Poisonous Pansy

As she was walking down the hallway, Elizabeth Laurier was stopped by Pansy.
“Hey, Elizabeth!” She called.
“What do you want, Pansy?” There was no one in school who Elizabeth hated more than Pansy. Pansy not only was her ex-toxic friend, she was also Draco’s ex, and had cheated on him. Pansy was jealous of her because Elizabeth was always closer to Draco as his best friend than Pansy ever was.
“Come on Ellie, you’re still mad at me? I just wanted to give you this potion I made in class. It’s harmless and makes you smart!” She said, holding out a small vial of colourless liquid.
Elizabeth grabbed it hesitantly, and brought it to her lips. It didn’t smell bad, so she decided to try it. It tasted quite pleasant so she drank it all.
“Yes, I’m still mad at you. And don’t call me Ellie. But thank you Pansy. I have to leave now though so bye,” she answered.
“Goodbye, Elizabeth. Goodbye,” said Pansy, with a pleased look on her face.

Later in the Great Hall Elizabeth sat down next to her best friend, Draco.
“Hello, Lizzy,” he said, a mischievous smile on his face.
“Bloody hell, Draco, how many times have I told you not to call me that?”
“Twelve,” he declared. “I’ve been counting.”
“God, you’re annoying.”
“Oh, sorry, Lizzy,” a smile spread across his face.
“Ugh, fine, I’ll let you call me that, but only you!” she responded.
“Okay, Elizabeth.”
She rolled his eyes at him.
As they were eating lunch and chatting with other students at the table, Elizabeth began to feel a bit lightheaded. She ignored it though, and drank a bit more water, assuming it would go away. Everyone sounded weird though, their voices distorted and slow. She couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying.
Draco told her a joke, and looked at her expectantly, anticipating her familiar laugh, but when he looked over, she was pale and her eyes were unfocused, and looking past him, almost like he was invisible. “Hey, are you okay?” He asked.
Elizabeth didn’t answer. What he said sounded like gibberish. Her vision was swimming, and the room looked stretched out, like there was a black hole on the other side pulling it in. Her best friend, although right next to her, felt miles away.
“Hey, Elizabeth, answer me!” said Draco, starting to get worried.
“Draco, I don’t feel so good…” She felt weak, then darkness overcame her. and she passed out. Draco managed to catch her.
“ELIZABETH! WAKE UP!” He shouted, now truly concerned for her. “SOMEONE HELP, GET MADAM POMFREY! QUICKLY, SHE’S NOT BREATHING!" A singular tear escaped down his cheek. It was a blur for Draco after that. She was rushed to the hospital where Draco wasn’t allowed to enter. He paced the hall outside. After what felt like an eternity, Madam Pomfrey called for Headmaster Dumbledore. They talked in hushed tones, and Dumbledore finally reappeared, a grim expression on his face. He looked at Draco, and just shook his head. Draco fled the scene, what was once a single tear, turned into a raging river. He locked himself in his dorm, and refused to believe she was gone.

A few days later, he heard a knock on his door. Draco lifted his head from his tear-stained pillow. From the door, came Harry’s voice. “Hey, Draco? I’m really sorry to bother you, but her funeral”—Harry winced, unsure if he should go on—“is starting soon.”
Draco said nothing, but washed himself up and changed into his finest black suit, the one he had hoped to never have to use, and left his room for the first time in days.

The funeral was dark and bleak, Draco never before had felt pain like this. He was unaware it was possible to hurt this much, yet there he was. He seemed to be on autopilot, his body here, but his soul, gone. Pansy approached him, laughing obnoxiously.
“What do you want?” he asked, emotionless.
“Draco, you look so hot in that suit! Oh, now that that annoying Elizabeth isn’t here, I'll never be your second option!” she and her little troupe of friends giggled.
“Fuck off, Pans–” his voice broke, and he turned away from Pansy questioning how someone could be so cruel. Unable to stay any longer, he ran inside Hogwarts, locking himself inside a bathroom, before he started crying. He crumpled into a ball on the floor, where he stayed for what seemed like hours, sobbing, and shaking. Harry found him not too long after witnessing his interaction with Pansy, and sat down next to him. Draco didn't protest.
“God, I’m sorry, Malfoy, that was just cruel.” said Harry.
“Just leave me alone, PoTtaH,” he finally managed when he had calmed down enough to form words.
Although he wanted to stay, Harry got up and left Malfoy.

