.
Part Two | Pain & Fire
Thirty-Three. Rennervate
"Rennervate."
Pansy watched as a pair of cool blue eyes opened and closed several times, acclimatising with the bright and strange surroundings their owner was now situated in. Wrinkling her nose as her hatred of the woman on the floor in front of her bubbled close to her surface, Pansy felt invisible sparks dance over her bare forearms: pure magic.
"What in the-"
"Shut up," Draco interrupted Alecto's intoxicated-sounding question. His wand was pointed firmly at the woman's chest, his hand steady as a rock, no trace of emotion present on his pale features. Turning to Pansy, Draco asked, "What classroom was it?"
"Third floor, one of the ones on the East side," Pansy replied, "it's hardly used."
Draco nodded. "Okay. You," he jabbed his wand a half inch towards Alecto, whose eyes widened but surprisingly she made no move to oppose the Head Boy. Probably because I've got your wand, Pansy thought with a smirk, twirling the unfamiliar wood absentmindedly between her fingers. "You are going to forget everything that happened just before you entered the third floor-"
"Wait," Pansy interjected, "can you make her stand up first?"
Draco's eyebrows rose a fraction, but he didn't query Pansy's request, instead he simply flicked his wand in Alecto's general direction and commanded, "You heard her, get up."
Alecto, unable to defy his words due to the still very much active Imperius Curse, got shakily to her feet. "This is-"
This time it was Pansy who interrupted the older witch. "Shut up!" before she deposited the strange wand on a surface behind her and took three solid steps forward, making her square with Alecto, who immediately threw her hands towards Pansy's face, only to be rendered unable to move by a sharp instruction to remain still by Draco.
Taking one step backwards a fraction of a second before her arm followed suit. "One day, I'll kill you for what you do to him, but for now, this'll do." With a crunch more sickening than she had anticipated, Pansy's fist collided with Alecto's nose, and Alecto herself fell, ungracefully, backwards. Shaking her dully aching wrist up and down, Pansy turned back towards Draco and moved to her original position. "As you were," she said to the amused looking Draco.
Draco nodded, raised his wand once more and cleared his throat before stating, clearly, "You are going to forget everything that happened just before you entered the third floor. You are to forget everything that happened from that point onwards." Alecto's eyes were untroubled and her face looked serene as Draco spoke. "You will now go find your pillock of a brother and tell him that you broke your nose running into a tree, when he asks why the fuck you ran into a tree, you will tell him you were being chased by a Centaur. When he asks what you were doing near the Centaur you will tell him you tried to attack the creature, and failed. Understood?"
Alecto nodded once, evidently unable to hear or pay attention to either Pansy's bark of laughter, or her rushed, "Draco, he'll never buy that". Nor did she seem to notice when Draco replied, "Yeah he will, I would." Instead, she simply turned, took her wand form a reluctant Pansy at Draco's request, and left.
Turning to Draco with her eyebrows raised, the image of Alecto telling her twin that she broke her nose running into a tree waving in front of her mind's eye giving her something, even if small, to smile about.
"At least that's one problem out of the way," he noted, and Pansy nodded in agreement.
"Do you still want to do an occlumency practice?" she asked, hoping, though not hopeful, that he'd decline.
"You've had a long day," Draco replied, and Pansy's eyebrows must have all but disappeared at his words, "we'll do a final one before the holiday tomorrow night. Go wash your hair or your...skin, or whatever girls do to relax."
Pansy chuckled and rolled her eyes simultaneously. "Yeah, great...I'll go wash my skin. Thanks Draco," she added, reaching forward and giving his forearm a quick squeeze before making her way towards the door that led to the rest of the quarters, and the bath that would relaxingly wash her skin.
The next day Pansy awoke with struggled breath, her own elevated heart beat pounding in her ears and the stark realisation that the first stage of their plan, which didn't actually involve her directly, was happening the very next day.
The faces of each of her friends swam in front of her mind's eye as she lay, half wishing that she'd awoken the day after, much preferring action, as risky as it was, than the waiting for said action.
Turning to her left, Pansy took a long, shaky breath and a small cardboard box, featuring several holes stamped through the top, drew her attention.
"Only a few more days," she croakily informed the box, a soft smile creeping onto her worried face in spite of the palpitations her heart had now decided to grace her with. Swallowing, as she silently instructed her heart to fucking stop it, Pansy rose from her bed.
She and Draco's plans for the day were straightforward; spend time with Winky to finalise everything they would take with them on the run, practise occlumency one last time, and finally make their way to the Slytherin dungeons, where Theo was insisting the six friends experience one last night of debauchery in what had been their home for most of their Hogwarts education.
As Pansy made her way down the stairs to the living quarters, the unmistakable scent of Winky's signature eggs and bacon assaulted her nostrils, just as the sound of Draco's mumbled, yet Pansy could tell irate, voice met her eardrums. Opening the door, she found the pair engaging in what appeared to be having a heated discussion.
"-cannot do without, we may have to be on our feet for hours at a time!" Draco looked exasperated as he yelled at the elf.
