Fic: The Uprising [Harry and Pansy]

[scarletladyy]

Title: The Uprising
Author: scarletladyy
Pairings/Characters: Harry, Pansy, background Harry/Ginny
Word count: 5,257
Rating: R
Warnings: Attempted major character death, torture
Prompt: Auror Potter does his best to keep his demons at bay as he settles into his marriage and awaits the birth of his first child. But then a particularly disturbing case brings up an awful lot of emotions he'd rather stay buried, especially since the main suspect is Pansy Parkinson and she isn't talking. But he'll find a way to break her, even if it costs him everything he's got.
Summary: There's a new uprising, and as far as Harry's concerned, Pansy Parkinson is at the forefront of it. The only problem is that she isn't talking, and the next thing Harry knows, she's insisting an Auror tried to kill her.
Author's Notes: I fell in love with this prompt the moment I saw it, though the story took on a mind of its own as I wrote it. Written for hp_darkfest 2011. A huge thank you to both the mods and my beta, for their help and patience was greatly appreciated.

The chair shakes as she sits there with her leg hitting the floor a hundred times a second. She's aware she's being watched, but she doesn't know where from. It's been days now, so Harry figures she's probably assuming that most of the time she isn't being watched.

She's wrong, of course. Harry has her on constant watch, and spends many hours making sure he's doing it personally. Pansy Parkinson was never a woman to be messed with, and he wasn't going to let this case slip through his fingers because of a silly mistake. If she even moved, he wanted to know about it.

As far as Harry was concerned, and he was very concerned, Pansy Parkinson was at the forefront of a new uprising. They called themselves 'The Saviours', proclaiming they were going to save Wizarding Ancestry from those that ruined it: Mudbloods. They were trying to do what Voldemort had failed at, and they were so secretive it was nearly impossible to pin down any members.

But Pansy... She'd been found with mysterious papers on her. Papers that referred to The Saviours by name, only she was refusing to talk. She flat out ignored him, except to have general chit-chat, which he started on occasion to try and warm her up. He'd tried playing the bad guy, the good guy, nothing worked.

Now he was going to play himself, and he was pretty pissed off that nothing was happening. For all he knew, The Saviours would strike at any moment, and he knew their department wasn't ready. The more he knew about them the better, and he was sure Pansy was a key member with masses of information.

If it were legal, Harry would use Veritaserum to find everything out, but after several cases of abuse, he was now unable to use it. So once again he walked into the room with her case file to try and find out exactly what she knew.

"Evening," he said calmly, taking the chair opposite her.

"Is it?" Pansy eyed him curiously. Her eyes were trained on him now, and they didn't show any sign of weakness. She wasn't sweating or flustered, and as soon as he entered she'd stopped fidgeting. If it hadn't been for that, Harry would never have known she was anxious.

At least, he took it for anxiety, and really hoped it wasn't boredom. If it was purely out of boredom, that meant she wasn't worried at all, and that just made him worry more. "Yes. It's eight o'clock."

Pansy shrugged nonchalantly. "Wouldn't know. You don't get daylight in here."

"Indeed you don't." He opened her case file and took out the first piece of parchment. It had a photograph of her attached to the top, and all the personal information they had on her beneath it. "Pansy Parkinson, aged twenty six, divorcee... Tell me. Why did you divorce Draco Malfoy?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" She narrowed her eyes at him, showing an emotion for the first time in a while. He hadn't thought about mentioning Malfoy before, but now it seemed he'd found something that struck a chord with her.

"Just curious." He leant back in his chair and folded his arms. "Cheat, did he? He seems like the type."

"Nobody cheats on me!" Pansy said, furious. Her expression was one of anger and pain, of someone who'd clearly been through a lot in love. "I left him, actually."

"Oh? And why was that?" He was genuinely intrigued. If she was a member of The Saviours, could this have something to do with why she supposedly left Malfoy? Or was she just saving face, and he'd been the one to dump her?

"That," Pansy stressed, "is none of your bloody business."

Harry cocked his head to the side. "That's as maybe, but I'm asking the bloody question anyway."

