Hello! This is my first attempt at a story, it will follow closely to the events in the books but it will be a lose outline as this is not a Harry Potter book. I'll only say this once, I do not own Harry Potter nor any of the characters that come directly from the book or movies. I wanted to take a character, even J.K. Rowling hated, and try to make her likable and her actions forgivable. The end game is slow burn Hermione/Pansy so if you don't like that pairing then don't read. Finally this story will be rated M for violence, language, and maybe mild sexual situations so please take that into account will reading. If I feel that my work has a need of a trigger warning I will state so at the beginning of the chapter but I won't nit pick, so here is a brief warning now: there will be child abuse, dark thoughts, and obviously violence. That out of the way, please enjoy.

Chapter One

Pansy Parkinson was sitting in one of the back cars of the train with Malfoy and the rest of his crew. She had pressed herself as far into the corner as her body allowed. Her house robes hanging next to her head almost creating a barrier between herself and the rest of the occupants. Malfoy was already bragging about all the power his prefect badge gave him, giving her a bitter taste in the back of her throat. Frowning she looked out at the heavily wooded scenery that sprinted past her window, and wondered when she had changed. The beginning of last year she would have been gushing over her badge as well. In fact, she would have demanded that she and Malfoy go walk the length of the train searching for excuses to use the power the badge gave her. Now she leaned the corner of her forehead against to cooling glass trying to relieve that pounding headache Malfoy's voice was giving her.

Maybe it was the moment Harry came hurdling onto the stage on top of a corpse. Or his animalistic cries that she still hears in her dreams. How the crowd was silent, not a single word in a group of hundreds allowing each gut wrenching scream that seemed to tare out of the boy to bounce and echo among the stands. Each melodic note touching buzzing ears as if they were listening to a performance and not witnessing the aftermath of a tragedy.

Maybe it was later that day, when she washed the hufflepuff colors from her face. She had supported Cedric because it had been expected of her. She could never support the-boy-who-lived, or any that associated with him. Wild, bushy hair came to mind before she shoved that thought down. She remembered how the yellow paint had swirled around the drain before disappearing. She could have scourgified herself, wiping all traces of the dead boy from her body easily, but this was her way of saying goodbye. She was disgusted with herself, no one had ever gotten hurt before. It had all been talk before that moment. Things her parents forced into her and she had just regurgitated, it had never been real until that moment.

Maybe it was the first time she saw him. Reanimation did not do him well. His appearance had this clinical look. His skin would reflect the light as if his body would no longer take in anything but darkness. Its paleness had given her a clear view of the dark veins that carried blood across his body. His nose, though, was a very characterizing feature in that he almost didn't have one. Small slits would flare and take in oxygen and reminded her of a snake. His hand as it lifted her chin to look him in his eyes had a slimy texture. He had caressed her cheek as she held his gaze. Too long, he had used her as an example. No one held his gaze, she had the crucio scars to prove it.

Maybe it was the summer with Bellatrix LeStrange. When Malfoy had failed to show promise in his dueling skills her parent's had volunteered her to take his place. At first she had been overjoyed, this was her chance to make her family proud.

Maybe it was the realization that she would actually never be enough.

Whatever it was she no longer felt the need to live up to expectations. She no longer reached for the love of her parents. She knew now, she would never get it. The only thing she knew for certain was that she would not be a pawn in this chess match any longer.

As Pansy dismounted the train with the rest of the students she adjusted the cuffs to her uniform blouse, making sure they covered her arms properly. She enjoyed the cold air as it washed through her senses, the train car had gotten so stuffy at the end, the window had fogged up. When she moved to open it Malfoy had whined that it would be cold if she did. Malfoy she thought errantly as she saw him, Goyle, and Crabbe crowding some poor first years.

"Do you know what you are? You're a mudblood," she overheard. Her lips twitched with held in disgust at the slur. "You know what this badge means? It means I can do whatever I want to you, filth." A head of wildly untamed hair turned in his direction. "Look at her cower," Malfoy continued a snarky laugh bursting from his chest and out his mouth. With her robes draped over her arm she made her way over to him.

