Pansy and Hermione Pansy and Hermione

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling does.

AN: I'm sorry this chapter hasn't come exactly as planned. I've had the stomach flu, and needless to say I wasn't exactly in the mood for editing. Sorry for its lateness! Thank you as always for all the reviews! I'm amazed that I have so many! Thanks bunches!

Hermione's Point of View.

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"Get over it, I'm not going to." I glared at Draco.

He sighed. "Fine, fine." And with one swift motion he pulled out his wand and pointed in between my eyes. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this." He spat.

Just then, as if from nowhere two wands emerged from thin air. I recognized them to be Pansy's and Harry's.

Unfortunately Draco saw them and reacted quicker then I had ever seen him move. "EXPELLIARMUS!" he yelled and the force of his spell knocked Harry back into Pansy, who fell unconscious on the floor, Harry's wand went flying away from him.

"PANSY!" I yelled and ran to her. Her nose was swollen and under her eyes was already starting to turn black and blue; it looked like Harry had elbowed her right in the nose as he fell.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled from the floor, clutching onto Pansy's wand and Draco went ridged and fell to the ground with a thud. Harry got up and went over to the teacups to hold the one meant for me to his nose. "Truth potion all right. Smells as if he had dumped the entire vial into your cup, dirty bastard." He kicked Draco aside and came to help me lift Pansy up.

"We'll need to get her to the infirmary." I said, struggling to hold on to her.

"I got it." He muttered and hoisted her up into his arms. Just as we were about to exit the library McGonagol stormed in with Mr. Filch.

"What is the meaning of this?" McGonagol demanded looking from Pansy to Draco, lying over in the corner.

"Uhm," I started, "Draco was trying to slip me some truth potion in that tea over there. Why, I don't know." Harry left to hurry Pansy to the infirmary. "When I refused the cup, however, he got up and drew his wand threateningly. Harry jumped out and saved me but accidentally hit Pansy in the nose."

"I see." McGonagol said walking over to where Draco lay, unconscious.

"She's telling the truth, ma'm." Flich said, holding up the teacup. "At least about the tea being drugged. This tea reeks of truth potion."

"Well, Let's get Mr. Malfoy to his dormitory. I'll question him in the morning when he wakes up." She levitated him out the door. "I trust you can finish preparing for the Halloween ball by yourself?"

"Um…yeah." I said, a little unsure. There was a lot left to do and if people didn't like the ball I was counting on Draco to take the fall for me.

"Good." Was all she said and she and Mr. Filch followed her out. After I gathered up my stuff and picked up Harry's invisibility cloak, I hurried to the infirmary to see how Pansy was doing. When I got there she was lying in a bed by the window, unconscious, Harry was sitting by her. I sat down across from Harry and glared at him. "What?" He asked, defensively.

"Nothing…" I said simply but he didn't look convinced. "Except, if you guys weren't there spying on me, none of this would be happening, that's all." I stared at Pansy's black eyes and took her hand in mine.

"Hey! Don't go blaming this on me now." He said standing up and throwing his hands up in defense. "I'm the one who just saved you in there, remember?"

I shot him another glare. "I could have handled it myself! You didn't even give me a chance to prove that I could do it!!" I got up too and faced him. "If you weren't so nosy, Pansy would be alright right now!"

"It was her idea in the first place!" He yelled, pointing at Pansy with an accusatory finger.

"Don't go blaming this on her!" I yelled back, furious that he would place her in the blame spot.

"That's not what I meant." His breath was shaky from yelling. "I meant that if you weren't so bent on keeping your worries to yourself, Hermione, then she wouldn't have come to me and asked me for help!" I was astonished. She had…gone behind my back and asked Harry to look after me?

"She…what?" I said, softly.

"You heard me!" Harry was still yelling, obviously still mad. "She could tell you were worried about this meeting that you had, so she came to me and asked me to look after you. To make sure nothing happened to you, in case Malfoy overpowered you. And if you weren't so stuck inside your own little bubble, you would realize that we were just trying to help you!!" And with that he stormed out of the infirmary. My mouth was open in shock. Had he really just said that to me? And more importantly…is what he said actually true?

