The Slytherin Girls
by Lylian
The only unsinkable ship is Friendship.
The Slytherin girls were hanging out in the Common Room again, in their exclusive corner near the window, which opened up to the Black Lake above them. Dark figures swam through the green murky water, covering the sun sporadically and therefore placing shadows on the homework they were supposed to be completing.
It was only slightly difficult because Millicent was trying to get her cat Ladon out from under the sofa, Tracey was drumming her quill to a song she was currently obsessed with, and Daphne just pulled out a deck of cards, trying to figure out the destiny of her love life. At times like this, Pansy desperately wanted to give up on studying and possibly give up on her friends as study buddies. They were hopelessly distracting.
The lack of conversation was broken with Pansy saying, "I think we should finish our homework. I only have a few more pages to do."
"What are you talking about?" asked Tracey. "I am doing my homework."
Daphne scoffed. "No you're not. You're singing that new Muggle Death Camp song."
"But it's such a good song! You should listen to it."
Shaking her head, Daphne went back to her cards.
Millicent rose from her knees and sat down on the sofa dejectedly.
"Ladon's stuck," she said.
"What?" exclaimed Daphne.
"Either that or he won't come out."
"Why don't you try giving him a treat?"
"I guess I'll have to." Millicent began walking away.
"Or I can try that new spell we learned today," said Tracey enthusiastically, pulling a wand from her pocket.
Millicent, Daphne and Pansy grabbed her hand immediately.
"Don't!" they said in unison. They knew the consequences. After all, it was just this morning that Tracey reversed the spell to pin Lavender Brown on the ground for a good five minutes before Professor Flitwick was able to get her unstuck. Of course, all the girls laughed good-heartily, as if they had done it deliberately. But none of them wanted this to happen to poor Ladon, who they could hear mewling every so often.
"Calm down," said Tracey defensively. "It's not as if I'm going to kill anyone."
"Right," said Pansy skeptically. "Just keep that wand to yourself for now, until you've mastered that spell."
"Watch her," Millicent muttered to the other two before swiftly taking the steps down to their dormitories.
Turning back to her homework, Pansy asked randomly, "Does anyone know what the runic sign for gratitude is?"
She pointedly looked at Daphne, and without turning her head, Daphne replied, "I'm not going to help you this time."
"Why not?" Pansy whined.
"Pans, that rune is so basic. We learned that years ago. You've got to learn this yourself sometime."
"Well, it's not as if I'm going into the discipline of Ancient Rune Reader or something."
Meanwhile, Tracey, who was doodling on her scrap parchment, handed it to Pansy.
"Here you go," she said happily.
"Trace, you know I love you," Pansy told her, and continued her work.
"Why did you go and do that for?" demanded Daphne.
"She asked."
"But she's not going to learn anything if you just give her the answers."
Tracey shrugged. "Oh well. Maybe she'll memorize it."
"Fat chance," said Millicent, coming back from the staircase. "Pansy, memorizing something?"
"Shut up, Mill," Pansy cried. "Is it Pick-On-Pansy Day? Did I miss the owl?"
"What's she talking about? Every day is Pick-On-Pansy Day," whispered Tracey conspiratorially.
"I heard that!"
"You were supposed to." Tracey laughed.
"You're horrible."
"Ladon, oh Ladon," said Millicent. "Come out, Ladon."
"Millie, you have to stick your hand in more," Daphne said. "Here I'll do it."
Daphne took the fish-shaped treat from Millicent's hand and stuck her hand underneath the sofa, reaching and fumbling and—"OUCH!"
She violently removed her hand.
"What happened?" Tracey asked, bending down towards Daphne.
"Ladon bit me! The stupid cat bit me!" She turned away angrily.
"Here, will someone just help me lift the sofa so we can get this over with?" Tracey asked.
Just as Pansy was about to give up on her Ancient Runes to lift furniture with Tracey, Millicent called out, "Don't do it!"
"Why not?" Pansy questioned.
"What if he gets hurt?" said Millicent meekly.
"Well, how else do you expect this cat to get out?"
Millicent sighed. "Just leave him. He'll get out on his own."
"And if he's stuck?" asked Tracey
"I hope he's stuck," mumbled Daphne, nursing her wounds.
"It's fine, whatever," Millicent said unhappily.
