A/N: Look at that. A second update in less than a week. Do I love you or what. Okay, I'm just trying to make up for how bad I was the last time around. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 18 – Rude Awakenings

Holding her delicate face gently in his hands, Percy smoothed his thumbs over Pansy's flushed cheeks and looked down in awe of the beautiful witch gazing back up at him with such open adoration. He leaned down and claimed yet another kiss from her, trying to get his fill before he had to head off to work. At the feel of his full lips pressed against hers, Pansy clung tighter to him as if holding on to a lifeline.

The past two weeks had been something out of a dream. As much as both had tried to control or even slow the runaway train that was their budding romance, neither could resist the addictive draw of the other. Either Percy would go to her after work and spend the evening having supper and chatting away the hours in front of the warm hearth in the drawing room. Or Pansy would spend the night at his flat only to have him escort her home in the morning before making his way to the Ministry. Such was the case on that particular morning. Reluctantly, Percy pulled away and glanced up at her towering home before heaving a large sigh. It was time to be off.

"Will you be coming by after work?" Pansy pressed, unable to conceal her vexation with his eminent departure.

He glanced back down to her and smiled at her obvious attempt to draw a promise out of him. "Yes, but I have a major project wrapping up today so I may be a little late."

Pulling her hands around his slim torso to press her palms against his chest, Pansy lowered her eyes and gave his robes her undivided attention. "You won't be too long though, will you?"

Dropping his hands to the small of her back, a full laugh bubbled out of Percy as he looked up to the heavens before returning his loving gaze back to her. "I'll come as soon as I can."

"See that you do." Pansy pouted, fiddling with the buttons on his waistcoat.

"I wouldn't dare be any later." He teased softly.

She peered up at him through her thick lashes, her bottom lip protruding slightly, and she shoved his chest gently. "Prat!"

"I'll be by around seven." He offered in a bid to cajole her.

"Half past six?" she countered.

"A quarter to seven." He volleyed back.

"Done."

Percy pulled out of her arms, placed his hands lightly on her waist, and gave her another mind numbing kiss. Pressing his forehead against hers, he murmured. "I'll see you soon."

Pansy took a step back, and with frustration cutting a clear path across her brow, swatted his arm. "Get out of here before I have a good mind to kidnap you and tie you up."

"Sounds like fun. Maybe tonight?" he chuckled as he started on his way.

"Git!" she called after him, a subtle kind of yearning lacing its way through the word.

Once he'd disappeared, Pansy allowed the breath she'd been holding to stream out of her in a long and wistful flow. She turned lethargically toward the stairs and made her way up and into her vast front hall.

No sooner had she removed her cloak than a meek voice called to her. "Is that you Mistress?"

"Yes Archibald, it's me." She sighed listlessly.

An elderly house elf appeared at her side in a flash to help her with her things. As the old servant scurried about her, Pansy slowly made her way to the dining hall.

"How is Mistress this morning?" he asked like an avid dog.

"Fine Archibald, thank you," was all she supplied as she sat herself down at the head of the long table.

"Mistress has had an owl from Master."

Pansy snapped out of her daze, and stared at the wizened old house elf. "I beg your pardon."

"An owl arrived last night from your father, Mistress." He repeated nervously.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place? Hand it over, you silly old twit."

Trembling, the elf snapped his fingers and the letter appeared in his hand. None too gently, Pansy ripped the parchment from the poor, frightened house elf's hand, and growled. "I would like to read this communication in private. Leave me!"

Once the servant was gone, Pansy stood and moved to the large fireplace, clawing frantically at the seal and tearing open the parchment impatiently. As she quickly read through the contents, her knees weakened and gave way. Unaware that she had collapsed to the ground, Pansy read and reread the letter from her father in disbelief as unfettered tears welled in her eyes.

Why was he coming back now? It was too soon. How could this be happening?

Who was she trying to fool? She and Percy had been so obvious and public at the beginning, how could this not have happened? Pansy felt herself choking from the squeezing pain in her chest and throat. She swiped roughly at her eyes to clear away the pools of tears clouding her vision, and read the letter again.

My dearest Petal,

As lucrative as this latest business venture has been, I've missed my little flower dearly. Therefore, I shall be returning home not this coming Saturday, but Saturday next. Please have the estate ready for my arrival.

On a more serious note, I have much to discuss with you regarding our arrangement with the Malfoys. I have received a rather unsettling and alarming report that I feel needs to be addressed. It has made me exceedingly upset. Please prepare yourself accordingly.

With much love,

Father

There was nothing more to it. She had no other choice in the matter. She had to act and fast.

