One day before Christmas break, the fated eagle owl came. Draco forced himself to look normal. And surprised, not like he'd been expecting it - though with all the hints Pansy had been dropping, he'd have been a fool to NOT suspect it.
"EEE!" Pansy shrieked, in that tone that Draco loathed, "We're going to get Married!" She said, smiling broadly and leaping on Draco, engulfing him in a hug that somehow managed to include her legs.
"Pansy. Pansy, Dinner Table." Nott said softly, urgently.
"If the Trashy Moneydigger is done celebrating her contractual obligations..." Daphne Greengrass ground out. Draco found himself glaring at her just as fiercely as Pansy was. Great, now Pansy's going to think I was defending her. Not that he wouldn't defend a friend!
"You'll take me to Hogsmeade, won't you?" Pansy said, looking at Draco. With a teasing smile on her lips, she said, "Won't you, Drakey?"
Draco hated that nickname, and he didn't want to go with Pansy. But he concealed all that beneath a gentle smile, saying, "Alright, you win. We'll go to Hogsmeade. Even to that pink monstrosity that is a monument to poor taste and horrid judgement."
As Pansy subsided - speaking more softly to Tracey Davis, who was scratching Pansy's ego with her enormous pile of questions.
Speaking of questions, Draco could hear Hermione Granger going on and on, "I mean, seriously! Is that normal? Or is it just that Pansy's personality requires a dowry?"
Ron said firmly, "Nah, couldn't be that, Malfoys are too rich to care."
Harry put in, "It's Malfoy that girls can't stand." Draco wanted to snort at that, and show poor Potty the numbers. "Pansy's probably just in it for the Estate."
"Oh, how tosh!" Hermione said.
Draco wasn't allowed to laugh at their antics but he forced himself to listen anyway. You never knew when someone would come up with something interesting to say.
[a/n: ha! it would be fun to give Draco the timeturner, wouldn't it? He could manage to touch Hermione without having her figure out who it was.
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