I Beg Your Pardon, Potter?

Chapter 21

Pansy pulled back and slapped him. Hard. Ron stood, blinking dumbly.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I could ask the same thing of you," Pansy snapped back.

"I thought that was what you wanted."

"Well, clearly it wasn't," she said, although it had kind of been what she had wanted.

She had a reputation to uphold. She couldn't go around kissing Gryffindors. Dancing, sure, that was a whole different Quidditch pitch. But kissing? What would her mother say?

Or, more likely, what would Draco say? And for that matter, where was Draco? She pulled further back from Ron and looked around, but she couldn't see his shiny blond head anywhere. This was odd as he was usually so easy to spot in a crowd. She leaned in and yelled into Ron's ear over the music.

"Have you seen Draco?" She felt rather than saw his shoulders shrug.

"He's probably outside with Harry," came Ron's reply.

"Outside?" Ron started to explain, but then shook his head and took her arm, leading her out of the crowded dance floor and over to the side of the room. He pointed at a door set into the wall next to a large, arched window that Pansy was decently sure had not been there earlier in the evening. She could see an outdoor furniture set, bathed in warm, orange light from what she assumed was a fireplace. She reached for the door handle, but Ron put a hand on her arm, stopping her.

"What?" she snapped, whirling around.

"It's October," he said simply. "You might want a coat." And he reached over and pulled a coat off of the coat rack beside him and held it out to her. She accepted it with an apologetic smile. She swung it around her shoulders and then opened the door and stepped out into the night.

She shut the door gently behind herself and looked around, taking in the balcony with its stellar view of the Hogwarts grounds, its warm, inviting fireplace, and-.

And.

And The-Boy-Who-Lived quite aggressively making out with Draco Malfoy. Her jaw dropped.

"-Pansy, wait for me," Ron's voice came from behind her as the offending redhead stepped out onto the balcony as well. The door slammed shut behind him. Harry and Draco sprang guiltily apart wearing matching deer in the wand-light expressions. Ron cringed at the look of shock on Pansy's face.

"I can explain," Draco said, pushing Harry off of himself and standing up. Harry stumbled slightly at the push but then gained his balance and stood next to Draco.

"I don't really think there's much need," she said, frowning. "You two were playing tonsil Quidditch. I'm not blind." Draco and Harry looked at each other.

"Guilty as charged," Harry said.

"Ah, crap," Pansy said. "This means I owe Blaise two galleons. I had bet this would happen much farther into the term." She walked over to the seating area in front of the fire and threw herself down into one of the chairs. Ron, after a moment's hesitation, joined them as well, and Harry and Draco sat back down, albeit on separate seats.

"So how long has this been going on for?" Pansy asked, pointing back and forth between Harry and Draco. She picked up a strand of hair and began idly playing with it. "Draco, I thought you had turned him down when he asked you out on Sunday."

"I did," Draco said. "But then he brewed a love potion first thing Monday morning and asked again." Pansy cocked her head to the side.

"So you're infatuated with him? Well, that would explain it."