A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews. I'm glad that everyone is enjoying
this story. I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up. I had a
huge paper that I had to wrote for my English class, so all my time went to
that. I also wanted to let everyone know that I lied. There is going to be
more than 3 chapters left. I'm not sure how many there's going to be but
there will be more than 3.
Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.
Also, there's a surprise in this chapter. I hope you all like it and are interested in where its going to lead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 26: Pansy
The Great Hall was buzzing as usual. But the topic of conversation wasn't the usual talk about Quidditch, classes or the weekends homework. On this strange morning, the students of Hogwarts were discussing what the Headmaster Dumbledore had just said.
"He cant be serious!" "100 points!" "A weeks worth of detention!" "What made him do this?"
As that last question was asked, three heads at the Gryffindor table dropped. Harry, Ron and Ginny stared at the food on their plates.
"I feel bad," Ron confessed.
"Well, you should!" Ginny snapped causing Ron to sag his shoulders.
"We should all feel bad," Harry pointed out. Now Ginny's shoulders sagged and Ron's sagged even more.
"Quit feeling bad you guys," Lavander piped in. "You shouldn't be blaming yourselves. You should be blaming Malfoy. Its his fault," she reassured them. Harry felt Ron stiffen next to him. Ginny patted her brothers arm, trying to calm him down.
"Have you guys seen Hermione this morning?" Dean asked while piling his plate with more food.
As if on cue, the doors to the Great Hall opened. All chatter ceased and all heads turned to look at the girl entering.
Hermione was annoyed. "What?" she snapped at everyone. She then headed over to her house table. She sat down next to Neville who was sitting across from Harry, Ginny and Ron.
"Good morning everyone," she said to her friends cheerfully. Harry and Ginny looked at each other. Both clearly thinking the same thing: "Uh-oh"
"What's so good about," Ron grumbled. He immediately received a harsh jab in the ribs from Ginny.
Hermione just smiled. "I think it's a great morning with wonderful weather." Her gaze shifted to the ceiling that resembled the weather outside and her mood.
There were dark, grey clouds covering the sky. White lights flashed throughout the clouds from the lighting. And the thunder roared as a light rain fell from the sky.
Hermione smiled again as she brought her gaze back down from the ceiling. All too soon her smile faded and was replaced with a dark, menacing glare as her eyes met with an icy blue storm. Her friends watched as her mood changed drastically in a matter of seconds. They were all a bit nervous about the expression on her face. It was a look they'd never seen Hermione give before.
Before Hermione came down to the Great Hall, she repeatedly told herself that Draco Malfoy meant nothing to her. She reminded herself of all the bad things he ever did to her and her friends. And as she remembered these things, she became even more upset. And all the while blaming herself for letting any of it happen. And now as she looked into those 'desperate for forgiveness' eyes, she felt her blood boil.
Hermione shifted her gaze so it fell on Neville. She smiled sweetly at him. Causing everyone to become even more confused at her unusually fast rate of mood change.
"Neville," she said oh so sweetly.
Neville gulped but managed a smile. "Yes Hermione." He wasn't sure if he should worry about what she was going to say or not.
"Would you walk me to class please?" Neville sighed.
'Worry not Neville' he told himself. 'It's just Hermione'
"Of course Hermione."
Hermione smiled. She swung her book bag over her shoulder and stood up. Neville followed suit. As the two began to walk out of the hall, Hermione linked her fingers with Neville's. She began to feel herself finally relax.
'See' She thought to herself. 'Who needs Draco Malfoy to feel comfortable and safe'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco watched as Hermione entered the hall. He tried his hardest not to smile but the sight of her always seemed to make his whole face light up.
"I don't know why your smiling Malfoy, but I suggest you knock it off 'cause there's nothing to be smiling about," Pansy snapped. "Its your fault that Dumbledore's pissed."
Draco's smile vanished. "Shut up Parkinson," he snapped back. Pansy just rolled her eyes.
