~
Pansy's Story ~
Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Spike, Dru
,and Darla belong to the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Chapter Three: Pansy's Story…Revealed
Harry looked expectantly at Pansy.
" Ok, ok, I'll listen. Will you
tell now?"
Pansy took a deep breath and began to tell her story.
" It all began on Christmas Eve
in our seventh year at Hogwarts…
" Draco and I had always given
everyone the impression that we were a couple. But the truth was, until that
night, we hadn't even so much as kissed.
" At first, I was reluctant to do
anything with him, but Draco kept pushing. He kept saying things like," Oh
come on, Pansy, just try it," or
" Stop
worrying, nothing's going to happen the first time," and all that other
reassuring crap. But I wasn't so sure. I mean, we were only seventeen, and
doing stuff like that seemed like something to wait until after we were
married. Of course, Draco wouldn't take no for an answer. He was a very
persistent boy--and he hasn't changed. And well, it was a cold
night…" Pansy's voice trailed off for a second, as if deeply regretting what she had done.
Harry placed a hand sympathetically on
Pansy's shoulder.
" It's ok, Pansy. We all make
mistakes."
Pansy angrily shook Harry's hand away.
" How would you know?" She
cried angrily. " You never knew what it was like, living my life! I've
been through more than you could ever relate to! How dare you try and
say something like that to me?"
Pansy turned away from Harry, and he
was startled to see that her face was in tears.
" Hey, " he said softly,
" It's ok. I understand more than you think, you know."
Pansy looked back at Harry, her face
shining with tears.
" How could you, the famous
Harry Potter, hero who defeated the Dark Lord countless times, possibly
understand what I've been through?"
" I had a hard life too, you know,"
Harry reminded her. " So believe me, I really do
understand."
For a single moment, neither of them
said anything. Then Pansy wiped away her tears with her hand and cleared her
throat.
" So--um, anyways, back to the
story," she said quickly.
Harry grinned.
" I was wondering when you would
remember. "
Pansy gave him a look.
" Do you want to hear this or not,
Potter?"
" Ok, ok, I'm sorry, " Harry
said, holding his hands up in apology. Go ahead."
" After our big night, Draco came up to me the next day and
surprised me by
telling me that after we graduated from Hogwarts, he would ask me to marry him.
I should have known it was all going way too fast. After all, it had only been
one night, and now the boy was asking me to marry him? Unfortunately, I
wasn't thinking about that at the time. All I remember is me throwing my arms
around Draco and squealing like an idiot. I didn't know that all I was really
getting myself into was trouble.
" The Malfoys and my family go way
back. In fact, Draco and I had practically grown up together. Our parents,
especially our mothers, would always talk about if the two of us would ever
make a match of it. But in those days, I had no intention of marrying Draco. He
was pale, snotty, and arrogant--even then! But then again, I had no idea
exactly what Lucius Malfoy had in store for his son…"
Pansy paused for a moment, and looked
up at the night sky, which was filled thousands of twinkling stars. Harry
looked confused.
" What is it, Pansy?"
" The stars--look." She
pointed to a particular cluster of stars. Harry followed her gaze.
" Yeah? What about them?"
" That's Orion."
" I know. We learned about
constellations in Astronomy, remember?"
" Yeah, but--"
" But what?"
" Never mind."
Harry stared at Pansy. What did she
mean? But whatever it was, Harry didn't find out.
" Lucius Malfoy was a very proud
man. He was especially proud of Draco, who he believed would uphold the Malfoy
family traditions. One of them was to marry a pureblood. Everyone, even
Narcissa, Draco's mother, expected that I would be Draco's future wife.
Unfortunately, Lucius Malfoy had his own plans for his son. Draco was to marry
a Zabini."
Harry gasped.
" Zabini? As in Blaise
Zabini?"
Pansy nodded.
