Sometimes it was frustrating being the girl loved by Harry Potter.
Not for the reason some might think- Pansy actually tended to enjoy the enmity from others who jealously wished they could take her place as his girlfriend. Channeling her inner bitch was pretty easy for her, although Harry might have teased that it was because the bitchiness was right on the surface at times.
And he was right. Not that she would necessarily admit that- not out loud to anyone other than Luna, and certainly not where Harry could overhear her. But the thing was, he truly seemed to love even that bitchy side of her. That was the problem.
At times it felt like Harry was infinitely giving, always willing to please her, always supportive no matter her moods. She knew that deep down there was a part of him still damaged from the years of being treated so horribly by those fucking muggles that Dumbledore gave him to, and she felt both rage and sorrow when she thought about that. Because she also worried that she wasn't giving enough to Harry. A successful relationship needed a balance of give and take, and in her more broody moments, Pansy tended to fret that she could never really do enough for him.
Waking early that Monday morning all bloated and hormonal was one such moment. Her bladder demanded that she get up, no matter how warm and comfy it was having Harry spooned up behind her, so Pansy grudgingly stepped into her slippers by the side of the bed and quietly crept into the bathroom.
She made sure and grabbed her wand on the way so that she could cast a silencing charm on the door before practically collapsing onto the toilet. She started weeping, and she just knew that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from sobbing before getting this all out.
How the hell could Harry have been so calm about learning that he had a piece of that monster attached to his forehead? Logically, she knew it was in part due to his typical grace under pressure, but she also realized that he still didn't understand just how important he was- there was a hole in his natural self-worth due to his atrocious upbringing. He would probably be panicking if there was such a burden on her shoulders. So, of course, falling apart in the bathroom first thing that morning was the beginning of yet another stressful week at Hogwarts.
Once the tears slowed, Pansy struggled to calm back down, deep breaths to put herself back together. Things wouldn't have been so bad if everything had happened either a week earlier or later. Then she could have buried her fears under a hilarious amount of sex, clinging to Harry physically so easily even when her emotions were a mess.
Plus, it was the first time that they hadn't been able to properly celebrate one of his quidditch wins and for some reason that felt like a bad omen.
She went through the motions of everything she needed to do to get ready for the day and eventually remembered to take down the silencing charm so that Harry wouldn't worry if it was still there when he woke up. Pansy was worried enough for both of them.
But it was hard not to want to just run away. Flee to another country and leave the mess with the Dark Lord for Dumbledore and all the other bastards who didn't clean up the things that they had allowed to happen in the first place. Every single one of those 'rogue Death Eaters' was an indictment of their society, and there had been at least twenty five of them at the World Cup only fifteen months prior. That was twenty five murderers who had walked free due to blatant corruption if not horrendous amounts of incompetence.
The stupid fuckers like Fudge deserved whatever the Dark Lord might do to them in the future.
The only problem was that Harry was right too. She would never leave Luna to a fate like that. And Harry wouldn't leave behind people like Granger or Sirius either. Hell, he probably wouldn't want to leave Moody to fight on his own, even if the crazy old man would never accept anything less than hunting dark wizards until his dying day.
After all, his 'peaceful retirement' had barely lasted a year when he was recruited to be their Defense professor and that was then replaced by going back to work in trying to track down the Death Eaters once again.
It was all a mess, and Pansy was dreading things getting even worse. November was hardly off to the best start. Harry's awful luck at Hogwarts was still in effect and she could only hope that it would get better one of these days.
The classes dragged by that day, which didn't do anything to help her mood. Harry let her lay her head down in his lap and sleep through History of Magic, which wasn't anything unusual. Potions though demanded her attention, and for a change her sample at the end of the day was clearly worse than her boyfriend's. Getting through Arithmancy and Defense after lunch wasn't any easier.
But after that last lesson, she found the Carrow girls waiting for her outside the classroom.
"Can we talk for a minute?" Hestia asked.
"Sure."
"Do you ladies require my presence?" Harry wondered.
"No, but we should probably meet back up once we're done," Flora replied. "Why?"
"Uh, Neville wanted to talk to me, probably about wanting to join our little club. He was interested the other day, but I... well, it's kind of a long story."
"Why don't we meet you by that old Defense room that we've been using for our group? Which, by the way, you still need to name, Harry," Hestia answered with a grin. "You're the leader, it's your job to come up with the name."
"Ugh. I can't come up with anything."
"Seriously?"
"Well, the fighting club seems kinda lame, and I don't think most people would find 'Surviving Death Eaters 101' very amusing."
"Why 101?" Flora asked.
Pansy was wondering that too. She didn't think Harry meant it as a Depeche Mode reference, but then again, she wouldn't put it past him to make a joke that only she would get. Since she didn't get it, she had to assume it wasn't that either, but it did sound kind of catchy actually.
"It's a muggle thing, don't worry about it. Anyway, I'll head to that room once I'm done with Neville then."
"Okay, we'll see you there, Harry." Hestia waited until he wandered off and then she took Pansy's arm and they were on their way down the opposite corridor. "That room would be a good place for us to talk anyway."
"And it's not too long a walk," Pansy added. "I approve for that reason if no other."
"You do seem a little crankier than usual," Hestia teased.
"More than the usual amount of stress plus bad timing."
"Say no more," Flora said with a hint of a grin. "Saturday night after quidditch was pretty awful in the common room. The team, who are already a bunch of scumbags, were even more whiny and unpleasant after Harry beat them yet again." She stopped to chuckle for a moment. "I think it's because none of them have played a winning match against Gryffindor, largely due to your boyfriend. Unfortunately, that's part of what we need to talk to you about. But we should wait until we're alone to say anything else."
"Alright."
It did not escape her attention that Flora and Hestia both walked the entire way with their wands in hand. Pansy drew hers as well. She supposed it was better to be safe than sorry.
Thankfully, it was a short, unremarkable trip. Once they had the door locked and some privacy spells up, both Carrows relaxed as they all found places to sit.
