Chapter 3
Time to head to the lake has arrived and draco has tried everything but pansy doesn't budge, she's adamant about attending this support group. Draco throws his robe at her as he slumps on the bed. "I am not going pansy."
Pansy throws his robe off and gets up, charging towards him. "Draco you do not say no after saying yes, we don't go back on our word." She asserts.
"We do, we are slytherins." Blaise chuckles beside draco. "Well that's probably what the rest of them think."
"See!" Draco lays down. "We don't have to go and embarrass ourselves, pansy if you are dying to go then you can though it's of no use." Draco looks at pansy seriously. "Granger is into weasley." Both blaise and pansy smack draco with a pillow.
"It's not just her, we need to prove ourselves to the rest. What happens when we have kids" She gags at her own statement. "and they get bullied because of us."
"No kid of mine will be bullied, i will make sure." Draco says quickly.
"How will you do that? By hiding from every wizard that crosses your path?" Pansy raises an eyebrow at him.
"Draco we should go, even if we get embarrassed. We should start getting used to it." Blaise says getting up and dragging a reluctant draco behind.
Neville paces around uncomfortably in front of the trio. Dean and seamus arrive running and grinning. They knew of the trio's crush on the slytherins and decided to play matchmaking. "Change of plan!" Seamus announces.
Neville sighs in relief. "Oh thank god!"
"We are still having the interviews ... but together in a circle." Seamus continues as everyone looks confused.
"How's that any proper, who would want to be interviewed with other candidates to date neville." Ron says.
"I don't want to date!" Neville sighs in exasperation as the rest ignore him.
"It's not fair that one girl gets interviewed by us five either. It's good to have support. If anything we extended the invitation to couples to come and offer their insight as well." Dean says trying to sound honest.
"Yea and this way neville won't shit his pants." Seamus adds quickly.
"Couples? Which ones?" Hermione asks curiously, she knows pansy and draco wouldn't attend.
"You will see." Seamus says and soon students start joining.
As the slytherins arrive, draco sees the huge mass of students gathered near the lake. He just wants to go and dive in. He walks nervously and for support Pansy holds his hand. As they reach, all eyes are on them and no matter how confident pansy and blaise might be, they both look down simultaneously.
Dean gestures for them to come forward and hands out sheets for them sit on. Most students with frowning and scowling expressions mutter amongst them and leave, clearly not wanting to be in teh slytherins gathering. Draco is about to leave when he hears a voice, a voice he'd recognize anywhere. "Need help with the sheet?" Harry asks him though even harry doesn't know from where he has summoned this much courage because a few minutes back he had decided to end it with draco and let him and pansy be happy forever. He wasn't even expecting them to attend, he almost stumbled into ron when he caught sight of the blond hair.
"No thankyou potter." Pansy intervenes quickly seeing draco staring at harry and not saying anything, she knew how draco gets around boy wonder.
Harry stiffens and nods not knowing why draco refuses to talk to him, he walks away feeling angry at pansy. Why did she have to be everywhere and do everything with draco, she will literally have him for the rest of her life. Harry walks towards hermione who is refusing to look up afraid of seeing pansy and having all her feelings rush back.
As pansy spreads the sheets with draco, he catches her hand which doesn't go unnoticed by harry but he looks away quickly. Draco whispers urgently. "We need to leave pansy, all these people left because of us and now its just us with the trio."
"Oh hush draco, it will be fine and we aren't alone." She motions to a few students scattered around. "They are here as well, no one will notice us."
As blaise is left alone with a sheet, he tries to spread it himself. He knows draco and pansy have to put on a couple's act so he's not waiting for their help. As he struggles, from the corner of his eye, he feels ron's intense gaze upon him as if drilling holes inside his brain. Though if ron wanted that, blaise wouldn't object. He finally musters up the courage to look at ron and when he does, ron's pupils dilate and his breath hitches as he quickly averts his gaze feeling embarrassed at being caught. Ron knows blaise has got plenty of rich and blonde pureblood wizard girls waiting for him but he can't help but fall captive to such intense feelings, without thinking he walks up to blaise. "Need help with that?" He's surprised he didn't stutter.
Blaise can't believe what is happening, is he hallucinating? But he will not let go of this, it might be the only memory he shares with him after the fiendfyre of course. "Ah ... sure."
Ron nods and holds the end of the sheet almost brushing against blaise's knuckles, blaise closes his eyes not caring if ron sees and finds it strange as he tries to memorize the feeling of ron's soft fingers against his own forever but ron quickly grabs the sheet and places it down.
As they all settle down, dean and seamus start with the questioning. "So, hannah isn't here." Seamus announces as neville feels like he can finally breathe. "Does anyone have anything to say to neville?"
Everyone looks around as draco keeps his gaze locked down. If he just keeps staring, this meeting will end quickly without him having to associate at all.
But god seems to have different plans because seamus now turns towards pansy and asks. "Why are you here parkinson, all three of you?" He points at the three as draco's jaw stiffens.
"I don't know, because you invited us." Pansy responds with a smile plastered on her face which everyone finds fake except hermione to whom it's endearing and worth cherishing forever.
"But surely it's got to be more than that, are you bored of draco and want to hook up with neville instead?" He grins at her as draco looks up pissed, no matter how bad it is for him, he won't allow people to slander pansy. But pansy notices and touches his hand, rubbing it and still smiling at seamus. Harry notices this, heck everyone does and he feels jealous. Draco should be like this for him not her. As he's staring at draco, he notices pansy's gaze on him as her smile widens.
"I have other reasons too." She says and draco, blaise look at each other confused. Surely whatever pansy has planned will not gown nicely for them.
"Do go on then." Hermione says and for a second pansy's breath hitches and she gulps forgetting how to speak. The effect hermione has on her is frightening.
