Author's Note- Thanks once again to everyone who has supported me over the last few years as I've told these stories about Harry & Pansy. Here's another installment; I hope you enjoy it!
December 9th, 1997 Hogwarts
Parvati was sitting in the haze of the Divination classroom at a little table opposite Lavender. They had crystal balls out that day and they were supposed to peer into them to find visions of something or other. Normally, she would have paid slightly more attention to Trelawney, but she'd had a late night finishing up an assignment for Transfiguration.
"Do you want to go first?" Lavender asked.
Parvati yawned and stretched her arms. "Alright, I guess."
"This is why I skipped that class," her best friend giggled. "McGonagall is tough to please. Charms is more fun anyway, and more useful."
"Yeah, yeah, let me focus," Parvati replied as she leaned over the table and noticed a smokey image began to take form. It darkened and she narrowed her eyes for a moment- then she saw it. An old man who fell off a horse and was now laying in a bed, looking quite unwell.
"I see something," she muttered as she kept on watching.
"What is it?" Lavender asked, but her voice seemed far away at the moment.
The old man looked more frail- he'd lost weight after the fall, and clearly he was suffering from something pretty serious. There was something about it that was just out of reach- she could have sworn she knew who this old man was, or she had some inkling of the fall happening... something. Why couldn't she remember?
Leaning in closer, Parvati saw that he had blue eyes and they were so very familiar. She knew those eyes. But how?
There was some sort of machine off to the side, and she recognized that he must have been in a muggle hospital. There was some tube running to him, and he looked like...
Like Death was coming for him. Soon.
"What do you see?"
Lavender's voice momentarily broke her focus and she looked up, slightly confused. But then she saw it in her best friends' eyes.
The old man's eyes.
"Lavender, didn't you tell me something about your grandfather being sick?"
"Yeah, on my muggle side of the family," she replied. "Why?"
"I think," she hesitated, not sure how she knew this or how to put it without upsetting her best friend. Glancing back at the crystal ball, she saw the old man's chest fall, and it did not rise again. The machine somehow knew, and there was a rush of action a moment later as a man and a woman rushed into the room.
"What is it?" Lavender asked again, looking quite worried.
"I'm sorry," Parvati answered as she scooted around to her friend and hugged her. "I think he's going to die soon."
"Oh." Lavender had a moment of shock and then started to tear up. "I guess I sort of knew that might be coming. I got a letter from mum the other day that said he wasn't doing well."
"Maybe you could talk to McGonagall," Parvati suggested. "She might let you go, if you want to try to see him before-"
"I've got a free period next," she interjected. "I'll slip out and apparate there."
"Okay," Parvati said. "If you don't make it back after lunch, I'll cover for you with Flitwick."
"Thanks."
Lavender got up and hurried over to the teacher. Parvati could see her whispering to Trelawney and then she hurried out of the room. She sighed to herself as she realized her best friend had forgotten her bag, but as she gathered Lavender's things she wondered to herself why she had been given that particular vision.
"That was a good thing you did, miss Patil." Trelawney had come over and patted her on the arm. "I am so pleased to see how strong your inner eye has grown, and perhaps this is a reward for your hard work."
"I just hope she gets there with enough time."
"Me too, my dear," the professor said.
The day rolled on, and Lavender missed lunch. Charms came and went, and Parvati spoke with Flitwick after it was over, explaining Lavender had a family emergency. Thankfully, he was understanding about it and told her to pass on the assignment for the day that would need to be made up.
Parvati was sitting in the common room that evening when Ron tapped on her shoulder.
"Hey, do you know where Lavender is? I haven't seen her since breakfast."
She sighed as she put her book aside and started to speak. "We were in Divination this morning and-"
Her best friend took that moment to rush in through the Fat Lady's portrait, hurrying right for Parvati. Before she could ask what was going on, she was pulled to her feet and into a hug.