I sat back down next to Pansy and laid my head down on her hand. Was I really self-centered? I looked up at the girl lying under me. Her bruise was slowly going away thanks to some yellow cream the nurse had smeared on it. I wanted to tell her that I was sorry; I wanted to let her know I was just trying to keep her safe.

I slowly started to fade into a dream.

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I was sitting in my Potions class and Pansy wasn't there. The room was misty and filled with students; although I could only see their dark silhouettes threw the mist. I looked down into the cauldron and saw that the pink/orange liquid inside was beginning to bubble ferociously until it bubbled over the sides of the cauldron and onto the floor.

A deep, ominous voice came out of no-where and I knew it to be the teachers' voice, "Twenty Points from Gryffindor!!" It screamed at me and the various students around me started laughing. Embarrassed, I tried to clean up the mess but it only seemed to get worse underneath the cloth I was using.

"What's the matter, Hermione?" Ron sneered from behind the teachers' desk. His was the only face I could recognize. "Can't you even do this right?" And he started laughing at me along with the others. I tried rubbing the mess harder but as I did more of the liquid seemed to seep out from under the towel.

I felt hot tears sting my eyes. "No! I can do this right. I know I can!" But the students just laughed harder. I was about to get up and run from the room when I heard another voice.

This voice was soft and comforting. "Here, use this one." I looked up and saw Pansy holding out a lime green towel. "I think you'll find that it'll work much better."

I accepted the towel but didn't look down at the mess. I didn't want her to leave again. She looked distressed and said "Please, use the towel." I reached out for her but she withdrew. "Use it, before it vanishes."

I looked down and saw that it was beginning to fade at the edges, so I began moping the foaming liquid hastily. As she had said, it worked quiet well. In fact, it worked instantly; it cleared up the mess right before vanishing itself. The students around me all began to applaud this great deed. I looked up, expecting Pansy to be there beside me, beaming at me, but she had vanished.

I got up and looked around wildly, where was she? I began hysterically looking around at all the faceless students, who were still applauding in unison, looking for Pansy. Ron was the only one still laughing and pointing at me. His laughs seemed to overpower the now rhythmic applause, and everything was getting louder and louder, all the while I was screaming for Pansy.

"HERMIONE!!" I heard Pansy's voice but did not see her face. "Wake up! Hermione, please wake up!"

I awoke to find myself in the infirmary, being shaken by Pansy. I looked around confused, unsure if it was another dream or not, but there was no mist, no faceless students, and the clapping had stopped.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Pansy asked and I looked into her face. Her black eyes had cleared up and her nose was only slightly swollen. "You're crying and you were screaming. Did you have a bad dream?"

I sighed, "Yeah, kinda." I told her about the dream and she embraced me.

"Well, aren't you glad you've woken up?" She asked soothingly.

"You have no idea." I muttered. "You're looking so much better." I said smiling at her.

"I do?" She asked feeling her nose up. "What did it look like before?" I chuckled.

"You don't want to know, trust me."

"Oh, ok." She laughed and I told her what had happened in the library and of the fight that Harry and I just had over her unconscious body. She blushed, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Herms. But Harry's right. We were just trying to keep you safe. If anything had happened to you by that horrible boy I would never forgive myself."

"I know, I've realized that." I took her hand and smiled reassuringly "I just didn't want anything to happen to you. I was so focused on protecting you from him, that I didn't really care what he did to me."

"Hermione…" But she was cut off as McGonagol strode into the room, Filch, Professor Tweed, and Professor Diggle at her heals.

"Pansy, You look better." McGonagol started, examining her nose and eyes.

"So I've heard." She muttered.

"Hermione." She turned to me and I wondered if Draco had woken up yet, and what he had said to her when he did. "Draco has woken up." She sat down on the bed next to Pansy's. "He said that you drugged the tea. He said that you and Harry came into the library, wands drawn and tried to force him to drink it."

"What?" I asked, unbelievingly. "That's not true, Professor!"

"He said that you both threatened Pansy here," she motioned at Pansy. "And when he still didn't comply you punched her in the face."

"That's not true!" Pansy exclaimed, sitting straight up. "Hermione would never do that to me!"

"You're sure, Pansy?" McGonagol asked. "Why don't you tell me what happened, in your own words?"