"We wanted to warn you," Flora began. "Not that we aren't all on our guard anyway, but one of the idiots was overheard by... who was it, Hes?"
"Diane Carter."
"Right, Carter, she overheard Bletchley talking about how they should get you alone to send a message to Harry."
"That's not surprising, really," Pansy replied.
"True. I'm almost surprised they haven't tried something like that already."
"We just wanted you to know so you could be more cautious," Hestia added. "You don't deserve anything like that, and we all know that some of those... those-"
"Filthy scumbags?" her twin suggested.
"Right, some of those filthy scumbags would probably do terrible things to any girl unlucky enough to be one of their victims. But it might be even worse since you're Harry's girlfriend."
"And his response would be catastrophic," Flora said. "Hogwarts would become a war zone. I'd imagine a lot of blood would be spilled. If Harry were arrested, and with how incredibly stupid the ministry's been lately that is possible, everything could spiral out of control. We all need to be on guard."
"I'm not usually on my own, but I'll keep this in mind. Don't say anything to Harry though."
"Why not?"
"He has enough on his plate. Especially lately."
"Yeah, I can see that," Flora agreed. "Just make sure that nothing happens to you. Harry might tear the entire school apart. I'd like to survive the year, if possible."
"Wouldn't we all?" Pansy nodded. "It's a shame we have such low standards for our school years."
"You can say that again."
"So, are we going to have another meeting soon?" Hestia asked.
"Yeah, Harry's thinking of trying to do at least two a week for the rest of the term. Between that, the groups for the younger years, and now Madam Pomfrey's healing lessons, we're going to be really busy."
"That's not the worst thing in the world. It will keep us together, for one thing."
"True." Pansy thought back to the morning, and remembered seeing a package arrive for the Carrows at breakfast. "Any other news?"
"Why do you ask?"
"The owl this morning."
"Oh," Hestia blushed and looked away. "Lord Black sent us birthday presents."
"Happy birthday."
"Thanks. It wasn't really necessary. He's been amazingly kind to us."
"You can just call him Sirius, you know," Pansy smirked. "He really isn't big into any sort of formality. You should hear the way he and Harry talk to each other. Besides, I think he understands because of how awful his own mother was. Harry told me she was the sort of mad woman who was proud that one of her sons became a Death Eater, and even his death 'in service to the cause' didn't detract from that support."
"That's really fucking nuts," Flora snorted.
"I know, believe me. But that should help you imagine just how bad Sirius must have had it. I think that's why he and Harry get along so well."
"What do you mean?" Hestia wondered.
"Harry's... older than he looks," Pansy frowned. "Not physically mind you, but most of his life has been pretty hard. I mean, you both have heard some of the crap that's happened to him over the last few years. Sirius ran away from home at sixteen, got involved in the war against the Dark Lord as a teenager, saw two of his closest friends betrayed and murdered at twenty one, and then he spent more than a decade locked up in Azkaban. The two of them both have some pretty deep scars but they try to bring out a lighter side in each other. It's sort of like gallows humor, I suppose.
"I like to tease them that it's girl talk when they get together." Flora snorted at her description but Pansy continued. "I've only heard a bit of it, but imagine the two of them making fun of each other constantly and talking very frankly about sex. There's a bit of gossip every now and then too."
"Girl talk indeed," Hestia grinned. "Sirius has asked him to call us by his name. I just felt so grateful for everything he's done that it felt like I should call him by his title, you know?"
"I understand," Pansy nodded.
"He asked us to come home for Christmas, " Flora interjected. "At first, I didn't want to interfere in anything for him. It's not like we're even family, not really, but... maybe we should go."
"I'm sure he'd like that. There's a part of Sirius that's still a big kid... well, not so much underneath the surface, but... I think he just needs to be around the right people to let that out. I imagine Harry and I will probably visit him at some point over the holidays."
"That would be nice," Hestia replied with a smile. "I can't remember the last time we had a good Christmas. Or a visit with friends, for that matter."
"I can relate. When I still lived with my parents, things had been pretty awful for the last several years."
"Even your mum?" Hestia asked, clearly not sure how sensitive the topic might be.
"She... well, she wasn't a Death Eater, but being married to one didn't make her life a very happy one." Pansy sighed and tried to figure out her still somewhat confused feelings about her late mother. "I think things weren't too bad when I was young, but my father was a monster. Maybe he wasn't at first. I guess he must have been somewhat charming to win her over. But I have a lot of memories of him being abusive towards her. It's not commonly known, but I would have had a little brother when I was about six. He was still born."
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"It was probably for the best, in the long run. My father would have wanted to turn him into another little Death Eater in training. I wouldn't wish that sort of upbringing on anyone. But losing him made things a lot worse for my mother. I think my father took out his anger and frustration about it on her too. In the end, she just sort of... gave up. By the time she died, she was a shell of what I remembered from when I was small."
"I didn't mean to make you-" Hestia began.
"It's alright." Pansy shrugged. "You didn't know. Besides, we should probably talk about something more pleasant on your birthday."
"True. So, girl talk then?"
There was an unfortunate knock at the door that cut that topic off.
"It's probably Harry," Pansy said as she got up. Flora followed her, with her wand at the ready.
"Just in case."
"Yeah," Pansy nodded. "I doubt someone worse would have knocked though."
Removing the spells, they found Harry and Neville waiting outside.
"May we come in?"
"Yes."
"I hope we aren't interrupting anything."
"Only girl talk," Hestia pouted.
"We can always come back later."
"I was kidding, Harry," Hestia replied with a grin. "Come inside."
"Thanks. Neville, let me introduce you to Hestia and Flora Carrow."
"Uh, hi."
"We've been introduced before. So, Neville, are you going to be joining us then?"
"Um, yes. I hope that's not a problem."
"Not with me," Hestia grinned. "What has Harry told you?"
"That I'll likely need to catch up on some things."
