100quills #3.26 Sing
This is a direct sequel to Pride and Prejudice, happening within a week of that story. However whereas that story was snark and roffles, this one is angst and tears. :( Sorry.
Title: Sentimental Kills
Rating: PG
Prompt: #26 Sing
Length: 1500 words
Genre: angst
Time: Fifth Year
Characters: Pansy, Millie, Theo, Draco
Summary: Pansy is sick of studying, but her attempt for idle diversion ends in tears.
"But these lazy days clog up my head, the story ends and years go by, the shadow tells me 'sentimental kills'," sang Millicent Bulstrode. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed with music paper spread in front of her and an acoustic guitar in her hands, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Pansy Parkinson was supposedly practicing with her rune flashcards, but in reality was spending most of her time looking out the window at the cold, wet spring morning. She looked over at Millie. She may be ugly, thought Pansy idly, but she certainly has a lovely voice. Aloud, she said, "Hey Millie, I've figured it out at last. You're not just part hag, you're part siren."
Millie stopped playing and looked over to her. "Sod off, whore," she said, but she was grinning.
"No, not a siren, you sink like a stone..." Pansy tutted in mock puzzlement and looked up at the ceiling as if pondering.
Millicent nailed her in the shoulder with a guitar pick. "Ow!" said Pansy, although it hadn't stung at all.
She looked back over at her friend, who was trying out various chords. "Sentimental kills... sentimental kills..." she sang, one way and then another.
"That's not even grammatically correct," said Pansy.
Millie gave her friend a look as if she were really too stupid and ridiculous. "It's ambiguous," she explained. "What is the shadow saying? Is it saying that being sentimental is dangerous, or is it talking about deaths as sentimental? I suppose you can't understand anything that doesn't involve snogging Malfoy in the prefect's bathroom-"
Pansy threw the guitar pick back at her, but missed.
"Ha," said Millie, and strummed again. "Every night when you fall asleep, how I wish I could learn to sleep, oh no no..."
"Learn to sleep?"
Millicent gave her a pointed glance. "Shall I go elsewhere?"
Pansy sighed. "No, I'm just sick to death of studying. Why don't I ever see you studying?"
Millie picked up her quill and crossed something out on the music paper. "I'm not worried at all about OWLs. I just need to get high enough scores to keep attending. I'm going to inherit the brewery, and we don't learn how to brew here. My dad teaches me all of that. Truth be told, I'll be very happy not to have to take transfiguration anymore. Now, seriously, is my singing bothering you? Do you want me to go somewhere else so you can study?"
"No, I think I'll go have a cup of tea."
Pansy rolled out of bed, put on her shoes, and exited the room, hearing Millicent go back to playing behind her.
---
Instead of heading to the kitchen for tea, she walked the other the direction when she reached the common room, into the tunnels. She wandered around the dungeons for a while, feeling discontented. Rumor had it that the Slytherin dungeons were the largest house dormitory in area, despite being under the lake; however, most of it seemed to be useless winding halls. There were some secret passageways and hidden rooms, and probably more that had been forgotten or never found, but there were also certain stones that would cause one's feet to stick to the ground, and some of the tunnels shifted, so people could get seriously lost if they didn't remember the pseudo Latin saying, silver serpent sinister semper--if one kept the silver light fixtures that depicted a snake always on one's left, one would make it back to the common room. She remembered back to Blaise Zabini, of an analytical frame of mind when not admiring his own reflection, arguing that the saying was nonsensical and didn't actually work, but that people who followed its advice long enough naturally would stumble into the common rooms sooner or later, exactly because the passages moved.
A seventh year named Starkey had retorted, "You idiot, when you start paying attention to the light fixtures, the dungeons realize you're trying to get back to the common room and move to make it quicker."
It had come down to a bet, of course, and Blaise had disappeared into the depths with most of Slytherin waiting in the common room to time his return. He came back several hours later, at first claiming that he had stepped on a sticky stone by mistake. When it was pointed out to him that he couldn't have extricated himself from the stone without help, he continued to insist that he had gotten stuck and had released himself without help, and refused to pay up. Needless to say hexes had started flying, and third-year Zabini got the worst of it, spending a few days with Madam Pomfrey. He continued denying a need to pay, which might have gotten him in much deeper trouble, but Daphne Greengrass had secretly paid off his debt. When they started dating, the other Slytherin girls were hoping like mad that in a fight Daphne would reveal that she had saved him, but the fight never materialized.
Pansy grinned. Either she's really as empty-headed as she seems, she thought, or she's the second smartest girl in Slytherin, making that investment. Blaise is worth quite a fortune--in galleons his inheritance approaches Draco's, but he must be such a bore to--
She stopped. What were those noises? Glad she had reapplied the silencing charm to her shoes that morning, Pansy walked towards them.
They revealed themselves as two human voices in heated argument, and as she approached she was surprised to realize they belonged to Draco and Theo. They were behind the tapestry, in the secret room that served as Theo's hiding place.
"Who do you think you're trying to kid?" Theo was saying. "I'm not someone you can bully or buy off, Malfoy. My father's closer to the Dark Lord than yours--especially after his mistake with the diary."