Elizabeth opened her eyes and couldn’t see a thing.
She panicked. Was it dark or was she blind…? She tried to sit up, but hit her head, telling her she was in an extremely small space. Head now pounding from when she hit it, she desperately searched her robe’s pockets, barely having enough space to move her arms, and produced her wand from them. “Lumos!” she commanded. Light protruded from the wand, and she sighed in relief, knowing that she wasn’t blind. Her relief did not last long. She realised she was in a coffin, and she started to get claustrophobia. The panic set in quicker this time. She was hyperventilating, but the walls were shrinking so fast that soon her chest couldn’t expand enough to breathe. She couldn’t believe it, she was going to die. She gripped her wand so tightly her knuckles turned white and… her wand! “EXPECTO PATRONUM!” She yelled, trying to get a message through, however, it seemed even magic couldn’t get past her imprisonment. She tried every spell she knew, even alohomora, to try to get her coffin to open. She panicked, scratching and hitting the walls, screaming for help, to the point of exhaustion. Then, she passed out.

It had been days since his last interaction with Draco, and Harry was starting to get worried.
Harry snuck into the Slytherin Common room with his invisibility cloak, although Hermione’s friend, a Slytherin, had told him the password. (The Slytherins weren’t ecstatic when he intruded, to say the least.)
He crept up to his room, and knocked. No answer. “Hey, Draco…” he called “do you want to get some fresh air? You haven’t left in days.” Harry expected a grunt, or a “go away” like how he responded a few days ago but he heard nothing. “Draco? Are you in there?” He asked. Again, no answer. He turned around, defeated, but slipped on something. He looked down and saw a stream of blood coming from inside the room. “Draco!” Harry wasted no time. “Alohomora!” The door opened by itself. Inside it revealed Draco lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. His injuries were almost identical to when Harry used sectumsempra on him, and his wand was halfway across the room, like he dropped it and it rolled. Draco was still half alive, although he didn’t look it. He was pale, and shaking violently. Harry ran to him and dropped to his knees.
“Draco, no, no, no, you can’t be dead, Draco, please!” he cried.
Draco spoke so weakly that Harry almost didn’t hear him. “I had to… I love her. Good-bye, PoTt–” but before he could finish, he coughed up blood, his mysterious grey eyes darkened and his chest went up and down for the last time.
“No, NO! DRACO! Please Draco, you can’t leave me, I, I LOVE YOU!” he shouted, tears streaming down his face. Draco was still. Harry kissed his already cold lips and Draco gasped, like a swimmer who had been underwater too long finally reaching the surface, and made eye contact with Harry for a split second before passing out. At that moment, Ron and Hermione, who had been hanging out with a Slytherin friend nearby, barged in.
“Harry, we heard you scea— BLOODY HELL, ARE YOU OKAY?!” yelled Ron, stopped in his tracks, too stunned to move.
“Get a professor, NOW!” he shouted back.
McGonagall appeared swiftly, followed by other professors, and took charge of the situation. Harry couldn’t believe what was happening and the last thing he remembered was sitting in the hospital wing next to Draco's bed.

Elizabeth opened her eyes and immediately remembered where she was. Please, please let this all be a dream. She started making up all kinds of reasons why she wasn’t actually in a coffin. Maybe it’s just the dead of the night, that’s why I can’t see. Yeah, and my covers are just tucked in so tightly that it feels like a coffin. And no one can hear me if I scream because they’re using a spell to not have to hear my incessant snoring. She thought. Rationally she knew that thought was inaccurate, but part of her couldn’t let go of the hope saying she wasn’t stuck. Then, she took out her wand and cried “Lumos!”. She was still there. Still in the coffin. Tears forming in her eyes, she got rid of the light coming from her wand, not wanting to see anything anymore. She couldn’t believe she was going to die. She was so young, and had a future, and friends, and family, and crushes. She couldn’t bear to think about the fact that the person she was closest to, her best friend, Draco, would never know she wasn’t dead. She would never see his face again, tease him, hear his comforting laugh. She was sobbing now, thinking about everyone in her life that she loved, but mostly him. Thinking about all her happy memories. She decided to try one last time. She didn’t use any spells, but in a last desperate attempt, she searched her pockets, when she remembered she had a secret pocket, hidden by magic. She quickly searched it, hands shaking, hoping to find something, anything, when her hands brushed a round metal object. She grasped it and used her wand light to see it. Upon closer observation, she realised it was a coin, but not just any coin, the enchanted one from Dumbledores’ Army! She couldn’t believe her luck. If there was any hope left, someone would realise the date changed to her birthday. She fiddled with it, taking a few tries to get it to cooperate with her, but she finally changed it. She hoped someone would notice and come save her, she knew time was running out.

