Better be Slytherin
LXIX
Loves Me Not
In April, at Malfoy's housewarming party, Tracey was still with Blaise but on the brink of a breakup. Not from her side - he was the one who seemed to need space and had had too much of her. She was just waiting for him to hopefully find his way back to her. To appreciating her again.
"Bulstrode got out," said Goyle as they were sipping Butterbeers in Malfoy's sofa in his small Diagon Alley apartment.
"NO way?" said Pansy, turning all her attention to him at once.
"Got house arrest," confirmed Goyle. "But yeah, not in Azkaban anymore."
"That's amazing," said Queenie. "I wish my dad could get the same thing. Hopefully we can appeal soon."
"Well," said Pansy rubbing her hands together, "we must arrange a welcome home party for her. In her house obviously. There's nothing from the Ministry about her not being allowed guests is there?"
"I shouldn't think so," said Tracey.
"So when are the little blond brats coming along?" Queenie turned to Pansy, teasing her.
"Don't be silly," snapped Pansy and Tracey turned to look at Malfoy chatting to one of Pansy's uni friends on the other end of the room. He could probably do it, but Pansy? No way. She was a child herself still, Tracey reckoned. A petulant one.
"I do have some goss though," continued Pansy in a much lighter tone. They all turned to her, as usual. "Daphne has started seeing someone."
The familiar jolt hit Tracey's stomach. Could this be true? Did this mean Daphne was no longer out to steal her man?
"Really? Who?" said Queenie.
"Some bloke called Ben Hawthorpe," said Pansy. "From her uni."
This was certainly the best news Tracey'd had in a long time.
"How long has this been going on?" asked Tracey, feeling the need to solidify it.
"Only a couple weeks I think," said Pansy, casually waving it off.
"That's good for her," said Tracey, feeling more relieved by the second.
"And for you," smirked Pansy. "Now you don't have to worry anymore."
Tracey couldn't figure out if she was sarcastic or not. You never really knew with Pansy, even after sharing a bedroom for seven years.
"Oi, have I seen your ID?" the burly barman at the Muggle bar in London's soho asked him.
Blaise downed his whiskey sour and smirked at him, before muttering under his breath, "obliviate". The barman's expression turned dazed and he walked off mindlessly.
He was only seventeen still and after all you had to be eighteen to drink in the Muggle bars, so he had taken to Obliviating everyone he came into contact with.
He was making it his personal goal for the year to tick off every bar in Muggle London, just to escape from his boring life of working in a law firm and having a steady girlfriend. Honestly it was getting tiring. When he thought of Tracey now he saw a burden, a hinder. When he had thought of her before he got her, she had been fun, unattainable, attractive, and worthy of his respect. He wasn't sure when it had changed. Perhaps when she was fully his. It was too easy now. What else was out there? But why was he like this? It was almost like being with her had made him want to be a worse person. Not better. He had loved her, or as close to what he thought love was. But now it disgusted him. He was too young to be married off like this. He didn't want to be like Malfoy and Parkinson. Parkinson kept Malfoy in check, and put him in his place. That might be fine for Malfoy but it was the last thing in the world Blaise wanted by some woman, even if it was Tracey who he had previously had a friendship with.
He remembered the other week when Tracey had burned a photo of himself using incendio. It amused him slightly. It had happened after he had ticked her off again for one reason or another. He just wanted to go out after work with his newfound friend Timothy Matthews, the founder of the magazine Playwizard, it wasn't a big deal like she made it out to be. She was smothering him. She was losing control and power. He had it all now. He knew this and it made him feel even more smothered.
When he finally rocked up to Malfoy's stupid house warming thing, he was already tipsy, and was feeling his anger towards Tracey wear off. So he slithered up to her and wrapped his arms around her from the back. She turned around and the smile she always got when she saw him spread on her face. "I didn't think you'd come," she said. He kissed her. Maybe he could do this. Maybe he could be a boyfriend. If he couldn't do it for her, the only girl he'd ever respected and liked as a friend, he couldn't do it for anyone. Perhaps he could. He would try for her.
Lucretia Fawley gracefully stepped out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron closely followed by Henrietta Rowle who was also from Hermela Herbatius, and they began walking out the pub towards Draco Malfoy's apartment.
"I'm so ready for tonight," she said to Henrietta. "Did I tell you I split up with Callum?" They had met at the University of Wizarding Culture in Cornwall before she had dropped out and moved to London.
"Yes! He was so handsome though," said Henrietta.
"I'm so ready to mingle with Pansy's friends."
"I thought most of her friends were girls."
"Pansy said there would be fit boys there," Lucretia shrugged. "And speaking of Pansy. I already know what kind of girl she is."
"Go on then," laughed Henrietta.
