Chapter Text
A series of short, sharp knocks awoke Draco at a gods-awful hour.
He shuffled towards the sound reluctantly, cracking the front door open to his London flat to reveal Pansy Parkinson dressed sharply in a black sheath dress and matching stiletto heels.
“Merlin, Pans. What are you doing here so early?” Draco grumbled sleepily.
“Your Floo’s locked. And early? Draco, it’s half noon. On a Monday, no less,” she admonished, eyes rolling as she took in his unkempt hair and the black silk pajamas he still wore.
While Draco paused to balk at how late he’d slept in, Pansy took advantage to push open the door fully. When she did, she revealed a ridiculously large, hideous, black-furred feline in her arms that seemed to eye him with contempt.
“What the fuck? What is that, Pans?”
Ignoring his perfectly reasonable question, she walked past him to enter his sitting room, then crouched to release the oddity.
Reveling in its newfound freedom from Pansy’s crushing embrace, the creature spun around to take in its surroundings before slowly making its way across the room to lay in the sunniest spot on his sitting room rug near wall-to-wall windows. It promptly began to snore.
“ Pans ,” Draco exclaimed irritatedly, reminding his friend that he still did not understand what she and the creature were doing in his home at the early hour of… half noon.
She held up her hands plaintively. “Okay, okay! Draco…” she sighed, “It's been months! We’ve barely seen you. We miss you. You need to live your life again!”
“I hear you… and I appreciate you dropping in, Pans, you know I do… but again, please tell me why that thing is in my home.” Draco exasperatedly gestured at the creature by the windows.
Somehow aware that it was the topic of discussion, the creature in question stopped its snoring. It lifted its head to eye the pair haughtily before turning into itself again, huffing and closing its eyes as if it couldn’t care less that the flat’s owner seemed out of sorts.
“That thing’s name is Pepper,” Pansy started. “He’s half-kneazle and half-cat, and he’s very smart. Be careful of the impression you’re making with all your hand-wavy dramatics.”
“And why would I care about the impression I’m making on… Pepper?”
Pansy sighed, then somehow both lovingly and condescendingly took his hand to lead him to the couch to sit. Draco took up his usual end seat on the emerald green sofa while Pansy sat close to him, facing him and drawing both of his hands into her lap. When he looked up at her, he saw her eyes shining with concern.
“Astoria isn’t coming back, Draco. You know this. I know you’ve seen The Prophet .”
Draco winced, unwillingly recalling various headlines from the Society pages over the last few months.
Malfoy & Greengrass Wedding Cancelled
Malfoy Heir Eligible Once Again!
Greengrass Heiress Spotted on Vacation with Muggleborn War Hero, Dean Thomas
Pansy noticed the pained reaction and squeezed his hands sympathetically before continuing, “It’s been months. We’ve all tried to talk to you. We weren’t sure what to do. So Blaise, Theo, Harry, and I got together and brainstormed. And well… we all thought you might benefit from… a familiar. Something at home to love and to love you–”
“Salazar, Pans! I don’t need a pet . Gods, I can hardly take care of myself. And regardless, choosing a familiar is an intensely personal endeavor–”
“You don’t think I know that?” Pansy interrupted. “Draco, give me some credit,” she eyed him before elaborating, “I brought your picture to the Magical Menagerie and showed it to every creature there. Pepper was the only one that reacted.”
Draco tried to hide his displeasure that his recent rejection streak amongst witches extended to magical creatures as well. He hummed and then asked, only a tad defensively, “How did Pepper react?”
“Well…” Pansy hesitated, “To be honest, he hissed at the image. But the others just stared blankly at it. I figured some kind of reaction was better than none at all.”
Draco glared at her, attempting to process the life-altering decision Pansy had made on his behalf.
Astoria’s rejection after their short-lived engagement still stung. Over the last few months, he’d withdrawn from society and his friends alike. He’d locked his Floo and sent owls back to their senders without reading the correspondence. He read and reread all of his favorite books. He organized and reorganized his home. He tried and failed to cook a good full English. He’d done his bloody best to dampen his pain by simply ignoring it. Something made much more difficult by meddlesome friends like the one in front of him.
Only, within the last week, after scorching his fried eggs during his fifth fry-up attempt, he’d come to terms with the fact that he hadn’t quite loved Astoria. He’d loved how easy it was to be with her. She was a Pureblood witch. She was proper, pretty, and poised. She was expected. No, he hadn’t loved her. He’d thought that maybe, after they were married, love might come with time. But as it was, he’d realized his pain was more that of a bruised ego than a broken heart.
Now, confronted with one of his oldest friends cradling his hands in his sitting room and a hideous new creature making itself at home, he thought perhaps he was ready to end his self-imposed isolation. Perhaps he was grateful that Pansy cared enough to perform this outrageous gesture. Indeed, perhaps a familiar would help him recover his bruised ego.
“Well, Pans… I suppose I can work with a hiss.” He then looked at Pepper, “Ready for a new friend, Peps?”
The creature in question did not react to Draco’s entreaty, instead continuing its light snoring on the sunny spot on the rug.
“That’s the spirit!” Pansy exclaimed. “Well then, I expect to see you at The Leaky on Thursday for drinks. Theo’s been driving us barmy without you.” She reached down to fish a thin book out of her bag and handed it to him. “And here. The shopkeeper recommended this book for Pepper’s new owner.”
Draco took it and looked it over. Bonding with Your Familiar for Dummies . “What’s a dummy?”
“I’m not sure. The shopkeeper was Muggleborn and said it was based on a Muggle instructional book series?”
“Hm.”