"You should probably ask Hermione for help on that," Harry suggested. "She's been at all the meetings and knows all the spells I've taught. I'm sure she wouldn't mind going over everything with you. I'd offer myself, but I don't think I'll have a lot of time."
"Okay."
"Right. So, this is the room we've been meeting in. You'll remember that Lupin taught us here a couple of years ago. It's nice and big, which is why I chose it."
"I... er, I sort of thought it would be more... uh-"
"It's just a room, Neville," Hestia teased with a grin. "It's what we learn here that makes it important."
"Exactly. Speaking of which, there's a couple of spells that I'd like you to start working on in your free time. First, the flame freezing charm, which you should already know. But a refresher wouldn't be a bad idea. It's a really useful spell in general, but also, the Death Eaters have been known for setting houses on fire during their attacks. Secondly, the bubblehead charm, which will allow you to breathe. After all, where there's fire, there's smoke."
"Okay, I think I can do that. I don't know the bubblehead charm though."
"It's in the standard book of spells," Harry replied. "I'm almost positive that Flitwick will be teaching it to us in the spring. You'll just need to get a little bit of a head start. The good news is that I don't ask for any written assignments."
"I might do better with those," Neville admitted.
"Just work on the magic, Nev. I'm not going to test you on anything, so there's no pressure there."
"The pressure will only come if you get involved in an actual Death Eater attack," Pansy smirked. "Better to learn what you can now so that you'll have it in the future."
"Right, yeah." Neville paled at that thought. "I, um, I think I'll head back to the common room. I've got to finish some work for Transfiguration tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Neville," Hestia smiled as he turned for the door. "What?"
Her sister was looking at her askance, but she waited for the door to close before saying anything. "Longbottom? Really?"
"He's not bad looking. Besides, he's a total softie, and compared to all the jerks we're usually around, that's a really nice change of pace. I'm not saying I'm going to snog him or anything, but compare him to someone like that git Pike. Remember the look he gave you in Potions the other day when you were leaning over the cauldron?"
"Ugh, don't make me puke on my birthday," Flora said with a grimace.
"It's my birthday too, and it might make me laugh."
"Alright, so Longbottom isn't as bad as some of the scum we're usually around. Just warn me if you're heading to any broom closets."
"I could tell you a funny story about him," Pansy smirked.
"Will you go easy on Neville? Please?" Harry asked.
"Why?"
"Well, you're always saying I need more male influences in my life, and he is one of my friends."
"Come on, Harry," Pansy whined. "It's not my fault most of the guys you know are idiots."
"You think everyone's an idiot," Harry snorted.
"And?"
"Fine. If it's the story I'm thinking of, it is pretty funny."
Pansy smirked but turned back to Hestia. "So, you know Romilda Vane? She's a third year Gryffindor."
"The really flirty one?" Hestia grinned. "This sounds good."
"Oh, it is. I paid her to teach Longbottom how to kiss a couple of years ago. She was just a firsty at the time. You should have seen the look on his face. He was terrified, but Vane was surprisingly assertive."
"Why?"
"It has to do with Granger, and trying to make her more bearable by getting rid of her moronic infatuation on Ron Weasley."
"Come on, be fair," Harry groaned.
"Fine, it was also about keeping her from giving herself or Harry an ulcer."
"That's true," he admitted with a laugh.
"Well, Hes, it sounds like he might not be completely clueless if you do get him in a broom closet," Flora frowned. "I still don't think he's good enough for you, though."
"You don't think anyone's good enough for me."
"That's true. But you could at least aim higher... for someone like Diggory."
"Ugh. Why do girls like him?" Harry asked, clearly annoyed.
"It's the hair," Hestia replied with a grin. "Besides, you shouldn't talk, mister 'I always look tousled and all the girls want to make my hair even wilder by snogging my face off.' You should be glad that Pansy's kind of terrifying so most girls leave you alone."
"She's right," Pansy smirked. "I haven't had to threaten Parvati despite the fact that you stopped wearing your glasses. She's doing a lot better than I thought, actually."
"Yeah. I am supposed to keep you from killing her, as I recall."
"I've often wondered," Hestia began. "You used to seem a lot more jealous. But, with Parvati in particular, I've noticed that you don't seem to care that she's constantly staring at your boyfriend."
"There's a lot of wistful sighing too," Flora added.
"It's because I think she's funny," Pansy admitted. "Plus, she's smarter than most people give her credit for. And instead of the usual, 'I want to steal Harry away from you' vibes that a lot of girls give me, she's flat out told me she just wants Harry to take her if he ever needs a second girl to take care of him. She almost has a point."
"Why?"
"You're insatiable, Harry."
Hestia giggled at that, and Harry could only shrug. "So, anything else going on then?"
"It's the girls' birthday."
"Oh, happy birthday then."
"Thanks, Harry. But if you really want to do something for us, you should let us have a little girl talk."
"Oh, um, okay. I guess dinner isn't too far off."
"We'll meet you there," Flora suggested.
"Right." Harry scratched his head and began to leave. He was pretty sure he heard a giggle as he closed the door behind him.
"Now then," Hestia turned to Pansy with a serious look on her face. "You can tell us all about how insatiable Harry is."
Happily, the rest of that week improved greatly for Pansy. In fact, the rest of the month flew by with no further emergencies. It was almost too calm, too quiet.
The group- and Pansy couldn't help but think of it as Surviving Death Eaters 101 from then on- kept meeting and working on ways to both win and flee combat scenarios. They went from Reducto to Expulso to Confringo, all spells designed to explode but becoming progressively more destructive. And dangerous. Harry spent a lot of time warning them about the blasting curse not being a good idea if you were worried about hitting friendly targets.
On the other hand, they also learned at least a dozen counter-curses. Having a few daughters of Death Eaters in the group certainly paid off then. Harry had to learn a few of them before he could teach them to the rest.
