Four days went by at Hogwarts until she was able to speak to her friends again. After sneaking out that first day and not coming back until late, the Slytherins kept a close watch on her. It appeared as if she was not allowed to go anywhere on her own. Wherever she went, there was always a Slytherin close by. However, on Thursday after their Care of Magical Creatures lesson, she had been able to sneak off with Hermione as the Slytherin's put away their feeding equipment. They had to be quick, but they had managed to get to the Girl's toilets without anyone seeing.
"Why does nobody ever listen to me!" shrieked Hermione as she paced up and down the abandoned toilet cubicles, ripping into her bushy hair.
Hermione had obviously picked up on the tension between Jessica and Fred over the week, and had immediately begun to interrogate her about it. When Jessica had told her the full story, including what she had overheard the other night, Hermione had gone berserk. Jessica just stood there, leaning against one of the white marble sinks with her head in her hands, hoping that she would calm down before someone would hear her.
"I told you, I told you, Jess! I said avoid Fred at all costs and what did you do?" Hermione shouted.
"I kissed him..." Jessica sighed. Hermione had already asked her this three times, not seeming to acknowledge her answer.
"You kissed him!" exasperated Hermione, continuing her pacing and flinging her arms into the air as if she was reaching for the sky. "I can't believe this, you told me you weren't interested!"
"I didn't think I was!" Jessica quickly insisted, "just that he was being so nice and, well we had a little moment and, it just kind of...happened."
"Ron's going to flip out...does anyone else know?" Hermione asked, stopping in her tracks and turning to her. For the first time, Jessica saw what Ron had meant when he said that Hermione was a little scary sometimes when she was angry. Her delicate bone structure now appeared bony as she scowled.
"No only you," said Jessica.
"And this was at Grimmauld Place?" Hermione whispered and she tutted when Jessica nodded to confirm, "Where?"
Jessica itched the back of her neck. It was completely innocent, but she knew how Hermione might take it.
"...On my bed."
Hermione's jaw dropped to the floor in disgust, "Your BED?"
Oh, here we go...
Jessica lifted her head out of her hands and kicked herself off of the wall, "Hermione we're young adults, we're of age, don't be so prudish. It doesn't matter if it was on my bed or anywhere else. Even if we'd had sex it would still be-"
"Yeah, I get it," Hermione interrupted and lifted up her hand so that Jessica knew to stop talking. Her eyes rolled and then she crossed her arms in thought, leaning against a toilet door, "although I wouldn't put it past him to try it on."
"Why? Does he usually, go there, with girls," Jessica asked as she dropped her voice, hoping Hermione would get what she was insinuating. She hated the fact that it excited her to think about it.
Hermione rolled her head towards her and smiled dotingly, "He's a 17-year-old boy who's at boarding school without adult supervision Jess, it doesn't take a genius to work that one out."
Jessica had only been with one other guy before, her ex-boyfriend, so it wouldn't have scared her if Fred had tried it on. However, she now felt bad that he didn't. What was wrong with her that he didn't try to have sex? It only really gave evidence that Fred's words were true. He did think of her like a sister.
Poor Angelina. She hadn't stopped thinking about her. She had stood up for Jessica, not knowing that she had kissed her boyfriend only a couple of days before.
"Well he called it quits with me after anyway, at least he gave his girlfriend that respect," she said, her eyes glazing over as she thought of the alternate possibilities.
"Girlfriend?" Hermione asked.
Jessica looked up at her, confused as to why she didn't know who she meant, "Angelina."
"She's not his girlfriend," Hermione replied blankly.
"Yes she is, they went to that Ball thing together and I heard them in the corridor."
Hermione was bewildered, and her eyes wandered over her, an invisible lightbulb appearing above her head. "You've been thinking he cheated on her with you haven't you?" she asked.
"Well yeah..." Jessica answered, "And it sucks, especially as she's been so nice to me."
Ever since the first day of term, Angelina had made a point of being friendly towards her. She always smiled and said 'hey' when she had seen her in corridors and she even helped her find her way back to Professor Flitwick's classroom once after she had gotten lost. She was a nice girl, and Jessica prayed that she would kick a first-year or something at some point to make her feel less guilty.
