"So when do we get to meet him?" Theo asked, staring at Pansy from across their bar table.
"Yes," Draco drawled, "because I do so want to spend time with your fusty Weasel."
"No one's meeting him at all if you're going to call him that," Pansy scowled.
Theo glared at Draco and turned back to Pansy. "Well I want to meet him. He can't be too fusty if you're dating him."
Draco let out an incredulous laugh. "Do you remember when he was Head Boy? He was insufferable!"
"People grow up, Draco," Pansy snapped. "You of all people should know that."
Draco had the grace to look appropriately chastised, and responded by taking a sullen sip of his Firewhiskey, which was as close to an admission that she was right as she would ever get from him.
"And you saw him at the Wild Wand with me two weeks ago; clearly he's not a prig anymore," she bit out, before turning back to Theo. "Why the interest in meeting Percy? You never asked to meet Alexander, and I dated him for two months! I've only been dating Percy for a few weeks."
"Yes, but you never turned down plans with us in favor of being with Alexander, dear," Theo replied.
"And you never got moony-eyed over Alexander, either," Draco clipped out. "It makes me ill to see you look that way over a Weasley, even if he has grown up." He shuddered to emphasize his point.
"Cut out the dramatics, Draco. It's unbecoming. Regardless, it's not serious; it's only been a few weeks. I'm not going to scare him off by throwing him into the snake den so soon."
"So you are interested in something more serious!" Theo said, acting like he'd caught Pansy in a lie.
"Theo, I'm having fun and not worrying about where it might go. But yes, I do like him enough to not want to scare him away by bringing him 'round you lot."
"Fair enough," Theo said. "But for the record, he seems good for you. You seem happier. Even Draco's noticed."
Draco didn't say anything, and Theo elbowed him in the side. He rolled his eyes and glanced at Pansy. "I agree. But I still don't like it."
"Well, thankfully for me, I don't need your blessing," she retorted. It would be nice if her best friend supported her, though. She supposed that, if things did become more serious with Percy, Draco would support her, even if he didn't like it. She could understand Draco's reluctance if Percy were an arse, but Percy was one of the most pleasant people Pansy knew, plus he came beautifully wrapped in a shell of immaculate clothing and accessories. Draco just didn't want to move past his ingrained disdain of the Weasley family.
Pansy decided to broach a subject that would make her best friend equally uncomfortable as he'd made her. "So, what's up with Astoria, Draco dear? You seem to be spending more time with her lately. Daphne hasn't said anything, but… ?"
"She's young," Draco responded. It was a non-answer, and he knew it, and he knew she knew it.
Pansy glanced at Theo, who looked just as clueless as Pansy. They waited Draco out; Everclear sang I don't believe you when you say everything will be wonderful someday through the speakers above them, the singer's words at odds with the song's cheerful tune.
"She's nice," Draco finally said.
"I wouldn't really know," Pansy replied. "She's been tagging along with us for months now, ever since she graduated, and she hardly ever speaks."
"She's intimidated," Draco responded quickly, even a bit forcefully, "especially by you and Tracey."
Pansy's brows rose and she glanced at Theo again, who shrugged. Apparently this was news to him, too. It sounded like this conversation might require another drink. She flagged their server and settled in to hear what exactly was going on between Draco and Astoria, and whether Pansy needed to try to make an overture to the quiet girl in order to support her best friend. If she could do that, surely Draco could be nice to Percy…
"Where do you get your suits?" Pansy sat across from Percy at a small table in the Ministry's cafeteria, on a rare day when Percy had a long enough break to leave his office for lunch. He wore his burgundy plaid suit, which always made her stomach clench with longing.
He eyed her over their plates. "You've been wanting to ask me that for a while haven't you?"
"What?"
"You have this look, when you're pretending to be indifferent, to cover up your curiosity. I can tell you're doing it now." He gave her a smile that on anyone else would be a smirk, but he was too nice for smirking. "You've also been staring at my suits for weeks and opening your mouth to say something, but then you never do."
She rolled her eyes at him, though inside, she was a little unnerved at how well he could read her. Hopefully he couldn't read underneath her question to the topic that really made her curious, which was how he could afford them. "Maybe I've been staring at your suits because I've wanted to tell you how good you look in them."
"Then why haven't you?"
"It would be too forward?" she replied.
He laughed at that. "Pansy, in the brief time I've known you, I've never seen you worry about being too forward. Need I remind you how we met?"
She cringed. "I didn't care what you thought of me then. Now I do. And fine, you're right: I've been wondering for a while where you get them. I've been thinking of getting one for Draco for Christmas."
"George and I import them from Italy. I invested in his company when he and Fred first opened it, and we've had a massive return over the past several years. We decided to invest some of the profits in other ventures, including a clothing line based in Milan. They're not sold here, but we're thinking of opening a clothing store next to the joke shop."
A wizard approached their table before Pansy could respond.
"Percy, hello mate! I've been meaning to stop by your office this week to discuss the changes to the betting bill."
"Jianyu, great to see you!" Percy motioned to Pansy. "Jianyu, this is my…" He hesitated for a moment. "...my colleague, Pansy Parkinson. Pansy, Jianyu Yang, he works in the Department of Magical Games and Sports."
"Nice to meet you," Pansy nodded, turning back to her lunch while the men chatted. Had Percy almost referred to her as his girlfriend? Did she want him to?
