A/N: Pansy is having a case of wedding jitters. I do not own Harry Potter.
Submission for:
The Codebreaker (Mastermind) Challenge: blush [orange] - lamp [orange] - 'We do not remember days, we remember moments' - Cesare Pavese [red] - Pansy Parkinson [light blue]
Game of Life: dawn, Witch Weekly.
The "Telephone Game" Competition
The young woman lets out a frustrated noise as she sits at her vanity with open tubes of makeup and hair products strewn across its surface. She had been up since dawn, the sun barely peeking above the horizon, trying to get ready but nothing was going well this morning, on this day of all days.
"It's still not right. Do it over!" she screams, pulling out the pins and gems out of her hair, her frantic hands knocking over a lamp on the vanity to the floor with a crash.
"No, Pansy! Stop!" her best friend cries, grabbing her hands to restrain her from doing anything more. "We don't have the time to do this over. The ceremony starts in about an hour."
Pansy spins towards the blonde girl, wrenching her arms free as she looks towards the clock next to her bed. 8:48. "No, no, this can't be right," she says as tears well in her eyes.
Her best friend pulls her out of the chair and walks her over to the edge of the bed, brushing the opened copies of Witch Weekly aside for them to sit. She pulls the dark-haired girl against her side, whispering a few nonsense words to calm her down before she says, "Pansy, this is worse than the night of the Yule Ball. Is something the matter?"
Pansy mumbles something, the words getting muffled by her hands and her sobs, prompting the blonde to ask her to repeat.
Pansy brings her head up, her cheeks wet with tears as she says, "What if this isn't a good idea, Daph? What if this is all a mistake? Draco and I weren't meant to be together in the first place. He was supposed to married to Astoria. They had a contract and everything before his mother decided to tear it up.
Draco and I didn't even have the strongest relationship at school. On the outside, it may have looked like we liked each other but Draco simply tolerated me. I was there for a good snog, but otherwise, we spent days, weeks, months at a time squabbling instead of being together."
Pansy buries her face again into her hands as a fresh wave of tears flows forth, her friend still rubbing small circles into her back.
After a few moments, Daphne says, "We do not remember days, we remember moments."
Pansy frowns behind her hands. "If that's another one of your cryptic lines, Daph, I-"
"Listen," Daphne insists, interrupting her friend before continuing, "Don't focus on the bad days, the hard times of your relationship but on the good moments you share. That was years ago, Pansy. We were all immature brats who only thought of ourselves and our money. We would giggle in our dorms about which boys were the cutest, and even then, we agreed that Draco was the most immature of us all.
We've all changed since then. A war came and forced all of us to grow up, especially Draco. A lot happened to him, a lot he doesn't want to tell anyone, but he told you, Pansy. He trusts you, Pansy. He opens himself up to you, and he asked you to marry him of his own heart and mind."
A faint blush creeps across Pansy's cheeks as she begins to wipe her eyes. "He did, didn't he?" she murmurs.
Daphne nods. "Yes, and you both shared wonderful memories since then, many dates, birthdays, anniversaries, days,..."
"Nights," Pansy adds cheekily, prompting a grimace from her friend.
"Can we not go there right now?" Daphne asks. "All I'm saying is Draco loves you and you love him. Just focus on the moments that were filled with his love and affection, and you'll know in your heart that this is a good thing."
Pansy sighs before giving her friend a reluctant smile. "You're right."
"Of course I'm right," Daphne says as she drags Pansy back before the mirror. "Now sit! I need to finish and you still aren't even in your dress yet."