A knock on the door roused him. "C-C-Coming!" he stuttered, hastily putting his turban back on. He was slightly out of breath from rushing when he opened the door, fitting his façade perfectly.
"Are you unwell?" Snape asked, his eyes piercing and calculating.
Quirrell hid his sneer. "Q-Quite alright, thank y-you Severusss."
Snape tilted his head. "Are you sure?"
Quirrell coughed. "Y-Yes. My apologies, Severus."
....
"Huh, I missed a lot when I was sick," Millicent said. "I thought I'd only miss school stuff but I missed more important things." She looked over. "How are you feeling?"
"Honestly? I don't know," Pansy sighed. "Confused. Happy. Angry. Sad. Confused."
"You said confused twice," Millicent said.
"That's how confused I am," Pansy said.
"Don't mind you chatting, ladies, but keep working while you do if you please," Sprout said kindly.
"Yes, Professor," the two girls chorused. They continued to transfer flutterby seedlings into the planters, taking care not to crush the thin stalks and gently waving leaves with compost or soil. "You don't regret going to the club and cooking with Potter, do you?" Millicent asked.
"No, not at all."
Millicent looked to the other side of the greenhouse, sneaking a peek at a person that was alternating between ignoring them or glaring at them. "How about standing up to Draco?"
"I don't think so," Pansy said quietly. "He's the one that said leave him alone," she added angrily.
"True, he did. There's a difference between leaving him alone and doing something that will piss him off," Millicent said. "Are you doing this just to piss him off?"
"I don't think so," Pansy repeated. "Maybe. It's confusing."
"Sounds like it," Millicent said as she put the planters aside. "Did you have fun?"
"It was really nice," Pansy said wistfully. "They just… did things. They said what they wanted and everyone did it together. No one overly mocked each other or try to put each other down. Well wait, that's not completely true. Brown and Patil, the Gryffindor Patil, teased each other a lot. But like how you and I do where it's not as… mean."
"You won't mock me because you know I can knock you on your arse," Millicent said airily, flexing an arm.
Pansy giggled. "Yes you can but you won't."
"I've been tempted to. When we were little and you were a lot more annoying," Millicent smiled.
"I believe it," Pansy said seriously. "You were a lot like father's hounds, tolerating to a point but ready and willing to snap."
"That's probably the most roundabout way for you to call me a bitch," Millicent laughed.
"And I didn't even mean to do that," Pansy laughed. She sobered a little. "Have you ever eaten with your family's House Elf?"
Millicent paused. "No. Never."
"They did, easily," Pansy said. "And they were content to redo things and keep working on the same thing to practice. Without being told to."
"Huh. Weird."
Pansy nodded. "Potter's been cooking since he was a child. He had to do other chores before but then he was kept cooking because… because it was worth more to keep him doing that… for the betterment of others."
Millicent looked at Pansy side-along. "That's… close to home."
Pansy nodded.
"Didn't he grow up with Muggles?"
Pansy nodded again.
"Huh. That's really weird," Millicent muttered. They worked in silence for a minute. "Are you going to go back?"
"I would like to," Pansy said honestly. "Would you come with me?"
"I guess I can. If he's as nice as you say he is. Plus, that soup was delicious, better than any I've had at Hogwarts, just as good as home cooking even. How did the others treat you?"
"They were polite and nice enough," Pansy said.
"That's good."
"You're not going to knock Potter on his arse, are you?" Pansy asked seriously.
"Probably not, since you said he's nice," Millicent said seriously.
.....
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