even gone so far as to throw him in the Senne on one occasion. Pansy had already been sitting at the cafe waiting, watching him saunter down the path along the riverside, his devil-may-care arrogance in full force. With a twitch of her finger, she'd spurred the easterly winds to buffet him, tripping him over the wall and into the murky water below.
Except he had pulled himself from the water, shirt clinging to him, glamour gone. He'd scraped back his hair and collapsed in the chair opposite her, looking somewhere cross between bedraggled and a wet dream.
Lavender had nearly choked on her tongue.
Poor thing.
Pansy eyed the gathering dark clouds and took another sip of her tea. Today, her sabotage plan had been a pack of dogs. Every stray or domesticated mutt in a two-mile radius had been charmed to hunt him. She smiled again at the thought of him fleeing through the Parisian streets, trying to outrun the mismatched pack of hounds on his tail.
"We're going to be closed in a minute," Lavender said as she came alongside the table. The inadvertent result of the sabotage plan had been that Pansy had had more time to speak with Lavender alone. The blonde hadn't quite warmed to her the way she had to Theo, and Pansy wasn't entirely sure whether that was the effects of the lies and lack of glamour, his apology speech that was more akin to a Shakespearean soliloquy, or just the fact that she didn't like Pansy. And though Pansy still caught Lavender's eyes watching her, the blonde hadn't made any move beyond that to close the chasm between them.
"Of course," Pansy replied inanely, draining the last of her drink. She looked around, realising she was the last person left. She stood and gathered her cups as Lavender leaned in to clear the table. Pansy jolted as their fingers brushed against one another, and jerked back, dropping the crockery with a clatter. Lavender scrunched her nose and tightened her lips as she set about cleaning up the mess. Pansy rushed to help, further knocking aside the cups.
"Stop," Lavender snapped, straightening to meet Pansy's eyes.
A rumble of thunder boomed in the clouds overhead, signalling the clouds to open its deluge upon the world. Lavender squeaked, hunching her shoulders as she gathered the teapot and cup, Pansy grabbed all that was left and they ducked inside.
Pansy placed the crockery on the counter and looked around the little room. The tables were clean and orderly, the chairs stacked, and mop and bucket lay in waiting, propped against the kitchen door.
"Thank you," Lavender said, gathering the dishes. Pansy nodded, looking out the window. The weather was torrential as if it had been holding off for a few days and decided to punish the world because of it.
"You can wait it out here, if you like," Lavender continued. Pansy turned to see her wringing a dishcloth in her hands.
"Thank you, I'd appreciate that."
She watched as the blonde busied herself with wiping down counters and stacking things in cupboards. By the time she had moved on to the fourth table, Pansy could no longer hold it in.
"Why did you take this muggle job?" she said, easing into the wizarding vernacular. Lavender looked up through her curls.
"Seemed like mindless work," she said as she scrubbed at a particularly tough stain.
Pansy frowned. "But why would you want that? Isn't it -"
"Boring? Repetitive? Tiresome?" Lavender said, wringing the cloth out in a bowl of water. "Yes and no. It's hard work but I meet people. People who aren't tainted by the same stuff that taints the people back home." She went back to scrubbing the table. "Besides, it's good for the soul to work."
Pansy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'll take your word on that."
Lavender laughed. "Whatever you say, princess."
Pansy smirked and made a face while Lavender continued her cleaning.
"But why aren't you using magic to do this?" she said, gesturing to the room at large. Lavender glanced around the room and then back to Pansy.
"Because sometimes life isn't just that easy." Though said the words with a smile, the tone of finality in Lavender's voice made Pansy pause.
A witch dismissing her own powers because they made things easy. It was an odd concept, one that spoke volumes of Lavender's attitude towards magic. In school she had been so ditsy, so silly, giggling in the corner with the other girls. But then in quiet moments, Pansy would see how her eyes would light up an enchantment or spell, how she had enjoyed the magic that flowed around them.
And yet, there she stood, scrubbing tables like a Muggle, rejecting the magic that taunted Pansy's tongue. Pansy turned and looked out the window, watching the rain bounce against the pavement. She had always seen Wizarding kind as facetious, shallow creatures, obsessed with their power, lazy and greedy. They were simultaneously some of the very best of humanity and the worst. They lorded magic like a weapon, a tool, a symbol of status over the rest of the world, no matter what way they worded their politics. The fact that they enforced the Statute of Secrecy so rigidly, meant that even though they didn't follow the Madman and his Masked Entourage, they still perceived magic as giving them a differing status from the rest of humanity. An oddity, that only a Being of magic could truly appreciate.
