a rose by any other name

chapter twenty-three ❃ obliviate

I was woken up by banging and shouting, instantly I thought Draco and Pansy must be going at it again when I heard crying and screaming. Draco and Pansy were known for their rather... individual sexual preferences but I knew that weren't like that. I wasn't worried though either, they had the odd argument and it didn't sound like it was killing her so I decided I could just go back to sleep. My current state occurred to me now, obviously I had fallen asleep which I didn't think were possible, I was very tired last night but my mind was going a mile a minute. I also now noticed that the sun was setting... that was odd, it was one hundred percent at least eleven at night when I got back to the common room. Dread washed over me; I must have overslept through the whole day. I quickly stood up of the couch before falling back onto it from standing up to fast. Why hadn't anyone woken me up? All the Slytherins would have had to have passed me on their way out, I guessed it was because they were scared of me? I was friends with Draco after all and he wasn't known as being the nicest boy to those outside his tight friend group. My angry thoughts were interrupted when I heard what must have been Pansy and Draco coming down the stairs from our dorm. I could hear what they were saying now, Pansy was sobbing uncontrollably and by the sound of her footsteps she was half running down the stairs. Draco seemed upset himself, of course he wouldn't cry in front of whoever could have been in the common room, but Draco sounded like he was pleading. I gulped as I made out their conversation;

"No Draco get away from me! I can't even look at you right now. How could you do this, I mean really? Voldemort. How could you? I knew your parents were probably supporters of him, but you?" Pansy sobbed getting closer to the bottom of the stairs now. "Pansy, baby, please I had no choice please understand." Draco replied and it sounded like he had sped up, a sob broke from Pansy's throat; "No Draco, don't call me that! I'm not your baby, I'm not your anything! I can't believe you would do this." She appeared at the bottom of the stairs now and seconds later Draco followed, "Please Pansy don't do this, I'm so sorry, I haven't done anything, yet I promise, I didn't choose this!" Pansy gasped and turned around to face him; "Yet! What do you mean yet, you don't mean you're actually going to do his work! God I can't even look at you anymore." She turned around again and spotted me; I didn't know what to do really it was too late to leave but what the hell did I say? "What choice do I have?" Draco shouted and then he finally saw me too. He looked terrible; he was definitely on the verge of tears, but he looked positively fuming as well. Pansy came running over to me and practically jumped on top of me, I held her tight and rubbed her back as she sobbed into my chest. "Parisa, oh Ris," Other students started to enter the common room now obviously staring at our little scene in the corner. "Did you know about this, do you know what he's become, Ris he's- he's a-" Pansy was cut off by Draco "Oh for Merlin's sake." He grabbed both our arms and disapparated us. We ended up in a room filled with a load of old junk piled high to the ceiling which I recognized as the room of requirement. Pansy quickly stood up and brushed herself off looking around, I did the same but instead I looked at Draco who looked back at me like he didn't have a clue what to do, he looked panicked. He needed to either get Pansy to understand quick or we were both done for. Pansy remembered who she was with then, "Draco Lucius Malfoy, we are over! Oh my god, I can't believe you would actually join him, he's evil, and so are his followers." I could see it in his eyes, Draco was about to lose it, He marched over to Pansy grabbed her by the arm making her shriek "Would you please just listen to me!" He shouted, Pansy looked terrified, I was terrified, he had never been this violent to anybody ever, let alone his girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend. Pansy didn't say anything she just flinched away from him and looked at me for help, I didn't know what to do, I couldn't exactly shout and cry at Draco too, I wasn't any better, but I couldn't just leave her here. I didn't say anything I just looked at Draco was pulling out his wand. I got really scared then, what in the world was he going to do? He closed his eyes before whispering, "I'm so sorry Pansy, I love you honestly I'm so so sorry." He held up his wand and for a second, I actually thought he was going to kill her, I was just as shocked however when he whispered "Obliviate." And a green light shone at the end of his wand. Obliviate was a charm also known as The Memory Charm or The Forgetfulness Charm. It was used to erase certain memories from an individual's mind. It was quite smart of Draco really, and obviously a much better way of dealing with this then I thought he was going to, but still it was quite a horrible thing to do, it was like an odd invasion of privacy, he was controlling what she could remember, so obviously when put into the wrong hands could be life changing. I just prayed he'd done the charm right and that she'd only forgotten what he wanted her too. Draco let Pansy go and we both stared at her, she looked normal, and she wasn't shouting anymore, he tears were drying and she looked awfully confused, she looked at me and then at Draco, "Baby, where are we? I could have sworn we were just um-" She stopped speaking at looked at me, "Guys I'm confused." Me and Draco both sighed a sigh of relief and Draco walked up to her and picked her up kissing her. "I love you so much, I'm so sorry my love." Pansy giggled "What are you sorry for silly?" Draco smiled and looked at me before pecking her lips, "Nothing baby don't worry let's go, Ris can I please speak to you later, meet me in the common room in about an hour?" I nodded and we all left, they headed back to the common room and I decided to go for a quick walk, I was still quite tired, and everything had just happened so quickly I needed to clear my head.

