All the Stories Are True / Dramione

Chapter 2

Pulling up to Pansy's home has me feeling wistful and nostalgic. Pulling into the drive I'm met with wildflowers in the yard, a quaint, and slightly spooky, wooden cabin, and a few stray cats napping on the porch and in the grass. Looking at this place it's like I've been transported back to sleepovers where me and Pansy would discuss, in great detail, what our house would look like when we grew up and could finally do whatever we wanted without the pressure of school or families.

I feel a stab in my chest as I think about how Pansy has created her space that she's always wanted here, while I've been off pretending to be happy while being smothered under Ron's shadow.

The home itself screams Pansy. You wouldn't guess that her family comes from money, and a lot of it, by how she lives her life. The cottage in front of me is smaller, wooden, and looks like it would be haunted by a few ghosts. It looks perfectly magical and cozy and it makes sense why she rambled on and on about this place when she first bought it.

We had planned for me to come out for a visit a few years ago but there was always something going on with Ron that stopped it. A work banquet, a sick sibling, a tantrum. I can't believe that I let my life be so derailed by a man like him.

Actually I can believe it, a broken heart is easy to fool in the first place.

As I put my car in park I hear the front door swing open and see Pansy practically skip across the porch to me. I'm barely out of the car before I'm being embraced by the force of nature that is my best friend.

I take in her scent of lavender and oranges and breathe easy for the first time in what feels like years.

"I've missed you Goldie. Let's revisit that idea to live together as spinsters forever." Pansy says softly as she continues to squeeze the life out of me.

"Yeah, I think I could be convinced this time around." I laugh as I hug her back just as tight.

After a few moments we both take a step back, still holding each other's hands, grinning like idiots.

"Well come on! I know a guy who has desperately missed you" Pansy says as she practically drags me back up the stairs and into her home.

Once inside, I barely have time to take a look around me before I see a bundle of orange fur barreling towards me at full speed.

"Crookshanks! Oh my sweet boy, how have you been?" I murmur into his fur as I squeeze him almost as tight as I had hugged Pansy just a few moments ago.

Wouldn't you know, Ron was also suddenly allergic to cats as soon as we began our discussions of moving in together three years ago? He convinced me that it would be better for us all if Crookshanks went to live somewhere else, and I rolled over and agreed like the lovesick fool I was.

Thankfully Pansy stepped in before Ron could literally throw him outside. Yet another thing about Pansy that I am thankful for. I should really work on getting her a good gift to say thank you.

"I think he knew you were coming back, he hasn't stopped pacing since I got off the phone with you earlier. They say cats have a sixth sense, so who knows?" Pansy says, smiling down at us as we're sprawled across the floor.

"I'll go grab your stuff from the car, give you two some time to get reacquainted." Pansy says as she slips out the door.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

An hour later and my bags and suitcases and random belongings are strewn about Pansy's house and her spare bedroom, now my bedroom, as she fills me in on the comings and goings of her neighbors and the new town gossip while we drink cup after cup of tea.