Pansy stared, in awe, of the situation unfolding before her. At first, she just stared rather blankly at her old Professor, sitting in her bed with a bare chest showing. Obviously, she felt safe to assume what had gone on. She quite remembered actually enjoying his lessons, as had Draco, but he had refused to admit it only because Potter liked them.

Her mother appeared from the bathroom, wearing an extremely inappropriate slip that made Pansy turn her gaze back to the man in the bed.

"Oh!" Regina gasped, grabbing a nearby robe and throwing it onto herself.

Pansy, now deciding it was clear, looked over to her mother. "Him?"

Regina looked confused. She cast a glance at the man in her bed and then back to her daughter. "What do you mean?"

"Out of all the people you could've chose, you chose him?"

She threw the letters down to the floor in a rage. "He's a bloody werewolf! For Merlin's sake, you're not going to let me marry and perfectly well-off pureblood and you're sleeping with a monster!"

"Now, Pansy," Professor Lupin began, but Pansy silenced him with the most menacing stare she could possibly muster.

"It's different for me," Regina attempted to explain, advancing towards her daughter.

"Oh? Is it? I'd give twenty galleons to anyone who could tell me WHY," Pansy growled, folding her arms.

"I've already produced a child to carry on the family blood. My engagements are far less important than yours, merely because I've taken care of what need be done and now, I can do as I wish."

Pansy drew her hand against the wall, hitting it with such a force that she couldn't even feel the pain.

"What happened to all that damn 'respect men', 'women are inferior', 'love is an oxymoron' stuff? What about that? You can respect a man like him! He's the enemy, mother!"

"The enemy of what? Voldemort? He's dead, Pansy, I know you know that. We have no side, because there is no side to take," Regina stated, far more confident in herself than she had been to begin with.

"No, not the enemy of You-Know-Who! For all we know, he could be a muggle-born, or isn't he? You're fooling around with the people I've been raised to despise!" Pansy bellowed, not caring if her voice was heard all around the world.

Remus had, fortunately, gathered his clothes and dressed. "Pansy, please, just listen."

"NO! I'm tired of listening! I'm tired of being bossed around! I hate knowing that every second of my life is being planned by someone else! WHY THE HELL CAN'T I DO WHAT I WANT?"

Regina laid a hand on Pansy's shoulder, but she pushed it off with such force that Regina slung back a few feet.

"Because, you've been raised to act as you should. To respect superiors, to live life as it should be! And yes, I'm breaking the rule, but you can't. There are different circumstances and punishments. It's not like you haven't cheated on your fiancé twice, or probably more," her mother barked, tossing a glance at Lupin.

"You're living in the 18th century. People aren't like that anymore! Women are on the Wizengamot, in the Ministry, owning their own businesses and marrying at will. Parents consent isn't important anymore, so why must I live like it is?"

"Because it is dignified. Ladies are not truly ladies unless they act as we do. Now go and occupy yourself with something else. But do not leave this house," Regina warned, holding a threatening finger out to her.

"I don't want to be dignified! I'm only eighteen, I want to act like that."

Her mother just sent an incredibly dangerous stare. In a sweep of robes, she had left the room and entered her own.

Lupin? Professor Lupin? How could her mother degrade herself from someone as absolutely perfect as Orion to someone as absolutely imperfect as that werewolf? Did she not consider what she was getting herself into?

It had begun to rain outside, and Pansy tried to calm herself by watching it pelt the window. But she couldn't. She couldn't hold it in.

In frustration, she left the room and hurried down the steps, walking out into the rain. In the mere seconds she stood out there, it had begun to ruin her hair. She apparated, landing quite a few feet away from a home.

By then, black streaks were pouring down her face from makeup and her hair was a frizzy, wavy mess. The bottom of her dress was coated with mud, as well as her shoes, as she waded through the wet towards the door.

She knocked as many times as she could before it opened, revealing a man looking to be about his thirties. A tad plump, but other than that, good-looking.

"Come in, Miss," he instructed, taking a look at her appearance and allowing her in.
She nodded, walking in and trying to ignore that water was pooling beneath her feet on the marble.

The servant asked her to wait a moment before walking towards a door to the right, poking his head in.
"Master Malfoy," she heard him say, "you have a visitor."

A few moments later, Draco appeared from the door. He took a look at her, frowning.
"Pansy, you look terrible. Aren't you not supposed to be here?"

She didn't respond, just stared at him. And in a daze, she sniffed loudly, everything seeming rather fizzy around her. That was all she remembered before she fainted.

"Pansy?"

Someone was talking to her, but she was too aware of her beating headache to respond. The voice seemed blurry, like a dream.

"Pansy, are you awake?"

It was definitely not her imagination. Someone was trying to bother her. Annoyed, she opened her eyes, only to see Draco sitting over her.

"Are you all right?" he asked, brushing hair from her face.