She'd told Theo last weekend that she was just having fun with Percy and not thinking about the future. It was a lie, and Theo and Draco probably knew it. She had strong feelings for Percy, but she hadn't let herself give into them because… well, for one, he was too good for her. But for two, he didn't seem particularly interested in taking things further. He wouldn't even come into her flat with her after their weeknight dates. She'd lost patience with him last night after his fourth refusal and asked why not. He'd come up with a flimsy excuse about waking up early in the mornings.
And he still hadn't shown her any open signs of affection at the office. She wasn't sure if it was because he felt it improper or because he was embarrassed for anyone to know they were dating. She suspected the former, because he seemed happy to hold her hand in public away from the office; he'd even snogged her in the middle of the dance floor that time at the Wild Wand.
Pansy hadn't dated anyone seriously besides Draco, in fifth year. She'd spent sixth year mooning after Adrian Pucey, who, as it turned out, was not into witches, and seventh year too scared to think about normal teenage things like crushes. For the past couple of years, she'd only had casual flings, mostly with wizards she'd met in bars, and the connection was purely physical.
Percy was different. Yes, he was handsome and well-dressed, but she actually liked him. And he seemed to actually like her, though she still couldn't fathom why. But after his several refusals to come inside with her after their weeknight dates, and his careful avoidance of physical affection at the office, she had tempered her expectations of whatever it was they were to each other.
Yet, every time he smiled at a colleague or encouraged one of his staff or made a friend laugh, as he was doing with Jianyu right now, she felt a tightness in her chest, a kind of longing, to get closer to whatever it was he exuded that made people — including her — respond to him the way they did. He was so sincere, and his quiet optimism was calming and contagious.
"Nice to meet you, Pansy," Jianyu said as they wrapped up their conversation, jolting her out of her thoughts.
"Nice to meet you, too," she replied, turning back to Percy as the other wizard wandered off.
Percy gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry for the interruption. I'm sure you heard, Jianyu's working on sports betting legislation, and the Wizengamot has some changes they've requested before the bill is formally introduced."
"Eating in the cafeteria always comes with interruptions and work conversations." She waved him off. "It's not a problem."
The sheepish smile remained on his face. "I'm not sure how to refer to you," he said. "You're more than just a friend or colleague; I mean, we've been dating for nearly a month now…"
She nodded, thinking she knew where he was going with his train of thought, but waiting for him to spell it out.
"But… are you dating other people? Are you seeing Malfoy?"
"What?!" Her high-pitched response earned them stares from several nearby tables. She lowered her voice. "No! Why on earth would you think I'm dating Draco? I mean, I know I talk about him a lot, but he's my best friend."
He raised his hands, warding off her ire. "I just wondered, because you do talk about him a lot, and then you mentioned buying him a suit for Christmas, and…" He trailed off, and she realized that buying an expensive suit for a friend for Christmas probably sounded over the top, given Percy's upbringing.
She tried to dismiss it. "We're both only children. He's more like my brother than my best friend now. And no. I'm not seeing anyone else. I don't have sex with multiple men at the same time."
He choked on his drink.
Oh, Merlin, her words hadn't come out quite the way she'd intended. "That's not what I meant! I mean, I don't do that either, or at least, I haven't before." Though it's an interesting thought… "But I meant that I wouldn't be having sex with you if I was also seeing someone else."
"Keep your voice down, Pansy," Percy muttered as he looked around to see if anyone near them had heard her. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, then peered at her through his metal frames. "I just wanted to know where things stood between us. "
"I like being with you, and I'm not seeing anyone else. That's where things stand with me," she said. She wasn't willing to give him any more than that without knowing his side of the equation.
"I'm not seeing anyone else, either. And I really like you, too."
"Why?" Her question popped out before she had time to think about it.
His brows furrowed in confusion.
"Why do you like me?" she clarified.
"I like spending time with you."
"Yes, but why? I'm kind of a bitch, if you hadn't noticed."
At that, he laughed, and reached across the table to grab her hand. Her heart sped up; he was touching her at work for the first time, for anyone in the cafeteria to see.
"No you're not, Pansy. Snippy, sometimes, yes. But… roses have thorns. The thorns are part of what makes a rose a rose."
"My name is Pansy, Percy. I'm not a fucking rose," she snapped, but her words lacked any bite.
He rolled his eyes and gave her an amused smile. "The metaphor doesn't work with a pansy." He released her hand and motioned to their empty plates. "Shall we?"
"Yes," she replied, rising from her seat.
Their short conversation hadn't answered her questions, nor his, really; if anything, it had only confused her further. But she lacked the courage to press him on it, and she wasn't even sure what her questions were anymore.
As she reached down to grab her tray, he came around the table and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. "Can you come by my office just before five o'clock?" he asked, his voice low and a roguish grin tugging at the edges of his lips.
Pansy stuttered out a "yes," stunned that he'd kissed her in the middle of the cafeteria.
He grabbed her tray while she stood there dumbly. "I'll take these to the wash bins and meet you by the door." He turned to the back of the room, and she brought her fingers to her lips in surprise before glancing around. No one was paying them any attention. After a moment of observing Percy moving gracefully through the room in that damned burgundy plaid suit that fit him just so, she made her way to the door to wait for him for their walk back to the Wizengamot together.
