100quills #1.1: Doubt
ZOMG Yay I finished it! :D
roannaweenie I hope this is fluffy enough for you. I have a feeling that it's not quite fluffy enough, so I think I'll dedicate my next light mood Draco/Pansy fic to you as well. Maybe I'll try doing a drabble!
Title: Pride and Prejudice
Genre: Romance, humor
Time: Fifth Year
Length: <2000 words
Rating: PG
Characters: Pansy, Draco, Madam Pince, Hermione, minor others
Summary: Abuse of power, shameful pleasures, and deception--and there's not even any sex in this fic! (Though there is a pussy.)
"Tell me I'm brilliant," Pansy said triumphantly, dropping a parchment on Draco's desk.
"You're brilliant," he answered in an automatic way, picking it up, "But why are you in the boys' dormitory, you naughty girl? I may have to assign you a detention."
"Ha ha ha," said Pansy, sweeping non-existent dust off of Draco's duvet and primly sitting down."It's a list of when and where the first, second and third years have their classes. Let's distribute it to the squad so that we're conveniently around when those poor, inexperienced Gryffindorks fool around in the halls."
"My clever witch," Draco smirked, sat next to her and chastely kissed her cheek.
"Oh, is that it?" She turned up her famous nose and arranged her mouth into a pout.
"Ha yourself," said Draco and suddenly pounced and tickled her. Giggles became kisses, kisses became open-mouthed, and when the door opened Pansy roughly shoved Draco's hand away from her skirt and nearly hit his chin with her forehead when she tried to abruptly sit up.
It was Nott, carrying one of his ever-present notebooks. Draco felt her body relax, but when he attempted to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear she pulled away and got up. He nearly bit his tongue with frustration. She never minded kissing him in front of Crabbe or Goyle--"living furniture," as she once referred to them--but not anyone else, unless she felt like giving a public demonstration to the other Slytherin girls that Draco was hers.
"I'll see you at dinner, Draco," she said. "Hello, Theo. New drawings?"
"Nothing worthy of seeing... yet," he replied, smiling at her. "I'll let you know, Pans."
With expert control Draco prevented himself from growling at his roommate. Draco couldn't shake the suspicion that Nott was after Pansy himself. He knew that attempting to intimidate Nott would have no effect, and he hadn't really made any blatant moves, so for the time being he was just keeping a close eye on him.
---
Pansy practically hummed as she walked down the hall. The distribution of the class schedules had been brilliant. What bad luck for the other houses that a member of the Inquisitorial Squad always seemed to be just around the corner when a second-year decided to do an impression of Professor Snape. It cut a little into one's free time, of course, but watching the jewels drain out of the hourglass was pleasure enough.
The quieting charm on her shoes was beginning to wear off, but the Ravenclaw student walking toward her was totally oblivious, staring intently at her paperback book. Pansy moved into the student's path. Still unaware, the student walked right into her. Since Pansy had been expecting the impact and the other girl hadn't, the Ravenclaw fell back hard on her bottom, dropping her bag and her book.
"Hey!" said Pansy. "Why don't you watch where you're going? Five points from Ravenclaw, to teach you to be careful." She reached down and picked up the book. Pride and Prejudice, said the cover.
"That's mine!" said the girl. Pansy looked at her and almost laughed. Was she blind, not noticing the silver I next to her prefect's badge?
"I'm confiscating this," Pansy announced, "and if you've got a problem with that, take it up with the Headmistress." The girl's mouth opened and closed, like a fish, and her eyes welled up, and finally she grabbed her bag and practically ran away.
Now that she was gone Pansy did allow herself a good laugh. Who would get so worked up over a book? And the way her mouth worked... I half-expected her to go 'glub glub glub'!
She looked at her watch. Most of her friends were watching the Slytherins practice, but she had begged off Draco, claiming to have a cold. Truth be told, now that she and Draco were as good as engaged, she felt no reason to suffer through the boredom anymore. No more being coached by Millie as to what a feint was and why it was important!
