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Part One | Strike the Match
Eight. Stared Right Back
The following morning Pansy awoke with a blinding headache, an incredibly dry mouth and her own startled scream.
The first two could absolutely be attributed to the fact that the previous night she and Draco had managed to demolish the majority of the alcohol that Draco had managed to sneak into Hogwarts. The third, her scream, was due to the fact she'd opened her eyes and remembered straight away that she was going to see the vile, pale blue living area she was now expected to call home. She was, therefore, wholly unprepared for what awaited beyond her eyelids and the sight of an unfamiliar house-elf's face perched merely two inches away from her own.
"AHHHHHHHH!" Pansy jumped to her feet, knocking the house-elf backwards as she attempted to locate her wand. "What the fuck? WHERE'S MY FUCKING- ACCIO WAND!"
Hey, it worked! Pansy stopped, taken aback and pleasantly surprised at her non-verbal skill as her wand flew into her hand. She became aware, all of a sudden, that a certain somebody was now standing beside her. Pansy turned to face Draco.
Oh, he looks mad!
"If it isn't too much to ask-" growled Draco, clutching his own wand, "-i'd prefer not to be woken up by you giving me a fucking heart attack. Why the hell are you screaming the bloody place down? I mean-" Draco stopped, looking around dismally, his gaze landing on the cupcake picture. "Merlin, I forgot about that. Don't get me wrong, screaming the place down would probably be an improvement to this dump, but still."
Pansy gasped, her hand involuntarily smacking her own forehead as she realised she'd momentarily forgotten about the pair of large, slightly bloodshot brown eyes that had caused her such alarm. "An elf!" she shrieked.
Blinking, an unamused Draco looked Pansy up and down. "Are you still drunk?"
"What? No! Draco! There was an elf here!" Her voice still slightly hysterical, she emphasised the last word, willing Draco to believe her. His expression had since shifted to one of amusement, "Draco, it's face was in my face!" At this, Draco outright laughed. Bastard.
"You found something stronger once I'd passed out, didn't you?" Draco slouched back into the armchair he'd spent the night in, circling his neck whilst simultaneously rubbing his shoulders.
Pansy ignored him, her eyes darting around the living area, an uneasy feeling subconsciously creeping up on her. Her brow furrowed.
What the fuck?
Stomping through the door, Pansy now held a newfound determination to find the definitely real elf. The kitchen door was already open, and Pansy could see the room was clearly vacant.
Where is that fucking elf?
"Arghhhhh!" Pansy had just entered the small bathroom, attempting, rather unsuccessfully, to convince herself that she really shouldn't check the bath, when Draco's shout caused her, without thinking, to run back to the living room.
Draco was standing upright, his right hand grasped his wand while his left clutched a long, oval-shaped ear, reminiscent to that of a long-eared rabbit. However, attached to the ear, was not a rabbit, and instead, was…
"The elf! I told you it was here!"
Draco was looking completely abashed. "I closed my eyes for one fucking second and felt it-" Draco's face crumpling into a disdainful sneer, he continued, his voice rife with disgust, "-breathing on me. And it's face was in my face!"
Oh, really?
"Oh, was it?" Pansy's eyes narrowed, as she sarcastically replied, "I can't possibly imagine what that's like. Oh, tell you what. Why don't I just laugh. At. You. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!"
"Very mature, Pansy."
You literally threw a tantrum last night!
The house-elf was gazing up at the Draco through its oversized eyes, it gave a tiny smile which caused Draco's own eyes to widen, a look of alarm crossing his pale face. He turned to Pansy, clearly without any inkling of what his next course of action should be.
Draco paused for an incredibly long minute as the house-elf swayed slightly from its current, awkward, position. "What is it doing here?" he hissed at Pansy
Well, this is new.
Until that moment, Pansy had felt fairly confident that she'd seen Draco Malfoy in almost every predicament possible. However, she felt entirely sure that this was the first instance where she'd witnessed her old friend, not only apparently at a loss for either words or actions, but with a strange house-elf swinging from his person. She pursed her lips together, willing herself not to burst into laughter at the unfolding scene.
"You are aware, are you not, Draco, that I know precisely as much you do right now regarding this-" Pansy gestured vaguely, "-elf's presence here. Also, house elves do, actually, possess mouths, and do, in fact, have the ability to speak," Draco narrowed his eyes, glaring at Pansy. Unaffected by his current frown, she continued, "And for Merlin's sake put it down, you look fucking insane."
Draco did unclench his fist, he did not, however, bother to move his hand downwards at all and the elf hit the floor with a, surprising, for its size, loud thud.
"What is wrong with you, Draco!?" Pansy demanded haughtily as she elbowed past him and kneeled in front of the elf. The big brown eyes, now watering, blinked up at her. "Say sorry!" Pansy snapped at Draco.
"I will do no such-"
"SAY SORRY!" Pansy heard her voice shout, enraged as she pulled the small elf to its feet.
"Fucking Merlin, Pansy. Alright-", Draco sighed deeply. He had pinched the bridge of his nose and was shaking his head. "Unbelievable, a bloody house-elf." He sighed once more and snapped an unconvincing, "Sorry."