"Draco the carriages will fill while we dally around to bolster your self-confidence. Are you really picking fights with weaker opponents," she asked flatly. Pansy didn't wait for an answer causing her to miss the look of surprise on the wild haired gryffindor's face.

He grumbled as he rushed to catch up to her longer strides, for the time being she was still taller than him. He sent Crabbe and Goyle ahead to secure a carriage for them. When they were far enough away from prying eyes he reached out and brought her to a stop with a clenched hand around her wrist.

"What is wrong with you? Have you let the summer go to your head?" She could see the mask Draco put on for everyone start to slip. It looked so much like her own, she would have had to be blind not to. Pansy knew that Draco was a prideful little twat; his father had influenced him almost too much. Almost, because she saw genuine concern for her shining in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Last summer was very enlightening. Unlike you, I no longer see the need to live up to my family's expectations. I will do only what is asked of me until I am of age to finally leave. I just hope that I can before he makes his move." Her voice held a broken sort of finality. She would not follow her family into the dark, and she hoped Draco wouldn't either. They held gazes until her words finally made sense to the younger boy. Several emotions flashed across his face before he settled his mask back in place. Draco had always been a terrible liar, and that is why Pansy thinks he let the silence be his response.

The fog licked at their ankles as their eyes followed the movements of the thestrals. Where there had once been self-drawn carriages, were now large winged horses. Their gaunt figures allowed for the bone to show, and their leathery, bat-like wings twitched and rustle with an eerie grace. A lot had changed over the summer.

"I hope so too," Draco finally murmured under his breath before making his way to their carriage, pushing other students out of his way. With a sigh Pansy trailed behind with one final look at the magnificent creatures before her.

By the time they made it into the great hall, they were amongst the last to enter. Pansy scanned the crowd of students, stopping briefly on Harry Potter and his friends. They seemed to be searching the professors' table. Curious she did a brief scan and immediately realized the the half giant wasn't in attendance. Curious. Though her eyes were immediately taken up with a pink blob. A short, squat woman with curly brown hair sat to the headmaster's immediate right. Her beady eyes were locked on the growing number of students but her face was turned to the professor, slightly raised as she whispered into his ear. She had somehow wrapped an offly gaudy fur cardigan around her robe. Pansy cringed at the pink color. Umbridge.

Pansy had met her once over the summer at a banquet with the pureblood families and the Dark Lord. Once had definitely been enough for her. She had been required to attend everything Lestrange went to. Often, mockingly called squire as she was made to serve the adults and provide entertainment by having Lestrange absolutely trounce her. Umbridge had held back, preferring a more delicate touch. When Pansy had accidentally spilt the elven wine Umbridge had procured, she introduced Pansy to her quill. Subconsciously she rubbed the faded scar on the back of her left hand. After the quill incident she had taken her wand to the still bleeding wound, trying everything she knew to somehow obscure the words. The best she had gotten was jumbling the letters that started just below her first knuckle and curved around the base of her thumb.

She was abruptly jarred from the past when McGonagall entered the main hall followed by the rest of the first years. She remembered her first year at Hogwarts, how could she not? This was going to be the place. This was where she was supposed to come into herself and finally find some solace, some freedom. She remembered feeling proud when the sorting hat called out slytherin. This was where she was supposed to belong, and find a family within a group of liked minded people. Her parents would finally be proud, but being led to the dungeons that first time, she was confused. Her legs much shorter than they are now made the walk felt like forever. Each stair case leading them down, and down, and even further down. Until finally they were beneath everyone, even at eleven she thought that it was weird that the dorms were in the dungeons. In all the stories with castles the dungeons were never where you wanted to be.

Pansy watched as McGonagall placed a stool in front of the first years and then lovingly set the sorting hat right on top of it. Ready for the usual speech about the different aspects of each house Pansy was caught off guard when the hat sang a slow, melodic song about unifying the houses, that as it stood they were divided, and divided they could not face the coming darkness.

