CHAPTER NINETEEN: Apparition
Pansy Parkinson hated not being productive, but a few weeks she's had were not easy. Thankfully, she managed to get a grasp of Apparition and so she was preparing for Hogsmeade's lesson – a final one before the test she was supposed to take with Theo and Blaise. Draco couldn't since he wasn't seventeen yet. Besides, it was probably better for her – he'd only distract and upset her.
She was walking down to Hogsmeade with Theo and Blaise. It was a surprisingly warm spring day – the sun was shining, and a lot of flowers started blooming already. They were lucky they could attend this lesson since they weren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade anymore – because of the war. It was too dangerous to let them wander for themselves.
'Isn't it nice today?' she asked before she could stop herself.
Both boys stopped abruptly, gazing at her with their mouth open.
'What?' asked Blaise. 'What is with you?'
Pansy shrugged, but for the first time in weeks, she felt hopeful. Maybe not happy, but at least she had a good feeling about Apparition lesson.
'Well, I'm allowed to not be depressed once in a while, right?'
The two boys shared surprised looks.
'It's just unexpected, that's all. But it's good you're feeling better,' Theo rushed to explain.
There was a moment of silence, and Pansy raised her eyebrows.
'Oh, so I'm not miserable, and everyone is stunned, but Theo is nice, and we're just letting it slide?'
'It's still more probable than you being nice,' Blaise chuckled, so she punched his arm.
'Now, that is true,' admitted Theo, smiling broadly. 'By the way, since I've completed the daily niceness limit, do you think Weasel will pass an exam?'
He pointed his head towards them, where Weasley and Granger were walking and – as usual – bickering.
Blaise and Pansy laughed ironically.
'Yeah, right, have you seen him in lessons?' she snorted. 'I swear his hair are getting redder, but he still didn't manage to apparate.'
'Wait, what is he doing with Granger?' asked Theo, placing a hand on his heart. 'Lav-Lav is going to be frantic when she finds out!'
'Lav-Lav?' Pansy snickered.
'Oh, yeah. Shame you hadn't heard that. WON-WON WHY DO YOU SPEND TIME WITH HER?' he mocked but didn't think through the fact, that Weasley and Granger could hear them.
Ron turned around, red on his face and hand almost touching his wand, but Hermione managed to stop him.
'They're not worth it, Ron, come on, you've just left the hospital wing,' she said with an unmistakable furious look towards them.
They kept on going to the Three Broomsticks, thankfully not letting this escalate further.
'Well, that was interesting,' Blaise summed up.
They had to refrain from discussing it because they've just gone into the pub almost swarmed with Aurors.
Wilkie Twycross was already waiting for them, as pale and as bleak as ever. They took their places as the Instructor kept talking and talking about the 3-D rule and explained how this additional lesson was going to look like. They were supposed to apparate outside of the pub – near the Honydukes entrance where Aurors were already waiting. They were to go in turns, one by one just like on a real test, but there would be five rounds.
Pansy was pleasantly surprised when she performed almost flawlessly on each try. True, in one of the attempts she left her lipstick behind – but if that was a real test, no one would've noticed something like that. Or so she hoped. And also, in her first attempt, she apparated about five inches left from the Honeydukes entrance. But since the rest was done flawlessly, she was satisfied with the results and was hoping she'd manage to pass the test on her first try.
They were walking back to the castle after stopping in the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer when suddenly Theo turned to face them.
'I hope you know that apparition is essential,' he said with a serious look on his face.
Pansy and Blaise looked at him with questioning glances.
'Apparition is the easiest, safest and fastest way to run. When the war comes... Well, once we find a place to hide, all we'll have to do is get out of Hogwarts' ground and then apparate.'
'Why–' started Blaise, but Theo didn't let him finish.
'Because, Blaise, you idiot. You cannot apparate or disapparate on Hogwarts' grounds. I suppose there will be some sort of evacuation for students if the battle were to break out here, so it should be easy enough.'
The three of them shared uneasy glances.
'Well, I guess we have some sort of plan, then. We should pass on our first try so as not to have any problems later. The sooner, the better,' summarised Pansy and both boys agreed.
'Then, it's sorted out.'
