Hell Tastes Sweet

Chapter Seventeen

There was a moment of silence right after Pansy's declaration. The five Gryffindors seemed to be considering how to tell her to go to hell as kindly as possible when Hermoine, always the fastest of them, said:

"Why do you want to join?."

Pansy considered her answer briefly, then she said:

"Well, like I said, I have a very bad feeling regarding the whole war…somehow I think no one will be truly victorious…."

"You're probably right…there are no victors and losers in any war…only people that are desperate enough to have to fight for their lives…" Harry said interrupting her.

"Ok…that makes a good reason but…I think there is another reason why you'd like to join, am I right?" Hermoine said ignoring Harry's sudden philosophical inspiration.

"Yes…Snape didn't believe me when I told him Blaise had tried to…well…you know…" Pansy said feeling herself blushing with shame.

"WHAT??" Hermoine shouted suddenly.

"Not only that…apparently Blaise has been telling everyone he had to hit me because I tried to hex him after HE rejected ME…" Pansy continued.

"What?? We were there…did you tell him that?" Ron intervened for the first time.

"Of course I did…he didn't want to get any of you involved…he said that…oh well…never mind…he didn't want to have to discredit a Slytherin in favour of one of you…" Pansy said.

"And of course, for that, you want to take revenge…" Harry said.

"No…I simply want to be able to defend myself properly next time Blaise comes anywhere near me…" Pansy said frankly.

"Ok, just give us a minute…" Hermoine said.

Then she pulled both Harry and Ron with her while prompting the other two Gryffindors to follow her.

Pansy saw her whispering something at them. Whatever it was, it had to power to convince all of them, even if the youngest of the Weasleys needed an extra word from Harry in order to fully agree with the rest.

"Alright…you may join in…but not today…we'll tell you when the next meeting will be…" Hermoine announced finally.

"Thanks Granger…it means a lot to me…" Pansy said.

The Gryffindor just nodded and turning round, followed by her four housemates, she just walked away leaving Pansy standing on the top of the stairs.

This was probably the lowest Pansy had ever reached. Having to ask Granger for help was probably her worst moment in the six years she had been at Hogwarts.

That night, Pansy got in bed feeling as though as if someone had replaced her heart with a stone. She started sobbing silently until, exhausted, the girl fell asleep.

She had a horrible nightmare that night. She was being chased by the dementors up a spiral stair…Draco was calling her name from the top of it and she kept running and running…till finally, she reached the top, only to find there someone with a black set of robes and a hood.

Pansy started thinking it was Voldemort himself waiting for her when the person removed the hood to show Blaise's sour face smirking.

"You have no escape…run, my dear Pansy…run as fast as you want…I'll catch you nonetheless…."

Pansy turned around just to see that the spiral stair was no longer there…it had been replaced by a black hole. She fell into that hole…she screamed as loud as her lungs could.

"Pansy…hey…Pansy…wake up!!"

Pansy woke up to face a very worried Sonia.

"Hey pal…you were having a nightmare…come on…great news! Hogsmeade weekend ahead!!" Sonia said.

"What?" Pansy said not understanding anything while fighting to shake off the terror the nightmare had provoked to her.

"Hey…it had to be a very rough dream…what was it about?" Sonia asked curious.

"Oh…something stupid…I cannot even remember…"Pansy lied.

"Oh well…Pansy…we're allowed to go to Hogsmeade this weekend, for our Christmas shopping and stuff…" Sonia said excitedly.

"That's great!" Pansy said faking an enthusiasm she didn't really feel.

"Ah…and you've got a letter today…it was a very weird owl that brought it here…it didn't even fly to the Great Hall…came straight to the dungeon…and it doesn't say who's it from…" Sonia said passing her a white envelope.

Pansy looked at it carefully. It had a small water mark in one of the corners. DM. Draco Malfoy.

Pansy opened the letter in such a hurry she almost shredded the envelope.

Pansy,

I received your owl last night. I need to see you as soon as possible. Hogsmeade would be great if you can sneak out…bring Blaise with you.

Draco

PS: Any news?

Pansy was confused. As always Draco managed to provoke so many different feelings inside her with only a few words.

She felt really good that he wanted to see her, no he needed to see her.

She also felt really confused with Draco's request to bring Blaise with her. Why? After what Blaise had almost done to her, why would Draco want to see him for?

Any news? Yes, tons of them…she had been admitted to the D.A., the only Slytherin to have done so.

She was also missing him like mad. Grabbing a piece of parchment and ignoring Sonia's curious look, Pansy wrote:

Dear Draco,

We're allowed to go to Hogsmeade next weekend. How about meeting in front of the Three Broomsticks at midday? I will try to convince Blaise to come with me although I don't understand why.

I have been accepted into the D.A. It will be easier to report more from there.

I miss you and I can't wait to see you again.

I hope you are well.

Yours, always,

Pansy.

Putting the letter in one of her own envelopes, she got up from bed and, after quickly dressing herself, ran to the owlery to send the letter to Draco.

To be continued…

A/N: Next, more Pansy/Draco interaction… Thanks for your comments!! I'm glad to see someone is still enjoying this…