She sat up, seeing the foyer of Draco's home before her. In a rush, the memories flooded back. She'd fainted onto his floor. Groaning miserably, she ran her hand over her face, only to draw it away with black on it.
"Oh, I look terrible," she moaned as the memories of Lupin and her mother poured back.

"No, you look fine."

And just as quickly as she had fainted, she was crying. It was too much. She had never cried so often in her life and didn't think she was going to start then. But everything was falling apart. She had less than a month until she married Senus, her mother was sleeping with Lupin, and she had finally fallen in love only to have it torn away from her.

She didn't even notice when his arms slid around her and pulled her into a tight embrace, too busy crying softly. It soon became more, and she was full-out sobbing really.

"Pansy, shh…" he attempted to soothe her, but to little avail.
"You remember Professor Lupin?" she sniffed, stifling a sob against him.

"Yes," he replied, and she was grateful he hadn't added any insults after it. Even if he'd liked him, he wasn't going to admit it. Pansy knew that.

"He's sleeping with my mother."

Draco pulled away for a moment, looking rather flabbergasted. "Odd. He's hardly human."

"I know… I don't think she realizes what she's doing. All this talk about me being unfaithful and stupid for seeing you, but she's off doing Lupin," Pansy shuddered, her voice still a bit shakey. She was quite aware of how awful she looked. But he had seen her worse during school, when she'd come back from falling face-flat in the mud or when she had her hair cut roughly below her ears in fifth year.

"It's disgusting, really," Draco muttered, pulling her back to him.

"It is," she repeated softly, feeling rather overcome by tiredness. And her head still hurt a bit from fainting… She was going to be married in such a short time…

"Draco, Senus has made the wedding in a month," she broke the silence and Draco tensed.

"A month? I really despise him… I just want to hex his fucking head off."

Pansy pulled away, wiping off her cheeks. "Me too… You don't think there's anyway you could come, do you?"

"Maybe with a bit of Polyjuice Potion… But it takes a month to make, and I don't think I'll have the ingredients in a week. I haven't time," he sighed, chewing on his lip. She noticed he did this quite often when he was nervous.

"It's at the Brooke Event Hall. I'd feel better if you were there. Or worse. I don't know."

"Are you sure it's all right to be here?" he asked, examining her cheek. "Won't your mother send the werewolf on you or something?

"I shouldn't be here, I know. But I had to go somewhere. To get away from that stupid hag and her half-human lover. I just want to die."

Draco looked appalled. "No, you don't. Pansy, promise me you won't commit suicide."

"Of course I wouldn't. Why die when there could be something better on the way?"

He smiled in reassurance, rubbing her shoulder. "You're cold. Come on, let's go get you cleaned up."

She nodded, and he helped her up the stairs and to his bedroom. After the maid wiped up her face and fixed up her hair, Pansy felt much better.

"You probably need to get back."

Pansy sighed, uncurling from her place against his side as he read the Daily Prophet.

"I don't want to," she whined quietly, closing her eyes again.

"I know… But I don't want you in any more trouble than you're already in," he advised, standing up and pulling her up with him. "The rain has stopped. I'll try and get an owl to you."

"Address it to Diana, and don't put a return address."

He looked confused for a moment, but shrugged it off. "All right. Go."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek briefly before apparating.

When she arrived home, she started up the stairs quietly, only to hear a barking voice from the parlor call her in.

"Pansy! In!"

She groaned, turning around and walking into the room, prepared to hold the meanest glare she could towards her mother. But she soon found out that it was not only her in the room. It was Senus, her grandparents on her mother's side, and her two aunts, Aunt Winnie and Aunt Laiana.

"Err," Pansy began inarticulately as she stood in the doorway.

"Well, sit down," her grandmother motioned to an empty chair.

Pansy nodded, moving over and sitting down. She was in no mood to be polite. "What are you all doing here?"

"We're here on wedding matters," Aunt Winnie announced haughtily. "RSVP checks on whose going and who's not, that sort of thing."

"Oh."

"We've got about two-hundred going and only about twenty refused, so far," the uptight woman continued. "We need your dear Senus to look over them."

"So what do you need me for?" Pansy asked impolitely, casting a look to Senus. He looked disgruntled.

"Just want to make sure you'll keep family secrets to yourself and no one else," Regina stepped in. "I have a feeling you told someone, since you disappeared from the house, and I have a pretty good idea who it was. Now, all I ask is that you keep this silent, so your own secrets will be kept silent as well."

Pansy couldn't believe her mother wasn't going to punish her for seeing Draco. She didn't even mention his name. Surely her aunts and grandparents didn't know Remus had been here, and Senus wouldn't…

"What're you babbling about, Reg?" Aunt Laiana asked. She was the most laid-back of all her family members. Still not exactly fun to be around, but she could be okay every once in a while.

"Nothing, nothing," her mother whisked off the conversation. "Anyway, Pansy, you have a rehearsal for the wedding and then the dinner following it. We were going to have a bridal shower, but it's too much with the wedding being so close. The rehearsal is this Saturday."