Nonetheless she speaks. "We were on the wrong side of the war and now with everything over, to expect us to be forgiven easily is hard and too much to ask from you all. We just hope that it doesn't come in front of our children." She finishes and harry, hermione sigh frustratedly doing the bare minimum of concealing it as draco tries his best to not gag at pansy's statement. He has no idea how they will have kids if he can't even handle the thought of marrying her. Pansy notices hermione and harry's frustrated faces and it angers her. Do they think so lowly of her and draco that they can't even imagine them having kids. Or do they not want them to have kids? She can't help but ask. "Do you think we are undeserving of having children?" She asks hermione and turns her gaze towards harry. "Do you think we can't love them enough?"
Harry doesn't want to speak for he knows he'll explode about how pansy shouldn't be the mother of draco's children or even his wife. He just looks away as hermione says softly. "No we of course don't think that, the war has truly changed all of us. I find myself loving and caring about people i never thought i would." She says thinking of pansy. But pansy thinks she's talking about ron and how wrong she is for that, ron still doesn't deserve all her affection. Didn't he leave her and harry alone to hunt for the horcruxes. She would never.
"Have you changed draco?" Dean asks draco making everyone's gaze fall upon him and students start to whisper amongst themselves. Ever since the new year started, draco hasn't spoken to anyone. He nods.
"Lets play a game! Since pansy and draco are a couple, let's see how well they know each other!" Seamus announces and harry, hermione for selfish reasons are excited. Maybe this way the two will finally realize they aren't good for each other any more and move on maybe giving harry and hermione a chance. Too big a wish but what's the harm in hoping.
Ron notices blaise scoffing and he thinks, is it because he knows they'll get the answers right or will they get none right. Either way he's excited because if the answers are wrong then that also means that blaise being their friend is as oblivious as them and maybe then ron can try to show him who he actually deserves - him.
Draco is about to object not wanting to reveal secrets but pansy beats him to it by agreeing.
"But that's not fun alone, how about we have someone else compete. Who else would know draco better?" Seamus thinks as all stare at harry and without wasting a second he raises his hand. Draco and the other two slytheirn look at him shocked.
"He's my sworn enemy since childhood, who knows anyone better than their nemesis." Harry grins trying to not sound creepy as draco chuckles internally, how stupid was he to think that harry actually remembered because he cared. Everyone nods and harry feels his heartbeat rising rapidly, he can feel hermione's angry gaze on him because she knows and everyone knows how foolish he is for partaking in this. Ron smiles at him wishing him luck.
Seamus begins. "What is draco's favourite colour?"
Harry knows this and before pansy he says. "Green!" Draco is obsessed with his house and everybody knows this, surely no one will find his speed in answering weird. He can't wait to beat pansy. He will apologize to hermione later.
Pansy smiles at harry raising an eyebrow as seamus continues. "Now that was easy, we can skip to the second question." He says but pansy interrupts.
"His favourite colour is white." She says confidently staring at draco who smiles and nods much to everyone's shock. Green used to be his favourite colour not because of his house rather because of harry's eyes, the very first he got lost into and the very first he wanted to befriend but ever since the war; green reminds him of slytherins and how dirty they played the war. Now he finds comfort in white where the light surrounds him shielding him from darkness.
"You are probably lying draco." Ron interrupts as harry sits shocked.
"Pansy could have also said green if it was correct, why would they lie?" Blaise says and ron's quiet all over again as he refrains from hugging harry and soothing him.
"What's draco's favourite snack?" Seamus continues.
Harry says hesitantly. "Green apples." He has always seen draco eat those and he dare not say it to anyone but in his amortentia, he smelt of them too.
Pansy chuckles shaking her head. "Chocolate frogs, oh he ate all of them on his way here to hogwarts." And it is true, he finds it filling when he's eating tons and tons of sugar. Who knows when a call will come from azkaban demanding him there. He doesn't want to be hungry. Though he is surprised that harry remembers the green apples being his favourite too, they just aren't filling.
"What is draco's favourite subject?"
Harry says quickly. "Potions." This is too easy.
"Herbology." Pansy says a few seconds after and again draco nods. He hates potions. He hates not seeing snape every time he attends the class and he hates it even more being the reason why snape isn't there.
"Bullshit! Malfoy that's not true! You love potions!" Harry says frustratedly.
"People can change potter." Blaise retorts quickly as draco is unable to comprehend why harry would be angry over this. Is he so used to winning that he can't bear to lose a petty competition that is literally against his supposed girlfriend. Who was he expecting to win this anyways?
"This is getting boring." Hermione interrupts quickly not wanting harry to feel any much worser.
"It is, harry doesn't know anything." Pansy says amused. "One would expect alot more from the saviour here."
Harry looks at her not even masking his anger that seems to be seeping through his veins, how does he not know draco and how does pansy know him more than harry. Surely by some miracle draco must have changed his preferences last night and decided to tell pansy about it, there is simply no other reason. Harry grunts getting up and leaving.
"Potter is being a child." Blaise adds in.
"He is not." Ron comes to his defense quickly much to blaise's annoyance. "He's not used to losing." Ron says trying not to sound suspicious.
"He expected to win this?" Pansy narrows her eyes at ron. "I am draco's girlfriend, of course i'd know better."
"Not necessarily! And even if you do, i bet draco wouldn't know you." Hermione says mad and trying her best to not let tears slip through, why was she so weak these days? One would expect to be much stronger after defeating voldemort.
"And why do you care?" Pansy asks her, staring right into her soul and hermione cannot stay any longer. Thankfully ron stands up and takes hermione away. Everyone looks on not saying anything until neville asks draco.
"So what do you like about herbology?"