Part One | Strike the Match
Ten. Not the Brightest Hippogriff in the Herd
It wasn't until the next day when Pansy really noticed how, even in the short time period of a few lowly days, almost the entirety of Hogwarts seemed distressed. Solely walking around a few corridors of the old castle left a significantly gloomy feeling residing over her, and it didn't take a great deal of observation to notice that a number of other students and staff members seemed to feel it, too. The very walls of stone, which had, of course, always been grey in colour, now seemed, if possible, more grey, and even the copious amount of paintings seemed duller than before, as though the ancient building had somehow been plastered with a filter of dreariness.
"Bloody hell, even the Hufflepuffs look miserable," Theo had commented as they finished their lunch on the second day of the term. He ran a hand through his short dark hair, scanning the room, he focused on the yellow and black-clad table before spearing a potato with his knife and poised it in the direction he was looking. This time, his gaze was resting on the Ravenclaw table, and at Luna Lovegood in particular. "Look at Batshit-Crazy Blondie. Now she definitely needs some cheering up." He finished with a smirk and a quick, cocky raise of both eyebrows, now looking across their table at a frowning Pansy.
"You're disgusting," she retorted blandly.
He shot her an over exaggerated wink. "And you're sexy when you're jealous."
"You wish, Nott."
"Maybe-" he threw his left hand, fist clenched in front of him, in a mock-poetic sadness, "-but alas, maiden, you were claimed, many moons ago, by this fair gentleman." At the end of his last word, Theo smacked an unsuspecting Draco on the back, who up until that point had been innocently reading a copy of the morning's Daily Prophet with a somewhat sour expression plastered on his pale face, oblivious to the conversation to begin choking on the mouthful of pumpkin juice he'd just swigged.
You really know how to pick your moments, Theo.
"What the fuck was that for?" Draco gasped through sporadic coughs as Theo burst out laughing.
Daphne and Blaise, who, until now had been quietly talking between themselves, along with Millicent, had all simultaneously swivelled their attentions to Draco, who had at least managed to regain control of his breathing, and Theo, who had not.
"Theo here," Pansy gestured vaguely at the occupant of the seat directly in front of her, "seems to believe that you," she jabbed her finger in the direction of Draco's chest, "have claimed me. Which is of course crap and this," her finger this time jabbed towards Theo, who at this point was bright red, banging his fist on the table in an attempt to control his hysteria, "overconfident shit needs to learn that simply being in possession of a vagina and a pulse does not automatically mean that any female will bend over backwards-"
At Pansy's particular choice of phrasing, Theo erupted in a whole new bout of unrelinquishing laughter.
"Oh, Theo, for fuck's sake. Grow up," Pansy snapped. Oh my Gods, Theo, people are staring. She nervously glanced around at the other tables, noticing Theo had attracted more than just the closest Slytherin's attentions as she felt Millicent shuffle slightly next to her.
"Bend over backwards!" Theo howled, actual tears streaming from his eyes, barely seeming to notice the school bell signalling the end of lunch, or the shuffling of his friends' bodies as they readied themselves to leave the Great Hall.
"See you later, you daft bastard," Draco patted Theo's convulsing shoulder, shaking his head bemusedly and beginning to walk towards to bottom of the table.
"Will you come to the common room tonight?"
Pansy turned to face Daphne, a hopeful look upon her face as she awaited Pansy's answer. "Yeah, definitely! I need something familiar, and, you know, you!" Smiling softly as Daphne linked her arm through Pansy's own, the familiarity of their old gesture offering a source of well-needed comfort as they began to walk slowly down the hall.
"Do you have a free period now? We do!" Pansy pulled her timetable from her bag and after a second of examining proclaimed that she did have a free period. Both final lessons after lunch it turned out, were free periods, making Pansy an instant fan of Tuesdays. Nodding in response, Pansy felt Daphne's arm tighten around her own.
"Great! So you can just come with us. We're going outside for a bit first and...oh-" Daphne's sentence was halted, her face the picture of bamboozlement as she looked down upon the reason she'd ceased talking. Pansy blinked, her gaze following Daphne's downwards.
"Oh, um... hi, Winky, you alright?"
Winky bowed, both slowly and lowly. The act, and Pansy guessed the mere appearance of the random house-elf, which were not usually seen wandering the castle at all, had caused a number of stares; most of which were directed specifically at Pansy, and generally, she noticed, wore matching looks of annoyance.
Oh, bloody hell. Winky get up!
"Miss," Winky squeaked, finally fully standing, her large eyes their usual watery state. "I have been instructed to enlighten you that Mister and Miss Carrow wish to see you and Sir in their new office, where Headmaster Snape's old office used to be.
"Oh right, okay. Now?" Pansy barely tried to keep the disappointment from her voice.
Pansy was grateful when Draco appeared beside her. "Yes Miss, right away." The elf nodded, causing her long ears to bounce around her head.
"Right, that's just fucking great," Draco growled under his breath, watching as Winky bowed once more before departing.
Pansy and Draco swapped fleeting glances, knowing that they both wanted to visit the Carrows about as much as they wished to be taken on a date by a flobberworm.
"We'd better go. Sorry, Daph."
"No, it's fine, hope it's not too bad. The Carrows look horrible." She added in a whisper, "At least offer to glamour some of the grease out of the woman one's hair." The blonde shot her a quick wink and replaced Pansy's arm with Blaise's before leading the rest of the group away.
