A/N- Sorry for the wait folks, family and holidays had me like whoa, but here ya go!
"Pansy must not be harmed and Draco is your key?" Hermione asked with a furrowed brow.
"Not my key, the key..." Prudence grumbled, annoyed with her confusing situation.
"To?" Hermione quirked.
"I don't know..."
"You're heart," Daphne smiled dreamily.
"Your second phase?" The inquisitive Gryffidor wondered with scrunched lips.
Daphne and Pru looked at their friend seriously. Daphne nodded her head, sure of herself, "Yeah, bet that's it."
Hermione continued, "It's just one long elaborate plan... it's baffling how much work these people have invested in you... Why are they doing this?"
Pru rolled her eyes, dismissing the serious question she refused to acknowledge and sighed, "Yep, welcome to my world... C'mon let's go, we can talk about this later, we''re going to miss breakfast."
And here she is, continuing on like everything was alright. Breakfast, classes... the whole routine. Her test was to control herself and all her emotions without prematurely bursting into her second phase... or turning demon... not exactly N.E.W.T.S. She was forced to just carry on, one day at a time, pretending as if she wasn't a shattered girl, but a strong and confident wandwielder...
Prudence stood outside the door to her history lesson for close to ten minutes. Draco was inside the classroom and she just wasn't sure how her mind and body would react to being right next to him... She tried her hardest to tell herself that she was strong enough to make it through the lesson, but she wasn't positive that she truly was. Her heart felt like a heavy stone in her chest, just dead weight that refused to be lifted...
Her classmates smiled at her and welcomed her back as she strode through the aisle confidently and avoided the head of blonde hair ahead of her. He didn't even notice when she took her seat, he was turned the opposite way. Her breath hitched uneasily when he finally did turn and stare right at her with a look of disgust.
"Why are you in Ewen's seat?" He snided.
She kept her face forward, looking at anything except him, "It's my seat." She did her best to stay focused and bury the crippling pain in her chest.
"It's not, why are you there?" His tone was dripping with abhorrence, chipping away at the small amount of courage she had summoned. She couldn't find it in herself to respond so she ignored him. He only in turn swiveled around to Ewen who sat directly behind him, "Hey, cockknob, tell her to move."
Ewen's round face tightened and his eyes widened as he looked at Prudence. He found her even more intimidating than before now that everyone had witnessed what she is capable of doing... along with all the whispers that she's immortal. "It's her seat Malfoy."
Draco scoffed at the idiot and practically spit at Prudence, "You see that? You scare people. People are literally scared of how nutter you are!"
Prudence felt something inside herself click. She had to come to terms that this Draco was not her love, he did not remember the time they spent together or how much he once loved her back, it simply wasn't him. She gave Ewen a dazzling smile, "You don't think I'm nutter do you?"
His face lit up like a fool, "Of course not, you're brilliant"
"You're too sweet, I appreciate you keeping my seat while I was away."
"It was my pleasure."
Prudence smiled brighter and turned her disdained eyes on Draco, but still talking to Ewen, "Doubtful, considering this was beside you..."
Draco could feel his face hardening to stone, another quandary staring him directly in the face... He has never once saw her in that class before, and yet even his classmates spoke as if she had been there...
It was silent then as both students sulked, annoyed to be next to the other one.
.
The long history class droned on and on only to abruptly end early when their ghostly teacher floated away. Too early to leave for their next class, the students just waited around until the period was over. That's when a flustered Harry Potter appeared before Prudence.
"Not Scarhead!" Draco couldn't hold back from scoffing, "Is there no leech that you won't talk to?"
Harry glared at his school nemisis, but decided against addressing the dolt, he needed to speak with Pru. A slight smile graced his lips when he noticed the way Prudence gave Malfoy a hard glare and threatened in a whisper, "Larynx."
Empty threats Draco thought with an eye roll. It was ridiculous how everyone seemed to cower around her. So she was powerful, so she could create a storm, she was still a bloody student, same as he.
