Pansy looked at Cass in surprise. 'What? He didn't....he couldn't!' she exclaimed. 'No one would compare you to that man!' she added, shaking her head.
She sighed. 'I know,' she moaned. 'Is it wrong that I want them to get along?' She looked up at Cass. 'I like Percy. I adore you! I want to be able to invite you over, for us all to have dinner and a pleasant evening together,' she complained. 'I want the friends I care about to be happy that I've found such a wonderful and infuriating man to love!' If she'd been standing, she'd have stomped her foot.
She glared at Cass for suggesting that he liked Susan better than her. 'Jealousy, I could deal with,' she said. 'That, I understand....'
'Well, you just remember that,' she muttered. It wouldn't have occurred to her to offer him something like what he'd been doing. Another black mark against that Macdougal person's name, in her mind. 'Be nice to her?' She made a face and sighed dramatically. 'You don't like to ask easy things, do you?' she complained.
'Oh, I'm sorry!' Pansy moaned. 'I didn't mean to hurt you!' She immediately tried to soothe him, petting him gently. 'Are you okay?'
She frowned, wanting to be hurt that he hadn't told her. But she could understand not telling friends something when it meant the safety of herself and her family. 'No, I understand. I'm sad about it, but I understand.' Her voice was still a little sad. She couldn't help but feel that Cass's life and hers were drifting apart.
'Lying about money?' She turned to look at Cass. 'You could have told me that, at least,' she insisted. 'I'd have understood that. I did grow up with the same people you did, you know, and half those old people are NUTS! Why, just becoming an Auror would have been enough for your grandfather to disown you! And I could have helped!'
'But what about your mother...I mean, Emilia? You seem so close to her...'