Round Two, Challenge Five - VOTING!
Me = epic fail on posting reminders. Soooo, you're getting voting ASAP! Ready? Go!
Read over the drabbles and choose one most favorite and one least favorite drabble. While reading, keep in mind the prompt and word count restrictions. Once you've chosen, put the number of each drabble in the corresponding box at the end of this post. Please remember to put number of the drabble and not the name; it makes it a lot easier for us to keep track. Each most favorite vote will receive +1 point and each least favorite vote will receive -1 point. The drabble with the most points will win, the two drabbles with the least points will be sent packing. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
If, at any point in time, you have a question about the voting procedure, please contact indaze22 or me ASAP. Thanks.
Enough babble, onto the drabbles!
PROMPT:Each drabble must include the following nouns:
#1
TITLE: In Vancouver, 2010
AUTHOR: gelsey
WORD COUNT: 499
RATING: PG
WARNING(S): Real life/Harry Potter intersection.
Even in the stands, the air of the rink had a distinct chill. Harry, familiar with the cool, pulled his cloak closer, but next to him Hermione shivered. She fingered her wand, but Harry shook his head. “No Warming Charms,” he told her, pointing to The Rules sign. “Too many tend to disrupt the charms on the ice.”
Hermione sighed, rubbing her arms. “I don’t see why you wanted me to come,” she said. “I wanted to watch the Muggle doubles short program with my parents. At least,” she added, muttering, “they can’t pull for Australia in that event.”
Harry snorted. Hermione’s parents had taken to their new country even after their memories had been-mostly-returned. “You wanted to know what makes the magical Olympics different from the Muggle,” he said mildly. “I think it’s best to show you.”
He hoped for her to see his girlfriend in a new light. Hermione disliked Pansy from the beginning, and knowledge of the Slytherin’s training for the 2010 Vancouver Magical Olympics had been met with disdain-some wand waving, she said, and magically-enhanced skill.
She had no idea, he thought. Everything the skaters wore was checked for spells, blood tested for potions. The skating was pure skill, while magical elements were pure wandless magic, requiring extreme focus and depth of magical power. He’d watched Pansy and Draco struggle during training, through injuries and magical exhaustion. They steadfastly refused to throw in the towel.
He leaned forward in anticipation as Pansy and Draco skated to starting positions. They radiated a cool confidence that garnered them the nickname the Ice Prince and Princess-something that amused the on-ice-only couple.
Beside him, Hermione gasped as she took in Draco’s costume-completely black with a theatrically decorated Death Eater’s mask. Pansy’s skating outfit with the small grey skirt parodied a Hogwarts school uniform.
The opening chords of the eminently recognizable Death Eaters in Hogwarts (written by Mandy Brocklehurst for piano after the war) sounded, and the skaters began.
Harry watched Hermione as much as he watched the performance, for he’d seen it many times. Though they’d both been in the wizarding world many years, they both, but especially Hermione, never quite grasped the culture that was so innate most wizards and witches didn’t need it explained.
Through controlled, wandless levitations during lifts and throws to the colored sparks that, in this show, signified spells being thrown, the power and control of the skaters was shown as well as physical skill. Harry thought the throw triple loop Pansy landed with the addition of casting a faux-Protego that sparkled gold all around her was particularly striking. It had been a calculated risk to stray from the typical romance-themed performances, but the scores, when they were cast into the air, showed it had paid off.
“I’m-speechless,” Hermione admitted to Pansy afterward, possibly the first nice thing she’d ever said to her.
“Thank you,” Pansy said, and Harry tightened his hold on her, proud on many fronts.
#2
TITLE: When She Sleeps
AUTHOR: kitty_mrowr
WORD COUNT: 498
RATING: PG-13
WARNING(S): Death Eater!Pansy, Angst
My arm is tingling--falling asleep--but I don't move it. She’s asleep and I can't help but think I prefer her that way. She lets her hair down when she sleeps; the cascading black framing her face. Her pretty pug nose twitches when she dreams and she looks less like the stranger she is come daybreak and more like the girl I fell in love with despite my best efforts.
When she sleeps, we aren't arguing. She's not trying to love me and kill me all at the same time; her internal conflict blazing in her eyes making me want her that much more; making my desire curl and retract with each breath I take. She doesn't have that damning Mark imprinted on her arm, signifying our certain failure.