Pansy nodded glumly. She officially hated anything to do with marriage.

"You may go."

Gladly, Pansy thought to herself as she left the room and went off to her bedroom. She sat down in front of the vanity, wondering where Diana was.

As if on queue, one of the maids walked in. However, it wasn't the one her mind had been on.

"Where's my usual maid?"

The woman looked up, a bit startled that Pansy actually remembered who kept track of her hair.

"Err…" the maid began inarticulately. "Diana?"

"Yeah," Pansy answered mildly. "I'd like her to handle my hair, if you don't mind."

"Um…All right. I'll find her."

The maid left the room as quickly as she could.

Pansy stood up, walking over to her dresser and opening the second drawer. In it were the pajamas that she had worn out of Draco's house. She brought them to her face, breathing in the scent. It reminded her of him.

A few minutes later, Diana hurried in. She looked a bit disheveled, as her cuffs were undone and her hair which was usually pulled back tightly in a bun at the nape of her neck was sloppily done.

"You all right?" Pansy asked, surprising herself. She was actually quite concerned about a maid. It hadn't sunk in, the whole friendship with an inferior thing.

"Fine," Diana said quietly, pulling off a smile.

Pansy went to her vanity and sat down, waiting patiently while the maid began untangling her hair. There wasn't much to do, but Draco's maid had cleaned her up a bit carelessly.

"You seem a bit…distracted," Pansy noted, raising an eyebrow into the reflection of the mirror. Diana noticed.

"Do I?" She attempted to sound unconcerned, but her voice came out more of a squeak.

Pansy eyed her carefully in the mirror. Was there something she was missing? Suddenly, something lit up in her mind.

"Seen Ryan lately?"

Diana blushed so darkly, Pansy thought it looked like she'd gotten an extremely bad sunburn. She didn't even respond and tugged a bit hard on Pansy's fragile strands.

"Oh, sorry," the maid muttered, running the comb through the pulled area. "I…um…saw him a bit…"

"A bit?" Pansy interrogated, raising her eyebrow accusingly.

"Well, fine, I was sort of with him when Hannah came in saying you needed me…"

"With him? As in…"

Diana blushed even darker, her ears a startling crimson. "As in cleaning one of the spare bedrooms."

Pansy couldn't help but giggle. She launched into her tale of seeing Draco today, and how much better she felt after it had happened.

Diana's blush had hardly faded when she bid goodnight to Pansy and left the room.

It left her wondering what it would be like to be a maid. Pansy crawled into bed and laid her head on the pillow with the thoughts still bustling around in her mind.

When Saturday rolled around, Pansy was awoken early to take a long bath. She did, feeling relaxed and sleepy when she came out and was dressed by Diana. It was a silk gown, fitted to perfection and lighting her creamy pale skin with its faded pink flourish.

Diana set straight to work on her hair, pulling it into a complicated but rather charming bun at the back of her head, curls and turns and folds making it look as though it had been done by a professional and not the common maid. Makeup was done next, and a different maid did that while Diana searched for Pansy's shoes.

"I can't believe they've been lost!" Regina wailed inside Pansy's room, watching as the maid carefully applied each bit of makeup to her face.

"Found them!" Diana nearly shouted from inside the closet, pummeling out with a pair of white heels. They had creamy straps and were nice shoes.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Regina continued, snatching them out of the maid's hands and dusting them off, as if the maid had left some sort of scum on it.

Time was passing a lot quicker than Pansy realized. Once her shoes were on, it was nearly time to get to the rehearsal. What she didn't understand was why she had to dress up for a rehearsal… If not the party afterwards.

When she arrived, most of the wedding party was gathered. The preacher looked a bit annoyed at their tardiness, but Regina reminded him exactly how much he was being paid. After that, he seemed cheerful.

The rehearsal went smoothly, only a few problems of walking too fast down the aisle and Dallas stumbling because her outfit was too long for her short legs.

At last, after what seemed like days, Regina was satisfied. The rehearsal dinner was being held at the Manor, so the wedding party was rushed back to it. They had only a few minutes before the first guest arrived. There weren't that many people coming. Mostly just Dallas's close family and the other wedding party member's families.

And after that, days were going by in a blur. Pansy had to have her hair heaved in different styles hour after hour so Regina could decide which she liked best. And she had yet to decide. Pansy preferred one in which her hair was pulled into curls, with curly strands hanging down on either side of her face. Not that it really mattered, she reminded herself. She was only getting ready for Senus.

It was so close. The last day before she became a married woman. No party held by her friends, since she was prohibited to see any of them. Life was at its lowest level. Tomorrow, she'd be Mrs. Senus Yitel. And she stayed up all night being scared to death of her wedding night. After all, she was expected to…to…you know, be with him in their bed that night.

No. Draco was going to come. He'd save her. He'd be her knight in shining armor. She knew it.