Draco moved backwards a few steps, reaching his armchair once more and folded himself into it. "Since when do you care so much about house-elves?"
Since a house-elf was the first anything to show me any fucking kindness, you insufferable prick. Pansy daren't say the thought aloud. She looked at the elf in front of her, it's face had momentarily shifted into an image of Tula, the Greengrass's elf.
"You just shouldn't have dropped it like that," Pansy mumbled, embarrassed by her earlier outburst, though slightly impressed that she'd managed to get Draco Malfoy to apologise to a creature she knew he felt a sickening amount of superiority over. She turned her attention back to the house-elf. "What's, err, your name?"
"Pansy, what in Merlin's name?" she heard Draco murmur from the armchair he'd obviously sunk back into.
"Winky, Miss. I have been assigned to attend to the Head Boy and Girl this year."
"Attend to us?"
"Indeed, Miss. Every year one of the Hogwarts elves is assigned to the Head Boy and Girl."
"Oh, err, Winky, I didn't know that. Where did you disappear to this morning, after you, umm, woke me up?"
"I hid, Miss," Winky replied, simply.
"Right, and why exactly did you wake me up?"
"Oh, because classes were starting in twenty minutes, Miss, and Winky didn't want to see you and Sir-" she peered over Pansy, at Draco "-to be late."
"Oh right, okay, uhh that was very, uhh-" Pansy stopped, properly taking stock of Winky's words and spun around frantically to look at Draco.
"FUCK!" the pair shouted in unison, both jumping to their feet. "ACCIO UNIFORM!" bellowed from both Pansy and Draco's mouths.
"Miss and Sir had better hurry. First lesson is beginning now, Winky believes."
Oh, bloody hell.
It took approximately five minutes for both to be appropriately dressed, their badges neatly attached. As they approached the door to the rest of the castle, two distinct things happened; both Pansy and Draco's new timetables magically appeared in their respective hands, and Pansy spun on the spot to stare at Draco, as he let out a bark of laughter.
"What?" she snapped
"Forget to touch up another glamour, did we?"
"What are you talking-" Pansy's hand shot to her mouth. "-oh no no no no!" She dug quickly in her bag for a small compact mirror and was greeted with her face encircled by her Daphne-induced bright green hair, Draco having assumed correctly that the glamour had since worn off.
"Not a word." Pansy glared at Draco, somehow managing to successfully charm the tricky spell back in place for the first time.
Draco was holding his hands up in mock defeat, "Fine, fine. But you'll be telling me the story later."
"Daphne was drunk. There's your story."
Pansy scanned her timetable as Draco chuckled behind her.
I swear to Merlin if I got ready in thirty seconds flat and I've actually got a free period, I'm going to scream.
As it turned out, both Pansy and Draco had probably the worst class possible to be late for, considering what the classroom was located. Letting out a groan they started off down the corridor.
"Fucking, excuse me, Draco? I do not want to bone Longbottom!" Pansy had felt her cheeks redden and noticed her voice had become several octaves higher in pitch.
Fuck.
"Ah, that's a shame Pans, no booze for you then." Draco snorted as he took off down the remaining steps. Reaching the bottom, he turned to face Pansy, his eyebrows raised, "You know it's wrong to lie, right?"
Pansy flew, enraged, down the staircase after him, "Draco, that's not even funny."
"It's not supposed to be funny." Draco paused upon entering the living area. "You really gonna deny it? I've seen you eye-fuck him about ten times already."
"I do not eye-fuck."
"Yes, you do. You used to eye-fuck me-" Draco retorted, matter-of-factly as he smirked, "-and now, apparently, you eye-fuck Longbottom."
Pansy gaped at Draco, incredulously. "I do not-"
"Look, it's fine. You can still have a drink, I know I won." Draco's smirk was becoming incredibly insufferable.
"What do you-"
Draco interrupted and sighed, "You really need me to prove it to you?" The Head Boy raised his eyebrows as he leaned casually, arms crossed, against a wall. "Well, firstly, when Pansy Parkinson gets embarrassed, her face turns a rather unflattering shade of red. Had I said, say, you want to bone Snape, or Crabbe, for instance, you wouldn't have turned red, because that wouldn't have embarrassed you. Strike One." Draco held up his right index finger as Pansy glared, primarily at Draco but also because of the annoying heat that she could feel on her cheeks.
"Secondly, when Pansy Parkinson tries to lie, she- okay, actually I'll rephrase. When Pansy Parkinson tries to lie to me, her voice becomes this squeaky-" Draco was now imitating Pansy's high-pitched tone, "-horrible sound. Strike two."
" You're ridiculous."
"And thirdly," Draco continued, ignoring her, now holding up his index and middle finger.
Oh, there's a third bullshit point?
"When Pansy Parkinson is told to admit she wants to shag someone in exchange for a drink, she goes along with it. Remember in fifth year, when you tried to convince us all how much you'd love to have an orgy with the Weasels? Just so you'd get a shot? Yeah, strike three."