Pru turned to Harry with a friendly smile. She hadn't spoken with him since before the quidditch match... before the storm. A million things have happened since then, things that made her forget why she even quarreled with Harry to begin with. It must have been so trivial... So she just forgave him and let the past stay where it was.
"I was just wondering if you still planned on letting me escort you to the Minister's Ball?" Harry suddenly realized how embarrassing this could turn out if she told him no in front of Malfoy...
Pru's eyebrows rose, oh the ball, she completely forgot, "When is it again?"
"It's this saturday..." Harry was unable to read he furrowed brow. He was relieved when she gave her shoulders a slight shrug and tilted her head.
"Sure, why not."
For some disgustingly odd reason, the exchange of words between Potter and the scary girl was painful for Draco to watch. He couldn't place why, but it bothered him to no end to see her make plan's with the imbecile.
Pru's week had been emotionally draining. Every single day she was forced to deal with other Draco. It never got any easier seeing him... not even a little bit. She kept wondering if there was any possibility of breaking his curse without setting herself up for a downward spiral, but nothing seemed safe enough to work...
It was the closest to bearable when she sat beside him in class, at least she was able to be near him... Arguing with him was inevitable, he hated her,but it was something. She had almost gotten use to cutting into him with snide remarks, even though she faked it entirely. The hurtful part was remembering that he meant all the poison his mouth spewed...
And then there were the times when Pansy was around. Every time Pru watched the horrid girl touch him out of the corner of her eye, or give him a kiss... it was like her insides were crumbling. Pansy seemed to walk the fine line between fearing Pru and trying to rub it in the goddess's face. Prudence wouldn't harm her... couldn't harm her, but she knew that Pansy would eventually get what she deserved. In the meantime... Pru had to keep a level head. Every single day she had to struggle to remind herself what she was doing, why she was holding back, why she was letting Draco be this monster...
Saturday afternoon had arrived at a painstaking slow pace, her life at the moment was a nightmare... Picking out a pretty dress was close to fun though.
"Harry's pretty excited to take you to the ball and be excused from the castle for the night, it's all he can talk about," Hermione told Pru in a cheerful tone.
Daphne rolled her eyes, not thrilled for her dear friend to be with another boy that wasn't her rightful true love, "Well of course he is, he thinks that because she's not with Draco right now that she'll just dramatically fall into his arms..."
Hermione giggled at the accurate assumption.
"He doesn't have a chance," Pru said dryly as she changed the color of her bright pink form fitting mermaid flared gown to black. Black felt better... Now that she knew that Draco was The Key, she hoped that maybe they still had a chance at reuniting, she just had to try and be patient.
"Knock, knock," Blaise called as he walked into the room.
Pru watched how Daphne's face lit up as he walked in and went straight toward her. She wanted that back so bad... She wanted the key thing to mean that her and Draco were meant to be together forever, but a small dread inside her told her that him being The Key didn't mean he would belong to her...
"Prudence, I have some...news..." she heard Blaise's voice interrupt her thoughts.
"Hmm?" she asked, not able to look at him holding Daphne in his lap.
"Well... Draco is attending the ball as well, something to do with Lucius's position..."
Pru turned on her heels, the bottom of her dress flaring up around her legs, "What? Why didn't he say anything this week!? Ugh!" She crumpled to the ground, her idea of a Draco free night and trying to forget her aching heart splintering in her mind ,"This is just fantastic..." She suddenly wondered aloud, "Has he been speaking to Lucius since Pansy cursed him?" Because as far as she knew, Draco practically despised his father.
Blaise nodded, none too happy to relay the disheartening news.
"And his parents haven't questioned anything?"
"No, it seems they're so thrilled Draco is marrying into a pure blood lineage they don't care how it happened."
"So... on top of all the whispers I'll get behind my back from the ministry workers I'll also have to deal with Draco, Pansy and his bloody father... brilliant..."
