Chaos of the Potter Family
Wanda: (singing) You left me here like a chalk outline, on the sidewalk waiting for the rain to wash away...!
Tyene: Still zoned out to Three Days Grace over there?
Wanda: When you're feeling like crap for no obvious reason, writing and music is a balm for the soul.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Chapter 8: Revelations
Harry stood on the bridge, looking out across the late evening sky. He wasn't technically supposed to be out here, even though he had moved out of the Gryffindor Tower and into the new home at Hogsmeade that Ayla and Lenore had gotten for him. But he wanted to be alone with his thoughts...and he knew that someone might be coming out to confront him.
The thought made him weary. He wished he had gotten a better sleep last night, but he had been so wrapped up in possibly being confronted by Dumbledore that his rest had been fitful. And for all he knew, one tactless move could push her further away rather than helping her face the darkness that had been broiling inside her since that night...
Thinking about it like that made the House Rings felt cold against his skin. The responsibility bearing down on him often felt crushing.
"Potter!"
Harry raised his head.
Yes, it was her. Pansy was running down the bridge towards him, the Quibbler in one hand. She wasn't classically pretty, but she had a soft charm to her that had been twisted whenever she was associated with Draco and his cronies. Her brown hair flew wildly around her face as she skidded to a halt in front of him, breathing heavily. She must have run all the way here from the dorm rooms.
"Can I help you?" He asked calmly, turning away from the view and facing her.
Pansy took a deep breath and frowned up at him. "You can talk to me about this." She shoved the paper in his face. Sure enough, it was the front page expose about Tom Riddle and his childhood ambitions of eventually becoming Lord Voldemort. Luna's father had done his homework on the family, and it was showing. The Riddles were a family without magic, and probably would have stayed that way if Merope Gaunt, the last witch of the line before it officially went dead, hadn't become attracted to one Thomas Riddle Senior.
That's where the Gaunt ring came from, Harry had noted silently. It was Riddle's ancestry on his mother's side.
"What is this?" Pansy demanded.
Calmly Harry pushed the page down enough so he could look her in the eye. "Well, to be honest I'm surprised you're reading it. I thought most Slytherins assumed the Quibbler was the ramblings of a lunatic."
"Even a lunatic wouldn't print something like this after Voldemort returned from the dead," Pansy said fiercely; Harry was surprised by her easy use of his name. Even Draco avoided using it, calling him 'the Dark Lord'. "You're the only one who would know about it."
"Why me?"
"Because you're you!" Pansy snapped, nearly shouting. "Of course you know. You always know. You're probably the one who gave Lovegood this information."
"Alright. You got me." Harry took a step back and looked seriously at her. "I discovered this secret in my second year. Remember when the basilisk was attacking people? Riddle was controlling it with an artifact that contained, at the least, some of his memories from his teenage years. He tried to lure me in by using his name, and revealed the connection to me when I was in the chamber, trying to stop his plan."
Pansy stared at him. "You're surprised?" Harry guessed. "Well, that's understandable. He built himself up as the pure blood great? But in the end, he was a self hating man who wanted to destroy all muggles so he could forget his own muggle heritage."
"That's insane." Pansy said.
"You're expecting much logic from someone who calls himself 'Flight from Death'? Or has no nose?" Harry deadpanned. "I'm surprised you're not denying it."
Pansy snorted. "Don't lump me in with Draco. I'm not some thrice damned idiot. You never lie; I've seen that much for myself."
Harry couldn't help but chuckle slightly, raising his left hand. "That's funny. Umbridge didn't think so, and you were in her squad weren't you?"
"It was expected of me," Pansy snapped, feeling uncomfortable and taken off guard. She could see scars on Harry's hand saying, I must not tell lies. "Lucius and my father were in talks about us marrying. Where Draco went, I went."
"Didn't your father ask you what you wanted?"
"Stop redirecting this conversation! Tracey is your new fiance, why send her to talk to me?"
"I didn't send her," Harry said firmly. "She went to talk to you because she misses you, and the friendship you shared when you were little."
