Ch. 9

Hermione's POV

"Alright, up on the pedestal," Pansy said as she gestured towards to the raised platform on the floor.

I stepped up, watching her as she gathered a few things from the desk against the wall. A tape measure suddenly flew out of the top drawer and began wrapping itself around various parts of my body.

Within a minute or two, nearly every single one of my measurements had been taken, and I watched as Pansy hummed to herself and began looking at the different fabrics on the back wall. The entire room was set up as if she actually made the clothes there herself; there were multiple mannequins of different sizes in different phases of clothes being put together. I noticed a small sewing machine in the back and I raised an eyebrow.

"Pansy, do you make these clothes by hand?" I asked, still looking around as I noticed that nothing was moving by magic.

She gave me a small smile. "You would pick up on that. Certain clothes, yes, I pride myself in making by hand."

Gesturing towards the different mannequins, she continued. "I have a few witches who have personally employed me as their designer, and so I craft their clothes by hand. The only bit of magic that goes into it is the measuring."

"Why only the measuring?" I asked out of curiosity.

"When measuring by hand, one can always make mistakes," She explained. "When measuring with magic, there's never a mistake and I can always ensure that the clothes fit perfectly. The mannequins are for each customer I have that employs me personally; once they are measured, the mannequins are changed to fit them."

"That's brilliant," I said quietly. Then I had a realization. "Pansy, I didn't employ you..."

She immediately held up a hand, cutting me off. "No, you didn't. I decided that this first round of clothes, I will do for free. It's sort of a...personal matter to me."

I stared at her. She was watching me quietly, with absolutely no trace of the haughty woman I knew from school at all. But she shifted her weight after a few quiet moments and said, "Don't get used to this, Granger. I'm also doing it for Draco."

I shook my head and gave her a smile. "Don't worry, this is odd to me as well."

Pansy only nodded in response and gestured towards the fabrics. "Why don't you pick out a few colors for me to work with?"

After a few minutes of us going over colors and her suggesting a few radical ones that I never would have considered, she began sketching a few designs and asked for my input here and there.

I took a small moment of silence to ask quietly, "Pansy, why are you doing this for me?"

She paused and then sighed, setting her sketchbook down and looking down at the floor. I saw a small smile cross her face before she began to speak. "I didn't return for my last year of Hogwarts. Instead, I went to study design and fashion. I moved to America for a year and a half. In the first month of me being there, I met Brian."

She sighed and her gaze went to the ceiling. "Brian was studying at the same institute that I was, only he was going for architecture. We had a class together and hit it off pretty well. He was a muggle, which of course was frowned upon by my parents but I couldn't help liking him. He was funny, smart, and could always put a smile on my face, even on my worst days.

"He pursued me, asking me out on dates and the like. It was nice to feel wanted like that, by someone who didn't know who I was. Here, it was expected for me to marry another pureblood and continue the bloodlines. My mother went berserk when I told her that I was somewhat seeing a muggle. We officially started dating about three months in to my stay. I knew I loved him after five months of us being together. After ten months, we even talked about getting married. All that time, I kept my magic to myself."

Her face darkened. "I went to his apartment one day. I happened to walk in on him with another girl, and he lied to me. He told me that he was my boyfriend's twin. I, unfortunately, gave him the benefit of the doubt and believed him. So for four months more, he made me believe that he had a twin brother who would bring girls over to his apartment. Finally one night, I couldn't take it anymore."

She took a deep breath and went on. "I caught him with another girl and I had my mother send me some Veritaserum. I planned a romantic date the next night; I made dinner, put out candles, the works. I poured the Veritaserum into his drink before he came over, and after he finished his drink, I began to ask him questions. He was so surprised when he started telling the truth. I learned that he had been cheating the entire time with multiple other women and lying to me. Not only that, but he had a few other girlfriends as well."

Pansy had paused, and I watched her grip the edges of her desk in anger as she remembered. But after a few moments she relaxed and sighed. "I did an irrational thing and obliviated him. I made him forget me and every other woman that he had cheated on me with. And then I left. I returned home and my mother took every opportunity to try and set me up with a pureblood. Then Blaise popped into my life. Quite literally actually."

The smile returned to her face. "He ran into me as I was at Gringotts, managing my account. I had lost contact with him after Hogwarts and we reconnected over dinner. I thought it was just going to be a rebound, but he ended up sweeping me off my feet and helped me rebuild my life after the heartbreak I had gone through. We fell in love and he was very respectful and conscious of my doubts. After going through such a massive heartbreak, I wasn't entirely ready to trust anyone. But Blaise was so patient with me and so caring; when he proposed I knew there wasn't a doubt in my mind about him."

She was smiling at me now, and I couldn't help but like the woman standing in front of me. She was incredibly different from the annoying girl I knew at Hogwarts, and I even entertained the idea of us being friends in the future.

"Pansy, I'm so sorry that happened to you," I said quietly. "But I can honestly say that I am happy things have worked out the way they did. You seem so happy right now."

"I am," She nodded, and then sighed. "I know we weren't exactly friends in school, but I always respected your intelligence. And honestly, I was surprised when you became engaged to that Weasel. I thought you two were a little unmatched. You need someone who can keep up with you intellectually, someone who will keep your bossiness in check."

"I'm not as bossy as I used to be!" I insisted.

She simply grinned and shook her head. "Whatever you say. Now, I think I've got everything I need to design some things for you."

"Yeah, I should probably go find Ginny before she buys half of your store," I said, stepping down from the pedestal.

"So," Pansy started as she led me out of the room and through the curtain, "The ears. Was she telling the truth or is it some weird thing she and Potter do?"

I laughed at that, earning some looks from the customers. "Oh no, she was definitely telling the truth. I watched her brother give her the candy that caused it. It's supposed to last only three hours."

"That's a long while," She commented. "At least they look cute on her."

We finally found them, with Ginny in the dressing room trying on a mountain of clothes and Draco sitting on a small cushion, looking more bored than he did in a History of Magic class with Professor Binns. He perked up though as we approached and stood up.

"Did you get everything you need?" He asked, looking at me excitedly.

Pansy answered instead, saying, "I have all of her measurements, it should take about a week for me to finish the designs and send them to her."