Here it is, my lovely reviewers! Once again, I thank you for reading & reviewing my little story. I really do appreciate it! Also, thanks to those who subscribe to it or have faved it! I'm so flattered! I am sad to say that there won't be any updates for two to three months because I will be leaving the country to travel abroad over the summer. BUT I will update as soon as I can when I get back. I WILL finish this story.
Also, I noticed I didn't put the standard disclaimer in previous chapters, but here it is: indentifiable HP characters do not belong to me, nor am I making a profit off of this. SO, let's get back to the story!
Pansy Parkinson strode through the hallways with a sneer on her face. Classes had ended and she was headed for the Slytherin common room. Her two bulky bodyguards, Millicent and Eunice, were on either side of her. Her gaggle of Slytherin girls trailed behind, all wearing similar expressions. They often traversed in such a fashion to intimidate all the other students. To say that their house didn't exactly have the smartest or wittiest students wasn't too far off the mark. Pansy was willing to admit that more than a few were slower than molasses. But what they lacked in intelligence, they more than made up for with their cunning. Or brute force, as in the case of Millicent and Eunice. Regardless, numbers increased the sense of trepidation and intimidation, so Pansy routinely stalked the halls with her entourage.
"I'll kind of miss these stupid hallways," piped Sally-Anne. Pansy looked over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised.
"Are you serious? I can't wait 'til I can finally never step foot in this place again," said a stony faced girl who Pansy recognized as Aurelia.
"You might have to send your kids here though," remarked Daphne.
"Who's talking about kids?" Pansy asked.
"Oh come off it, Pans. Surely you've gotten like a ton of marriage proposals over the past year."
Pansy ignored the comment. Try one, and from a third cousin in Naples no less, thought Pansy. She always thought she'd get one from the Malfoys. But then again, that was when she was still with Draco. She thought it would have stayed like that. Stupid, stupid her.
Leave it to pure-blood families to stick to the tradition of marriage contracts. Slytherins, past and present, to be more specific. Not that it was as bad as it sounded. A young wizard's family would send a marriage proposal to a young witch's family. Both families had to approve of the choice of course. Ultimately, the young lady would reject or accept. There just had to be the formality of getting both families involved in the process.
The one bad disadvantage? If you only had one offer, you obviously couldn't refuse. Beggars couldn't very well be choosers could they?
"Any offers, Daphne?" Pansy recognized Aurelia's voice.
"Probably not as much as you," Daphne replied grudgingly.
"True. Mother's owl even indicated that I might have just recently received one from the Malfoys," she said archly. "Although she has yet to confirm it by mailing the contract."
Pansy stiffened, but not too much so as to attract anyone's attention. Except of course, Bulstrode, who immediately threw her a cautionary glance.
That announcement got the other girls talking excitedly. Pansy knew they were probably waiting for a reaction from her.
Aurelia Nova was considered to be a Slytherin beauty, with her porcelain skin, elite demeanor, elegant stature, delicate limbs, and her cold, piercing eyes. Oh, and not to mention the most important thing: a pure blood line dating back to almost ten generations. Pure. Including distant cousins and relatives.
Pansy thought about her reply carefully. She didn't want to seem like she was jealous. She may as well have handed over her position as Queen Bee. She didn't want to seem weak either.
"That is quite an accomplishment, Nova," Pansy said, with no trace of envy in her voice. "No doubt your parents are proud. There now, Pansy thought, not too bad.
"I would assume so," said Aurelia with indifference. "Although I'm sure the Malfoys only sent it because you had already turned down their offer."
Her reply caught Pansy slightly by surprise. It took her a moment to realize why Aurelia didn't say some snide remark about one upping her. You cunning slag, thought Pansy. I had forgotten that your father works under mine. Pansy smirked. It really was tough work being a Slytherin. You had to kiss the behind of your father's boss' daughter, apparently. There were masks upon masks and snakes always hiding in the grass. Fortunately, Slytherins almost always stood united when it mattered. Because when it's you against the rest of the school, there isn't much choice.
Pansy shrugged her shoulders in response to Aurelia's comment. Better to keep them guessing, she thought.
"Perhaps 'cause you fancy Blaise, eh Pans?" Daphne quipped.
Pansy mentally kicked herself. Of course they'd already be talking about that.
Pansy sniffed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Greengrass."
"Aw come on. A lot of us saw you leave the dining hall with Zabini. One can only speculate where you two went off and what you ended up doing," added Sally-Anne.
"Don't assume anything, you stupid git. We were in the common room talking about our future jobs."
It was the truth. Although she was leaving out the part where they kissed. It was brief. Pansy pulled away the minute she felt it wasn't right. She just wasn't attracted to Zabini in that way. She did like all the attention he gave her though. Thank Salazar Zabini didn't take it hard. At all. In fact, he seemed not to care, as if he could just go and get another girl that was actually worth his time. No wonder he and Malfoy got along so well. They both had huge egos.
"So, will you accept the offer, Aurelia?" asked Daphne. Pansy was also curious to know the answer. But not really. She wanted to know but didn't. The pain was still fresh, regardless of her scheming to get back at Draco.