Draco watched Hermione as she smiled at her friends then looked up at the ceiling. As her gaze fell onto him, Draco got a weird feeling in his stomach. And when Hermione's cold eyes and harsh glare were sent his way, he couldn't help but cringe. He tried to beg her to forgive him with his eyes, but it was to no avail. He felt a pang in his chest as her eyes turned even colder.
Sitting next to Draco, Blaise shook his head. "Forget it," he said. "She doesn't want to have anything to do with you." 'I wish I could feel the same way' He added to himself.
Draco turned back around just in time to see Hermione leaving the Great Hall, holding Neville's hand. That didn't bother him as much as the smile on Hermione's face did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Can you believe that she actually thought that Draco Malfoy actually liked her! What a stupid mudblood," Millicent Bullstrod was saying to some of the other Slytherin girls as they waited for Potions to start.
Hermione looked over at the group of girls and gave them the dirtiest look that she could muster. Lavander and Parvati glared at them as they tried to keep Hermione calm, who was slowly losing her patience.
"Shut up Bullstrod," Pansy snapped. Millicent snorted very un-lady like but stoped.
Pansy just rolled her eyes. 'What a bimbo' she thought to herself. After the encounter with Draco at the train station after winter break, Pansy slowly began to change. She started to finally grow up. She started paying close attention to the people around her especially her "friends". As she stood in the dark, damp dungeon hall, she recalled the incident that made her think twice about who she was.
~*~ Flashback ~*~
Pansy lay awake on her bed in the seventh year Slytherin girls dormitory. She was snuggled deep under her plush covers, only her head was visible. It was late and she supposed that everyone was asleep. Pansy however, couldn't sleep. For some reason her mind was telling her body to stay awake. It was telling her that she needed to stay awake.
A few minutes had gone by when the door to the room opened. Pansy heard the soft shuffle of someone changing their cloths and walking to their bed and climbing in. There was a brief pause and then: "Mill," a voice whispered. "Your back later than usual." Pansy recognized the voice as Lacy Davis, one of her roommates.
"So what," Millicent whispered back.
"So what happened?" This voice belonged another roommate by the name of Lexy Talon.
"You mean with Josh?" Millicent asked.
"Yeah with Josh. What did you guys do?" The last roommate, Annalise Lexington, asked.
"What do you think we did?"
"It never took you guys that long before," Lacy stated.
Pansy silently snorted. On the outside Pansy appeared happy, but on the inside it was completely different.
'Why didn't I know about her and Josh? Why didn't she tell me? Were suppose to be best friends.'
"Who said that we only did it once?"
"You are such a slut," Annalise said.
"Ha! I don't think so. That title belongs to Parkinson." All of the girls laughed. That is all but two.
Pansy was shocked, humiliated, and hurt. These people were suppose to be her friends. Instead, here they were, calling her a slut. And what was the deal with calling her "Parkinson"?
"I mean honestly," Millicent continued. "She's slept with like what, twenty different guys. She's a total slut."
Pansy had to cover her mouth so the others wouldn't hear her gasp.
"You guys do realize that she's in that bed, not more then ten feet away from us?" Lexy pointed out.
"Yeah. So what?" Millicent snapped.
"She's asleep anyway," Lacy added.
'Am not!" Pansy's mind screamed.
"She's our friend. You guys shouldn't be talking about her like this," Lexy pointed out another good point.
"No, she thinks she's our friend," Annalise stated.
"And what do you mean "you guys"? You think the same thing don't you?" Millicent snapped.
"No, I don't." And with that, Lexy turned on her side and went back to sleep.
"Whatever," Lacy said.
"So, anyway," Annalise began.
Pansy tuned the rest of the girls' conversation out. She wiped away the tears falling down her face and closed her eyes.
