Chapter Fifty Two
Pansy neatly folded the last of her clothes and shut the box, stretching out her back.
"All finished?" William asked, dumping a pile of dirty sheets on the floor and starting to strip their bed.
Pansy nodded, "Yep. Titania had been working on a special dress for me, it's amazing, made with leaf lace, it's ivory but shimmers as it moved with silver and copper. Not to boast, but I've had a lot of pretty dresses before and everyone pales in comparison to this one."
"Sounds lovely." William smiled, pulling Pansy in for a kiss, "I'd suggest maybe not wearing it for a battle though."
Pansy rolled her eyes and playfully slapped him on the arm, "Strangely I wasn't planning on it! Is everyone else packed?"
"Yep. I think Titania has made a few outfits for people." William said, "She made me a set of robes that sounds a lot like yours." He grinned, Titania has hinted to him that the robes Pansy and William had been gifted was very close to the traditional wedding robes for centaurs.
Pansy smiled, "I can't believe how kind they've been… I can't believe we're leaving."
"We always knew this day was coming." William said, feeling rather sad about it himself.
"I know, but I never thought we'd think of here as home." Pansy shrugged, "And yet here we are."
William nodded, not letting go of Pansy's hand, feeling his heart begin to race, "Pansy… I… need to ask you something before we go out there."
Pansy nodded, frowning slightly. She knew him well enough to know that something was playing heavily on his mind.
"You're young, we both are." William said, coughing nervously.
"Yes… I'm not sure that's a bad thing though…" Pansy said, trying to stay calm.
"Yes… it is…no I mean it isn't… I just… Pansy I love you, I have for a long time now and I think, even with all the stress of these last few months, and living together for the first time under really weird circumstances… we've done well, yeah? I mean, you've been happy?"
Pansy smiled, "Of course. I really, really have. I know there have been a lot of bad things going on, but if I'm being honest… I'll always treasure the time we've had here, together."
"Good." William said, nodding and wiping stray tears from his eyes, "Good, because I wanted to ask you… Pansy Maria Tamara Jane Parkinson, will you do me the great honour of agreeing to become my wife?"
Pansy looked, her mouth hanging open in shock as William pulled out a simple, silver ring with three emeralds implanted in the band.
"William… are you being serious?" Pansy asked, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
William nodded, "I never want to wake up without you. And I know I've not been able to ask your parents or anything, to do it properly but… you'll always do what you want anyway."
Pansy laughed, tears flowing from her own eyes now, "Yes, I am known for doing my own thing. And it's because of that, I say yes. I would be honoured to be your wife. I never want to wake up without you either."
William pulled her in tightly, pressing her lips against his own, letting the moment fill them before real life got in the way again.
"Oh stop kissing you two and get a move on!" Cho laughed, "Neville is expecting us!"
Pansy and William pulled themselves apart, grinning madly.
"What's made you two so happy?" Cho asked, picking up the pile of used sheets.
"Nothing…" Pansy said, grinning at William, unable to stop herself, "Just… happy."
Cho smiled, "That's… good… but we really should hurry up."
William and Pansy nodded, before grabbing their things and headed out into the fresh air.
The fires were all out in the houses, everything had been scrubbed clean. Titania and Marcus had said they'd do the last of the washing and make sure everything would be standing ready if they ever wanted to come back.
Titania hugged them all tightly, "I'm so glad that you were the humans I first got to really meet."
"You will be welcomed back into our herd, I am just sorry that we can not help more." Marcus said, a genuine sadness on his face.
"One last try, but I don't suppose you might tell us why you can't help?" Luna asked, her eyes focusing on the forest behind them rather than on the centaurs themselves.
Marcus and Titania shook their heads.
"No." Titania said, "We must obey the stars…"
"We understand." Dirk said, shaking their hands, "And once again, we're very grateful for all the help you have been able to give us. I'm not sure Dean and I would have made it this far without this place to keep us safe."
Titania and Marcus said their final goodbyes, leaving Cho, William, Pansy, Luna, Dirk and Dean standing on the edge of the forest with their boxes and bags, all magically shrunk to fit into Pansy's bag from the beginning of the year that they'd unburied.
"The Hogshead?" Dirk said, passing his trunk to Pansy, "Good craftsmanship from those centaurs I must say, this trunk is far nicer than the one I took to school."
Pansy joined hands with William and Cho before turning on the spot.
The old barman who ran the Hogshead wasn't pleased at the round of loud pops that told him people had just arrived in his back room. He risked a quick look out the window but there was no sign of the Death Eaters so wondered through to see the bunch of people, tripping over themselves in the small space.
"You got here all right then." The barman grunted.
"We did." Pansy said, giving him a smile, "And we're very grateful that you allowed us to come here."
The man shrugged, "What can I say, she seems to like you."
"She?" Dirk asked.
"Hogwarts, the school." the barman sniffed, rolling his eyes.
"You're Dumbledore's brother, aren't you?" Dean said, the similarities hitting him suddenly.
The barman glared at Dean for a minute before softening his ice blue eyes, "I was, yes. The name's Aberforth."
"I think I saw you at the funeral." Pansy said, something told her Aberforth didn't want an out pouring of grief over the loss of his brother.
Aberforth nodded, "Yes, I was there. Now do you want to get to the school or not?"
The group nodded eagerly, wisely dropping the subject.
"Take this with you, one less food run I have to do. I've got enough people traipsing through my pub as it is." Aberforth muttered to himself.