"Shall we?" Draco grimaced, mimicking Pansy's expression of disappointment perfectly. Pansy nodded, and they set off - towards the Carrows and uncertainty.
The journey to the Carrows' new office was a short one, despite the fact that both Pansy and Draco walked significantly slower than their usual pace. It was a route they both knew well, and in order to reach the Slytherin common room, the office in question had to be passed and therefore, whether they liked it or not, arrived at their destination far quicker than Pansy would have liked.
They stood, side by side, in front of the office door which neither possessed any desire to knock on, let alone walk through. Draco sighed loudly and shot Pansy a sideways glance.
"Let's get this over with. Brace yourself." He clenched his hand into a fist, ready to knock, before stopping himself and adding, "Oh, and talk slowly, just pretend you're in the company of Crabbe and Goyle." He snorted at his own advice before rapping quickly on the large, wooden door.
Moving inwards, apparently on its own, the door slowly opened. Draco led the way forward, strolling easily through the door with an air of confidence that was not entirely disparate to his usual demeanour but was most certainly, Pansy could tell, an act. She followed Draco's lead, straightening her spine as well she could and pushing her shoulders back. She then converted her expression into a cold, collected, and very well-practised mask of nonchalance. Shooting Draco a quick nod, the pair entered the office together.
Both Amycus and Alecto Carrow were waiting. Two large desks, which had clearly been crammed in the modestly sized room without much prior planning, occupied the majority of the space. Did I just walk into a cheap Death Eater charity shop? The mahogany pieces reminded Pansy of her father's grand office furniture, though it was clear there was no further correlation between the aesthetic of the two studies. This room was one that Pansy had frequented a fair few times in her years at Hogwarts. When Professor Snape had occupied it, the room used to feel cold and uninviting, but its furnishings and items at least matched their surroundings.
The Carrows had since redecorated.
Amycus was leaning slightly against the right-hand desk, his arms crossed loosely over his slim torso. He was a tall, middle-aged man with thick hair that fell in dark waves, framing his white face. The piercing eyes he wore were of a similar blue to Longbottom's, Pansy found herself - for whatever reason she cared not to delve into, quickly noticing, yet they held none of Neville's warmth. Every part of this man screamed ice cold, and Pansy had to force herself to match his frosty stare. Even his lips showed little colour, and his stark jawline, which again Pansy noticed, whilst sincerely wishing she still had the ability to stop herself making embarrassing comparisons to Neville Longbottom, was reminiscent of the strong jawline that Pansy had found herself so attracted to the previous morning. Now, however, this sight evoked an entirely different mental image.
Well, you look like a dead fish.
Alecto was sitting behind the second desk, on the left side of the room. She was as pale as her brother, and her eyes were identical to his. Her hair was what separated the pairs looks the most; where Amycus was dark, his hair almost as black as Pansy's own, Alecto had a head of ginger and she wore a slight smile that Pansy was fairly certain was emitting nothing but falseness. The female Carrow, Pansy mused to herself, looked remarkably dumb as she observed the Head Boy and Girl through her own cold, blue eyes.
Not the brightest Hippogriff in the herd, are you, love?
"Well that was a load of shit," Draco remarked bluntly. They were sitting in their living area, having left the meeting with the Carrows half an hour previous. The meeting, if it could accurately be referred to as such, had lasted approximately fifteen minutes, and the Carrows had spent the entire time informing Draco and Pansy that they had several expectations of the two Head students; most notably the demand of help in making the lives of all students who didn't possess a pureblood ancestry an absolute misery. The Cruciatus Curse had even been mentioned, something the Carrows had requested that Draco and Pansy become a lot more accustomed to.
"Look, I've never particularly liked Muggleborns," Pansy stated honestly. She squirmed, slightly uncomfortable admitting the truth aloud, "but, I'm not about to start cursing them to shit. Fucking hell."
"We need to keep up the pretence, Pans," Draco replied, his voice sombre. The firewhisky he had not long before requested from Winky appeared then, bobbing on a small round tray as the elf carried it above her head. Draco swiped the glass in haste and took a deep mouthful. Pansy opened her mouth to argue, but he stopped her with a raise of his free hand. "There might be something we can do, though it'll be difficult to pull off. You're already good at nonverbal…" he trailed off, deep in thought. "We'll need to start working on the Occlumency this week, as well." Pansy knew his deep expression and that it was in her best interests not to pry further and leave him with firewhisky and contemplations for company.
"I'm going to bed," she announced, realising all of a sudden the new reign of Hogwarts, combined with her still present hangover, meant that she was ready to drop, even though it was still only mid-afternoon at most. She had told Daphne that she'd visit the Slytherin common room that evening, but the thought of walking up the stairs to her room was an exhausting one, let alone having to walk to the dungeons. Yawning sleepily, she stood up, hoping Daphne would understand tomorrow.
"Mmmkay." Draco looked up as Pansy busied herself gathering some belongings, readying herself to retreat for the night. "Hey, Muggle Studies with dear Alecto tomorrow morning," he raised his glass in mock celebration.
"Oh, I can hardly contain myself." Her dry retort earned her a snort from Draco as she exited the living room.
Sighing as she sat on her bed and took in the view that was her new bedroom, the room in which Pansy Parkinson questioned almost everything she'd ever known.