if there was ever a quesn whether or not pansy had served her penane for transgresns past, the answer would be a firm and resounding no she handled the gres and the judgment, not always with poise and dignity, but she generally withstood it without losing her st shred of omposure
however, after arating with drao and potter to hogsmeade, pansy felt like she was losing her mind the pair of them argued over everything only it wasn’t quite arguing sazar, it was almost like a lover’s quarrel first, drao insisted they go straight to neville, but potter wanted to send an owl ahead of them “i’ve seen you at the owlery, potter snails send letters faster”
potter huffed as they made their way down the steps of the hotel “oh, you mean when you lied to my fae?”
“as i reall, it atually wasn’t your fae, and i never one lied to you,” drao drawled he turned to pansy and held out his arm “sidealong, dear?” pansy took the offered arm and wathed drao quirk an eyebrow at potter “if you’ve got an owl to send, i suppose we will see you when we see you” and then they disarated
potter aught up to them less than a minute ter “if we hurry,” he panted, “maybe we an ath him before dinner”
they walked in silene for a few minutes, eah of them probably reaquainting themselves with the senery it had been ages sine pansy had ome to hogsmeade, let alone hogwarts, in fat, it might have been years a part of her ahed with the good memories she had there, while other parts of her raked at the thought of all the pain that followed those wonderful times
finally, drao broke the silene to suggest they try the greenhouses first potter ountered that neville usually took his afternoon tea in the astle after lessons pansy sensed an affront on neville longbottom on the tip of drao’s tongue, so she deided to hange the subjet
“i never thought i would be rushing bak to hogwarts so soon”
drao let out a harsh ugh “it’s a bit too soon for my liking”
“no one is making you ome along, malfoy,” potter muttered under his breath
that was it pansy parked her boots in the ground and grabbed potter by the sleeve “what is your problem, potter?” the an made him jerk bakward and his gsses pratially flew off his fae
“piss off, parkinson”
“no, you piss off, potter!” she yelled pansy stuk a finger into his hest and then pointed to drao “’t you see that i’m here for bertrie? would i trust drao with this if for one seond i believed he’d had something to do with it?” pansy paed between them, shaking her head “your stupid, infted shoolboy rivalry, your ridiulous stolen gnes, the taunts, the jeers, the misped assumpns—an you put the iy aside and be adults so we an save a hild’s life? this is seus!”
she saw potter gulp and heard drao sigh
“if i hear another—” she shook her head and deided to let it go “throw you to the squid myself,” she grumbled and stomped up the path
if drao felt a little bit guilty after pansy’s outburst, he bmed potter drao had been baiting him all afternoon, so for that, he was at fault but it was almost as if the very presene of drao set potter off maybe it was their lose proximity and the ndsape hanging from the wet streets of edinburgh to the traveled paths of hogwarts with eah forward step, drao ould feel the weight of his own past pulling him inside himself to the pes he had ome to fear the most for every level of hell he’d experiened during the war, he supposed potter went levels above him
the three of them fell in step and walked in silene the rest of the way to the astle with pansy between them, drao briefly imagined a world where he ould ommiserate with potter on the shared wrath of her silver tongue what a sene that would be, he thought but that was a slippery road, imagining anything to do with potter
the ool sottish air around him should have given him hills, but instead the pull of a greater purpose left drao feeling eletri it was as if the threads of fate were bekoning him forward he hadn’t felt a n to it so strong sine he’d been hit with the urse
at the entrane to the astle, potter ast his patronus—a rge, majesti stag, learer and risper than drao’s white stoat had ever been they wathed it rush off into the astle and potter turned to drao and pansy “just letting the headmistress know we’re here”
drao didn’t doubt potter maintained a lose renship with minerva mgonagall perhaps that was a major differene between the two of them where potter might seek to maintain his bonds to the pes that held both good and terrible memories, drao doubted he possessed the strength to rise above the darkness or maybe he still let the fear of its power over him prevent him from even trying
“drao, are you oming?” pansy stood inside the doorway staring at him she didn’t say anything else as he omposed himself and for that he was grateful they followed potter inside and headed to the staff lounge
they hadn’t got far before someone blurted, “harry!” there in the hallway stood neville longbottom, tall and lean and beaming with a bright smile drao had barely blinked before potter pratially diseared in longbottom’s arms for an embrae the familiarity between the two gryffindors left drao with a warm seality tainted by a twinge of regret “i haven’t seen you in months” after they’d separated, longbottom looked over potter’s shoulder, his hy demeanor defted at the sight of pansy and drao “what are they doing here?”
“we’re w a ase, nev,” potter expined, his fae shifted from obus joy to an ear determinan “and we have some quesns for you”
“me? i’m not sure how i an help you”
a thoughtful expresn took over potter’s fae, and he bit his lower lip drao