Pansy took a small step back. She definitely felt wrong footed. And Harry noticed this; she could tell because his expression shifted slightly. "Pansy, if you think Draco's an idiot, why stay with him?"
"Because he's my future." Pansy muttered tonelessly, repeating what her father had been saying to her for weeks since the engagement was put down to paper.
"That doesn't sound like much of a future."
"Why are you suddenly acting like you care about me?" Pansy fired back. "We've been enemies!"
"I haven't been an enemy, I haven't known you." Harry responded, just as sharply. "Sure, all I saw at first was a friend of Draco and a coldhearted purist, but ever since I saw you in the graveyard I've discovered that was a mask."
Pansy stared silently at him, not wanting to give him any satisfaction with how unnerved he was making her. "So let me ask you something, Pansy," the green eyed boy said. "Why hate muggleborns and half bloods?"
Pansy gritted her teeth. "Why should I tell you?"
"You don't have to. I'm only asking. But I saw grief and anger in you at the graveyard, and I'm wondering where it came from."
"They proved to me they couldn't be trusted," Pansy bit out. "My aunt was everything to me, then she tried to run away with a half blood. She honestly thought he loved her, but he just wanted money and power. So he used her to try and get it. And when father caught him, he...!" She squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to let tears out. "He murdered her!"
"Did he?"
Pansy's head snapped up. Harry was looking at her seriously – no contempt, no cruel amusement or anything like that – in fact, he looked sort of concerned, and...
He was sad for her? Those dark, emerald green eyes were absolutely, quietly sad.
Pansy felt her stomach sinking. She'd seen that look before. That was the look of someone who knew something, and was debating whether or not it was a good idea to tell you.
"Are you sure?" Harry repeated. "Who told you? Your father, who like Lucius was a Death Eater in service to a false pure blood lord who was actually a half blood himself? His father, who hated muggleborns enough that he murdered at least three for the crime of crossing his path at Diagon Alley?"
"What...What are you saying!"
"Alys Davis told me about your aunt." Harry said. "You remember her? She was friends with your aunt, Aileen. She knew what really happened to her."
"I...!"
"Pansy, that half blood man – Travis Ansel – he wasn't a gold digger or an opportunist. He loved your aunt as much as she loved him. He wasn't the one who killed her."
"What?!"
"Your aunt was the victim of an honour killing. Perpetrated by her own family. By her brother and her father."
"NO!"
Pansy stumbled a few steps back as though struck. The mental effect had been essentially the same. Denial raced through her, but Harry's eyes never changed. They were horribly gentle and sad. "My father said the spell was on his wand!"
"Which one? A bone breaking curse, to possibly throw off the opponent and hopefully escape? Or Avada Kedavera, the instant kill curse that would have been wiser and more effective to use?"
"I...!"
"Did anyone check Travis's wand? Did your father or grandfather offer their memories of the incident to prove the cause of Aileen's death? Or did everyone just take them at their word, as respected members of society?"
"I...I...!"
"Did people distrust Travis? Did they think he was trouble? Or was he known to be a friendly and amiable young man who rarely had a cross word to say about others?"
Harry kept looking into her eyes. Slight guilt flooded through his eyes as Pansy seemed to collapse more and more on herself the more he spoke. "Pansy, think about your father. Would he have given his blessing to such a marriage, if it was genuinely what Aileen wanted? Or would he have been enraged at the very idea?"
"NO!" Pansy screamed, collapsing on the ground and burying her face in her hands. "Stop! Stop, please..." Her voice broke down into helpless sobs.
She wanted to deny it, but Harry was making too much sense. It made her think of how Owen insisted that Aileen 'hadn't thought of herself as part of the family', how he always got angry when she was mentioned. How Aileen had argued with him and their father frequently. How she'd always been different from the family.
When she was a child, she had asked her father in a fit of rage if he'd even cared that Aileen was dead. Instead of saying that he did – which you would expect – he had just told her to calm down.
"Auntie...no..."
Pansy was trembling violently, her hands going cold as she wept into them. She could hardly breathe. No matter what she tried to tell herself, she could never escape what she had known all along.
