Over the next few years, she gradually met more of her future classmates at various different playdates. There were garden parties at the Malfoys in summer and afternoon teas at the Greengrass estate. The guests changed occasionally, though Mother and Pansy established themselves as regular attendees.
She met a quiet Blaise Zabini at one of them and they shared an interesting conversation about the similarities between Italian and French before Draco had pulled the other boy away.
At another she met the Patil twins. She was a bit surprised to find future non-Slytherins on the guest list but Mother told her later that they were related to Indiant nobility, or something.
Parvati was vivacious and gregarious, smiling freely and openly. Quickly, she was accepted into the group. She was a bright, pretty thing and more than once, Pansy caught the sight of Draco's pink ears as he tugged on one of her braids, teasingly.
Padma on the other hand, was quieter and would clutch at her twin's hand anxiously, almost hiding behind her, but she could grow more animated if coaxed from her shell. Pansy managed to catch her interest when she mentioned liking arithmetic and her brown eyes went golden-bright with excitement. It was positively adorable.
The twins and their Mother didn't join them often, but Pansy enjoyed her conversations with clever Padma when they did.
Pansy had initially thought they would all be exactly the same as their Story-selves.
In hindsight, it seemed foolish, given her own situation, and she couldn't pinpoint exactly why she'd assumed as such, only that she had.
They were children, with bright eyes and soft baby faces. Their personalities did faintly echo what she'd known about them - Draco was a bit arrogant, Greg and Vince did struggle to count to ten - but it was only an echo of the two-dimensional characters she remembered.
Draco was also a chatterbox and had tripped Ernest McMillan up when he mimicked Greg's quiet voice over his shoulder.
Vince was fast at running and good at any sort of physical game Draco came up with.
She found Greg sweet, if a little shy, who followed Draco like a little duckling. His corkscrew curls were a golden blonde and with his chubby cheeks, he came off as cherub-like. All he'd need are wings.
When she's not socialising with her peers or corralling the children away from the Malfoy's thorny rosebeds, she was back in lessons.
Now that she had been introduced to the Afternoon Tea social circle, Mother no longer taught her as much personally. Pansy's working week dropped from five days to four as Thursday's became reserved for joining Mother at social events. Mother only taught her on Tuesdays and Wednesdays now, Embroidery and Geneology, while she hired other tutors for various other topics.
She had Music lessons fortnightly in the Piano Room. German lessons similarly occurred several times a month. One winter she joined the other children in dance lessons in the ballroom at Malfoy Manor, with the addition of the Patil twins and Blaise to even the numbers out. The Italian boy was by far the best of them, graceful for a boy of seven and though she was sure their mothers (or at least Daphne's and her own) would have rathered they danced with the Malfoy heir, none of the girls particularly like having their toes trodden on.
There were French lessons too at Malfoy Manor, with Draco, from a tutor Narcissa hired. Of course, with the way the societal gossip mill ran, it wasn't long before Daphne also joined Pansy in the classroom. Draco had looked put-out to find he was the only boy.
Lady Goyle hired a Herbology Mistress to take them on trips through her gardens. Lady Crabbe, eager not to be outdone, hired a Potions Mistress to teach them cutting techniques and which stirrers to use. Draco hadn't join them in Potion's lessons and when Vincent asked him why, plaintively, the boy crowed about his "Uncle Sev," teaching him how to "bottle death." All the children had looked positively awed, even Daphne. Pansy had to stomp on her own foot to keep from snickering, she was sure almost eight-year-old Draco was not about to put death in a bottle.
With the circle of Pureblood Ladies hiring tutors and offering their homes up for hosting lessons, Mother also started looking at tutors to hire for the group too. She hadn't asked for Pansy's input, of course, and ended up hiring an Ancient Runes Master.
Before the offer was made at the next afternoon tea, Mother had taken her to a locked room she'd never been in before on the second floor - to the Library. It was a large hexagonal room, lined with rows and rows of books that go from the floor up the walls until the shelves met a point where the domed ceiling began. The ceiling itself was a detailed mural of verdant gardens and abundant harvests, ripe fruits glistening like jewels. On one wall there were six tall, narrow windows depicting climbing roses, intertwining red and white blooms between thorny vines.
The Library was easily the most beautiful room in the house.
"I shall give you a key," Mother said, her hand brushing across the grain of a deep mahogany, round study table. "You will take Runic lessons here with the other children. Treat our guests well - call Gilli if you need refreshments, the Lavatory on this level is the next room down." She narrowed her eyes. "I won't let that upstart Greengrass woman keep showing me up - you will greet your peers as they arrive, do not let them wander, keep them to the Library and walk them back to the Atrium after lessons."
"Yes, Mother." Pansy nodded dutifully, and waited a beat to see if there was more. When Mother made no move to speak again, she asked, carefully, "May I visit the Library outside of lessons?"