"Thank you so much for the warning," Lavender began. "I went straight home and got my parents, then we all went to the hospital, and... I mean, we knew grandad wasn't doing well, but I guess I hadn't realized how bad it had been. He only woke up for a few minutes, and he couldn't manage more than a few words, but at least we got a chance to say goodbye. If you hadn't seen-"
She cut herself off and hugged Parvati even tighter.
Ron interjected, confused by what was going on. "What's this about your grandad?"
Lavender pulled back and switched targets for her next needy hug. Not that Parvati could blame her for the emotions at the moment.
"Parvati had a vision in class today about my grandfather dying," she said. "I left after the class and went home."
"I'm sorry," Ron said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I remember when my great grandmum died a few years ago, and we were pretty torn up about it."
"Thanks," Lavender answered as she leaned against his side. Then she shot Parvati a look. "You know that we'll have to talk more with Trelawney about this. I mean, you had a real vision- not just something vague, but definite and true. I guess it's no wonder you're first in the class, if your inner eye really is this strong."
"Maybe so."
Parvati didn't say anymore because she wasn't sure why she had seen those images today. It was unsettling more than anything. As Ron and Lavender wandered off to talk a few minutes later, Parvati sat down and stared into the flames going in the fireplace a few feet away.
Not just unsettling. It had been downright creepy.
Why her of all people?
She forgot to mention the Charms assignment for the next couple of days.
December 18th, 1997 New York City
They had been wandering through the city again that day in their coats, and Pansy was wearing a new light green scarf as well. The weather wasn't too bad really, as at least there wasn't any rain or snow. Harry had been the one to find interesting things for them to do that day, and she shouldn't have been too surprised that he wanted to see the enormous Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. He could be sentimental like that.
"We should learn how to ice skate," he said, breaking her out of her amused thoughts.
She looked at the crowd on the ice rink in front of the huge tree. "It looks pretty busy. And I don't think I want to fall on my arse, especially not in public."
"You know I'd kiss it better," he replied easily, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Besides, as graceful as you are on your feet, I think it would come naturally to you."
"There's a difference between dancing and wearing sharp chunks of metal on your feet," Pansy said.
"I've seen some of the high heels you wear," Harry countered with a chuckle. "I'm pretty sure you'd be fine balancing on something sharp and pointy. On the other hand, I'd probably need a bit of work to adjust."
She shook her head as she stopped to watch the crowd go by as Harry looked up again at the Christmas tree. "How big do you think that is?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'd guess sixty or seventy feet."
Pansy thought about it for a second and a memory came to her. She whispered in his ear, "I think that's about the same size as the basilisk."
Harry turned his head as far onto its side as he could and she giggled to herself. "Huh, I think you're right. I wonder what Dobby ever did with the corpse. He said something about rendering it down into parts, but..."
"I suppose we should check one of these days." She thought about it for a moment. "Preservation spells could keep everything fresh enough, I think. If we ever need money, we could look into selling some of it. We might want to be careful though. We wouldn't want to flood the market and drive down prices."
"Yeah, I guess."
"You don't really care that much, do you?" Pansy asked.
Harry shrugged. "We've got plenty of money still. It's not like we're living that extravagantly or spending a fortune."
"True." The suite they'd been renting hadn't been cheap exactly, something that triggered other thoughts she'd been having lately. "Maybe we should think about it though. We'll need to buy a house one of these days."
"In the city?" he asked.
She licked her lips and felt a brief shiver as the wind picked up. "I was thinking maybe somewhere else. Something more suburban. Close enough that we could still come into the city if we wanted."
Harry whispered to her. "You know that leaves us a lot of room, though. I can pop us here even if we lived-"
She cut him off and rolled her eyes. "I meant close enough that I could get here on my own. I don't want to rely on you for everything, you know."
"That still gives us a fair amount of space," he replied. "What? Two hundred miles or so?"
