The Missing Link

Confrontations

Dragon felt that it was his lucky day when he found out that there was an upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. One, he’d never been to Hogsmeade and he really wanted to see the place. Two, it was his chance to talk to Pansy after finding out that Hermione and Draco were childhood friends. Hopefully, he’d be able to find out why she was lying to Draco.

He waited outside the Great Hall for her during breakfast on the day of the trip.

“Hey,” he greeted a bit nervously.

“Hey,” she replied. “Enjoying Hogwarts?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he replied. “Listen, I realized that we didn’t get the chance to talk much after we met at the airport. Would you like to have lunch at Hogsmeade later?”

Pansy smiled. “Sure. That will be nice.”

“I’ll see you later at ten, then?” Dragon said.

“Perfect,” Pansy replied.

“Great,” Dragon said. They had already gone their separate ways when he suddenly realized that he didn’t know a thing about Hogsmeade.

“Dragon!” Pansy called. He turned around, trying to hide the fact that she was basically going to have to show him around. “It’s your first weekend, isn’t it?”

“Uh yeah,” Dragon replied.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you the tour,” Pansy said with a smile.

“Thanks,” Dragon said, relieved. He then set out to plan how to best turn the tables around.

At precisely ten o’clock, Pansy arrived at the Entrance Hall. Dragon smiled at her.

“Ready to go?” Pansy asked, nodding towards the carriages.

They climbed one of the carriages together along with four other students.

It started off as a really pleasant trip. They went to Honeydukes, where Dragon managed to get free samples of everything; to Zonko’s, where they were able to politely decline everything that was offered and still left with a handful of free items; and finally at The Three Broomsticks, where they had Madam Rosmerta secure them a private booth.

They sunk down tiredly in the seats, both laden with various products, grateful that it was finally time to rest.

“Thank you,” Dragon told Pansy after they’ve given their orders and been served cold Butterbeer.

“For what, the tour?” Pansy replied, gulping down the drink. “I should be thanking you for all the free stuff we got. You did all the work.” Dragon laughed.

Their food arrived soon and they ate in silence, both famished from their journey. While they were having dessert, Dragon decided it was time to bring up the real reason why he asked her out to lunch.

“Did you go to Muggle preschool?” Dragon asked.

“No,” Pansy replied. “My mother had me enrolled in ballet and piano lessons instead. She thought it was too preposterous. She taught me all the basics while I was young. You?”

“Well, as royals, we had to go through all the formal education levels,” Dragon replied, still keeping his voice very nonchalant. “Draco and I had to go to separate schools though.”

“How was it, going to a Muggle school?” Pansy asked, both slightly repulsed and slightly interested at the idea.

“A learning experience,” Dragon said. “Of course, they didn’t grow up the way we were raised. But we were kids. Did any of that really matter? We liked the same toys and we liked to play the same games. It’s all that mattered.”