"You, swearing?" Pansy scoffed. "Didn't think I'd ever see the day. You're too squeaky clean. Couldn't even play the bad guy properly, could you?" She was smirking, and he was briefly reminded of how badly that had gone down. He'd messed up the routine he'd practised and given away information he shouldn't have.

"Don't talk as if you know me, Parkinson," he spat, getting a little irritated himself. He could see in her eyes that she'd recognised this, and he didn't doubt that she would take full advantage of it. "The way I see it, Malfoy fucked the Greengrass girl he hangs around with, you found out and divorced him."

"That's not what happened!" she said, swiftly standing up and pounding her fists on the desk. Then there was silence as she tried to recompose herself from her outburst. With a deep breath, she sat back down again. "If you must know, I cheated on him with his best mate Blaise Zabini."

Pansy looked ever so smug now, and naming Zabini had confirmed one thing he'd previously guessed: Zabini and Parkinson had close ties. This was important because a few months ago Zabini had been found at the scene where The Saviours left their first message. He swore he had nothing to do with it, and with no further evidence, they couldn't hold him. "Zabini? That's interesting."

"How so?" Pansy clasped her hands together and cocked her head.

"Is he a member of The Saviours too, I wonder," Harry murmured, studying her face to try and get a reaction. There was no change, however, and he was disappointed.

"That's what they're calling themselves, is it?" Pansy asked innocently, though he was sure she already knew that. At the very least, she would have seen the articles in the Daily Prophet.

"You can't seriously expect me to believe you aren't connected with them when we found that parchment on you."

"I don't care what you think you know, Potter. We'll be here forever if you go on like this, asking me the same questions, getting the same answers. Do you really want to waste your time? Don't you have anything better to do? In fact, isn't your wife pregnant?" She smirked. "If I were pregnant, I'd want my husband with me all the time, but I guess... she just doesn't care. Perhaps she's fucking around while you're here with me. Perhaps that baby isn't even yours."

"Damn you, Parkinson!" Harry stood up so fast he kicked back his chair. There was no hiding his anger now. He walked round behind her and bent over, leaning close to whisper in her ear. "I'll make you talk if it's the last thing I do."

*

"Excuse me?" Ginny's voice was shrill and loud. Her face had turned the colour of cherry red. "Did you just say you wanted to—"

"—move Pansy in with us, yes," Harry finished off for her. It seemed like an insane idea, but not if you thought about it. Not really. As Head Auror he had the power to do what he wished with Pansy, within the law of course, and he was sure that this would break her. "I'll be able to get her when she's most vulnerable, then. In the middle of the night, early morning... She'll be much easier to control. I'll have her talking in no time."

Ginny scowled at him. "One week. But if you've got nothing out of her by then, she's out. I don't want her anywhere near me. I don't even want to know she's in my home."

"Of course. I'll shove her in the spare bedroom—"

"You'll do no such thing!" Ginny snapped. "That's the baby's room."

"The baby isn't here yet," Harry reasoned. "I need to put her in a room so I can lock it and make sure she doesn't escape."

When Ginny turned and walked out of the room, her red hair flowing behind her, he knew he'd got his way. Unfortunately, it could only be one week, but he was sure he'd be able to break Pansy by then.

*

"Ready?" Harry asked, pulling on the chains between Pansy's arms. She scowled, but nodded at him all the same. Today he was taking her back to his home. It was part of his newfound plan to break her, believing her to grow more vulnerable there. More uncertain of what was going to happen. "And you, Dawlish?"

"Of course," replied Dawlish, in his usual dull tone. He never seemed that lively these days, always appeared to have something on his mind as though he'd rather be somewhere else.

"Why are we walking?" moaned Pansy. She'd complained ever since she heard they weren't travelling by magical means. Apparently she didn't like walking.

"To make sure nothing happens to you," said Harry coolly. "If we travel by Floo you could end up anywhere, probably on purpose, and I don't want any accidents by Apparition."

Pansy groaned loudly. "Is it far?"

"No. About twenty minutes." The look on Pansy's face suggested that she thought it was far, but she didn't say anything. As they began their journey they received a few strange looks from passers-by, so Harry decided to go down the quieter route. "Hang on," he said to Dawlish. "Instead of going straight down the high street I'd rather go through a few smaller ones. I'll just nip into the Post Office and check which street will lead us there. I've only walked to work once, and only then by this street."

