Author's Note: Chapter 1 'The Dawn' was originally written for LJ RarePair_Shorts Summer Wishlist 2009 as a gift to Terravayne. One of her three prompts was 'Infidelity - A and B just can't stay apart, even though they know it's wrong'. My muse, however, wasn't finished, though 'The Dawn' was. This piece is also un-betaed at the moment.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Nor do I make any money.

Prologue – New Year's Eve

Pansy took a deep breath before shrugging up the skirt of her tight-fitting, dark purple dress to remove the cigarette case she had strapped to her thigh with a garter. Looking back towards the French doors, she let out a sigh after checking to ensure that Theo hadn't followed her. She hated the fact that she was pleased that he hadn't. She desperately needed a break from him. And smoking provided the easiest excuse as he hated it himself.

Pansy loved her husband. She knew that. He knew that. But after two hours of serving no purpose but as his prop while he worked all hours at rebuilding the wealth and reputation of both the Notts and Parkinsons was a bit much for her. Especially since, she wasn't quite sure why he was doing it as there would be no legacy from them to enjoy his hard work and long hours.

Tonight at the Ministry's annual New Year's Eve Ball, Pansy hated herself even more when she realized that she had found herself being insanely jealous of Hermione Granger of all people. She wasn't a prop for her husband. He obviously didn't care how she dressed; as tonight she had worn a pants suit better suited for work than a New Year's Eve party. She was allowed to speak her mind and work and be a sodding human being with a mind and a mouth, not just some dutiful wife whose sole responsibility on this planet was to always look her best.

Pansy wished she had a husband like Weasley turned out to be. Yet who would have ever thought that the uncouth, loud-mouth, irresponsible, thoughtless, rude, albeit breath-taking gorgeous youngest male Weasley would turn out to be a perfect husband. Granger probably wouldn't have snagged him if the rest of the female Hogwarts' population had been let in on that little secret earlier. Pansy's mind kept wondering, as she watched the youngest Weasley stand by his bushy-haired wife, if she had a husband like him, would the hole in her life disappear?

So what if her and Theo were unable to have children but to reduce their sex lives to maybe once a week, just to shut her up, was beyond ridiculous in her mind. She just couldn't convince Theo that sex could mean more and be more to them then just for procreation but time and time again, she had failed miserably. Causing the hole in her life to deepen and the gap between her and her husband to widen.

Just another area in which she believed she had simply failed her husband and their marriage.

Maybe, just maybe, she thought. Loving her husband wasn't enough for a successful marriage. If that was the case, then life had a cruel sense of humor.

Her instinct at that very moment, though highly inappropriate, was to scream her head off. Instead she took a deep breath and held it, counting to ten, before putting a cigarette to her mouth and lighting it with her snap of her fingers. Pansy knew it was a childish, teenage trick but she found it easier than trying to carry a wand around everywhere especially when she wore such a tight-fitting dress to an event.

With a long drag off the cigarette, she blew it out into the winter air that was currently being controlled by a warming charm surrounding the balcony. It really was a beautiful evening with a fresh blanket of snow littering the grounds and the French garden stretching out into the local landscape. Too bad she couldn't find enjoyment in the view.

"Got a light," a male voice broke the silence of the night.

"Only a childish parlour trick," she said with a laugh, clicking her fingers together as she spun around. Anything else she was going to say, dropped out of her mind when she saw just who asked her for the light – Ron Weasley. The perfect husband stood just a foot away from her in a simple, black Muggle suit. Somebody one day would need to explain to Pansy how the hell did Granger get the prize of Hogwarts?

"Wouldn't expect anything else from you Parkinson," he laughed as he lit his own cigarette from her fingers. His cologne hit her hard as the smell of him and the woods wrapped around her, targeting the part of her that had long been forgotten or more recently, denied by her husband.

"It's Nott actually," she replied with a smile, flashing her rings towards him. She knew the behaviour was again childish but she didn't feel like being above it tonight.

"I know," Ron said, taking a draw off his cigarette. "Just figure I tease you for old times' sake."

"We don't have old times," she reminded him sharply, turning back to the scenery not really expecting him to say anything more. "You hated me and I returned the sentiment."

"You are in a pleasant mood tonight," he replied, leaning against the balustrade next to her. Except he had positioned himself to watch the door, while she continued to look at the landscape that led away from the house.