Pansy shifted back down into her pillows and said, "Harry and I were hiding in the library, because we didn't trust Draco being alone with Hermione. And by the looks of it, we were right." She stretched her legs out, looking uncomfortable to be around so many people. Filch was glaring through tiny slits for eyes and Professor Diggle seemed concerned. The only one of them who I couldn't read was Professor Tweed, who stood there, arms folded, listening intently. "He started by casually saying you gave them the tea, Professor, and when Hermione refused, he got up, drew his wand and threatened to jinx her if she didn't drink it.

"And that's when Harry and I jumped out to save her, but Draco was too quick and he sent Harry flying back into me, which threw me unconscious."

"I see." McGonagol said, still pondering this.

"Why would he try to slip her that potion, then?" Filch asked, narrowing his eyes, even more as his cat sat in his arms, her own eyes narrowed at us.

"Well, I don't know for sure…" She started looking at her hands and pulling loose strings from her sheets, subconsciously. "But I can make a guess." The room of teachers waited for her to finish. "I think he wanted more information on mine and Hermione's relationship."

"And why would he want that?" Professor Diggle asked, thoroughly enthralled in her story.

"It's complicated…" She looked at Professor Tweed. "But Hermione and I have started to be better friends and I've left Draco's side."

"Headmaster, I can vouch for this." Tweed said with a smile, although I caught a glimpse of insincerity on her face. "They've come to me in confidence with they're complaints of this boy. Really nasty fellow, if you ask me, too much like his father and not enough like his mother." I narrowed my eyes at her. How did she know the Malfoy's?

"Very well, I will see to it that Draco is punished severely." McGonagol said, standing up. "In the mean time, I'll be thinking of a replacement Head boy." She turned and walked out of the room, Filch, Professor Diggle and Professor Tweed behind her. Tweed stopped at the door and winked at us before closing it.

"I don't think I trust her." I said simply to Pansy.

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The weeks following went by fast, as I made the last preparations for the Halloween Ball. McGonagol came to me one night with news of a new head boy.

"Ms. Granger, I have appointed Blaise Zabini as new Head boy." She stated, curtly. "As you know, he got top marks in all his Owls last year and is doing remarkably well this year. I hope that you two will learn to get along, and be the mature adults that I know you are."

I nodded. I honestly didn't have anything against Blaise, well, except for the whole laughing with Draco whenever he called me a mudblood thing, but I could learn to forgive and forget.

A week before the ball and I still hadn't given the house elves the menu for the night or decided the best way to situate the Great hall. I decided to call a head's meeting, why should I do all the work and he get part of the credit? We met in the Great Hall and Pansy came with me this time. We sat down at the almost empty Ravenclaw table, as a way of neutralizing the environment so neither of them felt intimidated, Zabini's idea.

"So, what do we still need to do?" Blaise asked pleasantly, taking a seat across from Pansy and I. I gave Pansy a sideways glance as I pulled out my plans so far.

"We need to decide on a menu." I said simply and pulled out my list of options. "What do you think we should include? So far I have the usual sweets, butterbeer, and some vegetable assortments but I-"

"Wait…what?" he asked, cutting me off.

"I said, I have pies, cakes, candy, butterbeer, vegetable assortments…"

"There! That one, what on earth are you thinking?" He asked laughing slightly. I didn't say anything, looking offended. "No one here is going to want vegetables in a Halloween party! Here let me see that list." He pulled the list so that it faced him. "The candy, the cakes, the pies…all good. Butterbeer, do you have permission for alcohol?" He asked looking up at me.

"Of course!" I said defensively. "At 10:30, the 1st threw 4th years curfew will be put into place and that's when the butterbeer will be placed out in coolers, there" I said pointing to one corner of the Great Hall, "There," Pointed at the adjacent corner, "and at every table."

"Nice." He said, ignoring my tone of voice. "All very good ideas…except for this vegetable thing." He said pointing at the paper with the end of his quill.

"I like vegetables!" I gave him a half glare but it was cut short by his chuckle. I glanced up and I saw that he wasn't laughing in spite of me at all.

"Alright, alright. We'll keep the vegetable table." He said writing down that it was to be limited to one table.

"We also need to decide how we want the room arranged." I said, unsure of how to talk to him now that it was clear he wasn't going to be a total snot to me. I glanced over at Pansy and she had a smile on her face, she glanced at me and gave me a thumbs up.