" Exactly. The Zabinis were a
very distinguished wizarding family, you know. And Lucius Malfoy wanted the
best for his precious son. There was only one problem with that. You see,
everyone all thought that Lucius wanted Draco to marry me, like they did. But
apparently, I wasn't good enough for Lucius Malfoy's taste. Narcissa, on the
other hand, wanted me as her future daughter--in--law. So did my parents. Of
course, Narcissa's word against Malfoy's was like Longbottom's against the
king's.
And when Lucius
Malfoy made up his mind about something, there was no changing it.
" Not long after, my parents
found out about Lucius's little scheme, and that was when conflict arose. My
father and mother had longed to see me walk down the aisle with the boy that
they treated like their own son. But no matter what my parents and Narcissa did
or said, it was no use. Lucius would not budge, and it was pointless to try and
move him.
My father said
that if I really loved Draco, then he would support me every step of the way.
As long as we didn't elope. Eloping was considered a sin among the wizarding
families of the upper class society.
" But did we listen? Of course
not. When Draco found out about his arranged marriage, he went into a true
Malfoy tantrum. That was when he asked me to run away with him. I guess that no
matter how much he respected his father, Draco wasn't going to listen to him.
But I remembered my father's words: if you really love the boy, I'll support
you every step of the way. But you have to promise me one thing. Promise me
you'll never elope with him…
" Did I listen to my father in
the end? No, I didn't. I decided respect from Draco was more important than from
my own flesh and blood. But I didn't realize that agreeing to elope with Draco
was the biggest mistake I would ever make. After our secret marriage, Draco and
I brought a small apartment in Hogsmeade--and planned to settle down there.
Draco had already begun to work in his father's business, so he had quite a bit
of money. The both of us decided to use the money for our personal needs until
we could find new jobs. However, something unexpected happened that would
destroy all of our plans. I became pregnant.
" At first, Draco and I were very
excited. We were going to be parents! I was going to be a mother! But at
eighteen years old, I didn't realize the consequences of being pregnant.
Neither did Draco. In fact, think he
was even more excited about the baby than I was. He even picked out a name for
the baby if it was a boy--Orion."
Harry gasped.
" Orion! The constellation!
"
" That's right, " Pansy
smiled a little. " Orion. My son."
Harry watched as Pansy reached into
her dragon--hide handbag and pulled out a small moving photograph. She handed
it to Harry, who took it, his hands shaking. The photo showed a baby boy, who
couldn't be older than two, smiling brightly with his pearly white teeth
showing. Harry noticed that he had Draco's blond hair and Pansy's piercing
brown eyes.
" He's adorable," Harry
said, smiling.
" He's our little star, "
Pansy said dreamily. " My little star."
As he heard these words, Harry couldn't
help but feel a bitter sadness come over him. He wondered, what was going to
happen next? What other secrets was Pansy hiding? But before he could say
anything, Pansy had begun to speak again.
" About two months after Draco
and I eloped, our parents found out. They were furious. Lucius Malfoy threw a
fit, and he demanded that Draco divorce me and marry Blaise like he was
supposed to--or else suffer the consequences. Draco refused, and he told me he
would always be there for me no matter what his father said or did. Secretly, I
wasn't so sure. I mean, I wanted to believe that Draco would love me enough to
keep his promise, but my conscience was saying just to surrender and face the
consequences instead of running away from them. But deep in the back of my
mind, I was afraid. Afraid to face my father. I could just see his disappointed
face when he found out the truth. That I had gone against his wishes and
eloped. That I had betrayed his trust. I couldn't bear to live that kind of
guilt, Potter! I just couldn't. So I didn't go back.
" Then the real trouble
began. In his anger, Lucius declared that as long as Draco stayed with me, he
would not get his share of the Malfoy fortune. Draco said he didn't care about
the money. That was a big mistake.
