Chapter Twenty Three: Unity

"Where were you lot all day?"

Harry looked up from his steak pie at dinner that night to see Lavender Brown looking down at them from where she stood behind Ron and Hermione, Parvati Patil standing next to her. Seamus, to Ron's right, didn't look up.

"We had..."

"You weren't in any classes... you're going to get in trouble."

"Dumbledore knew where we were," Hermione said softly, glancing at Harry.

"Special treatment once again?" Parvati asked, throwing a rather nasty look at Hermione. "Should have known."

"You..." Ginny began, but Harry laid a calming hand on her knee under the table.

"Dumbledore knew where we were," he said dismissively.

"I suppose it was something to do with Dean," Lavender sighed. "Why it's such a big secret..."

"It's no secret, Lavender," Seamus said. "And it had nothing to do with Dean."

"What?"

"And it's still none of your bloody business," Seamus continued with his dinner.

"Well..." Lavender huffed. "If you're going to treat me..."

"Don't go there, Lav'," Seamus finally turned his eyes up to her. "Don't think I don't know."

Lavender paled, then turned and stalked away, Parvati following behind, casting a look behind her that Harry couldn't read.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked.

"Nothing," Seamus had turned back to his dinner, obviously not wishing to talk about it.

"But..."

"You're as bad as she is, Weasley," Seamus pushed his plate away and stood. "You don't need to know everything."

As the Irish boy left the Great Hall, Ron cast a rather surprised look across the table at Harry.

"What was that all about?"

Harry shrugged.

"Seamus found out," Neville said quietly from beside Ginny where he had been sitting silently throughout the entire conversation.

"Found out what?"

"About Lavender... and Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" Hermione, Ginny and Harry gaped. Ron was speechless.

Neville flushed. "He found out that Lavender... well... with Draco... in the Astronomy Tower."

"She didn't?" Ginny gasped.

Neville flushed and shrugged. "Apparently Dean caught them... this was before Christmas. That's why Seamus took that Ravenclaw girl to the ball. He wouldn't talk to her about it... just stopped talking to her altogether."

Harry's eyebrows rose.

"Malfoy?" Ron said, a disgusted look on his face. "Gross!"

"I told you," Ginny said softly, only for Harry to hear. "Sex-starved."

Harry nearly choked on his pumpkin juice.

"I wonder if Pansy knew," Hermione mused. "The way Draco treated her at the Yule Ball..."

"I don't think so," Neville said quickly, his cheeks pinkening. Neville didn't normally gossip, but mostly because he never really had anything to contribute. "Seamus is pretty steamed, but I would hate to see what would happen if Pansy ever found out."

Those remaining at the table were silent, each thinking about what kind of fireworks that would set off. Pansy would throw a fit to end all fits.

Of course, since Draco hadn't returned after Christmas, Pansy had seemed to be in a little world all of her own. She hardly talked, kept her head down at meals, and spent the majority of her time in the Dungeons. No one from her house was talking, either.

"Right," Harry stood. "Enough of this."

"Harry?"

"Where is Pansy, anyhow?"

"Over there," Hermione nodded towards the far end of the Slytherin table. Harry turned to see the girl in question sitting alone, staring at her plate.

"Right," he nodded, heading towards her.

"Harry?" Ron stood.

"Sit down, Ron," Ginny said.

"He's not going to tell her, is he?"

"No... I think... Harry just remembered that she's alone now... and what we're supposed to be doing."

"What are we supposed to be doing?" Ron looked confused.

Hermione huffed, "House unity, Ron!"

"Oh... yeah..." he watched as Harry approached the Slytherin girl, wondering what was being said. Could Harry bring around the one person who would have gladly died for Malfoy? Did he even really want to try?


"Pansy?"

The girl looked up, her eyes were red, and she looked like she hadn't eaten in days. She didn't say anything, but swallowed as though holding back tears.

"Pansy, why are you sitting alone?" Harry hitched one leg over the bench besider her and sat facing her.

"I don't know... no one wants to sit with me, I guess."

"You're welcome to sit with us," Harry said gently.

Pansy glanced over her shoulder at the group Harry had just left, her cheeks paling.

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Because... because... you're Gryff..."

"Blaise sits with us... sometimes."

"That's different," she said in a flat voice.

"Why?"

"Because..." Pansy looked up at him. "I'm not supposed to like you."

Harry was mildly surprised at this. "Why not?"

"Because you're... Harry Potter."

"So? You're Pansy Parkinson. Does that mean I'm not allowed to like you?"

Pansy flushed. "You're one of them."

"Them? Who is 'them'?"

"Blood traitor," she said softly, looking at him, her eyes hard.

"You really believe that?"

"I..."

"Do you?"

"I don't know," she said, a hitch in her voice.

"You need to decide," Harry said simply. "You need to decide where beliefs like that are going to get you. If you decide that that is what you believe, then you owe it to yourself to admit it, and get on with it."

Pansy looked up at him, a question in her eyes. "I don't know how to not believe that, Harry."

"Well, you're welcome to eat with us and find out, if you like," Harry stood. "It's your decision... but you don't have to eat alone. You don't have to be alone... not here."

