Edited by the mighty pazed!
Once again I own nothing! Just playing with someone else's toys!
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Chapter 65
Pansy drummed her fingers on the table as she watched Harry, flanked on either side by team members of the people he had been helping during the week. 'This is taking longer than I expected,' she thought.
'It has been just my luck,' she thought. 'If I had just known what I do now I would have been with them last week instead of wasting my time with sightseeing!' she grumbled internally. 'To think that not only is he already an apprentice, but his little obsession, racing, can easily outstrip all of the gold old families were capable of generating in the course of a single year!'
'The scope of many of these people's wealth would make the Malfoy's fortune pale in comparison!' she continued, thinking to herself, glancing to her right for the briefest of moments to acknowledge the dark haired woman that had sat down at the table next to her.
"Have you decided how you are going to cook that hunk of meat you are looking at so intently?" she asked with a small smile as she observed the younger woman.
Tugged away from her thought, Pansy moved her gaze back to the woman, her brain wrestling with the statement, trying to make sense of it. Failing she gave her a confused look.
The woman held out her open hand. "Ginger Grayson." Pansy shook her hand automatically. "I saw you looking at Harry," she gestured to the boy in question. "Martin, the one in the hat he's talking to, he belongs to me."
The look of confusion never left the girl. "Hnnn-, excuse me? I'm afraid I don't understand…"
The woman's eyes brightened. "Oh! My! You're British! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you!" she said. "Are you visiting Fairgove as well?"
Pansy nodded slowly, wondering how this person knew anyone was visiting. "Till the middle of the week. My name is Pansy… Pansy Parkinson…"
She nodded. "Ohhh, that's nice! I do hope you are enjoying yourself?"
The girl smiled. "It has been educational… Things are much different here than I first believed."
The older woman chuckled. "I would expect so! Anyway, welcome, and I hope you continue to enjoy your visit."
Pansy nodded again. "Thank you."
The woman's eyes glittered as a smile spread across her lips. "I see you have set your sights on young Harry," she said in a conspiratorial tone of voice. "It seems he has become quite popular as of late."
"Really?" she asked, her head swiveling toward him once more.
Ginger's smile widened. 'Oh this is too good!' she thought. 'I believe I may just stir the pot a bit.'
"I'd say so! Last week he was dancing with four beautiful young ladies, and I saw him out on a drive with another just the day after!"
Her words brought the younger girl's gaze back to Harry. "Dancing you say? So there will be a chance for something other than business tonight?" she asked, hopeful.
The woman nodded. "Of course," she said simply. "The shop talk is normally done just before seven or so, they will announce the band then and people will try to wrap up most of their business for the night, or move someplace else if it is too important."
Pansy nodded again. "Then it is not too much different from the business functions I have attended with my father, other than a meal being served, just not as formal."
Ginger shrugged. "Most likely, the early part of the evening is for networking, and discussion of potential business; after that it is mostly about having the guests of the teams and owners enjoy themselves… Oh look there are the other girls that he was dancing with!"
Pansy's head turned toward the entrance, where Hermione, Luna and the two French girls were talking to another girl that Pansy had seen walking around the room earlier speaking with several men.
A scowl passed across the young girl's face for the barest of moments, as Ginger watched. 'Oh, this may just end up being the most interesting night I have seen at one of these things in years!' the woman thought, wishing Shar could come tonight… she'd get a kick out of this!
"Alison," Hermione said, with a wide smile. "It's good to see you again."
"I see you all figured out how to skip the torture part of the evening," she responded as she gestured toward the stage. "They'll be announcing the band any time…" She knelt next to the smaller blond. "No worries munchkin, I won't be spilling anything on you tonight. I've learned my lesson."
A smile grew across Gabrielle's face as her sister translated. Once done Alison offered a hug to the girl, which she took, and stood. "Let's find you all some drinks and a table near the dance floor. Harry's over by the guys from RCR, still talking business… or cars…" she said shrugging. "I'm sure he'll find you in a few minutes, when the music starts."
Ginger stifled a chuckle as she watched Pansy's eyes narrow watching the group cross to one of the refreshment stations. Waiting till they had picked up their drinks and turned in their direction she lifted her hand and waved at them.
When Hermione's and Luna's hands lifted in response Pansy's head swiveled toward the woman, a flash of aggravation flittering across the young woman's face.
Ignoring it, and stifling another giggle, Ginger stood as they approached. "It's nice to see you girls again! I do hope you are having fun?" she asked, as the girls circled the table.
"Ginger!" Luna said hopping over to give the woman a hug. "We were hoping you would visit this afternoon, Shar was so grumpy! I think she would have enjoyed someone else to talk to today."
Ginger smiled as she wrapped her arms around the blond girl she had begun to grow so fond of. "I'll be sure to drop by tomorrow, sweetie. I thought tomorrow would be a better day to help keep her preoccupied, as she is usually the one in charge of the Fairgrove bash, and it's tomorrow…" As she broke away from the hug, she looked a each girl in turn. "She's going to need all of your help tomorrow… She will need to be well rested for the event, because you know she will insist on being there for at least part of it."
Fleur nodded. "Oui… yes, Lady Ako will be taking over for her, and has spoken to us about helping out tomorrow. We will be doing so in shifts, as well as trying to keep Shar distracted and resting in the motor home."