'I am not a slut' she thought to herself. 'I only said that I slept with all those guys because I wanted all the other girls to like me'
Pansy sniffed and wiped away more tears. She closed her eyes and cried herself to sleep, but not without one last thought:
'So much for friends'
~*~ End Flashback ~*~
After that night, Pansy vowed that she would not let people think that she was a slut. Because she wasn't. She started ignoring all of her roommates, well, all of them except for Lexy. Lexy had told Pansy the next day about what the other girls had said. Since then, the two girls had become very close.
That incident was the beginning nudge that Pansy needed to start her new path of self discovery. She slowly began to change her ways and separate herself from the "old" Pansy. The one nudge that really got her mind and body in gear was the fact that she was almost killed. That definitely woke up her senses. She began to realize that she had been taking life for granted. She was only doing things that others wanted her to do. For instance, hating mud...muggles. She never once, in 17 years, had the chance to do what she wanted to do. She'd never had the opportunity to see the world beyond the dark world that she lived in. And now that her father was in Azkaban and the Dark Lord was dead, there was no one to stop her from seeing life in a different light.
Of course Pansy wasn't about to become a goody, goody Gryffindor, but she was going to try a lot harder to be nice to people. And for Him, she would do anything. Oh yes, Him. The boy, no, the man that showed her the meaning of life. The meaning of happiness. The man who showed her a world beyond Slytherin's and Draco Malfoy. The man who showed her the meaning of love. Yes, Pansy Parkinson was in love.
Once she truly opened her eyes and saw how Draco was with Hermione, Pansy began to let go of Draco and allow herself to fall in love with Him.
Pansy turned her gaze to the other wall and let her eyes rest on Him. His perfect smile, his bright green eyes, and his black as night hair. As He leaned against the wall and listened to his friend ramble on about Quidditch, His gaze met Pansy's. She smiled. He smiled. Their eyes locked and for a few brief moments the world disappeared, it was just them.
But all too soon their precious moment ended as the door to the Potions class room opened and Professor Snape ordered them inside. But just before she entered, Pansy looked one last time at Him. And what he mouthed to her, made her heart melt for the first time.
"I love you Pansy"
Pansy beamed. And as she mouthed back to him, tears of joy filled her eyes.
"I love you too Harry"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: So what did you think? Good? Bad? Do let me know.
Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.
Also, there's a surprise in this chapter. I hope you all like it and are interested in where its going to lead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 26: Pansy
The Great Hall was buzzing as usual. But the topic of conversation wasn't the usual talk about Quidditch, classes or the weekends homework. On this strange morning, the students of Hogwarts were discussing what the Headmaster Dumbledore had just said.
"He cant be serious!" "100 points!" "A weeks worth of detention!" "What made him do this?"
As that last question was asked, three heads at the Gryffindor table dropped. Harry, Ron and Ginny stared at the food on their plates.
"I feel bad," Ron confessed.
"Well, you should!" Ginny snapped causing Ron to sag his shoulders.
"We should all feel bad," Harry pointed out. Now Ginny's shoulders sagged and Ron's sagged even more.
"Quit feeling bad you guys," Lavander piped in. "You shouldn't be blaming yourselves. You should be blaming Malfoy. Its his fault," she reassured them. Harry felt Ron stiffen next to him. Ginny patted her brothers arm, trying to calm him down.
"Have you guys seen Hermione this morning?" Dean asked while piling his plate with more food.
As if on cue, the doors to the Great Hall opened. All chatter ceased and all heads turned to look at the girl entering.
Hermione was annoyed. "What?" she snapped at everyone. She then headed over to her house table. She sat down next to Neville who was sitting across from Harry, Ginny and Ron.
"Good morning everyone," she said to her friends cheerfully. Harry and Ginny looked at each other. Both clearly thinking the same thing: "Uh-oh"
"What's so good about," Ron grumbled. He immediately received a harsh jab in the ribs from Ginny.
Hermione just smiled. "I think it's a great morning with wonderful weather." Her gaze shifted to the ceiling that resembled the weather outside and her mood.
There were dark, grey clouds covering the sky. White lights flashed throughout the clouds from the lighting. And the thunder roared as a light rain fell from the sky.
