The Final Revenge

Chapter 5: My Favorite Person in the Entire World

As luck would have it, the house elves had just finished preparing breakfast. Blaise and Draco had just sat down to eat when Pansy entered the room, first glaring at the one who dared to take her at 7:00 in the morning, and then gazing lovingly at the man she called her "soul-mate." She wore a long lavender silk nightgown and a sheer robe of the same color. She was the personification of loveliness. Draco always thought she was pretty, but when she smiled at Blaise like that, she was absolutely stunning.

Blaise stood and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, which she happily accepted and he asked, "What are you doing up so early, Love? It's only 8:30. You have another good hour or so before you need to wake up."

Pansy took her seat next to Blaise and answered, "The bed's cold without you there. Besides, I could smell breakfast and I'm starving." She grinned at Blaise again before loading her plate with sausage, eggs, and biscuits. "Mmm..." came Pansy's happy sigh as she tucked into her makeshift breakfast sandwich. Draco smiled amusedly at Blaise before filling his own plate.

Breakfast was filled with jokes and laughter as the three friends caught up with one another. Finally, Draco could take no more of the small talk and informed Pansy of the real reason for his visit.

Pansy listened with wide eyes as Draco told her of the contents of the will. As opposed to Blaise's outright laughter, she only released a quiet chuckle and her face broke into a satisfied grin. Her only response was, "Well, good."

Draco immediately ceased his ranting and stared disbelievingly at the only woman he ever called a friend. "What!?"

"I think it's good. It's about time you settled down."

"What!? What do you mean 'it's about time you settled down?' I'm only twenty! That's way too young to be thinking of marriage." Pansy glared at him and he quickly amended, "Except for you guys of course. Anyone can see you belong together. You're in love. The Weasel and I can't even stand each other."

"Just give it time. Ginny's a wonderful girl. Besides, I'm tired of seeing you with all those skanks who only want you for your money," Pansy said matter-of-factly and continued eating her breakfast.

Draco was about to make a comment about girls only wanting him for his money (I mean, surely part of it had to do with his body) when he stopped and slowly turned back to face her with a curious expression on his face. "You said... Ginny."

Pansy's eyes widened slightly, but she kept her focus drawn to the plate in front of her.

"Pansy," Draco said slowly with a smile on his face, "Do you know her?"

She kept her attention focused on her plate and silently prayed that Draco would forget the miniscule slip of the tongue.

No such prayer was answered for poor Pansy.

"Pansy," Draco said in a singsong voice. "Do you know Ginny Weasley?" he asked as he sat directly across from her and folded his hands on the table in front of him.

Pansy sighed inwardly, still refusing to look at him, and hesitantly replied, "I may... know... Ginny Weasley."

At the moment, Draco didn't really care how Pansy knew Ginny, and Pansy prayed he wouldn't ask. His face broke into a Cheshire cat grin and happily stated, "Pansy, my friend, you have just become my most favorite person in the entire world."

She groaned and put her face in her hands and all Blaise could do was silently rub circles into the small of her back while he looked on to the gleeful smile of his best friend and the helpless whimpers of the love of his life.

~~~~~

"Ginny!" Harry said as he stood from his chair in the café to greet his friend.

"Oh Harry, it is so good to see you," Ginny said as she gave her long-time friend a sisterly kiss on the cheek, while holding the hand of a sneering Ben.

"It's good to see you, too,"he said smiling. "And how are you today, Ben?" Harry said, squatting down to be eye-level with the three-year old.

Ben's scowl only grew as the annoying man impeded his vision. Harry seemed not to notice and pulled a stuffed dog from behind his back. He offered it to the child as he said, "Look what I found, Ben. Now whatever am I supposed to do with this? Do you know someone who may want it?"

Ben looked bored as he glanced at the dog and then looked back to Harry with the same expression. Harry's face began to fall as Ginny decided to step in. She smiled as she took the toy from Harry and said, "Thank you so much, Harry. I'm sure Ben loves it; he's just hungry. We only had enough time to grab a few cereal bars on the way out the door this morning. I know I'm starving."

Harry started smiling again as he straightened and helped Ginny put Ben in his booster seat.

After eating, Ginny asked Harry how he was enjoying his vacation. He had practically been ordered to take a vacation after his last assignment.

He just closed his eyes and slowly said, "I am so bored. There's absolutely nothing to do. I spend most of the day just sitting in the flat, flipping through old Quidditch magazines."

Ginny looked amused and said, "You could always pick up a book. You know, read something."

Harry just made face, so she rolled her eyes and asked how long he was off.

"According to the last owl I got, indefinitely. It'll be at least another week. I think they're just waiting for something to come along. We're a little over-staffed right now, and no one has any breathing room. Even with both me and Ron on vacation, there are still too many people. Being an Auror just isn't as much fun when there's not enough to stay busy. I've thought about doing something else, but there isn't anything else I want to do," Harry said.

"You could always play Quidditch. The Cannons need a new seeker, and I'm sure they'd take you in a heartbeat," Ginny said confidently.

"Yeah, I guess, but... I don't know. I'll have to think about it. Anyway," Harry said glancing at his watch, "I've got to get going. I'm supposed to be at Ron and Hermione's soon. Did you want to come? I'm sure they'd love to see you again."

"I'd really love to, but I have to finish Ben's costume," Ginny said while she wiped the aforementioned Ben's face and hands.

"Oh that's right. Today is Halloween, oh, and the party's tonight. I don't know how I forgot about that. So, what are you going as?"

"It's a surprise," Ginny said as she winked.

The two friends gave each other one final hug and said their goodbyes as they apparated to their respective destinations.