At the same time, Harry had continuing trouble trying to be available when Madam Pomfrey was able to schedule meetings where she could teach those interested in healing magic. The first had been because of a practice right before the previous quidditch match. The next one took place during a Slug Club get together. Pansy missed that one as well, but Parvati had gone and went over things with her afterwards.
The third time proved just how unlucky Harry could be. Angelina Johnson decided they needed one last quidditch practice so that no one got too rusty during one less than horribly cold Saturday afternoon at the beginning of December. In and of itself, that wouldn't have been a problem. They were supposed to head to the infirmary a couple of hours later.
However, Harry looked the wrong way and took a bludger in the side, spinning him around and nearly knocking him off his broom. It was enough to cause a huge bruise and allow Pomfrey to have him sedated while she applied bruise paste and cast a few healing charms. He tried to argue, but she clearly didn't trust him to look after himself.
In a way, it gave the several girls there a good hands on lesson. It might have also led to plenty of stares as Harry was shirtless at the time, but Pansy decided just to chuckle about it later. Especially when she heard Parvati moan to herself not quite softly enough.
Harry would have been disappointed that none of the guys from their group were involved. Pansy chalked that up to too many of them being Gryffindors, or as Harry put it, too macho and stupid. Several of them (like that strutting bozo Dean Thomas) seemed to think that rushing into danger was 'cool' but that making sure everyone was alright afterwards was 'woman's work.' Pansy didn't bother hiding her derision when she heard Harry get turned down as he tried to explain to several of the guys that healing would likely be every bit as important.
He was dismayed by that sexist notion and grumbled for at least an hour that night about how stupid it was.
'They'll rue that some day,' had been one of his lines. 'Who knows how bad it could be to not know any first aid?'
As Pansy recalled, she had responded with something like 'Too many of their mums were always there to fix up their scrapes, so now they expect that same treatment.'
'Shouldn't they have learned better by now?'
Of course not. Not ever having had anyone to take care of him, no mum to kiss it all better just made Harry think they were being retarded.
Pansy agreed about the foolishness, but she'd had something close enough to a normal upbringing to at least see where they were coming from. She eventually tired of listening to his complaints and cheered Harry up by dragging him to the bedroom.
For the most part though, things with the group had been going very well. Even Longbottom's occasional struggles with learning the spells had a surprising benefit- Granger was busier now spending time helping him. In turn, that had helped hide the fact that she and Harry barely ever hung out together anymore.
And because of how busy he was with everything too, that meant no more brooding on Harry's part for several weeks.
With December moving right along, Pansy had both her birthday and Christmas to look forward to. The holiday break was going to be particularly nice this year. She was still waiting on Luna to confirm her plans though- a large barn owl swooping down one Sunday at breakfast brought the message they'd been waiting on.
"From your dad?" Pansy asked as Luna read.
"Yes." She bit her lip and rolled the letter back up. "Let's finish eating and go talk about it in private."
"Bad news?"
"No, nothing like that. I figured it was like how Mad-Eye Moody used to shout about constant vigilance. No need to let anyone overhear anything that they shouldn't."
"I'll admit, Granger is pretty shifty," Pansy replied, and she noticed the girl in question snort and roll her eyes.
"For the record, I am going to be out of the country with my parents for most of the break," Granger said. "I already told Harry, but I know how forgetful he can be, especially when he's distracted by other things."
"Huh?" he replied, before starting to grin.
"Precisely. I just wanted to let you know in case of any sort of plans you might be making."
"And anyone overhearing this will realize that attacking you and your parents will be much harder," Luna added.
"After what happened over the summer, it seems prudent," Hermione said with a frown. "I would prefer things weren't like that, but we're stuck with the world as it is."
"It will get better soon, I hope."
"I wish I had your optimism, Harry."
"Don't we all?" Pansy snorted, stabbing a piece of sausage.
"I'm done whenever you are," Luna said, setting down her glass after taking one last drink.
"Am I invited?"
"Of course, Harry."
"Oh, cool. I didn't want to intrude, you know, if-"
"If we're going to be talking about embarrassing things, I would invite you all the same," Luna said with a smile. "That would make things that much funnier."
"I'm always good for a laugh."
"That is one of the things I love about you," Luna agreed.
"Alright, I'm finished too," Pansy said as she pushed her plate away. "Let's go."
The trio quickly left the Great Hall and found an empty room. With a bit of help from Dobby, they were soon relaxing on the couch together in the privacy of their quarters as Luna kicked off her shoes.
"It's a bit of a good news bad news situation, I'm afraid," the blonde began, tossing her socks away and wriggling her toes in satisfaction. "Good news is that I'll get to see my grandparents over the break, but the bad side of that is that I doubt I'll be able to see much of you two."
"That's alright, Luna," Pansy said, throwing an arm around her. "I'm happy for you."
"I do hope to be able to get away to at least drop off some presents. I'll probably have some free time over the last week, after New Year. Also, I am going to try to see you, at least briefly, on your birthday. "
"Thanks, sweetie."
"So, has Harry said anything yet about that upcoming birthday?"
"Not to me. Why?"
"I was just curious about whatever he might be planning. He hasn't told me anything either."
"That's because I don't want you to give anything away to her," Harry answered. "You two tell each other everything. I don't want any surprises ruined. Besides, I don't know about you Luna, but we've got several exams this week before we can get away on the train. I hate that the professors do that. It makes trying to plan for the holidays even harder."
"That's true," Pansy agreed. "Flora and Hestia were talking to me about having some sort of gathering, probably at Sirius' place."
"That could be fun. Speaking of the old dog, he is supposed to be sending me something soon."
"What?"
"It's a surprise I've got planned for our group. Call it an early Christmas gift."
"Are we still going to meet twice this week?" Luna asked.
"I was thinking we'd cut the second one short since people will probably need to pack Friday night before the holidays begin. Plus, I'm not sure what spells to work on next, other than the Patronus charm, and that isn't something I want to do when we won't have plenty of time to work on it. The three week lay off would make starting now kind of pointless since everyone could lose whatever progress they might have made without being able to practice."