"... or we will crumble from within/ I have told you, I have warned you.../ Let the Sorting begin," the hat ended with a flourish. Applause and murmurs broke out; the hat had never done that before. Draco and Pansy shared a look before Malfoy sneered, they knew exactly what the hat was referring to. The warning seemed to be immediately forgotten once the Sorting actually started. Each house cheering its new arrivals, each trying to out cheer the other, each not taking into account the words that had just been sung to them.

Dumbledore briefly rose once the Sorting was done to basically say he wasn't going to say anything and then the food appeared. Not hungry, Pansy made herself a small plate of vegetables and meat. She then proceeded to push the food around her plate, only raising a bite to her mouth three or four times. It wasn't long before Dumbledore rose again. He quickly introduced the new teachers, Professor Grubby-Plank who would be taking Care of the Magical Creatures lessons, and Professor Umbridge who would be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He then went through several announcements before a quiet "hem-hem" interrupted him.

Not surprised in the slightest Pansy watched the toad woman stand with another clearing of her throat, hem-hem. The squat woman then proceeded to drone on about the ministry in a high pitched little girl voice, like she was informing elementary students on the way the world worked. Pansy quickly zoned out, her head bowed as she continued to push a single piece of broccoli around and around her plate. She didn't tune back in until students started rising from their seats around her. Silently she looked to Draco who was already herding the first years into a group in front of him.

"Listen up, as you may know I am Draco Malfoy," he said his voice only slightly raised to be heard over the commotion other students made as they left the great hall, "and I, along with Pansy Parkinson are your prefects. Do not ask us stupid questions, do not interrupt us when we are talking, and do not… not do as we say." Pansy smiled slightly at his stumble, this was probably going to be harder than he thought. She let him take the lead as he leads the first years out of the hall, she spared a glance over at the gryffindor table before following behind, making sure that none of the students got lost. Especially the airy blond kid that has bumped into her three times already.

Pansy looked the small child up and down, entirely unsure how this tiny person was even eleven and not seven or eight. She couldn't even tell if it was a boy or girl. White blond hair hung limp, bangs touching nose. At the second staircase the kid was gripping onto her hand. Whether it was because the child kept slipping into her or because the blond was getting more scared the further down they went; but if she had to guess, the slight tremble in the kid's arm and the tightness in the figures, it was fear. She had the strange urge to pick up the kid and carry the blond the rest of the way. She squeezed the little hand and when the baby fat filled face lifted to meet hers she tried her hardest to smile warmly. Just because slytherin hadn't been what she needed didn't mean that she, as a slytherin, couldn't be there when others needed it. Her parents didn't need to know.

"Pay attention, brats!" Malfoy's voice echoed through the stone hallway, "'cuz I'm not gonna show you again. The entrance to the slytherin common room is located on this wall. I want you to pay attention to the tapestries, there will be a quiz."

The first one started immediately. It was filled with a dark forest, the trees cloaked in shadows. Creatures would take flight, and dart between trunks of heavy wood, too fast to make out breed or even species. Fog, unsettled by scurrying feet, floated in streams across the ground.

4The second tapestry was much shorter and filled with simple patterns that would interchange and flow at random times. Never holding the same image twice.

The thirst tapestry was filled with water and a single, solitary creature. It is said to be the image of the late giant squid of the lake. Sometimes tentacles would squeeze the fabric, causing it to wrinkle in a sort of bone chilling way. The size of the creature was staggering. Luckily for the kid, Pansy thinks, the squid is but a smidge in the upper right hand corner, floating in lazy circles.

"Now," Malfoy shouts, stopping abruptly. "Who can tell me what is special about this spot?"

"Entrance," was mumbled into Pansy's sleeve, far too low for anyone but Pansy to hear.

"Anyone of you lot? None of you? And you want to call yourself slytherins!" He practically screeches at the end.