Pansy went ice-cold. What were they saying?
"Shut up about my father right now, Nott," Draco replied, and she could hear the snarl in his voice. "This is between you and me. Your father's an old man--how long do you think he can rescue you?"
Theo laughed. "Rescue from you? What are you going to do, throw a potion at me? You're nothing."
She still felt frozen, but some red hot anger was rising within her. How could Theo-
"Oh, I'm nothing, am I? Must hurt a lot then, knowing she picked nothing over you."
Pansy gasped, then covered her mouth with her hands, sure she had been heard.
"If you're so sure about her, why are you ordering me to stay away from her? Because you know that if I wait long enough, she'll realize what a spoiled fake you are. And when that moment comes, she'll turn to me, her dear friend-" He stopped and laughed again. "Ooh, got your wand out now? Going to hex me?"
"If you don't stay away from her," Draco said, and his voice was low and deadly, "I will kill you."
"You couldn't kill anyone," Theo said contemptuously. "This conversation is pointless." And though Pansy saw it coming, she could only reflexively back up a step as he threw up the tapestry. They both saw her and were momentarily speechless. Pushing her fear aside, she grabbed hold of her anger.
"Who do you think you are?" she screamed. "Both of you? I'm just some prize to fight over?"
"Pansy-"
"Shut up! You!" and she found that she was pointing her wand at Theo. "All this time, you pretended to be my friend, you listened to my secrets, and all the time you just wanted to possess me. How could you be so disgusting?" She saw Draco get that hint of a smile, and she pointed her wand at him. "And you! You think you can control who I see and who I talk to? You don't even trust me that much? Don't you dare try to follow me!"
And she turned and ran blindly. Of course she heard them chasing after her, knew that athletic Draco at least would soon catch up with her--but as she turned a corner suddenly she didn't hear them anymore. She turned around to look back around the corner. The corridor was empty.
"You shifted," she said out loud. Oh Merlin, have they driven me insane, that I'm talking to the dungeons? Still, she couldn't help but add "Thank you."
She felt herself tremble slightly, but forced the tears down as she concentrated on keeping the silver serpent to her left.
---
She ran through the common room and straight to the fifth-year girls' room. Even running, the freshly applied charm made her silent. When she got to the slightly ajar door, she could hear Millie still working on her song.
"Every night when I go to sleep, how I wish I'd not taken responsibility to make you sorry," she sang.
Fervently she hoped that Millie was still the only girl in the room, because she knew she could not keep the tears back any longer.
---fin---
Notes: "Sentimental Kills" is a song by Chinese artist Chen Qizhen. I changed the lyrics to fit the story more closely.
Title: Sentimental Kills
Rating: PG
Prompt: #26 Sing
Length: 1500 words
Genre: angst
Time: Fifth Year
Characters: Pansy, Millie, Theo, Draco
Summary: Pansy is sick of studying, but her attempt for idle diversion ends in tears.
"But these lazy days clog up my head, the story ends and years go by, the shadow tells me 'sentimental kills'," sang Millicent Bulstrode. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed with music paper spread in front of her and an acoustic guitar in her hands, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Pansy Parkinson was supposedly practicing with her rune flashcards, but in reality was spending most of her time looking out the window at the cold, wet spring morning. She looked over at Millie. She may be ugly, thought Pansy idly, but she certainly has a lovely voice. Aloud, she said, "Hey Millie, I've figured it out at last. You're not just part hag, you're part siren."
Millie stopped playing and looked over to her. "Sod off, whore," she said, but she was grinning.
"No, not a siren, you sink like a stone..." Pansy tutted in mock puzzlement and looked up at the ceiling as if pondering.
Millicent nailed her in the shoulder with a guitar pick. "Ow!" said Pansy, although it hadn't stung at all.
She looked back over at her friend, who was trying out various chords. "Sentimental kills... sentimental kills..." she sang, one way and then another.
"That's not even grammatically correct," said Pansy.
Millie gave her friend a look as if she were really too stupid and ridiculous. "It's ambiguous," she explained. "What is the shadow saying? Is it saying that being sentimental is dangerous, or is it talking about deaths as sentimental? I suppose you can't understand anything that doesn't involve snogging Malfoy in the prefect's bathroom-"
Pansy threw the guitar pick back at her, but missed.
"Ha," said Millie, and strummed again. "Every night when you fall asleep, how I wish I could learn to sleep, oh no no..."
"Learn to sleep?"
Millicent gave her a pointed glance. "Shall I go elsewhere?"
Pansy sighed. "No, I'm just sick to death of studying. Why don't I ever see you studying?"
Millie picked up her quill and crossed something out on the music paper. "I'm not worried at all about OWLs. I just need to get high enough scores to keep attending. I'm going to inherit the brewery, and we don't learn how to brew here. My dad teaches me all of that. Truth be told, I'll be very happy not to have to take transfiguration anymore. Now, seriously, is my singing bothering you? Do you want me to go somewhere else so you can study?"
"No, I think I'll go have a cup of tea."
Pansy rolled out of bed, put on her shoes, and exited the room, hearing Millicent go back to playing behind her.