"Oh, that's easy, I think we should have it like this." He said, drawing a diagram on the back of the parchment. He had it so that the food tables lined the great hall with benches on either side of them. "To provide unity." He stated. This left the middle of the great hall for dancing and the teacher's tables were to be removed to make room for the band, which I had already booked for that evening.

"This is great!" I smiled and pointed my wand at the parchment. "Recoupo." I said and the parchment doubled twice so that I had four copies of the original, I passed one to Blaise and kept one in my stack. "Ok, I'm going to go give these to the proper people."

"Oh, I can do that." Blaise said, standing up holding out his hand to take the parchment. "I need to speak to McGonagol anyway."

I passed him the parchment and smiled at him. "Ok, don't forget to give one to the house elves, please?" He nodded and turned to leave, "Oh, and Blaise?" He turned back and faced us. "Thanks for not being a prick like Malfoy." I said simply not looking at him as I shuffled my papers.

He didn't say anything for a second then he smiled weakly and replied, "I'd have thought by now, you'd have realize that not all Slytherins are wanna be Deatheaters like him, Granger." He didn't wait for my response but turned on his heal to exit the great hall. Embarrassed, I took to packing up my notes in my tan cloth messenger bag.

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The night of the ball arrived quicker than I thought. I sat in the Great hall herding a couple first years out after lunch so I could begin decorating. I sighed as I pulled my wand out of my robes and began to shoot cob webs and streamers from wall to wall as Blaise started enchanting the Jack-o-lanterns to hover in the air.

With a flick of my wand the tables rose into the air and landed gently to line the walls around the great hall, the benches floating down beside them. In front of me the band was setting up their speakers and their instruments. It was very difficult to book this band, they're one of the most popular in the wizarding world, but when I said that they could have all the free food and butterbeer they wanted, they accepted right away.

I turned around in time to see Pansy peek in behind the door. I smiled and beckoned her to join me. "It looks so good, Hermione!!" She exclaimed looking around at all the enchanted bats flying around. "This is going to be one of the best Halloween dances yet!"

I blushed, "Aw, you're just saying that." She shook her head vigorously. "Thank you." I said quietly.

"Oi! No one but teachers allowed in-" Blaise yelled from his pumpkin pile, but when he realized that it was Pansy with me he smiled and called, "How does it look?"

"Great!" She called back and gave him a double thumbs up. She turned back to me and asked, "So, if it starts at 7:30, we should start to get ready at around 5:00, huh?" I nodded. "Once you're done here, come to our room, I want to show you something." She smiled and kissed me on the cheek before she left; her sugary scent lingering in the air around me.

"So, are we almost done here?" Blaise asked an hour later, walking up to me with an armful of fake miniature troll heads.

"Yeah, I think so." I looked around the hall. It was really spooky; there was cobwebs dripping from ever banister, pumpkins where hovering and bats were flying in and out of view. The fog would roll in about an hour before 7, to give it a more eerie feel. Even the enchanted ceiling was doing its part; the full moon was peaking perfectly from behind a set of storm clouds. "I just want to make sure everything is going well in the kitchen before I go and get ready." I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost 5:30. "I should hurry though."

"I'll go with you. I want to make sure no one and spike the punch," he smirked slightly. "At least not until after the under classmen have left for the night." I laughed and we walked down into the kitchen. We were instantly greeted by the horde of house elves that resided in the kitchens.

"Hello!" I called, smiling at their eager faces. Some of them flinched at how nice I was, remembering my S.P.E.W. days.

"Just wanted to check in and make sure everything was going ok."

"Yes Miss." They said in unison.

"I wanted to remind you to make sure that you put these in the punch bowls before you set them out." Blaise said, holding out the miniature troll heads. The house elves nodded and one small one scurried out to take the heads from him. "Please cue the fog machine to go off at exactly 6:30. And that should be around the time you set out all of the food, too." They nodded again.

As we turned to leave, the house elves dispersed again, into the kitchen to complete their tasks. We left and wandered to our respective common rooms, bidding farewell at the start of the staircases that lead to Gryffindor common room.

