Pansy jerked her thumbnail from between her teeth for the tenth time in as many minutes. She absolutely loathed to admit to being nervous, even to herself. She couldn't stand outside of Malfoy Manor much longer, either. The mist in Wiltshire was wreaking havoc on her hair, and if she waited much longer her manicure would be ruined as well. She sighed deeply and rang the bell. You are a Parkinson. She heard the voice of her father ringing in her ears. Act like one.

Bugger off, Father, she thought. She sighed again. It's just Draco. How horrible could this be? She arranged her face to it's impassive mask, and waited for someone to answer the door.

Draco was startled when Tindy came to his rooms an announced he had a visitor that had been shown into the main sitting room. Draco raised a brow, shrugged on a shirt and headed down the stairs. He was damned curious as to who it could be. He didn't think that many people knew he was home as of yet. Not enough for him to be having visitors already.

He hurried into the sitting room and skidded to a stop when he saw her. Draco blinked. She looked good. He smiled a real smile at her.

"Pansy."

It had been five years since she'd last seen him and at least eight or nine since she'd felt anything remotely romantic toward him, but she still felt the urge to run to him and embrace him like she'd done at school. She swallowed, tamping that desire down.

"Draco." She returned his smile. "I hope you don't mind that I've dropped by. Blaise told me that you'd returned to our little corner of the world, and he suggested that I come see you. How was... France?"

"French," Draco answered, walking towards her. "And why would I mind that you're here? We're still friends, aren't we?"

He watched her very deliberately for any ticks or slight reactions to that. There were a lot of people he felt he needed to tread lightly with for now, and Pansy was one of them. He had not gotten a chance to really say anything to her before he'd taken off. Knowing Pansy, she was irritated about that even after nearly five years. Knowing Pansy, he might get a hex for such behavior.

Why do I have such a soft spot for him? she thought. She decided to sit, as he'd apparently left his manners in France. Looking at him closely, she replied, "Friends, Draco? I think a friend might have dropped a line once or twice in five years. I ought to give you a good thrashing, only you'd probably enjoy that too much."

Draco grinned, "Probably, yeah."

Draco threw himself into one of the chairs, grimacing when he heard a bit of a creak. His mother would kill him if he went to tearing up the furniture just because he was nervous.

"Um... yeah. Sorry about that. Sophie was crazy jealous. Apparently, she was burning all the owls that Blaise sent me. The parchments, not the actual owls. Though considering our last night in Mexico, she might have been burning a few of those as well."

He made a face at her. "You're not really going to be mad at me for having the bad taste to take up with a loony, are you?"

"Not mad, Draco. Irritated, perhaps." She smirked at him. "Blaise said something about the little French girl setting you on fire. You really shouldn't let women get the upper hand with you. I thought I'd taught you better than that."

"I was sleeping. Thought she was too. It was just further proof that I should have stayed with those Gypsies or never left China in the first place. China was nice. Quiet. But don't worry about me, Pans, I'm like a cat. I always land on my feet, and I learned a few more tricks while I was away."

He smirked at her, knowing she'd be a bit irritated about some of the things he had learned. "But enough about me. What have you been up to?"

"You know me, Draco. The same as ever. Trying to put a dent in the family fortune daily, seeing how much alcohol it really takes to numb my brain... Of course, being bitchy takes up a good deal of my time. I see Blaise and Tracey every once in a while. On occasion Daphne." She left out Theo altogether. "Gregory's back, too. Have you seen him?"

Draco bristled. No, he most certainly had not seen Greg.

"Really," he managed evenly. "No. I have not seen Greg. Not for a while."

He had mixed feelings about Gregory Goyle. Draco didn't think exploring that with Pansy sitting right here was the best idea. His eyes almost always gave him away with those that knew him best. Right now, Draco was guessing they were a bit stormy.

"I know what Blaise has been up to, but what about Tracey and Daphne? Your seeing Blaise explains how you knew I was here though... not that I was hiding from you."

She could barely keep from rolling her eyes. "Of course not. You'd never hide, would you?" She uncrossed and recrossed her legs, shifting her position in the armchair. "Tracey and Daphne both do things for the Ministry; Tracey raises money for 'Help the Hippogryffs or some such rot, and Daph has some kind of project going. I don't listen that closely." She waved her hand in the air dismissively. "But what about you, Draco? Five years and all I've gotten out of you is France, fire, China, and gypsies. I won't lie to you, darling. I'm intrigued."

Draco sighed. "You forgot Mexico. I think I mentioned Mexico. That's where I was two weeks ago. All right, so yeah, I spent some time in China. Met a lovely lady I called Mei. She taught me about meditation and finding my center, among other things. After that, I spent some time milling around Romania. Mostly near Bucharest. Yes, with a caravan of Gypsies. That was fun until I got caught sleeping with Jal's sister Pesha. I was in Berlin for a bit after that. Met an American named Lindsay who was doing a tour of Europe. Ended up near Paris with her, and that's where we met Sophie. Well, that's where Linds and I got Sophie out of a bit of trouble. Got a house-elf out of it though. Paris was almost two years ago. Sophie and I were traveling companions, mostly South America until she tried to light me afire two weeks ago."

He paused to smirk at her, almost feeling guilty for how much he had not said with all of that. "So curiosity all sated then? Can we stop talking about me and get better detail on what you have been up to? Spending your fortune on what... exactly?"

"Shoes," she replied evenly. "No, I'm not quite satisfied actually, darling. Blaise gave me a little tidbit of information about you, and frankly I've been dying to know what he was talking about. Bit cryptic anymore these days, our Blaise."