There was a soft crunch of dirt. Pansy blinked through the blurry curtain of her tears to see Harry kneeling in front of her, those green eyes sad and regretful.
"Don't touch me," she choked out. Harry obediently lowered his hand, but he didn't leave her, just sitting and waiting while she wept and leaned against the stone wall. He didn't say anything – he didn't judge, he didn't say anything stupid like all those people from her funeral. He just knelt there with her, empathy and understanding mixed into those deep green eyes. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Pansy remembered that he had dealt with loss too; his godfather, who had been his only real parent.
"How c-could he...?" Pansy whispered.
"I don't know, Pansy." Harry said quietly. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've hurt you. I thought you deserved to know the truth."
Pansy hiccuped and coughed, shaking her head. Cautiously Harry reached out and gently brushed her hair away from her eyes. Her eyes were deep, dark blue pits of grief. When she didn't snap at him or push him away, he took her hand in his and silently offered her his support. Pansy sobbed slightly, before willingly leaning against him, seeking comfort.
Harry gently slid his arms around her back, and she pressed her head against his chest.
Harry held the crying girl in his arms, watching the sun go down. It's a good thing I brought the Map, he thought distantly as he gently rubbed circles on her back. He wasn't sure how long they stayed there; the sun had fallen lower and the moon was rising, the winds growing cooler. Slowly Pansy's sobs let up somewhat, and her shivers died away.
"Hey. How are you?" He asked softly.
"I...I'll be okay."
"Are you sure? These things don't go away at once."
"I...am an heiress. I can control myself."
Harry was about to protest that she shouldn't think of herself like that, but stopped himself. It was clear that Pansy leaned on this thought process to manage her emotions; he couldn't berate her for that. He pulled back at bit and looked down at Pansy. She looked fragile and beautiful all at once; seeing her without her mask drove that home for him. He wondered if Draco would treat her well, should they marry.
Somehow, he doubted it.
Pansy slowly stood up, taking some calming breaths. Harry got up as well, watching her in concern. The dark haired Slytherin seemed to think for several seconds, a calmness passing across her face.
"Harry?"
"Yes?" He started slightly, she had just used his first name.
"Those rings...you've claimed Houses, haven't you?"
"Yes."
"...You defeated Riddle twice? Then...you've won Right of Conquest against him?"
"Yes. You've caught on quickly." Harry noted. Pansy turned her head towards him again, her eyes startlingly clear despite the tears still in her eyes.
"...Can you show me the Slytherin Ring? ...Unless you've promised it to someone?"
Harry shook his head. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the pair of emerald rings. "I haven't promised it to anyone yet. I actually didn't know I'd won it until last summer."
Pansy almost smiled. "I believe that." She said. She glanced over at him, and then out the window. "We should probably get back inside."
"Yeah," Harry said, putting the rings away. Together, they walked back to the school.
**~A Few Days Later~**
Pansy had spent the few days in the library, looking up varying sorts of things. Harry hadn't spoken to her since then, though not by ignoring her or anything. She had just spent the days looking distracted, focused on something other than schoolwork.
On the fourth day, a Saturday, things changed a bit.
It was pouring rain that afternoon, so you could imagine Harry's surprise when there was a sharp knock on the front door. Walking over, he opened it and found himself face to face with a soaked and determined looking Pansy.
"Can I talk to you?" She asked.
Harry could only nod silently, and welcomed her into the house. Pansy wasn't dressed in her school robes, she was wearing a blue lacy top and a white skirt that vaguely reminded Harry of a Pride and Prejudice adaptation he had seen through the grate at the Dursleys once. She pushed her hair away from her eyes and sat down at the front table, waiting for him to come to her.
"Harry, how much do you know about family magics?"
Harry couldn't help but chuckle, which earned him a confused look from Pansy. "Sorry. I've just been getting those questions for two months now, and I swear every time all I've been able to do is shrug or say, 'a bit'."
