Diagon Alley - Harry Potter One Shots

Let's Call a Truce

Kefira was walking through Diagon Alley, alone, with a mission in place and one thing on her mind. With Neville's birthday coming up, the young woman was attempting to find a perfect gift for the birthday boy, yet it was proving to be rather difficult. Normally, she would make him something or she would purchase a plant to have him either contain in their home or at the Greenhouse on the Hogwarts' grounds. However, she had run out of ideas of what to make and if they adopted any more plants, they were going to end up having to purchase some land the size of the Amazon Rainforest to contain it all. She wanted to do something different and find something that would hold just as much meaning, but it was proving to be one of the toughest challenges of her life.

Entering shop after shop, a thought ran through her mind and she made her way over the Ollivander's shop, to greet a familiar face and ask for some friendly advice. Walking through the door of the wand shop, she quickly spotted one of her dear friends, Dean Thomas standing by one of the counters, with a young boy who was obviously there purchasing his wand for the upcoming school year. His parents looked on with happy grins and Dean seemed to be enjoying himself just as much as the boy looked awfully excited. 

Since the start of the summer, Garrick had invited Dean to work under him as an apprentice, in hopes, that one day when he could no longer work, he would pass the job on to Dean. Dean was extremely excited and quickly took up the offer, shortly after contacting Neville and Kefira, inviting them to come celebrate with him and Seamus. 

Dean spotted her as a small bell alerted her arrival and quickly waved in her direction before signaling that he would only be a minute longer. But he definitely didn't anticipate the crowd of other children and several adults that were coming in for their wandly needs. Knowing that he was definitely going to be awhile, Kefira promised that she would come back later before leaving the shop. 

"Why do you have to be so difficult to shop for, Nevs?" She grumbled to herself. 

She wasn't going to find the gift just standing around, so she proceeded on, looking through the windows of the shops she walked by. Something shiny had caught her eye causing her to pause slightly for a moment, but it only turned out to be a reflection of a man cleaning his eyeglasses near the window. 

With a heavy sigh, Kefira turned abruptly to cross the street when she crashed into someone roughly. Luckily, she was able to regain her balance just in time so that she didn't fall, but the other person wasn't so lucky.

Glancing down, it seemed everything had become still for several moments as Kefira found herself in a state of slight disbelief. The last person she thought she would run into again was on the ground, rubbing at her backside.

"Pansy?"

The former Slytherin quickly jerked her head up, her hand stopped the rubbing motion on her back, and she sat still, staring at Kefira. 

It was her, Kefira would recognize the face from anywhere even though it had been a couple of years since she had last seen the woman. 

The two definitely seemed unsure of how to react to one another, as the memories that they shared in Hogwarts flooded their minds. Kefira could see all the times that Pansy had acted nastily towards her and Neville, picking on him, along with some other students like Draco Malfoy. She remembered at the Battle of Hogwarts how Pansy had been the one to tell everyone to turn Harry over to Voldemort. 

Kefira's eyes narrowed slightly at the negative thoughts, sending a flash of fear across Pansy's expression. The same fear that had been clearly written on Pansy's face when she thought handing Harry over to Voldemort would solve the problem. She had been afraid at the time, like many others and she had chosen the path that she believed would have benefited her in the long run.

Kefira couldn't blame her for that, it wasn't unlikely that someone would do something drastically to save their own life. 

Pansy had said some hurtful things to her and Neville but Kefira had said some hurtful things about the girl's face in return. She wasn't exactly innocent. 

Only several moments had passed between the two but to both of them, it felt like several years had gone by. Kefira's expression softened and finally, she stuck her hand out for Pansy to take. Pansy stared at her hand, looking offended initially, but her hardened gaze disappeared before she spoke.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just take my hand, Parkinson," Kefira told her. "Unless you still think you're too good for it."

Pansy eyed the offered hand once more before sticking her hand out and grabbing a hold of it. Kefira pulled her up and the two quickly took a step back from each other. 

"Er...how have you been doing?" Kefira asked her, not really wanting to make small talk but feeling obligated to do so. Pansy looked rough, the dark bags under the woman's eyes made her look much older than what she was. 

"Do you honestly care?" Pansy said in a harsh tone but it suddenly her voice only hit barely above a whisper. "Does anyone for that matter?"

Kefira swallowed before standing a little straighter. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't care," she said. "So I'll ask again, how have you been doing?"

The Parkinson's woman's eyes scanned over Kefira as if trying to figure out if she was lying but Kefira kept a steady gaze. 

"Terrible," Pansy answered.

"I thought so," Kefira said. "Well, I was just about to grab something to drink, you can join me if you want some company?"

"Why would you want me to join you? It's me, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Kefira said. "But I don't live in the past, Pansy, and you shouldn't either."

Kefira began walking towards the tea shop in the distance, only glancing over her shoulder to see if Pansy was going to follow her. Pansy seemed to hesitate for a moment, thinking it over and over for a minute before looking up. 

A small smile appeared on Kefira's face before she turned back around and continued on her way, the two ladies making their way to the tea shop, hoping to finally move forward.