Life as I Knew It

Chapter 26--Horrifying Discovery

Pansy awoke to the sound of pounding on her door. She looked around and realized that Draco had stayed the night. Both of them were shirtless, but Pansy was still wearing her bra, and from the waist down no articles of clothing had been removed with the exception of shoes. She sat up groggily, ready to deal with the commotion at the door.

"I know he's in there, Pansy. Let me in!"

Recognizing Moonshyne's voice, Pansy fell back against the pillow. Beside her, Draco stirred. Suddenly, he sat straight up and looked terrified and guilty. Pansy saw the same look of conflict he always got when faced with both Moonshyne and Pansy. "Let me put on a shirt," she said, sighing. "Then I'll let your girlfriend in."

Pansy picked up Draco's shirt from the floor and put it on. She did this on purpose. Let Moonshyne draw whatever conclusions she wanted. She opened the door and was almost knocked over by Moonshyne rushing to Draco's side. "Oh, Draco. What did she do to you?"

Come on, Draco, Pansy thought. Don't revert back. Remember. She stared hard at him repeating the word remember. For his part, Draco still looked very confused.

"How did you know I was here?" he finally asked.

Pansy fought the urge to smirk. He hadn't apologized; there were no pleas for her to forgive him this transgression. That had to be a good sign.

"I... Well, when I couldn't find you, I asked around, and Daphne said... that you might be here. She said she'd seen you talking."

Pansy shook her head. The only place she talked to Draco that night had been in her room. She eyed her bathroom suspiciously, briefly entertaining the idea that Daphne had spied on her. She dismissed that thought and replaced it with the notion that Daphne was just trying to upset Moonshyne and might have just had a lucky guess. This reminded her of the conversation she had with Moonshyne the night before and the conclusion she had reached. "Daphne is a liar. Why would you listen to her?"

Moonshyne turned to face Pansy, surprised by her sudden outburst. "But she was right. He was here. You did try to steal my boyfriend."

Pansy considered saying that she had him first, that Moonshyne had stolen her boyfriend. Then she wanted to point out that Moonshyne had stolen Ginny's boyfriend in this twisted world. Then she had to literally bite her tongue to stop herself from saying, "Once a cheater, always a cheater." The thing was she really didn't want to get into any of that with Moonshyne. "Draco, why don't you deal with this?"

"Yes," Moonshyne said. "I'd really just like the opportunity to talk with Draco about his indiscretion alone."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." There was no way Pansy would leave Moonshyne alone with Draco in her bedroom. Mostly this was because she thought there was a slight chance that he would revert, beg Moonshyne to take him back, and have sex with her on Pansy bed. And then Pansy would have to kill someone. Also, she really did want to hear what Draco was going to say.

"I don't know what's going on," Draco said. "This is all really confusing right now. I can't... I can't really remember what's real."

Moonshyne shot Pansy a look, and her eyes flashed. Pansy just rolled her eyes. Moonshyne turned back to Draco. "I knew it. She's been filling your head with lies about some fantasy world. Daphne warned me about this. She's deranged, Draco. What did she tell you?"

"She told me about the Yule Ball. I went with her." He paused. "I guess."

Moonshyne spoke calmly. "That's ridiculous. You went to the ball with Ginny. You know, your girlfriend at the time. You remember that, don't you?"

Draco nodded slowly. "Yes. I was... Ginny was my girlfriend. She was who... She was... Longbottom?" He turned to Pansy. "Didn't she go with that idiot Longbottom?"

Before Pansy could speak, Moonshyne yelled, "No! She went with you." Her voice was no longer calm. It was now full of barely contained rage.

Draco paid little attention to her. He just squinted his eyes and shook his head.

"Draco, please tell me that you aren't falling for this woman's lies! Nothing she told you is true. She's been manipulating you."

Pansy chuckled with indignation. "I'm not the one who lied and manipulated."

Moonshyne narrowed her eyes. "Yes, you are." She turned back to Draco. "Yes, she is."

"If that true though, how do you explain this?" He showed her his arm, with the dark mark emblazoned upon it.

Moonshyne stared at his arm for a long time. "You were a Death Eater?" she said at last.

"Apparently," Draco said matter-of-factly.

Moonshyne turned to Pansy with a helpless look upon her face. "She didn't tell me he was a Death Eater. This isn't my fault, Pansy." She started to cry. It honestly scared Pansy. "Don't you see? She set all of this up. She wants me to be evil, but I'm not. I'm not."

Pansy exchanged a look with Draco. He seemed just as confused as she was. "Who are you talking about?" he asked.

"I don't want to do this anymore. You can tell her." She shook her head vehemently. "I didn't know he was a Death Eater. Oh god, were you in on this? You're just like her, aren't you? You get off on torturing me! Well, you can have him; I hope you're very happy together. I don't want to be a Slytherin anymore!" She ran from the room.

Pansy sunk next to Draco on the bed. They both sat there in silence for a couple minutes. "Well," Draco said, startling Pansy. "That was dramatic. What was she talking about?"

"I don't exactly know." She stripped out of his shirt and handed it back to him. "But I'm going to find out. Er, I need to shower and dress, and you should probably get on to breakfast or something."

"Pansy." Draco discarded the shirt so that he could turn her head and look deep in her eyes. "I want to be in the loop. I want to know what's going on."

Pansy almost relented, but no. What could he do anyway? As far as she was concerned Draco lacked the subtlety to deal with Daphne. "I'll let you know when I know," she said noncommittally.

She could tell he was angry with her for not telling him what she knew. "You know, I know things, too. I was here, and I know Moonshyne. So if you don't want to work together, that's fine. I'll figure it out on my own."

Pansy wanted to laugh. He sounded like a petulant child. Besides, it was very unlikely that he would figure anything out. "But you don't even know who the sadistic 'she' is."

He shrugged. "I'll ask Moonshyne."

"The Moonshyne you just cheated on? Because I don't think she's that inclined to help you. As mad as she is, she has incentive to keep the secret. Trust me on that."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "You've changed. I thought we were partners in this."

"I have changed. While you were here, where everything is sweetness and light, and you were shagging your girlfriend, things were really bad sixth year. And over the summer they got a lot worse. When you remember, you'll understand. Besides, you're not Draco yet. If you can tell me what happened sixth year, I will tell you everything I know. But not a second before that."

Draco snatched up his shirt and stormed out. He was still angry, but Pansy found it difficult to care. She had more pressing problems, and she knew exactly where she wanted to start.