She picked an imaginary bit of lint off of her skirt, and watched him squirm out of the corner of her eye. "He said, darling, that you were considering a Gryffindor."

Draco began to reply, but she held up a hand. "No, no, now, he did assure me that it wasn't Granger, which is the only reason you haven't been hexed good and proper, yet." She smiled. "I'm not necessarily upset. After all, it has been five years, and for a good enough reason, I suppose that shagging a Gryff is completely plausible."

Blaise Zabini was so dead.

"No one said anything about shagging anyone," Draco said through his teeth. "And suppose I did... do you really think I'd let it happen? Do you really think anyone else would? And may not go casting my hate or dislike as freely as I did when I was in school, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take up with the girl who bat bogey'd my face. Sure, she's helping me out with... a problem. Doesn't mean there's anything else going on."

And then he froze because he realized he'd just as good as told her WHO it was with the bat bogey hex comment. Draco could see Pansy's mind working furiously.

"Bat Bogey?" she murmured. Her mouth fell open. "The Weasley girl? Draco? The Weasley girl?" she exclaimed. Pansy sighed and slumped back in the chair, studying him. "Well. Stranger things have happened, I suppose," she mused, her thoughts going unbidden to quite another former Gryffindor.

She straightened up in the chair and refocused her attention on the matter at hand. "So the Weasley girl, she's helping you with a problem. Is that a euphemism for something I'm not familiar with, Draco darling?"

Something in her tone affected him exactly the wrong way. He'd always had a penchant for the dramatic, but what he did next went a bit overboard in his opinion. It was just that he didn't want anyone thinking there was something where there was nothing, and sure, he had ideas about Ginny Weasley, but those were HIS ideas. The redhead did not share in them. She probably never would. In his opinion, it would be in Ginny's best interest if she didn't.

Draco rolled up his sleeve and showed Pansy the mess that was his Dark Mark.

"She's going to try to clean up the scar tissue."

Pansy was just staring.

So Draco started explaining. "I got really drunk one night and decided that with a broken bottle I could rid myself of this bit of skin here. Not at my brightest that night. Jal cleaned it and sealed it with a hot knife. I was bleeding a lot. There weren't any medi-witches about, and they were scared to let me Apparate drunk."

Pansy was in shock. "Oh, Draco," she whispered, looking at his arm. She could not believe that barely fifteen minutes into a conversation with Draco that he'd rendered her speechless. She forced back the tears, willing them not to fall. She took several calming breaths and then looked him in the eye.

"Why did you leave, Draco? Why did you stay away? We weren't angry for long, you know. Blaise and I, and Tracey, we all missed you, you big prat. We would have taken care of you. We wouldn't have let that happen to you, let you do that to yourself," she said, her voice wavering.

Draco rolled down his sleeve and rose. He moved and crouched next to the armchair she as perched upon. He didn't like that tone with her. He never had. He had not meant to upset her. Draco was just so cagey and defensive lately.

"I missed you lot too," he said, meaning it. "You of all people should know that when I am determined to be self-destructive, I will find a way. It was a while ago. It's not a big deal. It didn't kill me. I can take an awful lot of punishment before I go breaking down."

He sighed, "I left because I thought I needed to. I stayed away because I'm a coward. I never meant to hurt any of you, but we all know how excellent I am at never meaning to hurt people and hurting them anyhow, yeah?"

"I remember," she replied softly. "But you're home now, yes? And you do remember that you've friends here?" she asked, poking him lightly in the chest with a finger. "Because I am, you complete arsehole, I am your friend. For better or worse. Even if you do take up with a Weasley."

She smiled at him, regaining her composure and poise, and stood, pulling Draco up with her. "And that's about as much emotion as I'm willing to delve into on a Sunday afternoon, darling." She reached up an patted his face fondly. "Don't hurt Blaise the next time you see him. I think I remember promising to protect him from you the next time we all got together."

A face pat? Was she kidding? Draco smirked at her before pulling her into a hug. This was probably bothering her, so Draco had to grin. He'd never been much for hugging before, but he also was no longer the same person he'd been the last time he was standing in her presence. That Draco was gone, and someone new and likely disturbing had sprouted up in his place. He gave her a bit of a squeeze.

"I'd never hurt Blaise... unless he wanted me to. Of all the people who absolutely do not need protecting from me, he's likely at the top of that list."

He quit hugging then. She'd probably had enough. Draco was grinning like a Cheshire cat when he stepped back from her. She still smelled nice. Like he remembered. That was like home. That was like the Slytherin common room late at night. It reminded him of when things were better.

She looked up at him incredulously, and shook her dark hair back over her shoulder. "I see what Blaise meant about the Polyjuice." She shook her head and started towards the door. "Alright, darling. You know where to find me, should the need arise. My elf makes a mean vodka tonic, and I still lunch every Tuesday at Gulliver's." She cocked her head at him studying him for a moment. "I suppose I'll have to get used to this, eh, darling? If you're going to stay around?"

Draco raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "I have a feeling you lot will have to get used to a great many things because yes, I am staying. If someone is going to throw a hex at me, I'm right here. No more duck and cover. Also, I think I'm a bit tougher to dispose of than I was five years ago."

She nodded, smiling slightly. "That's good to hear." She put her hand on the doorknob and paused. "Don't be a stranger, Draco."

"Of course not." Though he suspected when everything of the past five years was out in the open, because she had definitely gotten the condensed version as had Blaise, to his friends he would be the stranger.


{SUMMARY} Pansy comes looking for Draco, and they have a bit of a chat.