"I don't understand..."
Pansy Parkinson was utterly bewildered, sitting in a pink nightgown on Daphne's bed, diligently studying the runes stretching in a complex chain spiral along the canopy posts.
"What a cunning snake," without a shadow of malice or envy, Pansy tried once again to understand the essence of these Runes.
Daphne twitched her leg in her sleep, hitting Pansy in the back, and Parkinson immediately turned to her friend sleeping under the blanket. No need to be an expert to understand—Daphne is again portraying a starfish, occupying most of the surface of the already huge bed. Huge, soft, comfortable, helping to get enough sleep, and all thanks to Mordred's runes!
"Stop flailing your limbs!" Pansy quietly resented, knowing that Daphne wouldn't wake up anyway.
"Dhe-he-he..." Greengrass giggled in her sleep, and the blissful expression on her face caused a nervous tic in Pansy—her eye twitched.
"And so every time I'm so close to the solution."
"You could just ask her, and that's it," Millicent shrugged indifferently, lying on her bed with a book in her hands.
"No-o, that's not interesting," Pansy rolled up invisible sleeves, starting to study the runes with renewed enthusiasm.
Silence. Only the rustling of book pages in Millicent's hands was heard in the room. Somewhere in the house common room a small party of upper-year students was taking place, but they generally loved various parties too much, and, in Pansy's opinion, tried too hard to be like their parents. Sat with an important look, courtly drank tea or something stronger, grandiloquently discussing completely inappropriate topics. Of course, not everyone did so, but the general impression was always exactly like that. Even Draco too often likened himself to his father, telling various absurdities to anyone willing to listen.
"Sigh..." Pansy sighed, tucking her legs under herself and continuing to sit on Daphne's bed. "Well, how did she come up with such a thing?"
"You won't understand," Millicent spoke indifferently, not looking up from the book.
"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Pansy flared up.
"You are too restless and hot-tempered. If you were also stupid, you would be a Gryffindor."
"Doesn't add up," Pansy chuckled, looking at Millicent, who had half-drawn the green canopy of her bed. "If the Hat doesn't enroll stupid people in our house, then what are all these... dumbasses doing here?"
"Well," Millicent drawled thoughtfully and slowly. "Some of them know much more than you."
"Don't confuse knowledge with intelligence," Pansy waved it off. "Knowledge is..."
Pansy unexpectedly received another kick from the sleeping Daphne—she tried to turn over somehow in her sleep.
"...Why can't you sleep like a human being?!" Pansy was indignant, turning sharply to her friend, who couldn't be woken up even by a cannon shot now.
"You are on her bed," Millicent stated a fact. "At the same time, you complain that she kicks you. Don't you think there is no logic here?"
"There is logic, but I haven't understood it myself yet. Sigh... And why are our guys so stupid?"
"Something lately you lean too often on the fact that they are stupid," Millicent put the book aside and looked at Pansy, still sitting on the sleeping Daphne's bed. A big bed. The biggest and most comfortable in this room due to special rune chains. True, Millicent herself didn't care about such things, and the girl was comfortable everywhere, as long as not on a stone floor.
"Or you," Millicent continued to speak, "are annoyed by the stupidity of one specific blond."
"Sigh..." Pansy sighed again. "Not annoyed. Upsets. I've tried this way and that, and with hints, and facts, and all sorts of things. I think: 'Here's how he'll notice, how he'll appreciate the efforts and intelligence'. But no, he has only Mudbloods on his mind, and 'my father says'."
"I'll tell you this," Millicent closed the book, put it on the nightstand next to the bed, and settled her head more comfortably on the pillow. "It's not they who are stupid. They, we, let's say, are normal. Like everyone else. It's you who are smart. And by the way, last year this didn't upset you at all. What's the catch?"
"Nothing," Pansy pouted, folding her arms under her chest.
"Hmm..." Millicent stretched a smile in all "thirty-two". "Maybe you liked one smart boy, and you involuntarily compare him with the rest?"
"Whatever! And who, I beg your pardon? He is not pureblood at all, which means..."
"He?" Millicent continued to smirk, and even lifted herself from the pillow, but changed her mind—already wanted to sleep. "And don't pretend that you slipped up accidentally."
"Dhe-he-he," Daphne chuckled at something again, continuing to sleep, and she was really sleeping, not pretending.
"Just want both smart," Pansy thought. "And handsome, and caring, and kind. And pureblood."
"Well sorry," Millicent chuckled, suppressing a yawn. "Such princes don't fall from the sky..."
A sharp flash under the arch of the high ceiling in the middle of the room forced the girls to instantly arm themselves with wands, remaining where they were and in the same poses. A moment, and a familiar guy appeared at the place of the flash, immediately falling down. Like some sack he collapsed on the floor with a characteristic sound, sprawled on his back and not moving—only his chest rose slightly, indicating breathing. And a barely perceptible smell of ozone appeared in the room, and the guy's clothes, trousers and a dark blue turtleneck, smoked a little.
