[Harry Potter] Gen | Social Butterfly
Title: Social Butterfly
Summary: Somehow, she's better at this than Draco. Part of the Riddle takes over the world Muggle AU.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: Pansy, Draco
Genre: Gen, AU
Rating: G
Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 355
Author's Notes: For the 30 days writing challenge. Prompt #12: When we hold each other, in the darkness, it doesn't make the darkness go away. The bad things are still out there. The nightmares still walking. When we hold each other we feel not safe, but better. "It's all right" we whisper, "I'm here, I love you." and we lie: "I'll never leave you." For just a moment or two the darkness doesn't seem so bad. (Neil Gaiman)
Somehow, she's better at this than Draco. It's taken years of flitting back and forth at parties filled with socialites her mother pretends to be friends with, of dressing up in outfits that make her look unapproachable and fearless, of brushing the tip of her mascara brush against her eyelashes. But Pansy's learned how to appear normal, or rather, to appear like she's above the events that swirl around her, good or bad.
Draco does it too. He's had good practice lurking at the backs of the same parties, but he never likes the schmoozing, the small talk, even though he does it well enough to make people like and hate him simultaneously. Maybe that's the difference between Pansy and him, that she likes the lie, and he doesn't.
When Riddle takes over the government and everything changes, there are much fewer parties, and the ones that take place don't have room for small talk. Still, Pansy puts on her dresses and her made-up smile, and slides into conversation about politics and the necessary death of certain enemies of the state, even if every single word is dripping with untruth. Draco wears his suits, discomfort shadowing the natural curl of his lips as he talks about the death of Harry Potter and his wife, and the imprisonment of their three children.
Pansy can see that his eyes are haunted. Even with age blurring some of his deceit to the world at large, Pansy can read her old flame easily. Scorpius is always by his side, playing the dutiful son, a mirror to his father's past, his mother's wedding ring on a chain around his neck.
They circle each other, but eventually Pansy has him alone in a darker corner of the room, Scorpius keeping a lookout. Her glove drops, and she titters a laugh as he bends to pick it up. If a note passes between them, it goes unnoticed; they were brought up to be subtle, after all. She leaves soon after, her goodbye kiss saying stay strong and be careful.
It's strange, these days, how the truth can only be told in silence.
Summary: Somehow, she's better at this than Draco. Part of the Riddle takes over the world Muggle AU.
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: Pansy, Draco
Genre: Gen, AU
Rating: G
Warnings: N/A
Word Count: 355
Author's Notes: For the 30 days writing challenge. Prompt #12: When we hold each other, in the darkness, it doesn't make the darkness go away. The bad things are still out there. The nightmares still walking. When we hold each other we feel not safe, but better. "It's all right" we whisper, "I'm here, I love you." and we lie: "I'll never leave you." For just a moment or two the darkness doesn't seem so bad. (Neil Gaiman)
Somehow, she's better at this than Draco. It's taken years of flitting back and forth at parties filled with socialites her mother pretends to be friends with, of dressing up in outfits that make her look unapproachable and fearless, of brushing the tip of her mascara brush against her eyelashes. But Pansy's learned how to appear normal, or rather, to appear like she's above the events that swirl around her, good or bad.
Draco does it too. He's had good practice lurking at the backs of the same parties, but he never likes the schmoozing, the small talk, even though he does it well enough to make people like and hate him simultaneously. Maybe that's the difference between Pansy and him, that she likes the lie, and he doesn't.
When Riddle takes over the government and everything changes, there are much fewer parties, and the ones that take place don't have room for small talk. Still, Pansy puts on her dresses and her made-up smile, and slides into conversation about politics and the necessary death of certain enemies of the state, even if every single word is dripping with untruth. Draco wears his suits, discomfort shadowing the natural curl of his lips as he talks about the death of Harry Potter and his wife, and the imprisonment of their three children.
Pansy can see that his eyes are haunted. Even with age blurring some of his deceit to the world at large, Pansy can read her old flame easily. Scorpius is always by his side, playing the dutiful son, a mirror to his father's past, his mother's wedding ring on a chain around his neck.
They circle each other, but eventually Pansy has him alone in a darker corner of the room, Scorpius keeping a lookout. Her glove drops, and she titters a laugh as he bends to pick it up. If a note passes between them, it goes unnoticed; they were brought up to be subtle, after all. She leaves soon after, her goodbye kiss saying stay strong and be careful.
It's strange, these days, how the truth can only be told in silence.