I swallowed nervously, before firmly clasping my bag and entering the train. It was the Hogwarts Express, a vehicle I had used to get to school for seven years. It should be no big deal, really, but it was. With all the fighting and the changes that had been going on because of the war and during Voldemort's reign, school life had been interrupted way too often to make last year count as a school year. Which was why they had cancelled the NEWTs that were scheduled for the end of the year, and we had to re-take the year if we wanted to get them. With the dirty glares I got, I just wished I already had them, or done it like my Slytherin peers and just stayed at home and not given a damn about the NEWTs.

'They really should award me honorary access to the Gryffindor rooms for this', I thought. I was the only one of the Slytherins of my year who had had the guts to return after the part our house had played during the war. A lot of the Slytherins who had family funds and such and were year four plus had decided to end their school career. It would be a tough year for me, I knew that. During the last years, it had always been a tolerance for Slytherin. The Gryffindors openly despised us and Hufflepuffs and Rawenclaws disliked the Slytherins, but in the end they always were okay with us enough to rather avoid us than fight us.

I could not count on that this time. After everything that had happened during the war, most of the students from the other houses would act hostile towards me. I would get the full load, too, as I was the only one and the others, like Draco or Millicent, had chickened out. For a moment I thought it would have been better for me to stay home, too, but if I did that, then I would not be able to become a researcher on magical cures for diseases like I wanted to. And I would be damned if I, Pansy Parkinson, would let a little bit of antipathy stop me from achieving my goal. I would get what I wanted, whether to others liked it or not!

I made my way to the prefects room. I was prefect again. I was sure that Director McGonagall, as she was now, would rather have had Peeves as prefect than me, but there simply was no alternative. This reached as far as I even would have to fulfill the duties of the male Slytherin prefect as well, as there was no one who could take the job. But as Slytherin was only half as many students as last year, that was not really a problem. I smirked as I thought of the face McGonagall must have made as she realized she had to make me prefect again. Drawback was, however, that I had to sit in the same cabin as the other female prefects of our year and the headgirl. It got no better when I realized the new headgirl was none other than the insufferable know-it-all mudblood Hermione Granger.

She looked at me incredulously. "You got quite some nerves, coming back after opting to give Harry to Voldemort last time we met, Parkinson", she sneered. He voice was cold and piercing, and she spat out my name with so much venom I barely avoided taking a step back to flee her wrath. But she had despised me in before, too, so it was not like this was something new.

"At least you gotta cut her some slack for not wimping out", Hannah Abbott said to Granger, but her tone was nearly as harsh as Granger's. I sat down, though I already knew it was going to be a long ride till Hogwarts. I cast a glimpse at Padma Patil, the last of the girls, but her face showed the same look of disgust as the other witches. But that was okay. I had never needed anyone else. And I had experienced just now once again that friends and fellows only stand by you as long as they need you. None of the other Slytherins was here to support me, after all. Nor was it like I gave a damn for what Hermione Granger thought of me. She was a mudblood, so she had no right to judge me. And though Padma and Hannah both had at least one decent parent, they were still no match for my noble ancestors.

So, instead of talking, I simply huffed and took out my arithmancy book. As I was not going to have a chat, I might as well start gaining a bit of a head start. When I had barely started reading, I overheard Granger indignantly saying to Abbott: "I really don't know how McGonagall could reappoint Parkinson, of all, after everything she has said before the battle." I know what she was talking about. After all, I had been the one who had, clearly audible for everyone, demanded Harry Potter should be handed to Voldemort. To be frank, it was not something I had enjoyed doing, and had Voldemort won I still would not be proud of it. Even a half-blood and muggle friend like Potter did not deserve to die just because he was in the way. Not even that insufferable mudblood Granger. Nobody did deserve the treatment Voldemort had given his foes or the muggles he happened to get his filthy hands on. Why I had done it? I had been scared, as plain and simple as that. I could have died, and everybody else would have, too, for supporting Potter, and it had been the far more likely outcome. Not to mention my own parents had been among the death eaters. Everywhere it had gotten them was Azkaban. I had simply feared his wrath. I would rather die, though, than admit that to anyone. And most certainly not to Granger.

"I heard there was not that much choice this year", Abbott answered. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's the only female Slytherin in our year."

"Honestly?", Granger said, sounding more surprised than, as I had thought she would, delighted.

I could not suppress the urge to comment on that. "All the less competitors. I would've liked to see the look on McGonagall's face, though, when she realized she had to make me prefect again." I chuckled slightly. For a moment Granger's lips curved up, too, before she noticed it was actually something I had said she was laughing about. She quickly replaced her smile with a frown, but I had seen it already. It was not like her opinion meant much to me, but it was still nice to see that I could even make people smile that definitely did not like me. Maybe I should try to woo her. It would be a nice challenge for a change, playing out my seductress charms on someone who had no intention of falling for me, was, for all I knew, straight, and even had a boyfriend . I would not want anything from her, I did not even like girls that way, but I still could charm her, make her fall for me, and then leave her bleeding and that blood traitor Weasley, too. She would leave him for me, and then I would leave her.

I had a hard time now to keep the scheming look of my face, but inside I already contemplated on a way to start what I had mentally called "Operation Granger". Maybe some letters would do the trick. She was curious, so she would be interested easily, and when she was, I would catch her like a fish in the net. What reason I had for this? None, but it would be interesting to see how she would cope with it. It was a nice distraction from school. You may ask if I was mental, but really I was not. I was just bored.

H/P

The sorting hat had sent a good amount of students to Slytherin this year. As I was the only Slytherin prefect this year I had the job of leading them out of the hall and to the Slytherin dorm. Next to me were Granger and Weasley leading the new Gryffindors out of the hall. They were holding hands. I could not refrain from making a snide remark.

"Hey, Granger, never thought you could step so low as to be with that dimwit Weasley." It was a low approach, granted, but it worked. Though she scowled at me and seemingly ignored me, she had taken her hand out of his self-consciously. So she was not as totally into him as everyone thought she was when attacking her on her most vulnerable level, her wits. (Those were things you just learned about someone when despising them for a long time and always looking for the best ways to taunt them.) So I had something to start at. While leading the new Slytherins to their quarters I already contemplated what to put in my first letter.