Hermione smiled again as she brought her gaze back down from the ceiling. All too soon her smile faded and was replaced with a dark, menacing glare as her eyes met with an icy blue storm. Her friends watched as her mood changed drastically in a matter of seconds. They were all a bit nervous about the expression on her face. It was a look they'd never seen Hermione give before.
Before Hermione came down to the Great Hall, she repeatedly told herself that Draco Malfoy meant nothing to her. She reminded herself of all the bad things he ever did to her and her friends. And as she remembered these things, she became even more upset. And all the while blaming herself for letting any of it happen. And now as she looked into those 'desperate for forgiveness' eyes, she felt her blood boil.
Hermione shifted her gaze so it fell on Neville. She smiled sweetly at him. Causing everyone to become even more confused at her unusually fast rate of mood change.
"Neville," she said oh so sweetly.
Neville gulped but managed a smile. "Yes Hermione." He wasn't sure if he should worry about what she was going to say or not.
"Would you walk me to class please?" Neville sighed.
'Worry not Neville' he told himself. 'It's just Hermione'
"Of course Hermione."
Hermione smiled. She swung her book bag over her shoulder and stood up. Neville followed suit. As the two began to walk out of the hall, Hermione linked her fingers with Neville's. She began to feel herself finally relax.
'See' She thought to herself. 'Who needs Draco Malfoy to feel comfortable and safe'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco watched as Hermione entered the hall. He tried his hardest not to smile but the sight of her always seemed to make his whole face light up.
"I don't know why your smiling Malfoy, but I suggest you knock it off 'cause there's nothing to be smiling about," Pansy snapped. "Its your fault that Dumbledore's pissed."
Draco's smile vanished. "Shut up Parkinson," he snapped back. Pansy just rolled her eyes.
Draco watched Hermione as she smiled at her friends then looked up at the ceiling. As her gaze fell onto him, Draco got a weird feeling in his stomach. And when Hermione's cold eyes and harsh glare were sent his way, he couldn't help but cringe. He tried to beg her to forgive him with his eyes, but it was to no avail. He felt a pang in his chest as her eyes turned even colder.
Sitting next to Draco, Blaise shook his head. "Forget it," he said. "She doesn't want to have anything to do with you." 'I wish I could feel the same way' He added to himself.
Draco turned back around just in time to see Hermione leaving the Great Hall, holding Neville's hand. That didn't bother him as much as the smile on Hermione's face did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Can you believe that she actually thought that Draco Malfoy actually liked her! What a stupid mudblood," Millicent Bullstrod was saying to some of the other Slytherin girls as they waited for Potions to start.
Hermione looked over at the group of girls and gave them the dirtiest look that she could muster. Lavander and Parvati glared at them as they tried to keep Hermione calm, who was slowly losing her patience.
"Shut up Bullstrod," Pansy snapped. Millicent snorted very un-lady like but stoped.
Pansy just rolled her eyes. 'What a bimbo' she thought to herself. After the encounter with Draco at the train station after winter break, Pansy slowly began to change. She started to finally grow up. She started paying close attention to the people around her especially her "friends". As she stood in the dark, damp dungeon hall, she recalled the incident that made her think twice about who she was.
~*~ Flashback ~*~
Pansy lay awake on her bed in the seventh year Slytherin girls dormitory. She was snuggled deep under her plush covers, only her head was visible. It was late and she supposed that everyone was asleep. Pansy however, couldn't sleep. For some reason her mind was telling her body to stay awake. It was telling her that she needed to stay awake.
A few minutes had gone by when the door to the room opened. Pansy heard the soft shuffle of someone changing their cloths and walking to their bed and climbing in. There was a brief pause and then: "Mill," a voice whispered. "Your back later than usual." Pansy recognized the voice as Lacy Davis, one of her roommates.
"So what," Millicent whispered back.
"So what happened?" This voice belonged another roommate by the name of Lexy Talon.
