Pansy Parkinson

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Character
Name: Pansy Parkinson
Occupation: witch, student
Relationships: Draco Malfoy (possibly dated)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Other: born c. 1980
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Pansy Parkinson is a character that appears in the first book in the Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) as one of the friends of Draco Malfoy, Harry's school rival.

Canon Background

Pansy is a member of the Slytherin House in the same year as Harry Potter. While at Hogwarts, she becomes close friends with Draco Malfoy, and in many ways is shown to be his female counterpart. For example, both are depicted as leaders of their group of Slytherins, and both tend to bully (or at least mock) their peers. Pansy and Draco also become the Slytherin Prefects for their year, and are both members of Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad during their fifth year.

Throughout the series, Pansy shows devotion to Draco. She is also shown to be fond of baby unicorns, which suggests a softer side to her character.

Though not explicit, it is suggested that Pansy is a blood purist, and she seems to at least nominally support Lord Voldemort -- for example, she is impressed when Draco joins the Death Eaters. Just prior to the Battle of Hogwarts, Pansy was the only person in the Great Hall to speak up in favour of handing Harry over to Voldemort. However, she did not participate on either side during the battle.

Fan Response & Interpretation

  • Because Pansy's canon entries are so hole-ridden, she's often given much more in-depth analysis in fanworks.
  • Some people feel that making Pansy a sympathetic character is "Slytherin Apologist" especially as she makes an anti-Black racist statement against Angelina Johnson in canon.
  • Movie!Pansy influenced fans' depiction of her with cropped black hair, and she's usually pretty (though the books only describe her as "pug-faced")
  • Pansy is often depicted as East Asian in fandom (see Racebending in Harry Potter) though almost always with her distinctive black bob
  • In post-war fics, Pansy often has a career in journalism (as an Editor of Witch Weekly or as a gossip columnist) or in fashion (as a designer). Less commonly, she is depicted as a scholar of history, Runes, Herbology or another subject.
  • Pansy is often written as a lesbian, and, as of 2021, she is the rare character whose most popular ship on Archive of Our Own is a femslash ship (Hermione/Pansy), which outnumbers her next most popular ship (Draco/Pansy), nearly 2-to-1.

Shipping

Pansy is shipped with a wide variety of characters in both het and femslash pairings.

Pansy/Draco

Though Draco Malfoy officially winds up marrying Astoria, the Pansy/Draco pairing is usually considered "semi-canonical" because the two attended the Yule Ball together and Pansy has displayed concern for and even tenderness toward Draco throughout the series (which has been interpreted by fans both as an indication of a relationship or as a one-sided crush). Examples of this include her distress after Draco is attacked by Buckbeak in their third year and is a victim of Harry's Sectumsempra curse in sixth year. Additionally, on the Hogwarts Express in the sixth book, Pansy is shown stroking Draco's hair while his head is in her lap, and she expresses concern that he might not come back for a seventh year at Hogwarts.

Pansy/Gryffindor

Apart from Pansy/Draco, Pansy is most commonly shipped with Gryffindors. This is especially true for fanfiction featuring a redeemed!Pansy, but an evil or ambiguous Pansy is also common, especially for angst. Hatesex seems to be more popular with Pansy/Ginny and Pansy/Hermione femslash than with het pairings, though any Pansy/Gryffindor pairing tends to have an enemyshipping dynamic.

Harry/Pansy and Ron/Pansy are two of the most popular Pansy het ships. Harry/Pansy and Ron/Pansy are also common side pairings in stories featuring other Slytherin/Gryffindor relationships, such as Harry/Draco or Draco/Ginny.

Other Pairings

It is sometimes speculated that Pansy and the Patil twins knew each other before Hogwarts (in part due to Pansy's use of Parvati's first name in Philosopher's Stone), an idea sometimes used as a basis for Pansy/Parvati, Pansy/Padma, or Pansy/Padma/Parvati ships. Stories pairing Pansy with other Ravenclaws (such as Cho Chang or Luna Lovegood) or Hufflepuffs (such as Ernie Macmillan or Zacharias Smith) are even rarer, but can be found.

Additionally, Pansy is sometimes paired with one of the other Slytherins in her year, such as Blaise Zabini, Millicent Bulstrode, or Theodore Nott. Cross-gen pairings featuring Pansy can also be found, both with Pansy as the younger party (such as when paired with Lucius or Snape) and as the older party (such as when paired with Scorpius or Rose).

In darkfic, Pansy is often paired with an older Death Eater such as Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, or Walden Macnair, or even with Lord Voldemort (or dairy!Tom Riddle) himself.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Archives and Communities

Reclists

External Links

Resources

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