"I could deal with that," Pansy agreed. Learning apparition from Harry had taken some effort at first as the magic didn't come as naturally to her as it had for him, but once it did, she'd been pleased to see how well she could manage decently long distances.
"Okay," he said. "I guess we could start looking. We've got plenty of time before we're all nice and legal, so it would give us something to do."
"It would be something for me to start researching while you're off playing quidditch too," Pansy added.
"True."
"There should be a fireplace."
Harry furrowed his brows in confusion. "I like fireplaces alright, but why would it be necessary?"
Pansy giggled and leaned closer while he wrapped an arm around her. The wind was starting to pick up even more that afternoon. "Because we may have more magical friends that would want to use the floo, which the Americans also make great use of. To be expected really, with how huge this country is. Didn't you hear about how far apart the rest of your quidditch team lives? The Martins are from Ohio, and I checked, that's like five hundred miles away. And they're the closest ones."
"Huh," he muttered. Harry scratched his head for a moment and sighed. "I guess I'll have to look up ways to protect the connection."
"Don't want any fans to bother us?" she teased.
"I don't want anyone interrupting our awesome lives," he countered.
"You mean sex," Pansy giggled.
"Not just that," Harry said with a grin.
"Speaking of that," she began, "I got a letter back from Kathryn the other day telling me all about the Black family island where they had their honeymoon. She said they weren't planning on using it for the next month, so we're free and clear, but she also mentioned a few things about the property. I started planning with Dobby about supplies and clothes. We'll need to check the weather once we get closer to the time we go, but it's generally pretty pleasant there, even in January."
"It is a pretty brilliant idea."
"Yes, but we'll have to be gone before Valentine's Day," Pansy added. "Not that we were going to stay there for that long, but Sirius has an anniversary trip planned for the two of them."
"Sounds fine to me," Harry shrugged. "I'll have another match before then, and we may want to travel a bit more anyway. Is there anywhere in particular where you'd like to spend the holiday?"
"Hmm, something romantic," she thought it over for a moment. "We've been to a number of places in Europe, so why don't we try somewhere new?"
"In America, or somewhere else?"
"Maybe somewhere further south?" Pansy suggested. "Somewhere warm- that way I could dress up in something fun that you'll love."
"That's another brilliant idea of yours," Harry smiled. "It makes me glad that I married you."
"Of course you are," she laughed. "But I still don't think we should take up ice skating. I'm getting hungry anyway, so let's go."
"I could eat," he agreed. "Are you feeling adventurous? Because I really wanted to try some of those places we saw in Chinatown."
She exhaled grumpily. "Fine. But I want ice cream afterwards."
"Even in winter?"
"I thought you'd already learned not to stand between me and chocolate, Mr. Potter."
Harry loved the teasing, haughty expression on her face. He smiled as he replied, "I do indeed remember that lesson quite well, Mrs. Potter."
December 28th, 1997 Outside the Rookery
"Where are we going, Luna?" Pansy asked as they began trekking behind the blonde down a little hill. There wasn't any snow that day, but it was still a dreary overcast afternoon and there were plenty of muddy places due to recent rainfall.
"To the creek," she called back over her shoulder.
"Why?"
"Because I want to share something neat with the two of you," Luna answered.
Harry shrugged and helped Pansy along as they followed their best friend. She would have worn different shoes if she'd known they were dealing with some sort of adventure in the wilderness. "How far is it?"
"Not far," Luna giggled as she turned and winked briefly.
Pansy sighed and leaned against her husband. "We should have taken her to New York with us for the holidays instead of coming over here. At least then we could be indoors."
Harry chuckled and pushed a tree branch up out of the way as Luna finally came to a stop. "Looks like we're here."
"See, it wasn't that long of a trip," Luna teased as she pulled out her wand and swept the ground clean with a spell.
"Please don't tell me we're here so you and your dad can make another batch of Freshwater Plimpy soup," Harry joked. "I was willing to try it once, and that was more than enough for me."
