Potions was over and they were safely in the Common Room where Snape couldn't take off any more points. Worried about their friend, Harry and Hermione had run out of the dungeons, deaf to Snape's bellowing and deducting of points. Ron hadn't been too pleased about that, and had vocalized this displeasure with many hand gestures and yells. When they saw the scar though, through a rip Madam Pomfrey had made in order to get through to it, they proceeded to ignore his antics.
"Ron!" Hermione gasped, reaching her hand out to touch it. Her delicate fingers lightly grazed the scar, and she brought them back quickly as Ron flinched.
"ARGGHHHH!!!" Ron roared, arching his back in pain. A couple first years by the fire jumped and looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. "Oh, go do homework or something," he mumbled under his breath, causing the kids to scatter.
"He really got you," Harry stated, looking grim. Ron shrugged, the pain lessening due to the cream Madam Pomfrey had applied earlier.
"Yeah, I suppose he did. Let's get out the streamers!" he said sarcastically, flopping onto a (previously occupied) armchair near the fire, and looked at it gloomily.
Hermione seemed to be thinking for a moment before she yelled, "Ginny!" No response. Scowling, she walked over to the bottom of the steps leading to the girls dormitories. "Ginny Weasley!!!" Still no response. Hermione sighed impatiently. "VIRGINIA WEASLEY!" Ginny's flaming head popped out of a room.
"What?" she asked irritably.
"Did Malfoy mention anything about Ron or Harry while you were with him?" she asked pleasantly. Ginny sighed and came down the steps, clutching a book in her hands.
"I was just at the good part," she grumbled morosely, holding up a '10 Ways to Raise a Ferret'. Harry and Ron sniggered at the title but Hermione ignored it.
"It's kind of important," she insisted, nodding towards Ron. Ginny frowned and walked over; she looked at him and shrugged.
"He looks fine to me," she said, looking confused. Hermione silently walked to Ron and turned him around so that his back was facing despite his protests ('Geroff Hermione!'). Ginny's eyes widened. "How did that happen?"
"Potions," Harry said bluntly. "That stupid git flung something at him, no doubt on purpose." Ginny narrowed her eyes and looked at the scar on her brother's back.
"Ohhh, he really is a-"
*
"-dim witted arse!" Draco laughed, clutching his side and sinking into a green couch comfortably, kicking off his shoes and placing his hands behind his head. "Honestly, couldn't he feel it coming? I had been much too nice all bloody week." Crabbe and Goyle snickered appreciatively, as Adrian and Marcus Flint howled with unpleasant, raucous laughter.
"Was it all planned?" Marcus wanted to know. Inwardly, Draco cursed- one thing he prided himself on was not lying. Sure, he'd maim and insult and curse, but lying…he never lied.
"He fell for it didn't he?" Draco skipped over the question, praying the distraction would work. It did of course; Marcus and Adrian were now wiping their icy cold eyes of mirth while Crabbe and Goyle tried desperately to piece together what had happened in their tiny minds.
"That was, without a doubt, the most brilliant plan you've ever-"
"-pretended to come up with." Pansy was raising an eyebrow and leaning on the stair banister, now changed into green plaid (Slytherin style) pyjama bottoms and a gray tank top. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Who asked you Parkinson? Isn't it time for 'girl talk'?" he mimicked Blaise's giggly voice, making Pansy sigh wearily and the guys laugh harder.
"They're getting ready for bed," she replied, referring to her group of Slytherin girls.
"Shame," Draco mused, tracing a green pillow's silver braiding pensively. "I was hoping to run into that Carmen girl…" Silently, Pansy seethed at the intended ruse; it had worked.
"Point is Draco," she snapped angrily, "is that you shouldn't take credit for something you didn't even mean to do. Not all of us are complete dolts you know," she added, looking pointedly at Crabbe and Goyle. They scratched their heads in unison, making them look even more apelike than before. Rolling her eyes she turned back to a glaring Draco, separating her hair in the back to make two plaits. "Besides," she continued, "he has a higher pain tolerance than you do- I seem to remember you whining in the Hospital Wing for a good two weeks after that Hippogryff attacked you." This time, it was Pansy who came off triumphant; if it was possible, Draco's glare froze over more than it had before.
"Keep your ugly squashed nose out of this Parkinson," he hissed menacingly. Pansy's lip curled, hiding the hurt he had inflicted by that comment.
"At least my nose isn't sharp enough to slice meat," she retorted, looking with distaste at Draco's slightly upturned, but undeniably aristocratic, nose. He stood up abruptly, and then without a word walked coolly to his dorms. Pansy watched him leave with narrowed eyes. "Berk," she muttered under her breath.
Having finished her plaits and being very tired, she trudged back upstairs, trying to ignore the sniggers of the boys she left behind by the fireplace. God how she hated them both: Weasley and Malfoy.
They both made her infuriated.