Pansy somehow found out about Draco, I wasn't sure whether he told her or if she saw it but, I gave myself a mental note to ask him what the hell happened later. I knew that Pansy probably wouldn't be okay with him being a Death Eater, but I had no idea it would be that bad. I felt sick, I hated hiding things from her, we told each other everything, every day I had been with Cedric I wanted to go back to her and tell her how great he was, it made me feel so distant with her that I couldn't. This was even worse, I felt like I was living two lives and I just wanted her to comfort me as Cedric couldn't. But neither could she, I didn't want her to get that upset with me either, Draco looked absolutely broken. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone call my whole name which was odd, I turned around a gulped, it was Dumbledore. "Hello, Parisa no need to worry but I would like to see you in my office first thing tomorrow morning, before breakfast. The password is Lemon Drop" I nodded quickly instantly knowing what it would be about, and I worried anyway. "Of course, sir." I replied and Dumbledore smiled at me, "Good I'll see you then, you should be heading back to the Slytherin common room now its almost curfew." I smiled back at him and nodded before turning around and heading back to the common room.

When I got there, it was empty and I sat back down on the sofa, moments later Draco came down the stairs from Pansy and I's dorm for the second time this night this time a lot calmer. "She's asleep now, try not to wake her when you go up." I nodded and Draco sat down next to me. "Ris I- I know what I did was wrong but, I had to, you saw how she was, it was too dangerous, I-I couldn't bare seeing her like that, I- I love her so much." I patted his back, "You did what you had to do, of course I won't say anything, I didn't like seeing her like that either." We both sighed but Draco didn't speak, his facial expression was unreadable, and I shifted slightly in my seat. "Draco h-how did she even find out?" Draco looked at me, "I was planning on telling her tonight, she seemed to be less disgusted by the idea when I casually brought the topic up, but then we fell asleep together and my sleeve must have rolled up because she just started crying and running about her room getting dressed. Obviously, I woke up and tried to explain but well you know the rest." I nodded, "I really didn't think she'd be like that." I could tell Draco was upset, he looked like he was going to cry again. "Parisa what am I going to do? I want it gone, I can't lose Pansy, nothing is worth that, I just want it bloody gone." He leant into me and I put my arm around him, we were defiantly getting closer and I think it was safe to say that his whole 'I was chosen' faze was over, I was relieved at this. "So do I Draco, So do I." We sat there in silence for a bit. "I saw Diggory earlier." My heart stopped when he said this, he wouldn't have spoken to him but even the mention of his name had my heart in my throat. "Y-Yeah." I replied as Draco sat up, "He looked... different, very sad. You haven't spoken to him, have you?" I gulped and quickly replied "Obviously not." This wasn't really a lie; he had spoken to me and I had just walked away so technically I hadn't spoken to him. Draco sighed again, "I honestly don't know what we're going to do Ris." I chuckled, "Fix the cabinet I suppose." Draco laughed slightly too but it wasn't a happy laugh, neither was mine. It was more like a 'Merlin help me' kind of hopeless laugh. "Anyway" Draco started, "Ravenclaw are having a party tomorrow night, fancy coming along with me and Pans? Merlin knows we all need it." Hmmm, even stranger, Draco would never go to a party from another house, especially Ravenclaw. "I know what you're thinking but honestly I just need a bloody night out and a chance to get absolutely hammered." I laughed; I wasn't fond of getting drunk but I could certainly use the distraction. "Yeah sure why not, are all houses invited?" Draco nodded, "Yeah maybe you should take this as a chance to find yourself a more appropriate boy." I didn't say anything then; I wasn't even thinking about that. I did not want anybody else that was for sure. Cedric took up too much space in my mind along with everything else, I couldn't even imagine feeling anything for anybody else, If I couldn't have Cedric, I wouldn't have anybody. Simple as that. Draco yawned and we both decided it was time for bed, I crept back up to my dorm and quietly got into bed, I soon fell asleep, glad to actually be in a bed and not on a hard sofa. Pansy was lightly snoring, and I honestly did feel kind of guilty, but I knew what was done was for the best.

authors note: hello! the next chapter is quite long but it's mostly Ris and Ced so hope you look forward to it haha! thank you all so much for reading!