Hermione continued. "Harry and his dad made sure there are lots of books, magazines, movies and even games… they even packed the paint samples and fabric splotches for the baby's room… in case she changes her mind again."
Ginger broke out in laughter. "How many times have they painted that room now?" she asked.
"Twice more this week," Hermione supplied, "so that will make eight. The butterscotch yellow was 'too yellowy', and she just hated the lavender… they didn't even finish the first wall before she was yelling at them to stop."
"That sounds about right," Ginger muttered. "I may love her to death, but the woman is an absolute control freak. Everything has got to be pre-planned and perfect, and this pregnancy has really brought that out of her in a big way."
She sighed. "But then again with all the things she has had to deal with this year it may be one of the few things she feels like she is in control of… what with Harry's trouble with the school and all…"
Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the band moving to the stage and picking up their instruments, and beginning to do their final sound check.
"Well, that's my cue!" Ginger said. "Time to collect my husband. It was nice seeing you girls! Have fun tonight!" she finished, gathering up her things.
Pansy looked at her confused. "You are not staying?"
Ginger shook her head. "Oh, no. Not tonight at any rate. This is our home track, and our house is only about a half hour drive from here, so we're headed home. Martin needs to do some work in his office tomorrow, and this way we get to spend some more time alone together before the season starts."
Their goodbyes said, the girls' attention turned toward a certain green eyed individual, as they waited for him to join them at their table.
Pansy sat down heavily on the bed, and drew her feet up in front of her and started rubbing them. Merlin! It had been such fun! Not only had she danced with Harry, but she had enjoyed the company of the other girls as well!
Fleur had proved to be much more than just her looks and Veela background had led her to believe. She had found that the woman had a fierce determination and drive, a drive that at one time had her seeking employment within the walls of Gringotts to become a cursebreaker though that had begun to change of recent date. Now she wished to gain her muggle equivalency, and go on to further her education at a University.
Her sister had also been quite the surprise, and while her actual age had been part of that, it was her pleasant disposition, and smiling face hiding both a biting wit and awareness that had surprised her the most; it was well beyond her years. Even more impressive was her willingness to use it to gain an advantage. She would have done the name Slytherin proud.
Then there were Hermione and Luna. If they had been related by blood they could not have been closer. Truth be told they were closer than most true sisters were!
She had heard the stories of course. Stories of how if you so much as looked at the young blond you were messing with the wrong witch! Especially after the time that Cho Chang and several other Ravenclaws spent the better part of a month in the hospital wing after their attempt at Christmas of third year. Whatever it had been every point the Ravenclaws had earned that year had been lost and Cho was removed from the Quidditch team… Permanently! That had led to much speculation about the pair, including some thinking that they were witch's witches.
Not that any such thing had ever been proven.
Hermione and Luna were a team. That much was undeniable. Whatever had happened while they were attending Hogwarts had made sure of it. They always made sure that they sat in a way to watch over each other, and in a position to at least alert, if not protect, the other. It made her wonder just how dangerous attending the school had been for the pair. If it had been anything like her situation had been after her break away from Malfoy, which she didn't doubt seeing that Malfoy and his cronies would have been an issue for them as well, it had definitely been bad.
She sagged back into the bed, and stared blankly at the ceiling.
The one that had confused her the most had been Alison Volk. The girl was the same age as Fleur and was there representing her family's business, Volk Oil, something that would have been unheard of in a wizarding business.
At first she had assumed that her position was just as a pretty face, but this had soon been proven wrong when a man from one of the race companies had come by the table to discuss the changes that were being made and when they could get together to sign the contracts! Her mind had boggled at the concept!
At that point her focus had shifted slightly. Besides pursuing her original objective of spending time dancing with Harry, she also began questioning Alison on what kinds of responsibility and education she had to hold such a position.
The fact that she and her three brothers were working together to run their father's business after his death in an accident didn't much surprise her. What did however, was the idea that they were doing so as a team.
In her experience, the lion's share would have gone to the eldest son and the others would have been left with nothing but scraps. Infighting would be the order of the day, and not without the occasional bout of violence ending in one of the sibling's deaths!
However that was not the case within most muggle companies any longer, she learned, as they were now less about the family involvement and more about assuring the health and survival of the company. Case in point was Volk Oil, a board was already in place to oversee investors' interests, and the siblings were accountable to them.
Not only that, but the oldest sibling was not the 'President'. That was the position of the youngest of three brothers, the oldest being content with his position overseeing the 'Drilling Operations', whatever those are, and the middle one overseeing something called 'Oil Exploration'. Each dealing with things that were their strong suit, including Alison. As her father had declared she had the 'Gift of the Gab' and could 'read a situation with a glance', her brothers trusted her implicitly when dealing with contracts like those that she was working with here.
Alison had also stressed how important her father had felt getting the proper education was, to help when she was ready to take over the position full time. Hence her decision to continue on to University in the Fall.
That had her thinking. Perhaps that would be something to look into? According to Hermione, once she graduated from the new school she would be fully prepared to do so…
She sighed, and rolled over, pulling the sheet over her. Those were questions she'd think about in the morning. For now she would sleep, and dream about a kind green eyed young man that had shown her so much more than just a dance at her first ball.