She continued down to the Slytherin dungeons. "Perfection," she told the wall, which opened obediently for her. She entered the common room, and was disappointed to find it empty. She'd hoped she would find Theodore there and that he would ask her to model for him again. She had a number of his sketches tucked away in the false bottom of her trunk.
She went on to her room. No one there but Millicent's cat, who came up and rubbed herself against Pansy's legs. "Am I missing something?" she asked Tersicore, reaching down and picking up the cat. She was still holding that book.
Slipping off her shoes, she deposited the cat at the foot of her bed and climbed in. "Lumos," she said, and stuck the wand into one of the carved curlicues. She opened up the book.
It didn't take her long to realize that this was some sort of Muggle book, but Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were like exaggerated versions of her own parents, and she found reading their banter very amusing, even if it did awake a pang of homesickness. With nothing else to distract her, she turned one page after another, and was presently drawn into the story.
"Meow," the cat said insistently, nudging at her hand.
"Terrie, listen to this part! Her sister is sick at another place, and so she wants to go see her, and she says 'The distance is nothing when one has a motive; only three miles.' Three miles on foot! How do Muggles stand it, honestly." She scratched under the cat's chin.
"Mraow," agreed Tersicore.
Pansy returned to her reading, occasionally remarking to the cat what a pair of bitches Mr. Bingley's sisters were, or reading out a particularly good line, but Tersicore had not much interest in books and soon trotted off in search of mice or similar diversions.
In the next few hours of that Saturday afternoon she finished the book. Closing it, she stared up at the ceiling and absorbed the good feeling for a few minutes. She laughed softly. On the whole she was satisfied with her relationship with Draco, but she had to admit there was one pleasure she would gladly share with Elizabeth: having one's lover admit to being wrong.
She opened the book again and reread some of her favorite passages in light of her knowledge of later events. She looked at her watch again. People should be returning soon. She somehow did not wish to talk with anybody. She looked at the cover of the book again; Jane Austen.
In a sudden burst of activity, she got out of bed, hid the book within her trunk, pulled on her shoes and left the dungeons, heading towards the library.
---
She paused to catch her breath at the top of the stairs and proceeded towards the library. The place looked deserted on first glance. She looked out the windows and saw that the sun had come out.
She walked into the fiction section and into the As, but could not find any Austen books. It occurred to her as she scanned the shelves that they were all wizarding fiction. Perhaps Muggle fiction was in the Muggle Studies section?
She bit her lip. Pansy's elective classes were Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. What would she say if someone saw her in the Muggle Studies section? It was the teasing as a "Muggle-lover" that caused Daphne Greengrass to drop Muggle Studies, and Pansy had been one of the perpetrators. (Millie Bulstrode, who stood to inherit her father's brewery which produced beer for wizards and Muggles alike, also took Muggle Studies, but her reply to any taunting as a "Muggle-lover" was to say "I love them all the way to the bank.")
But no, the library was empty. No one else could be silly enough to spend a sunny Saturday in April in the library, even with OWLs coming up. She walked to the end of the wall of books and peeked around the corner. Which way was Muggle Studies? She saw Madam Pince come down the hall and ducked back in, but too late.
"Can I help you with something?" she said in a very unhelpful voice.
"Er... I'm looking for the Muggle Studies section. I'm researching Muggle fiction." For an extemporaneous lie, it was sufficient.
Madam Pince pointed at an angle to the left, and then stalked off to the right.
"Very helpful," Pansy muttered and set off on her quest.
---
She found the section at last and had further located the fiction shelves when she spotted a head full of bushy hair out of the corner of her eye.
She spun around but the person had walked past the row. Hoping her quieting charm would hold out a bit longer, she ran to the end of the row and peeked out. It was Hermione Granger, walking with her nose in a book, much like the Ravenclaw from earlier.
Keep going, keep going, Pansy intoned mentally, willing Granger to walk out of sight so that she could escape. To her horror, Granger stopped suddenly, closed the book, and began to turn around. She whipped her head back into the row and tried not to panic.