Mother considered it, looking around the room for a moment. Finally, she nodded. "You may take out one book at a time. The books on the top three shelves are forbidden, you may not take them or ask Gilli to get them for you. Neither may any of the other children." Mother looked down at her, stopping for a moment.
Pansy wondered what she saw. Was it a reflection of Mother's younger self? Was it a strange girl who was too careful and too secretive? Or was it what the woman likely expected - a young girl, cowed by her Mother's treatment and wary of stepping a foot wrong?
Mother watched her closely as she said her next words. "This is your Father's favourite room. He spends most of his time at the Ministry or in his study on the third floor," She said slowly. "But this is your Father's favourite."
Right - her illusive Father. Pansy had almost forgotten about him. She was eight now, nearly nine and she'd still not even caught a glimpse of him, bar the occasional put out cigar in the ashtray on the third floor. He was more ghost to her than real and she wondered if he felt the same. Or if she was even a ghost to him at all.
"You would do well to avoid this place after dinner, regardless," Mother turned on her heel to leave, "Your Father will not suffer the whims of foolish girls."
The other children made no comment on the house's decor when they arrived. Pansy wondered if it looked as drab and unwelcoming to them as it did to her, with its tall ceilings and narrow hallways, grey walls and gilded paintings. They did, however, make awed sounds when they reached the Library, heads tipping back to stare at the mural on the ceiling.
"Your house is cold, Pansy." Draco said, with a bit of shiver as they moved to the table.
Pansy nodded, "Gilli," she called and waited until her friend appeared. "Can you light the fire, please?" She turned back to the other children. "Sorry, I should have done that earlier."
Draco settled into the seat across from her, his back to the windows as the fire flickers to life. "Ah, that's much better."
Blaise took the seat next to her and Daphne slid into the seat between the two boys. Padma took up the last seat on Draco's other side, having somehow convinced her parents to let her join them. Pansy assumed Parvati hadn't been as interested in extra lessons.
"You said 'please'?" The Indian girl mouthed with wide eyes, when the others weren't watching. By Pansy's side, Blaise's quill stopped moving. Pansy answered with a shrug. They could make of it what they would.
The tutor arrived, launching straight into the lesson with gusto and barely contained enthusiasm. He was young and likely not used to teaching eight and nine-year olds, speaking quickly and using long words. Even Pansy could barely keep up and when she chanced a look at the other children, she found eyes glazed over.
Draco lasted about three weeks, before Mother told her he was taking riding lessons instead. Daphne dropped out the week after, looking a bit embarrassed but mentioned her mother wanted her to take more dance lessons. Mother crowed gleefully about it for days afterwards, sharp barbs about Daphne being unable to keep up, though she never mentioned Draco.
Blaise struggled a bit with lessons but joined her and Padma every week without fail. He admitted, after Draco and Daphne had left, that he spoke only Italian at home and struggled a bit with the complicated language Master Hornsby used. Between Padma's well-timed questions to slow the lessons down and Pansy whispering a more simple translation of the tutor's spiel, the three of them kept at it for several more weeks, until they all had a somewhat rudimentary understanding of Runes. Shortly after, without Heir Malfoy or Lady Greengrass' daughter present, Mother lost interest in hosting them and called the lessons to a halt.
With her newfound freedom to explore the library, she woke up early to drop by to peruse the shelves and whiled away the hours after dinner or on weekends, reading on a chair by the window in her room, cocooned in the downy duck-feather duvet she dragged from her bed. When the weather was nice enough, she asked Gilli if she was allowed to sit in the garden and they brought her to a bench in a small alcove hidden behind some hedges on one side of the house.
There was a slim selection of fiction books that look well-loved on one of the lower shelves that she indulged in first, before she slowly began to make her way through the other genres on offer.
She picked up books on Magical creatures next, because of the pictures mostly. The drawings were usually very detailed and the creatures themselves were fascinating. Her favourite, the one by Newt Scamander, had a ten-page section on Unicorns and it became something of a comfort to flip through the familiar pages and passages when she felt low.
There were other books too, of course. On the use of Gaelic in druidic spells and rituals, the modernisation of ancient Wiccan practices, hundreds of books on the structures, history and customs of different Magical Conclaves in different countries. There were books on British history too.
She wasn't deliberately looking for it when she found a recent edition of 'The History of the British Conclaves' by a 'Rosetta Davies' and an 'Ellora Bole'. At first, she wasn't sure it was worth the read. The tome was heavy and she already knew what was important from the Story.
But after a few days, she came back to it, pulling the book off the shelf and taking it back to her room. She couldn't afford to be arrogant or ignorant, it was better to make sure she didn't miss anything.
It took her more than a week of squirrelled away time and reading by the light of her glowing ball after dark to get through it. It was dry reading, but informative. She took careful note of the way it avoided mention of the exact names of former Death Eaters pardoned for their crimes for being under the Imperius and the deliberately neutral language it used to discuss the different political factions of the times. Her Mother's maiden name Yaxley was mentioned frequently alongside the more familiar names of Malfoy, Nott and Carrow, in paragraphs on debates about Muggles and the Statute of Secrecy. The names Dumbledore, Shacklebolt and Abbott cropped up just as often, though on the other side of the debate. It was interesting enough, if a bit heavy for bedtime reading.