---
Instead of heading to the kitchen for tea, she walked the other the direction when she reached the common room, into the tunnels. She wandered around the dungeons for a while, feeling discontented. Rumor had it that the Slytherin dungeons were the largest house dormitory in area, despite being under the lake; however, most of it seemed to be useless winding halls. There were some secret passageways and hidden rooms, and probably more that had been forgotten or never found, but there were also certain stones that would cause one's feet to stick to the ground, and some of the tunnels shifted, so people could get seriously lost if they didn't remember the pseudo Latin saying, silver serpent sinister semper--if one kept the silver light fixtures that depicted a snake always on one's left, one would make it back to the common room. She remembered back to Blaise Zabini, of an analytical frame of mind when not admiring his own reflection, arguing that the saying was nonsensical and didn't actually work, but that people who followed its advice long enough naturally would stumble into the common rooms sooner or later, exactly because the passages moved.
A seventh year named Starkey had retorted, "You idiot, when you start paying attention to the light fixtures, the dungeons realize you're trying to get back to the common room and move to make it quicker."
It had come down to a bet, of course, and Blaise had disappeared into the depths with most of Slytherin waiting in the common room to time his return. He came back several hours later, at first claiming that he had stepped on a sticky stone by mistake. When it was pointed out to him that he couldn't have extricated himself from the stone without help, he continued to insist that he had gotten stuck and had released himself without help, and refused to pay up. Needless to say hexes had started flying, and third-year Zabini got the worst of it, spending a few days with Madam Pomfrey. He continued denying a need to pay, which might have gotten him in much deeper trouble, but Daphne Greengrass had secretly paid off his debt. When they started dating, the other Slytherin girls were hoping like mad that in a fight Daphne would reveal that she had saved him, but the fight never materialized.
Pansy grinned. Either she's really as empty-headed as she seems, she thought, or she's the second smartest girl in Slytherin, making that investment. Blaise is worth quite a fortune--in galleons his inheritance approaches Draco's, but he must be such a bore to--
She stopped. What were those noises? Glad she had reapplied the silencing charm to her shoes that morning, Pansy walked towards them.
They revealed themselves as two human voices in heated argument, and as she approached she was surprised to realize they belonged to Draco and Theo. They were behind the tapestry, in the secret room that served as Theo's hiding place.
"Who do you think you're trying to kid?" Theo was saying. "I'm not someone you can bully or buy off, Malfoy. My father's closer to the Dark Lord than yours--especially after his mistake with the diary."
Pansy went ice-cold. What were they saying?
"Shut up about my father right now, Nott," Draco replied, and she could hear the snarl in his voice. "This is between you and me. Your father's an old man--how long do you think he can rescue you?"
Theo laughed. "Rescue from you? What are you going to do, throw a potion at me? You're nothing."
She still felt frozen, but some red hot anger was rising within her. How could Theo-
"Oh, I'm nothing, am I? Must hurt a lot then, knowing she picked nothing over you."
Pansy gasped, then covered her mouth with her hands, sure she had been heard.
"If you're so sure about her, why are you ordering me to stay away from her? Because you know that if I wait long enough, she'll realize what a spoiled fake you are. And when that moment comes, she'll turn to me, her dear friend-" He stopped and laughed again. "Ooh, got your wand out now? Going to hex me?"
"If you don't stay away from her," Draco said, and his voice was low and deadly, "I will kill you."
"You couldn't kill anyone," Theo said contemptuously. "This conversation is pointless." And though Pansy saw it coming, she could only reflexively back up a step as he threw up the tapestry. They both saw her and were momentarily speechless. Pushing her fear aside, she grabbed hold of her anger.
"Who do you think you are?" she screamed. "Both of you? I'm just some prize to fight over?"
"Pansy-"
"Shut up! You!" and she found that she was pointing her wand at Theo. "All this time, you pretended to be my friend, you listened to my secrets, and all the time you just wanted to possess me. How could you be so disgusting?" She saw Draco get that hint of a smile, and she pointed her wand at him. "And you! You think you can control who I see and who I talk to? You don't even trust me that much? Don't you dare try to follow me!"
And she turned and ran blindly. Of course she heard them chasing after her, knew that athletic Draco at least would soon catch up with her--but as she turned a corner suddenly she didn't hear them anymore. She turned around to look back around the corner. The corridor was empty.
"You shifted," she said out loud. Oh Merlin, have they driven me insane, that I'm talking to the dungeons? Still, she couldn't help but add "Thank you."
She felt herself tremble slightly, but forced the tears down as she concentrated on keeping the silver serpent to her left.
---
She ran through the common room and straight to the fifth-year girls' room. Even running, the freshly applied charm made her silent. When she got to the slightly ajar door, she could hear Millie still working on her song.
"Every night when I go to sleep, how I wish I'd not taken responsibility to make you sorry," she sang.
Fervently she hoped that Millie was still the only girl in the room, because she knew she could not keep the tears back any longer.
---fin---
Notes: "Sentimental Kills" is a song by Chinese artist Chen Qizhen. I changed the lyrics to fit the story more closely.