Beneath The Façade

Taking Over Me

Harry's jaw dropped, "h-he's dead?" he looked over at Pansy, whose face was struck with a mixture of horror, agony, and…guilt?

Harry had to restrain himself from the overwhelming urge to embrace her in his arms.

He touched her shoulder lightly, "Parkinson are you…" but his voice faded as Pansy was brought deep inside her thoughts.

Everything around her seemed to blur, and all sound stood silent. McGonagall and Snape were saying something, but she couldn't hear them; she couldn't even hear Harry, who seemed immensely concerned. All she could focus on was what she had just heard, Blaise was dead; all she could hear was the pounding of her aching heart.

She blinked trying to clear her vision, but to no avail. Then her eyes suddenly widened as her mind was greeted with the horrible truth; her memory was brought back to the hour previous to when class had ended.

The memory was vague, but Pansy could see what was going on…

… (Flashback)…

She saw herself walking down the corridor on her way to the Potions classroom, when she caught sight of Blaise Zabini.

He greeted her warmly and then began walking towards her. Pansy was about to say hello, but the words never escaped her lips; her eyes suddenly darkened and a voice, much like her own, whispered a spell she had never heard before, "subsisto pectus pectonis"

Pansy seemed engulfed; a part of her was struggling and trying to fight something inside her; she was trying to stop the voice and the sudden loss of control. However, her efforts were useless, as she watched in terror as her friend screamed out in pain, while clutching his heart, and then collapsed at her feet…dead.

Then Pansy's other-self conjured a sudden gush of wind,sending his body unceremoniously threw the window above the corridor, shatteringthe glass in all directions.

Her eyes returned to normal, and the gushing wind around her ceased. She was panting heavily and looking all around in confusion.

'What happened?' was her last thought before she blacked out.

That was when Draco had found her lying in the middle of the corridor, and after observing all the glass across the floor he became slightly alarmed.

He ran over to her, as she was starting to regain consciousness, and helped her to her feet.

Heasked her what had happened, and she couldn't answer; she didn't know…

… (End flashback)…

Pansy blinked as she was suddenly brought out of her trance by Harry, who was shaking her arm, perhaps a bit roughly, due to his sudden unease.

When he saw that she had come back, from whatever she had been meditating on, he sighed and let go of her arm, "Parkinson, are you alright? You kind of zoned out there for a minute."

Pansy was shaking violently and she slowly turned her head to look at Harry, her eyes brimming with tears. Harry's mouth parted; she looked so broken.

"Pansy." He whispered.

A tear rolled down her face; her heart felt as if it had been shattered into as many pieces as the window Blaise had been sent threw.

She couldn't believe what was happening; her other-self was slowly taking over her.

'How many more must die at my hands?' she thought miserably. It frightened her; she feared for the safety of those she loved.

Her best and only friend had just been taken from her, all because she had lost control.

Now all she had left was Draco Malfoy.

'Ihave Harry too though,' she thought as she continued to gaze into his emerald eyes.

'No! You need to get him out of your head! He is a threat, like Zabini…was.'

'SHUTUP!' Pansy screamed inside her head, 'You've taken my best friend from me, and you will NOT take Harry from me too!'

Then she suddenly wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and clung to shirt, as if her life depended on it. Her sobs grew louder as she buried her face against him.

Harry's eyes widened a bit at this sudden action, but he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her trembling body. He could feel her hot tears threw the delicate fabric of his shirt.

He felt his own eyes began to glaze over, and closed them as he rested his head against hers.

'I am holding, Pansy Parkinson,' he thought with the slightest smile on his face. A few weeks ago and he would've been disgusted by this, but now he could think of nowhere else he'd rather be.

"It will all the okay," he whispered into her ear, "I'm always going to be here for you."

Pansy held him closer, 'If only you knew, Harry' she thought bitterly.

Meanwhile, neither of the two remembered that Snape and McGonagall were still in the room with them. The professors were still talking about the recent event.

"Are you absolutely certain, Minerva?" Snape asked fearing that he had heard correctly.

McGonagall nodded solemnly, "Ms. Weasely, Ms. Granger, and myself found him outside; he was thrown threw one of the windows."

"Who would do this?" Snape questioned, more to himself then her.

She shook her head, "I don't know, Severus."

Snape sighed; he had always admired the young Slytherin, "Blaise was…one of my best students."

McGonagall rested her eyes on the floor, willing the tears to stay, "yes, and we will hold a proper funeral for him."

Snape nodded in agreement and then cleared his throat, "has Dumbledore been informed?"

McGonagall lifted her gaze, "yes, he has."

"Well, then prepare to tell the rest of the students, and we will try and uncover the mystery behind this terrible loss."

McGonagall nodded and turned to leave but stopped as she spotted Harry and Pansy, wrapped in one another's embrace.

Harry was whispering soft, comforting words into her ear, as she clung to him tightly; her entire body shaking with sobs.

Snape followed her gaze and sighed as he saw the two students, it was not supposed to be this way; it couldn't be this way, for both their safety.

He motioned for McGonagall to leave, then as she did, he slowly rose from his seat and walked over to Harry and Pansy. He gently touched the young girl's shoulder, "Ms. Parkinson."

Pansy reluctantly lifted her head off Harry's shoulder and turned to look at Snape, Harry did the same.

"I believe that Mr. Malfoy will probably be waiting for you," the Professor stated bluntly.

Pansy nodded and looked up at Harry, who turned to look down at her. His eyes were pleading her, pleading her to stay.

She smiled up at him sweetly, and then let go of him. He sighed and drew his own arms away.

"See you later, Pansy," he said gently.

Pansy nodded and turned to leave, but she had only gone a few steps when she stopped and looked back at him.

"Harry," he looked over at her, "thank you," she said softly.

Harry felt a slight flush come across his face, and he sent her a warm smile.

Pansy smiled back, then turned and slowly left the room.

Harry watched her go, and then turned back to Snape, who eyed him with great disapproval.

"She cannot be yours, Potter. You must understand that."

Harry glared, but he knewthe professor was right, Pansy belonged with Malfoy.

He nodded, then turned and left the room, his heart weighing heavily within his chest.

He shook his head sadly, but couldn't help but smile slightly as he thought of the smile she had given him a few minutes ago.

He couldn't get herface out of his head; her eyes, her smile,everything about her was there.

Pansy Parkinson was taking over him.

She had stolen his heart; she was haunting his mind. He knew now that he would do anything for her, perhaps even die for her.

'Pansy,' he thought, 'if only you knew that I've...fallen in love with you.'