"Why did you do it?" Lavender said in a quiet voice, barely audible over the deafening thrum of rain against the pavement.
Pansy started from her reverie and tore her gaze from the window. "Do what exactly?"
Lavender twirled the dishcloth in her hands, her eyes focused on the movement. Pansy shifted, unsure of the tension in the room.
"That day," Lavender said, her husky voice cracking, "that day when they came." She looked up and Pansy could see the tears that threatened to spill over her lashes. "It was bad enough that they had gathered on the doorstep, threatening to kill us, we didn't need one of our own on the inside turning against us."
Pansy's frown deepened as she tried to sort through her memories to find what the blonde was talking about. There had been many instances of betrayal in Pansy's long existence, times she had been betrayed, others times she had done the betraying.
"I don't -"
Pansy stopped at Lavender's harsh laugh that echoed across the empty room.
"Of course you don't," Lavender spat, her cheeks pricking with colour. Pansy tasted that same mysterious tang that followed Lavender grow stronger, becoming more potent with every second her temper rose.
"Did it really mean that little to you?" She clenched her fist around the wrangled rag. "Did we all mean that little to you, that it was an easy, thoughtless, decision to hand Harry over?!"
Realisation dawned over Pansy like a bucket of ice-cold water being emptied on her head. She remembered the moment and Lavender was right, it had been an easy decision. Pansy knew the side that Theo and she had chosen in that war, the line that they had walked. It had been an easy choice for the role she had played.
But as soon as the war had finished, she'd forgotten the insignificant moment as if it were merely forgetting lines to a play once performed. There had been hundreds of other wars and battles where similar scenarios had happened, and there would be thousands more.
And yet, Pansy looked into the torn face of the human who had captured her fascination for years, more so than any other being had for a long time. She looked at the faint white scar that peaked out of her hairline, covered mostly by the make-up on her cheek.
Pansy swayed slightly and leaned heavily against the counter.
Time. So constant and unending, every second adding another drop in the ocean, every experience adding to the mundane blend of grey. But to a human, whose life was merely just another drop in the ocean, one experience could be everything. It could define everything, shape the rest of their transient life. A small pocket of technicolour time.
"I apologise," Pansy croaked, blinking against her epiphany. This entire week had been a game, a collection of strategies to occupy herself and Theo. In a year, a decade, a century, they wouldn't recall this week. Pansy doubted very much whether Theo would even remember Lavender's name.
Lavender barked a cold laugh, her tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "No, you're not. Don't lie."
Pansy blanched, her heart constricting at the pain in Lavender's voice. "I'm no-"
"Yes you are," the blonde seethed through gritted teeth. She was the picture of fury as she took a step closer. Her magnificent mane of wild blonde curls, framing her as she prowled closer. "You never cared for anything. I watched you throughout school, you never cared about any of us."
Pansy's hackles rose and she straightened from the counter. "That may be true for the most part but not wholly. Watch yourself."
Lavender bristled, the air crackling around her with that powerful hint of familiarity.
"You think you're better than everyone, don't you," she hissed, stabbing an accusatory finger.
"Yes," Pansy said, followed by a cold laugh. "Of course I do."
Lavender tensed further into her fury. "You're not."
"Oh but I am," Pansy purred, taking a step towards her. "I do, however, sincerely apologise for my part in your pain."
Lavender scoffed. "Don't act like you care."
"I may have never cared about the rest of them, Lavender, but as you watched me, I watched you." Pansy took another step, wading into the thicket of the blonde's magic. "I watched you from the very first moment I saw you."
Lavender's eyes widened, her fists clenched at her sides. She stepped back, bumping into the stacked chairs.
"Why?" she stuttered, her breaths quickening. "What are you saying?"
Pansy shrugged nonchalantly as she backed Lavender against the chairs, feeling the pull of The Hunt come over her. "It's always been you, sat on the tip of my tongue, driving me mad for years."
Lavender's lashes fluttered as her lips parted. "Is that why you're here?" she breathed.