----------

Several hours later as Percy casually strolled down the oak tree lined street, he stared up at the first few stars making an appearance in the early evening sky. It had been an especially rough day at work trying to stay focused on his mounting paperwork when all he really wanted to do was entertain images of a beautiful, dark beauty wrapped luxuriously in his arms… his beautiful, dark beauty to be specific.

He couldn't even begin to quantify how happy he was. She was absolute perfection in every possible way. Not only did she fill his old self's checklist for being the ideal companion – she was rich, socially well placed, and powerful... Percy stopped himself there and scoffed lightly. Those trifling attributes had definitely lost their meaning. Yes, she was all of those things, but they were not what had him falling all over himself for her. She was intelligent, and cunning, and affectionate, and gorgeous, and sexy, and naughty…

The last two defining words brought him hurtling into their last encounter. Percy felt his heart rate skyrocket and his whole body begin to tingle at the memory.

----------

He had just arrived home to find Pansy sprawled on his bed in her old, slightly too small Hogwarts uniform. It hugged her in all the right places and her short skirt showed just the right amount of leg for his overactive imagination.

For the longest time, he simply stared at her, utterly gobsmacked. He couldn't do anything else. A smile that could only be described as emulating 'the cat that got the cream' had slowly spread its way over Pansy's delicious lips. Moving to her hands and knees, she crawled toward him to the edge of the bed, and then erected herself onto her knees.

"I've been a very bad girl." She purred, before biting playfully on the tip of her index finger. "The headmistress has sent me to you to be punished. I know you're a strict Head Boy, Mr. Weasley, but I beg you not to be too harsh with me."

At risk of drowning in his own saliva, Percy had to swallow back hard.

"Pansy…" His voice cracked and shot up nearly an octave. He cleared his throat roughly and then tried again. "Ms. Parkinson, what exactly are your transgressions? Please describe them to me… in exact detail, if you would."

Her grin growing impossibly wider, she seductively stepped off the bed and moved in dangerously close.

"Well, I…"

----------

Suddenly, Percy was knocked to the ground, wrenching him out of his erotic daydream. He glanced about to find himself seated at the base of a lamppost. It seemed, in his distraction, he'd walked clear into it. Percy scrambled awkwardly to his feet and brushed himself off, trying to erase the evidence of his absentmindedness. As he started back on his way, he drove his hands into his pockets, and felt with his right hand the knickers Pansy had forgotten at his place the night before.

Of its own volition, his mind began to wander back to that dangerous territory again and Percy had to give his head a rough shake. This just wouldn't do. He was going to get himself killed or seriously injured if he didn't make it to her house soon. He rounded the corner and started down the last stretch. He would have apparated but he knew his head wasn't altogether with it, and he wasn't too keen on leaving any pieces of himself behind at the Ministry.

Coming to a stand finally at the base of her front entrance, he glanced down at his cloak and gave a few quick tugs at his Ministry robes to straighten his appearance. He always felt like a nervous schoolboy when he was about to see her. He tripped quickly up the front steps, and made his way into the front hall without knocking. Instantly, he was met by the overzealous Archibald to take his cloak.

"Good evening, Mr. Weasley. Mistress is in the drawing room." The house elf offered quietly without looking directly at him.

"Thank you, Archibald." Percy quipped lightly, failing to notice the servants unusually withdrawn behaviour.

As he pulled at his cuffs and straightened his jacket, Percy stepped through the door being held open for him only to stumble slightly at the sight before him. There sat his Pansy having a drink with… with Draco Malfoy of all people.

"Pansy?" he asked weakly, getting a dark notion that something was terribly wrong.

"Mr. Weasley," Draco greeted without his characteristic sneer, "so glad you could join us. You're just in time to celebrate our engagement. Isn't that right, Pansy love?"

Had Percy looked closer, he would have easily seen just how taciturn and sullen the two people opposite him actually were. Pansy was a ghostly white save for her bloodshot eyes, and Draco looked very near to breaking apart. As it was, the frantic pounding of his heart and the spinning in his head had Percy thoroughly turned in on himself.

Swallowing back his confusion and mortification, Percy muttered darkly. "Congratulations. You make a beautiful couple."

"Oh, why thank you, Mr. Weasley. I understand you two had a bit of a thing as of late. Sorry to steal her away from you like this." Draco smirked half heartedly, needing to find some pleasure in what felt to him like an unavoidable death sentence. Although his words were cruel, there was no force or intent behind them – only a broken man fighting desperately to keep himself together.