"Could you talk to the Bloody Baron and make sure he's up to spooking it up?" I asked as we departed. He nodded and turned a corner out of sight. I had to keep up the appearance that I was still living in the Gryffindor common room so I waited till I could no longer hear his footsteps. Once he had vanished, I doubled back and found the common room that was so near the kitchen that I had just exited.

"Finally you get here!" I heard Pansy's voice before I saw her. She was standing along the staircase, already in costume, looking positively radiant. She had her hair up in a messy bun with white streaks running through it. Her dress fit her perfectly and was very seductive, if I do say so myself. "What do you think?" she asked nervously.

"Beautiful." I said and walked over to her to place my arms around her. I was on a step lower than hers so I was in the perfect position to rest my head on chest. I smiled and listened to her breathing.

"You should hurry and get ready, Herms." She said after a while. I let go and walked upstairs into my bedroom to pull on my costume. The Egyptian costume seemed to match my skin tone perfectly but I was still a little put off that I didn't have the necklace to match it. Shrugging I went downstairs and met up with Pansy who was reading the book she had purchased at Borgin and Burks. I ignored the book and said, "How do I look?" in an overly dramatic tone.

"Gorgeous!" She exclaimed excitedly. "But…there's something missing." She looked puzzled.

"Yeah, the shop didn't have the necklace to match and-" I was cut off when Pansy reached up, seemingly to adjust my hair but pulled out a jade necklace from behind my ear. I gasped. It was the same necklace I had seen in Hogsmede about a month before. "Its…gorgeous." I said holding it up to the light.

"Here let me put it on you." She smiled and brought me closer to her. She wrapped her arms around me and I could smell that intoxicating aroma of hers once more. She leaned back to examine it. "Perfect." She said softy.

"Thank you so much." I whispered and kissed her softly on the mouth. She smiled and brought me in closely to her and kissed again, with passion. My whole body went tingly and I felt like I could melt there in her arms.

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It was a quarter to ten and everything at the dance was moving forward splendidly. The band was a little disgruntled when they heard they had to wait till 10:30 for alcohol, but were exited to see so much of Hogwarts were fans of theirs. The food was almost gone, all except for the vegetable table that, it seemed, only I was munching on. I shrugged and picked up another carrot to munch on as I patrolled the dance floor for trouble. The band was playing a loud, jumpy song and everyone on the floor was jumping around wildly, banging into each other without care. Pansy came up behind me and said, "How's it going, Cleo?" She grinned magnificently.

"Great!" I called back having to raise my voice to be heard above the music. "What do you think everyone else thinks of it?"

"Brilliant, as usual!" she laughed as the song came to an end and a slow song began. "Want to dance?"

I looked around. Although we were in costume we were still more recognizable then I had thought. I was about to tell her it was too risky when I got an idea. "Follow me." I said and took off for the hallway. Once outside I followed the corridor till I was behind a statue of a Griffin, the music was loud enough we could here it all the way out there.

"May I have this dance?" I asked, in a weird gentlemen's voice.

"I declare, you may." She said in a horrible rendition of a southern accent. I took her hand in mine and she brought her other hand to hold the small of my back. We swayed back in forth, looking into each other's eyes for the longest time. Finally we gave up dancing and kissed.

At first, sweetly then as our passion for one another increased more rough. I could feel her tongue slide across my lips and I greeted it with my own, kissing with intensity that I had never known with Ron. We broke apart, and stared into each other's eyes once more, and hugged. I just wanted to be near this girl. The girl that had so much doubt and so little self esteem, I wanted to be the one who could make it all better for her. I wanted her to feel safe in my arms, the way I felt safe in hers. The song ended but we stood for a couple seconds longer, holding each other and feeling our hearts thumping behind our ribs.

When we arrived back at the great hall, the band was playing yet another fast paced jumpy song and Pansy and I took to watching everyone dance. We saw Harry and Ginny dancing close together, Ginny dancing a little closer to Harry then some of the girls around them, although Harry didn't seem to mind and he grinded right back.

Just then Ron emerged from out of nowhere and punched Harry directly in the eye. "Stop making my sister dance like a WHORE." He screamed at Harry. I bounded forward, my wand drawn but Blaise, who was dressed up as Professor Snape, got there first and restrained him physically.

