Hell Tastes Sweet

Chapter Eighteen

By Friday evening, everyone, regardless of their house, was excited about their trip to Hogsmeade. It seemed that this year, more than the others, everyone was trying twice as hard to enjoy those little things that made life worth living.

Pansy thought it was probably the prospect of a terrible war, a common feeling shared by basically every witch and wizard, that made people aware of the fact that those little things were not to be taken for granted.

Pansy had succeeded, quite effectively, to avoid any contact with Blaise ever since the 'incident' as Professor Snape liked to call Blaise's rape attempt. Unfortunately, she had to comply with Draco's instructions and had to, somehow, not only talk to Blaise but also convince him to follow her to the Shrieking Shack for there is where Draco had told her to meet him.

He had been, as usual, very brief in the message he had sent to her as a reply to her letter:

Pansy,

Meet me at the Shrieking Shack at 7pm. Come with Blaise but don't tell him I'll be there.

Draco

PS: Excellent news about the D.A. my father is very pleased.

The girl was thinking about how to confront Blaise with the whole issue when someone dropped a tiny piece of paper next to her plate.

She turned around to see whoever had dropped the piece of paper, she saw a Hufflepuff walking away from her seat.

Pansy grabbed the piece of paper before anyone of her friends got too suspicious and opened it with her hands under the table.

The note said:

Go to the bottom of the marble stairs, we'll be waiting for you there. You have to go unnoticed. HG.

HG: Hermoine Granger. Turning to face the main door, Pansy saw the trio with a few other students leaving the Great Hall. Pansy was incredibly happy to see that Hermoine had remained true to her word and was actually accepting her presence in one of the D.A. get-togethers.

Pansy left the Great Hall after having told Sonia she had to check something in the library. She meet the D.A. group at the bottom of the great marble stairs, then followed them through the school corridors till they all came to a halt right in front of a wall. She saw Harry walking back and forth just like Draco had done to conjure the room they used for their secret reunions.

Surely enough, a heavy wooden door appeared before them. Harry opened the door and urged everyone to go inside, then followed the group into the room and closed the door behind him placing a blocking charm on it.

"Right guys…you all now what to do…tonight we have a new addition to the group…please welcome Pansy Parkinson…" Harry said facing the group.

Pansy could have laughed at their faces. Some of them looked positively freaked out.

"Why is she here? Isn't it enough that we have to share Dumbledore's special training with the Slytherins that we also have to have them here? Harry…I thought we were training with you to fight THEM…" said a seventh year Ravenclaw.

"Hey guys…we've got our reasons to accept her in our group…besides, you all know that Dumbledore is not teaching us all he wants because of the limitations the Ministry is imposing on him…that's why we had to reassemble this group in the first place…we need some proper training to fight the Death Eaters…" Hermoine explained.

Pansy was shocked. So, Dumbledore had limitations imposed from the Ministry? They weren't learning all he wanted to teach them? That sounded very interesting indeed…Pansy was sure the Dark Lord would be pleased to know these kind of things.

"Besides…the fact that the Ministry refuses to lift the underage ban on the use of magic is working against us…we still have to train clandestinely…" added Ron.

"Well…I think we've wasted enough time…today we'll get in pairs and will practice the shielding charm against some of the stronger curses…remember to put every bit of your concentration on it…you've got to believe you can block whatever curse is thrown at you…" Harry said considering the matter settled.

Pansy stood there while watching everyone pairing up.

Ron and Hermoine, of course, made up a pair, Pansy thought that if they weren't already together, they ought to be…they looked perfect for each other. Unfortunately for Pansy, after everyone had his or her partner, the Slytherin found herself alone and feeling stupid.

"Come here…I'll train with you…" Harry said provoking a red haired girl to look at Pansy as though as she wanted to throw one of the unforgivables at her.

They spent the next two hours training with different courses and counter-courses. Pansy had to admit that, not only they were all really good at it, but also Harry made an excellent teacher. He kept correcting people's moves and incantations, suggesting new things to be tried…always keeping an unpretentious manner.

She was now trying to block a hex thrown by Ginny, who had made every effort to end up paired up with the Slytherin. The youngest of the Weasleys was a very fine witch and those who were familiar with her knew that under the fiery temper, there was a sweet natured girl.

Tonight though, she seemed determined to cause Pansy as much damage as possible. Pansy felt the Gryffindor was just making her pay for the beginning of the training session. At some point, the Slytherin felt it was necessary to stop the whole thing before Ginny would turn her permanently into a toad.

"Hey…take it easy…I'm not after Harry you know…I prefer blond guys…" Pansy said half jokingly.

Ginny looked at her shocked then, slowly, the red head gave her a small smile. From then on, Ginny became a lot less aggressive.

Pansy went to bed that night feeling much happier. She had learnt lots of things from Harry and the D.A. but, the most important thing was that she had lots to tell Draco when they finally saw each other the following day. Pansy was counting the minutes until that happened.

The following morning was spent by Pansy and her friends raiding every single shop in Hogsmeade. Pansy herself bought almost all her Christmas presents, a new quill as well as the new edition of Witch Weekly, her favourite magazine.

After that, they had lunch and went for a second session of shopping madness. It was nearing seven when the girls started complaining of how tired they were.

"Let's go back to the school…" Sonia suggested.

"You girls go…I've got to do one very quick thing…" Pansy said giving Sonia a look that spoke volumes.

"Right…yeah…that thing…" Sonia said raising both her eyebrows. Pansy had confided her the fact that she was meeting Draco that evening. Pansy had had to tell her so she wouldn't ask too many questions later.

The girls left to the school carrying with them Pansy's shopping. Then, the Slytherin started looking for Blaise. It wasn't hard to find him, he was coming out one of the main street's shops followed by his group of buddies.

"Blaise…I need to talk to you…" Pansy said not caring a iota about what the group of boys that were with him thought.

Blaise smirked creating a bad copy of Draco's trademark ones. Pansy had to accept that he had hidden his surprise incredibly quickly.

"Ah…I see you never give up…oh well, guys…a man has to be a gentleman…so if you'll excuse me, I have to tell her once more why a fine man like me cannot be with an ordinary girl like her…" Blaise said causing everyone to laugh out loud.

Pansy had to bit her lower lip so she wouldn't send him to hell. She was just happy enough to have him follow him to meet Draco. She still didn't know what the blond wanted with Blaise but curiosity made her eager to find out.

Blaise followed her through Hogsmeade's streets to the abandoned mansion, Pansy found herself almost running there. They had almost reached the manor and Blaise was about to say something, probably very rude, when Draco appeared from behind a tree.

Pansy was about to say something but Blaise was quicker than her.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here?."

Draco limited himself to give Blaise the worst of his smirks, the one he saved for when he was furious.

To be continued…