Dawlish didn't seem amused by this, but Harry didn't much care. He left them and crossed the road, entering the Post Office. He didn't want to get lost and end up wandering down tiny street after tiny street, and he'd rather avoid the stares and whispers as much as possible.

"Excuse me," Harry said as he reached the counter. "Have you got a street map of the area?"

"Certainly, dear." The old woman behind the desk smiled politely at him and passed a leaflet. She opened it up and began pointing out different places on the map with her pencil. Not wanting to be rude, he nodded along with what she was saying, and was thankful when someone else entered and distracted her.

"Thank you," Harry called out as he walked out into the street. Through the cars across the road he could see a struggle—Pansy was trying to get away, the bitch! Taking his chances he dived through the cars and reached the other side of the road, pulling Pansy back by her clothes. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Me??" said Pansy indignantly. "What am I doing? This bastard tried to kill me!"

Harry raised his eyebrows and looked from Dawlish to Pansy. He still had that very same dull expression on his face. "I don't think so, Parkinson. You'll try anything to get rid of us."

"I'm telling you he did! He was only seconds away from casting the killing curse." Her face was bright red and anger was in her eyes. It was clear she was trying to set Dawlish up.

"Why would Dawlish want to kill you? And even if he had gone through with it, how do you think he would explain a dead you? No, Parkinson. I'm not having this. Get a move on." He shoved her in the direction of the small lane by the Post Office, and Dawlish trailed behind him.

*

Pansy sniffed loudly and scrunched up her nose when she entered Harry's home. She looked around with disgust on her face and he could only sigh. It was what he'd expected, after all, but it still made his blood boil. He was determined not to let her get to him again though, and whenever she asked, he feverently denied it was because of the allegations she'd thrown around the last time they'd talked. After whatever incident had occurred outside the Post Office (and he was sure it wasn't Dawlish trying to murder her), he'd sent Dawlish back as soon as they entered his garden.

"It's.... small."

"It's a detached house, Parkinson. What were you expecting? A Manor, like Malfoy's?" She arched her eyebrows, as though she should have known he wouldn't live in somewhere as grand. "Upstairs. Now. You're not getting free roam around my house. This is just so—"

"—you can be at home and still interrogate me, so you know your wife isn't cheating on you."

"No," he said through gritted teeth, keeping a lid on his fury. "It's just so I can keep my eye on you."

"I thought you paid people to do that for you." She smirked as she realised he was trying ever so hard to stay cool. One of her favourite pastimes seemed to be winding him up. With a small shove from him she walked through the kitchen and found the stairs. Whether she was doing it intentionally or not, Harry couldn't help but notice the way her arse wiggled as she walked up them. Then feeling a stir in his groin he looked towards the floor and focused on that instead.

"Second on the right." He followed her into it and saw her surprise at the decor. It was nearly ready for their baby, with a cot in the corner and a toy broom mobile above it. When you set it off, the brooms went round and round as though they were flying, to a quiet, little tune. The wallpaper was Quidditch-themed too, with the theme being the Holyhead Harpies, the team Ginny played for. In the corner behind the door they'd managed to shove a cheap, small bed. It was close to the ground and made of MDF, but Parkinson was in his custody after all. She certainly wasn't a guest.

"One might think you liked Quidditch, Potter," Pansy remarked, sitting down on the mattress. The bed was quite low down and she frowned as she tested the firmness of it. The duvet was thin, but it was clean, and that was more than she deserved, according to his wife. "Though you really do have a poor choice in team. The Holyhead Harpies? Really?"

"My wife is on their team. Of course we're going to decorate our baby's room with something personal." Sighing, he turned to leave, but she shocked him by grabbing his arm.

"Wait." She looked serious now; as serious as he'd ever seen her. "Dawlish really did try to kill me."

Harry didn't say anything. He just looked from her face to his arm and back again, and reluctantly she let go of him. "Take a good look around, Parkinson. It'll be the last place you see in a very long time."

Ignoring the pleading look in her eyes, he left and locked the door. He decided she didn't need to know Ginny only wanted her there for a week.