" I think it was because of all
the pressure he was under, that caused Draco to start gambling. At first, it
was only a one night thing--Draco would go out with some friends and gamble in
the Three Broomsticks. Then it grew to
be every night--almost like an addiction. The money that we once were rolling
in had slowly begun to diminish. Then the drinking began. He would go out
around dinnertime and not return until early the next day. And he was always
drunk. At that time I was already five months pregnant, and there was still the
chance that the baby would come earlier. I begged Draco to stop drinking, to
stop gambling, for the sake of our baby. But it was too late. Draco was hooked,
and there was no stopping him.
" By now, our money was running
dangerously low, and things had worsened. Draco had found a new group of
friends--a rowdy group of vampires whose names were Spike, Dru ,and Darla. I
never liked them much--and I think they were the ones that got Draco to start
smoking. He would come home, drunk as pig, and I would have to carry him up the
stairs all by myself. I was eight months pregnant! But that didn't stop Draco
from what he was doing. Our money was in a large case under our bed--Draco
didn't want our money in Gringotts--I know now it was because he was secretly
stealing money to gamble, buy drinks, and pot.
" I was so angry with his
ignorance about our baby that I locked up our money case and hid it while Draco
was out one night. When he came home early the next morning, the baby came.
" Orion. Our baby boy. I
couldn't remember the last time I had been so happy. For a short while, I even
forgot about our money troubles and Draco's addiction. But my life was brought
back to earth with an unpleasant bump when Draco found out that I had hidden
the money. I had never seen him so angry. He nearly broke everything in the
house. I was seriously afraid--for my life and the baby's. So I told Draco off
for getting himself into so much trouble. He screamed and threw a lamp at me.
That was the last straw. I grabbed the money case from its hiding place, threw
it out the window, and told Draco to leave and never show his face in the house
again. Draco laughed manically and asked me if I really meant it. But he didn't
wait for my answer. He just grabbed his cloak and wand, and left without
another word. And he hasn't come back since."
Harry stared at Pansy, speechless.
" That's it?" he
sputtered." He--he just left? Like that?"
Pansy nodded and sighed.
" Yep. But I wouldn't be too hard
on him, he had a problem."
Harry couldn't believe what he was
hearing.
" But he left you! Just when you
were most in need of his support! That bastard! " he snarled angrily,
banging his fist against the brick wall.
Pansy smiled and placed a hand on
Harry's shoulder.
" Hey. Don't worry about it,
what's done is done, there's no use worrying about it. Besides--" she
added, " it was partly my fault. I shouldn't have lost my temper and told
Draco to leave. It was pretty stupid of me."
" No, Pansy. It wasn't stupid of you. You were just doing
the right thing. Malfoy doesn't deserve you," Harry insisted.
" Well, at least now you know the
reason why I've been working as a stripper. It pays good, and you know I need
money," Pansy said.
Harry didn't say anything. Instead, he
reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a large bag of coins.
" Here," he said, handing
them to Pansy," take this."
Pansy looked shocked.
" No! I can't take your
money--" she broke off, seeing the look on Harry's face.
" Take it. For Orion," he
said firmly.
Pansy smiled. Then she did something
she would never have done back at Hogwarts. She kissed Harry on the cheek, much
to his surprise.
" Thanks, Potter, I owe you
one."
Harry's face broke into a smile.
" No problem. Oh, and one more
thing."
" What?"
" Call me Harry."
Pansy's smile grew wider.
" Thanks--Harry."
" Well, I guess you'd better go
now--Orion's waiting," Harry reminded her. Pansy checked her watch and
nodded.
" You're right--I'd better go.
Take care of yourself, Harry. I'll see you around?" She looked hopefully
at him.
Harry laughed.
" Definitely. Try tomorrow. Being
an auror is hard work, Pansy. But I'm glad I am one, because if I wasn't, I
wouldn't have met you."
Pansy watched Harry leave, and she felt
her spirits rise for the first time in months. Harry Potter--he was all right,
really. At last, the long rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin was over. Or
at least, in this case.
~ * ~
A/N: So, what do
you think? Was it bad? Good? Horrible? Please let me know by r/r! Thanks a lot!