"It's too bad, really," Pansy added. "Dementors on the loose, joining the Dark Lord, that's a spell that someone could need one of these days."
"True, but I've been focused more on the dangers closer at hand-"
"The next generation of Death Eaters, you mean."
"Yeah, and keeping the rest of us safe from those scumbags. Warrington in particular."
"He does seem to have a thing for Flora."
"And it's surprising to me that he hasn't tried anything recently. It's been more than a couple of months since we had to break things up at Hogsmeade. That worries me."
"Yeah, me too."
"Alright, enough," Luna sighed. "We've only got one more week till the holidays; let's not spend all that time being anxious over whatever may come. We should have some fun while we can. "
"Unfortunately, we both have an assignment for McGonagall that we really should be working on," Pansy huffed. "She seems determined to drive us into the ground buried under all the work."
"So, no tickle fight then?" Luna pouted.
"Maybe later," Pansy replied, ignoring the quivering lip. "We could at least put on some music while we work though."
"Alright. I need to study for Runes anyway. I might as well bug Harry if I've got any questions."
"I live to serve," he smirked.
"I know," Luna replied with a dreamy little smile. "Pansy says you are a most attentive lover."
Both girls laughed as Harry blushed and winced.
"I guess I sort of set myself up for that, huh?"
"It could be worse," Luna added. "She could have told me you were not any good in bed. That wouldn't be nearly as funny, though. Plus, it would be too mean to talk about. I don't like being mean."
"That's the one thing I haven't been able to teach you, sweetie. Being mean can be fun."
Harry snorted at Pansy's statement.
"Can I pick the music?" Luna asked.
"Sure, sweetie."
"Harry, put on Mazzy Star please."
"We haven't listened to that in awhile," Pansy said.
"It reminds me of you two."
"I guess I should get up then," Pansy added, following Harry over to the phonograph.
"Why?" he asked as he started the record.
"Because we have to slow dance to this song."
"It's the law, Harry," Luna piped up. "Plus, it's really cute and it will put us all in a good mood so we can get our work done."
"As you wish."
Pansy moaned softly as she leaned against his chest. It was a good thing they had History of Magic first thing in the morning. She had a feeling she was going to need a lot of attention from Harry before the night was through.
The last week of the term flew by, despite several exams. After dinner Friday evening, the group met one last time before the holiday break.
"Alright, I know most of you need to pack and get ready for the train tomorrow," Harry began as he looked around the room. He had to hope that his luck would hold, as Riddle had been far too quiet ever since the night in the graveyard. "I'll try to keep this brief.
"First of all, yes, by popular demand, we will begin working on the Patronus charm once we get back. As long as the dementors are on the loose, it has to be a priority, but I want to warn everyone that it is not an easy to learn spell. Yes, I was able to cast it a couple of years ago, but-"
"But you're amazing," Parvati teased, a smile lighting up her face.
"Well, uh, maybe, but um..." he swallowed as he heard plenty of giggles, guffaws, and a couple of snorts. "Right, as I was going to say, I was only able to do that after a lot of practice over a few months. So, I don't want anyone to get discouraged if it doesn't come easily. It certainly didn't for me, anyway."
"But you do think we can learn it?" Neville asked.
"I think it's possible, but it will require a lot of work. Maybe only some of you will get it to work, I can't really be sure. But I was able to teach Pansy, and I made progress with both Hermione and Luna before other things took over, priority-wise."
"Really?"
He couldn't tell who said that, but Harry turned to his girlfriend with a grin.
"Make me proud."
"Expecto Patronum!"
A burst of white light shot out of Pansy's wand, quickly turning into a fox that ran around the room twice before settling onto Harry's right shoulder, curling up and appearing to fall asleep. He could feel the slight weight of it against him as he turned back to the group.
"As a preview, I can give out a little bit of homework over the break." Harry wasn't surprised by a couple of groans, but he grinned and continued anyway. "The most important component of this spell is actually an emotional state of mind. You need to have a powerful positive feeling in order to perform the Patronus. And I don't just mean 'happy.' It has to be a lot more than that- something profound. Something like 'I got an Outstanding in Charms' or 'we won the quidditch match' will not work."
"What do you suggest then?" Hestia asked.
"Whatever works best for each of you will likely be very personal. I'd like you all to think over that during the break. Something significant that will fill you up with utter joy. It could be a memory or an idea of something you want for the future. I can't really tell you what will work best. Figuring that out will be part of the work necessary to learn the spell.
"However, I have one other thing before we go. Call it an early Christmas present, courtesy of my godfather, Sirius Black." Harry stepped over to the box that he'd had set on the desk in the center of the room. He opened it up and began giving out a pair of socks to everyone.
"Um, is this a joke, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I smell Dobby's influence," Pansy muttered, to which Harry could only smirk.
"They may look plain, but those may just save your life. If you're feeling festive," he lifted up his trousers to show off his own mismatched pair, one green and one red, "you can easily mix and match to suit your tastes. The important bit, however, is that each of those socks is enchanted to act as a portkey to St. Mungo's in case of emergency. So, yes, each of you effectively has two now. They will only trigger with skin contact and if you say 'submarine.' Also, yes, they will drag along anyone who is in contact with you, for example any family members."
"Why sub-" Dean began as he looked at the blue pair he was holding.
"Don't say it," Harry warned, raising his hand. "I know most of you are purebloods, or at least, you come from backgrounds with magical families. I didn't want to use something that would be said in everyday conversation, causing them to go off accidentally."
"Good thinking, Harry," Luna said, sitting down and immediately putting one purple sock on- it contrasted a lot with her other which was orange, but Harry knew that she wouldn't care about that. "Nice and comfortable too. These are great, Harry!"
"Thanks. There was no need to use old socks, you know, and Dobby did want to help- he enjoyed picking out a wide variety of colors. He may have grabbed a few pairs for himself too."
"I knew it," Pansy snorted.
"Right, anyway, that's it for tonight. I hope you all stay safe and have a happy Christmas."
