Pansmione Oneshots

Fleeting Kisses and Terse Goodbyes

"Write me over the summer, okay?"

With the high energy buzz of the last day of term, students saying loud goodbyes and preparing their luggage was a good enough cover for Hermione and Pansy to sneak away for one last quiet rendezvous. Now, Hermione pressed a piece of parchment with her postal address into Pansy's hand. She tried not to study Pansy's face too carefully, searching for signs of disgust on her face as she read the muggle address.

"Right," Pansy replied, folding the paper and sticking it into her pocket. "I'll send one of our owls-"

"Oh, no." Hermione interrupted. "My parents aren't comfortable with owls."

Pansy's expression slid from surprised to annoyed to confused. "Don't...like owls? Then how do you get mail?"

"You really don't know?" Hermione asked, trying not to laugh. Pansy's lips tightened slightly. She hated being talked down to. "You have, well, a postal address. You write that on the outside of the letter. Then a person who works for the post office comes to take the letter from your house and deliver it to the address."

"Someone comes to your house?"

"Well, probably not wizard houses, no. You'll have to go to a muggle post office-" Pansy made a noise between annoyance and uncertainty and Hermione trailed off. "Can you... not do that?"

"My parents will get suspicious." Pansy said more quietly, looking at the ground. "If I go to a muggle post office, obviously."

"Right." Hermione said. She tried to let her disappointment not show in her voice. It wasn't Pansy's fault that her parents were bigots. It wasn't Pansy's fault that their relationship had to stay secret, though that was more of a decision that both of them made. Though Hermione doubted that her friends would have a problem with her seeing a girl, Pansy's status as a Slytherin and pure blood might cause a rift. She already felt isolated enough sometimes, and...well, it was easier to just keep some things secret.

"Can't you just... hide the owls from your parents?" asked Pansy suddenly. "Or, I could only send you letters at night."

Hermione shook her head, biting her lip. "I don't think so, sorry." she said quickly. "They're bound to notice the feathers and hooting, and I don't want to annoy them anymore after they've been so fine with everything else."

Pansy sighed with frustration. "Well, I guess this is goodbye then."

"I suppose so. Until start of next term."

"Right." Pansy moved hesitantly towards Hermione, closing the space between them significantly. Hermione got the hint and leaned forward to let their lips meet. Pansy's lips felt soft and round, and she could smell the perfumed red lipstick she had applied that morning. As she wondered to herself whether any was being smeared onto herself, she felt Pansy's arms wrap around behind her and squeeze her in a light hug before they broke apart.

"Well, I'd better get ba-" Pansy trailed off as her eyes widened, staring at the space above Hermione's shoulder. Hermione turned around herself to see Neville Longbottom staring at the pair of them, mouth open and eyes as round as Galleons.

"Neville!" Hermione cried, her voice suddenly several pitches higher than it normally was. "That- you didn't-what-what exactly did you see?"

The sound of running footsteps indicated to Hermione that Pansy was probably long gone by now, eager to separate herself from any evidence of her relationship to Hermione Granger. She couldn't really blame here, if Draco Malfoy or another Slytherin had come across the two sharing an intimate moment Hermione would have probably also left as quickly as possible.

"You were...kissing her." Neville said, struggling to regain his composure. "Hermione, is Pansy Parkinson your girlfriend?"

"Yes. No! I don't know. It's, well, we're just figuring things out right now." Hermione pushed her bushy hair back and let out a huff, trying to regain focus on the matter at hand. "But that's not important. Neville, please, you can't tell anyone."

Neville took a step back, sensing her sudden aggression. "Why? Why are you dating Pansy Parkinson, of all people? She's a Slytherin! And a pureblood! And, well, a girl."

"Yeah." said Hermione quietly. Neville's eyes narrowed. "Did-did she threaten you?" he asked softly.

"No!" Hermione exclaimed. "No, I just, I like talking to her! She doesn't mock me, when I want to talk about our lessons or magic principle or... anything like that! And she likes me too, at least I think so, and maybe her parents are bigots and she kind of is too, but it's not her fault she was brainwashed into thinking certain wizards are superior and houselves like doing their jobs and maybe people change! And maybe I like her even though she's got a lot of problems and our relationship doesn't make sense and I can't believe I'm telling you all this, oh god, Neville, please, please promise you won't tell anyone about this!"

Her monologue left her panting for breath, struggling to not cry on top of everything else.

"I won't tell anyone" said Neville quickly. "I promise." He opened his mouth as if to say something else, then seemed to change his mind and clamped it shut once more. As he turned to walk away, he gave an awkward half smile, maybe in an attempt to cheer her up as he picked up his luggage and headed for the trains.

"Thank you," she breathed out to his retreating form.