Cruel Intentions - Dramione

1 - Pure Blood and Tainted Souls

Blue hydrangea, cold cash divine
Cashmere, cologne and hot sunshine
Red racing cars, sunset and vine
And we were young and pretty

Old Money - Lana Del Rey

Draco was an only child–most pureblood heirs were. It made sense, no parent wanted their children to go at each other's throats for the prize of an inheritance and the power that came with a Sacred-28 birthright. Draco was an only child and he wasn't one for sharing.

Pansy Parkinson was an only child. Despite being female and therefore an unsuitable heir for the Parkinson family, she was an only child. Her parents tried to conceive another child for the first few years of her life, trying for a male heir. Pansy even as a baby knew she was a disappointment to them, missing the most crucial anatomy for a proper pureblood child: a cock.

Pansy was not one to be trifled with, even in her youth. As her parents struggled in vain for another child, Pansy grew up, embracing the jewels and praise that flurried around a princess like her, all while ignoring the subtle digs at her unusual temperament.

She wasn't an idle girl, she wasn't a princess, she was ruthless. She ordered the house-elves around for her own amusement. Her accidental magic was violent and precise, burning down their gardens when her mother refused to tell another story before bed. She was cruel and powerful in a way that was unusual for a child, she locked Daphne Greengrass in her bedroom because she had wanted to drink from Pansy's favorite glass. She didn't play well with others, that was for sure. Other parents would've been concerned, called specialists for the obvious behavioral problems, but the Parkinsons were no ordinary family.

Pansy had proven herself through her cruelty, she was powerful enough to outrank any potential future male heir. But, unfortunately despite her parents' belief that their daughter would one day be exceptional, the wizarding world wouldn't support a female heir. Pansy Parkinson needed a husband, someone she could guide and manipulate, someone strong and of good-breeding, someone who would give her everything she so obviously deserved.

Draco Malfoy would be their daughter's salvation. The young heir to the Malfoy fortune, rich and destined for greatness. The decision was made when they had barely outgrown their diapers. Narcissa Malfoy and Dahlia Parkinson met together frequently plotting for their children's futures.

Dahlia worried that if Pansy's minor behavioral issues were revealed the hesitant arrangements would be thrown away. The betrothal needed to be completed, written in the stars, and forged through their blood. On a windy day in late December, when the children were matched, and their fate was set.

Each year as they aged, the children were reminded of their betrothal and their duty to one another. First-year: they were sat next to each other on the Hogwarts Express, their parents cooed over how sweet they were already. Pansy only warmed to Draco when she heard him laughing at a boy who had lost his toad.

Second-year: the rumours of an heir-of-Slytherin intrigued them both, they lamented privately that they wished it were them unleashing the chaos on the school.

Third-year: Sirius Black was loose from Azkaban. They kissed for the first time during a game of spin the bottle. When Pansy told her mother she got a new pair of dress robes as a reward.

Fourth-year: they attended the Yule Ball together. The photos of them dancing together were mailed to every other pureblood family by their parents, bragging about their match.

Fifth-year: The inquisitorial squad brought them closer together, they thrived with the power. They also discovered that a betrothal didn't require total exclusivity, or at least Draco discovered so when he caught Pansy snogging Theodore Nott in a broom cupboard. She didn't even acknowledge that it was something she probably shouldn't have been doing. The infidelity didn't drive a rift between them, it brought them closer together. The pressure of their match lessened and the two friends embraced their present freedom, snogging anyone they could, and with their gratuitous beauty, there were quite a lot of people.