“pa stas her, so he takes the ue fro her and sits without ahe hair sreehes oone floor whe bak, a the table, it is lear that they are not here for a soial visit “beautiful as always”
≈ hi drao doeso e the word often, but she ebodied it at that ohe souhe bak of her throat ahe table beeen the, drippg with derision it should have bothered hi, but he also thks that sharp edges will be easier to deal with today than sharp wer was always easier to take than hurt
≈” she looks hi up and down, and like always, drao wo she sees there this is not like shool, when she would hang onto every word he said jt beae his father ade oney and his other a frht faily she did o be nie i help with howork, or ake sure that she siled for pitures that ight end up i despite beg friends f as he an reber (evehan d goyle, but then the fire for one and azkaban for a, don’t thiop it), this ight be the first ti they were ever real with eah other “heard you’ve been runng around with potter”
≈ightens his fgers around a up withjt to have sothg to hold he knows pansy did not iss the ovent “i have”
“and granger”
≈ flh this ti, beae he knows that this is the prie he t pay if he wants to beo friends with her agai apologize for this, either “her too” then, thkg it ight be better to be opletely ho, he adits to the rest of it “we’re friends, atually i’ runng around eople we wouldo, bak at hogwarts”
“a friend of udbloods and traitors now, are we?” he t have ade a fae, or flhed, or sothg, beae she ughed, the souo draw stares fro the table arou wasn’t a good idea, to draw stares ihis “rex” she sps her hair, a help but ty she was, even though he hadn’t thought about her like that for a while
≈ sure he ever thought about her like that aybe, he jt thought of it as ahat they would get together i datis, get engaged, have kids to arry on the faily legay even if it wouldn’t have beehey would have been happy happier than they deserved)
“rong about that stuff” this g poiernoon, deidiay or leave he would not, ould not, stay with her if she oo preah the old ways if she was still full of hate he knows now that there is too uh pa this world to add ore o beae you are afraid or like others to be sall jt so you an be big he wo of that a didn’t ake se our pareellg ”
“i know” she raised her up of tea to her lips, but he ould tell she wasn’t drkg drao had heard that a lot of the slythers ould publi a with their pareered all over the papers and their ed fro every ion it waso srea at the all, wherippg jx shot at hi or whe groeries were spoiled whe ho you an’t b for arents did, it’s not fair, it’s not fair, didn’t you jt fight for freedo? “too little, tht?”
the ri was lih dark lipstik whe it away fro her outh, and she frog it ak before he ould stare at it f it ade hi sile that had always bothered her bak shool, too
“aybe hgs are always goihe sa pansy’s always gog to stik, and she’s always gog to dress like she’s ready for a photo shoot at a he’s always goih as an old friend ahought he ould love, ohgs were differeh goied by thgs that weren’t their hoie, and they es the wizardg le like harry would never oeppg foot but aybe so thiant thgs, ould hahat’s what atters now “aybe we’ve got enough ti”
he reahed aross the table to take her hand, a hi away like he thought she would stead, she siles, aears fillihat she wiped away before they ould spill down her heeks pansy always had hated for people to see her ry
“i hope so” pansy stood and threile of galleons dowable, extravagaippg “rl do i hope so”
chapter 11
drao
harry’s te aga
≈hough it’s irratiohough it’suhough harry doesell drao where he’s at or whe be ho at his ual ti, it still akes a bubble of pani rise i, so big that he aake a full breath it’s silly, but at the sa ti it’s he st ti harry didn’t o ho ohg was very wrong, soo, and they all had to fae sothi want to drao didn’t wa like that aga, where you khg is wrong and you have to wait for sooell you what it is, whih one of your frierouble
ohe door opens, drao knows that he shouldhered to worry, beae harry was te for a very different reason
he’s drunk
≈ually druhan drao had ever seen hi, and drao doesn’t really know what to do with that, beae the only person he’s ever s