"Hmm..." Millicent drawled thoughtfully, peering at the guy's body. "Was wrong. Princes do fall from the sky."
Pansy covered her chest with her left hand, although through the pink nightgown it was impossible not only to see something—even the contour was "unreadable".
"Maybe he needs help?" Millicent examined the guy again, sighed, yawned, put away the wand and turned away, drawing the canopy, activating privacy charms.
A second later, Millicent moved the edge of the canopy.
"I'm going to sleep. Deal with this miracle yourselves."
"Does this not outrage you at all?!" Pansy was surprised, continuing to point her wand at Hector's body while sitting on Daphne's bed. "A guy ended up in the room of girls going to sleep!"
"Oh, how outraged I am! How outraged!" Millicent sighed feignedly. "A handsome guy in our room! What a trouble!"
"Don't need this irony..."
"A handsome brunet with a gorgeous body," Millicent continued the thought, smiling, even grinning, from behind the canopy, "needing emergency 'help', ends up in the room of three chaste maidens. I saw a memory starting exactly the same way... Just in your collection."
Pansy literally flared up, turning red to the tips of her ears. Only steam from the ears was missing, as happens with an overdose of Pepperup Potion. Making sure that the message reached the addressee, Millicent nodded.
"Try to keep yourself in hand, theoretical expert of the love front," she smirked, looking at Pansy, red as a lobster. "I want to sleep too much, and do not wish to be pulled out of bed by professors rushing to sort out the reasons for the triggering of the alarm for all sorts of vulgarities."
"What do you think of me, generally?! I'm not like that!"
"Really? Are my volumes in danger?"
One of Pansy's pillows, which she dragged onto Daphne's bed, instantly rushed into Millicent's smirking round face, disappearing along with this face behind the canopy. This very canopy, velvety green, slowly closed, and along with this Millicent's laughter became quieter and quieter until it died down completely as soon as the canopy closed.
Pansy continued to sit on Daphne's bed for some time, blushing and holding Hector's body at gunpoint.
"What if help is really needed? Not for nothing is he smoking..."
Pansy quickly slid off the bed, finding herself on the floor next to Hector. Continuing to blush and cover the chest completely not needing such measures, perfectly hidden behind the nightgown, Pansy began to move her wand along Hector's body, carrying out diagnostic measures known to her.
A minute later, when the girl found out that the guy was not injured, and his only problem was a complex sleep spell that was clearly not finished, Pansy caught herself on a strange thought. She continues to cover herself, but does not put on a robe, which is within reach. Does this mean that she subconsciously wants to be in this form next to the guy?
"Dhe-he-he..."
Turning sharply, Pansy saw sleeping Daphne grab a pillow with her hand and now hug it, almost drooling.
"'He-he-he', yeah?" Pansy smirked. "You'll get 'He-he-he'. Overate potions for rest... Only..."
Pansy waved her wand, clearing the room of the light smell of smoke, simultaneously trying to repair Hector's clothes. Didn't work—some strange damage, clearly magical. The fabric threatened to crumble. Pansy touched the sleeve of Hector's turtleneck, and a piece of fabric literally crumbled.
"Mo-other... That really hit him," Pansy was surprised. "Or he hit..."
It dawned on the girl that if she moved Hector from the spot, his clothes might crumble. The sleep charms on the guy are very powerful, Finite won't take. Will fall off by themselves far from soon. It seems the second component of the charms was supposed to be something like stasis, or something similar, and even with a condition for awakening—so suggested the girl's experience in charms, and it was in this that she was wonderfully strong, because she applied all her strength and knowledge to the study of charms and spells.
"I wonder if my report to the family will be complete if Granger's body condition is not mentioned in it? They asked—a full report," Pansy was looking for an excuse for involuntarily, slowly, carefully "breaking off" pieces of Hector's turtleneck, exposing his arm. Naturally, it will be necessary to continue the process and examine everything properly, because the report will not be complete without accurate data?
"Self-deception—where am I rolling?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Pansy noticed the canopy on Millicent's bed open slightly, and from a small opening, as in a scary fairy tale, one eye of the girl flashed.
"Milli..." Pansy growled, jerking her hand away from Hector, but not carefully enough—the turtleneck crumbled to dust.
"Hmm..." came from behind the canopy. "Not bad."
"You went to sleep."
"But I'm also interested."
"Seen everything?"
"Wait, I'm counting his abs cubes."
Pansy waved her wand, creating a pillow in the air and sending it into the slightly opened canopy. Laughter was heard again, and immediately died down, along with the closing canopy.
"That's it," Pansy slapped her cheeks. "Time to put the plan of mocking the giggling snake into action."