"No Jess you have it wrong, they went to the Yule Ball together yes, but she's not his girlfriend," Hermione told her reassuringly, tucking her hair back behind her ear and rushing over to her, "He doesn't do girlfriends, none of the older years do. This is what I've been trying to get in your head. They're incapable of wanting to be tied down, they're too proud. She's his flavour of the month for now and then he'll move on to someone else, he and George have had the whole Quidditch team now between them. You haven't done anything wrong."
"Well, that makes me feel better...I think," Jessica mumbled. She couldn't imagine George being like that but knew boys could be boys.
So she was one of many flings, she hadn't officially been the other woman, but was that better? She was nothing special now, just a new interest for a week or two. It hadn't been a hard thing for Fred to do, he just fell for whoever was closest to him at the time for a bit of entertainment. It had all been just sweet talk, she was something to flirt with for a week or two, and she had fallen for it. She had known so many guys like him before, so she kicked herself for not spotting it.
"Still doesn't explain why he acted like that with Angelina though," Hermione pondered, "he switches girls all the time, we expect it. He shouldn't have to lie."
"Isn't it obvious?" said Jessica as she slumped against a toilet stall, "Angelina doesn't know what happened so he was trying to keep her sweet and throw her off the scent. That's why he said I was like a sister to him."
"Yeah but he's never been bothered about that before, everyone knows what he's like. If there's one thing about Fred, no matter how brutal, he's honest."
Jessica heard Fred say 'Girls love honesty don't they' in her head. He had said that to her on her first night at Grimmauld Place.
Jessica chuckled at the memory. She should've known then what he was like.
"Well, he's avoided me the last three days anyway so if that's his way of staying honest then props to him," she sighed, "He's welcome to sleep with whoever he likes as far as I'm concerned. I have too much going on to be concerned about where his dick is."
"Where whose dick is?" asked Pansy Parkinson as she strutted into the girl's bathroom.
Her long black hair flowed behind her as she walked past them to the sink and Jessica wondered whether she would ever command a room's presence in the way that she did. Having been around Pansy for a few days now, she had observed the fact that most students were often fearful of her, even the Slytherins, and yet they always wanted to please her to keep her on their side. There was something frightfully fascinating about her, from the way she dressed to the way she talked. She could just look at you and you felt like she could access the core of your soul. Her cold cats-eyes revealed nothing about her, she was a girl of mystery and evasion, and yet she still resembled every single mean girl Jessica had ever come across. She had avoided being alone with her up until this point, worried that anything she said would be used against her later.
Pansy turned on the taps to wash her hands, a simple action that she made look menacing. "I'm surprised you're talking about this Granger," she said, her voice unemotional and monotone, "you're a lady aren't you? Not even Victor Krum could get it in."
Her tone was meant to inflict embarrassment, but Jessica sensed a hint of jealousy.
"That's because we had a connection," Hermione retaliated stiffly, "based on knowledge and respect. He didn't need my body to find me interesting."
Pansy laughed and her squeals vibrated off the bathroom walls, clashing with the sound of the running water. Hermione had warned Jessica that a ghost had inhabited this bathroom so she hoped Pansy's laugh wouldn't wake it. The ghosts of Hogwarts castle had been nice to her so far, but Moaning Myrtle didn't sound like a pleasant character.
"Knowledge? Krum? You've got to be joking!" Pansy scoffed as she shook her hands dry and turned off the tap, "Just admit you didn't want to do it. He was the same as all the other Durmstrangs; all muscle and no brains."
"Got to know them well then did you, Pansy?" Jessica intervened, casually trying to take the heat away from Hermione.
Pansy hadn't made up her mind about her yet, and she knew it. She looked at herself in the mirror and pulled out a lipstick of pale red from underneath her shirt, something Hermione found shocking. She pulled off the top and swizzled the stick so the product appeared out of the container.
