Fate Untold (Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: Shouldn't Have Said That

Ashley purposely strolled through the well-lit hallways of Hogwarts with her familiar, as per usual, draped across her shoulders. Much too busy sorting through her satchel, she let the castle's magic guide her to her current destination, one of the many unused classrooms. Her reason for going there was that her tutoring sessions were held there. The students who needed and/or wanted tutoring had grown immensely since first year so the sessions had to move from the library. Madam Pince's incessant shushing had gotten too much. It was fun though, helping the first years and her fellow second years (there were actually some older students as well since it was well known that Ashley 'advance studied'). And of course, there was the added bonus of getting to differentiate potential allies from enemies. Maybe teaching would be the career path Ashley would take in the future. She was doing more than well enough with her studies, and it would be such a pity to leave the castle she was bound to inherit.

"Oh, sorry, I-" She stopped mid-sentence, recognizing the person she'd just bumped into, "Parkinson."

"Potter." Pansy greeted tensely.

She shifted in place, looking exactly as uncomfortable as she sounded. She kept flicking her gaze between Ashley and the floor, opening and closing her mouth indecisively as if second-guessing herself. The Potter Heiress narrowed her eyes and adjusted her satchel's strap on her shoulder, gazing at the Slytherin with a curious glint in her eyes. Ashley had never seen Pansy acting like she was currently. Pansy had never been one to be unsure, only cocky, angry, or both. She mirrored Draco in that regard (in the past, at least), that was probably why they were good friends. Or, well, had been. The two had obviously grown apart since Pansy always seemed hell-bent on separating Draco and Alyssa.

"I, uh... I was actually looking for you." Pansy revealed quietly after a few seconds more of awkward silence.

"Do you need something? I have to be somewhere right now." Ashley explained, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I wanted to talk to you..." Pansy muttered.

"Well, we're talking right now." Ashley mused.

"No, I meant-" Pansy frowned.

"I know what you meant." Ashley chuckled, "Give me a second."

She glanced around, searching for a passing student with the same destination as hers. Finally, she spotted one just as he came around the corner.

"Colin!"

The young Gryffindor abruptly turned towards the sound of Ashley's voice, stopping him in his trek towards the aforementioned tutoring session. It wasn't like he needed the help, he was already so talented for a Muggle-born, but it never hurt to want to improve. There was a light blush dusting his cheeks as he approached Ashley who smiled straight at him. The aftereffect was instantaneous. Colin reddened tremendously, though he managed not to stumble over his words in his haste to greet Ashley. Despite his bordering-on-obsessive feelings towards her, they'd gotten to know each other well enough to be considered friends. He was quite easy to talk to and they had their shared love for photography to bond over.

"Hey, could you tell the others I'm on my way? I just need to deal with something for a bit."

"Sure, yeah, I'll tell them!"

"Thank you, I won't be long."

Walking backwards, Colin waved and consequently almost tripped over his own two feet. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and hurried away. Ashley giggled and shook her head fondly before switching her full attention back to Pansy, raising both her eyebrows expectantly as an indication for the Slytherin to start talking.

"I'm sorry." Pansy blurted out.

Ashley blinked, shocked stock still. Even her typically chatty familiar had no response to offer. They both listened intently as Pansy apologized for her actions against the Marauders, just as Draco and Blaise once did. It turned out that Pansy truly never disliked the group. There had just been a whole lot of unbridled jealousy and fear of losing her only genuine friends on her part. Ashley was aware of the latter. After all, the Slytherins weren't a tight-knit group like the Hufflepuffs were. Though, the snakes had come far with the idea of House unity. Back in Tom's era, one wouldn't matter if they weren't exceedingly capable in their studies or if they simply weren't influential enough. Tom had been lucky enough to have been born as the Slytherin Heir, a fact which greatly boosted his reputation amongst his House mates.