Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
Chapter Four
Pansy stared down at the piece of parchment in her hand, the scribbled print, the short words and begging question. She crinkled her nose and tossed the parchment to the floor, then reconsidered this and shoved it into her dresser among her undergarments. She didn't want anyone, say Millicent, finding it and wondering what it was all about. Pansy wasn't very sure herself. All she knew was that this morning she had received a very curious owl with a roll of parchment attached to the scaly leg.
"From your mum?" Draco asked, giving the note a sideways glance. No, Pansy thought. She didn't recognize the handwriting. But she nodded slightly to Draco anyway, not caring to share the curious anonymosity of the letter.
"Just wishing me luck on my test," Pansy said, shoving the letter in her pocket. Later that day, in Potions class while Snape was carrying on about Potter being an arrogant git and whatnot (basically the usual banter), Pansy took the letter out of her pocket and glanced down at its words once again.
What do I require? Whatever your heart desires. Meet me there, tonight at seven. Pansy scoffed and shoved the letter back into her pocket. She had no way of knowing for sure who the letter was from, but she had an idea. If not for her encounter with this person a couple of days ago, Pansy would have assumed it was from Draco, but…
Now, she had someone different in mind. Well, there's no way I'm meeting him in that room, Pansy thought. She wondered at first how he would even know about it, but then realized that of course he would, being one of Harry's friends. Besides, what kind of girl did he think she was? She had just recently lost her virginity! She glanced at Draco and pouted. He had been very nice to her before, but after a couple of days (and a couple of shags) he had gone back to being the same old Draco. In fact, shagging had become a nightly habit of theirs, usually around 9 in the evening.
Now Pansy sat on her bed, thinking about the letter. It was five 'til seven, and she had no intention of meeting Fred at the room. She sighed—she didn't feel like meeting Draco there, either. It would just be the same old thing. A shag, little talking, then sending her back to the dorms alone so he could check for anything they might have left behind. Pansy had a better idea.
She dug in her school bag for a blank roll of parchment and an ink pen and began to write. Then she shoved the fresh note in her robe pocket and walked downstairs.
"Where are you going, Pansy?" Draco asked, standing up when she walked by.
"Just sending a letter back to my mum."
"But it's dark out."
Pansy shrugged and left the Common Room, walking silently through the hallways and outside to the stone walk that lead to the Owlery. She almost gave the letter to Tilly, her owl, but thought against it—if Draco saw Tilly giving a letter to a Gryffindor, he would grow suspicious, and probably a little upset. She walked to a random owl and attached the parchment, giving it a Knut.
"Deliver this to Fred Weasley tomorrow morning during breakfast," she whispered, stroking the owl's feathers. It cooed at her in agreement and Pansy gave it another pet before leaving.
---
Fred stood outside the Room of Requirement until eight o'clock before giving up and sauntering back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Pansy Parkinson had officially stood him up. That's a first, Fred thought. A girl has never stood me up before. But Pansy's different, he reminded himself, saying the password to the Fat Lady and crawling into the Common Room.
"Where were you?" George asked, who sat on a couch playing chess with Ron. Ron didn't so much as glance up at his brother, moving his knight to a position in which it crashed the head off of a poor pawn.
"I don't even know," Fred said. George winked.
"Playing the old games again?" he asked. Fred shook his head.
"No. But I should have been. "
George was referring to Fred's nightly visits with Hermione, the ones in which they left the Common Room and met in Myrtle's bathroom to shag. He sighed. Where is Hermione tonight, anyway? Fred thought.
"Katie's been looking for you," Ron said.
"I've hardly gotten a moment's peace from that girl…" Fred said, sitting down on the floor.
"She's good looking enough," Ron said, finally breaking eye contact with the chess board to look down at Fred. "So why are you complaining?"
Fred shrugged and folded his arms just as two small hands covered his eyes.
"Guess who!" a giggly voice called.
"Professor Snape?" Fred said in a bored voice. It was all he could do to amuse himself these days.