That was entirely different.
"You haven't got a fucking clue what you're talking about," Pansy snapped, as Draco added in his ring finger to his fucking ridiculous strike nonsense. What even is a strike?
He handed her the brown bottle he'd been turning over in his hands, and with a wink said, "It's alright Pans. Hey! He's even Sacred Twenty-Eight!" And with that, Draco Malfoy could stop himself no longer, as his body shook with uncontrollable laughter.
"Fuck you."
The pair, finally able to catch up properly, spent most of the night talking and drinking. Despite the fact that classes began again the very next morning, neither wanted to go to bed, and so they stayed. Draco claimed the armchair, proclaiming it was slightly less hideous than the couch, and Pansy lounged on said ugly couch, summoning her pillows and duvet from upstairs, and the two old friends talked for hours. Draco told a horrified Pansy all about how Voldemort had all but moved into the Manor during the holidays, and about the happenings at the Death Eater meetings he was expected to attend. At the mention of the meetings, Pansy's expression dropped and Draco seemed to know in an instant that she was already aware of what Pansy suspected he'd been nervous to tell her.
"I'm sorry, Pans, he took the Mark at the start of summer," he paused, knowing she would have questions, and continued before she had the chance to ask, "I couldn't write. They intercepted all the owls-" he broke off, his voice quieting as he grimaced at the memory. "-he barely even sleeps, you know, and he was always bloody there." Draco shook his head and his eyes met Pansy's. She nodded, managing a meagre half a smile.
"Did you manage to get any better at Occlumency?" Pansy acquired, knowing that Draco had spent some of his dwindling amounts of spare time devoted to closing his mind as much as possible during last year. Pansy had provided the Legilimens needed for Draco to practise the warding off of the spell. However, she, not being a particularly formidable opponent, doubted whether she actually made any difference to his improvement at the skill.
"Yes, actually," Draco replied, almost sounding surprised himself. "Lovely Aunt Bella has been teaching me, and believe me, she's a lot harder to keep out than you were. You know, I reckon I could probably teach you how actually. At least a bit."
"Probably a good idea, thanks."
"No problem."
"It'll be okay, in the end though, won't it? I mean, what does He even plan to do about Hogwarts, and-" she paused to take a deep breath, terrified of the answer to the question she knew she had to ask, "-us?"
"I don't know. I do know we're expected to be-" his face twisting into a grimace at his own words, "-loyal followers." Draco continued, his voice steady, though Pansy could see the all too familiar fleeting spurts of panic crossing his eyes. "I don't have a clue what'll happen to Hogwarts, especially if he finds Potter, which will basically end the war. Though Merlin knows where Potter even is. I'll be very shocked if we're all still staying here sitting exams by the summer."
Pansy didn't answer. She, just like the entirety of Wizarding Britain, had no clue where Harry Potter, Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger were. With the exception of the fact the latter actually possessed some brains, she seriously doubted the likelihood that the three teenagers could bring an end to the reign of Lord Voldemort. She sighed and looked into Draco's strained face.
"Yeah, Pans," Draco finally answered her previous question with an obvious sigh. She knew that in order to give her any sense of surety he was required to lie, but it was a lie she was both willing and needing to hear. "It'll be okay. It's just going to get really, really shit first."
It took Pansy and Draco nearly ten minutes of hot-footed marching out the castle and down the grassy slope to reach the greenhouses; both panting and flushed by the time they arrived at their Herbology lesson.
Navigating their way to Greenhouse Three, as the first two appeared deserted, Draco and Pansy walked into the class, Pansy fully expecting the task of arguing her way out of a detention.
"Ah," Professor Sprout nodded. "Head duties?" she enquired.
"Yes, Professor," Pansy heard herself replying.
Professor Sprout nodded again and gestured for them to join their classmates. Neither Daphne, Theo nor Blaise had continued with Herbology past fifth year, so the pair trudged towards Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent, the latter expressing a relieved smile at the sight of Pansy and Draco.
"So," Pansy heard Professor Sprout begin, and she turned to her right as she watched the dumpy, dirt-stained teacher hand a collection of potting trays to Ernie Macmillan, urging him to take one and pass the rest around. "Once you all have your trays, the plants will be passed to this half," Professor Sprout gestured to the opposite side of the bench from Pansy. "It will be your first project as Seventh Years to work out the type of plant, how it should be categorised within a botanical environment, and to nurture it correctly. I will then require each of you to complete three essays; one on general information about your plant, one on its particular uses, and another on any complications that may occur when growing. To save time, you will be partnered up with the person who is currently opposite you."
There was a murmur of general displeasure throughout the room. Draco was facing Susan Bones, neither looking particularly happy at the prospect. Millicent was actually pouting, as she looked at her match, one of the Patil twins. Crabbe and Goyle were being thrust upon Dean Thomas and Lavender Brown, respectively, the latter two looking absolutely horrified. Pansy, however, was trying to focus on breathing correctly, feeling as though she'd been recently winded. She stared across the bench, very briefly into a pair of deep blue eyes, as Neville Longbottom stared right back.