Epilogue

Pansy Parkinson doesn't enjoy her detentions.

For one thing, they go on for months. She has to say that she's surprised by how harsh Snape is being on her – after all, this isn't the first time she's done something like this, but this is the first time he's ever given her a month's detention. How is that even fair anyway? All she did was defend her territory…

And that dick of a Professor seems to have decided to make all these detentions as bad as he possibly can for her, because he's making her write apologies. Pansy's fairly certain that there would be nothing worse he could make her do. She's just hoping that he isn't going to send the letters to Abbott, and to Abbott's friends, and to him for making him to waste his time on the girl…

But if he thinks it was all such a waste of time, why is he punishing her so, and why does he keep snarling at her and telling her to be silent in class when she's trying to subtly make Abbott cry again?

Twat.

And the whole thing would be slightly less humiliating if Abbott was doing worse with it. Certainly, Pansy and her Slytherins give her looks whenever they can, as much as they can get away with, and she's seen the Ravenclaws, even, give her those looks sometimes. She sees Abbott's face harden when they do, every time, and it has to be said, it makes Pansy feel better about all the detentions - but the Gryffindors lay off, just about, probably just because Longbottom fancies Abbott, and that's not even the worse part.

Those Hufflepuffs are actually going beyond accepting her.

Every time she tries to hurt Abbott, to pay her back for being such a snivelling piece of shit and getting her into these detentions, those Hufflepuffs are there, putting their arm around her and supporting her. It makes hurting Abbott fucking difficult, something which Pansy is most definitely not happy about.

She does smirk slightly thinking about the other morning in the Great Hall, however – because the girl did get a kind of payback in the form of the other Abbott girl. No one in the Hall, quietly eating breakfast, had expected her to come storming in and start screeching at her older sister – and it had been some pretty loud screeching, involving something about their mum being too soft and their dad not wanting to push her away, but really she was still a freak. Surprisingly hurtful stuff, actually.

And it had been a nice few seconds, until original Abbott had just quietly gotten up and started walking out. Pansy's heart had sunk, especially when Professor McGonagall, the other Abbott's head of house, had come marching up to the sister and pulled her out of the Hall, evidently about to start giving her an earful. Still, Abbott had looked sufficiently upset, even as that Bones girl started going after her –

That is, until Loony fucking Lovegood had gotten up, ran over, and kissed Abbott square on the mouth.

It had seemed to cheer Abbott up considerably.

Pansy had scowled.

And there had been wolf-whistles, and giggles, but they were just the same kind of giggles and whistles that came about whenever anyone snogged in public. It hadn't even been worse because they were two girls, and, to Pansy's astonishment, none of the teachers had even told them off. McGonagall had just continued marching the other Abbott out of the hall, Dumbledore had smiled ever so slightly, and Snape had barely even scowled.

That brings her, again, to the most annoying part of this whole thing – Snape. Why in fuck's name is he being so nice to her? Pansy thinks that he might even have sent her on that errand on purpose the other day when the Ravenclaws started sniggering at her, to save her feelings. Why is he being so soft on her, just because she's soft? There are a lot of weaklings in Hufflepuff, so why is he so attached to her?

But whatever the reason is, he just keeps being not a dick to Abbott, and even more of a dick to Pansy. It is enough, actually, to make her believe that perhaps he feels sorry for that girl, that he's secretly kind and understanding…

Pansy sighs. This particular set of apologies is going to take all evening.

A/N – Well, that was the epilogue, so this is the end, and probably the most cheerful part of the story, actually. I hope you've enjoyed, I have enjoyed writing it (except the bits that made me nearly die of the feelings…)