Having forced his hands into his pockets to keep from strangling the man across the way, Percy fiddled with the knickers in his pocket and looked down, his mind and heart warring on whether he should really be that cruel. He took one more look at Pansy, wordlessly begging her to deny these claims, only to find her face turned firmly away from him and her chin stuck pompously in the air. He neglected to note the shimmer of wetness dancing on her lashes.

Unable to control the vengeful rage her snub had caused him, Percy pulled the panties from his trousers pocket, snapped his eyes back to the smug berk, and drawled. "Absolutely no worries, Mr. Malfoy. I had my fun with her but she's all yours now. Speaking of which, I believe these belong to you."

Taking two quick steps forward, Percy deposited the knickers into Draco's slightly outstretched hand, moved back, and watched as Malfoy's face contorted from confusion, to recognition, and then finally landed firmly on volatile loathing.

Percy looked to Pansy, and cringed inwardly at the raw expression on her face. It was only then that he truly saw the searing hurt in her wide, dark, watery eyes.

"You… You disgusting excuse for a…" Draco gritted out, disturbing their silent communication.

Percy sniffed sharply as he pulled his focus away from her, and drove his hands back into his pockets. "Well, I believe I've overstayed my welcome. Good day, and congratulations again."

He spun around quickly, and exited the room as swiftly as his legs would carry him.

Draco looked to Pansy, who was still watching after their recently departed visitor. "Panse?"

With that, Pansy flew from the room in pursuit. Her emotions storming violently inside of her, she had no idea whether she was going to hex the bastard senseless, or beg him to forgive her.

----------

"Percy!" she called to him as he took her front steps quickly.

The sound of her voice caught and held him in place but he did not turn around.

"That was quite the little show you put on in there." She seethed.

"I learned from the best." He muttered darkly. "Now, it is quite clear that you are through with me, Ms. Parkinson. I believe I shall…" he managed, his voice trembling dangerously as he began to walk away.

Pansy knew she had to stop with the nastiness. It just came so naturally. He was trying to escape her, and there was a very good chance she'd never see him again if she let that happen.

"Please Percy, you have to let me explain."

"Explain?" he spun around quickly and his piercing gaze tore into her. "What's there to explain? After two weeks of fucking me, you're suddenly engaged to the ferret!"

"Percy." She gasped, deeply mortified by his crude language.

"Oh, don't act so shocked." He lobbed back at her before he started to pace the sidewalk, spearing his right hand angrily through his mess of ginger curls. "I should have seen this coming. I should have known you were just using me. How could I let this happen? How could I have ever thought that you had the capacity to love anyone other than yourself?"

"You don't understand. I… we had no choice in the matter. My father's coming back." Pansy panted, her words stopping his agitated wandering.

"Excuse me?"

"I received an owl from him today… This morning actually… He'll be back in two weeks."

Percy stared at her utterly bewildered. "And?"

"And he mentioned my arrangement with Draco. Said we needed to discuss some disturbing news he'd received."

"What are you on about, Pansy?" Percy snapped at her.

"I… I think he knows about us." She offered hesitantly.

Percy's chin dropped slightly and he stared off at nothing as his mind put the pieces together.

"So…" he finally began after several long, drawn out seconds of silence. "So what your saying is that instead of being honest with your father, you bound yourself to Malfoy. Is that correct?"

"Y..yes… I suppose you could put it that way." Pansy answered almost inaudibly.

Motionless, he stared at her, his mouth gaping open slightly. Gathering his wits, he shook his head and bite out bitterly. "I mean that little to you?"

"Percy, it's not like that."

"Then how is it, Pansy?"

"You don't know what my father is like."

"No, I don't. Please enlighten me."

"He'd be livid. He'd disown me. Throw me out for consorting with…"

"With? With what?" he cut her off brutally. "The likes of me? A blood traitor! Is that it?"

Pansy couldn't even bring herself to refute his accusation. It wasn't so much that Percy's family was known in the Wizarding world as blood traitors. That held very little significance to her father. The truth of the matter was that it was his relative poverty and lack of social standing that her father would abhor so deeply.

"So you chose an outdated, archaic mindset over me." He spat viciously when she failed to deny his assertion. And yet, still she said nothing, which drove Percy to the edge of reason.

"Or is it you and your father's obsession with appearances and wealth." He spat. "I embarrass you, is that it?"

"No. No, you have it all wrong, Percy." She pleaded through the emotion choking her.

"I need… I need to get out of here." Percy turned quickly and began to flee, but her voice stayed his progress.

"Wait! Please! No!" she begged, not even trying to hide her desperation. "There… there is still the matter of our contract. Of your compensation." She was grasping at straws now – anything to keep him from leaving.

