Life as I Knew It

Chapter 19--Days Pass

Over the next few days, Pansy was paranoid. Even though she knew that she could not trust anything Daphne said, she mostly believed in this mystery man. The way the conversation in her room had ended had set a tone for their "friendship," but Pansy really wanted to hear more of what Daphne had to say. Unfortunately, Daphne kept putting her off, although she had not stopped staring at Pansy at random times during the day.

Pansy decided to make a list of all the people who had remembered her with a note about each one on what she knew about them. After she finished with that, she added Blaise and Ginny to the bottom of the list. Even though they had not remembered her or her family or anything about the way things had really gone, Blaise's skin had changed, and Ginny had called Harry "hot," which Pansy found unfathomable, but everything she could remember about Ginny told her it was in character for the girl. She noted both of these things next to their names.

In the library the next day, Pansy let Zahara look over the list. Zahara knew a lot more about what was going on that Pansy did. Still paranoid, Pansy was a little suspicious of Zahara, but she was being so very helpful, and Pansy did not think she could do this without her. Zahara had seemed genuinely surprised to hear about Daphne, but that could have all been part of the deception. For some reason, it was just easier for her to trust Zahara than it was to trust Daphne.

When Zahara had finished looking over the list, she nodded. "This is good."

Pansy whispered, so that she would not disturb anyone who was studying and so that Moonshyne, who was sitting not that far away, would not be able to overhear. "Zahara, you got cut off before you could tell me about this dark presence. What do you know?"

"I am afraid that I do not know much about this matter."

Pansy was about to ask how, if that was the case, Zahara could be so sure there was someone out there, but then she remembered that Daphne had already confirmed the existence of a dark presence, for what that was worth. "Do you think it could be Moonshyne?"

Zahara looked thoughtful. "I do not. She was the daughter of Voldemort, and evil is often succeeded by its destroyer, so she is a logical choice. But personally, I do not think it is she."

"Do you have any guesses as to who it could be?" Pansy asked.

"No," responded Zahara, and they sat in silence for a few moments.

As she sat there, Pansy looked around the library's study area. It was crowded with sixth and seventh year students, which would have been normal, but it was so early in the year. Her eyes finally settled on Moonshyne. She was sitting with Draco a few tables over, and she was hanging all over him. It was one of the most disgusting public displays of affection Pansy had ever seen. Pansy watched as Draco pried himself away. It seemed that he needed to find a book, and Moonshyne did not want to be away from him for that long. "We already have to spend all our classes apart," she pouted, holding onto Draco's wrist.

Draco pulled free and gave her an apologetic kiss. When he was gone, Pansy decided to say something. "You know, Moonshyne, Draco finds it really annoying when a girl is clingy," she said, loud enough that the people in the immediate area could hear her.

Pansy heard a snort of laughter come from behind her. She turned to find Sally-Anne Perks. "I'm sorry," Sally-Anne said. "It was just the irony of you telling someone not to be clingy."

Pansy knew that she had been clingy with Draco. That was how she knew that he found it so annoying. Still, Pansy might have been offended if she had not been distracted the fact that Sally-Anne had made a snarky comment. "That's quite all right," she said. She turned back to her parchment and added Sally-Anne's name under Ginny's. Moonshyne was muttering under her breath, but Pansy just ignored that.

Zahara looked at what she had written. "Really? She was always so nice."

"No." Pansy shook her finger. "She wasn't. This is really good. I wasn't even talking to her, and she changed back."

Zahara was excited. "Can you come to my Potions lesson and fix Professor Snape?"

Pansy would like nothing better than to "fix" Snape, but she did not see how that would work. "Er..., I don't think I'd be allowed to just sit in on a class."

"No," said Zahara. "It is not a class. I have private lessons with him because I am very bad at Potions. Tell him that you want to take remedial lessons, too. He will let you."

Pansy remembered the last time she had talked to the Potions Master. "Okay, but if he tries to touch me, I'm out of there."