Several people replied in kind as the meeting came to an end and little groups split off as they started to head for the door.
"Hey Dean, can you stay behind for a second?"
"Sure, Harry."
He waited for the room to empty, with Pansy giving him a wink as she closed the door behind her.
"Look, I didn't want to say anything in front of everybody, but-"
"Huh, I thought it would have been one of her brothers," Dean muttered.
"What? Daphne doesn't have any brothers."
"Daphne? No, I figured out that I missed out on that boat."
"Are you really surprised? She's from an old pureblood family, and you're a muggleborn, mate," Harry snorted. "That's not a likely match even ignoring the whole house rivalry nonsense. Plus, well..."
"Being one of the only black guys in the school doesn't help either," Dean shrugged. "It's not as on the surface as some of the blood supremacy stuff, but I've had a few nasty looks that I would recognize just as easily in the muggle world. I guess that's why I like Ginny."
"Ginny? Ginny Weasley?"
"Yeah, I thought that's what you wanted to talk to me about. I saw Fred or George staring me down the other day when I was chatting her up."
"Oh, well, no it's..." Harry exhaled. If he weren't the leader of this little club, he would happily not have any conversations like this. "I had to give Ernie a warning the other day because he was flirting with Susan too. I don't really care who you date, or ask out, or whatever, but just don't do it here. We've got enough problems to deal with that I can't have that sort of thing causing any more, especially with-"
"I'm not going to try to talk to Greengrass anymore, you don't have to worry about that," Dean smirked.
"I wouldn't care if you did, but this isn't the place for it. That's why I warned Ernie too, I mean..." Harry sighed. He wished Pansy were still inside- she could say something cutting and full of scorn and have this all taken care of so much faster. Of course, she wasn't even remotely friendly towards Dean, so she wouldn't care if he hated her guts afterwards.
"The thing is Dean, you need to realize that some of the girls here are worried more about being captured than killed. You and I don't have to worry in the same way about becoming the play thing of some creepy Death Eater scumbag."
"Oh. Right." Dean looked pretty abashed by that thought.
"Like I said, I don't care who you date. In fact, if you're going out with Ginny, then that means her awkward little crush on me must be over, so cheers for that."
"Thanks, Harry," he laughed.
"No problem."
Meanwhile...
Pansy stepped outside to wait for Harry. She knew that he might like a little support, but she also knew that he and Thomas were friends. Maybe not close friends, but on good enough terms that her standing there sneering at the other Gryffindor probably wouldn't help things.
Assuming that she didn't just call him out on his boorish behavior. Not that it bothered her particularly, but she'd talked to Flora and Hestia enough, as well as bits here and there with Daphne and a couple of the sixth years like Wilkins, to know exactly how much the looks some of the guys gave the girls were bothering them. Macmillan had been a bit of a problem; Thomas was the worst. That one Ravenclaw was pretty annoying too, but Luna had said she would take care of him.
From the fact that she'd heard he spent a day having a nasty reaction to a Conjunctivitus Curse after last Friday's meeting, she knew that Luna had gotten that message through to him. Especially when he was on much better behavior ever since.
What was his name? Gold... something or other.
Eh, she never paid much attention to any of the Ravenclaws other than Luna. Parvati was right, they were almost always boring nerdy types. Granger really should have been sorted in with them.
She went over the rest of their evening in her head. Harry still needed to gather anything he might want to take with him over the break, although she had at least pestered him into starting the process before they had gone to dinner.
Pansy began nervously fidgeting with her purse. She'd learned a space expansion charm so that she could carry so much more than the little clutch's appearance would suggest. It wasn't her favorite, but she liked it more than most. Now that she knew she could do the charm properly, she'd have to upgrade all the others in her collection.
Poor Harry didn't even seem to mind what a monster he had unleashed. Now, if she could only get Luna more interested in clothes. Her unusual sense of style didn't bother Pansy, but she could do a bit better with a little push here and there.
Plus, making Luna into more of a knockout, rather than just a pretty little oddball, would be a lot of fun. And as the older sister in the relationship, Pansy felt like it was her duty to look out for Luna about things like that.
"Harry! Pansy!" A voice screamed out from inside her purse, and Pansy yanked it open, nearly spilling the contents. Grabbing one of the mirrors, she saw Hestia's face as a yellow light shot past her friend's ear.
"Help!"
"Fuck," Pansy growled as she yanked open the door. "Beat it, Thomas. We've got an emergency."
Harry nodded as the other Gryffindor gave her a rude look as she pushed him out towards the hallway with her free hand.
"What is it?"
"Harry, we need you down here!" Hestia shouted as the sound of spellfire and screams came from the mirror. "Slytherin common room. Those fuckers-"
Her voice was cut off as there was a loud crash. Harry was looking at the mirror with Pansy when they saw the picture break and something red that looked far too much like blood streaked across the now-cracked image.
"Dobby!" Harry yelled and their secret weapon appeared. "Take us to right outside the Slytherin common room. I need you to stay invisible if you can, but help us get the girls to safety. You still know the password, right?"
"I do," Pansy confirmed. "Even if I haven't been down there in months, it seemed prudent to keep in the loop, so to speak."
"Good. Let's go."
One quiet pop later and they were standing in a hallway in the dungeons. "Wands out. Be careful."
Hestia remembered being sorted into Slytherin and her first night stepping into the common room down in the dungeons. It was a bittersweet moment even then, seeming to be one more step along a path in life that she had no real control over. She and Flora had discussed what response they would get to being sorted anywhere else, and even having a better experience at school for seven years might not have been worth risking the fury of their father.
Hearing the sorting hat call out Slytherin for Flora meant that Hestia couldn't go anywhere else. She would never abandon her sister like that.
Instead, they tried to be consummate little snakes, hiding in the background, keeping their dreams and ambitions to themselves.