*

Harry had spent nearly every waking minute of the last two days with Pansy. He was angry and confused, and all she kept telling him was that Dawlish had tried to kill her. Everything about The Saviours she answered saying she hadn't a clue, and they were really getting nowhere. But Harry wasn't about to give up, he was determined to get the information out of her, no matter how much it cost him.

Ginny was already annoyed, since she spent so little time at home she wanted the time they did have together to be spent together. Unfortunately for her, Harry wanted to spend his time interrogating Pansy, because he was absolutely certain she knew something, and he wasn't about to let her go and have another uprising. He couldn't go through all that again. His childhood had been ruined by people trying to eradicate Muggles and Mudbloods and Blood Traitors, and he wasn't about to let his adulthood be ruined by it too.

"You've got to believe me!" Pansy insisted, and if he didn't know her, he would have fallen for it.

"I don't have to do anything," snapped Harry. "Besides, why should I believe anything you say when you won't answer any of my questions?"

Pansy seemed to consider this and looked away, staring at the floor. Her eyes always seemed focused on the small brooms surrounding one large broom on the carpet. He often wondered why it attracted her so much. "They're after me," she said eventually, and so quietly he only just made out what she'd said. "The Saviours, they're after me."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "After you? Why would they be after you?"

"You know my family history, Potter. You're well aware that my father, whilst not a Death Eater, did help their cause. They are trying to get me to join them."

"And the time and date on the parchment? You do realise it says you'll know where to find them, right?"

Pansy nodded. "I saw that, yes. But I don't. Know where to find them, that is. I haven't a bloody clue. My father might, but I certainly don't."

"Otherwise you would have gone?" Harry prompted, wanting to try and catch her in a trap, to see if she was lying.

"No," Pansy said quickly. "I wasn't going to go. How stupid do you think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that question, Parkinson? You've been in custody for weeks, and you're only just talking now. Why now?"

"Because I want you to believe that Dawlish tried to fucking kill me!" Pansy screamed, standing up from the bed. She stared down at him with hard, cold eyes, but also with a hint of desperation. He considered for a moment that maybe she really was telling the truth. "I'm not making this shit up, Potter. This is actually serious."

"So are The Saviours!" he screamed back, also standing up. They were nearly face-to-face now, she was only an inch or so shorter than him. Neither one wanted to look away, holding each others gaze for as long as possible. He was the first to do so, slowly sinking back into his chair. He leant back against it and stared up at the ceiling, with her still in his peripheral vision. Several minutes silence passed, and eventually she sat down on the bed again.

"I am well aware of that, but right now, my pressing concern is that one of your Aurors tried to kill me! At least The Saviours can't get to me here. Dawlish can." She looked genuinely upset and concerned, and he began to believe her. He didn't think she was that good of an actress.

"Fine." Harry sighed deeply. "I'll keep Dawlish away and start an investigation. Find out what's going on. Back to The Saviours. Tell me everything you know."

*

Harry was awoken around three o'clock in the morning by a very loud hooting from outside his bedroom window. It woke Ginny, too, and she wasn't happy about it. He got out of bed and opened the window, letting the owl in. All the while Ginny whined in his ear about how annoyed she was to have been woken, and how hard it would be to get back to sleep.

Sensing it must be urgent to be sent at such an absurd time, he took the letter off the owl and opened it immediately. The Ministry seal was plain to see, and the parchment heading was from the Auror department. He grew paler and paler as he read the letter, the contents of it making his stomach churn. But at least he knew one thing.

"She wasn't lying!"

He flew out of the bedroom, Ginny calling behind him, and ran straight towards Pansy's room. He quickly unlocked it and shook her awake.

"Come on, come on," he said urgently. "I've got news. Wake up."

Pansy covered her eyes as he turned the lights on and leant up against the wall. "What?"

"You were telling the truth. Dawlish was trying to kill you."

"Oh good," said Pansy in a sarcastic tone. "At last you believe me."

Harry nodded. "I've already got a plan, but you've got to be up for it, too."

"Really?" She pouted, and he nodded again. "Fine. As long as you're not going to get me killed."

"I'll try my best," replied Harry, smiling at her. "Look, the date and time on that parchment, it's in a few days time. Owl your father about where they want you to meet them. I can let you out on that day and you can make your way there alone—just in case they have people spying on you. Meanwhile, I'll get my Aurors to go as well. As soon as we notice you go in I'll send them in after you, and bob's your uncle. We'll have at least some of The Saviours. Sound good?"