Harry was sitting in the hospital wing, slumped in a chair when Draco stirred. He looked at him excitedly, and smiled, hoping for one back. Instead, all he got was: “What are you doing here, PoTtaH? You know, there was only one person I cared about in this entire school, and it wasn’t you.”
Harry was caught by surprise. He knew Draco didn’t owe him anything, but he had just saved his life, and confessed his feelings for him. “I– but…, sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll be going now. But, I wanted you to have this. It’s the coin the DA used to never get caught. I know you were against it, and you two had a fight when she joined it, but she had one just like this, so… take it,” said Harry, dropping the coin into Draco’s hands before he got up and walked away. He looked back at him, one more time, but Draco’s back was turned. Harry felt deflated.
“Wait, PoTtaH, I’m sorry, don’t leave,” said Draco. Harry turned back around, unsure whether he should go back to him or leave. He decided he’d take the first option. He sat back down in the chair next to Draco, but didn’t say anything, too afraid to mess it up. “I just wanted to say—” Draco continued. “Hey, why is your coin moving? BLOODY HELL, SHE’S MOVING IT ISN’T SHE? HARRY, HARRY, SHE’S MOVING IT. IT SHOWS HE- HER BIRTHDAY!” Draco practically jumped out of his bed, and started running, hospital gown and everything, towards her grave. Harry was close behind, holding the wand Draco forgot for him. When they reached the fresh soil in which Elizabeth was trapped, Draco dropped down on his hands and knees and started digging, just like that. Harry tossed him his wand, but he ignored him, too focused on what he was doing, Harry also realised there was no spell he knew for undigging dead bodies presumed to be alive, so he cast his wand aside, and copied Draco.
They created a commotion and soon a crowd of students formed around them, most just observing but a few snickering and saying things like “They're mental!” or “That is so embarrassing.”. Then Hermione and Ron broke through the crowd and dropped on their knees, helping them dig even further. Soon, Neville, Luna, and even Ginny joined. They were about halfway through when everyone watching became silent. Draco was undisturbed and didn’t waste a second, but the rest of them turned to find an angry Dumbledore.

Elizabeth had given up. She had tried everything, but no one was coming. She could tell the limited supply of air in her coffin was running out. She felt lightheaded, and knew that the next time she passed out, she would never wake up. She was trying to fight against the feeling, but soon succumbed to it. In the last few seconds before she lost consciousness, she heard noises and shouting above her. “Help.” she whispered before it all went black.

“Draco Malfoy, DIDYOUSTARTDIGGINGUPAGRAVE,” Dumbledore said calmly, quickly approaching Draco and calmly lifting him off the ground while pinning his arms to his sides.
“No sir! Well, yes, but she’s alive! I know it.” He said
“Hey, I reached the bottom!” interrupted Harry, who was secretly digging while Dumby was preoccupied with Draco. Dumbledore turned to him in shock, and calmly threw Draco against the ground, calmly breaking one of Draco’s arms.
Draco cried out in pain, and then looked down, horrified by the sight of blood pouring out of him. He was supposed to stay in the hospital wing longer, and even just getting out of his bed was too physically strenuous for his unhealed body, nevertheless being calmly thrown by the calmest man alive. He was in agony. Harry was telling Draco to come, they had reached the coffin. Draco managed to drag himself over. Dumbledore was very calm.
“I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD, YOU BOTH WILL BE EXPELLED, I AM THROWING YOU LITTLE SHITS OUT OF MY GODDAMN SCHOOL!” He shouted at them. They paid no attention though. Working together, Luna and Ginny lifted the cover of her coffin, and Draco gasped at the sight of his friend. He could barely see now, his vision blurring in and out, but she looked sickly and unwell, almost unrecognisable. She didn’t look like the Elizabeth he knew. Her normally piercing blue eyes were dull.
“Help,” she whispered so silently, no one but Draco heard it. Then he was being lifted up by Hagrid.
“We gotta get you to the hospital wing, boy,” he said. Draco couldn’t fight him. Hagrid was much too strong, and Draco was barely conscious either way. He gave one last glance in the direction of the coffin, and saw Elizabeth being lifted out of it. Then his eyes closed.

Elizabeth had been in the hospital wing for a week. She had been falling in and out of consciousness, having these wild dreams. There was one where Draco was next to her in a cast and told her that Dumbledore had broken his arm. That one was weirdly realistic. There was another where Dumbeldore had flipped her off. He was being quite aggressive in her mind. The rest were too mixed up to make much of.
“Hey,” she heard Draco’s voice say.
She turned to face where it came from, and saw his expectant face fall into a relieved smile when he saw her. He immediately took her in a warm embrace, something he rarely did.
“Draco,” she said, muffled. She realised he was crying.
He pulled away and wiped a tear from his face, still looking at her.
“Draco, it’s okay, I’m okay.”
Just then, Madam Pomfrey broke in and snapped at Draco to leave since visiting hours were over.

