A/N: Chapter Nine… Wow. This is getting long. But not nearly as long as "The Secrets of My Heart." Hmm. Well, the chapters are getting longer at least. And the updates are getting closer together. That's good anyways.

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Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Harry/Pansy, Hermione/Draco, Ron/Padma, Ginny/Neville, and Blaise/?

Disclaimer: I own nothing. What an original disclaimer.

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Both Harry and Pansy were very slow packing up their things—so slow, in fact, that even Ron and Hermione gave up waiting and headed to lunch without their friend. After all, the Dark Lord was gone. Harry could take care of himself.

"Mister Potter, Miss Parkinson?" Professor McGonagall said sternly, looking over her glasses at her two students. "Will the two of you be leaving anytime soon or was their something you wanted to ask me?"

Pansy blushed, and, not finding anything to say to the Head of Gryffindor, shook her head and slipped out of the classroom. She heard Harry say something to the professor before following her out. He looked at her for a moment before suddenly giving her a small smile and motioning for her to follow him.

Her heartbeat quickening slightly, the blonde-haired Slytherin followed the Gryffindor through countless corridors until they finally arrived at—a portrait of some fruit? Pansy frowned. What on Earth? Harry reached out and tickled the pear, and the portrait opened to the kitchens. She gasped. He turned around and grinned at her. "Aren't you coming?" he asked.

Not one to be left behind, Pansy quickly nodded and followed him inside. The kitchens were huge, and there were House-Elves everywhere, cleaning and polishing and cooking and baking…

There was a gasp and then a rush of little feet before something ran into Harry, almost knocking him over. Pansy stifled a laugh. "Harry Potter! Me is pleased to see you, sir! What is you wanting, sir?"

"Hello, Dobby," Harry smiled at the small House-Elf, backing up slightly until he reached Pansy. "This is my friend, Pansy Parkinson," he nodded his head towards her. "Do you think you could get us some of whatever they're serving for lunch?"

"Certainly, Harry Potter, Dobby will certainly give Harry Potter and his friend some lunch, sir," the House-Elf bobbed his head up and down, running to presumably get the lunch Harry had requested.

"Who was that?" Pansy asked curiously. She knew, of course, what House-Elves were—she had some at her Manor after all—but this Dobby character was something she'd never encountered before. For one, he had clothes on—including a pair of very bright, mismatched socks.

Leading her to a table of out of the way—and sight, she noticed—of the other Elves, Harry answered her. "I freed him from Mr. Malfoy's service in my—our—second year. At the beginning of our fourth year he got a job here, working for pay, with Winky, the House-Elf Mr. Crouch laid off at the World Cup Match that year. He's been grateful to me—for freeing him—ever since," he finished, running a hand through his unkempt hair, looking slightly embarrassed.

"That's so sweet of him!" Pansy exclaimed, shocking both herself and Harry. She blushed. "So, what about the socks?"

"Huh? Oh, well, he doesn't think that they're supposed to match. It's actually what I get for him every year for Christmas."

Pansy smiled at him happily. And she was happy. She was sitting, by herself, with the boy she'd been in love with for most of her school years. He wanted to be there with her. He'd shown her this place. It was touching, to say the least.

Just at that moment Dobby ran up with the food. He set it on the table in front of them, bowing all the while and muttering praises of Harry while the man blushed. As soon as Harry convinced Dobby that they were fine, and that they would tell him immediately if they needed anything, the House-Elf left them alone to their meal, which they began with a small 'bon appetite' to the other.

When the food was almost gone, Harry asked quietly, "Why?"

Pansy colored slightly, knowing exactly what he was talking about. But what to tell him? "Because I wanted to," she said, looking him in the eye.

"Would you do it again?" he asked curiously.

"Yes," she answered, without a shred of doubt in her mind.

A slow smile appeared on Harry's face that prompted an answering smile of her own. He leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers, and was rewarded when she slipped a hand behind his neck, bringing his lips more firmly against hers. Harry groaned in answer, pulling her so that she was sitting on his lap. Pansy shivered slightly as she felt Harry's hand brush against her spine, sending little tingles of awareness all over her body.

Oh, how she was enjoying this! It was even better than at the Ball, because now he knew who she was, and he wanted to do this with her—not Hermione. It was so important to her that Harry want her for who she was, and nothing and no one else. It was probably the only time it had happened in her entire 17 years, and she was enjoying every second of it. Then again, who wouldn't?

Pansy broke the kiss suddenly, panting for breath, her blouse half unbuttoned and her arms wrapped around Harry's neck. She leaned her forehead against his and took a deep, shuddering breath. "What…was that?" she whispered, looking into his eyes.

Harry shook his head, looking bewildered. "I have no idea."

Pansy slipped out of his lap and sat back on her own seat, grateful that Dobby hadn't returned while they were, ah, otherwise occupied. He might have only been a House Elf, but it would have been embarrassing, to say the least. "So…" she trailed off, unsure what to say. "What is this? What are we?"

Harry looked slightly uncomfortable, but he answered nonetheless. "I don't know. Maybe we should figure that out."

Pansy nodded. "Okay, but what's to figure out? I mean, we're partners in the Transfiguration project, we obviously aren't friends, but we have fun snogging." She smirked slightly as Harry blushed.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Are we going out?" he asked.