"Good heavens no," Pansy replied. "No, if I didn't know better, I'd say this was a rather poignant coincidence." She took another step closer. "But I do know better, and I know that there is no such thing as coincidence. So you tell me, why am I here?"
Lavender's pink tongue flicked out to wet her lips as she glanced around the room. "How in Merlin's name am I supposed to know? You're the one that chose to come here."
Pansy shook her head slightly. "No, it's you. It's always you." Her lips pulled into a smirk as she narrowed her eyes on her prey. "So who are you?"
Lavender swallowed heavily and her magic pulsed with her fear. Again, Pansy's heart clenched, as if seeing her home in the distance after being away for so long.
"I'm just me," Lavender said, her voice wavering as her eyes searched Pansy's. "Just me."
Pansy tilted her head. "Well, 'just me', you're not 'just you', you are everything that came before you, so who, are, you?"
Lavender's frown deepened. "My family the Browns -"
"Ah yes, another pureblood dynasty," Pansy said, tapping a long nail against her chin. "And how far back does your lineage go?"
"A few centuries…" Lavender edged.
"How many?"
"I don'-"
"How many?"
" I said I don't know!"
Pansy scoffed. "Of course, you know, all you pureblood know. You wear your family trees like badges of honour."
Lavender did a double-take, narrowing her eyes at Pansy. "What do you mean, all you purebloods?"
"Stay on topic, how many centuries?"
"No," Lavender said, straightening. "What do you mean, all you purebloods? You're the pureblood princess."
"Yes, I am," Pansy sniffed, "now -"
"So why are you saying it like you're something other?"
Pansy flinched and drew a long steady breath. The way that Lavender's magic wrapped around her, trailing its tendrils like a familiar touch across her skin, beckoning her closer, was heady.
"If you tell me, I'll tell you," she bargained, raising her brow expectantly.
Lavender pursed her lips.
Pansy waited.
Lavender released a deep sigh. "Technically the Brown family has been going for twelve centuries."
"Why technically?" Pansy said.
"Because we've been around longer, just under different names. We were Bruithainn for a couple of centuries and Bro-an before that."
Pansy frowned. "Why?"
Lavender shrugged. "There were a lot of invasions back then. Mother always said it was when we learnt how to hide in plain sight."
And then it clicked.
The familiar. The old. The new.
The magic that stroked lovingly across her skin, that danced on the tip of her tongue.
The magic she had failed to protect from Theo a millennium ago.
The missing breath of Spring.
Hidden in plain sight all this time.
Hen Berthynas. The Spring Court's Old Kin.
"Bro-an as the earth and soil and roots," Pansy muttered in wonder as she traced every detail of Lavender's face. She was more than just a fascination, more than just a game to occupy two old Beings. She was the tipping point, the fulcrum in this long age of soured earth.
She was home.
Pansy reached out a tentative hand, brushing a gentle finger along Lavender's cheek, brushing away the stale tear tracks. Lavender's eyes fluttered closed at the touch; her breath raised goosebumps on Pansy's skin as it skittered across the inside of her wrist.
"I said I was 'other' because I am," Pansy whispered, taking a small step forward. Lavender's only reaction was to meet her gaze, her warm eyes burning with something that Pansy couldn't quite put a name to.
The sound of their breaths was deafening over the thrum of rain outside. Pansy swallowed and wet her lips, her nerves suddenly tingling beneath her skin. It had been a long time since she'd slipped her glamour - years maybe. Like peeling off an old coat, she shook off the magic inch by inch, letting her fae features come through.
Lavender's eyes rounded as a blush crept over her cheeks. Pansy relinquished her hold on her magic, allowing it to roam wild. She felt it brush up against Lavender's, who flinched at the touch. It was a sensation like none other, like two halves becoming whole.
"I have waited for you, for a thousand years," Pansy said, her voice hoarse with emotion. Lavender reached out her hand, mirroring Pansy's touch on her cheek. It was like the early morning sunlight setting ablaze a dewy meadow, the golden light igniting the misty morn.
Pansy's breath caught in her throat at the dual sensation: her magic entwining with Lavender's, her delicate fingers upon her skin.
The call to home was strong, pulling, beckoning her closer still.
Pansy met Lavender's eyes, uncertainty wracking her nerves.