When she sleeps, we’re here together as close as we can be. Awake, we are mortal enemies; but when she sleeps it's just Harry and Pansy and no Potters or Parkinsons or Lord Fucking Voldemorts. It's just us, the way it was before we grew up, before we became this. No Light, no Dark--just us.
When she sleeps, we're back to that make-do ice skating rink on the outskirts of Hogsmeade where we had our first date. That was when things were different, when we could laugh and smile and fall and look into one another's eyes and not feel the betrayal of our names and our hearts and our souls.
When she sleeps, she doesn't think that befriending Ron and Hermione and standing behind the Order was the worst decision I ever made--other than loving her, anyway. When she's awake, she thinks that was a stupid decision, too. But when she sleeps, she doesn't think anything at all. She doesn't speak, either, which is good. I've never found anything more ferocious and fearsome and fantastically delicious as I do that mouth of hers. Her words cut and twist and wound more deeply than any spell I've ever seen or known.
When she sleeps--that terry-cloth towel just barely covering her familiar body--she's mine. I don't have to share her with Voldemort or Malfoy; I don't have to split myself between her and those whose side I am on. When she sleeps, I can love her--and, Merlin, I want to love her with almost every fiber of my being. When the morning comes, I won't be able to; when the morning comes, I'll be Harry Potter, again--the Chosen One--and she will be Pansy Parkinson. When she sleeps, I don't worry about the fact that one of us is bound to kill the other one of these days; sooner or later, I never know.
Though my arm feels as though it may fall off if she lays upon it much longer, I won't move. I won't wake her. It's still just a bit dark outside and I want to love her just a little bit longer; just until the sun comes up tomorrow.
#3
TITLE: Granger Must Die
AUTHOR: little_dollface
WORD COUNT: 499
RATING: T
WARNING(S): suggestiveness
Pansy was going to kill Hermione Granger.
“Granger!” she shouted, spotting her target sitting on a bench near the edge of the outdoor skating rink. Pansy was about to pull out her wand but then she remembered that she was in a park surrounded by Muggles. No matter she thought, grabbing the ice skate Granger was about to put on. Its blade would do just fine.
She pointed the toothed edge directly at Hermione’s neck. “You told him, didn’t you?!”
Hermione chuckled and pushed the skate away with the back of her hand. “Clam down, Pansy. We both know you’re not actually going to hurt me.”
Pansy’s anger deflated slightly and she hesitated for a moment before lowering the blade. “Fine. You’re right. I’m not going to hurt you but I really want to. And you should feel bad about that.” She plopped down next to Granger in a dramatic huff. “You and you idiot boyfriend think you’re so clever. But guess what. I know what you did. Well, your stupid plan is stupid and it did work!” Pansy’s glare could have melted ice.
Hermione now looked genuinely concerned. “So, I take it that Harry stopped by your place last night.”
“Yes,” Pansy bit out. “But I was expecting you.”
“Well, that was the idea,” Hermione offered expectantly.
“Granger, I don’t do surprises! Malfoy knows better. I can’t believe you conned him into going along with this.”
Hermione raised her hands in feigned innocence. “It was all his idea.”
“Right, because he’s the brains of the operation,” Pansy retorted with a snort.
“Who cares whose idea it was? Tell me what happened.” Hermione sounded all bubbly and giddy like a school girl. Pansy really wanted to pop her one right in the kisser.
“It was a complete disaster.” Pansy sighed. “I slammed the door in his face.”
“Why? What did Harry do!?”
“Nothing. He didn’t get a chance to do anything.” Pansy rubbed her face in despair and mumbled into her hands, “I answered the door in only a towel and accidently dropped it when I yelped from the shock of Potter at my door.”
“So he saw you naked and wet. Wasn’t that one of the goals?”
“You have a dirty mind, Granger.” Pansy laughed half heartedly. “But I don’t want things to start off like that with him. Harry… Harry’s different and I want him to think of me as more than…” her voice trailed off.
“I get it.” Hermione picked up her skates and handed them to Pansy. “Harry should be here in a minute. Why don’t you tell him that I wasn’t feeling well.”
Pansy looked the footwear being offered. Hermione wasn’t taking no for an answer. Seconds later Pansy sat alone lacing up the skates as best she could manage.
“Pansy?”
“Potter.” She averted her eyes but then decided to take the bull by the horns. “About last night…”
“Never happened.”