Had she been seen? Was she going to be seen? Would Granger soon be spreading it around Hogwarts that Pansy Parkinson spent her Saturday afternoons in the library reading Muggle books? She had to do something. The only thing that came to mind was the killing curse, which for a brief moment seemed reasonable; then she realized that Madam Pince would testify at the trial that she had asked for directions to the Muggle Section. Her life was over.
She waited there, pressed against the row, for what seemed like hours but was probably about ten minutes, and finally poked her head out again when she couldn't stand it anymore. The corridor was empty. She practically sprinted out of the library, ignoring Madam Pince's outraged squawk, and arrived in the entrance hall just in time to see the Slytherin team return, flushed from practice.
"What've you been doing, Pansy? You missed some great action out there today," Draco said.
"Er, you know, napping. I'm sure you're going to slaughter Hufflepuff," she said. That started the team into excited chatter about their chances. She exhaled.
---
Napping? Draco thought suspiciously, though he smiled and joked with the others. Upstairs? What was she really doing?
He looked back over his shoulder as the group approached the dungeon, and nearly lost his composure when he saw Nott walking down the stairs Pansy had come down on. Draco forced himself to look forward. He scrutinized Pansy. She and Drusilla Rosier were arguing half-seriously about whose boyfriend was the better Quidditch player. Even though he wanted to be jealous, he couldn't help but chuckle at their utter ignorance.
"Draco flies faster than anyone on the team," Pansy said smugly. Yeah, because I'm the Seeker, Pansy.
"I heard Madam Hooch say that Cameron had the most bumphs of anyone in Hogwarts history," countered Drusilla.
"Uh, Dru... a bumph is a foul," said Millicent Bulstrode.
Everyone laughed, Drusilla looked furious, and Pansy snaked her arm through his triumphantly, as if he was the Snitch.
He pushed down his suspicions for the moment, but he decided the time had come for him to make things explicitly clear to Nott, no matter what his father had warned him. A wizard had a certain pride, after all. He unhooked his arm from Pansy's to put it around her shoulders possessively.
roannaweenie I hope this is fluffy enough for you. I have a feeling that it's not quite fluffy enough, so I think I'll dedicate my next light mood Draco/Pansy fic to you as well. Maybe I'll try doing a drabble!
Title: Pride and Prejudice
Genre: Romance, humor
Time: Fifth Year
Length: <2000 words
Rating: PG
Characters: Pansy, Draco, Madam Pince, Hermione, minor others
Summary: Abuse of power, shameful pleasures, and deception--and there's not even any sex in this fic! (Though there is a pussy.)
"Tell me I'm brilliant," Pansy said triumphantly, dropping a parchment on Draco's desk.
"You're brilliant," he answered in an automatic way, picking it up, "But why are you in the boys' dormitory, you naughty girl? I may have to assign you a detention."
"Ha ha ha," said Pansy, sweeping non-existent dust off of Draco's duvet and primly sitting down."It's a list of when and where the first, second and third years have their classes. Let's distribute it to the squad so that we're conveniently around when those poor, inexperienced Gryffindorks fool around in the halls."
"My clever witch," Draco smirked, sat next to her and chastely kissed her cheek.
"Oh, is that it?" She turned up her famous nose and arranged her mouth into a pout.
"Ha yourself," said Draco and suddenly pounced and tickled her. Giggles became kisses, kisses became open-mouthed, and when the door opened Pansy roughly shoved Draco's hand away from her skirt and nearly hit his chin with her forehead when she tried to abruptly sit up.
It was Nott, carrying one of his ever-present notebooks. Draco felt her body relax, but when he attempted to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear she pulled away and got up. He nearly bit his tongue with frustration. She never minded kissing him in front of Crabbe or Goyle--"living furniture," as she once referred to them--but not anyone else, unless she felt like giving a public demonstration to the other Slytherin girls that Draco was hers.
"I'll see you at dinner, Draco," she said. "Hello, Theo. New drawings?"
"Nothing worthy of seeing... yet," he replied, smiling at her. "I'll let you know, Pans."