"I watched you too in school," Lavender said; her husky voice was like a balm against the turmoil that raged around them. "You were like a riddle I wanted to solve. You were like a perpetual Winter, waiting to take its first breath."
Pansy's throat tightened and her eyes pricked. She was so close. She had been so close, all this time, hidden in plain sight.
"Then allow me to breathe," Pansy murmured, taking the last step closing the distance between them.
At the first touch of their lips, the world stopped. Nothing existed other than Lavender's soft gasp and a tremble, a decision.
Pansy's heart was in her throat. Their magic was so intensely entwined she couldn't tell where Lavender's ended and hers began. She breathed, filling her burning lungs. She was about to step back when she felt a gentle finger coax under her jaw, tilting her just so. At the adjustment, Lavender parted her lips in a soft sigh and the world came back in a cacophonous roar.
Every nerve ending was on fire as they danced; it was as if a dam had finally been broken. Their magic blended, moulding into one. Pansy stole Lavender's breath, coaxing a moan from her throat with the flick of her tongue. Their movements grew frenetic with need - teeth clashed, hands grabbed.
Pansy felt a pull, low down where a pool of warmth had gathered in her navel. She buried her hand in Lavender's curls, pulled her head aside to trail biting kisses down her jaw. She wanted - she needed! She was starved after so long. Lavender's breathy whimpers filled her ears, as she wrapped her hands around Pansy's waist pulling her closer. Pansy bit down gently on the juncture of her neck as she parted Lavender's thighs with her own.
And still, the pull grew stronger: with every bite, with every lick, with every kiss. It felt like they were pulling in a tide, building the tension with their need.
Pansy wrapped her hand, low around Lavender's hip, greedily needing her curves before pulling her closer, hitching her up her thigh. Pansy nipped her clavicle, relishing in the blonde's gasp before licking up her throat. She pulled Lavender's kissed bruised bottom lip gently between her teeth, smirking at the whine that came with it. Lavender ground down, her hands clawing at Pansy's immoveable form, and yet Pansy held her attention, trapped her, locked in this moment, pulling the tide in further still.
It was only when her own need could no longer take it that she swallowed Lavender's moans, deepening the kiss, taking everything from the witch who had held the tip of her tongue for years. The tide pulled in, the tension taut, trembling with release, until Lavender broke the kiss, throwing her head back, gasping for breath.
Pansy felt the ground beneath her feet tremble and the magic released, pulsating, pushing out into the world.
Lavender's breath stuttered, her fingers clenching tighter and loosening in Pansy's clothes. Pansy smirk softened as she brushed aside a wild curl that had fallen in her face. She could feel in her bones that something had changed. Her magic stretched further, burrowing into the roots and soil like it hadn't in a millennia. Pansy looked down in wonder at the woman in her arms. Lavender's eyes opened slowly, the warmth shining through.
"We still need to talk," she said, her voice rough.
Pansy smiled. "I know."
Lavender nodded. "What now?"
"Now," Pansy said, flexing her magic through the ground, awakening the dormant ley-lines beneath her feet. "Now my dearest Bro-an, we win."
The Dark
Theo cocked his head, angling for a better view. Was he mad that he'd lost? No, not in the slightest. Lavender was a sweet girl, and he would be lying through his teeth if he said that they didn't look good together.
He adjusted his position against the tree, holding his spell in place to keep the rain off his head. Pantiles was always a worthy opponent, and in games like these, her imagination for sabotage made it all the more fun.
Except when dogs were involved. Chihuahuas can go fuck themselves.
His brow quirked and his lips tilted into a smirk as Lavender threw back her head -
He stumbled, thrown back by the power that sliced through him, pushing him to the floor.
Life.
Light.
He hissed as his veins burned, his magic roiling at the invasion.
He bolted up, blinking in astonishment.
It can't be…
He watched Pantelis soften, looking more like her old self than she had in years. She was relaxed, she was glowing, she was -
Powerful.
Theo scented the air, tasting the magic that settled around him and froze.
"Well fuck me," he laughed, recognising the familiar tang of Olde. He felt the drum of war in the distance and grinned at the two figures in the cafe.
"Well played Pantelis, enjoy it while it lasts." Theo brushed himself off and disapparated, heading home to prepare his armies for Spring's return.
...thoughts?
Comments and kudos let me know you're there.
Find me on tumblr ThusAtlas