She looked up at him, thoughtfully, for a moment, then stood.

"Coming?" he asked.

"Coming," she confirmed. "I just.."

"What?"

"If it gets back to Draco that I..."

"Pansy..."

"And it will, Harry..." she glanced down the Slytherin table. "It will get back to him, trust me... when it does, well..."

"Is it Draco that worries you?"

Pansy bit her lip, but shook her head. "It's not what Draco would do to me... it's what..."

"Don't worry about me and the others, Pansy," he said in an undertone. "I'm already on Voldemort's list, do you really think I'm afraid of what Draco or his dad could cook up?"

Pansy's eyes widened.

"You... you're not afraid of Draco's dad? I thought everyone was afraid of him..."

"Lucius?" Harry snorted. "Hardly."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure. Come on." Harry put a hand against her back and guided her back to the table where the others were sitting. Ginny shoved over one way and Neville the other, and Harry and Pansy sat down between them. Ginny laid her hand on Harry's knee and leaned in to kiss him lightly on the cheek.

"That was nice..."

"Nice, huh?" he whispered back. "The last time I did something you thought was nice..."

"Down, boy.," Ginny chuckled.

"Hey, Pansy..." Ron nodded. "You okay?"

Pansy's rather frightened eyes shot up to look at the tall Gryffindor boy seated across from her. Pansy wasn't as small as Ginny, but she was still dwarfed by Ron's six foot two inch frame.

"Leave her alone, Ron... of course she's okay... she's a strong, determined Hogwarts woman," Hermione stated. "We can handle anything, right?"

Pansy, despite herself, smiled. "I'm beginning to believe we can."

"Of course we can," Ginny laughed gleefully.

Within moments, the group at the table was laughing and talking, exchanging ribbing and teasing each other. Harry watched from the corner of his eye as Pansy went from looking on with surprise to tentatively taking part.

When he wasn't being distracted by Ginny's hand on his leg, of course... or the thought of how to get her into the deserted corridor on the sixth floor where there were plenty of broom cupboards for her to pull him into.


"You know," Ginny said later, as she slipped the buttons of his shirt undone, running her hands over his chest.

"What?" Harry mumbled against the smooth skin of her neck. It was dark in the broom cupboard and he was seriously miffed at not being able to see her, but tasting her was almost...

"We need to make this more fun,"Ginny stated, her hands running down to the waistband of his trousers and fumbling there for a moment.

Harry stilled and pulled back. "This isn't... fun... for you?"

Ginny peered up at him... then realized what she'd said and giggled. "No, Harry... not this... I mean, school. We haven't tested a single one of the things the twins gave us in September... well, except for the pocket swamp..."

"I don't think Filch will ever be quite the same..." Harry said softly, resuming his exploration of the soft skin beneath her ear.

"Harry... Mmmmm..." Ginny pushed closer. "No..."

"No?" Harry pulled back again.

"No, I mean... no, I don't think Filch will ever be the same... can we please stop talking about Filch right now?"

"You brought it up," Harry laughed against her collarbone.

"Well, I'm changing the subject again... until later... right... oh..."

It was some time later that they emerged from the broom cupboard, slowly and quietly, looking both ways before scurrying out and closing the door behind them, walking away from it quickly.

"Oi! You two! Where have you...?" Ron trotted up to them, then flushing deeply and speaking to them in a much lower voice. "Oh... For Merlin's sake, Ginny, do you think you could at least button your blouse properly?"

Ginny looked down with surprise, and Harry snorted with laughter.

"And you... do you think you could control yourself and stop dragging my sister off into broom cupboards?" Ron turned on Harry, who looked at his friend with surprise.

"Me? She's the..."

Ron glared, and Harry wisely closed his mouth with a snap.

"You were looking for us?" He asked, calmly taking Ginny's hand after she had hurriedly adjusted the buttons on her blouse.

"Yes," Ron took a deep breath and turned, heading back the way he'd come. "There's been a note from home.."

"Mum and Dad are...?" Ginny was alarmed.

"They're fine. Good news, actually..."

"Good news?"

"Percy is getting married," Ron said. "Mum and Dad have arranged for the lot of us to come home for it..."

Ginny squealed, jumping up and down, then tossed her arms around Harry and continued to jump.

"... next weekend."

"Next...?" Ginny stopped jumping. "You can't be serious, Ron!"

"What?" Ron looked at her, surprised.

"They can't get married in a week!"

"Well, tell them that!" Ron shrugged, sending Harry a look that said, very clearly, girls!

"But where will Mum and Dad put..."

"Well..." Ron flushed. "That's partly what the note is about..."

"What?" Ginny asked as they entered through the portrait hole into Gryffindor Tower.

"Well... Penelope has a really big family..."

"So..."

"And most of them are coming from America..."

"So?" Ginny was confused.

"They kind of wondered..." Ron glanced at Harry. "Well... if we might..."

Ginny's eyes registered understanding and she smiled, turning to Harry.

"Harry?"

"What?"

"Is that okay with you?"

"What?" Harry looked between brother and sister, not understanding.

"Can we Weasley's take over Potter Manor for a Weasley family wedding?"