Life as I Knew It

Chapter 32--Lion in the Serpents' Den

Pansy would have liked to confront Daphne alone. First of all, it felt wrong to sell out her housemate to Harry Potter. She felt that this was better handled internally. Gryffindors did not understand the Slytherin mindset. Secondly, Harry's presence would affect Daphne's candor. If she lied to Pansy, she certainly was going to lie when faced with Harry Potter. Harry had not left Pansy much of a choice though. If she wanted him to cooperate with her, she was going to have to play all her cards. If he felt that she was holding back on him, he might get skittish. While Pansy had not quite been convinced that she needed him, despite what she may have said to him, she did not want him pulling away from her, just in case.

On the way, Pansy did not feel like explaining everything to Harry. It would have taken too long, and she would have had to endure his questions. She just laid down the foundation about Daphne's claims to know the mastermind, mentioned the chapter about Mr. Greengrass, and told him to draw his own conclusions from their impending conversation. It was better to leave him with facts rather than opinions.

Pansy stopped at the wall that served as a barrier to the Slytherin common room. She looked pointedly at Harry, but he just stood there, clueless. "Could you maybe go down the hall a little bit?"

"No. Did anyone make you go down the hall when they brought you to our common room?"

Pansy sighed. This was going to be the worst partnership ever. She whispered the password, trying her best not to let Harry hear. No matter what, it seemed completely inappropriate for him to learn the password. After all, they had them for a reason. Harry laughed at the futility of her attempt.

Pansy found Daphne exactly where she expected to. She was sitting in the Slytherin common room, talking with Draco. When Draco looked up and saw Harry, he jumped to his feet. "What is he doing here?"

Pansy knew that it was folly bringing Harry Potter into the common room and was forming a response that would concede that point, but Moonshyne spoke first. "He's here for me."

Harry shot Pansy a look of disgust. "No, Moonshyne."

"I'm sorry, Harry. I was so wrong to leave you. I don't care if you're sulky, at least you're not evil."

Moonshyne was making a spectacle of herself. Pansy looked around the room and found that Harry was not the only one looking disgusted. Moonshyne used to command the room every time she spoke, but now she was just losing it. Pansy felt a little sorry for the girl, but only a little.

Moonshyne threw her arms around Harry's neck and tried to kiss him, but he pulled away. "That's not why I'm here." He gently pushed her away. "I actually don't know why I'm here."

"Are you with her?" Moonshyne's voice went shrill, and she turned to face her adversary. "I swear, Pansy, I will kill you with my bare hands."

Pansy held up her hands. "He's here for Daphne." Moonshyne calmed down, and looked like a wounded animal. Pansy dropped her voice. "I'm not doing this to hurt you, but you don't belong here. This world, it can't sustain both of us. You can do what you want, but we're going to talk to Daphne."

Stunned, Moonshyne did not try to stop Pansy as she walked over to Daphne. Harry followed. "Who is Moonshyne?" he whispered.

"I'll explain later." She walked up to Daphne. "Can we talk to you outside?"

Daphne considered this in her lazy, know-it-all way. "Okay, I'm intrigued." She led the way out of the common room. Instead of going into the maze of catacombs, she led them to a classroom. She sat at one of the tables and asked, "So, what's with the tag-along kid?"

Pansy ignored her. "I know who your mystery man is."

Daphne's smile did not fade at all, but as her eyes darted from Pansy to Harry and back again, it became fixed. "That's impossible."

During their walk down to the dungeons, Pansy had dogeared the book at the beginning of the chapter about Daphne's father. There was a picture of him with his partner. She placed the book on the table and turned to that page. "It's him."

Harry stood in the corner with his arms crossed, looking quite formidable, and to his credit, he was letting Pansy do the talking.

Daphne leaned over and stared at the picture for a few moments. Then she turned the book back to the cover. "How did you get this book?" she asked.

"I checked it out of the library."

Daphne opened the book to the picture of her father. "There's a reason why they're called Unspeakables. My father never told me about his work. Never." She started to read the chapter. "Internationally, they are considered the greatest Unspeakables alive today," she murmured. "I never knew that." She broke out of her reverie. "I'm going to let you in on a secret. There never was a mystery man. My father is not involved."

"Nice try, but Moonshyne said that you had a partner. She specially referred to what 'they've' done."

"Morgana--" Daphne tapped the woman's picture and addressed Harry. "--was not as tight-lipped with her family. I learned about their work from her daughter."

"Fausnight?" Pansy asked. "I don't know anyone named Fausnight. Why should I believe anything you say now?"

"You'll believe it when you find out who her daughter is. Fausnight was Morgana's maiden name. She went back to it when she got divorced from her husband, Jacob."

Pansy put her palm to her forehead. "Why must you always be so vague? Husband Jacob? The only Jacob I can think of is... Oh."

"Yes," Daphne said. "The mastermind, the one who came up with the entire plan, is everyone's favorite Hufflepuff, Sally-Anne Perks."