"The passage must be here," and we have the Malfoy of the group, Pansy thinks as she looks to the boy who finally spoke up. Dark curly hair gathered at the nap of his neck in a little leather tie, the last touches of his mother's influence. A strong chin, even with the baby fat weighing it down graces his face, and dark grey eyes squint up at Malfoy.

"Name, boy!" Malfoy demands, Lucius's tone leaking into his voice. The hand in her's grips tighter.

"E-Errol Dedalus of the house of Shafiq," the boy stuttered out. Pansy's eyes widened slightly at the name. One of the houses of the sacred twenty-eight.

"Good," Malfoy smirked, "you lot would do yourself a lot of good by following his example. Now how many tapestries did we pass?"

"Three," again the answer was mumbled into her sleeve.

"Three," Errol said loudly, his confidence rising.

"Thank you Mr. Dedalus but kindly let your fellow class members answer." The quick cut to the young boy's self-esteem, Malfoy must have been spending too much time with Snape, the old man was rubbing off on him. "Now, can anyone besides Dedalus tell me what the tapestries were of?"

"A forest, a design, and water." A soft spoken girl spoke up from the back, her form easily obscured and swallowed by the rest of her classmates.

"You see Dedalus, the rest of your class is smart too," Malfoy sneered at the boy. The rough treatment probably based solely on the fact that the boy was not truly a part of the main house of Shafiq. "All of the tapestries will move and trade images, often combining or creating new ones except these three, these three will always hold the same order, shape, and image - well type of image," Malfoy continued referring to the second tapestry's ever changing design, "and the wall after them will be the entrance to the common room." Malfoy laid a hand on the stone and whispered the password. "The password changes every week and the new one will be posted on the blackboard on the other side of this door." Malfoy had to raise his voice as the wall slid out of place and slowly slid open for the first years.

The slytherin dorms and common room are quite beautiful, once you get passed the cold that is. The walls were covered in this deep green satin wallpaper that would shine, in the right light, like the murkiness of water. Tall, dark wood, book shelves lined the right hand wall. Dark grey, marble pillars held the domed ceiling up. The whole northern wall was filled with glass, holding back the lake that sat, half on top of them. Little nooks, built around the underwater window, offered some privacy. Green light, filtered by the water would usually bathe the room with a calming atmosphere; at night though, it was just spooky. A grand fireplace took up space to the left. Its flame never going out yet never actually warming the room. Small circle tables, each accompanied by two over cushioned arm chairs and a small, dimly lit lamp, populated the main room. A spiral staircase that split half way up led to the separate boy and girl dorms.

"Girls on the left and boys on the right. Quiet hours start at nine on weeknights and eleven on weekends. Prefect dorms are the two rooms on either side of the fireplace, always check the board to see who is on call that night, if you wake me on my night off I'll make sure yours ends very badly. Your trunks have all been delivered to your assigned bunks and breakfast starts at seven. Now get out of my sight, lights out in one hour." Pansy had to admit, she was a little proud at how professionally Draco handled his first task. Especially because he didn't let too much of his Malfoy attitude bleed through it. She almost forgot about the small hand in her until it slipped from her grasp.

"It's not that bad, isn't it?" she asked the small child, trying to smile without smirking. The habit was hard to break.

"Thank you," the small voice murmured. Big brown eyes peeked out of the white blonde tresses.

The cold from the room started to slip around her body, caressing her like a lover might. A slight shiver ran down her spine. The cold would suffocate the kid, soaking into bones, doing nothing but adding to the ire slytherin had for every other house. Yet, even now, this was better than her parents' home.

"If you need anything, even if you're just cold, you go ahead and knock on my door. I don't care what the board says," Pansy said, both her hand on the child's shoulders, "I'm Pansy by the way." She knew she was just repeating what Draco had said earlier but she didn't want to outright ask the kid's name.

"Lisa," the girl said with a slight grin, "Lisa Belle."