Title: Lasting Passion and A Poet's Dream
Author: Miz Thang
Characters/Pairing: Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, PP/HG, PP/DM
Rating: FRT
Word Count: 936
Warnings: None. Slash. Of the female kind.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the little story's idea. Everything else belongs to who it belongs to.
Summary: When she recieves the message, she understands instantly. For 30hath's May 25th-love is a poet's dream. And, yeah, okay, the first half is totally for May 24th's lasting passion is the dream of a harlot. Except I forgot to post it, and since these two belong in the same universe, I decided to make it a one-shot.

Lasting passion is the dream of a harlot.

– P. P-M.

When she receives the message, she understands instantly. What it means, what's being said. She knows she's been a fool to hope it would last forever, and the same could be said for Pansy.

But Hermione would never take it back for anything.

One day, back when they had still been a bunch of half-taught students at Hogwarts (around fifth year), Lavender Brown had told her that she wanted lasting passion before she could die and Pansy had inserted herself into the conversation, saying that only harlots dream of that. It didn't actually exist.

Funnily enough, a few days later, she and Pansy had found that. That lasting passion. And, the fact that it had been with each other, let alone with another girl, was a confusing matter all it's own. But it was nothing, it was not enough to stop the realness that they had, the all-encompassing passion that they felt when they were together. That feeling that welled within them and filled their entire being – until they were one.

And then, three years after graduating from Hogwarts, Pansy got engaged to Draco Malfoy. Of course. Hermione didn't know what else to have been expecting. Pansy had always been privileged, and would continue to do so, despite whatever her feelings may be for Hermione. And, besides, Malfoy was receiving an abundance of press in his soon-coming bid for Minister of Magic (surprisingly, Harry went on record to support Malfoy – which the press had a field day with when a picture of the two men shaking hands was released). Pansy would like that. A war hero and the next Minister of Magic as her husband.

So, their time together was even less than it had been, and the wedding continued to loom ever near, announced and planned, predicted to be one of the largest events of the year. And Hermione mourned their relationship before it even came to a close, savoring Pansy's kiss, and her touch, and the feel of having her near, while they still had the time. Because she had sense, and she doubted Pansy would do something as ridiculous as be adulterous, with another woman, of all people.

And, this letter, sent to her from the sandy beach of some private island Malfoy had acquired, days after the wedding – it breaks Hermione's heart into a million pieces, but she knows the logical reason for it and can understand that it isn't malice. It's necessary and she should have been expecting it. But, God, it still hurt.

Hermione gets a quill and replies.

And love is a poet's dream.

H.G.

It's her response to Pansy's request. She's accepting an end to their relationship, and is maybe even agreeing that it should probably end.

And, she is aware that some part of her is mourning the loss of it all, but, she's always been logical, and she knows that, while having the love and passion she'd had with Hermione was what she wanted, the love and stability guaranteed by Draco was what she needed.

She and Hermione had contemplated once, after Pansy had asked, if their relationship had love. And, funnily enough, it had been Hermione who had called love the dream of a poet. They'd laughed then, and had decided that should the day their relationship come to an end arrive, those phrases would be the code.

Pansy loved Hermione. She loved her so much that just sending the owl had hurt. She'd never felt an emotion so badly in her life – not since the day Draco had told her everything he really hated about her and then asked her to marry him. She'd felt this great love for him in that moment and had said, "Yes! Yes! A thousand bloody times, yes!"

Of course, it had been a bit out of character for her, but the fact that Draco was proposing to her, after she spent all that time in their school years only dreaming, and after he'd told her that he hated a lot about her. Everything about the moment had been so surreal, and for a while, she completely forgot about Hermione.

So, lasting passion had been the dream of a harlot. And, maybe, she had been, a harlot that is, because she should've known from the beginning that she and Hermione shouldn't delude themselves into thinking that they could work, and be forever, just on the basis that they wanted each other.

And love, falling in love, and then thinking that would be enough for them was stupid. Absolutely stupid because love didn't mean a damn thing in the world they lived in. Not to their families, not to their friends, not to the Ministry.

So, a few days later, after she's received the owl from Hermione that really puts an end to things, when she sees the article in Witch Weekly that has a reporter spotting Hermione with Potter, Pansy isn't so surprised.

She watches the once love of her life half-smile at the camera as she and Harry race into a restaurant from the rain, and she leans on Draco's shoulder and folds the paper to hide the animated photo. With a sigh, she snuggles closer to her newly wed husband and wishes desperately that things weren't the way they were…

And what derogatory term could she make up for such a thought? Was it an idiot's hope? It should be, she thinks to herself. She almost reaches for the quill to send one more reply, but refrains. She settles for a lonely good-bye in her head.