I ran to Harry and Ginny was already performing medicinal magic to put bandages on his cut, although she must of done it a little too much because soon his entire left side of his face was covered in white bandages. From behind me I heard the lead singer of the band yelling: "Hey! What's going on over there! Stop fighting, you two!" I turned around and saw that Ron had freed himself from Blaise and was now trying to punch him in the face. Lavender was crying next to them, trying to calm Ron down, but Ron was ignoring her.

"Protego!" I yelled pointing my wand at the two of them and instantly a bubble formed around Ron so he could not get closer than three feet away from any other person.

"Blaise, could you wheel him into the hall so we can take him to see Professor McGonagol, please?" I asked calmly putting my wand away in the pocket of my costume.

"You're not the boss of him!!" Ron yelled as he was being levitated out into the hall. I rolled my eyes and went straight to the front of the room.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance." I told the band quickly. They shook their heads and offered me the microphone, which I took and said, "It is now 10:30. All underclassmen are now required to go back to your common rooms, I'm sorry for the interruption." I looked around at all the groaning underclassmen and the excited upperclassmen. "House Prefects, please make sure no one from your house is still here in ten minutes. Professor McGonagol has put an enchantment on the Hall that will turn you into things that I think you'd rather not be, if you were underage and still in the hall." I smiled devilishly and handed back the microphone. Needless to say that little announcement made sure no underclassmen had stuck around. I went out into the hall and found Blaise and Ron bickering amongst a group of second years.

"You're just a…s-stupid Slytherin!" Ron slurred, obviously drunk again. My face became hot with anger.

"Ronald!" I said sternly, my sudden appearance seemed to shock him into speechlessness. "If I ever catch you drinking again, I will be sure that your mother knows! As for now," I checked my watch. "McGonagol should be here any minute to check up on the party. When she does-"

"When I do…?" McGonagol cut me off, yet again, coming up from behind me in stunning dark purple dress robes. As Blaise explained the situation to her Ron was starting to doze off in his own protective bubble, drooling out the sides of his mouth as he leaned up against the sides of his bubble. It took me all my strength not to pop the bubble and see him fall to the floor.

"Mr. Weasley!" She said sternly, glaring in astonishment at the red headed boy. "Follow me to my office this instant!" This seemed to snap him back into consciousness and he followed McGonagol down the hall, looking drowsy.

I grinned at Blaise. "Thanks."

"No problem." He said and we entered the great hall once more. The rest of the night Pansy, Blaise, Harry, Ginny and I all hung out together. At first Harry and Ginny were a little weary of Blaise, they didn't seem to know how to act around him but after a couple butterbeers we all unwound and had a real good time.

"Get this!" Harry was saying, animatedly. "I thought that you were a Deatheater at f-first!" He and Ginny laughed hysterically and Blaise chuckled, obviously better at holding his liquor.

"No, I'm not. But I've learned that appearances and first impressions can be misleading." He grinned at me and Pansy and said, "I always thought that Pansy was Malfoy's bitch, that Hermione here, was a stuck up know it all, and that you, Harry, was just Dumbeldore's favorite."

Harry and Ginny looked up, not knowing Blaise's intention of this comment. Then Pansy, Blaise and I all burst into laughter, me trying to lighten the mood. Seeing that it was just a joke they laughed too. We got up and danced the night away, Ginny with Harry and Blaise with Pansy and I.

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On our way back to our common room Pansy stopped me. "Hermione. I wanted to say that tonight was the best night of my entire life." She seemed tired and a little tipsy, but sincere.

"It was mine too." I took her hand in mine and continued walking down the hall. "I don't know when I've had so much fun!" We turned the corner to where our portrait stood but something was wrong. The portrait door was swung open already. We looked at each other and drew our wands, going inside with caution we were met by a tall, thin man with jet-black hair and glasses that was sitting on the arm of one of the couches.

"Who are you?" I asked sharply, pointing my wand at him deliberately, but he didn't look at me, he looked behind me at Pansy. His eyes seemed to be filling with tears as soon as he saw her and I heard him whisper, "Pansy…"

I looked back at Pansy briefly. She was angrier then I had ever seen her, nostrils flaring and her face was red. She held up her wand higher and said, "Hello, Father."

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An/ Oh, my gosh, sorry! Like I said, I've been sick lately, and trying to get a job. I hope the next one gets put up sooner than this one did! Review away. :)