Pathos | A Pansy Parkinson Fanfiction

s e v e n

"May?"Elizabeth's eyes widened as the girl walked into the Hufflepuff common room after her Hogsmeade visit. Cedric and Henry, who were sitting with her, also had shocked expressions on their faces.

"Hi." she smiled nervously.

"You cut your hair?" Cedric asked, his mouth literally dropping open. "You haven't cut your hair since you were six years old."

"Yes, well..." Maeve trailed off, joining the three on the couch. "... I decided that it's time I changed that, don't you?"

"Don't you have a date with Goyle today?" Henry asked.

"Had. Past tense. And it went perfectly." she grinned.

"Woah, what?" Elizabeth asked, "You fancy Goyle?"

"Of course not!" Maeve said, her cheeks blushing red. "I suppose it's my fault for saying it that way. When I mean it went perfectly, I mean it went horribly, and that Gregory Goyle will never ask me out ever again." she concluded.

Cedric finally closed his mouth, his shock replaced by curiosity. "Really? How?"

"Well, it's all thanks to Pansy." Maeve smiled at the thought. "She knows Gregory well since they're in the same house and she told me everything he dislikes. We had a whole plan." the Hufflepuff said excitedly, gesturing to her dress.

"I'm sorry, but you expect us to believe Pansy Parkinson helped you?" Henry scoffed, "She's a bitch."

"No, she's not!" Maeve glared at the boy, taking him by surprise, because she was never that rude to anybody. "She's my friend."

"I'm going to Hogsmeade to send a letter home." Elizabeth stood up abruptly. "Bye guys, bye May."

"Bye..." Maeve frowned, confused as to why the girl was leaving in the middle of a conversation but didn't think much about it as she turned back to Henry.

"I'll have you know, Henry, that my hair was in a much worse state when I'd initially cut it. Pansy was the one who called Daphne who fixed it." she said crossly.

"Looks like I hit a nerve." Henry put his hand up in surrender as he chuckled. "Sorry, May I didn't realize you were so close with the Slytherins."

"Speaking of, would you mind if they all sat with us during the First Task tomorrow? Daphne invited me to sit with them but I want you and Liz to get to know them too. They're not as bad as they seem."

Henry looked at her to check if she was joking. When he concluded that she wasn't, he sighed. "Alright, I suppose. But Lizzie's not gonna be happy. She's formed a particular dislike for Pansy this year, taking every opportunity to catch her misbehaving in the corridors." the boy said dryly.

Maeve wondered why that was before she turned her attention to Cedric. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Thanks to Harry, yeah." Cedric nodded. "Henry and I finally decided on a concrete strategy."

"Sounds great." Maeve grinned. "I'm sure you'll do well, Ced."

"Don't worry, May." Cedric said confidently. "Nothing's going to happen to me."

_____

"You know Maeve Kingston, when I said you could sit with us, I wasn't expecting your Hufflepuff friends to join along." Theodore frowned when he saw Elizabeth and Henry next to the girl.

"Hey, I'm just here because Maeve asked me to. As if I would willingly want to sit with you lot." Elizabeth scoffed, rolling her eyes before looking straight ahead at the empty Quidditch-Field-turned-Dragon-Ground.