A/N: small, small parts of chapter two have been edited. You can check out the changes here: smearedsilverdot8mdotcom/SVG3dothtml at my site, because it's a pain in the ass to change stuff on ff.n

So, it's been a while. Here's a fresh new chapter and a promise of a complete plot outline up to and including chapter 8. Disclaimer: they ain't mine, I'm just playing

part three: we apologize for the inconvenience. and the screaming.

Pansy did not sleep well that night. At around three am she was awakened by a soft knock.

"Come in," she called, sitting up. The door opened, and Daphne's green-grey eyes peeked through the crack. Pansy beckoned her in. Once the door was closed, she placed an extra layer of silencing charm on her bedroom, then motioned Daphne into one of the two upholstered chairs. There were definite perks to being a prefect. Pansy conjured up two mugs, one of tea, the other of hot chocolate, and handed the latter to Daphne. She sat down across from her red-haired friend and waited. She didn't have to wait long.

Daphne raised the mug to her lips and took a sip, then, hands visibly shaking, placed the mug carefully on the table between them. Pansy tried to look reassuring. Daphne looked decidedly un-reassured.

"Daphne," she threatened, "you wake me up at three in the morning, you better want something more than cocoa."

Daphne nodded, and her eyes turned a stormy grey that threatened rain. She fisted her shaking hands into her robes. "I don't think I want to do this."

"Do what?" asked Pansy, deliberately leading.

"This! It! Him!" the other girl said vehemently.

"I know."

"Do you? Do you??" Daphne's voice was reaching a hysterical pitch, and, even though Pansy was aware of the multiple silencing charms stacked around them, she still made a shushing motion. Daphne obediently lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. "I can't stand this, Pansy. Like just because we're pureblooded we have to accept this. I've seen what He did to my family. He's been gone almost all my life and his marks are all over my life…" she sobbed.

Pansy waited for her to stop crying. "Listen to me Daphne. This isn't about school, or boys, or family any more. It's about survival. And you better be careful who you tell these kinds of things to." At Daphne's horrified look, she hurriedly added, "not me, you idiot! I'll never sell you out, because, and here, now we're even, I hate it too."

"You don't seem like you do," Daphne sniffled doubtfully.

"You may not believe me, but it's the truth. And I don't know what else to tell you except, toughen up. I don't see any way out of this thing, not once it's started. If you see a way out that I don't, then, by all means, take it. But you have to think about the repercussions. What He'd do to your family if you disobeyed them and Him. Where would you go? That old fool who calls himself Headmaster?" Pansy shook her head.

Daphne chewed on her fingernail. "I know you're right," she whispered, standing up to leave. "But this really, really sucks."

"Just remember one thing," she told Daphne as she began to close her door. "Survive."

-----

The next evening, Hannah was again in the library, working alone to finish the Herbology project. Her expression was drawn and pinched as she diligently scrawled facts onto the parchment. She tensed when a figure blocked the light. Glancing up, she saw it was Pansy. She didn't say anything, just kept working on the paper. Pansy sat down beside her, perusing the scrolls and tomes scattered across the table. Taking out her quill, she wet it and began writing notes on a scrap of parchment.

"Did you know that if you drink the blood of a unicorn, it will save you from the brink of death?" Hannah said, breaking the silence. Pansy nodded, and Hannah continued, "but it's debatable whether or not that life will be worth it, afterward."

"Would you ever? Drink it?" Pansy asked, carefully not looking at her lab partner.

Hannah considered the question, tilting her chin up slightly. "I suppose…if the situation called for it."

Pansy turned towards her, surprised. "The situation being…?"

"If I could save someone I cared about by drinking the blood, I would."

Pansy scoffed audibly.

"Would you?"

"No."

They worked in silence for several minutes. Pansy kept waiting for the Hufflepuff girl to ask her why. Finally, Hannah stretched, her hands pulled high over her head, arching her back. Pansy surreptitiously watched. Hannah opened her mouth to speak, and Pansy silently congratulated herself. But it was not the expected question. "I need a break. I'm going to take a walk." She stood, and gazed at her partner. "Are you coming?" Pansy met her glance and held it. Without taking her eyes from Hannah's, she stood. Hannah bit her lip, and turned away before Pansy could see her blush.

Hannah bypassed the greenhouses, taking a winding path that led past Hagrid's hut, where punctured crates were stacked, presumably for the next Care of Magical Creatures class. It was almost twilight, almost time for dinner, and Pansy was almost startled when Hannah entered into the forest.

"Just a little ways in, you can still see the school," Hannah said reassuringly.

"Like I care?" Pansy snapped back. Their feet crunched on the carpet of dry pine needles.

Hannah seated herself on a mostly horizontal, mossy log. "Of course you don't," Hannah said. "You're a big scary Slytherin. How could I forget?"