There was also a line in chapter five - The Ministry of Magic - about one Lord Tarrant Parkinson. Her father. Mother had only mentioned him by name once, in her first Geneology lesson. The book described him as the Head of the International Magical Office of Law, one of the offices within the Department of International Magical Cooperation. When she turned the page, there was a moving photograph in black and white of a room full of men gathered around a central long table, with papers and quills in hand as they argued. Below it, it was captioned: Annual General Meeting of Department and Office Heads. It didn't identify any of them by name and she couldn't help herself searching each face for similarities with her own.
The picture was too grainy to really tell though.
When Pansy finished the book a few days later, she went back to the Library to put it right back. She didn't take it out again.
Life went on.
She exchanged the odd letter with Padma, mostly about the latest books they'd both read, and continued to meet up with the other baby Slytherins and their mothers frequently.
Mother never seemed to bore of dressing them both up for these functions and exchanging snipes with the other women before one of them inevitably ushered the children to go and entertain themselves elsewhere.
There was the occasional Accidental Magic incident, what with five growing children meeting up regularly and personalities clashing. Daphne made all the boys' hair grow to their shoulders when they banned girls from their newly constructed blanket den. Draco silenced Vince when he interrupted the Malfoy Heir's big victory speech, one too many times. Greg fell into the pond at the Greengrass estate and managed to turn himself into a duck. (Pansy wondered if she was to blame for that one, hadn't she compared the poor boy to a duckling before?)
Neither Pansy nor Vince had any incidents in front of the other children - which she was quite glad for honestly. Any strange happening was always followed by all the other children screaming or crying and Pansy, being the only sensible one, running for the adults. The adults always tutted and there was a load of movement as the entire table of ladies went to investigate whatever mess their children had gotten into now.
Usually it was resolved fairly quickly, a flick of the wrist and things were back to normal, although the 'duck incident' resulted in the involvement of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad and the party ending early.
As they got older, their games moved from running through the gardens to Exploding Snap, Wizard's Chess, Owl Racing and Hide-and-Seek (Pansy's contribution). Occasionally, she would get tired of playing with the other children. The games were children's games and she could only endure so much childish bragging and trash-talk. She always tried to join for at least one game, Mother was close by after all, but sometimes she brought her newest book or her embroidery hoop. Sometimes, Daphne joined her too with a plain looking leather-bound sketchbook and a pocketed Quill and bottle of ink, leaving the boys to run riot on their own. Eventually, Draco would come running back, rolling his eyes at them being "boring" and dragging them into a new game - but it was a good way to spend her days.
One day, in December, not long after Daphne had turned eleven, Draco turned to her mid-conversation. "Are you coming to the Yule ball this year?" He demanded.
Pansy cocked her head to the side. "Yule ball? A Malfoy ball?"
The boy puffed out his chest, with a proud look, while behind him Daphne rolled her eyes. "I mean we could, our Ballroom is certainly grand enough for it, maybe I'll ask Mother and Father for one next year."
"It's a Ministry ball, Pansy." Daphne interjected before he could get too carried away. "Most of us have been attending since we were eight. You would know if you actually showed your face at any of these things, you hermit." She said, although there was no real bite to it.
"Yes, everyone goes." Draco added, "There's McMillan, and Longbottom but he's even worse of an idiot than McMillan -"
"I'm surprised you've never joined us honestly, it's Mother's most important event of the season," Daphne said, her eyes straying back to the doors of the Parlor where Lady Greengrass was hosting today's afternoon tea. "Loads of the Heirs go after all."
It probably had less to do with Mother and more to do with Father. Mother would probably be all too eager to parade her around, like a seller crying out their wares.
She floundered for her excuse regardless, "Mother says -"
"You have a bad constitution." Both Daphne and Draco chorused at once, annoyingly well-practiced, with identical huffs. Pansy's lip twitched. She could see how they could end up married in the future, if Daphne didn't throttle Draco in a fit of annoyance first.
Pansy shrugged, "I can try and talk to her about it, see if she changes her mind."
Daphne shook her head, "I think you'll probably have to go this year anyways," The girl bit her lip. "We go to Hogwarts after the summer, and House Parkinson can hardly wait until then to introduce you properly to the other Families."
It was true. If Father and Mother chose to delay introducing her until next year, she'd have already started at Hogwarts by then, and it would put her at even more of a disadvantage politically if she was unknown to other Families. Though Mother must have made her own excuses thus far, if she continued using the bad constitution line, Pansy would probably gain a reputation for being sickly. And that was hardly going to win her any Betrothals - the exact opposite of Mother's goals.
Daphne was probably right. She probably would be there this year, Mother would make sure of it, even if it was just to ensure her own standing wasn't affected.