Pansy pulled her cloak more tightly around her. It was wet, raining, and unseasonably cold in Diagon Alley, and the street was nearly deserted. She bit back a curse and glanced up from her feet, the uneven cobblestones treacherous under her heels in the freezing rain, despite the cushioning and stabilizing charms.
There was a hulking figure several paces ahead of her, his claret cloak denoting him as an auror. She eyed his broad shoulders and the thick blond hair peeking out from under his hat and over his collar. He was walking purposefully, his long stride propelling him forward quickly. She didn’t necessarily mean to keep up with him, but in the dim evening light filtering through the heavy clouds and the turn to Knockturn Alley quickly approaching, she figured it was better than being caught alone, so she hurried along behind him.
If he glanced back, she never saw it, trying to keep her balance on the icy stones and keep pace with the much taller man. The foreboding entrance to Knockturn Alley passed on their left, and Pansy breathed a sigh of relief as it disappeared into the darkness behind them.
With it passed, Pansy slowed slightly, but so did the auror. The temperature was still dropping, and ice was coating the street. She looked down to secure her footing, and heard a solid thump.
She looked up in surprise to find the auror sprawled across the street, sputtering curses. She covered her mouth with a gloved hand, trying to muffle the laugh that bubbled up from her chest as she continued forward.
“Don’t worry, darling. You’re not the first to fall for me,” she called, and let her hand fall away, throwing her head back to toss her long waves of hair over her shoulder.
The auror let out a disgruntled huff, and she made the mistake of glancing at him as she reached the same spot that had gotten the better of him.
Before she could register the ice under her feet, the ground was gone, and she let out a cry of surprise. She landed nearly in the auror’s lap, her arm thrown out for balance striking his chest and one leg thrown over both of his.
The fall knocked the wind from her lungs, the bitterly cold air stinging as she gasped.
“Don’t worry, you’re not the first to fall for me either,” the man laughed, and heat rushed to her cheeks. She glared at him, narrowing her eyes at the sparkling eyes illuminated by the streetlamp from across the narrow alley. There was something vaguely familiar about him, about the angle of his nose and the curve of his lips.
She hadn’t slept with him. Of that much she was certain; she would have remembered those shoulders, and besides. She had a rule never to date an auror. Draco had been enough, and she just hoped the man wouldn’t be sharing this around the department. Draco would never let her live it down. Dating an auror was a rule she wouldn’t break; it would be the end of the world before she broke it.
The sparkle in his eyes faded as she watched though, and his thick eyebrows lifted in surprise. He cocked his head to one side, another achingly familiar gesture she couldn’t quite place.
“Parkinson? Pansy Parkinson?” Disbelief laced his tone, and she immediately bristled.
“Yes. And you are?” She peered closer, the shadows gaining weight as her heart sped up. Why would an auror know her by sight?
The only one she socialized with was Draco, and occasionally Potter now that Daphne had him wrapped around her little finger. This man was certainly not Draco, and was far too tall and attractive to be Potter. Not to mention he had blond hair and no glasses, let alone the immediately recognizable scar that Daphne had a fondness of tracing absent mindedly when he fell asleep in her lap.
“You don’t recognize me.” The sparkle was back, and a note of amusement touched his deep voice.
“Why should I?” Pansy’s guard was up now, and she didn’t like his tone. “I generally don’t have any reason to involve myself with law enforcement.”
The auror smiled, a delightfully crooked grin that made her stomach flip despite her general annoyance.
“No, no I suppose you wouldn’t. Should I keep it to myself that you threw yourself at me, or would Draco—“
“Excuse you!” Pansy became acutely aware that her legs were still tangled in his, and her hand had come up to steady herself, pressed against the center of his chest. She snatched her hand back and fought against her tight skirt to get her legs back. His thigh was thick and muscular against the back of her own, and she focused on her indignation.
“Draco can go to hell if he thinks—“
“Will you hold still?” The man cut her off, and carefully unwrapped her cloak from around his hand before untwisting his own claret cloak from around her ankle. It became much easier to move, but she was still having trouble getting her legs under her without flashing the tops of her stockings at him.
He got to his feet and offered a hand. She took it rather begrudgingly, and released it the moment she was steady on her feet.
“I’m not going to tell Draco anything, I was only joking. Besides, I think Hermione would hex me to Australia and back if I tried.” His eyes were earnest now, his cheeks deepening a shade of pink.
She narrowed her eyes at him, craning her neck to peer up at him despite the several inches her heels gave her.
“Draco doesn’t need Granger to fight his battles,” she said stiffly, and his crooked grin returned. She silently cursed the little flip of her stomach.
“No, he doesn’t.” He cocked his head again, and she felt suddenly self conscious, as if he was peering into the depths of her soul with those hazel eyes. “You really don’t remember me, do you?”