Many of the students from the older years were terrifying though. People like the former quidditch captain Marcus Flint openly supported the Dark Lord, years after his supposed death, and that sleaze Snape seemed to encourage them. Letting little bastards like Draco Malfoy strut around the school as if he owned the place, blatantly calling people mudbloods, starting fights whenever they could, and protecting them from any sort of reasonable consequences- was it any surprise that the girls in Slytherin had mostly banded together over the years? To protect themselves from their own housemates, if nothing else, when those guys were scumbags who could get away with anything.
She admired Flora immensely. Even growing up, she knew her sister had a fierceness that was amazing. Hestia was only a few minutes younger, but they seemed to make all the difference in the world. Flora had always protected her. Hestia could still remember bumping into a table and breaking a flower vase when she was four years old. Amycus Carrow, sadistic bastard that he was, easily repaired it with a wave of his wand, but she was terrified that he would Crucio her for her clumsiness. Flora took the blame without even flinching.
Thankfully, their father only slapped her instead. It still gave Flora a bloody lip, and Hestia remembered crying herself to sleep that night for what she had caused her sister to endure. It was one of the many, many times she had prayed to God, Merlin, Morgana, and every other legendary name she could think of for someone to rescue them.
But no escape ever came, so the girls grew to rely only on each other.
She remembered when her breasts began to develop not with fondness but near panic. There had been too many rumors about what had happened to that sixth year girl Farley- she had only been a half-blood, but she was still a prefect. You would think that would have meant she was safe, but when she didn't return after the Easter holidays, Hestia knew that she would have to be much more careful if she and Flora wanted to finish school not only alive but with whatever of their dignity they could manage to keep intact.
Harry Potter had helped her so much, even if none of it was done on purpose. Dear old Sluggy was an old-fashioned pureblood, and while clearly biased for his house and his favorites, he wasn't actively encouraging a new generation of blood purists, so he was a huge step up from Snape.
Hestia was still troubled by how she felt as she watched her first Potions professor when he bled to death from betraying the life debt he had owed James Potter. Even more worrying was the absolute glee that was on Flora's face at the time.
But a year later, they were even luckier when Harry's blasting curse at the graveyard had rid them of their horrendous parents for good.
Now, they were dealing with the drawbacks of everything that had happened. The Dark Lord was known to have returned, at least to everyone who didn't have their heads buried in the sand. Vincent Crabbe had returned to Hogwarts that fall with renewed confidence despite not having Malfoy's coattails to ride around on. Cassius Warrington had become even more troubling with the way he strutted around the place.
Flora had suggested that both of them might have already been branded by the Dark Lord. Possibly others too.
Still, they only had one more day before they would be back with Sirius for the holidays. Hopefully, that would mean three weeks of peace and quiet. No tension, no worries. Maybe even some happiness.
Then she and her sister led the group of girls returning from meeting with Harry back into the Slytherin dungeon and everything changed.
Several of the younger girls, mostly third years, were lined up in a row and bound on the floor. There were about a dozen guys, including the entire quidditch team to no surprise, standing above them, wands drawn and leering.
Just in front of her, Millicent Bulstrode was racing past one of the black leather couches with a spell already leaving her wand- a flash of red blasting three of the guys as they were caught in the surprise of someone having the gall to fight back.
That wasn't what their parents had told them about 'the good old days.' People were supposed to cower in fear, not ever daring to fight back.
And with a cry of rage, Millie led them all into battle and chaos, as Flora darted forward and sent a piercing curse headed for that jerk named Pike, who failed to get a shield up in time before a blossom of red began to spread across the left side of his abdomen.
Hestia had a flash from a few days past when he had been leering at Flora's arse in Potions. It had sickened her because, being identical, he was effectively leering at her too. It made him doubly gross.
Now, her sister had begun to get revenge. Hestia knew that this was going to get so much worse. She ducked behind a chair and reached into her pocket, desperately searching for the charmed mirror that could call Harry for aid.
She hadn't ever imagined she would need to use it quite like this.
Hestia screamed as a jet of yellow shot above her- she hadn't heard the incantation, but based on the deep gouge in the stone wall behind her, it would have hurt like hell. She saw Pansy's face in the mirror though and seconds later Harry as well, so a slice of hope cut into the terror that had gripped her.
"Harry, we need you down here!"
She started trying to warn him of where they were and what was happening. There was so much she needed to say, and so little time for them to get there before someone got killed.
But suddenly something smashed through the arm of the chair that she was crouched behind, knocking the mirror out of her hand. For some reason, she felt warmth running down her left arm, and looking at it, she saw a piece of wood at least a foot long sticking out of her shoulder. Hestia reached up to try to pull it free and cried out as she realized that there was blood running down her shoulder blade too, as the wood had gone all the way through her.
"Expulso!"
Millie's deep voice was easy to recognize in the chaos, and Hestia grinned as she saw Crabbe blasted from point blank range and sail what must have been twenty feet before smashing into the wall. His head cracked loudly, and he would not be rejoining the fight any time soon.
Daphne Greengrass sent a flame whip at Harper, who had been leering down at her little sister when they came barreling into the room. It seared through him, his wand arm falling off, the stump by his elbow cauterized as he began screaming.
Flora was there too, dodging in a frenzy as she sent a Reductor curse at a large table by the wall then summoning the pieces of shrapnel into the backs of several of the boys. It was a move she had learned from Harry, and her sister was amazingly precise with it. Her rage had focused her, and Hestia thought she was magnificent.
That was when the first killing curse came out. Hestia shivered but saw the green light go high as several people ducked, the curse thankfully hitting nothing other than the far wall.
Millie responded first, conjuring an axe into her left hand and slashing down into the torso of Montague. Blood sprayed everywhere as he fell, and Bulstrode turned to her classmate Goyle, who raised a shield and backed away, trying to retreat from the girl wading through the battle like an amazon. Bletchley was closer though, and her axe was quick to sink into the right side of his chest as she raised her wand and cast a banisher that sent him flying away from her.