After all of them had passed the test – and absolutely lost it when Weasley had failed it because he'd left half the eyebrow behind – they were sitting in the Common Room. They were ostentatiously ignored by Draco who was sitting in the corner, thoughtfully gazing at the fire. He looked sick – his face wasn't pale anymore, it was an unhealthy shade of grey. The bags under his eyes turned almost black, and cheekbones that were visible before, now were even sharper. He must have lost at least ten pounds. Pansy, Blaise and Theo were watching him worriedly, but he didn't look up from the fire for even a second. Crabbe and Goyle were sitting nearby, trying to do some sort of homework but failing miserably. From time to time, they were trying to ask something, but Draco ignored them. Usually, he helped them, and now…
Suddenly, he got up from his seat reluctantly and left the Common Room, without saying a word. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, clearly puzzled, but quickly got back to their work, on which they evidently couldn't focus on. Pansy was observing them rather curiously, which seemed to annoy Theo and Blaise a little.
'Oi! Are you even listening?' barked Zabini, waving his hand in front of her face.
She looked at him, clearly confused.
'Daphne said-'
'What?' asked Theo so suddenly that even Blaise looked over at him curiously.
'Daphne said that Crabbe and Goyle hate it when they have to do what he says,' she explained in a whisper so that no one could overhear them.
'Did they finally grow brains on their own?' jeered Blaise.
'I don't think so, as they're still doing it,' explained Theo calmly.
'Maybe we should talk to them,' suggested Pansy.
Nott raised his brows.
'Why on Merlin would we want to do that? What do you want to achieve?'
'I think they're worried about him as well,' she stated calmly, but Blaise snorted.
'You really think-'
'Yes,' she inserted aggressively. 'I really do think even they are capable of human emotion, thank you very much.'
Zabini sized her up with a smirk.
'Look at you, talking about emotion.'
Ignoring him was the best course of action, but instead, she stood up furiously and walked over to them. Theo followed her, but Blaise just shook his head, rolled his eyes and stayed by the fire.
'Hi,' she said and they rose their eyes from the parchment where only their names were written.
'Hi,' Crabbe and Goyle responded, clearly puzzled.
They weren't very talkative. To be fair, they mostly spoke to Draco, but only when there were just three of them. They didn't say much in bigger groups and mostly kept to themselves – maybe not as much as Theo, but that was something they had in common.
'You're worried about him, too, aren't you?' she asked without beating around the bush.
They looked at Theo as if to see whether they had permission to speak up.
'Yeah, we are,' admitted Gregory.
'Does he tell you anything?'
'No,' replied Vincent, looking at Goyle to see if he approves. 'He just tells us what to do, and we do it.'
'Why?' frowned Theo, throwing them off guard.
'What do you mean why?' asked Goyle, clearly puzzled.
'You could just stop complying with everything he says,' hinted Pansy in a calm manner.
Crabbe seemed surprised.
'You mean we're supposed to just leave him alone?'
'Even though he's defensive about it, he needs our help. So we can't do that,' confessed Goyle with disarming honesty.
Theo and Pansy shared a concerned look. Vincent and Gregory were right. Of course they were, and thank Merlin someone like that was with Draco this whole time. It may not have been the support he wanted, but it was the support he needed. Who knows what would have happened if they refused to help? What would happen if they left him alone? What would he do?
Suddenly, the doors to the Common Room opened, and Daphne rushed in, clearly terrified. Her blond hair was dishevelled, and she was looking frantically around the room.
'Pansy!' she cried out and ran towards her. 'Oh Merlin, Pansy!'
'What is it, Daphne?' she asked with a growing feeling of fright in her stomach.
'It-It's Draco!' she bellowed, and so the whole Common Room turned their eyes on the shaking figure.
Pansy grabbed her firmly by her arms to calm her down, but she went weak in the knees herself.
'What happened?' she asked, trying to sound as composed as she could right now.
'IT WAS POTTER! HE ATTACKED HIM!' Daphne yelled, her voice shaking with emotion.
'He did what?!' hissed Theo furiously when the Common Room broke out in commotion.
'He's in the hospital! I went to the bathroom because Moaning Myrtle was going around the castle screaming and there was blood and-'
But Pansy didn't hear the rest. She ran through the door and sprinted towards the Hospital Wing. Pansy Parkinson has never run that fast, not ever.