"Everybody going is able to apparate!" Winky snapped back, clearly refusing to address Draco with any form of title.
"They are a necessity!"
"Food is necessity, oh yes it is, and water, and heat," Winky retorted, her large tennis ball eyes meeting Pansy's as the witch silently slid into her usual spot, "but one hundred pairs of extra socks are not, no they are not! And Winky will hear no different, no she won't!" The small elf didn't wait for a response from Draco's reddened face, and promptly stomped away, her long bunny ears bouncing slightly with each step.
Pansy blinked, and it took all the resolve she had not to laugh in Draco's face, a feat she only managed knowing that he was likely feeling a heightened sense of stress at the prospect of returning to the manor the following day. But still, she mused to herself, one hundred pairs of socks is ridiculous.
"Is, ah...Winky making breakfast? Smells good…" Pansy trailed off as Draco shot her a dark look.
"The socks can be shrunk, and she," he inclined his head towards the door that Pansy had come from, and that Winky disappeared out of, "knows that!"
"Well, yes, I suppose they can...but one hundred pairs?"
"I like to wear a new pair often, Pansy!"
Breakfast was something of a strained affair, with Draco glowering into his eggs and Winky scowling as she went about her usual morning tidy up of the living area, but eventually once the plates had been cleared away, and Pansy had tried three separate times to make small talk, there was little else to do but get on with their planning.
As it turned out, socks were not the only things that Draco and Winky disagreed on, and Pansy found herself playing the role of referee more than once between the irritated Slytherin and the disgruntled house-elf.
"That is ENOUGH!" Pansy heard her own voice shout over the din of the other two voices. Turning to her right, she addressed her ex-boyfriend, "Draco, you can take the ones you feel are actually important, but leave the rest, and," she swivelled to her left, now facing Winky, "Winky, he will carry them himself," she said the last word pointedly. "Do I make myself clear?!" She cried the latter words to neither in particular, at which two mumbled yes' could be heard. Taking a long, drawn out breath, Pansy closed her eyes."Thank you!"
It took most of the morning, but by lunchtime Pansy, Draco and Winky were clear in all the aspects of what was to happen in regards to their escape. Winky, as luck would have it, had informed Draco and Pansy something they were both unaware of: house-elves could apparate in and out of Hogwarts.
"Does that mean," Draco had asked, his brow furrowed in curiosity, "you can apparate others in and out?"
"That's such a flaw in the castle's security," Pansy had offered absentmindedly, not noticing Winky walk up to Draco.
"Only one way to find out, oh yes there is."
Pansy had barely blinked, where one second ago both Draco and Winky were situated, now stood an empty armchair, and the echo from the loud crack of Winky's apparition hanging in the air. Another second later and a similar crack brought both figures back into Pansy's line of sight. The bigger of which, was looking aghast.
"You can't just...take someone like...bloody Hogsmeade….freezing!"
"Hush hush," Winky shushed with a wave of her hand. "Now we know it does mean that Winky can apparate others past the enchantments of the castle, oh yes we do. Means Winky will be able to apparate Mistress Pansy, and Mister Neville away, oh yes, Winky thinks so!"
"Why is she still getting called 'Mistress'? You haven't even called me 'Sir' in weeks! It's really not acceptable, Winky!"
Winky point blank ignored Draco's question. "Not acceptable, oh ho ho, is that right?" The small elf turned her back on Draco and his outraged expression, and winked at Pansy. "Now, Winky is going to sort some lunch, oh yes she is!"
It was mid afternoon by the time they began to make their way down the familiar passage to the Slytherin dungeons for the last time, Pansy deliberated to herself sadly. For so many years, this walk, and their destination, had served as a surety; a home and a place that they belonged to, and that equally belonged to them. Now, it was a stark reminder that nothing in their lives was a surety, and home seemed something of an abstract context which arguably no longer existed, or would no longer exist, in a few days time.
Reaching the expanse of wall where their dungeons lay behind, Pansy glanced sideways at Draco, who nodded and gave her the smallest of supportive smiles. They remained silent, yet Pansy knew their thoughts were as one: this was the last time.
Upon entering the common room, the pair found a number of Slytherin students of varying ages, from tiny first years, to Crabbe and Goyle, who were located near a far window. At the sight of Draco, both his ex friends waved enthusiastically, to which Draco shot the two a look of disgruntled disgust, and led Pansy through the room, towards the dormitories.
The room was exactly the same as Pansy had always remembered, the beds, desks and trunks looked no different. The only thing that was different, she supposed, was everything.
Theo was the first to acknowledge their entrance, and let out a roar of delight before clumsily diving across a nearby bed and engulfing both Draco and Pansy in a large bear hug. "I fucking love you two," he choked through what Pansy realised was sobs.
"Are you crying?" Draco demanded, shaking Theo's emotional form from him.
Theo sniffed, but didn't reply, instead pressing himself into Pansy further.
From somewhere to her left, Pansy heard Blaise cough. "He started a little early on the debauchery."
"Theo," Draco began, "you're pissed."
"You're pissed," Theo quipped, his voice slurred.