"Let me give you a tip. Dont listen to a word that girl says," she said and relishing in Henrietta's reaction. "I'm telling you, she can't be trusted. She'll use you for whatever she needs you for and it will make you feel amazing until shes done with you and then you'll be nothing again. That's what she does."
"Hey!" said Henrietta, catching on. "I'm not nothing."
"Of course not," said Lucretia quickly. "You're my friend. I'm just telling you to be wary of Pansy and her group of girls."
They knocked on the door, and Goyle opened.
Lucretia walked in like she owned the place and she fake laughed and flicked her hear until she got what she wanted, which was free drinks. Then she gave them that look, the intense, flirty look, that just said 'give me what I want'. She pointed and nonchalantly waved them over and they came, like dogs smelling food.
She knew they all wanted her and she made them line up. One at a time.
If she had her eye on someone, they'd already lost. And she knew exactly what she was doing tonight. She was going to drink a whole bottle of champagne and then she was going to have sex with Tracey's boyfriend. Because a) he was undoubtedly the fittest bloke there, and b) she could.
One of Pansy's friends, Lucretia couldn't be bothered to remember her name, was wearing what looked like a sequin pyjamas and a feather strapped to her head by an equally shiny headband. What the hell had she come to. She unclasped her mink coat. She never did wear anything if an animal hadn't died for it. She and Henrietta said hello to Pansy and her boyfriend and friends.
"Oh goodie," said Blaise Zabini. Target aquired. "Things were getting a bit dull around here."
"Hello to you too," said Lucretia with a flirty smile and kissed both his cheeks.
When they all sat down for dinner Blaise raised his glass to clink it with Lucretia's. She had no idea what she was toasting, but she was always up for anything.
"I was living in this fantastic villa in Mykonos, and it was like, a non stop party," she was loudly telling stories ten minutes later. "I don't reckon I slept a full night the whole time I was there. It was like those Gatsby parties! And," she added sideways to a couple of the girls, "there was these two boys, so fit right, and I loved both of them. Fully. No, actually," she laughed. "I fancied their dad more. But he was married. Such a dud." She rolled her eyes.
A couple blurry hours later, Lucretia saw Blaise, Malfoy and Goyle head to the terrace to smoke a celebratory cigar. She quickly went to join them.
"Hello, boys," she said sultrily. They turned to look at her, surprised. "I've got something more exciting than those cigars." And she held up a tiny plastic bag. "Ground up unicorn horn."
Malfoy instantly shifted nervously, but Goyle looked very interested, and Blaise looked tempted. He sniggered and raised his eyebrows, "You don't say...?"
"Are you actually going to do it?" said Malfoy sternly, as Lucretia opened the bag and the two other boys huddled closer to her.
"Yeah, mate," said Goyle. "Fun, innit."
"Well, I'm going inside," said Malfoy in an annoyed tone, as Lucretia pulled up her house key and dipped it into the bag and snorted the contents. Then she handed the key to Blaise.
Pansy looked at Malfoy like he was a hero soldier returned from war when he didn't want any drugs and came inside for her. Lucretia rolled her eyes.
Pansy smirked in her "I-told-you-so" way, and she could her hear from far away saying "That's disgusting. I didn't know she was like this."
Lucretia didn't care. She kept flirting with Blaise for the rest of the evening, and even though he didn't budge to kiss her in front of Tracey, or even flirt back she made a mental note to send him a sexy note via owl the next morning. She might even include a nude or suggestive photo, she hadn't decided yet.
The following few weeks, a nude photo of Lucretia began circulating Hermela Herbatius. Finally, it had spread outside of their university too, and all of Slytherin had seen it. As soon as Pansy had gotten her hands off it from Tracey who somehow got it off Blaise, she had shown it to Draco, who showed it to Goyle, who showed it to Queenie, who had popped over to see Millicent in house arrest and shown it to her, she had subsequently shown it to her parents who had put a stop to it but it was too late by then.
Lucretia didn't look so smug anymore, Pansy thought contently. Karma's a bitch. And so am I, she thought to herself.
Lucretia, who was still her frenemy, dramatically sat down at the table next to her in the lecture hall and sighed loudly. "Pansy, I can't bear it!"
"You shouldn't have sent it to Blaise then," said Pansy coldly and shut her book on Tanning Charms.
"Oh please!" said Lucretia and threw her arms up. "It's not like he's faithful to that girlfriend of his anyway."
"Faithful enough not to be tempted by your moves," Pansy shrugged. Tracey was her long time friend after all and that's where her loyalties lie.
Lucretia scoffed. "Oh please. She probably caught him wanking over it."