--
"Happy Hogsmeade Saturday!" sang a chirping voice. Harry sprang out of bed, always having been an early riser. On the contrary, Ron groaned and rolled over in protest.
"It's too damn early Colin, sod off," came the muffled response from under Ron's pillow. Colin bounced in, full of energy and film for his beloved camera.
"But it's a beautiful day!" Colin replied, horrified at the lack of morning cheer. "Look, I've even got pictures to prove it, if you stay there and wait a few minutes I'll develop them and show you…"
Harry grinned and rolled his eyes, getting up and running a hand through his messy hair in an attempt to flatten it; it failed. "By the time you get them developed it'll be the next Hogsmeade Saturday." Colin gave a squeaky laugh before seeing the murderous look on Ron's face and scampering out of their room. Dean, Seamus and Neville were just beginning to come awake, rubbing their eyes and yawning widely. Harry looked down at Ron, whose status was 'In the Process of Trying to Go Back to Sleep'. Harry sighed and kicked him lightly. Grunt. "Get up Ron, you'll miss your date!" he teased. Ron sat up immediately, face red with anger and exhaustion. Date?!?
"It's not- " he started as Harry cracked up laughing.
"No worries Ronniekins, I wasn't being serious…besides, that'd be gross." Ron laughed and nodded in agreement, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and pulling on some socks from the floor. Harry made a face.
"Oh be nice to the girl, at least try and smell decent!" he said, sounding an awful lot like Hermione.
"You sound like Hermione," Ron taunted. Harry mocked a terrified face.
"Oh NO!" he exclaimed, clutching the sides of his face. Ron gave a loud laugh and fell off of the edge of the bed- to look up at a throughouly not amused Hermione Granger. She raised an eyebrow at him as he hastily scrambled to his feet and Harry contained his laughter.
"I trust you're getting ready for Hogsmeade," she greeted them sternly. They nodded in unison, fighting not to laugh. "I will see you downstairs shortly." With a huff, she slammed the door behind her and even through the thick wood of it they could hear her stomping angrily down the stairs. Ron collapsed on the floor, laughing.
"She's going to be exactly like McGonagall, I swear!" he gasped out, clutching his side. Harry crossed over the room to the bathroom, where Neville was just walking out, chuckling.
--
"What are you doing?" Pansy asked sharply, looking at Tawny suspiciously through her mussed up hair. Tawny giggled and held up her wand, looking down on Pansy (huddled up on her bed) with a hungry look on her face.
"I'm going to make some…improvements," she finished. Pansy straightened up instantly, looking at her with more fright on her face than suspicion.
"Improvements?" she asked warily. Blaise popped up behind her and held up her own wand.
"You went into Hogsmeade looking such a fright last time," she explained. Pansy's eyes widened; she jumped out of bed and sprinted for the bathroom as fast as she could go. Blaise and Tawny watched her go and then broke out into identical twin grins of triumph.
"Did she fall for it again?" Carmen's sleepy voice asked the conspirators. They nodded, giggling to themselves.
"Works like a charm," Tawny said proudly.
"No pun intended," Pansy called from inside the bathroom, having heard this entire conversation and was now mentally ripping each and every one of them apart. The girls looked at the closed bathroom door confusedly.
"I made a pun?" Tawny asked, puzzled. Blaise shrugged while Carmen made an indistinct movement of her shoulders beneath the layered sheets. Millicent began stirring in her own bed- the Slytherin girls were up. Pansy came out with her toothbrush in her mouth, brushing furiously. Blaise and Tawny made disgusted faces at the accumulating foam in Pansy's mouth.
"Mff canmf beeweeft foo foult foo fhat," Pansy attempted to say around the toothpaste.
"Pardon?" Blaise asked, tilting her head slightly. Pansy ran back into the bathroom, spat out her toothpaste and rinsed out her mouth.
"I said, 'I can't believe you would do that!'" she repeated irritably.
"Well of course we would!" Carmen said, now sitting up against her bedpost and grinning a wicked smile. "That's what we do best." Pansy grinned back.
"Trickery."
--
It was a silent carriage ride to Hogsmeade this time; this was a relief to both Ron and Pansy, who were both too tired to really argue properly. This also made Sally-Anne and Justin a lot more comfortable, so instead of listening to Ron and Pansy bickering they talked. Pansy tapped on the window impatiently as Ron hummed something indistinct in his throat. The ride seemed to last forever.
"Will you please stop that incessant humming?!" Pansy snapped as Sally-Anne was telling Justin what she thought of Professor Flitwick. Ron stopped abruptly.
"The tapping?" he replied crossly. Pansy scowled and folded her hands in her lap. Ron grinned triumphantly. "Thank you." Pansy narrowed her eyes at him slightly, and as the carriage rolled to a stop, stuck her middle finger up at him rebelliously. Ron hopped out of the carriage and clutched his heart in mockery. "I'm hit! Lord help me, I think the finger finished me off!"