Pansy stood up, exhaled, and prepared to wave her wand. For herself, she thought not only about mockery, rather ambiguous and unpredictable, but also about something else. Besides the fact that it is simply a sin not to take advantage of the circumstances for a light mockery of Daphne, her bed is perhaps one of the most protected places in Hogwarts—the girl has not seen so many runic ligatures even on the most sophisticated artifacts in the house. If this hands... Mudblood, yes, has impure thoughts, then he will be palpably hit by magic. And Pansy, like a real friend, will say to Daphne: "Ha-ha! Look, your favorite is not so good at all! And I—am well done!".
With a movement of her wand, Pansy cleaned Hector from the dust in the form of clothes, casually upset that the guy's underwear remained intact. Another wave, and the guy was ruthlessly thrown into the air, literally imprinted into Daphne's bed.
"Uh-oh!" Pansy reproached herself for intemperance.
Nothing happened.
Pansy waited, but nothing happened. She knew exactly how all levels of protection of this miracle bed work, the secret of which she has been trying to solve for months, and therefore it remained only to draw a simple conclusion—Granger is by no means an enemy to her friend, and his thoughts are truly pure.
Looking at the resulting composition of Daphne, sprawled under the blanket, and Hector, sprawled in a ridiculous pose, but, of course, on top of the bed, Pansy considered that it looked somehow crooked. Waving her wand, she shoved Hector under the blanket, smiling venomously and anticipating the scandalous reaction of both. Well, or at least Daphne. Although, this snake can replay everything in a completely different direction if she figures it out quickly enough upon awakening. And she can...
Daphne stirred, and Pansy quickly stood in a haughty pose, waiting for her friend to wake up. But no. Pansy clearly saw Daphne wiggle her nose in her sleep, wiggle again, and again.
"Dhe-he-he..." the still sleeping Greengrass issued, and quickly entangled the guy with all limbs, hugging tighter and literally burying her nose in his neck.
Pansy's arms dropped like whips, and she stared at this, opening her mouth in amazement. There was only one thought in her head: "The friend completely lost her mind. And how she holds on, the snake, how she plays?!".
"And they look good together," Millicent's voice rang out, again leaning out from behind the canopy of her bed.
"Uh-huh..." Pansy nodded automatically. "Milli! Grr..."
"What, 'Milli'? Interesting what you came up with, and here look at this..."
"And what's the big deal?"
"I don't care," Millicent smiled. "The main thing—so that no one interferes with sleep."
"Uh-huh..."
"And also, you placed Granger in your place."
"Ah! Mordred!" Pansy flared up. "Didn't take into account!"
"Good night! Pleasant dreams on your unloved hard bed," Millicent giggled, hiding behind the canopy. "Without a blanket and pillows."
Of course, all this can be conjured, but they will not be from magical materials, bad and uncomfortable. Nodding decisively, Pansy went around Daphne's bed from the other side and decisively moving her composition slightly to the side with magic, settled next to her friend.
"Like hell I'll lie in this terrible and uncomfortable be..."
The thought was not finished. Daphne somehow twitched in her sleep, lightly touched Pansy, she twitched herself from surprise and fell off the bed.
"Dhe-he-he..."
"Told you, don't drink potions for rest," Pansy grumbled, getting up from the floor. "In the end only you rest from them..."
Pansy stood up and examined the composition on the bed again. Two black-haired heads stick out from under the blanket and sleep peacefully.
"If messing up—then to the maximum" Pansy nodded to herself, and again went around the bed, climbing onto it now from Hector's side. Climbed under the blanket, lay on her back and... Started to blush.
"What a horror!" thoughts swarmed in her head, and a bunch of memories viewed in the Pensieve did not allow to relax. For the first time in her life, Pansy lay on the bed like a soldier on the parade ground—stretched into a string and staring stupidly up. She didn't even put the wand on the nightstand... Speaking of wands.
Taking her hand with the wand out from under the blanket, Pansy waved it, turning off the light in the room, and only a couple of nightlights in the form of columns with liquid in which wax floats, softly glowing, allowed distinguishing details in the dark.
"Both smart and handsome..."
The fatigue of the day took its toll, thoughts hovered around "smart and handsome", who suddenly, unexpectedly, confesses to Pansy that he is pureblood from head to toe, and she—is the most beautiful of the smartest, and the smartest of the most beautiful, and generally, they have love-love! All so romantic, with flowers, sweets and, of course, all that incredible acrobatics, the collection with memories of which is stored by Pansy in a special box under the bed.
"Completely pureblood..." she grumbled into someone's warm shoulder, and somewhere in the background, over consciousness, right at the moment of the recognition of his purebloodness by "smart and handsome", a venomous: "Dhe-he-he..." spread across the sky.
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