"I wish I could go!" Daphne hollered as she hopped up to give Pru a hug, "I'd protect you from all the meanies!"
"Me too!" Hermione said joining in on the hug.
Prudence had to smile, grateful she had such caring friends. She wished they could all go with her too... but they couldn't...
Draco's face seemed to take up a permanent scowl since they arrived at the ball. The anger he felt when Potter asked her here was something he just wasn't able to explain, so when his father proposed he attend with his new fiance he jumped at the opportunity. Why though, he couldn't stand her, why would he want to be here? To keep tabs on her? He knew in the back of his mind that she was the only reason he agreed to come, and yet, he was still outraged to hear the nonstop whispers about her. It made him hate her even more to find out that she was possibly immortal, was he jealous? He just couldn't place his radiating anger toward her...
He thought that all the rumors circulating about her at school were just that, rumors. But to see ancient gray wizards stuttering when she was mentioned and giddy at the possibility of meeting her... it made it clear that everything his classmates were saying was true. He squirmed in his chair uncomfortably... so what else could be true?
.
Pansy knew that it was an incredible risk to be there with him at the ball with the Ministry, his family, and her. Anyone could say anything, but lucky for her, Draco was his own worst enemy. He would never except that he wasn't who he thought he was, he despised being confused. She decided to stay stuck to his side all night.
Then they arrived...
Draco and Pansy both knew that the Chosen One and the minister's granddaughter, the immortal, had arrived when the chatter of the room spiked to almost a roaring hum. From their seats, they both watched in disdain as the couple walked arm and arm into the room.
"What a twatter," Draco grumbled, his hate for Potter easier to voice than his discomfiture with her.
Pansy felt even more nervous to see the world's reaction to her. If she was this powerful, then why did Pansy still have Draco? How did that girl continue to allow it? It was maddening. Pansy felt as if any moment everything would be taken away from her... she had to get the wedding done as soon as possible.
.
Pru smiled tightly as wizards and witches bowed slightly as she passed. When she finally reached her granddad she asked with enlarged eyes, "What's going on? Why are they bowing?"
He looked at her with a sparkle in his eyes and gave her an easy chuckle, "Because they all know and except who you are."
"They know?"
"Prudence, that funnel cloud you created was in the great prophecies... yes, they all know."
"...Oh..."
So this is her life now... the known Immortal Wandweilder... She expected lots of whispers and speculation, not acknowledgment and praise... She should have known about the prophecy, she felt stupid for letting it get lost in her mind. She just wasn't able to think too much lately when her chest hurt so badly. But she would be alright, she would cope with this like she was coping with everything else...
She looked at Harry still standing beside her and gave him an apologetic smile. She felt as if she may be acting rude because she was always caught up in her own personal dramas. He has been nothing but a gentleman since they left Hogwarts. He didn't mention anything to do with the storm, her immortality, or (Thank Merlin) Draco.
"Shall we dance?" He asked her, doing his best to lift her spirit.
She gave him an even warmer smile, "That'd be lovely."
It was inevitable that her eyes would involuntarily scan the large ball room to look for him. Harry waltzed her in circles so it was easy to see him sitting at a table far from hers with Pansy and his parents. It took her breath away to see him dressed up handsomely in dress robes. He looked so beautiful, she had never saw him that way before. Tears almost pricked her eyes as she fought not to cry and push down her longing to reach out to him.
"...Um... Pru?" Harry had noticed how forlorn she suddenly looked and realized she had spotted Malfoy across the room. He didn't understand it at all. She was a gorgeous goddess that was now free of a leeching deatheater, why would she be sad?
"Yes?" she choked quietly.
"How...?" But the words didn't sound right, he didn't know how to ask the question that everyone at school wanted to know.
"Just say it," she deadpanned.
"How could he... break up with you... for... her? It doesn't make sense..."
