Burned By Heat

Part 4 : The Need

Pansy sat across from Neville at the table, not really certain what to say. There weren't exactly many opportunities for dates in Hogsmeade, the selection rather poor, but... there were options. There were multiple options.

Madam Puddifoot's was not one of those options.

A fifteen year old Pansy would have died at the prospect of getting to go on a date at the Tea Shop with a pureblood Alpha. It would have been the best thing to happen to her all year. But, at 18 nearly 19, it was... boring. Not just boring, but...

Neville looked as awkward as she felt.

"I wish we could go to London," Neville said awkwardly. "I tried to get permission, even asked if I could get permission for us to visit my gran, but-"

"But I'm technically on probation," Pansy answered.

Neville stared at her, confused, then shook his head. "We're not married, not engaged, not betrothed, and not mated. If we were any of those things..."

Her face colored at the thought. Oh. Oh.

"Well then," she said awkwardly, draping the napkin politely over her lap. "Madam Puddifoot's it is."

They enjoyed their tea, awkwardly, the little cakes and sandwiches being shared between them, but it was difficult to speak when so many of the younger years were staring at them.

Including her sister.

By far the worst date she had ever been on... with the best man she had ever met. This would be a story for the ages, and she was ready to laugh about it later, but first...

"Neville, please smile," she said, smiling across the table to her... she wouldn't call him her boyfriend. That felt so juvenile. Her mate? Not yet. Her partner? Soon. Her Alpha....

That just didn't quite tick with her.

"I just... I wanted to take you on a proper date," he said awkwardly.

Pansy smiled and shook her head. "Neville... we're at Hogwarts. Our options are exceptionally limited. What I wanted was to spend time with you, away from our friends, but still out, so that..."

She winked, and he grinned, finally relaxing. The point of this date wasn't to date, necessarily... It was to talk, without being able to rip one another's clothes off... Also, just spend time together.

She enjoyed spending time with him. Learning things about him. Like...

He knew things. Odd things. Things she never would have expected. Like, when he ordered the tea, he seemed to know a great deal about the different leaves.

"Tea leaves are plants," he had said when she demanded an explanation.

And the paintings on the wall, he had known things, like who had done them, how the charm to make them blow in the wind worked...

How could someone that struggled so heavily at school know so many random things?

"Your sister is still staring at us," Neville said conversationally as he picked up his cup of tea, sipping at it, far more relaxed now than he had been earlier.

Her volume dropped as she responded. "Yes, well, she and I don't exactly speak often, and-"

"What?" Neville asked, sitting upright. "Don't tell me that people still don't know about her."

Pansy shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her cup.

Posy Parks... no one needed to know that the friendly third year Hufflepuff was her little sister.