"Yeah, I knew them well," she said slowly as she applied the makeup to her lips, "as Granger would say we had a connection. Though it was much deeper than that, way deeper. Dark minds and physical beings they were you see. A dangerous combination."
Her eyes lit up in the mirror at the last sentence as if reliving a wonderful memory. Jessica felt herself getting drawn in.
"None of them asked you to the Yule Ball though did they, so they mustn't have wanted you to stick around," said Hermione bravely. Jessica looked at her and nudged her in the ribs. She admired Hermione for not backing down, but it was clear that she hadn't had the same experience with girls like that at school as she had. Girls like Pansy were to be managed, not challenged.
Pansy's eyebrows raised at Hermione, seemingly unimpressed, and she put the lipstick back under her shirt once finished with it. "That's because Draco asked me and I'm loyal to my kind," she told her snidely as she rubbed off the excess lipstick from the corners of her mouth, "can't say the same for you though, can I? Ditched Potter and Weasley the first chance you could."
"That's...completely different," Hermione stuttered.
"Oh was it?" asked Pansy, winking at herself before placing a hand on her hip and turning around, "I think you tried it on with them and no one took the bait so you took up the first offer given to you because you knew you wouldn't get it from anywhere else. It's sad, especially given the reason Krum asked you in the first place."
Hermione's lip quivered in anger and she crossed her arms tightly to her chest. Victor Krum was a sensitive subject for her after what had happened last year. She had told Jessica everything. He had been the first guy who had taken an interest in her, and even though things didn't work out mutually, it was still her first crush. Pansy was horrific for mocking it and was rude for making out that no one else liked her. Jessica had seen the way Ron glimpsed at her across the table, even if Hermione couldn't see it herself.
"Pansy let's just go get lunch," Jessica said and she touched Pansy on the shoulder to turn her away. Even though she hated sitting with the Slytherins, if it meant taking Pansy away from Hermione, then she would put up with it.
"No, Granger started it, so let's see if she's big enough to finish it," said Pansy, wiping Jessica's hand away like a dead bug and narrowing in on Hermione, "when you hang around the Durmstangs you see, you get to hear their gossip. There was a rumour that it was a bet, to get the frigid girl to 'open up'. That's why Krum asked you."
"That's an outright lie," snapped Hermione, water forming in her eyes from frustration, "Victor wouldn't do that."
Don't let her see you sweat Hermione, Jessica thought, hold it together.
"Aw, poor mudblood," Pansy pouted as she swaggered over to Hermione, "Think about it. Weasley didn't even ask you, did he? And he was desperate! Why would Krum ask out the girl that no one wanted? He's a star quidditch player and you're a muggle-born loner who hangs out with blood traitors and annoys everyone else. You were a prize in a game, nothing more."
"That's enough Pansy," Jessica said, standing face to face with her to cover Hermione, who looked like she was about to cry at any moment, "isn't there a Draco you should be following around like a puppy-dog somewhere?"
Pansy's tongue licked her teeth as she grinned at Hermione, admiring her handy work. Her eyes glided down to Jessica, who was two inches smaller than her. "I only said it was a rumor Clarke, no need to take it so personally," she said in a tone very much compared to a baby, "...unless you believe it's true."
She smiled maliciously at Hermione whose face had fallen from the confidence she usually portrayed. A tear from her eye meant that Pansy had completed her goal.
"I've got to go find Harry and Ron, I promised I'd help them with something," said Hermione, a sniff breaking her words. She hurried out of the toilets without saying goodbye, and as her footsteps faded from view Jessica thought she could hear her sob.
"Pathetic isn't it? She's so touchy," said Pansy, once again returning to the mirrors to check herself out. She pushed her robe away to reveal a tube skirt that was high up the leg, and a women's waistcoat that pushed her breasts out. Pansy had her own Hogwarts uniform, and Jessica was amazed that the teachers hadn't told her to change as the normal uniform was so modest. Maybe they had tried and given up, she thought.
"Why are you so mean to her?" Jessica asked sharply.
Pansy glared at her through the mirror with a frown, "Why do you care?"