Pru closed her eyes and smiled weakly, if only little Harry Potter knew the half of it... She couldn't really give him an answer so she just hmphed, "Right?" Telling him the real reasons would only make her break down into tears anyway, why would she want to make the pain any fresher?
It made her feel suffocated to be in the room with all the prying eyes and Harry's questions, so the first chance she got, she made a break for the open balcony and fresh cool air.
.
Draco found the room and all it's people stifling as well, he too wanted to just breath fresh air.
He looked out over the calm stone balcony into the city lights, he was too engrossed in his thoughts to hear the clicking of heels approaching from behind. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Draco dear, what's bothering you?" It was his mother. "Is it the wedding?"
The wedding... and a million other things.
"I know it seems so soon after the breakup, but life is fickle like that sometimes..."
Draco felt his body stiffen up at his mother's words. The breakup? What was she on about?
"It would have been practically impossible for the two of you to be together now that the wizarding world knows who she really is, she'll be so... busy."
Draco swallowed the lump in his throat, she was talking about Prudence! His own mother! He couldn't speak, only sit silently and listen as she continued on with her revealing notions.
Narcissa sighed, "When the two of you were children I wondered if you would ever meet her again. I didn't know who she was then, I just knew that she was extraordinary, and lovely... Oh dear me. Listen to me prattling on about her, Pansy is lovely too..."
Pansy lovely? Not quite...
He was feeling quite sick then, his absolute denial no longer even worth trying to hold on to.
It was true, it was all true, Pru and him... use to be together... so what happened?
He hardly noticed that his mother left him to his brooding. He wanted to scream... everything that everyone has been saying... is true? All the words he tried to remember flew about, all coinciding with one another. All of them... except one... Pansy was the only one who told him something different... He felt humiliated, he was enraged! What happened, why couldn't he remember her?!
.
Of course.
Of all the balconies off the grand ballroom, the one Prudence chose had an occupant. An occupant that she just didn't want to see at the moment. She sighed, defeated with her trek in her sky high heels and silently took a seat on the stone bench farthest away from him. The moment she sat his head jerked, he noticed she was there and her gut stirred nervously.
There she is. Draco looked at the girl in the beautiful black gown. She was tugging off her shoes and rubbing her feet.
That peculiar feeling surfaced again. The one he always gets when he sees her that he still couldn't place. He didn't understand, if she was so powerful than what happened to make him forget? Why didn't she stop it? Unless she did it on purpose. Perhaps Pansy didn't do it at all, maybe Prudence cursed him... But she said that he was the love of her life and that he once loved her back...
He recalled the way she looked at him in the commons the morning of her storm and how she caused the storm at all. It had to do with what happened between them, he was the reason she almost destroyed the school. Pansy said that she broke the unstable girl's heart, so maybe it wasn't Pru that cursed him, it must be Pansy. Pansy stole him away from her some how, breaking her heart... This was maddening...
Draco took in a steady breath and looked up at the stars then asked calmly, "I promise I'll listen this time if you really tell me the truth..."
Pru's body jerked up unexpectedly at the low tone of his voice, he actually sounded civil. She watched with wide eyes as he looked away from the sky and at her. There was no hostility behind his question, he almost seemed vulnerable.
The girl looked as if she was looking right through him. For the first time since he met her, he actually admitted to himself that she was fucking gorgeous. He had been trying to deny it the entire time simply because he couldn't stand her, but here, under the stars, in her elegant black dress... she looked beautiful. She still didn't answer him so he stated solemnly, "Pansy cursed me, didn't she?"
Pru's breath hitched, she didn't know if she could handle having this conversation. She did her best to stay centered and told him, "Yes." She saw the flash of anger in his eyes as he looked away once again.
"And you and I... we use to be together?"
Hearing him admit that in his current state made her feel like she was kicked in the ribs, "Yes," she whispered.
Draco sucked in a frustrated breath through his nose. Damnit. The truth was still hard to swallow when his memory didn't add up... his feeling for her... didn't add up. "How long were we together?"