"Sounds like you're going to get me killed." Pansy appeared very sceptical. "I'll do it, but only if you guarantee you'll let me go afterwards. You have to swear you'll let me go."

"Sure," Harry agreed. "You can go once we've got them. But don't you dare try and run off once we set you free in the morning. I swear to god if you do—"

Pansy sighed. "I won't. Now will you please leave so I can get some sleep?"

"Oh. Right. Yeah. Sorry." He left the room, the parchment still clutched in his left hand, and locked the door. When he crept back into bed he noted that Ginny was sound asleep, and he couldn't help but be glad. It was sad that he felt like that, he knew, but all she would do was whine and moan, and he had enough of that during the day from Pansy. His constant time with Pansy was putting a massive strain on his marriage, but it wasn't like he was cheating. It was just work, and necessary work at that. Ginny just didn't understand.

Nobody seemed to. Even his colleagues thought it was odd that he'd brought Pansy back to his house, and no matter how many times he tried to explain his reasons for doing so, they just didn't get it.

*

"Change of plan," said Harry, grabbing his old invisibility cloak out of his pocket. He was standing at the front door with Pansy next to him, and Ginny glaring at them from the kitchen. He didn't care about Ginny right now, he just cared about getting Pansy to the meeting and making sure she and nobody else died in the process. If they were watching her, and he suspected they would be, and they saw anything amiss she could be killed in an instant. "I'm going with you, only I'll be under my invisibility cloak."

Pansy frowned. "Why?"

"It's safer, for the both of us. If anything happens I'll be able to make sure they don't kill you, and I can also be certain you won't run away."

"Ahh." Pansy smirked. "That's what this is all about. Are you sure you want to come? I mean, I'm sure you could get someone else to do it. After all, I don't want to take time away from your spying on your wife."

"Excuse me?" Ginny began to walk down the hallway, her face as fiery as the colour of her hair. "What do you mean?" she asked Pansy, but turned to look at Harry. "What does she mean by that?"

Harry sighed. "Nothing. She means nothing by it. It's only Parkinson. Ignore her."

"Do you mind?" said Pansy, punching his arm. Though it was in playful manner, and Harry could see Ginny starting to get suspicious. "I'm not an it, thank you very much."

"Don't you touch my husband," Ginny spat at Pansy, pushing her away so she could get closer to Harry. "What did she mean?"

"Not now, Ginny," said Harry sternly. It was a voice he'd only really used with enemies before now. He'd used it a lot with Pansy, but he never suspected he'd ever use it with his wife. "Not now."

"Damn you, Harry Potter!" Ginny screeched. "If you leave this house right now we're over. I mean it. I'll take this baby and go back to The Burrow, and you won't see hide nor hair of us ever again."

Harry glared at Ginny so hard that he was sure if looks could kill she'd be dead by now. As feisty as Ginny could be, he was sure she wouldn't do that to him, and so he wrapped his invisibility cloak around him and opened the front door. He whispered for Pansy to step outside and close the door behind her, while he sneaked past. He was ever so thankful Ginny was too speechless to call after him, for if they were being watched it would certainly blow their cover.

They got down to the end of the garden path, where they'd agreed to Apparate to their destination. So as not to arouse any suspicion they were Apparating separately, and merely hoping they would end up near each other.

Harry Apparated as soon as he saw Pansy had done so, and found himself outside an old, brick warehouse of some kind. Several feet in front of him he could see Pansy. He walked up behind her, making sure none of himself was exposed. She wouldn't have any idea whether or not he was with her, because it was far too risky to even attempt communicating, but her anxiety would just have to be.

He followed her as she walked up to the warehouse unsteadily, looking around nervously. He hoped that to anyone else it would look like she was just curious, but he was sure it was because she was trying to catch a glimpse of him.

There was a small brown door to the far left of the warehouse, and Pansy went straight to it. If he didn't know better, he'd think she'd been here before, because she didn't try and find any other entrance. Perhaps she was just going for the obvious.