"Agreed," Pansy said with a turned up nose.
Luna sat down by the stream bed and started to take off her shoes. "They wouldn't be out when it's this chilly anyway. I wanted to tell you a story."
"Okay," Harry sat beside her and patted the ground before looking up at his wife. "It's perfectly dry now."
Pansy sighed and joined them. Thankfully, she was at least wearing jeans that day rather than a skirt.
"When I was little, my mum brought me down here one Christmas Eve when dad was cooking," Luna began as she dipped her toes in the cold water. "He was making something with lots of onions and garlic in it, and my eyes had been watering, so she wanted to make me feel better.
"I think I was only about four at the time," Luna tapped at her lips for a second. "Maybe five, but I think it was when I was four. Anyway, I had thought playing in the stream was nice when it was warm out and mum had this beautiful laugh when she saw me start taking off my clothes to hop into the water. She stopped me and told me just to dip my toes in first to see how cold it was. Of course, she was right because it was far too cold to go swimming, but I still stubbornly started kicking my feet in the water. She cast a warming charm on me and then herself, and we sat down and kicked our feet in the water while she told me stories. It was really nice."
"That sounds lovely," Pansy said as she pulled out her wand from her purse and started casting the charm upon each of them while Harry was already removing his own shoes. "I would have liked to have met your mum."
"I would have liked that too," Luna agreed. "I'm sure she's happy that I've found such great friends."
"So, what types of stories should we tell?" Harry asked.
"We can just talk about what we've been doing lately," Luna suggested. "I haven't seen much of you for the last few months."
"I'm sorry about that, sweetie," Pansy replied. "I keep meaning to call you on the mirror at night, but then I remember that you'd be fast asleep by then."
"I understand. I've had a lot of work since I've started my NEWT years anyway," she said with a smile. "How is the whole 'international quidditch star' thing going?"
"I don't know that I'd call myself a star," Harry tried to deflect.
"The Daily Prophet had you on the cover from that match against Peru."
"Really?"
"Yep," Luna tried to stop herself from giggling. "There were editorial calls for an investigation into what had gone so wrong that you'd deserted us for the Americans, and more than a few suggestions about sending nubile young witches to rescue you and bring you back to Dear Old Blighty. I almost wish they had tried that, just to see what Pansy would do to them."
"The streets would have run red with blood," Pansy snickered.
"Nah," Harry countered with a grin. "I would've sent them away as fast as possible to try to keep Pansy from getting arrested for violently defending her territory. Getting arrested would be far too troublesome."
Luna continued. "There was also a call for the Wizengamot to stop delaying and to give you an Order of Merlin already."
"Why?" he asked.
Pansy sighed and shook her head. "Harry, you do remember that you killed Voldemort, right? The big, bad, scary Dark Lord that had most of the country petrified, you know?"
"Oh yeah," he shrugged.
"You should probably avoid Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade while you're here if you don't want to get mobbed," Luna suggested.
"That's part of why we left," Harry answered. "It was mostly for the honeymoon, but I also just wanted to be left alone."
"Don't worry, I won't tell the rest of the press that you came to visit," Luna teased. She kicked the water a little more as she laughed. "So, Pansy tells me you're headed off to a tropical island next month, but what are you doing for the New Year's celebrations?"
"I've actually got a big plan for that day," Pansy replied. "The Delacours are having another party, and we were invited, so we'll be in France first. Want to come with?"
"Would that be alright?" Luna asked.
"Yes, I already mentioned the possibility." She started to grin to herself. "Of course, we'll have to get you a proper cocktail dress."
"Ooh, something slinky?"
Harry chuckled. "Yes, and most importantly, you'll have to help keep me safe from Gabrielle."
"As if that's the only reason for you to have a beautiful woman on each arm," Pansy snickered. "You'll be the envy of most men there-"
"Especially if we confirm that you've had a threesome with us," Luna added.
