Life as I Knew It

Chapter 23--Confrontation

Storming off like that had been very dramatic, but Pansy had not thought it through. After a few blind turns, she realized that she did not have a clue where she was. She tried a true north spell, but that did not help her very much. She wandered the halls for what seemed like hours until she found a landmark she recognized. Once she was on the right track, it still took about another twenty minutes to make it to the stairway. The problem with the dungeons was that they only connected to the rest of the castle in one place. There were no shortcuts to be had until the person got to the main floor.

Pansy climbed the stairs wearily. It had not hit her until just then how emotionally draining this all was. She was so tired of Daphne's lies, half truths, and head games. She was so tired of the useless professors and the other people who were just wrong. She was just tired of being the only sane person. As soon as Pansy got back to her room, she went to bed and slept deeply until the sun shone through her tiny window.

When Pansy woke up in the morning, she did not feel particularly refreshed, but she did have a new idea. It was so obvious; she did not know why it had taken her so long to come up with it. If Daphne would not tell her who the mystery man was, maybe Moonshyne would. Pansy finally felt that she had gathered enough information to try to squeeze a little more out of Moonshyne.

So Pansy showered and dressed quickly and made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. However, when she got to the Slytherin table she saw that Moonshyne was slobbering all over Draco, which was not unusual, and she lost her nerve. She took her regular seat at the foot of the table with Millicent, deciding to wait for a more opportune time.

Pansy did not get the chance to corner Moonshyne alone for most of the day. After breakfast, she had classes, and then Hermione invited her to eat lunch at the Gryffindor table again. (Pansy was pleased to see that Melpomene was no longer considered part of the group.) Luckily, at supper Draco was missing in action, and Moonshyne left the Great Hall on her own. Seeing this, Pansy followed her out.

In all the time she had been waiting for the chance to talk to Moonshyne, Pansy had forgotten to plan out exactly what she want to say to her. So in order to get Moonshyne's attention, Pansy blurted out, "I know your secret, Moonshyne." It wasn't particularly clever, but it worked.

Moonshyne turned around, and then she smiled cruelly. "I know yours, too."

Pansy knew that she had the upper hand. "That's funny, I don't have any secrets. I'm from the real world; I'm not ashamed of that. I only keep it quiet to prevent the mass hysteria of discovering that their lives are lies." That did sound a little bit more clever to Pansy, but Moonshyne was unimpressed.

"This is a real world, Pansy." Moonshyne pushed her shoulder. "See? Solid."

"So, that's... that's it? That's all you have to say for yourself? I don't think you understand, Moonshyne. This fantasy world you're living in? It's very precarious."

Moonshyne was silent, and she was pouting, which Pansy thoroughly enjoyed seeing. Finally she said, "Melpomene told me about how you are always throwing yourself all over Draco. Is that what this is about?"

Pansy gave a wry chuckle. "No. It's not about Draco. You've turned the boy into a blithering sap. You can have Draco. This is about Professors Dumbledore and Snape, and it's about..." She struggle for other names than those Gryffindor idiots. "Sally-Anne."

Moonshyne started. "Sally-Anne? How... And what do you have against Severus, anyway?"

"Gah. That's what I'm talking about. He's not your Severus, or Tracey's 'Snapey-poo.'" Pansy had not believed her ears when her erstwhile friend had said those words. "The man has very little going for him, but the one thing he did have was dignity. He was a scary man, and I liked him a hell of a lot better like that."

Moonshyne was taken aback. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that Snape meant that much to you."

"It's not about Professor Snape, either!" Pansy was just so frustrated by this. How could Moonshyne not understand?

"But you just said--"

"It's my life! My life. Mine. You're not real, and so you don't have a life. You were created out of very little. That's what Daphne said. So--"

"Daphne! I knew it!" Moonshyne looked victorious, although Pansy could not imagine why. "I saw you with her, looking all chummy. And she wanted to write it off as though you had been friends and it was all very natural. But it's not natural, is it?"

Pansy tried to decipher what that even meant. "Are you upset with her for telling me? I thought she was--"

"No," she interrupted. "She is. Daphne is the one with all the power, and she never lets me forget it. But that does not mean that she has the right to go around talking about what they've done. I do have a life, okay. I have rights. She can't treat me like a second class citizen, like some science project she cooked up in the cellar!"

"Wait, Daphne has all the power? Daphne cooked you up? Are you saying Daphne's the mastermind?" Pansy realize too late that she should have bluffed and maybe Moonshyne would have let slip with whom Daphne was working.

Moonshyne's eyes went wide. "What? I didn't... What?"

"You said that she--"

"You tricked me." Moonshyne accused. "You pretended to know... This is not happening," she whined. She turned and hurried down the hall, muttering to herself the whole way.