golden longings

XXV

***

Draco found Pansy sitting in the common room.
He felt compelled to tell her that he had heard Hermione defending her. He was certain that that would make her happy.
Just maybe he didn't intend to tell her how exactly he knew that.
And he felt that he needed backup.
Getting Pansy to finally admit that she had a chance and a right to go for the person she liked was no easy task.

But Draco had decided that he was going to try. Possibly with a little help from Balise, only he didn't feel like searching for another person, not even in order to recruit them to help his cause.
He opted to just hope that Balise, in typical fashion, would show up the moment he was needed. A bit of a naive hope maybe but he was willing to take that risk.

And maybe he also wanted to talk to Pansy in order to stop thinking about Potter.
Because that boy refused to leave his mind. Asking if Draco would be at a party really wasn't a big deal, but Draco found himself thinking about it the entire way to the common room. And he continued to think about it standing at the entrance, watching Pansy from afar.

Potter had probably just asked in order to be polite. But then again, one didn't call out after someone who was already leaving in order to be polite.
It was the opposite of polite in fact.
Why was Draco even thinking about it that hard?
He found himself quite liking the thought that Potter had asked in Hope's of him coming. It seemed impossible but he still liked the possibility.

Since the thoughts wouldn't stop he decided to focus his attentions on Pansy. Getting her out of her oblivious state was his new goal, his new distraction.
So the strode over, to the sofa on which Pansy was curled up.
As he got closer, Draco saw that she was reading her charms book and had a piece of parchment prepared.
An obvious effort to do her homework.

What a shame that Draco was about to disrupt her effort, he thought. Just that he didn't really regret interrupting her.
Pansy had always prioritized social matters over academical ones.
Something he admired about her. The way she had her priorities straight.

"Salazar, are you going to stop lurking and sit down already?"
She had caught him watching over her shoulder. Since he had been lingering for a while it was barley surprising.
"Good evening to you as well, Pansy"
He tried hard to make himself sound offended, which wasn't the easiest task as he was actually quite amused but her snappy greeting.

"Oh, Mister Draco Malfoy bids me a good evening. What an honour."
She pretended to fan her face dramatically as she grinned up at him.
"Are we done with the formalities?"
She asked as soon as she was willing to drop her act.
Draco decided to play along for a minute, just to humour her.
"Oh but we haven't even started."

Draco felt himself falling into a rhythm of exaddurated mannerism. For no other reason than simple fun.
And he felt at ease. It reminded him just why he loved Pansy so much.
Around her, he always felt comfortable. And she made him laugh and listened to him and comforted him.
He felt so much affection towards her, he leaned forward and hugged her tightly.
"So, homework I see?"
He let her go but left one arm draped around her.
"At least I was, until you disturbed the peace and quiet in which I was doing it."

While her words sounded accusing, her tone gave away she was joking. Only teasing him a little.
"Now I did not mean to disturb. If you don't want to hear my news I could always just leave..."
Draco knew her eyes would grow wide in excitement before they did. Nothing in the world could stop Pansy from being incredibly nosy. And he knew her well enough to know it.