someday, somehow → d.malfoy [discontinued]

029

pansy had come to stand in front of artemis,

all of a sudden. the latter, while feeling somewhat uncomfortable, had an idea as to why the short-haired girl would do such a thing. the gift—something she had bought and gifted to pansy spontaneously, after she'd noted her fondness of her own, at the beginning of the school year.

"hey," pansy said, gently. she gave artemis a small, nervous grin.

"hi," artemis replied. sucking on her teeth and finding the sharp taste of mint, she attempted to avoid any sort of eye contact with the shorter girl standing before her.

"i just—" pansy started. "i just wanted to say thanks—for the present."

artemis replied curtly with, "don't worry about it," and then made to turn away. but, stubborn as she was, pansy's hand closed around her cotton pajama sleeve and tugged her back with an unnerving strength. 

"listen," she began again. "i'm really sorry for not talking to you." she was still gripping artemis' sleeve, and the look on her face was one of culpability. "it was really, really bitchy of me—and even though draco wasn't talking to you, i shouldn't have. i'm really sorry."

the urge to cave and give in was almost unbearable. here pansy was, before her; offering a truce, an apology, and a glimmer of hope that she would no longer be alone in this dormitory... and yet artemis hesitated. she said; "okay," and saw a frown bleed into pansy's face.

"okay? what does—are we friends again?" artemis did not answer for a moment as she sifted through any possible response.

"yeah," artemis said. "sort of. let's just agree to be there for each other, yeah?" pansy, apparently running high on emotion, pulled artemis into a tight hug; burying her nose in the neck of artemis' shirt before she pulled away with an ocean-wide smile plastered onto her lips. 

"d'you want to get ready with the rest of us?" she asked, gesturing with a tilt of her head to the small circle of girls in the corner of the dormitory. artemis wondered how much of their conversation they'd heard; but did not refuse pansy's offer. the two of them made their way to the circle, where the others made room. they'd begun to discuss, and then apply makeup and hair products. when artemis was introduced into their conversation.

"who are you going with?" millicent asked her.

"blaise zabini," she replied, half-ignoring the six pairs of eyes trained upon her.

daphne piped keenly, "ooh, lucky. i tried to ask him at the beginning of the holidays, but he told me he already had a date." she released a curl, waited for nicola-josie (a slytherin fourth year that artemis had never spoken to before) to spray it, and brought her hand to another strand of pansy's dark hair. "he's so good-looking." almost all the girls hummed in agreement.

"what about you?" artemis prompted daphne.

"jean orpheus," she said. "he's from durmstrang. our parents are close." artemis had missed this—squealing and giggling girlishly over trivial things such as other students and fickle infatuations, sharing stories and amusing comments as if at a buffet of joy, blissful ignorance and carelessness. she offered complements and assistance for the others' makeup as they did to hers, piped in advice and voted with the others until the consensus pointed towards the one piece of jewelry that would dangle gracefully from one's ear. her favourite part was the reveal of each dress; bundles of multicoloured fabrics lay in mounds atop the beds (their sheets now unrecognisable underneath the clothing) as one girl would put hers on and showcase it proudly to the others. daphne's was particularly stunning, artemis thought. it was a most beautiful shade of white, radiant against her warmer skin, strapless and circled with broad, curving pleats.