Pansy sneered at her and leaned up against a tree. She reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a small box. She pressed a cigarette in between her lips and muttered a spell around it. The tip flared and then died to an ember, and Pansy took a deep, satisfying drag.

"It relaxes you." Hannah said. It was not a question, but Pansy, willing to be charitable now that she felt marginally more in control, nodded. Hannah wrinkled her nose. "Well, it smells foul."

Pansy shrugged, the rough wood of the tree scraping her back. She stared upwards, through the branches of the tree, at the slowly dimming sky. The air had a full, thick quality to it, like everything had slowed down to a manageable pace. The light continued to die, and the ember of Pansy's receding cigarette seemed both hard and harsh against the soft growing darkness. "How's the flying been going?" she asked dreamily, caught up in the quiet mood of the place.

"Ah," said the other girl softly, "I can't seem to get back onto a broom."

Frowning, Pansy shifted her gaze earthward, blue eyes glaring an unspoken question.

Hannah's mouth quirked. "I could say, you know, that I just haven't had the time, but…" her voice dropped to a whisper, and Pansy had to lean in to catch all of it, "truth is, I'm scared to." She coughed as tendrils of Pansy's cigarette wound around her head. Pansy sucked one last drag off, then dropped the cigarette, crushing it into the pine needles with her booted foot.

"I'll help you," Pansy offered.

Abbott looks shocked, Pansy thought, and so probably do I.

"You…will?" Hannah stood, her tone skeptical.

"I…" Pansy floundered for a moment. Christ girl, keep it together! "I said I would, didn't I?" she said harshly. "Saturday morning. Be on the pitch at six." Pansy stalked off, leaving Hannah in the shadowy edges of the wood.

Pansy went into the Great Hall, and headed for the Slytherin table. I didn't even give her a chance to say yes. She seated herself between Draco and Daphne, shaking her head, trying to somehow shake the clinging heaviness, and then stood right back up. "The herbology project," she said aloud, starting to extricate herself from the bench. Draco yanked on her sleeve, unbalancing her, and she landed hard on the wooden bench.

"Leave it," said one of the boys, probably Teddy.

"I left Abbott to do it all in the library-" she said unthinkingly.

"Perfect, then," said Daphne, at her left.

"Right, yes, you're right." Pansy said, recovering, and smiled wickedly. "Guess she'll just have to finish it herself."

-----

Pansy sighed and shifted on her chair, rubbing her eyes and trying to get through her Transfiguration notes.

Across the room, Draco caught her eye and his face, she knew, mirrored her own. Draco jerked his head at the door, raising his eyebrows questioningly. Pansy dumped the scrolls in her lap onto the floor. Daphne looked at her questioningly. "Fuck it," she announced/muttered, sulking out of the common room, Draco close behind her.

Once they were a fair bit away from the Slytherin dorm, Draco rounded on her.

"What is going on?" he hissed, his aristocratic features pinched in annoyance—or maybe worry.

Pansy slouched against the wall. "I don't know what you mean," she said carefully, her face a blank mask.

"You can't play coy with me, Pansy, I've known you too long," he said softly.

"You know what's going on."

"Stop being so fucking overdramatic."

Pansy gave him a cold stare. "Overdramatic?"

Draco matched her stare. "You heard me. You're out of it, half the time like you're… daydreaming, the other half like it's already post-apocalypse."

Pansy finally had to glance away. Staring at the bleak stones at their feet, she said, "What's the point? I mean, really? Why bother? Tell me that, and I'll stop being… 'overdramatic.'"

Draco shrugged. "There's no answer to it. You know that."

They were silent for a long moment, and Pansy had time to reflect on… how different things had turned out. Her expectations had been candy-coated. Here she was, standing in a hallway with Draco Malfoy, who was supposed to be her fiancé but was in reality, her best friend. And that was it. It was supposed to be the other way around. What had happened?

"How do you deal with it?" she finally asked, raising her head to meet his eyes.

"I don't. I don't think about it. I just live from day to day. I play Quidditch, I do my work. I live."

"I can't do that," she said, simply.

Draco regarded her for a moment, and she wondered if he was having thoughts similar to the ones she had just had.

"I know. But stop acting so nihilistic in front of everyone. I'm not saying you can't be nihilistic, just don't—"

"Yes, yes. I am a Slytherin, remember?"

"Right. How could I forget." Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, and one other thing. Stop torturing the Puffles."

"I'll do whatever I damn please with her!" Pansy said, defenses up.

Draco blinked. "What the fuck?"

Pansy breathed out. "Damn it. Just got someone on my mind, I guess."

"The Abbott girl," he said with a knowing smirk.

"Don't go there, Draco," she said darkly.

He didn't.

TBC.

Review? I still live on them like the starving artist I am.