"No, silly!" Katie said, removing her hands and swinging around to give Fred a kiss on the cheek. "It's me!"
"Oh, splendid," Fred said, trying to sound enthused, but it ached to smile. Luckily, Katie didn't notice and grabbed him up by the arm.
"Come on, you! I want to show you something!" Katie squealed. Fred rolled his eyes at his brothers and let himself be dragged off and upstairs to the boys' dormitories. Katie walked down the hall until she entered the seventh year corridor and swung the door open to Fred's room. Fred grimaced at the framed picture above his bed, as he had been doing for the past couple of days, ever since Katie had hung it up for him.
"What is it you wanted to show me, Katie?" Fred asked. "Whoa!"
Katie was lying naked on Fred's bed, giggling. Well, almost naked—she had on a thin pair of black underwear, but her legs were spread in a provocative way that made her appear as if she had nothing on—Fred could see everything, anyway. In any other kind of situation, this might have turned Fred on, but he found himself wishing he could just kick her out and lay down for some sleep.
"What's wrong, Fred?" Katie asked, leaning forward and winking. "Don't you like it?"
"Yeah," Fred forced himself to say.
"Lock the door, silly!" Katie said. Fred turned slowly and closed the door, locking it. Then he turned back to Katie and took off his shoes. The same old routine, he thought bitterly. A boring shag with Katie, a few words, and then he told her she needed to leave before any of his dorm mates came in.
This was not like Fred at all.
Usually, he had his way with a girl in any way he pleased. Not with Katie. She grabbed him by the back of the head and pulled him on top of her, pulling him into the usual kiss. He kissed her back, trying to find excitement in feeling her up, but he only felt in a hurry to get this over with.
His mind flashed to Pansy and he suddenly felt a sting of arousal. Pansy had rejected him. The thought excited him. Fred didn't take rejection as rejection. Pansy had only proved to him that she was not an easy catch, and he would have to work harder if he wanted her. That was the part Fred always missed—the chase. Girls just gave in so easily these days.
"What's going on?" Katie asked, looking up into Fred's eyes, her smile gone.
"What do you mean?" Fred asked, pulling off his pants.
"You seem distracted."
"Do I?" Fred asked, kicking his boxers onto the floor and closing his eyes, placing his lips on Katie's neck.
"Well, sort of—"
"Sh…" Fred said. He didn't mean to do this, but he found himself pretending that it wasn't Katie underneath him, but Pansy. Well, all right, he did mean to do that, but he wouldn't have had any fun with it otherwise. He felt himself being more passionate, more aggressive, but in a loving way, and he kissed her more gently, with more care and concern. He tried to ignore Katie's voice, and he kept his eyes tightly shut lest he open them and discover that it was not his dear Pansy he was fucking, but someone that he could actually care less about…
"Whoa," Katie spoke when Fred was finished and rolled over on his back, panting. "That was different."
"Yeah," was all Fred could manage to say. Katie rolled over and kissed him, Fred's lips curling in disgust. He hoped Katie didn't notice.
"Well, I suppose I should go," Katie said, standing up and pulling on her clothes. She gave Fred another kiss before leaving, leaving Fred alone in his dizzy thoughts.
---
"Anything in the Daily Prophet, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, any more people died?" Ron said through his toast.
"No," Hermione said, sighing and folding up the paper. Fred took a bite out of his toast just as an owl perched on his shoulder.
"What the hell?" he said.
"Looks like you've got a letter," George said. Fred raised his eyebrows and took the parchment off the owl's leg. He grinned when he read what was written on the parchment, then shoved it into his pocket so that Katie wouldn't see.
"Who's it from?" Hermione asked, staring at Fred curiously.
"None of your business," Fred said. When the others shrugged and went back to their breakfast, Fred turned his head slightly in the direction of the Slytherin table. Pansy was sitting beside Draco, reading an Arithmancy textbook. She looked up at Fred slightly, then lowered her head again, her hair falling in loose curls among her pretty face. Fred smiled.
No. Tonight, outside at 5.