Percy scoffed loudly, and shaking his head stared up into the quickly darkening sky. He could feel the tears fighting viciously to free themselves, and he no longer possessed the strength nor the will to stop them.

"I do not believe the original terms of our agreement are sufficient." Pansy continued when she realized she still had his attention. "Obviously, I have undervalued you. Perhaps you could submit a proposal to me of your own outlining what you feel you are worth. And then… And then I would be able to properly assess my options."

He turned his head slightly to the side as if trying to ascertain her meaning but did not move to face her. What was she trying to tell him with that convoluted offer? That she wanted him to propose? That she was willing to give up everything for him? Or did she have something else in mind? If so, what exactly? After a moment, he gave his head a little shake and let his face drop.

"Ms. Parkinson, if you are still so uncertain of what I mean to…" He stopped himself from finishing the sentence, forced down the growing lump in his throat, and swiped his hand down his face to clear away the wetness. "If you are so loath to assess my value yourself, then perhaps I should conclude that you consider the services I provided you as worthless."

Pansy felt a screaming panic rush into her chest. "Percy, that's not what I meant." She implored. "I'll… I'll give you anything…"

"What I want is no longer yours to give, Pansy."

"Percy, please don't." She sobbed.

"As per your request from the onset of our association," he shakily continued, trying to ignore the anguish in her voice. "I will prepare a detailed list of my expenditures. I'd like to get this resolved as quickly as possible, so that we may both get on with our lives. I promise to owl you an invoice within the next few days, and you can remit payment to me in the same fashion."

"No." She barked angrily, infuriated by his callous, business like tone and driven to one up his cruelty. "I think not. Draco and I will be having an engagement party this coming Saturday. You can stop by then with your precious invoice and I will have your money ready."

His shoulders tensed visibly at her sudden but not unwarranted hostility. "And if I do not wish to attend?" he whispered hoarsely.

Livid that he was pushing her away so easily, she snapped at him. "You will come if you want to get paid."

A sharp silence cut through as it became painfully clear there was only one thing left to say.

Dreading the answer but needing to know, Pansy finally asked in a soft, trembling voice. "So, is this the resolution of our… understanding?"

"Yes." He responded with a quiet, deadly calm.

Pansy could feel herself being lost to the swell of heartache encompassing her. In a final bid to get him to turn around and face her… to see how terribly sorry she was… to feel his skin slide over hers just one more time even if it was only to hold his hand, she pleaded. "Then can we at least shake hands on its success?"

After only a moment's hesitation, Percy responded tightly. "Ms. Parkinson, after today, I do not wish to ever touch you again."

Without warning, he took three long strides away and then disapparated from view. Pansy stood paralyzed, completely stunned by his chilling words. After several long minutes, she found the will to turn back and enter the house. Closing the large front door softly behind her, she fell back against it and clenched her eyes shut to stop the onslaught of heavy tears. Her efforts were in vane though as the unwanted flow streamed down her face, cutting hot wet paths across her cheeks. She slid down the door in a crumpled heap and hugged herself tightly, having lost the will to stand.

"Pansy?" Came Draco's voice from the sitting room. "Is that you?"

In that moment, she couldn't have responded to him even if she'd wanted to. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew he'd probably be barking mad about the knickers but she really couldn't have cared less. She had made such a mess of things. Lost the only man she'd ever truly loved. Her wracking sobs had become so violent that her chest was heaving uncontrollably and she was well on her way to hyperventilating. Suddenly, a shadow cut a swath across her, and she looked up at the figure looming over her.

A/N: Now believe it or not, I have the next chapter almost half done. So the wait shouldn't be too bad.

Amy: Thank you. They really are well suited to each other.

Angel Rayne: I couldn't agree more. There is definitely a terrible lack of Percy/Pansy out there. And as bad as things will seem to get, keep in mind that I am a sucker for a happy ending... lol.

Over the Moon: As I just stated above, things will get very rough for our two lovers but I am indeed a sucker for a happily ever after.

ginger28: You're so cruel. It'll be a kicking and screaming monster very soon... lol.

IHeartMCR: Jerk face! That's just plain mean. lol. You know they're gonna be happy in the end. I just can't make it that easy on them.

autumnlover: Thank you so much. It's going to get a little rougher though, I'll admit.

kalira: The wait wasn't so bad this time I hope. But this chapter and the few to come are going to be terribly angsty I'm afraid. And I wish I had someone to bake with too. My husband refuses to waste the cookie dough. He'd miss out on too many cookies apparently.

stoneofpurity: Cookies in the post are awesome. Now milk in the post... um... I'll take a rain check on that glass... lol.

Avanell: I have such good timing... lol