With expert control Draco prevented himself from growling at his roommate. Draco couldn't shake the suspicion that Nott was after Pansy himself. He knew that attempting to intimidate Nott would have no effect, and he hadn't really made any blatant moves, so for the time being he was just keeping a close eye on him.
---
Pansy practically hummed as she walked down the hall. The distribution of the class schedules had been brilliant. What bad luck for the other houses that a member of the Inquisitorial Squad always seemed to be just around the corner when a second-year decided to do an impression of Professor Snape. It cut a little into one's free time, of course, but watching the jewels drain out of the hourglass was pleasure enough.
The quieting charm on her shoes was beginning to wear off, but the Ravenclaw student walking toward her was totally oblivious, staring intently at her paperback book. Pansy moved into the student's path. Still unaware, the student walked right into her. Since Pansy had been expecting the impact and the other girl hadn't, the Ravenclaw fell back hard on her bottom, dropping her bag and her book.
"Hey!" said Pansy. "Why don't you watch where you're going? Five points from Ravenclaw, to teach you to be careful." She reached down and picked up the book. Pride and Prejudice, said the cover.
"That's mine!" said the girl. Pansy looked at her and almost laughed. Was she blind, not noticing the silver I next to her prefect's badge?
"I'm confiscating this," Pansy announced, "and if you've got a problem with that, take it up with the Headmistress." The girl's mouth opened and closed, like a fish, and her eyes welled up, and finally she grabbed her bag and practically ran away.
Now that she was gone Pansy did allow herself a good laugh. Who would get so worked up over a book? And the way her mouth worked... I half-expected her to go 'glub glub glub'!
She looked at her watch. Most of her friends were watching the Slytherins practice, but she had begged off Draco, claiming to have a cold. Truth be told, now that she and Draco were as good as engaged, she felt no reason to suffer through the boredom anymore. No more being coached by Millie as to what a feint was and why it was important!
She continued down to the Slytherin dungeons. "Perfection," she told the wall, which opened obediently for her. She entered the common room, and was disappointed to find it empty. She'd hoped she would find Theodore there and that he would ask her to model for him again. She had a number of his sketches tucked away in the false bottom of her trunk.
She went on to her room. No one there but Millicent's cat, who came up and rubbed herself against Pansy's legs. "Am I missing something?" she asked Tersicore, reaching down and picking up the cat. She was still holding that book.
Slipping off her shoes, she deposited the cat at the foot of her bed and climbed in. "Lumos," she said, and stuck the wand into one of the carved curlicues. She opened up the book.
It didn't take her long to realize that this was some sort of Muggle book, but Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were like exaggerated versions of her own parents, and she found reading their banter very amusing, even if it did awake a pang of homesickness. With nothing else to distract her, she turned one page after another, and was presently drawn into the story.
"Meow," the cat said insistently, nudging at her hand.
"Terrie, listen to this part! Her sister is sick at another place, and so she wants to go see her, and she says 'The distance is nothing when one has a motive; only three miles.' Three miles on foot! How do Muggles stand it, honestly." She scratched under the cat's chin.
"Mraow," agreed Tersicore.
Pansy returned to her reading, occasionally remarking to the cat what a pair of bitches Mr. Bingley's sisters were, or reading out a particularly good line, but Tersicore had not much interest in books and soon trotted off in search of mice or similar diversions.
In the next few hours of that Saturday afternoon she finished the book. Closing it, she stared up at the ceiling and absorbed the good feeling for a few minutes. She laughed softly. On the whole she was satisfied with her relationship with Draco, but she had to admit there was one pleasure she would gladly share with Elizabeth: having one's lover admit to being wrong.
She opened the book again and reread some of her favorite passages in light of her knowledge of later events. She looked at her watch again. People should be returning soon. She somehow did not wish to talk with anybody. She looked at the cover of the book again; Jane Austen.
In a sudden burst of activity, she got out of bed, hid the book within her trunk, pulled on her shoes and left the dungeons, heading towards the library.