William took the large bag of food and crate of butter beer bottles, "How long have you been feeding them all up there?"
Aberforth shrugged, "A month or so. It's no worries, and Ariana seems to like being useful."
"Who's Ariana?" Cho asked, trying to remember if she'd heard the name before.
"She was my baby sister." Aberforth said, a catch in his throat that hadn't been there when talking about his brother's death, "He killed her…" he shook his head, his grey, wild beard whipping from side to side, "Not the story for right now. Look, I've got another lot of people coming through in less than two hours and no doubt a load of the black hoods will be through for their lunch. We don't have time for a good catch up and history lesson. Follow me."
They followed Aberforth to where a large painting sat over the fireplace. There was a young girl, about fourteen who was instantly recognisable as a Dumbledore in the picture, looking out at the world with the sort of vacant look that Luna got at times.
She smiled at them and put her book down, walking down a long corridor behind her until the picture swung from the wall, showing a real life tunnel carved into the wall.
"Well that's pretty cool." Cho grinned.
Dirk and Dean helped the others up into the tunnel with the food supplies they were all heavily laden as they crept along the rough tunnel.
It sloped down for a while and then steeply upwards.
"We must be getting close." Luna mused, "It feels like the walk up the hill from Hogsmead."
Pansy nodded, although it was unlikely Luna saw her in the rough light. William, who was leading the way, reached a solid wooden door, Pansy bumping into his back.
"I think we're here." William said softly.
"Feels weird to be back at school that's for sure." Dirk said, letting out a deep breath.
"I think that's where we all are." Cho smiled.
William knocked loudly on the door, wand grasped in his hand just in case.
"Welcome to the Come and Go room hotel!" Neville beamed, throwing open the door, "We have two fabulous bathrooms and all the hammocks you could possibly want."
Pansy laughed and hugged him tightly, "You look well."
"Better in here than out there." Neville said, shaking his head, "It got bad quickly that's for sure. The Carrows are bad enough but Umbridge… she revels in it, even more than last time she was here."
"Can't be long now." Luna said, "One way or another."
An uncomfortable silence settled across them as the weight of Luna's words sank in, they all knew she was right.
Neville shook his head, "Well grab yourselves a hammock and sort your stuff into some of the draws. This place has more storage than even my Mum's room!" he laughed.
Pansy and William chose hammocks next to one another, wondering if it would be possible to snuggle up in one together, but they weren't very big.
"Do I spy a ring there Honourable Miss Parkinson?" Neville asked with a smile.
Pansy blushed and nodded, "Do you approve?"
"It's lovely." Neville grinned, "Very you!"
Pansy rolled her eyes, "That's not what I meant, and you know it."
Neville hugged her tightly, "As long as you're happy, I'll always approve. And William seems like a really great guy."
"I can't imagine what my parents are going to say." Pansy laughed, "And we're still so young."
Neville shrugged, "Age is just a number. Besides we've been through more than most people twice our age, four times our age!"
"Thank you." Pansy smiled, "We're not not telling everyone yet. It's not really the time to be throwing an engagement party."
"I get it, but when this is over I expect us to have a giant party." Neville said, checking his watch, "It's time for the next lot."
Pansy looked as Matthew opened the door to the Hogshead, allowing Alice, Frank, Lily, Nikka, Andromeda and Ted, Lucius, Daphne's parents and Bill and Fleur through.
"Wow this place sure has changed!" Lily said, looking around.
"Mrs Snape, you cut your hair!" Pansy gasped.
Lily ran her hand through her shoulder length waves, "Oh… yes. Danica kept pulling it…"
"It looks nice." Pansy assured her.
They spent the rest of the day settling into their new accommodations. The hammocks were not uncomfortable but very basic. They had a very simple kitchen, and although food was in short supply, only provided by Aberforth through the tunnel, no one had gone hungry yet.
Pansy and Cho were able to slap together a meal from what they'd been given for the forty or more people who now lived in the Come and Go room.
"Did you say you'd been here before?" Neville said, wiping his mouth and turning to Lily.
Lily nodded and smiled, "While I was at school. We used to come here, Severus and I, while James was in one of his… moods."
"What was it like then?" Pansy asked, "It didn't really look like this when we were last here either, we used it to train."
Lily let herself drift back into the memories, "It was small, much much smaller. And cosy. There would be a fire in the winter and a sofa we would snuggle up on under this really thick, fluffy blanket… it was peaceful."
"It sounds it." Neville smiled.
Thomas stood up and stretched, wondering over to the large calendar on the wall. He flipped the scenic page over, "It's officially May tomorrow."
"We should get some sleep." Cho suggested, "We don't know how many more good nights sleep we're going to get."
Lucius nodded, "Very wise idea."
"Lily…" Daphne's mother asked softly, as the lights dimmed as they all climbed into their hammocks for the night.
"Mmm." Lily yawned.
"Where is Danica?" she asked.
Lily felt her chest tightened, feeling like the air had been sucked from the room, "She had to go away. To keep her safe."
"Oh… I'm so sorry I… I shouldn't of asked." Daphne's mother said kindly.
Lily shook her head, "It's all right. It was the right thing to do, I know that. And she'll come home, as soon as it's safe."
"I can't believe it's May tomorrow." Daphne's father sighed, "I've spent nearly the last whole year with my heart in my throat worrying about Daphne and Astoria… there's no worry like it is there?"
"No… no there really isn't." Lily agreed, hoping with all her heart she would have both of her children back in her arms soon.