"Because," said Jessica, stepping closer, "if you haven't noticed, she's my friend."
Pansy laughed, once again echoing the bathroom walls. "Oh, how cute, let me guess...a night in for you is braiding each other's hair and painting her nails? In bed by 9, is that the deal?"
"Why, do you want to join?" Jessica asked sarcastically, "I'm sorry to disappoint but I don't think you'll fit in. We don't speak bitch."
Pansy slammed her hands on the sink and twirled around, her hair flicking gracefully to one side. "Listen, I know I probably haven't made the best first impression, and you might not like me right now. That's fine, most girls don't, but we have to stick together. You've got fire, and I see potential, I can help you."
Jessica crossed her arms and laughed herself this time, "We girls have to stick together? Really Pansy? After what you just did to Hermione?"
"Okay I should've specified," Pansy shrugged, "we Pure Blood girls have to stick together. We should hang out tomorrow night, just the two of us. You can tell me all about yourself, I haven't even asked you about your old school yet. We could, oh what's the term...bond."
"Yeah thanks for the offer but I'm busy tomorrow," Jessica said sullenly and she attempted to walk away. There was no way she was going to let herself be put in a position to be scrutinized for her lies. She had successfully avoided questions about her heritage thus far and she planned to keep it that way. Besides, tomorrow night was the party, and she wasn't going to turn that down to hang out with her of all people.
Pansy's eyes narrowed sceptically as they followed her out, her head tilting to one side. "Going to the Gryffindor Party then?" she asked loudly from behind.
Jessica stopped at the bathroom door. How did Pansy know about that?
"I knew it," said Pansy slyly, noticing her freezing, "I'm impressed you thought you were going to be able to keep it a secret. How were you planning on sneaking out without any of us realizing exactly?"
There was no way in hell that she would be able to sneak out now that Pansy knew. She'd have to talk it out with her and make a deal. She couldn't miss that party, it was the only thing she was looking forward to. Jessica looked back at her begrudgingly, "How do you even know about it? They said no Slytherins-"
"No Slytherins allowed?" Pansy interrupted, "I have my connections in other houses, there's no party at this school that I don't go to. I have a Hufflepuff getting me in, he owes me."
"And everyone's okay with that?" Jessica asked walking back into the main chamber. She couldn't imagine Fred, George, or anyone being pleased if she turned up. They'd probably lock her up in a cupboard until it was over then use her as a pinata.
Pansy huffed and flicked her hair out of her face, "Well Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff never seem to mind any of us Slytherins attending, it's only Gryffindors that have the problem when they host. They're always strictly invite-only when it comes to us, which is a joke considering they call us elitist snobs. We're not allowed in unless it's a plus one, and hardly anyone ever does have us as a plus one, so that's when I cash in my favours."
She noticed Jessica's face crumple as she said this, "I have been to Gryffindor parties before so you don't have to shit your pants about it. It's not going to be a problem."
"I thought Draco frowned upon mixing though?" Jessica asked. They had been so hard on her that she had been afraid to even look at Harry, Hermione, or Ron if any of them were around. How was Pansy allowed to socialize?
"So? He doesn't tell me what to do," Pansy scoffed, "I just make sure to come back with a bit of gossip, and everything's sweet. It's how we know everything about everyone, people's mouths always seem to open up after a bit of Firewhisky."
She mimicked someone drinking and acting tipsy but Jessica didn't laugh. Jessica hadn't been around any of her friends in a party setting, so she didn't know how they acted, but the thought of them spilling something out about the Order gave her genuine fright. She couldn't imagine what would happen if something they said got back to Draco and his dad.
"I'm not going to let you spy on my friends," Jessica told her, "I'm warning them that you're coming."
"Oh don't be a pussy Clarke, from the way I see it you have two options. Either, we go together, have a good time, and I help you get that boy you like...or I tell Snape that the Gryffindors are having a party and the whole house gets detention for the year."
