Sapphic September 2018 - Harry Potter Femslash Oneshot Collection

Day 17 - Nothing is Certain - Pansy/Unnamed F Character

Prompt: "She's missing, not dead."
Pairing: Pansy Parkinson/Unnamed Female Character (can be whoever you like, tagged as Padma on AO3)
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 715
Summary: It's been three weeks since Pansy's wife has gone missing.

Tags: EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Angst, Missing Persons, Possible Character Death (up to the reader), Ambiguous/Open Ending.

Nothing Is Certain

"She's missing, not dead!" Pansy hissed, splashing milk everywhere as she tried to make Draco's tea.

He came up beside her and covered her hand with his own. "Pansy, it's been three weeks."

Pansy closed her eyes and sucked in a slow breath. "I'm painfully aware of how long it's been, thanks."

She'd told her. She'd told the silly witch that she wasn't qualified to go collecting data herself. Not to seedy towns like that in such unregulated and dangerous places. That was what the research branch of the Aurors was for. Protecting the Unspeakables and whoever else needed to go somewhere dangerous for Ministry research, or undertaking the trip themselves.

"Would you stop making tea!" Draco snapped, pulling her away from the kitchen counter. "I said I don't want any, and you're shaking so bad you can't even lift the cup without spilling it. Just sit down and look at the forms with me."

Pansy knocked his hands away. "I'm not touching those forms! Three weeks is nothing. She might just be...she...oh, I don't know. But she's not dead!"

Draco's expression was full of pity and she had the sudden urge to slap him. Instead, she snatched up her wand and left the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" he asked, following her close behind.

"If those idiot Aurors can't find her, I'm going to go look for her myself!" she snapped, stopping by the front door and taking her coat off the hook.

Draco grabbed her arms in a grip that was so tight it was painful. "You can't! If something happened to her it might happen to you too!"

It took a fair struggle before she managed to pull free from his grip. "I can't just sit here and do nothing!" she hissed. "They won't let me go back to work until the matter is 'resolved' one way or the other. What else am I supposed to do?"

With his hands up in a placating gesture, Draco got between her and the door. "Anything but run off and get yourself hurt or worse. You know she wouldn't want that. If she really is alright, they'll find her and bring her back, or she'll make her way back on her own."

Throwing her coat down, she leaned against the wall and shuddered. "I can't do this, Draco. I can't wait around for news, it's killing me. Every morning I wake up and she isn't there. I just assume she's already at work, or she didn't come back the night before because she got caught up in an experiment. That happens often enough, going to bed alone and waking up with her there or not at all. It feels so normal, until I remember. I just...I can't. I need to do something."

"I know, I know," he said softly, gently taking her by the shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "But you can't go running off. You're not trained, you don't even have all the details of where she went. Anything she told you can't have been enough, she's bound by all those oaths she took."

Pansy felt a sob building in her chest and tried to swallow it down. "She should have sent an Auror. There's a whole branch exactly for that!"

Draco sighed and stroked the back of her head softly. "Let me make you a hot drink and then we'll go check in with the Aurors and see if they've made any progress, alright?"

Even though she still ached to rush out the door, she let him lead her back to the kitchen. "I'm not filling out that paperwork. She isn't dead. I don't care what the protocols are. Three weeks is not long enough to give up like that. I won't. I can't."

"Okay," he said, guiding her to a chair and picking up the papers. He put them back in his satchel and then went over to the counter to start fiddling with the tea things. "I'm sorry for pushing. It can wait."

While he made the tea, Pansy rested her hands on the table and stared at her wedding ring. Three weeks, three months, three years. No matter how long, she wouldn't give up until they found a body.

Nothing was certain until then.

End.