Shocked but happy, she smiled. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”
#4
TITLE: Misery Loves Company
AUTHOR: pokeystar
WORD COUNT: 496
RATING: PG, Language
WARNING(S): MLC cliché
There was a snap to the air that put roses on their cheeks as they sat on a bench near the Hogsmeade rink, lacing up their skates in awkward silence.
“Erm... ” Harry started, casting about for a neutral topic. “Nice weather we're having.”
Pansy groaned under her breath and kept lacing her boots. According to the Owl she'd received, she was required to be at this Merlin forsaken Ministry mandated event for two hours and she intended to be on the ice and away from him for the whole of it.
“Do you like Quidditch?” he asked hopefully.
She paused to look at him and roll her eyes.
“Right. Stay put.” Another eye roll. She was barely half-done lacing her first boot. “I'll be back in a minute.”
He walked off , crunching snow under his capped blades.
She took a moment to check out his bum, and then resumed lacing her boots while counting the ways she would torture Draco for hexing them undone.
The poncy git.
A shriek echoed over the ice and Pansy glanced up in time to see Granger smack Draco across the cheek so hard his head turned with the slap. He clenched his hands into fists and began yelling at her.
Maybe torture would be redundant.
A steaming cup was suddenly thrust in her line of vision. “I brought you some chocolate,” said Harry as he sat beside her.
Crap. Now she'd have to be nice.
“Thank you,” she replied and wrapped her mitten-covered hands around the delicious-smelling beverage.
Harry grinned at her and sipped his chocolate, waiting for her to finish lacing up her skates. He watched several couples glide over the ice, most of them sneaking looks at Granger and Draco as they whizzed by the squabbling duo.
“What do you think they're arguing about?”
She shrugged. “Who had better N.E.W.T scores?”
“How much sugar is in the chocolate?” he parried, saluting her with his cup.
“House-elf rights?” she offered, meeting his eyes in mock innocence.
There was a wicked twinkle in his, answering her. “Crups or ferrets as pets?”
She collapsed in a belly laugh that left her struggling for breath. Pansy decided to throw in the proverbial towel and started lacing her second boot.
“I heard Umbridge is head of the Marriage Law Committee,” he commented, gazing at the still feuding couple. “This is revenge, I figure.”
“Does that make me your new Blood Quill?”
His gaze slid down to her pouting crimson lips and he grinned. “I must not tell lies. I was talking more about Hermione. Umbridge still jumps at the slightest whinny.”
He nudged her with his elbow. “But I should admit, I'm not sure I'd mind the scars you'd leave behind.”
She huffed at him in pretend offense, and turned to watch the skaters, her brain already busily planning where those scars would go.
#5
TITLE: Ever Yours
AUTHOR: selinakyle47
WORD COUNT: 387
RATING: PG
WARNING(S): Implied character death.
With a quick flick of her wand, Pansy cleared off a spot on the snow-dusted bench that she’d come to think of as “theirs.” She settled down inside a voluminous cloak (faintly scented with Harry’s cologne) and lifted the steaming cup of hot cocoa to her lips. A slight frown crossed her face and she poured the drink out. Somehow it didn’t quite taste the same without Harry here.
With a heavy sigh, Pansy stared ahead and watched couples twirl around each other on the ice skating rink. This was one of their favorite places, something they shared just between the two of them even after the boys were born. And when Harry could no longer spin her around (like that young man was doing to his sweetheart), he was more than content to sit here and enjoy the view.
As long as I’m with you, he had said, it doesn’t matter.
Feeling the prick of tears at the corners of her eyes, Pansy hurriedly raised a hand to brush them away. Behind her, the crunch of snow announced the presence of another person.
“I’d like to be left alone, Granger,” she snapped. When Hermione didn’t answer, she turned her head and confronted her unwelcome visitor. “And do take that towel off your head. It looks ridiculous.”
“This?” Hermione lifted a hand and gently patted the brightly colored scarf wrapped around her face. “Luna will be saddened to hear that you’re not impressed with her knitting skills.”
Pansy snorted and turned back to the skaters. After a brief moment, Hermione sat down next to her. She began to reach out with her hand, but upon seeing the look on Pansy’s face, she tucked it back in her lap. Instead, she murmured, “We all miss him, Pansy.”
Looking down at her hands, Pansy rubbed at the gold band circling her finger. “It was rather inconsiderate of him to have left me,” she said with a light sniffle.