"You mean with Josh?" Millicent asked.
"Yeah with Josh. What did you guys do?" The last roommate, Annalise Lexington, asked.
"What do you think we did?"
"It never took you guys that long before," Lacy stated.
Pansy silently snorted. On the outside Pansy appeared happy, but on the inside it was completely different.
'Why didn't I know about her and Josh? Why didn't she tell me? Were suppose to be best friends.'
"Who said that we only did it once?"
"You are such a slut," Annalise said.
"Ha! I don't think so. That title belongs to Parkinson." All of the girls laughed. That is all but two.
Pansy was shocked, humiliated, and hurt. These people were suppose to be her friends. Instead, here they were, calling her a slut. And what was the deal with calling her "Parkinson"?
"I mean honestly," Millicent continued. "She's slept with like what, twenty different guys. She's a total slut."
Pansy had to cover her mouth so the others wouldn't hear her gasp.
"You guys do realize that she's in that bed, not more then ten feet away from us?" Lexy pointed out.
"Yeah. So what?" Millicent snapped.
"She's asleep anyway," Lacy added.
'Am not!" Pansy's mind screamed.
"She's our friend. You guys shouldn't be talking about her like this," Lexy pointed out another good point.
"No, she thinks she's our friend," Annalise stated.
"And what do you mean "you guys"? You think the same thing don't you?" Millicent snapped.
"No, I don't." And with that, Lexy turned on her side and went back to sleep.
"Whatever," Lacy said.
"So, anyway," Annalise began.
Pansy tuned the rest of the girls' conversation out. She wiped away the tears falling down her face and closed her eyes.
'I am not a slut' she thought to herself. 'I only said that I slept with all those guys because I wanted all the other girls to like me'
Pansy sniffed and wiped away more tears. She closed her eyes and cried herself to sleep, but not without one last thought:
'So much for friends'
~*~ End Flashback ~*~
After that night, Pansy vowed that she would not let people think that she was a slut. Because she wasn't. She started ignoring all of her roommates, well, all of them except for Lexy. Lexy had told Pansy the next day about what the other girls had said. Since then, the two girls had become very close.
That incident was the beginning nudge that Pansy needed to start her new path of self discovery. She slowly began to change her ways and separate herself from the "old" Pansy. The one nudge that really got her mind and body in gear was the fact that she was almost killed. That definitely woke up her senses. She began to realize that she had been taking life for granted. She was only doing things that others wanted her to do. For instance, hating mud...muggles. She never once, in 17 years, had the chance to do what she wanted to do. She'd never had the opportunity to see the world beyond the dark world that she lived in. And now that her father was in Azkaban and the Dark Lord was dead, there was no one to stop her from seeing life in a different light.
Of course Pansy wasn't about to become a goody, goody Gryffindor, but she was going to try a lot harder to be nice to people. And for Him, she would do anything. Oh yes, Him. The boy, no, the man that showed her the meaning of life. The meaning of happiness. The man who showed her a world beyond Slytherin's and Draco Malfoy. The man who showed her the meaning of love. Yes, Pansy Parkinson was in love.
Once she truly opened her eyes and saw how Draco was with Hermione, Pansy began to let go of Draco and allow herself to fall in love with Him.
Pansy turned her gaze to the other wall and let her eyes rest on Him. His perfect smile, his bright green eyes, and his black as night hair. As He leaned against the wall and listened to his friend ramble on about Quidditch, His gaze met Pansy's. She smiled. He smiled. Their eyes locked and for a few brief moments the world disappeared, it was just them.
But all too soon their precious moment ended as the door to the Potions class room opened and Professor Snape ordered them inside. But just before she entered, Pansy looked one last time at Him. And what he mouthed to her, made her heart melt for the first time.
"I love you Pansy"
Pansy beamed. And as she mouthed back to him, tears of joy filled her eyes.
"I love you too Harry"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: So what did you think? Good? Bad? Do let me know.