---
She paused to catch her breath at the top of the stairs and proceeded towards the library. The place looked deserted on first glance. She looked out the windows and saw that the sun had come out.
She walked into the fiction section and into the As, but could not find any Austen books. It occurred to her as she scanned the shelves that they were all wizarding fiction. Perhaps Muggle fiction was in the Muggle Studies section?
She bit her lip. Pansy's elective classes were Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination. What would she say if someone saw her in the Muggle Studies section? It was the teasing as a "Muggle-lover" that caused Daphne Greengrass to drop Muggle Studies, and Pansy had been one of the perpetrators. (Millie Bulstrode, who stood to inherit her father's brewery which produced beer for wizards and Muggles alike, also took Muggle Studies, but her reply to any taunting as a "Muggle-lover" was to say "I love them all the way to the bank.")
But no, the library was empty. No one else could be silly enough to spend a sunny Saturday in April in the library, even with OWLs coming up. She walked to the end of the wall of books and peeked around the corner. Which way was Muggle Studies? She saw Madam Pince come down the hall and ducked back in, but too late.
"Can I help you with something?" she said in a very unhelpful voice.
"Er... I'm looking for the Muggle Studies section. I'm researching Muggle fiction." For an extemporaneous lie, it was sufficient.
Madam Pince pointed at an angle to the left, and then stalked off to the right.
"Very helpful," Pansy muttered and set off on her quest.
---
She found the section at last and had further located the fiction shelves when she spotted a head full of bushy hair out of the corner of her eye.
She spun around but the person had walked past the row. Hoping her quieting charm would hold out a bit longer, she ran to the end of the row and peeked out. It was Hermione Granger, walking with her nose in a book, much like the Ravenclaw from earlier.
Keep going, keep going, Pansy intoned mentally, willing Granger to walk out of sight so that she could escape. To her horror, Granger stopped suddenly, closed the book, and began to turn around. She whipped her head back into the row and tried not to panic.
Had she been seen? Was she going to be seen? Would Granger soon be spreading it around Hogwarts that Pansy Parkinson spent her Saturday afternoons in the library reading Muggle books? She had to do something. The only thing that came to mind was the killing curse, which for a brief moment seemed reasonable; then she realized that Madam Pince would testify at the trial that she had asked for directions to the Muggle Section. Her life was over.
She waited there, pressed against the row, for what seemed like hours but was probably about ten minutes, and finally poked her head out again when she couldn't stand it anymore. The corridor was empty. She practically sprinted out of the library, ignoring Madam Pince's outraged squawk, and arrived in the entrance hall just in time to see the Slytherin team return, flushed from practice.
"What've you been doing, Pansy? You missed some great action out there today," Draco said.
"Er, you know, napping. I'm sure you're going to slaughter Hufflepuff," she said. That started the team into excited chatter about their chances. She exhaled.
---
Napping? Draco thought suspiciously, though he smiled and joked with the others. Upstairs? What was she really doing?
He looked back over his shoulder as the group approached the dungeon, and nearly lost his composure when he saw Nott walking down the stairs Pansy had come down on. Draco forced himself to look forward. He scrutinized Pansy. She and Drusilla Rosier were arguing half-seriously about whose boyfriend was the better Quidditch player. Even though he wanted to be jealous, he couldn't help but chuckle at their utter ignorance.
"Draco flies faster than anyone on the team," Pansy said smugly. Yeah, because I'm the Seeker, Pansy.
"I heard Madam Hooch say that Cameron had the most bumphs of anyone in Hogwarts history," countered Drusilla.
"Uh, Dru... a bumph is a foul," said Millicent Bulstrode.
Everyone laughed, Drusilla looked furious, and Pansy snaked her arm through his triumphantly, as if he was the Snitch.
He pushed down his suspicions for the moment, but he decided the time had come for him to make things explicitly clear to Nott, no matter what his father had warned him. A wizard had a certain pride, after all. He unhooked his arm from Pansy's to put it around her shoulders possessively.