Pansy patted the back of Theo's left shoulder. "It's okay Theo, go sit back down."
"Okay Pans, you've always been my favourite, have I ever told you that?"
Pansy chuckled lightly. "I'm everyone's favourite."
As Theo made his way back over to his bed, Pansy smirked as Draco began to exclaim how rude it was to favour Pansy in his presence.
"Drink?" Blaise offered, and both Draco and Pansy nodded gratefully. Shooting Draco a brief glance, Pansy wondered how he was going to cope on the run, his drinking at Hogwarts, as much as she tried to dampen his intake, she wasn't his carer and had no control over his stash, most of which she knew was kept in his room and locked with a special key Pansy suspected he'd purchased in Knockturn Alley. Pansy didn't know if she truly knew who a sober Draco Malfoy was anymore, the thought seemed to taint her own drink with a bitterness she found hard to swallow.
The afternoon soon rolled into the evening, and though the six friends tried to relax, Pansy knew the uncertainty of the next few days was hanging over each of them like a dark cloud, never quite allowing the laughter to exist without being laced with the apprehension that held the group, both individually and as a whole.
Eventually, as Pansy had known it would, the talk shifted to their escape. Most of the details were finalised. Theo, Blaise, Daphne and Millicent were leaving together, from Hogsmeade, apparating in pairs to just outside Inverness, where they would then wait out and hide, to make sure their apparition wasn't traced somehow, with Theo and Blaise wanted by Voldemort in only a few short weeks. Once clear, they would make their way to a village in the area of Moray, not for South of Inverness, where villages were scattered through the countryside and hard to find.
Pansy and Neville, apparated by Winky, were to go to a different village, after Christmas, a few miles from the one the others were travelling to, and make their way on foot to meet up with the rest. Hopefully they could remain undetected, using small B&Bs and guesthouses with confunded, until after the New Year, when Draco would join them.
"Okay, Pans," Blaise was saying, having toured the Highlands with his mother and one of her husbands once upon a time, but thankfully had always possessed a near eidetic memory,and had formulated the geographical part of their escape with ease. "Craigellachie is about a mile away from Aberlour, where we," he glanced around, his eyes meeting Daphne's first and then Millicent's, "should be. The river Spey runs right through and there are benches on the banks, at a grassy bit in the middle of the village, we'll wait for you there on the twenty-seventh."
"Okay." Pansy nodded. "It should work."
"It should," Blaise agreed.
Longer term, their plans were less meticulous. International apparition depended on a slightly different and more concentrated magic, even passing your apparition exam didn't guarantee success, not to mention it was easier to track. International portkeys weren't feasible, as none of the group knew how to charm one and all the existent ones were in the hands of the ministry, which meant they were guarded by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Staying in Britain was both incredibly unsafe and yet still their safest option.
The general consensus was that they remain North, using the sparsely populated Highlands as their cover, never slacking on concealment charms or letting their guard down.
Once the formalities, once more, had been pushed out of the way, the group collectively insisted that it was spoken of no more throughout the evening, and although trickles of the topic crept into various other conversations, on the most part, they managed to avoid talking about the next few days, instead savouring on the memories they shared, and the times they'd spent together.
Neville's name, or a few variations - including Nev, and Longbottom, and Pansy's mate, crept up every so often, and Pansy found a warm glow seemed to stir in her stomach whenever it did. This year, or term, she supposed, reminding herself that it was only December, and they had only been back in the castle since the beginning of September. It was three, almost four, months that in another world may have been a lifetime. They had done what everyone had never believed that Slytherins could, or would, ever do: they had accepted him. They liked him.
It was Pansy, though, that had achieved the unthinkable. Pansy loved him.
"Can you believe we'll never be in this room again?" Daphne ventured, her voice hitched slightly, and though they had all unspeakingly agreed to avoid the topic, Pansy could see by the pained look on her best friend's face, that some things needed to be said aloud, no matter how painful.
"I...hic...love this 'oom," Theo offered, much to the surprise of the others, having believed him unconscious for the majority of the past hour and a half. "And you lot," he let out a high pitched giggle before continuing, "Yeah, I love you lot."
Smiling softly at the once more unconscious Theo, Pansy found her eyes drifting to Millicent, who was staring down at her boyfriend's face, a distinct look of sadness, laced with something Pansy couldn't quite place, present in the dark haired witch's eyes.
She seemed to sense she was being watched, and Millicent's gaze snapped to meet Pansy's.
You okay? Pansy mouthed, not missing the way Millicent's coffee brown eyes were now swimming with unspilt tears. Wanna talk? she mouthed the further question, glancing around quickly to ensure none of the others had noticed. Shaking her head in response, Millicent didn't give any other reply, but Pansy had the distinct impression that there were a great number of words that wished to be heard from her friend's mouth, that possibly never would be.
Pansy wished she could tell her friend how it would be okay, but blind faith with no solid backing wasn't the type of support that Pansy believed in. She wouldn't lie to Millicent, as much as she could, and in that moment probably should.
Because Pansy simply didn't know it was going to be okay.
And if she was entirely honest with herself, it probably wasn't.