“I’m sure he’s waiting for you, wherever he is.”
She silently considered Hermione’s statement for a few minutes. “It seems that your presence is not as irritating as I’d originally thought,” she conceded grudgingly.
“If that’s your way of asking me to stay, then I’d be more than happy to,” Hermione replied with a smile as she reached for Pansy’s hand.
#6
TITLE: A Nice Reminder
AUTHOR: ayane_tsurugi
WORD COUNT: 315
RATING: G
WARNING(S): None.
Pansy woke with a start and a groan, smashing her face into her pillow as she fought the realization that it was morning. The other side of the bed was empty already, but she could see the light coming from beneath the bathroom door. “I hate you,” she called, rolling onto her back.
“Oh?” Harry’s muffled voice was amused, and she scowled into the dark. “What did my dream self do wrong now?”
“It wasn’t you, it was Granger!” She paused, trying to remember. “She was teaching me…teaching me to ice skate! And she kept throwing things in my path so that I would fall.”
“Then why are you mad at me? Was I in the background laughing? I mean, it sounds like something I would do.” His voice shook with the laughter he was holding back.
“Arse.” She considered lying and saying that he’d been there, but thought better of it. “You’re the one who’s friends with the hateful cow, so it must be your fault.”
“No matter how many times your subconscious says so, Hermione is not a hateful cow. And I say it’s your fault, because you’re the one who agreed to this double date with her and Malfoy tonight.”
She rolled her eyes even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Oh, don’t start in on that again. Draco and I know all the best places in London. It’s going to be fun.”
“Perhaps I should suggest we go ice skating after. That would be fun too, don’t you think?” A soft thump followed his pillow hitting the closed bathroom door and he laughed aloud this time.
“I don’t know why I put up with you,” she said with a sigh, but when the door opened and he stepped into the room in nothing but a towel that was tucked loosely around his waist, she grinned. “Ah, yes. Now I remember.”
#7
TITLE: Loving you...
AUTHOR: seraphimerising
WORD COUNT: 462
RATING: PG
WARNING(S): none
"Okay Granger wants to do what?" Pansy asked, enjoying the view that Harry's towel was occasionally providing her as he toweled off from his shower, as she finished her make-up in her vanity's mirror.
"Hermione wants us to go ice skating with her. They've put up a rink near her flat for the holidays and she thought it would be fun."
"And why would we do a thing like that? Given that you are the same man who thinks me wearing stilettos is crazy but going in circles on a sheet of ice in boots atop razor-sharp blades is perfectly normal."
"Because she wants us to meet her new boyfriend."
"Again, why would we do a thing like that?" Pansy caught his eyes in the mirror.
"We are doing this because she is my best friend and it's important to her so it's important to me."
Hanging her head back, she let out a loud audible sigh and asked, "So are Ron and Draco getting dragged into this too?"
She waited for an answer but it didn't come. Opening her eyes, she looked at her strangely guilty looking boyfriend fiddling with his hands "Potter what aren't you telling me?"
He still didn't answer her. Spinning around on her vanity stool, she snapped, "Potter you have less than five seconds to explain to me why we have to go bloody ice skating with Granger and her boyfriend of the month and not Ron and Draco? Please don't tell me he's one of those people who don't approve of two men who love each other. If that's the case, then hell will freeze over and heaven will burn to the ground before I --"
"It's nothing like that!" Harry interrupted her, exasperated. "I just wanted to go ice skating with you and I didn't think you would agree so I thought you would at least agree to go if I said --"
Pansy cut him off with a short laugh and a shake of her head. Standing up, she walked over to him and kept him quiet with a firm kiss to his lips. With another laugh, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling her silly boyfriend into her and said, "You could have just asked. And yes, I probably would have whined, and pitched a fit but you and I both know I would have capitulated...eventually."
Feeling him relax in her arms, she kissed him again as his arms snaked around her before he said, "So all I had to do was ask and you would have agreed to go to an ice skating rink?"
"Yes," she replied with a large smirk.
"You do realise that being with you is like trench warfare?"
"And what's a Gryffindor to do without a battle?"
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Poll Round Two, Challenge Five
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Round Two, Challenge Five
It was Hermione Granger, with the towel, at the ice rink!
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Round Two, Challenge Five
It was Hermione Granger, with the towel, at the ice rink!
