The Shed Near the Vegetable Patch (Pansy/Neville, PG)
Title: The Shed Near the Vegetable Patch
Author: quietliban
Rating: PG
Prompt Set: 50.4
Prompt: #48 Pressure
Word Count: ~550 words
Summary: Pansy tries to hide by the shead near the vegetable patch. Neville finds her by accident.
Notes: For 100quills. Same drill as before, meant to sit within The End of All the Fighting 'verse. There is a list for it here.
The Shed Near the Vegetable Patch
She feels it building up. This pressure in her chest and Pansy wants to scream. She wants to tear her heart out and make it all go away, because it wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was supposed to be at home. She was supposed to be in her house with her mother and father. She was supposed be somewhere warm. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to be here, at this tumbling-down house with people whispering about her and staring at her.
She wasn’t supposed to want to cry every time Hermione Granger so much as approached her. Why would that know-it-all care anyway? Why would she care about a Slytherin? Just because Pansy had lost her parents and was all alone…no, Pansy would not take pity from that, that…
Mudblood. Draco’s voice in her head supplies.
Pansy breathes in trying to calm herself. She can feel herself shaking. She doesn’t want to remember Draco. She doesn’t want to remember what Draco did in her house. She doesn’t want to remember the flash of green light, and the beseeching look he gave her. She doesn’t want to remember the beckoning gesture and the red marks of his fingers around her wrist when she wouldn’t come with him.
Pansy hits her back against the tin shed. They’ve been kind to her here, but no, that’s not true either. Molly Weasley has been kind, while her daughter scowls at her.
Stupid Weaslette.
Pansy bites down on her knuckle. She tries to hold back the pressure. She tries to stop it from building up and spilling over into tears. She will not cry. She will not cry. She has to be strong now. Mother is dead and…
“Pansy?” Longbottom wanders into view, and she supposes it’s her own fault for hiding near the vegetable patch in the Weasley’s backyard. “Are you alright?” he asks. His concern is genuine and not fuelled by pity. Longbottom is something that has surprised Pansy. He is not the boy she remembers from childhood play dates.
But then all his family is dead too.
Pansy looks at him. She knows her eyes are splotchy and red. “I’m fine,” she replies and crosses her arms. She ignores the self-inflicted teeth marks on her fingers.
Longbottom regards her carefully. “You’re not,” he says quietly, but doesn’t push the issue. “Did you want to help me pick the tomatoes? Mrs Weasley is making spaghetti for dinner.”
Pansy looks at him and blinks. “No.”
Longbottom shrugs and walks through the vegetable patch where the tomato plants are growing. He treads carefully, not knocking any of the other vegetation.
Pansy slides her back down the tin shed and watches him. He moves tenderly, and gracefully, lifting leaves in search of ripe red fruit. She sighs, and closes her eyes. She fishes for the packet of cigarettes she found in Arthur Weasley’s shed. She takes it and her wand from her robe pocket. She lights one, and breathes in, coughing slightly as she breathes back out. The smoke burns her insides, and she begins to feel the tingle of nicotine. The pressure recedes.
Longbottom turns to look at her. There’s a puzzled expression on his face, and he shrugs at her, before calling out. “Don’t let Mrs Weasley see you!”
Pansy lifts the cigarette to her mouth once more, and shrugs back.
Author: quietliban
Rating: PG
Prompt Set: 50.4
Prompt: #48 Pressure
Word Count: ~550 words
Summary: Pansy tries to hide by the shead near the vegetable patch. Neville finds her by accident.
Notes: For 100quills. Same drill as before, meant to sit within The End of All the Fighting 'verse. There is a list for it here.
The Shed Near the Vegetable Patch
She feels it building up. This pressure in her chest and Pansy wants to scream. She wants to tear her heart out and make it all go away, because it wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was supposed to be at home. She was supposed to be in her house with her mother and father. She was supposed be somewhere warm. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t supposed to be here, at this tumbling-down house with people whispering about her and staring at her.
She wasn’t supposed to want to cry every time Hermione Granger so much as approached her. Why would that know-it-all care anyway? Why would she care about a Slytherin? Just because Pansy had lost her parents and was all alone…no, Pansy would not take pity from that, that…
Mudblood. Draco’s voice in her head supplies.
Pansy breathes in trying to calm herself. She can feel herself shaking. She doesn’t want to remember Draco. She doesn’t want to remember what Draco did in her house. She doesn’t want to remember the flash of green light, and the beseeching look he gave her. She doesn’t want to remember the beckoning gesture and the red marks of his fingers around her wrist when she wouldn’t come with him.
Pansy hits her back against the tin shed. They’ve been kind to her here, but no, that’s not true either. Molly Weasley has been kind, while her daughter scowls at her.
Stupid Weaslette.
Pansy bites down on her knuckle. She tries to hold back the pressure. She tries to stop it from building up and spilling over into tears. She will not cry. She will not cry. She has to be strong now. Mother is dead and…
“Pansy?” Longbottom wanders into view, and she supposes it’s her own fault for hiding near the vegetable patch in the Weasley’s backyard. “Are you alright?” he asks. His concern is genuine and not fuelled by pity. Longbottom is something that has surprised Pansy. He is not the boy she remembers from childhood play dates.
But then all his family is dead too.
Pansy looks at him. She knows her eyes are splotchy and red. “I’m fine,” she replies and crosses her arms. She ignores the self-inflicted teeth marks on her fingers.
Longbottom regards her carefully. “You’re not,” he says quietly, but doesn’t push the issue. “Did you want to help me pick the tomatoes? Mrs Weasley is making spaghetti for dinner.”
Pansy looks at him and blinks. “No.”
Longbottom shrugs and walks through the vegetable patch where the tomato plants are growing. He treads carefully, not knocking any of the other vegetation.
Pansy slides her back down the tin shed and watches him. He moves tenderly, and gracefully, lifting leaves in search of ripe red fruit. She sighs, and closes her eyes. She fishes for the packet of cigarettes she found in Arthur Weasley’s shed. She takes it and her wand from her robe pocket. She lights one, and breathes in, coughing slightly as she breathes back out. The smoke burns her insides, and she begins to feel the tingle of nicotine. The pressure recedes.
Longbottom turns to look at her. There’s a puzzled expression on his face, and he shrugs at her, before calling out. “Don’t let Mrs Weasley see you!”
Pansy lifts the cigarette to her mouth once more, and shrugs back.