Pansy cracked a slight smile in response, which he took as a win. "Well, you know how every wizard and witch is born with their magic?" He nodded. "With old families, that have developed their own brands of magic and traits specific to them, those are transferred down to the next Heir. Does that make sense?"
"Sort of." Harry said. "So, that refers to heredity traits like Parceltounge?"
"Yes. It also refers to rituals that augment the Heir's strength." Pansy said. "The power flow is tied to the family magic, which is determined by who the Heir spells recognize as the next in line to the family."
Harry's eyebrows shot up. "Are you saying-?"
"Riddle certainly wasn't born the Heir of Slytherin." Pansy said, folding her hands on the table. "He would have accepted it through ritual and his connection to them through the Gaunt family. He wouldn't have been able to do that until he reached his majority...which, as I understand, was when he left Hogwarts and 'sought out dark magic', as our imbecile of a Headmaster put it."
"So he claimed dormant magic from House Slytherin?" Harry guessed.
"Magic is deeply connected to family." Pansy said softly. "That's the reason there are muggleborns, or squibs. It's connected to the family. For ancient Houses like Slytherin, where the main line has gone dormant, the magic seals itself away, to be claimed by the next closest."
"What are you getting at, Pansy?"
"You claimed the House of Slytherin away from Riddle." Pansy said. "He lost the lordship, but since there still wasn't an Heir from the new lord, he continues to be able to use those magics, such as Parceltounge." She smiled slightly. "But if there was a new Heir to that house, those magics would abandon him and embrace the new heir."
Harry's eyes widened. "Holy hell. Is that really possible?"
Pansy's crooked smile intensified. "Yes. Trust me; no one knows more about inherited magics than a pure blood heiress who's intended to be a Malfoy bride."
She reached out and placed one pale hand on top of his. "So I had an idea. I...I want to get some justice for Aileen...for my aunt. Now that I know the truth, that justice is going to be taking down the world that made her murder possible. So...this is my plan. Elope with me – if not this weekend, then next weekend – and as Lady Slytherin, I'll give you an Heir to that House."
She smiled. "And Riddle will loose some of his great power."
"That's..." Harry couldn't deny the thought made him excited. He wasn't strong enough to face Voldemort and the moment, but if the man was weakened, he'd be able to face him!
It was only when he thought about it for a second that the obvious corollary hit him. "But wouldn't that mean-?"
Pansy nodded. "I can safely carry a child, Harry." She said. "If there's a safe house for me to stay – some nice place, under a Fieldus Charm – get me pregnant, hide me, and the power of Slytherin, magic, votes and everything – is lost to your biggest enemy."
"But Pansy...do you want to be a mother so young?"
Pansy's eyes flickered. "Do you know what I've always wanted, in a small corner of my heart that I tried to suppress?" When Harry shook his head, she responded, "I wanted to be loved. If you would love this child, and love me, than I'll do it with happiness as well as a fire for justice."
Harry let out a small breath. "Don't worry about the other wives. I know you must have some." Pansy said, eyeing his ring hand. "If you love me at all – not even with all your heart, but part of it – that's more than Draco would ever give me. I'll be content."
"I...if you really want, than..." Harry blushed. "Pansy, I've never, ever slept with a girl before. I don't know..."
Pansy actually giggled a bit, and good lord, it changed her face and eyes so much. "Neither have I, Harry."
Hesitantly, Harry pulled out the Slytherin rings and placed them on the table. "You're sure about this...?"
"Can you love me? Can you get me, and my auntie, justice?"
Green eyes met dark blue. Emotions were shared and understood, without a single word having to be spoken. "...Yeah. I can do that."
"Then yes. I am."
Harry then put on his version and gently slipped the Slytherin ring onto Pansy's. She smiled, and started tugging him towards the stairwell. "H-Hey. Right now?"
Pansy was still smiling. It made his heart warm. "Didn't you know, Harry? Love is in the rain."
End Chapter
I can't wait to get to Tommy's reaction to that tidbit of information. Specifically, when it happens in the middle of one of his rallies. (snickers). One bride left, and Harry will be prepared to make his epic move against this barbaric world.
Read and Review please!