But Bletchley had been fast as well, his own wand coming up slightly before hers, and what looked like purple flames tore into Millie, who screamed as she fell onto her back.
Hestia cried out too, and with a rush of adrenaline, yanked the spike of wood free from her. There was a spurt of blood, and she felt a wave of dizziness, but she forced herself to concentrate as she aimed and sent it towards her target- Goyle, who was now standing over the fallen body of Millie. He looked unsure of what move to make, but a moment later Hestia's focus proved exquisite as the enormous splinter of wood embedded itself in his right eye.
Goyle screamed as he stumbled backwards.
Then, praise Merlin, Harry was there, rushing into the chaos with a cutting curse that took Urquhart's wand arm off as he had tried to cast something at Flora's back. Harry threw up a shield as Flora fired another curse at someone- Hestia couldn't tell who between all the spells flashing and the dust and debris that clogged the air. There was another scream, and Hestia clearly heard her sister using the cutting curse on someone, before a terrible gurgling sound let her know that she had hit her target.
And just like that, it was over.
An almost calm silence fell, broken only by a few moans and sniffles.
She saw Daphne Greengrass comforting her younger sister, whose shirt was torn open, as the younger girl cried against her. She stared in shock as Pansy- Pansy of all people- was sobbing, and as Hestia struggled to her feet, she saw Millie lying there unmoving, her eyes open and blank.
Hestia collapsed into the damaged chair, tears beginning to fall, and she felt long fingers pressing a piece of cloth over her shoulder.
"Be careful, miss," Dobby said, the little house elf tending to her wound. "Dobby will get Miss Pansy to come heal your cut."
"You can call her your mistress, you know?" She didn't know why, but Hestia let out a little giggle. Anyone could see how devoted he was to Pansy, the same as with Harry.
"Not until it's official, miss."
Dobby gave her a sad smile in return as he quietly faded from sight.
It was hard to tell what happened next. At some point, Pansy came over and did her best to close the wound in her shoulder. A visit to Madam Pomfrey would probably be required for her, especially as she felt woozy and almost certainly needed a blood replenishing potion.
But it was hard to focus on any of that.
One of her friends was dead.
Several other people likely were too, and Hestia herself might have killed one of them. She hadn't been able to tell how far the splinter of wood had gone into Goyle's head. The impact of all of it began to sink in, and Hestia felt like throwing up.
They'd only had twelve hours before they would have been riding the train back to Sirius. Towards the first Christmas she could ever remember looking forward to. Three weeks of peace, and now it would never come.
She was a killer.
If her target hadn't been the son of a Death Eater, her parents would have been proud of her.
That thought was so incredibly horrifying that Hestia was unable to hold back the nausea any longer.
"Hes, are you alright?"
Flora was looking down at the blood all over Hestia's shirt with tenderness, ignoring the splatter all over herself.
"I should be," Hestia answered, exhaling as she wiped at her mouth.
"We need to leave."
"What?"
"I killed Warrington. Maybe Pike too. We can't stay here."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Do you think Fudge will hesitate to arrest me? I killed two purebloods from 'good, upstanding, old families.' We need to run."
"Oh fuck."
Hestia looked around the common room, apparently for one last time. People were milling about almost entirely in one half of it, far from the carnage and the bodies strewn near the hall that led to the dormitories.
"Are you two alright?" Harry asked, walking over to them.
"We're screwed, Harry. I killed two of them. Can you help us get out of here?"
"Yeah... yeah, I think I can. Dobby?"
The elf appeared beside him. "Master Harry sir?"
"I need you to get the escape portkey. You know the one I mean?"
"Yes sir."
"Hurry."
He left with a pop, and only after a few seconds returned with another.
"That's the one, thanks. Now, here's what I'm going to need you to do. Go with the girls, alright? Then come back, and get Sirius. He's their guardian, so he'll be able to help." Harry turned to look at Flora before he continued. "This will take you to France, to the Delacour family. Ask the father for political asylum. You might want Sirius there for that, he should be able to smooth things over. Explain that you don't trust the British government, that the courts can't be trusted to be unbiased."
"Can we trust them? The Delacours, I mean?" Hestia asked.
"I believe so. They know that Fudge is lying about the Dark Lord at least." Harry turned back to Dobby. "After you get Sirius to go with them, come back here again so you can get their trunks and things. Take those to them, and then come back. Try not to over exert yourself, though."
"Dobby will take care of everything. Are the misses ready?"
Flora helped her to her feet, and Hestia took a deep breath. This portkey ride wasn't going to be pleasant, but hopefully one of the Delacours would know some healing spells or at least have a potion handy.
"Ready sis?"
"Yeah," Hestia said. "Thank you for everything, Harry."
He nodded. "I'll probably see you soon. Take care of yourselves."
"We will," Flora replied. "Let's go."
Horace Slughorn heard an alarm spell blaring in his office, louder than he'd ever experienced before. He flinched but was able to cast a couple of spells to keep the potion he'd been brewing safe until he could return. He then went over to the fireplace and bellowed for Albus.
"Something dreadfully powerful has set off my alarm in the common room. Can you meet me there?"
"I'm on my way," the headmaster responded. Horace climbed away from the fireplace and ran for the first time he could remember in years out of his office and down a hall towards the Slytherin common room. He had his wand in hand, and he could only try to prepare himself for whatever he would find. He knew, with terrible certainty, that blood had been spilled.
The hidden door slid open before he even called out the password. Horace briefly noted the ghost of the Bloody Baron looking mournfully across the room as he slowed down and tried to catch his breath. There were no longer any spells being cast, but he saw splashes of blood here and there, on walls and furniture, and several bodies lying on the floor.
"Merlin's beard! What has happened here?"
Somehow, the headmaster had nearly beat him there, appearing right behind him as he came down the stairs. Then Slughorn noticed one of his favorite students standing among the carnage. Young miss Pansy was kneeling beside him, silently weeping near one of the fallen bodies.
"Harry, my boy, what are you doing here?"
"That's a bit of a story, professor."