She sighed. "Well, we haven't been."

Harry nodded distractedly. "Maybe… Maybe we should let it sit over the holidays." He looked questioningly at her, as if he were seeking her permission.

"Alright," she said slowly. "I can live with that." She smiled. "So, are we done?" she asked, indicating the food.

Harry nodded. "You don't need to pick it up. I think the House Elves would go nuts if they thought we did anything ourselves."

Pansy laughed suddenly, and Harry grinned in response. He stood up and took her hand, guiding her out of the kitchens.

"I'll take you to the Great Hall. You should be able to find your way back to the Slytherin dorms from there," he whispered to her. She smiled slightly. She had been doing a lot of that lately. Smiling, that is. Slytherins in general didn't smile; they really were a rather gloomy lot. Another of the reasons she hated being one. "Here we are," Harry said, coming to a stop. He pulled her to him, and took a glance around to make sure no one was in the vicinity before leaning down and kissing her softly.

She returned the kiss, putting all the feeling she had for him into it, hoping against hope that when they came back from the holidays he would want to pursue a relationship with her. It was extremely vital to her that he really want her—not just to snog when the occasion called for it, but to laugh with, to talk to, to cry with…

As he ended the kiss, they were both breathing hard. Neither seemed eager to part, but they knew they had to. "I suppose I'll see you later then," she whispered, before turning and heading towards the Slytherin common room.

***

Hermione sat next to Ron at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, slowly eating her spaghetti. What on earth was keeping Harry? Ron didn't seem to be wondering, at least if the way he was staring at Padma was any indication. She scowled. Honestly, was she that lovesick? She didn't think so. Well, she hoped not at least. That would be embarrassing. Especially since not everyone believed that Draco returned the sentiment. The only thing worse than a lovesick fool was an unrequited-lovesick fool.

She glanced over at her boyfriend, who was sitting with Blaise. She squelched a sudden flash of jealousy, knowing that Blaise had no interest in her boyfriend romantically. At least, that was what she said. And she had no reason not to believe the girl. Even though Slytherins were said to be a lying, manipulative lot—and she had no doubt that both Draco and Blaise could be—she didn't think she would be that way with her.

"Hey, Hermione." Harry sat down next to her, jolting her out of her reverie.

"Harry!" she gasped, holding a hand to her heart. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," he grinned.

"Wait," she narrowed her eyes at him, "Where have you been?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Pa-Parkinson and I had to ask Professor McGonagall some questions." He shrugged. "It took longer than we thought it would."

Hermione eyed her friend suspiciously, but he seemed to ignore her gaze, concentrating instead on getting some more food. Honestly, where did boys put all of it? She sighed, turning back to her own. They needed to have another meeting of Operation: Get Harry and Pansy Together before they all left for break, so that—

She sat up straight. Wait a minute. All the members were going to the Burrow. A slow smile appeared on her face. So they would have all of Christmas break—three whole weeks—to figure out what they were going to do. They had three weeks to find a way to throw Harry and Pansy together. She grinned. They were going to be together by the end of the year, and nothing was going to stand in their way.

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A/N: Okay. I know, it's not quite as long as they have been, but I didn't really have anything else to write. I have no idea how long the next chapter will be. Hopefully longer, but I'm not making any promises here.

Dreamer not believer: Well, I honestly don't know whether I thought up the pairing or not, but I do know that not many people ever would, because most of them have this view of Pansy as being a stuck-up, pug-nosed bitch (excuse the language). I read a fic once where she wasn't that bad, she was actually nice, and I thought, "Hey, what if she and Harry got together?" They didn't, at least not in that fic, but the idea was stuck in my head, so when I got an idea I went for it.

Alex: Where do I get ideas? Hmm. I don't know exactly. Maybe it comes from reading so many books and fics and all that. I actually don't remember how I came up with the idea for this one. Glad you like the pairings. :) I might be able to get Oliver Wood in here at some point… *shrugs* We'll see. I'll keep it in mind, 'kay?

PhoenixRae: Congrats on figuring out it was Pansy. So glad I hooked you so quickly. And you'll get more of the Weasley family in the coming chapters, as you already know. *grins* Hope you have fun reading about it.

kittygirl220: Your Highness, here is your chapter.

Crystalline Lily: Glad you had fun with that chapter. ^^

Lulu81: Harry kept his promise, so you don't have to break his neck… And yeah, Ron's not too stupid, lol. But you're right—a lot of the fics (and the movie) show him as being that way, and also rather innocent. He's like that, I guess. I can't tell you what the unusual pairing is… At least I think it's unusual. So far as I know it hasn't been done before, but how am I supposed to know? Have I read all the fics out there? I don't think so. I'll take the reviews here, I think.

Jan McNeville: *grin* Oh, he'll have fun… The question is who will have more fun.

PassionPolice237: Yup. I'm having a lot of fun figuring out all this stuff. This chapter wasn't one of my better ones, but it's kinda… I dunno, transitional. I hate writing that stuff. It's bloody annoying. And difficult. Almost no fun. I'm rambling.

Nikki: Harry is a sweet guy, isn't he?