The girls all sat down again, attempting to do homework once again. But this time in addition to Tracey's constant drumming and Daphne shuffling of her cards, there was a consistent mewl that bothered Millicent (and Pansy) to no end. It could be seen on Millicent's face a twinge for every cry her cat made. Nearly fed up, Pansy was itching to just get up and leave.
"Hey Tracey," said Daphne out of the blue.
"Hmm?"
"I think I found a new nickname for you. T-Star!" Daphne laughed out loud, joined with her friends.
"Ew, no! That sounds like a PlayWizard name!" cried Tracey.
"I know! That's why I picked it. See, Millicent is M-Cat, I'm Dapherz, Pansy is Flower Power—"
"Oh, don't start! I hate that name!"
Ignoring Pansy, Daphne continued on, "And you're T-Star."
"Why T-Star?" she asked.
"Well I figured, you know, you're really…bright." Daphne snickered.
"Ugh! Was that an insult, Dapherz?" Tracey spit out her nickname.
"Of course not…T-Star!" And Daphne burst out in laughter once again.
Because Daphne's laugh was so contagious, Millicent couldn't help but join in. Even Tracey was trying to hold back a smile.
"It's not that funny," said Pansy bluntly.
"Yes, it is…Flower Power!"
After counting to three in her head, Pansy was still very annoyed. She really disliked Ancient Runes and the fact that her friends were messing around made her upset. Sure, they could have fun, but here she was struggling and they decided to ignore her. She had half a mind to get up and leave.
Louder this time, Pansy said, "Honestly, I can't get any work done with you three!"
The girls suddenly quieted.
"Blimey, Pansy. Who broke your wand?" said Daphne.
"No one, nothing!" Pansy stumbled to defend herself. They were her friends after all, so she couldn't very well treat them like rubbish. "It's just…I'm trying to do something here, and it seems like all of you want to undermine me. I can't even get one stupid problem done and I've been on it for twenty minutes!"
Millicent slowly got up and sat on the arm rest of Pansy's lounge chair.
"Pans, what's really wrong?"
She took a deep sigh in and said, "Nothing."
"You can tell us," Daphne coaxed. Tracey was nodding vigorously.
"Fine," said Pansy hesitantly. "I got a 'T' on my test last Wednesday."
"A 'T'?" Millicent gasped.
"For Troll?" asked Tracey loudly.
"No, for Terrific," sneered Daphne sarcastically.
"Yes, I know, it's horrible. I've never gotten a 'T' in my life," continued Pansy. "It really lowered my overall grade. My dad sent me this awful owl today saying that if I don't raise it by the end to two weeks, I won't get to go to the next Hogsmeade trip."
"That's terrible!" Tracey said.
"Wait, don't you have something special going on that day?" asked the ever so observant Millicent.
"You have your first date with Draco!" cried Daphne.
Pansy nodded miserably. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Girls," said Daphne loudly. "We're on a mission—to save Pansy's grade so that she can go on her first date with Draco!"
"What would that be as an acronym?" wondered Tracey. "T…S…P…"
"Who cares?" Millicent interrupted.
That night Pansy couldn't have been more grateful for the friends she had. By herself, she had the ambition to follow through, but with her friends, they were a force to be reckoned with. After a determined study session, three checks by each of the girls, Pansy finally completed her assignment, confident that next week's test would come out better than last time. Her friends said they were willing to help Pansy daily, and Tracey even suggested a study session with Draco.
"Yeah right," said Pansy. "I don't want him to think I'm stupid or something."
"That's true. You want to make the best impression possible," Millicent agreed.
"Here," Daphne spoke up. "Let's find out the future of you and Draco."
Just as Daphne shuffled the cards again, Tracey began belching out the lyrics of her new favorite song and Ladon the cat came out to rest on Millicent's lap. With a comfortable smile, Pansy was content on getting her future read, listening to some tasteful music, petting her favorite feline and spending quality time with her best friends.
All was well in the Slytherin Common Room.
Author's Notes: Muggle Death Camp is an actual Wizard Rock band on Myspace. The quote from above refers to other ships as well, not only Muggle ones but relationships throughout fandom. True friendship can't be sunk. The end. I hope you enjoyed this drabble. I think Slytherins are normal kids, learning the world as they go. Please review!