Vote for your favorite drabble at NOW!
Click the banner to be taken to the voting post!
Read over the drabbles and choose one most favorite and one least favorite drabble. While reading, keep in mind the prompt and word count restrictions. Once you've chosen, put the number of each drabble in the corresponding box at the end of this post. Please remember to put number of the drabble and not the name; it makes it a lot easier for us to keep track. Each most favorite vote will receive +1 point and each least favorite vote will receive -1 point. The drabble with the most points will win, the two drabbles with the least points will be sent packing. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
If, at any point in time, you have a question about the voting procedure, please contact indaze22 or me ASAP. Thanks.
Enough babble, onto the drabbles!
PROMPT:Each drabble must include the following nouns:
- Person: Hermione
- Place: Ice Skating Rink
- Thing: Towel
#1
TITLE: In Vancouver, 2010
AUTHOR: gelsey
WORD COUNT: 499
RATING: PG
WARNING(S): Real life/Harry Potter intersection.
Even in the stands, the air of the rink had a distinct chill. Harry, familiar with the cool, pulled his cloak closer, but next to him Hermione shivered. She fingered her wand, but Harry shook his head. “No Warming Charms,” he told her, pointing to The Rules sign. “Too many tend to disrupt the charms on the ice.”
Hermione sighed, rubbing her arms. “I don’t see why you wanted me to come,” she said. “I wanted to watch the Muggle doubles short program with my parents. At least,” she added, muttering, “they can’t pull for Australia in that event.”
Harry snorted. Hermione’s parents had taken to their new country even after their memories had been-mostly-returned. “You wanted to know what makes the magical Olympics different from the Muggle,” he said mildly. “I think it’s best to show you.”
He hoped for her to see his girlfriend in a new light. Hermione disliked Pansy from the beginning, and knowledge of the Slytherin’s training for the 2010 Vancouver Magical Olympics had been met with disdain-some wand waving, she said, and magically-enhanced skill.
She had no idea, he thought. Everything the skaters wore was checked for spells, blood tested for potions. The skating was pure skill, while magical elements were pure wandless magic, requiring extreme focus and depth of magical power. He’d watched Pansy and Draco struggle during training, through injuries and magical exhaustion. They steadfastly refused to throw in the towel.
He leaned forward in anticipation as Pansy and Draco skated to starting positions. They radiated a cool confidence that garnered them the nickname the Ice Prince and Princess-something that amused the on-ice-only couple.
Beside him, Hermione gasped as she took in Draco’s costume-completely black with a theatrically decorated Death Eater’s mask. Pansy’s skating outfit with the small grey skirt parodied a Hogwarts school uniform.
The opening chords of the eminently recognizable Death Eaters in Hogwarts (written by Mandy Brocklehurst for piano after the war) sounded, and the skaters began.
Harry watched Hermione as much as he watched the performance, for he’d seen it many times. Though they’d both been in the wizarding world many years, they both, but especially Hermione, never quite grasped the culture that was so innate most wizards and witches didn’t need it explained.
Through controlled, wandless levitations during lifts and throws to the colored sparks that, in this show, signified spells being thrown, the power and control of the skaters was shown as well as physical skill. Harry thought the throw triple loop Pansy landed with the addition of casting a faux-Protego that sparkled gold all around her was particularly striking. It had been a calculated risk to stray from the typical romance-themed performances, but the scores, when they were cast into the air, showed it had paid off.
“I’m-speechless,” Hermione admitted to Pansy afterward, possibly the first nice thing she’d ever said to her.
“Thank you,” Pansy said, and Harry tightened his hold on her, proud on many fronts.
#2
TITLE: When She Sleeps
AUTHOR: kitty_mrowr
WORD COUNT: 498
RATING: PG-13
WARNING(S): Death Eater!Pansy, Angst
My arm is tingling--falling asleep--but I don't move it. She’s asleep and I can't help but think I prefer her that way. She lets her hair down when she sleeps; the cascading black framing her face. Her pretty pug nose twitches when she dreams and she looks less like the stranger she is come daybreak and more like the girl I fell in love with despite my best efforts.
When she sleeps, we aren't arguing. She's not trying to love me and kill me all at the same time; her internal conflict blazing in her eyes making me want her that much more; making my desire curl and retract with each breath I take. She doesn't have that damning Mark imprinted on her arm, signifying our certain failure.