The next few days, Elizabeth was surrounded by all her friends. There were gifts on a nearby table, and everyone was trying to talk to her. Draco would visit her less frequently, but still showed up at least once every other day. Everytime Draco was gone, so was Harry. She got curious and decided to ask Ginny where they were. She just giggled and said “Fucking.”
Elizabeth was finally feeling normal again, but Madame Pomfrey made her stay for a few more days to “make sure she was perfectly fine”. People were visiting her less, and she had a bit more time to herself. The next time she saw Draco, he had walked in with Harry. Elizabeth smiled, knowing exactly what was happening.
“So, Draco, how’s your boyfriend?” she asked mischievously.
Draco was flustered. He was blushing and trying to deny what she said.
“I– No, what? What are you talking about– surely not– I mean– that’s wrong.” Draco kept this pattern of speech while Harry just blushed and looked away.
“Oh, stuff it in a can. I already know. And besides, you’re cute together,” she said. Draco hung his head in resignation, and Harry just laughed. “Anyways, I need to tell you guys something,” she lowered her voice, afraid of being overheard. “The other day, I heard Madam Pomfrey tell Professor McGonagall I’d been poisoned. Later, I asked her if she knew what had happened to me, without revealing that I’d heard her, and she lied, saying that she had no idea what caused this.”
Draco and Harry were shocked. “Do you know who did it?” Harry inquired.
“Well, I got to thinking, and I remembered. The day I ‘died’, Pansy had offered me a potion, and I accepted it. I was distracted, thinking about someo— something, well that doesn’t matter, but either way, I wasn’t thinking straight because who in their right mind would take an unknown substance from the girl who envies them and drink it? So I drank it, and later I started to feel lightheaded, and well, you know the rest,” said Elizabeth
“Well, I mean, we have to tell someone!” Draco said. “We can’t just let a murderer walk around Hogwarts!”
“You’re right, but why would they believe us?” she asked.
“I’m going to go spy on Pansy, right now,” Draco declared. Elizabeth tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen. “Harry, where’s your invisible cloak?”
Harry looked between them, torn, and finally said, “In the trunk underneath my bed. You already know how to get in the common room,” he finished, with a smirk on his face saying ‘we were there last night’.
“Draco stormed out of there, straight to get the invisibility cloak. Harry stayed with Elizabeth, wondering when he would get back.

Draco had gone into Harry’s dorm, and saw Ron lying on his own bed.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked, with a mouthful of popcorn.
“Nothing.” Draco kneeled down, and rummaged through Harry’s trunk, quickly finding the cloak.
“Hey!” Ron said, muffled with the popcorn he had just shoved in his mouth. “Gif ut pac!” Ron swallowed his popcorn. “Give it back!”
Draco had already put on the cloak though, and disappeared. Ron just munched on his popcorn, unbothered.
Draco went back to his own common room, sure Pansy would be there, and lo and behold, there she was. Draco approached her and stood behind her, careful not to make a sound. She was talking with her friends. Soon the topic of crushes came up.
“So Pansy, who do you like?” asked one of her friends.
“Draco, obviously,” she responded. They all giggled. “Except I wish that stupid girl would go away, he likes her too much, I don’t care if it’s platonic, he’s my man.”
Draco cringed at the thought of dating Pansy again. She was a living nightmare.
“I wish she were just dead! I was the one who poisoned her.” They all gasped, but then she shushed them, and they all agreed they would’ve done the same either way. Draco gasped behind them. He couldn’t believe it. He had suspected her a bit, but he couldn’t understand how she would want to take someone’s life like that. They all turned at the sound of the gasp, but saw nothing, and carried on with their conversation. Draco bolted out of there. He reported what he heard immediately to McGonagall who immediately called Pansy to her office. She was expelled from Hogwarts merely days later. Draco assumed she used some sort of truth telling potion.
By now, Elizabeth was out of the hospital wing, but Draco barely saw her. Even during lunch, she would sometimes sit by Luna. He didn’t mind too much though, as it had given him time to grow close to Harry. When he did see Elizabeth, he would ask her, but everytime she would just giggle and say, “think back to that day in the hospital wing.”. One time he saw the two run off into the Ravenclaw common room together. Ginny, a friend of Luna's, had been near Draco at that moment. Draco asked her what they were doing together all the time, and she smiled, and just repeated what she had said to Elizabeth about them.