She crossed her arms and scowled at him. “Obviously you weren’t worth remembering.” Instead of insulting him, this seemed to please him, and he grinned even wider. Pansy huffed in irritation. “Are you going to enlighten me, or may I go now?”
“Are you busy tomorrow?” His question threw her, and she answered before she could stop herself.
“No, why?”
“There’s a coffee shop down on the corner,” he pointed down the alley. “Come for coffee with me at 10 and I’ll tell you.”
“And if I say no?” Pansy was increasingly annoyed, as True Brew was her favorite place for coffee, especially on Saturdays, where she could people watch from the window.
“Then I guess you’ll never know.” A dimple had appeared in one of his cheeks, and she tore her eyes from it to find the rank patch on his shoulder. Sergeant. He didn’t look much older than herself, but that wasn’t saying much as both Draco and Potter had sergeant bars as well, though Draco’s had only come a week or so prior.
She huffed. “I’ll think about it.” With that, she marched past him, and didn’t stop until she’d made it to the apparition point, and was safely within the warm walls of her own flat.
She spent the evening fretting over the odd exchange and when she went to bed, she’d resolved to stay home, curiosity be damned.
The next morning was a different story though, and she cursed herself as she sat in her favorite booth at True Brew, the clock on the far wall showing five minutes to ten. She had sat facing away from the door, not willing to give him the satisfaction of looking as if she were expecting him.
She kept both hands wrapped around the coffee up in front of her to keep from tapping impatiently on the table top, watching the steady stream of weekend shoppers pass by the window. It was still raining, and most hurried past. One woman had her hood down though, her face turned up to the sky, wearing a beatific smile with her eyes closed.
Pansy wondered what the woman was thinking, the cold rain on her face, soaking her light brown hair. She was pulled from her thoughts when someone slid into the booth across from her, clutching a steaming cup of his own.
The auror from last night looked even more familiar in the light of day, a knit sweater in a soft tan making his hazel eyes look greener.
“You came.” He cocked his head, the same motion he’d made last night, like a curious puppy examining something that made an unexpected sound.
“I needed coffee.” She took a sip to exaggerate her point, and he smiled, the dimple appearing again. He glanced down at his hands, wrapped around his own cup, and with the leafy wallpaper behind him, the realization hit her like an angry hippogriff.
She took another sip of her coffee to hide the shock, and set it down carefully.
“Besides,” she said lightly. “It’s not every day a girl gets Neville Longbottom falling for her.” His eyes were startled when he looked back up, and Pansy couldn’t help the smirk that curled her lips upwards. She’d been correct.
Now that she was looking, it was crystal clear, and she didn’t know how she’d missed it. The confidence he’d exuded moments before seemed to be melting away, and he hunched his shoulders slightly and avoided her gaze, reminding her even more sharply of the boy she’d once shared a herbology table with.
He looked embarrassed, further confusing her. Why did her recognizing him made him nervous? Hadn’t that been the point of this in the first place?
She watched him fidget with the coffee cup, and waited. He had the quaffle, so she’d be patient. She just examined him, weighing the man he’d grown into against the boy she’d once known. Though she supposed she hadn’t really known him.
Known of him, sure. Known to stay as far away from his cauldron in potions as possible, known to watch his every move in Herbology, known that Daphne’s younger sister Astoria had an unfathomable crush on him at some point… But didn’t know him enough to even begin to guess why he’d asked her for coffee. She she watched him fidget with the cup and fight a silent war within himself.
“Why did you come?” He broke the silence, glancing up at her. “If you knew it was me, why come?”
Pansy considered it for a moment, and settled on a half truth. “Pure curiosity. I wanted to know why you asked me for coffee rather than verbally eviscerate me for being a royal bitch for years and leave me there in a puddle.”
His eyebrows rose, his expressive eyes showing his surprise. “We’re hardly the same people we were in school. Hermione positively raves about you every time you come up in conversation. I guess I was curious to see how you’d turned out. It was easier to justify in my head when I didn’t think you’d recognize me at all, though.” He made a face, and Pansy smiled, dropping her eyes to her hands again.
“I don’t know why. You’ve really grown into yourself.” She glanced back up. “With all those girls falling for you, no less.”
He gave an embarrassed chuckle, and shrugged, but his shoulders relaxed slightly.
They chatted for a while, the conversation coming more and more easily as the hours passed. When the clock passed four and they were still in the same booth, Pansy found herself considering her rule.
Surely dating an auror wouldn’t be the end of the world, would it? Maybe just the end of the world as she knew it…. And that wouldn’t be the worst thing.
When they stood, Pansy having invited him out for dinner, he helped her with her cloak and she slipped her arm through his, earning herself another surprised look and embarrassed laugh. It was charming, and when he squeezed her arm into his side, Pansy had decided that some rules were worth breaking.