When she sleeps, we’re here together as close as we can be. Awake, we are mortal enemies; but when she sleeps it's just Harry and Pansy and no Potters or Parkinsons or Lord Fucking Voldemorts. It's just us, the way it was before we grew up, before we became this. No Light, no Dark--just us.
When she sleeps, we're back to that make-do ice skating rink on the outskirts of Hogsmeade where we had our first date. That was when things were different, when we could laugh and smile and fall and look into one another's eyes and not feel the betrayal of our names and our hearts and our souls.
When she sleeps, she doesn't think that befriending Ron and Hermione and standing behind the Order was the worst decision I ever made--other than loving her, anyway. When she's awake, she thinks that was a stupid decision, too. But when she sleeps, she doesn't think anything at all. She doesn't speak, either, which is good. I've never found anything more ferocious and fearsome and fantastically delicious as I do that mouth of hers. Her words cut and twist and wound more deeply than any spell I've ever seen or known.
When she sleeps--that terry-cloth towel just barely covering her familiar body--she's mine. I don't have to share her with Voldemort or Malfoy; I don't have to split myself between her and those whose side I am on. When she sleeps, I can love her--and, Merlin, I want to love her with almost every fiber of my being. When the morning comes, I won't be able to; when the morning comes, I'll be Harry Potter, again--the Chosen One--and she will be Pansy Parkinson. When she sleeps, I don't worry about the fact that one of us is bound to kill the other one of these days; sooner or later, I never know.
Though my arm feels as though it may fall off if she lays upon it much longer, I won't move. I won't wake her. It's still just a bit dark outside and I want to love her just a little bit longer; just until the sun comes up tomorrow.
#3
TITLE: Granger Must Die
AUTHOR: little_dollface
WORD COUNT: 499
RATING: T
WARNING(S): suggestiveness
Pansy was going to kill Hermione Granger.
“Granger!” she shouted, spotting her target sitting on a bench near the edge of the outdoor skating rink. Pansy was about to pull out her wand but then she remembered that she was in a park surrounded by Muggles. No matter she thought, grabbing the ice skate Granger was about to put on. Its blade would do just fine.
She pointed the toothed edge directly at Hermione’s neck. “You told him, didn’t you?!”
Hermione chuckled and pushed the skate away with the back of her hand. “Clam down, Pansy. We both know you’re not actually going to hurt me.”
Pansy’s anger deflated slightly and she hesitated for a moment before lowering the blade. “Fine. You’re right. I’m not going to hurt you but I really want to. And you should feel bad about that.” She plopped down next to Granger in a dramatic huff. “You and you idiot boyfriend think you’re so clever. But guess what. I know what you did. Well, your stupid plan is stupid and it did work!” Pansy’s glare could have melted ice.
Hermione now looked genuinely concerned. “So, I take it that Harry stopped by your place last night.”
“Yes,” Pansy bit out. “But I was expecting you.”
“Well, that was the idea,” Hermione offered expectantly.
“Granger, I don’t do surprises! Malfoy knows better. I can’t believe you conned him into going along with this.”
Hermione raised her hands in feigned innocence. “It was all his idea.”
“Right, because he’s the brains of the operation,” Pansy retorted with a snort.
“Who cares whose idea it was? Tell me what happened.” Hermione sounded all bubbly and giddy like a school girl. Pansy really wanted to pop her one right in the kisser.
“It was a complete disaster.” Pansy sighed. “I slammed the door in his face.”
“Why? What did Harry do!?”
“Nothing. He didn’t get a chance to do anything.” Pansy rubbed her face in despair and mumbled into her hands, “I answered the door in only a towel and accidently dropped it when I yelped from the shock of Potter at my door.”
“So he saw you naked and wet. Wasn’t that one of the goals?”
“You have a dirty mind, Granger.” Pansy laughed half heartedly. “But I don’t want things to start off like that with him. Harry… Harry’s different and I want him to think of me as more than…” her voice trailed off.
“I get it.” Hermione picked up her skates and handed them to Pansy. “Harry should be here in a minute. Why don’t you tell him that I wasn’t feeling well.”
Pansy looked the footwear being offered. Hermione wasn’t taking no for an answer. Seconds later Pansy sat alone lacing up the skates as best she could manage.
“Pansy?”
“Potter.” She averted her eyes but then decided to take the bull by the horns. “About last night…”
“Never happened.”