Pansy snapped out of her thoughts when she realized the group had stopped their yammering. It wasn't because they were all wondering what Aurelia would say.
They had reached the entrance to the dungeons and there was Draco leaning casually against the wall.
"'Bout time," he said. He had a bored expression on his face.
Pansy thought for sure he was waiting for Aurelia, to speak to her about their possible arrangement. Suffice it to say, she was rather shocked when he marched up to her, roughly grabbed her by the elbows and marched her away from the crowd. He didn't even wait for her to dismiss her cronies.
Pansy could hear the hushed whispers of the girls behind her back. She rolled her eyes. It was hard work being the queen of a bunch of gossipers. It made you the target of useless talk more often than not. And having Draco drag her around wasn't helping much either.
She shook his grip off of her when they were finally alone. He had led her to an empty broom closet. How appropriate, she thought.
"You needn't seize me like that you know," Pansy chastised. "A simple, 'I would like to talk to you' would have sufficed." She positioned herself against the wall farthest from him, which wasn't too far, considering they were in a closet.
He leaned against the opposite wall from her. "I thought you were at my every beck and call."
"I said I would be your "friend" not your slave," she retorted. "Anyways, you didn't even bother calling. You just man-handled me!"
"A lot of girls would die for that kind of opportunity."
"Not this girl. Now, I'm assuming you have something important you wanted to tell me since you dragged me into this stuffy room."
"You should feel honored. People might think we're making out in here."
"Disgusting! Why would I feel honored about being in a broom closet you've used to make out with your recent ex-girlfriend!"
"Well, to be fair, we used this closet long before that." He came closer and pressed his body against hers. "Surely your memory can't be that bad," he said, teasingly.
She shoved him off with all her might, which meant he moved maybe three inches away.
"Quit goofing off and just tell me what you need to tell me," she said, exasperated with his flirting.
He shrugged, with a smirk ever present on his face. "Wouldn't want to get too carried away of course. Well, I don't know if you heard, but my family has decided that Aurelia would make a suitable wife for me."
"Ah, yes. That had come up. But every wizarding family thinks she'd make a suitable wife." Pansy tried to wipe off any trace of jealousy that might come from her voice. "I don't suppose this is all you had to tell me, is it?"
"Well why don't you wait for me to finish? As I was saying, they've sent an offer to her, along with a few other witches they thought would also be suitable. Those whose families are in our rank and title. No doubt they'll all say yes, then I've got to choose which one I want, hearts will be broken, some will have to go with their second choice, and, well, you know the drill."
Pansy yawned and stretched, acting bored. "Yes, yes, you think you're a heart-throb. Keep talking as all of this sounds like old news."
He looked at her with slight annoyance. "Well?" he asked.
"Well, what?" she shot back.
"Aren't you at all curious as to who I'm going to choose?"
"Oh for crying out loud, Draco! You dragged me in here to play a guessing game?!" She tried to exit the closet, but he immediately stood in her way.
"Come on Pans, take a guess!" He started laughing as he grabbed her to prevent her from escaping.
"You're demented Malfoy. I'm regretting my decision to be your friend already," she said as she tried desperately to push him aside. She didn't want to know, not yet anyways. And especially not from him. She didn't calculate for this in her plans.
"You'll never know if you don't guess," he said, trying again.
"Then I guess I'll never know."
He didn't respond and stopped trying to hold her back. She looked up and saw his amused face.
"By the way, who did you get offers from?"
"None of your business, you git!"
"That bad huh? Then I'm guessing you got one from Zabini," he said, with an almost-sour look.
"Guess all you like because I'm not telling you."
"Are you going to accept his offer?"
"What part of 'I'm not telling you' don't you understand, Malfoy?"
He scoffed. "You won't accept his offer anyways. I'm sure you got better ones," he said off-handedly. He looked away, as if he was thinking.
"Draco, have you gone mental? Weren't you listening to anything I was saying? It's none of your business!"
He turned to face her. He looked into her eyes and stared. Pansy felt chills down her back. What in the world was he doing?
"Draco?"
He stayed silent for a moment.
"Can I kiss you Pansy?" he asked, almost in a whisper.
"Oh Salazar, you've gone off the deep end. I suggest you go and check yourself into St. Mungo's and maybe –"
Pansy didn't get to finish. He had placed his hand over her mouth.
"I'm going to ask you again. Can I kiss you Pansy?"
She heard the seriousness in his voice, but there was also something else. But she couldn't point her finger on what it was. Desire? Longing? She didn't know. Then, slowly, almost automatically, she nodded.
He removed his hand, leaned in, and gently placed a light kiss on her lips. Memories hit Pansy like a cold breeze in the winter. She was almost filled with disappointment when he started to withdraw, but before she knew it, he forcefully slammed his lips back onto hers.
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him deeper into the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her and shoved her against the wall. Fuck it. She thought of resisting, of pulling away, and about how this was not going according to her plan. But all she could feel was the rightness of the moment. She threw all reason to the wind.