"Shut up, Bole!" said Pansy, suddenly heated and got up from the table. A few students turned around to look at them. Lucretia sneered and held up her arms as if innocent. "Come on, Pansy. I'm trying to have a laugh at the situation. I'm the victim here."
Pansy snorted, "You're the offender." She pointed her hot pink nailed pointy in Lucretia's face and went on, "Tracey is one of my best friends. You've crossed the line. They're in a relatiomship."
Lucretia pursed her lips, but shrunk a little. "For now," she said after a momentary pause. Pansy sent her another warning look and then said, "just because you have the attention span of a four year old doesn't mean we all do."
Lucretia frowned, upset. "What does that mean?"
"You treat men like toys!" said Pansy. "They're good enough to be played with for a while but then you get bored! You use them!"
"And whats so wrong about that? if guys can do it, so can I."
"Not with my best friend's boyfriend," said Pansy dominantly.
"I thought Greengrass was your bestie," said Lucretia, rolling her eyes.
"Some people have more than one friend," snapped Pansy.
Maldoy swaggered into the hall and came up to them just then. He slowly raised his eyebrows.
"You're acting like a hormonal bitch," said Lucretia in an attempt to stay cool.
"Maybe I am a bitch, you ever think about that?" Pansy tossed her hair and grabbed her bag, and then turned to Malfoy to give him a kiss hello. Lucretia rolled her eyes again. Pansy turned back to her hastily, "leave Blaise alone."
Then they strutted away together. Idiots, Lucretia thought.
"I've had an owl from my father," said Draco solemnly as they walked out of the university to find the Disapparation spot.
"Oh really?" said Pansy, distracted from the encounter with Lucretia. "What did he have on his mind?"
Draco swallowed. "He wants me to go into politics. He says I've been swanning around for too long."
Pansy frowned at him, "We've been out of school less than a year and you've taken your NEWTs, your Apparition licence, moved out of home, and released a bloody book. What else did he expect you to do?"
"It's not enough for him," muttered Draco. "He's gotten me invited to a high society party tonight where I'm meant to mingle and make connections with his old associates."
"Death Eaters?"
"No, no, just Ministry people and business associates. He wants me to get a job."
"You don't need the money, do you?" said Pansy, and Draco wondered if there was a hint of worry there. They were now facing each other at the Disapparation spot. Draco grabbed Pansy's hand and thought of Diagon Alley. A second later they had arrived. Gringott's towered in front of them down the cobbled streets.
Draco hesitated as they started walking to the restaurant where they were going for lunch. "I can't live off book sales for ever. He does have a point. I've been out of Hogwarts almost a year now. I should get myself a job."
"A job," said Pansy, her face screwed up like it was something disgusting, as they sat down. "People like us don't have jobs." She accepted a menu from the waiter without a word.
"Lawyer bills are no joke," said Draco. "And besides, I think I'll get bored if I don't do anything. I mean, you have university."
"And a manor house," she reminded him. He rolled his eyes.
"Your days are filled. Goyle's got a job at the broomstick factory. Zabini's at the law firm. Even Queenie works at the pub. Greengrass is in uni just like you. I can't just sit around all day long. I need to do something."
"Well, what do you want to do?"
"That's the thing, I don't know. I never thought about it before."
Pansy knew why. The Dark Lord had been Draco's future.
"You could do some philantrophic stuff."
"What, hold a fundraiser?"
"Yeah, I mean," said Pansy, "It's the stuff our families have always done. And it could help your reputation."
"My reputation?" said Draco with a hint of annoyance. He was so sensitive these days. Truth be told, she wondered if he was mentally strong enough to have a job. He'd been so unstable since the war.
"I'll do it," said Pansy bossily. "I have a big manor house. I can host a fundraiser. For St Mungos or something. We can get everyone who matters in society to come. You can talk to the old codgers and find yourself a job."
Draco only looked more annoyed at this. "I have a manor house too," he reminded her. "And I don't need your help. I don't actually want to work in politics like my father wants me to."
"Well what do you want to do then?"
He looked away. Was that a hint of... modesty? "I don't know, something with Quidditch could be cool."
"What, like professional Quidditch player?" laughed Pansy.
"No," said Draco quickly, abashed. "I don't know. Maybe."
Pansy personally thought he probably wasn't good enough for that, but she obviously didn't want to tell him that.
"Save a broom, ride a quidditch player," she said instead, jokingly.
He sniggered. "You're very welcome to."
Tracey was going through a nightmare on the other side of London. After finding the naked photo of Lucretia in Blaise's room it had felt like the lowest blow of them all. She had confronted him, shaking uncontrollably, and none of his cold excuses had settled her. It was days later but they were still going through it.
"Why were you even going through my stuff!"
"You're my boyfriend, I should be able to be in your room without finding photos of naked girls!"