Shocked but happy, she smiled. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”
#4
TITLE: Misery Loves Company
AUTHOR: pokeystar
WORD COUNT: 496
RATING: PG, Language
WARNING(S): MLC cliché
There was a snap to the air that put roses on their cheeks as they sat on a bench near the Hogsmeade rink, lacing up their skates in awkward silence.
“Erm... ” Harry started, casting about for a neutral topic. “Nice weather we're having.”
Pansy groaned under her breath and kept lacing her boots. According to the Owl she'd received, she was required to be at this Merlin forsaken Ministry mandated event for two hours and she intended to be on the ice and away from him for the whole of it.
“Do you like Quidditch?” he asked hopefully.
She paused to look at him and roll her eyes.
“Right. Stay put.” Another eye roll. She was barely half-done lacing her first boot. “I'll be back in a minute.”
He walked off , crunching snow under his capped blades.
She took a moment to check out his bum, and then resumed lacing her boots while counting the ways she would torture Draco for hexing them undone.
The poncy git.
A shriek echoed over the ice and Pansy glanced up in time to see Granger smack Draco across the cheek so hard his head turned with the slap. He clenched his hands into fists and began yelling at her.
Maybe torture would be redundant.
A steaming cup was suddenly thrust in her line of vision. “I brought you some chocolate,” said Harry as he sat beside her.
Crap. Now she'd have to be nice.
“Thank you,” she replied and wrapped her mitten-covered hands around the delicious-smelling beverage.
Harry grinned at her and sipped his chocolate, waiting for her to finish lacing up her skates. He watched several couples glide over the ice, most of them sneaking looks at Granger and Draco as they whizzed by the squabbling duo.
“What do you think they're arguing about?”
She shrugged. “Who had better N.E.W.T scores?”
“How much sugar is in the chocolate?” he parried, saluting her with his cup.
“House-elf rights?” she offered, meeting his eyes in mock innocence.
There was a wicked twinkle in his, answering her. “Crups or ferrets as pets?”
She collapsed in a belly laugh that left her struggling for breath. Pansy decided to throw in the proverbial towel and started lacing her second boot.
“I heard Umbridge is head of the Marriage Law Committee,” he commented, gazing at the still feuding couple. “This is revenge, I figure.”
“Does that make me your new Blood Quill?”
His gaze slid down to her pouting crimson lips and he grinned. “I must not tell lies. I was talking more about Hermione. Umbridge still jumps at the slightest whinny.”
He nudged her with his elbow. “But I should admit, I'm not sure I'd mind the scars you'd leave behind.”
She huffed at him in pretend offense, and turned to watch the skaters, her brain already busily planning where those scars would go.
#5
TITLE: Ever Yours
AUTHOR: selinakyle47
WORD COUNT: 387
RATING: PG
WARNING(S): Implied character death.
With a quick flick of her wand, Pansy cleared off a spot on the snow-dusted bench that she’d come to think of as “theirs.” She settled down inside a voluminous cloak (faintly scented with Harry’s cologne) and lifted the steaming cup of hot cocoa to her lips. A slight frown crossed her face and she poured the drink out. Somehow it didn’t quite taste the same without Harry here.
With a heavy sigh, Pansy stared ahead and watched couples twirl around each other on the ice skating rink. This was one of their favorite places, something they shared just between the two of them even after the boys were born. And when Harry could no longer spin her around (like that young man was doing to his sweetheart), he was more than content to sit here and enjoy the view.
As long as I’m with you, he had said, it doesn’t matter.
Feeling the prick of tears at the corners of her eyes, Pansy hurriedly raised a hand to brush them away. Behind her, the crunch of snow announced the presence of another person.
“I’d like to be left alone, Granger,” she snapped. When Hermione didn’t answer, she turned her head and confronted her unwelcome visitor. “And do take that towel off your head. It looks ridiculous.”
“This?” Hermione lifted a hand and gently patted the brightly colored scarf wrapped around her face. “Luna will be saddened to hear that you’re not impressed with her knitting skills.”
Pansy snorted and turned back to the skaters. After a brief moment, Hermione sat down next to her. She began to reach out with her hand, but upon seeing the look on Pansy’s face, she tucked it back in her lap. Instead, she murmured, “We all miss him, Pansy.”
