Hell Tastes Sweet
Chapter Twenty Two
Pansy needed every ounce of her upbringing to prevent herself from screaming. She had never felt more affronted in her entire life. She realised now that, not only the trio had been treacherous but they had done it in such a cunning way that not even Pansy, used to deal with these kind of double-crossing, had seen it coming. True enough, Hermoine had so far been so kind to Pansy that the Slytherin had probably let her guard down far too much. Now, of course, Pansy understood the actual reason for her kindness.
She made a mental list of everything she had told Draco and, more importantly, of everything Draco had told her and felt a sensation plummeting inside her stomach making it feel cold.
It was fear.
She was scared to find out that in this war things were going to be a lot more complicated than just the good and the bad fighting and one of the sides eventually winning. She realised something that most people knew, or at least ought to know: at war, there is no 'good side' nor 'bad side', just two groups of people too angry and too upset to just sit down and talk things through.
Pansy was thinking of what her next move should be when she heard two girls giggling. Hearing the laughter she shivered. How people was able to laugh when there was such a dark cloud above everyone's head?
Then she remembered the ball. How was she going to pretend everything was alright with the trio?
Especially now that she knew that Hermoine could read her mind?
Too many questions were quickly filling her head, not only clouding her thoughts but also it almost made her forget something crucial: she needed to warn Draco about Hermoine's new ability and about…she couldn't even bring herself to voice it…the way she had been used so slyly by the trio.
She started running towards the Slytherin common room to fetch a piece of parchment so she could write a message for Draco.
"AH!! There you are!! We've been looking for you all evening!! We've got to get ready!!" Sonia shouted loudly the minute Pansy stepped into the common room.
"Sonia…I need to do something…" Pansy started saying.
"Oh…rubbish…we've got to get changed…you can do whatever it is later…" Sonia said grabbing Pansy by her left arm dragging her towards their dormitory, ignoring every single one of Pansy's protests.
Soon enough, the girls dormitory looked like a hair saloon mixed with a clothes' shop producing a weird witches fashion parade, with flashes of all colours coming out of their wands.
"NO!!! That spell was supposed to turn my hair blond!! Now it's pink!!" one of Pansy's roommates started screaming.
"Silly, you've used the wrong combination of words!! You're supposed to say them this way!" the girl's best friend replied apparently changing the way the words were arranged.
"Ah! Merlin, I'll never be ready on time!!"
Pansy was so shocked to see the huge mess the girls had managed to cause inside only thirty minutes that she was forgetting to get ready herself.
"Hoi! You've got to get ready, don't you??" Sonia screamed from the other side of the room causing Pansy to startle as if she had been awaken from a deep sleep.
"Sure…sorry…" she nodded while going to get her robes to start getting dressed.
Finally, after what it seemed an eternity, all the girls were ready and followed Pansy downstairs to meet the boys, some of whom were the girl's partners for the ball.
Highly polished and looking very smart indeed, Theodore Nott was among them, waiting for Pansy at the bottom of the stairs.
"You look great…" he muttered seeing Pansy with her set of dark, shimmering blue robes. She had done her hair in the way she knew it looked best, up in a French knot leaving a few strands hang just on each side of her face. She had only put a bit of gloss on her lips knowing that her pale skin and big eyes didn't need any make up.
"Thanks, you too…" replied Pansy half because it was actually true and half because etiquette required that she returned the compliment.
They were all walking towards the Great Hall when Pansy remembered about the message she had to send to Draco. She started quickly thinking about ways to get away for a brief moment but each one sounded odder and ruder than the previous one. She realised that it was impossible, at least for the time being, to disappear quietly to write to Draco.
Pansy was grateful to avoid the Gryffindors for the entire duration of their evening meal. The dance had finally started and Pansy thought to dance a few times with Theodore then, she would find an excuse to leave the Great Hall for a bit.
Naturally, as she was quickly learning, planning things involving a third party was just as unreliable as the weather predictions.
"Where are you going?" Theodore asked her seeing her motioning towards the door after a few dances.
"I…I need some air…" Pansy said using the first excuse that came up her mind.
"Ah…right…I'll come outside with you…" Theodore said offering her his arm.
Pansy's heart sank.
"It's not necessary…just stay here and have fun…" Pansy said smiling as much as she could although she was screaming inside 'GO AWAY!'.
"It's not a problem…it's rather hot here…I fancy some fresh air too…" Theodore said apparently not taking the hint.
Pansy didn't really know what to say so she thought of buying time just letting the boy come out with her…she would then think of something to tell him so, linking her arm with his, Pansy let him guide her across the Great Hall to go outside the castle.
They went to the grounds to sit on one of its stone benches.
"I'm very happy you decided to come with me to the ball…" Pansy heard Theodore saying.
Pansy just smiled really not knowing what to say.
"I know you're Draco's girlfriend but…I wonder…" Theodore started saying.
"Theodore…" Pansy said not liking the path their conversation was following.
"I'm sorry, is just that…I…" Theodore kept saying but Pansy wasn't listening. She had looked down the grounds to the lake and had seen something that had frozen her.
At first she thought it was the giant squid that inhabited the school lake. Then, being just too many spots, she thought it had to be some sort of animals just floating on the water's surface.
Now, that was taking a better look, Pansy saw something that couldn't be possible. They looked like boats. But no boats, other than the ones used the first day of each year for the first years to cross the lake, were actually used.
She thought it was just a trick of her nervous imagination. In any case, she wanted to get away from there as soon as possible.
"Let's go inside…I'm cold now…" Pansy said.
"Ah…sorry, I'm a disaster…" Theodore said, realising now that Pansy had been ignoring him. The boy took off his cloak to put it on her shoulders. With the same movement, unfortunately for Pansy, Theodore grabbed her from her shoulders and pulled her towards him.
"What are you doing?" Pansy said freaked out, Blaise's attack still freshly imprinted on her mind.
"I love you Pansy…" Theodore started saying placing his hand on the left side of Pansy's face.
Pansy was about to use of the moves Hermoine had taught her when a cold, sneering voice coming from somewhere in the darkness said:
"Get your hands off her, you filthy bastard."
Pansy would have recognised that voice in a million. Pulling herself free from Theodore's embrace, turned round to face the long, pale face that she knew and loved so much.
"Draco…" Pansy said.
"Pansy go inside and hide…I'll go and find you when everything is over…" Draco said not letting her speak.
Pansy then, for some instinctive, unknown reason, looked back at the lake. The boats she thought she had imagined to be on the lake were now on the lake's shore and some people were now disembarking them.
This could only mean something. The war's first real battle was about to begin.
To be continued…
A/N: Sorry for the delay updating, I had my little brother (he's almost 2 meters [6ft 3in] tall!!) came over the weekend to visit and left only yesterday! I will try to update tomorrow…in any case, I will have at least one more chapter up before the end of the week…
Thanks for the reviews…you really help me keep up with this little story of mine…