Halloween Gift for Fiery_flamingo
Gift for: fiery_flamingo
From: stgulik
Title: Pansy’s Bane: A Cautionary Tale
Characters: Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger, Padma Patil, others
Rating: PG
Warnings: It’s Halloween, y’all.
Summary: Pansy catches up with a few old friends at a party.
Notes: All my love to teddyradiator for her encouragement and wonderful suggestions. And thank you, Mods, for another great HP Halloween fest!
Hogwarts’ combined Halloween fancy-dress party and alumni ball was a rousing success. Around midnight, Pansy Parkinson and her old classmates meandered to a quiet corner of the Great Hall to sit and reminisce.
“Pansy, I love your costume,” said Hermione.
Pansy blinked. “Costume? Well, thanks. Your banshee robes are gorgeous.”
Padma giggled tipsily. “I’ve missed you all! How’ve you been, Pans? We haven’t heard from you.”
“My story is rather... disconcerting,” warned Pansy. But at their urging, she relented. “Well, alright. As you know, after the war, my family moved to France. My father bought a bankrupt traveling circus there.”
-o0o-
“We brought it back to life. And there was a ringmaster, very handsome. Eventually we were married, on Halloween night.”
Pansy silenced their congratulations. “The festivities lasted all evening. There was dancing, silly games, and above all, drinking. I held my own in that regard! While I was dancing, my ring flew off. Plopped right into the apple-bobbing tub. Nobody noticed. I went to retrieve it. I went all the way to the bottom.
“And that’s how I died.”
With a smirk of amusement at the shocked guests, Pansy Parkinson stood, turned, and glided through a stone wall.