"Madam Parkinson." Before Pansy could even reach the door a man in a tall, dark suit came out and opened it for her. Harry frowned, both at his odd behaviour and how he'd addressed Pansy. Thankfully, she was clever and hesitated a moment, allowing him to slip in before her.

Instead of walking into a large, airy space as he'd expected, they entered a small corridor. This made it difficult to avoid the man, but he walked on ahead and was able to step in behind Pansy.

"Everyone is waiting for you. You're a little late." The man took the first door on the left, but it looked as though there were many more doors down the corridor. They appeared to have converted a warehouse into their headquarters, with many varied rooms. The one they entered had a large dining table in the centre, and many chairs around it, which were all filled.

There was an empty space at the top of the table, and to the right of it sat Blaise Zabini. I knew it! Harry thought, just glad he hadn't shouted it out loud. As soon as everyone noticed Pansy enter they all stood up and bowed, and Harry frowned once more. Something was going on here, and it didn't look good. He chanced a glance at Pansy herself, and she was smirking at the men around the table.

"Yes, many apologies for my lateness. As I'm sure you'll know, I've been in the custody of Harry Potter for the last few days, and before that I was held at the Ministry. Potter doesn't seem to have much sense when it comes to timekeeping, or anything else for that matter. For, if he did, he would not be in this very room right now, believing me to be nothing but an innocent victim." Harry's jaw would have hit the floor if it could have, and all he could do was stare at the woman who'd managed to convince him she was innocent. "Show yourself."

Harry refused to do as she commanded, not wanting to blow his only cover now it seemed she had tricked him.

"Magic doesn't work in here, Potter," said Pansy sweetly. "Or at least, yours doesn't. We've disabled the use of magic of Mudbloods, Muggleborns and Blood Traitors. Yes, that does mean your invisibility cloak isn't working and we can all see you."

"But... how?" Harry was extremely confused; he didn't even know that was possible. "You tricked me. I put my marriage under so much stress and strain, spent so many hours with you, believed you, and you tricked me."

Pansy let out a little screech of a laugh that sounded rather like Bellatrix's once had. It made his blood run cold, and he could only stop and stare as she walked forward and took his wand off him. He didn't try to stop her, both out of shock and knowing it would be useless anyway. She threw it across the room towards Blaise, who promptly caught it and pocketed it.

"Yes, Potter. I tricked you. Get over it. I am indeed a member of The Saviours. But no, not just any member. You see, I founded The Saviours. I was rather put out when you managed to defeat Voldemort, and I've been working underground ever since. That's why I divorced Draco, because he didn't want anything to do with us. We've done rather well, if I do say so myself. Many of those you have working for you aren't who you think you are; Dawlish was an example of that. Only he got too brave and tried to kill me, believing I would eventually confess everything to you. He made the mistake you did. He saw me as weak. Nobody should ever see me as weak."

Harry glared at her. "But that's all you are. A coward and a bully, someone who is so scared of living alongside Muggleborns that you want them dead."

"Crucio!" Pansy screeched at the top of her voice, and Harry fell to the floor, writhing in pain. He didn't scream, though. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction, even if it meant he bit right through his lip, which at this point seemed quite likely. Just as he thought he was about to pass out from the pain the curse was lifted, and he lay at Pansy's feet, breathless. "Don't you ever call me a coward again. Now, this is how it's going to go, Potter. You're a very valuable asset, and I believe I can use you to my advantage. Whilst Voldemort wanted you dead, I think you're better use to me alive. If only for low morale once the Wizarding World falls again, for their hero that saved them once is now nothing more than my captive, who came here willingly."

"You bitch." Harry stared up at her with a look of disgust on his face. He couldn't believe this was happening. "You won't get away with it. I've got my Aurors outside."

"Ah, ah, ah," said Pansy, wagging her finger. "Not anymore you don't. I've taken care of that little problem. You think they didn't anticipate this? Really? Silly boy. Zabini," she called out, "take Potter to the back rooms. The one with the triple lock should do just fine for him."

Harry attempted a run for it, but the man who'd let Pansy into the warehouse earlier grabbed him and threw him back, right into Zabini's waiting arms.

"Take a good look around, Potter," said Pansy, smirking. "It'll be the last place you see in a very long time."