Pru straightened her back, fighting off the tears that she refused to let fall, why did this hurt so much? "We... we got together shortly after the beginning of term..."
He nodded stiffly, still not looking at her, because he didn't think he would be able to handle it, "Until...?"
Her lip trembled, "Until two Sundays ago..."
"The day of the storm."
"Yes."
A pregnant silence followed as Pru took a few tentative steps toward him, waiting for him to say something else.
Finally he asked, "Did we ever...?"
Her heart skipped a beat, but not in the pleasant way. She didn't want to recall that memory, but she was going to be honest, "Yes... just once..."
Draco nodded one more time. Trying to put together all the things she was telling him. He hated the blank space in his brain that he now understood use to be her. Pansy erased it, she erased everything... He licked his lips, trying to stay strong, "Can you tell me about the last day we were together... before she took it away?"
Pru could feel his mind uncoiling, beginning to find a little bit of understanding, but still so livid and confused. She was happy to hear that he at least knew who was responsible, and it wasn't her... well not entirely. She looked up into the sky as well, leaning over the same stone balcony just a few short feet away.
"Well... it was your first quidditch match that Saturday, which you won..." She couldn't retain her smile as she thought about how she cheered him on so proudly.
Draco snuck a look at her as she spoke. He heard the way her voice relaxed when she spoke about how it use to be and he couldn't help but look at her and be amazed with her grin.
"...I was very proud of you... but after the match... I had a vision of Pansy brewing something that I knew was meant for you. She just wasn't able to get over the fact that you didn't want to marry her and would rather be with me..." She hiccupped an unsteady breath, reliving this was bittersweet... "She had already tried harming me before but failed... so she decided to go after you. You... were so outraged that she would dare try something again that you went straight to Snape to try and get her expelled... that is... not before making sure I was safe with Hermione..."
Draco's jaw grew tighter, her story was becoming increasingly more unbelievable. Fraternizing with Gryffidors? He would never...
Prudence could hear his mind becoming cloudy again, he didn't believe her... She sighed, feeling defeated again, but continued on, determined to at least finish the story, "After Snape informed you that you were not allowed to harm Pansy and that I... had very complicated circumstances entwined into my life... you came back to my dorm..."
He could hardly swallow anymore... he heard her struggling with her next words and he knew what had happened next.
"And then we..." As flustered as she felt when she saw his cocky smirk, she still felt like smiling. She hasn't witnessed that smirk in a long time, and seeing it directed at her once again made her feel like maybe they were back to normal, like nothing even happened.
"We had sex didn't we?" He never had a problem with being shy.
Pru blushed and looked away, "Yeah, you took my virginity..." The minuscule bubble of hope popped when he continued, back to a business like tone.
"And after that?"
"We slept... in the morning you could tell I was still scared because something was going to happen to you so you went to fetch me some tea..."
Draco didn't know what to say, it just didn't sound like him at all... He heard her voice stop and wondered aloud, speculating for himself that it probably ended there, "Then?"
Pru's heart bottomed out, the hot tears beginning to pool in the corner of her eyes, "...And then... you never came back. The next time I saw you... well... you remember what happened next..." She turned her head completely away from him as she squoze her eyes tight. She couldn't cry, she couldn't get worked up, she had to stay calm...
Silence followed again as Draco mulled it around. Was she telling him the absolute truth? He really wanted to believe that she was, but it sounded so wrong... "So, we fell in love at the beginning of the year, Pansy couldn't handle it so she erased my memory of you so she could manipulate me into marrying her?"
Pru eyed him warily, "Yes."
"And then there's this whole Immortal Wandwielder thing?"
"...That's where it gets complicated," Pru grumbled. She couldn't quite explain how it felt to be talking to him politely but still not being together. It was odd... it still wasn't her Draco.