"Sod off Weasley," she spat at him, getting out of the carriage rather gracefully and stepping deliberately in a large puddle so that it splashed all over him. Ron growled and tried in vain to wipe off his robes. Pansy giggled at the futile attempt.
"These new dammit," he muttered, getting out his wand to do a cleaning spell. He hesitated, looking down at his sodden robes not knowing quite what to do.
"Oh for heaven's sakes!" Pansy exclaimed in frustration. "Cloroxium Cleanus!" She waved her wand and the muddy water extracted itself from her robes. Ron didn't say anything, but shook out his robes rather disgruntled.
"So..." Pansy looked around them; Zonko's and Honeyduke's lay before them. "Trick or Treat?" she asked, waving to them. Ron, thinking darkly of a certain pale blond boy, didn't need to think twice.
"Trick," he replied, walking briskly towards Zonko's. Pansy ran to catch up with Ron's lanky strides.
"What, following your brothers into the prank business?" she asked, slightly out of breath for trying to keep up. Ron rolled his eyes.
"Fred and George? Nah, I'd never be able to top them; just a harmless little prank…" he trailed off as they walked into the shop. It was brightly lit up, with pranks stacked to the very ceiling and all around them. Pansy looked on impatiently as Ron painstakingly made his way through the rows of tricks, muttering to himself. "Not this one, he'd see it a mile away…Ginny already gave him that…no, much too simple…"
Pansy sighed and looked behind her; she may not have liked Ron much, but at the moment Draco was top of the list in her Bad Graces. "What about this one Weasley?" Ron spun around and looked at the package in Pansy's hand- a smile twisted on his features.
"Perfect." Pansy remained motionless, face blank, as Ron snatched it out of her hands and walked up to the counter, getting out his money as the cashier rang it up. Pansy shrugged, albeit a little surprised he had agreed so quickly, and turned to her right to see a large mirror; what she saw displeased her.
She had deliberately kept her hair as messy as possible, just to spite her dorm mates. The plaits were falling out all over the place but still largely in tact. Her eyes looked sleepy and half closed, for once not done up with mascara and other eyeshadows that Carmen regularly provided her with. Her nose, she noted with dissatisfaction, really was a little squashed- a Malfoy never lies. Scowling darkly now, she turned to face Ron at the counter.
"Do you have the money or not?" the cashier demanded, annoyed. Ron, embarrassed, dug deeper into his pockets, trying to find a couple more Sickles. Pansy checked her Muggle watch and bit her lip; they were going to be late for that reservation she made at the Three Broomsticks (she was sure she'd need a break for some Butterbeer during their excursion) if he didn't hurry up. She sighed and with lightening speed, drew out her coin purse and plopped three Sickles on the counter. The cashier raised an eyebrow.
"Do you want the money or not?" Pansy imitated, glaring dangerously at the girl, who couldn't have been more than 21. Ron looked at Pansy out of the corner of his eyes, slightly grateful; maybe she wasn't such a…infuriating pug faced Slytherin freak after all.
--
A/N: Reponses! For the first time in ages, I'm going to do individual thanks:
Casper: coming from you, that's a HUGE compliment…*grins* "whoda thunk that they could be like the opposite version of hermione and draco?" not me, lol. Thanks for reviewing.
Alias: as I mentioned before, you gave me THE longest review ever! I owe you for that you know. :) I tried to give you guys more insight into Ron and Pansy in these last two chapters, I hope I did it all right…oh, and I saw the type- I smacked my head and was like 'doy!' hehe-
Michiru: Nope, not a one shot! Here's your update, and thanks for reviewing!
Tigerbrat88: thanks for reviewing! Hehe, glad you liked the line, I was pretty pleased with it myself.
Beboppin' Betty: Thank you! Pansy's a lot like me in these fics, ha ha. And Snape is always pretty hateful…maybe I overdid it. *sheepish grin*
Dashing bluecoat: you said it! I didn't even know there were R/P stories around, I'm guessing you're a fan. Thanks for reviewing, do the same again! Lol
Darcel: There's a group for this ship? Whoa, I just thought I was being random. Lol, guess not…cool stuff anyway. Thanks for the link.
Paperdoll: *prods you with a stick* wake up! review! :P lol
The Lost Weasley: hey! Sorry I made Blaise so ditzy here, normally it'd be Pansy but…yeah I can't hehe.
Lulu81: *beams* you said I've got talent! You're very cool! Lol, thank you so much for the compliments, you made my day.
Marie Vulffe: hey thanks for reviewing! Lol, you never know until you try, right? Right. Btw, that's an interesting pen name…any reason for it?
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I PROMISE that next time, Ron and Pansy will meet up with other people from school…more witty dialogue (I hope!)…all in all just a better chapter. Please review!