~~~~~

Pansy, resigned to the fact that she was going to have to help Draco, said, "Fine, I'll help you, but I refuse to do anything that might hurt her."

"Don't worry; I'm not going to touch her," he said, waving her off.

Pansy looked directly into Draco's eyes and said seriously, "That's not what I mean, and you know it."

He avoided her gaze and said, "All I need is information."

"What kind of information?" Pansy asked suspiciously.

"What can I do to show her that being married to me isn't such a terrible idea? She really doesn't seem like the type to be swayed by the money and prestige it would bring her like most girls."

"No, she isn't," Pansy said immediately.

"Exactly; now what I need to know is what would sway her. At the moment, she won't even talk to me," Draco scowled.

Pansy suppressed a giggle at the thought of Ginny refusing to talk to her "suave" friend and said, "I really don't see her marrying anyone for any reason other than love."

"Damn! Well, how do I make her fall in love with me?" Draco asked imploringly.

Pansy looked at him strangely. "Draco, it doesn't work that way. You can't make someone else fall in love. You can't even make yourself fall in love. It just happens."

He raised his eyebrows and nearly yelled, "Then how on earth am I supposed to do this? It's supposed to just happen?!"

"You can't make her love you, but you can help it along." Pansy paused and thought for a moment and said, "The biggest obstacle is going to be Ben."

"What do you mean? He's just a kid," Draco asked confused.

Pansy looked at Draco incredulously and said, "He's a kid who envelops her entire life. The main reason she doesn't really date is that Ben doesn't like strangers and she would never be with anyone that Ben didn't love as well."

"So you're saying that on top of somehow getting Weaslette to fall in love with me, I have to make the kid like me, too? And I have to do it all in three months! This is impossible!"

"It's not impossible, but it will be some work. Whenever you went to see her at the store, did you see Ben?"

"Yeah. He just kind of sat there and stared at me. It was weird. Is he okay... you know," he said while gesturing to his head.

Pansy scoffed and said, "I don't care what anyone says; there is nothing wrong with that child's mental capacity. In fact, I think he's rather intelligent for his age. It just takes a while for him to start to like people. It was months before he would let me pick him up. He's had such a hard life for someone so young, and trust doesn't come easy, especially with men. So he didn't scream or cry or anything when he saw you?"

"No, he just looked at me funny."

"That's odd, really good, but odd. Maybe this won't be that hard after all. Although, he may have just been too tired to deal with the whole screaming thing, but we won't think about that."

Draco looked concerned and said, "Okay, so the kid may possibly not hate me. Now what do I do?"

Pansy stared at the ceiling in concentration and said, "Well, you can come to the party with me and Blaise tonight. Ginny will be there with Ben. I'll somehow convince her to hear you out. I'm not sure how I'll pull that one off, but I'll think of something."

"Tonight? Good. Is there anything else I should know?"

"The most important thing is to be completely honest with her. If you lie to her and she finds out, it'll be over. She can't stand lying."

"So I should tell her about the will," Draco said slowly.

"Yes, definitely. She'll find out about it eventually anyway. If you want to stand a chance, tell her everything up front," Pansy said as she looked at him seriously.

He sighed and said, "Alright. So what kind of party is this anyway? What should I wear?"

"Got a costume?" It was Pansy's turn to grin madly and Draco's to groan.