Looking down at her hands, Pansy rubbed at the gold band circling her finger. “It was rather inconsiderate of him to have left me,” she said with a light sniffle.
“I’m sure he’s waiting for you, wherever he is.”
She silently considered Hermione’s statement for a few minutes. “It seems that your presence is not as irritating as I’d originally thought,” she conceded grudgingly.
“If that’s your way of asking me to stay, then I’d be more than happy to,” Hermione replied with a smile as she reached for Pansy’s hand.
#6
TITLE: A Nice Reminder
AUTHOR: ayane_tsurugi
WORD COUNT: 315
RATING: G
WARNING(S): None.
Pansy woke with a start and a groan, smashing her face into her pillow as she fought the realization that it was morning. The other side of the bed was empty already, but she could see the light coming from beneath the bathroom door. “I hate you,” she called, rolling onto her back.
“Oh?” Harry’s muffled voice was amused, and she scowled into the dark. “What did my dream self do wrong now?”
“It wasn’t you, it was Granger!” She paused, trying to remember. “She was teaching me…teaching me to ice skate! And she kept throwing things in my path so that I would fall.”
“Then why are you mad at me? Was I in the background laughing? I mean, it sounds like something I would do.” His voice shook with the laughter he was holding back.
“Arse.” She considered lying and saying that he’d been there, but thought better of it. “You’re the one who’s friends with the hateful cow, so it must be your fault.”
“No matter how many times your subconscious says so, Hermione is not a hateful cow. And I say it’s your fault, because you’re the one who agreed to this double date with her and Malfoy tonight.”
She rolled her eyes even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Oh, don’t start in on that again. Draco and I know all the best places in London. It’s going to be fun.”
“Perhaps I should suggest we go ice skating after. That would be fun too, don’t you think?” A soft thump followed his pillow hitting the closed bathroom door and he laughed aloud this time.
“I don’t know why I put up with you,” she said with a sigh, but when the door opened and he stepped into the room in nothing but a towel that was tucked loosely around his waist, she grinned. “Ah, yes. Now I remember.”
#7
TITLE: Loving you...
AUTHOR: seraphimerising
WORD COUNT: 462
RATING: PG
WARNING(S): none
"Okay Granger wants to do what?" Pansy asked, enjoying the view that Harry's towel was occasionally providing her as he toweled off from his shower, as she finished her make-up in her vanity's mirror.
"Hermione wants us to go ice skating with her. They've put up a rink near her flat for the holidays and she thought it would be fun."
"And why would we do a thing like that? Given that you are the same man who thinks me wearing stilettos is crazy but going in circles on a sheet of ice in boots atop razor-sharp blades is perfectly normal."
"Because she wants us to meet her new boyfriend."
"Again, why would we do a thing like that?" Pansy caught his eyes in the mirror.
"We are doing this because she is my best friend and it's important to her so it's important to me."
Hanging her head back, she let out a loud audible sigh and asked, "So are Ron and Draco getting dragged into this too?"
She waited for an answer but it didn't come. Opening her eyes, she looked at her strangely guilty looking boyfriend fiddling with his hands "Potter what aren't you telling me?"
He still didn't answer her. Spinning around on her vanity stool, she snapped, "Potter you have less than five seconds to explain to me why we have to go bloody ice skating with Granger and her boyfriend of the month and not Ron and Draco? Please don't tell me he's one of those people who don't approve of two men who love each other. If that's the case, then hell will freeze over and heaven will burn to the ground before I --"
"It's nothing like that!" Harry interrupted her, exasperated. "I just wanted to go ice skating with you and I didn't think you would agree so I thought you would at least agree to go if I said --"
Pansy cut him off with a short laugh and a shake of her head. Standing up, she walked over to him and kept him quiet with a firm kiss to his lips. With another laugh, she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling her silly boyfriend into her and said, "You could have just asked. And yes, I probably would have whined, and pitched a fit but you and I both know I would have capitulated...eventually."
Feeling him relax in her arms, she kissed him again as his arms snaked around her before he said, "So all I had to do was ask and you would have agreed to go to an ice skating rink?"
"Yes," she replied with a large smirk.
"You do realise that being with you is like trench warfare?"
"And what's a Gryffindor to do without a battle?"
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Round Two, Challenge Five
It was Hermione Granger, with the towel, at the ice rink!
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Round Two, Challenge Five
It was Hermione Granger, with the towel, at the ice rink!
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