Taking another draw off her cigarette, she sighed, "You would be too, if all you had done for the past two hours is stand quietly by your significant other and smile. While adding nothing more to the conversation in front of you than the most extreme in niceties, since you would be shushed if you tried to offer an opinion or actually join in the bloody conversation."

"What do you think I have been doing all evening?"

Pansy's head whipped around so quickly to look at him, she could have sworn she had strained something in her neck. Looking at him, her eyes wide in shock and disbelief, she started to say, "But..."

"Husbands can be props too," he replied coolly, interrupting her. "And right now that is all I am to the woman I love, a bloody prop to achieve her own goals of saving every living thing imaginable."

"That makes two of us. Except mine is working his arse off trying to rebuild our family names and reputations since our fathers' did an excellent job destroying both by following that nut-job," she sighed, turning her head back towards the gardens and taking a drag off the cigarette. "Do you ever wonder why they married us? Or if that's why they married us – in your case your name and in my case...well all I've ever been known for is my looks, once I grew out of that pug-stage."

"Everyday. As much as I wonder why I married her," he said, turning around to look in the same direction she was.

"You probably married her for the same reason I married Theo," she responded with a sad and knowing smile. "I love him. I really do. I just know I feel like a fool for doing so most of the time these days."

Silence fell on them as they continued to smoke their cigarettes. Both wrapped in their own thoughts and misery of how they may have achieved every dream they wanted but somehow those dreams turned out to be nothing more than a living nightmare.

Finishing her cigarette, she tossed it to the ground and pressed it out with her heel before saying, "Back to being a living, breathing doll."

Impulsively she reached out and touched his arm, in a commiserative and understanding gesture, and sincerely told him, "Good luck with everything."

When he turned his head to obviously say something in reply, she found her face only inches from his. Even in the dim light that the on-going party provided them, she could make out just how blue his eyes were as they grew darker with every passing second. How they were not just any blue, they became the dark navy blue of the winter midnight sky that hung around them that very moment. The most beautiful colour she had ever seen in another person's eyes.

Her breathing caught as she felt herself drowning in his eyes; into their fathomless bottom. She couldn't believe she felt this way; having never known the feeling that was overcoming her senses at the very moment. All these overwhelming feelings from such an innocent touch meant as comfort and the way he just looked at her, her befuddled her increasingly hazy mind. He wanted her. It was clear by his penetrating gaze. Theo had never looked at her that way. The way she thought only existed in knut-store novels; a way she believed she would never need.

Until now.

"Ron," she whispered, as she felt his hand reach across his body and gently touch the side of her face; caressing the jaw line as his eyes fell from her eyes and down towards her lips.

"I love my wife," he whispered, dragging his thumb across her suddenly dry lips.

Tears welling up in her eyes, she returned the sentiment, "And I love my husband."

"Pansy." He whispered, wiping a traitorous tear away from her cheek.

Leaning forward, she closed her eyes and gently set her lips on his. Only wanting a brief taste of something she didn't think existed in this life.

She just never expected his hand to sneak behind her head. His fingers running through her short, chin-length hair, before pulling her closer to his own body. The simple action caused her to press her lips more firmly into his. Turning her attempt at a stolen kiss, into a fully realized kiss full of passion and want. At the very moment, something inside her snap as she returned the need she felt radiating off his body. She pressed the rest of her body into his, as his tongue begged her lips for entrance which she immediately granted with a heated sigh from both of them.

Pansy had no idea how long they were there on the balcony, finding release in each other's arms and mouths. She finally broke away when her need for air, outweighed her need for him and his passion.

"I have a cabin up in Scotland," she whispered, delicately running her fingers down his jaw line. "Theo's away on business in the States starting January 6 for two weeks."

"Pansy..." he started but she hushed him with her fingers.

"Please don't," she replied. She slowly drew her fingers away and stepped away from him, though her traitorous body just wanted to let him take her then and there; damning the consequences.

Pansy continued to back away, her eyes never leaving his face until she came to the doorway that would take her back to the real world, her real life. She spun as soon as she hit the doorway and hurried inside ashamed of what she had just asked Ron to do. Not knowing if he would take her up on her impulsive offer. Only hoping deep in her heart that he would.