There it was, what she had expected. It was never going to be a surprise. Their whole house was based on cunning and ambition. Blackmail was a given.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
Pansy's eyes darkened the longer the two girls stared at each other. Jessica was being drawn in by the two black holes, panicking for a route to escape being sucked in. She had left her no choice, there was no way Jessica was going to let the party get cancelled. Everyone was looking forward to it, and if Ron was successful at becoming Keeper, he would deserve a celebration. She couldn't let that be taken away from him. Not for the sake of Pansy Parkinson.
She had to play her game. Her promise to the Order was to protect their children at all costs, and the first debt was now to be paid. If Snape's detentions got put in the hands of Umbridge, it was likely that a lot more blood would be shed.
"Fine," Jessica said through gritted teeth, "I won't say anything. However you're wrong, I don't like anyone."
Pansy was the last person who needed to get involved in her drama with Fred.
Pansy reached out and held Jessica's arms, a gesture of friendliness that she guessed was unusual to her. It was almost comical how uncomfortable Pansy looked doing it.
"As I said, us girls have to stick together. I'm not heartless Clarke, nor stupid," she said quietly so that no one could hear her being nice, "I heard what you were saying when I came in. I've heard that dismissal of feelings before. And as much as I'm sickened by the fact it's probably a Gryffindor, there's no way I'm going to let a Slytherin girl get beat out by some common bitch. We are always the first choice do you understand? They chase us, not the other way around. Trust me, I'll make you the most desirable girl at that party...apart from me of course."
She wasn't blinking, she was being deadly serious. Pansy did want to help her. Whether she cared for Jessica didn't matter, because she was presenting a competition, and perhaps Pansy rivaled Jessica's competitiveness. Jessica thought about it...she did need answers, and Pansy was offering help. It was a deal with the devil, but perhaps it would make her time in Slytherin more bearable.
"I just want to see if he'll get jealous," Jessica told her, giving in and remembering what Angelina had accused Fred of, "can you do that?"
She just wanted him to drop the act and acknowledge once and for all if he did like her, and not as a sister. She just needed to know where he stood. Pansy, with her scheming ways, would be able to get her that answer way quicker than Hermione would. It was a transaction, they weren't going to become friends.
"Oh hun, I can do that with my eyes closed," said Pansy teasingly, "Let's start with something small."
Pansy dragged her to one of the bathroom sinks and pulled the lipstick from her shirt again. She took the lid off and grabbed Jessica's jaw to stabilize her other hand that was applying it to her lips. In ten seconds, Jessica's mouth had gone from pale pink to rouge, bringing colour to her porcelain face. Jessica looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes now appearing bigger somehow. Admittedly it was an improvement. With her lips tainted red, it made her feel more alive, more confident. Funny how a bit of product on a stick could do that.
"See, there she is, we just need to tune her in a bit," Pansy told her in the mirror, her cold eyes finally having a spark behind them, "I told you I saw potential and I'm never wrong. A bit of styling with the hair, add some clothes that actually show your shape...he won't be able to resist."
For a split second, forgetting that it was Pansy standing there, Jessica felt like she was back at home playing makeup with her friends. She had always loved makeup but hadn't had access to any since staying at Grimmauld Place. Hermione and Ginny preferred the natural look and it forced her to adopt the same. Maybe that was the problem, Fred hadn't seen her at her best.
She had forgotten her glamorous side, and Pansy had the facilities to provide it. It didn't mean she had to like her, because there was no way she was going to after the things she had seen her do to other people, but why couldn't she get a little closer? She could use her back perhaps, and could even help the Order if she found out any useful information.
A double agent.
"Well, I guess we could start with dresses. I'm going to need one. You don't happen to have any spare?" Jessica asked hesitantly.
She saw Pansy grin behind her in the reflection, happy that Jessica was finally being forthcoming. "I have a whole trunk full of them, and I think I have just the one for you. Now let's go out of here and get some food before I change my mind, it still smells like Granger in here and I will vomit if I breathe it in a second longer."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the alliance begins...or does it?
The Girl's bathroom is always where the gossip is shared, but what will happen when the party starts...
Let me know what you think of Pansy, and what you think is going to happen next!