It's almost been a week! Fear not, I have returned (even if people didn't want me too). I have an idea of where I (sort of) want to go. Any and all feedback is welcomed!

Meaningful Conversations

(between the bitch and the serpent)

chapter three

Draco Malfoy thanked the barista and took his venti Teavana blackberry mojito from the frazzled girl's hand. His masterfully crocheted dusky blue Muffler scarf laid loosely around his neck as he took a careful sip of his drink, letting the taste settle on his tongue before swishing it around his mouth.

"You look so pretentious when you do that," a smoky voice said behind him. "I thought the Bitch-Witch had tamed you."

Pansy Parkinson sidled up next to her best friend. "Doesn't it get tiring to be so obnoxious?"

Draco took another sip. "Occasionally. After all, I get to be the asshole of our trio while Blaise is the constantly sighing mediator."

"And what am I?" She carefully checked her French manicure. "Am I outrageously sexual deviant by default then?" They walked towards a section of excruciatingly expensive boutiques. "I wouldn't disagree with that."

"Three out of four people with some modicum of taste would disagree," he said dryly. "You're a public health hazard as it is."

"If they had your sense of taste, perhaps." She eyed his Muffler with disdain. "What has Hermione done to you?"

"Just last night she made me watch her barbaric feline," he sniffed. "I have cat-hair in places there should never be hair."

"That's because you wax."

Pansy approached a set of heavy glass double doors. She looked at Draco, her neatly tweezed eyebrow rising in a smooth wing. Her phone beeped.

Draco gave her a 'bitch please' look.

She narrowed her eyes, cropped black hair swishing around her chin. Red lips pursing, she made to open the door. "Why do you have to such a prat?"

"Didn't we just go over this?" he replied silkily and slithered into the store before the door could hit his heel. "Is there a reason we're here? I'm meeting Hermione in an hour." A sleekly dressed store attendant hurried over to them. "She's not as horny if I'm late to her flat."

Pansy sighed and gestured to a tiny purse hanging under a bright light; the woman scurried to bring it over.

Twenty minutes later, they were still staring at the same purse.

"Ugly piece of work," Draco muttered. "What was Lagerfeld smoking when he created this monstrosity?"

"Much as you were when you bought that scarf," Pansy pointed. She ushered over Karhly. "I'll take it. And the one by the shelf."

"Who are you buying these for?" Draco inquired. "They're not your style."

"What is my style, then? Tell me, famous designer."

"Pot." He handed over his debit card. "Occasional head."

"If you're insinuating Potter, you wouldn't be wrong." She thanked the beaming senior cashier and took her purchases. Handing back his card, she noted, "I was his fiancée, after all."

"A fact you told nearly no one about." Light summer breeze greeted them as they left the boutique. "Awfully strange of you," he added.

"Don't," she said softly. "You won't like where this'll go, Draco."

Draco looked at her.

She said nothing.

For the next ten minutes, they swaggered in silence to his car. When they reached the slightly beat up 1969 Daytona Yellow Corvette convertible, Draco turned the key in the door-hole. "You know I would kill for you, right Pansy?" he turned to her. "My mother and father would agree. As would Blaise."

She gave him a disparaging look. "Your sentimentality disgusts me."

"I tried," he replied deftly and slid into the seat smoothly. "I'll see you at the office?"

"With my battle-suit on." He laughed and drove off with a roughish wink, ignition thundering.

Pansy looked after her childhood rival with a sort of sad fondness. Another beep chirped from her phone. She checked it with a forced carefulness. Her knuckles were tight and white as she slid across the screen and typed, nails clicking against glass.

2:43: Don't play with his heart Riddle.

Almost immediately, her phone buzzed.

2:44: He shouldn't play with what's mine.

Her heart dropped.

And that's all for now! I wasn't originally planning for it to be so…dramatic, but that's the direction this story wants to go, and I'm powerless against my muse. Spineless, too.

I'll have another update in a week or so. They'll all be short and sweet like the past few, so if you're expecting them to be longer, I'm sorry to say, but it's not going to happen! At least, not if you want to wait months between updates. Oops.

Until then.

xoxo