Harry sighed and poked his wife in the side. "You're the one who would care about things like that, not me."
"Yes, and I want your reputation to make me look even better than I naturally do," she said with a smirk. "And don't worry, I will be wearing something nicely slinky that you'll love too."
"Well, in that case, I can hardly say no, now can I?"
"Exactly."
"That sounds like a nice time," Luna said.
"Yes, but that's just the first half." Pansy got her thoughts back on track. "Since we'll still be on New York time, Harry's going to take us back across the pond to celebrate in Times Square later that night."
"I'll probably be out cold by then," Luna frowned. "Otherwise, I'd offer to come with you, but I think pulling an all night shortly before I go back to Hogwarts wouldn't be the best course of action."
"We could bring you back home after the party in France," Harry offered.
"We could even tuck you in bed," Pansy added with a laugh.
"I'll take you up on that," Luna agreed.
Pansy looked down at the water and splashed a little to the side, trying to get Luna's ankles wet. "So, sweetie, I almost dread to ask, but how has this thing with Romilda Vane been going?"
"You could call it a relationship," Luna answered.
"Is it?"
She paused and stirred the water for a few moments. "It could be, if she wanted it to. But she's still hiding it from the rest of the school- which is fun in its own way, to be honest. However, I'm not sure if she wants to hide the bisexuality aspect of things, or just that she's spending so much time with me of all people. Before this year, she and I weren't exactly running in the same social circles."
"I still say you're too good for her," Pansy said with a grumpy tone.
Luna smiled softly. "You'd say that about pretty much anyone I dated though."
"There's nothing wrong with having properly high standards."
Luna chuckled and turned to Harry. "What do you think?"
"I just want you to be happy," he shrugged. "If she makes you happy, then that's good enough for me."
"But you still wouldn't want to hang out with her, would you?"
"It doesn't sound like she's doing enough to make you happy," Harry answered with a wry grin on his face. "Plus, I know how badly Pansy and Romilda interacting could combust."
"Dumb bitch shouldn't have gotten away with trying to dose you with a love potion," she grumbled.
"I am benefiting from that though," Luna muttered. "I doubt she would have ever approached me if not for all the rumors about how close I am to you two that have circulated throughout Hogwarts, especially after last summer. Therefore, I guess I should be thankful that everything has turned out the way it has."
"Just be careful, sweetie," Pansy sighed.
"I am," Luna replied. She leaned back and stretched out. "So, do you have plenty of sunscreen for the trip to the tropical island?"
Harry grinned and nodded. "Oh, yes."
Pansy snickered as well. "I think we might have to break down and use charms as well."
"You are very pale."
Xenophilius had left the kitchen for a moment and the two house elves were keeping an eye on things while also looking out the window.
"Your master and mistress have been good for Miss Luna," Winky said.
Dobby proudly puffed up his chest. "Of course, Dobby is lucky enough to have the best family."
Winky flicked him with a spoon and snorted. "Dobby should know that we all feel our families are the best, but Winky will allow it since they help look after my young miss."
"Luna is most precious to them as well," Dobby agreed. "Dobby thinks that she is almost part of his family too."
"Maybe someday," Winky fretted over the stove, adjusting the heat on the pot. "Maybe someday, we could all be part of one big family."
"Do you mean, like if Miss Luna and Mistress Pansy's children got married to each other?" Dobby asked, trying to think of how they could do such a thing.
"Why wait that long?" Winky asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Why not have miss Luna become a Potter, or have the Potters become Lovegoods?" Winky prodded.
"Dobby doesn't think it works like that."
"Well it should," Winky declared.
While a part of Dobby may have agreed with her, he also didn't want another house-elf butting into things that were Dobby's to handle. Dobby enjoyed taking care of his family, even though he now had less dangerous things to help Master Harry with doing. But one day he'd have little Potters to watch over, and he knew that if Winky were around she'd never let him have nearly as much fun with the babies.