"How so?" He looked at her from the corner of his eye. It was even stranger for him to talk to her this way. They had so much history together, and yet when he looked at her he knew none of it... he felt none of it. The only thing he really felt for her was a slight swelling in his pants because she was so hot... But other than that? She seemed like a bloody know-it-all-goody-two-shoes-mudblood-lovin' nutter...
Pru chuckled darkly, there was no way she could explain to him her curses, and how she was taught and raised, and the scrolls, and her ascensions, and the council without the sun rising first... it was just too much. As she tried to put it together in her head how she could explain to him all this she heard his superficial thoughts... He may be acting civil and accept that he was cursed, but he still doesn't love her... She was back to feeling how she felt the moment she set foot on the balcony...
Draco watched how she kept biting her lip and thinking, she didn't have an answer for him. Her apprehension lead him to doubt everything she told him to begin with. He did believe that the two of them shared a past, but was it the same picture she just painted? He hmphed, annoyed that she seemed to be keeping something from him, "Just never mind then..."
Pru pursed her lips, this Draco was such an infuriating arse! He had no patience and no understanding. Would she ever get her Draco back? She couldn't talk to him anymore, not when she could hear his screaming thoughts of doubt in her. She began to storm away, "Hope it doesn't rain on your wedding day!" she clipped.
Fury flooded Draco at her indignant dig at him, she was just going to let him end up with that cow, "So you supposedly love me and you're not even going to try and stop the wedding or break my curse! What the fuck kind of goddess are you?!"
Pru felt her skin get hot and her heart rate increase, she whipped back around to him, "What the fuck are you talking about? You don't remember me, you don't love me! What does it even matter! This won't make much sense to you, but it's obvious that this is what the council wants! They want me to be alone, they want you to be with Pansy! I can't harm her, I can't leave Hogwarts, I can't fight for anything I truly believe in with out destroying everything in my path!" She was screaming in his face but had to suddenly stop when she felt the wind beginning to swirl swiftly around her. She took a step away from him, angry with him and herself for starting to lose control... but this is what he does to her. "Damnit Draco! If I get too emotionally invested in this again I'll turn into a demon and kill everyone I love! Don't you get it! I can't let that happen!"
Draco was actually speechless as he looked at the back of her head, he didn't even know where that question came from, why would he ask her that? He did know that it stung him that she didn't think he was good enough to fight for, or that she wasn't strong enough to do so. After her rant, he thought maybe she was telling him the absolute truth...
He heard her voice rasp, thick with oncoming tears, "You're better off this way..."
Her words felt like poison in her own throat. She knew she didn't mean that, that those words weren't true. He wasn't meant to be with Pansy, but she still didn't know if he was meant to be with her either...
Draco didn't know what else to say as he watched her go back inside. He some how disliked her even more now that he knew that she has just given up on him.
.
Pansy was frantic when she saw Pru come in off the last balcony she was about to check. She had been searching feverishly for the better half of the last hour for Draco, and that balcony was the last place he could be. She rushed through the doors to see him standing there alone, looking over the city, a scowl plastered on his face. A wave of nerves washed over her, she was scared. Did he know anything?
"Dracy?" She asked cautiously as she wrapped her arms around him.
He felt Pansy's tentative arms enclose around him. He knew that she witnessed Pru just leave him and was mutilating herself with questions about how much he knew now. He instantly wanted to tear her arms off him and turn around to degrade her for thinking that she could ever manipulate him... but he didn't. He let the coldness sink in that she may have to still be his wife. It was easy and convenient to be with her, he would just store this information away to use against her later.
He just realized that he felt absolutely no passion for her. Pansy enticed zero emotion in him what so ever... Even the girl he despised made him feel something...
"What?" he asked her gruffly.
Other than his usual sour mood, there was no indication he knew so Pansy asked, "What are you doing out here?"
He shrugged his shoulders, he didn't have anything to say to her. He was just angry enough to take her back to the castle, shove her face down and punish her ruthlessly for being a deceitful bitch.