- Rating:
- R
- House:
- The Dark Arts
- Characters:
- Padma Patil
- Genres:
- Angst Slash
- Era:
- Multiple Eras
- Stats:
-
Published: 11/24/2003Updated: 03/18/2004Words: 4,657Chapters: 5Hits: 1,666
The Shadow She Casts
Gutterbunny
- Story Summary:
- Pansy wants to get inside Padma's knickers. Padma wants to get inside Pansy's head. What happens when the most intelligent girl in school and the most dangerous one cross wits? *FEMMESLASH*
Chapter 03
- Chapter Summary:
- The lust-monster attacks Padma.
- Posted:
- 11/25/2003
- Hits:
- 186
It has been over four weeks, and Padma, seeing how long it would take to befriend the indomitable Pansy, has chosen another path for the time being : books on mind-reading. Not that Padma puts a lot of faith into this so-called science, but she doesn't see any alternative. There just might be something in those books, the tiniest hint or piece of information to give her the key to Pansy's mind.
The books on mind-reading are in the Restricted Section, of course, but Padma very quickly got over the difficulty of obtaining a note from a professor long ago. All she had to do was see ProfessorTrelawney, who, just like Padma expected she would, mistook her for Parvati and eagerly signed the note for her best student.
The books she wants are close to those about interpreting dreams, and her hand hovers over them for a few seconds before she shakes her head and tries to move away. "I don't need those," she whispers. "I don't. Dreams don't mean anything."
"That depends, actually," says a voice behind her, "on what you dream of - or whom."
Padma's heart sinks. She knows that voice.
She turns around, very slowly, and locks eyes with the Devil herself.
* * *
The instant she looks into Padma's face, Pansy knows.
It's so obvious, simply from the girl's body language; her stiff way of standing, the tense line of her shoulders, the way she clenches her fingers against fistfuls of her pleated skirt, the almost imperceptible quiver in her thighs - all these signs show how uncomfortable she is, so close to Pansy, and Pansy only has to lift her gaze to Padma's eyes to find the source of this discomfort.
Padma's visible efforts to control herself are working, in part. She straightens, sets her jaw and raises her chin defiantly. Anyone passing by would think that she has merely run into a girl she dislikes, but Pansy knows better. She knows how to read the emotions jostling in Padma's eyes. Weak hatred, fear, anxiety, revulsion - and behind that, lust, pure primal lust.
Her thighs are still trembling.
After making sure that Padma knows she has been looking at her legs, Pansy lifts her eyes back to her face. She smiles lazily, showing sharp teeth. "I didn't know you were interested in dreams, Padma." She wonders what the girl will answer. The long silence during which Pansy looked her up and down made Padma nervous, jt as Pansy intended it to.
"I'm not," says Padma, quickly and heatedly, like a small child caught doing something shameful or forbidden. "I'm not, I'm looking for other books and these were just... on my way. That's all."
"Oh," says Pansy. "I see. Sorry to bother you, then..." She pauses, as though unsure of what she should say next, when in fact she's had all her words ready from the moment she's seen Padma here. "It's just that I have some very good books on dream interpretation in my room. You could have come with me to get them... if you were interested."
"Oh," says Padma. "Oh. Well, you know, I don't believe that dreams mean anything..." Liar, thinks Pansy, you know exactly what your dreams mean. "But it might be interesting to read about their possible interpretations. Yes, I think I will take those books... if the offer still stands?" she adds with just a hint of coyness.
"Always," says Pansy, and means it.
* * *
"Won't the other SLytherins be angry at me for entering your common room?" Padma asks anxiously, a few minutes into their walk toward the dungeons. "You lot don't seem to care overmuch for strangers invading your space"
Pansy smiles grimly. "Don't worry, they'll leave you alone. After all, you're with me."
Padma's mental quill makes a note : Apparently carries a great deal of authority among the other Slyths. "We could have gone later. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble with your friends."
It is, of course, part of Pansy's plan to have the common room and the dormitories milling with people the moment she walks through the door with Padma. She wants all of them to see her, the moment she crosses the threshold, head held high with pride, Padma following her as steadily as if she's on a leash.
"Don't worry," she says again, pressing her thighs together. "Everything will go swimmingly."
* * *
I cannot believe I am willingly entering a viper's nest, Padma thinks as they approach the massive wooden door that opens on the Slytherin common room.
I cannot believe Pansy invited me to her bed... room. Bedroom, she adds, with a desperate emphasis on the last word.
Pansy whispers the password, and the door slides sideways into the wall, leaving a large opening. Padma follows her into the room. She glimpses high-backed leather armchairs, an empty fireplace and a great deal of scowling faces before Pansy whisks her down a flight of stairs and through a door that has "Parkinson, Pansy" engraved on it. Padma remembers reading in Hogwarts : A History that Slytherins in fifth year and up each have their own rooms, because they're unable to play nicely with each other, Padma says to herself.
All this privacy must come in handy sometimes.
She wishes she could take the words back the instant she thinks them, wishes it so hard that she doesn't see Pansy leaning heavily against the door, or hear the small, sharp click of the key twisting in the lock.