It was the same argument that went round and round and round, until finally Blaise yelled out in frustration.
"I've done NOTHING with her!"
"Clearly that's not true," said Tracey, her voice unsteady and close to breaking. "You've -" and here she started counting on her fingers, "been near on naked with her in a jacuzzi, you've done drugs with her, you have her nudes in your possessi-"
"Oh just shut up Tracey." It was so cold it took her by shock.
She just stared at him, her heating beating quickly. Tap, tap, tap, tap.
"I've not done anything with her," he said again. "I've not kissed her, I've not slept with her. I didn't ask her to send me that."
"Why did you not throw it away?" she had already asked this several times over the last few days and she knew the answer wouldn't satisfy her this time either, but she kept trying, kept hoping.
"I was about to." He turned to her, and held out an arm. "You have to let this go, Tracey. I'm with you."
"Yeah, you are," she said warningly. "You need to make that clear to her."
He closed his eyes and sighed. "What do you need me to do?"
The next time they all bumped into each other was at the races that weekend. It was a clear and sunny day, albeit quite windy. Ladies everywhere were gripping their brightly coloured hats to stop them blowing away. The grass was pale green and the spring sun wasn't warm enough yet to take their robes off, but everyone was dressed up in pastel and white, in high heels and hats. There was champagne everywhere. The Hippogriffs were getting ready for the second race of the day.
The Malfoy's private enclosure was full of Slytherins, Ministry officials and high society members of the Pureblood kind. Not that much had changed since before the war as they thought, Tracey reckoned.
"Look who's here," Pansy said loudly.
Blaise turned around, gripping Tracey's hand when he saw Lucretia, as if to demonstrate his devotion.
Tracey squeezed his hand back. "Why don't you go tell her?" she asked him. "Tell her you can't be friends with her anymore." Her stomach rumbled nervously. After all the anxious throwing up she'd done that morning, she really needed another finger sandwich. She was currently drinking champagne on an empty stomach.
Blaise sighed next to her, but did as he was told. She was shaking nervously as she watched him go up to Lucretia. She couldn't hear what they were saying, which felt like torture. She just hoped he was being loyal.
Lucretia angrily stomped up to the bar, just as the whistle blew for the second race of the day. Pansy watched her from afar, wondering what her conversation with Blaise had been about. Lucretia had grabbed another champagne and turned around, and Pansy wasn't quick enough to look away in time. So their eyes met. Lucretia's eyes narrowed, and then she walked up to her, goal oriented.
"Hi Pansy," she said unenthusiastically. They air kissed.
"What was that all about?" Pansy couldn't help but to ask.
Lucretia smirked. "Just the old, 'you've gotta stay away because my girlfriend doesn't like you' speech."
Pansy raised her eyebrows. "Sounds like it's not your first one."
"You can't always play by the rules," said Lucretia and sipped her champagne as she watched the Hippogriffs race. "Life is boring that way."
"I think I used to agree with you," said Pansy. "But I value other things now."
"Oh really like what?" Lucretia sniggered.
"My friends," said Pansy with no trace of a smile.
"Oh, old controlling girlfriend over there?" said Lucretia and nodded towards Tracey and Blaise who both looked miserable, pretending to be watching the races.
"She didn't use to be like this," said Pansy. "I don't like it either. But," she went on, "she's my friend."
"So? Everyone's someone's friend."
"I trusted you," said Pansy simply. There wasn't much anger or judgement.
"Then you shouldn't have," said Lucretia and shrugged.
Pansy had for the first time in her adult life been made to feel uncomfortable by how bitchy someone was - maybe this meant she was growing up? And so she made her way away from Lucretia to find Draco. She needed a hug. She had no idea what had happened to Tracey but she was so grateful Draco hadn't made her all crazy like that. He was standing with his arms on the railing, casually leaned forward to watch the race, with Greg next to him.
She came up behind him and put her arms around him. He turned, distracted, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You ok, baby?" he said quietly. The sun was shining and they were drunk on champagne, and all their friends and family were around them.
"Yes," she smiled. "I love you."
Surprised, he gave a happy laugh and turned his eyes off the race and turned to her. He gave her a kiss and they clinked their glasses together.
"Let's get married," he said quietly, with a small smile, with the sun shining down on him in the middle of the enclosure.
Pansy raised an eyebrow. Waiting, testing, teasing. "What?" she laughed.
"Be my wife," he said in an oddly sort of soft tone yet he looked fully confident. All she could hear was the cheers and boos from the crowd watching the races. No one took any notice of them. She didn't say anything for a while, they just kept looking at each other through the ruccus.
Then, Pansy smirked. "Yes."
Draco smirked too. He pulled her towards him and held her from behind and they watched the rest of the race togeher.
