Sapphic September 2019 - Harry Potter Femslash Oneshot Collection

Day 4 - Time Moves Slow - Pansmione

Prompt: "I don't expect you to understand."

Pairing: Hermione Granger x Pansy Parkinson

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 1,689

Summary: Until her twenty-fifth birthday, Pansy has to play the dutiful daughter, letting her parents set her up for dates and pretend she has every intention of marrying one of them one day. Once she turns twenty-five, she gains full control over her trust and can do what she likes. She had it all planned out, how to live until then.

She hadn't planned on Hermione.

(mind the tags)

Tags: EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Established Relationship, Secret Relationship, Strained Relationship, Closeted, Angst, Open Ending, Unresolved Ending

Time Moves Slow

Down the hall, the clock chimed half-past the hour in the kitchen. Pansy could barely hear it over the loud silence emanating from Hermione. They'd finally reached the part of this tired argument that was so repetitive that even Hermione realised repeating it once more was pointless.

But the fact they kept arguing was bothering Pansy more and more. Enough that she couldn't stop herself from picking at it again.

"It's not like I'm dragging this on indefinitely," she said, checking her makeup in the vanity mirror again. It was better than looking at Hermione's face. "There is an end point to this, there always has been. All this fuss is pointless."

It wasn't as if she hadn't been clear with Hermione from the start. She hadn't even been looking for a relationship when they'd started. In fact, she'd been doing her best to avoid getting attached to anyone until everything was resolved.

But she knew better than to ever mention that it was really Hermione's fault for pursuing her and being just so damn irresistible.

"Really? Pointless?" Hermione said. "It may be pointless but I can't help getting upset every time you go out on dates with random men and never with me. How would you feel? Would you watch me dress up without saying a word? Would you let me go out on a date with someone else wearing a dress like that and say nothing?"

Pansy grimaced at her reflection. She should have let them both stew in silence until she left.

"I hate these dates as much as you do," she muttered. "Probably more, since I actually have to sit through them pretending to enjoy myself when I'd rather bash my head against the table!"

A hand gripped her shoulder and turned her around. Hermione stared at her with beseeching eyes.

"Then end it," she urged. "Just stop. You don't have to keep doing this!"

With a sharp tug, Pansy pulled her shoulder free and crossed the room to pick out a jacket and pull it on. It wasn't really cold enough for it, but it gave her something to do. It had been a mistake to move in with Hermione. Just like every other aspect of their relationship, and the relationship itself.

At the time, she'd thought it was brilliant. The papers had already revealed her friendship with Hermione, but never dug up anything deeper. No one suspected a thing, and it was so very fitting, so like her, to want one brief adventure into an independent life before she bowed to her duty and married the perfect pureblood man.

Her parents had never even questioned it. Hadn't even tried to talk her out of it. Almost encouraged it.

Too caught up in how she felt about Hermione, and too easily swayed by her emotions despite how much she hated that weakness, she'd not really thought ahead to how it would play out. Hermione had seemed so agreeable about the arrangement, and she had always been so practical, Pansy hadn't imagined she'd have such a problem with it.