CHAPTER 2

The Slytherin Common Room was filled with buzzing sounds as most of the students got back from their classes at the end of the day. Most of the first years were in their rooms, exhausted to boot and still trying to adjust to their new environment; while the rest of them were scattered into small little groups, doing their own thing. The dark emerald couch that was situated in front of the majestic fireplace was the best place in the room with an unspoken rule bestowed upon it. The couch was only to be used by those who are privileged and respected in the Slytherin House. For people like Pansy, Blaise, and Millicent, they had the opportunity of enjoying the warmth of the fire, talking about how their summers went just to pass away time while they waited for sleep to arrive.

"Mother insisted on going to Paris last summer, Blaise said before blowing her nails and continued on filing them. "They have the most beautiful dress robes. Mother tells me that if I am to marry a suitable man, I had to be presentable as not to disgrace my husband."

Millicent shifted nervously. "My Mother and Father are worried. If I don't find a suitable husband by the end of the school year, they will have no choice but to arrange and most possibly, negotiate a marriage for me."

"Negotiate?" Pansy asked, thinking of how absurd the idea was. "We are not things to be bartered or traded, nor are we gifts to be given to ill-gutted males as though we are ornaments. We are women of good lineage, descendants of the Best and Wealthiest Slytherin Families for centuries. We will not allow ourselves to sit in a house and knit little sweaters or follow our husbands like little puppy dogs after years of inhuman homework, being elbow to elbow with those filthy Mudbloods during classes and enduring the horrible teachers in this school!"

The flames from the fireplaces were clearly reflected in the two girls who listened attentively to Pansy, excited by the almost rebellious theme. At such a young age, they were brought up to believe that their purpose in life was to marry rich and to produce an heir to continue on the legacy of their male dominated society. Pansy's idea sounded daft. Neither of them knew whether it was lunacy or brilliance, but the different point of view felt sweet on the ears.

As though coming out of the air, a blonde boy threw himself in between Pansy and Millicent, making Millicent drop the cookie she was nibbling. He was then followed by 2 two boulder-shaped boys who crushed Blaise between them like cheese and two loaves of bread.

"Crikey," Millicent squeezed her way out slowly to reach for the pieces of the cookie down the green carpet.

"Urgh. Bullstrode. Have another cookie. That's not very sanitary, Draco whined, leaning towards Pansy as Millicent made her way out. "Cross that out. If you have another one, you won't be able to fit back into this couch."

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled in chorus while Millicent looked at her cookie hesitantly before throwing it out the garbage.

Draco raised his feet on the silver center table, sliding from his seat a little. "And while youre at it, Bullstrode, would you give me a foot massage? All this walking because of this Head Boy business made me feel like I've walked from Hogsmeade and back. Come on, think of it was a first day welcome back gift." He smiled like a Cheshire cat, winking flirtatiously at the girl.

"How would you like a black eye and a swelling bum for your second day welcome back gift?" Pansy threatened, her stony brown eyes looking at Draco's silver ones.

"I don't remember asking your opinion, woman," Draco hissed, standing up in anger.

"I don't remember waiting for your approval," Pansy answered back, now on her feet as well, fingering her wand dangerously inside her robe pocket. Blaise, Millicent, Crabbe, and Goyle moved aside, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire that was about to take place.

"A proper woman should know to hold her tongue in a presence of a man!" he shouted angrily, pulling out his wand, pointing it at Pansy.

Pansy took out her wand instantly and pointed it at Draco almost as fast as he did. "My mouth is something that even all of your money cannot purchase! I will say whatever I like when I feel like it whether it is in a presence of a man or not!"

Both wands were shaking at their owners' hands, warming up and ready to hex at any second. Blaise and Millicent ran to Pansy's side and seized out their wands while Crabbe and Goyle kept their place next to Malfoy doing the same. The rest of the room, now fully aware of the event, divided themselves by gender into two groups, the males standing behind Draco and the females behind Pansy.

"Without us men, you women have no purpose," Draco spat out, still keeping his wand pointed at Pansy. "You have no one to serve, no one to produce for and no one to answer to."

"Without us women, you men have no direction," Pansy spat back. "You have nothing to eat, nothing to wear and nothing to call upon to!"

"That's what house elves are for!" Goyle called out and hoots of triumph from the male side were heard.

"Then why don't you marry them instead!" the usually shy Blaise exclaimed, surprising Pansy and Millicent.

"Do you presume we have to be House Elves ourselves to marry one?" Crabbe asked, scratching his head while the thought swam in his not-so-developed brain.

"Err.. blimey. I don't know," Goyle answered, looking a bit perturbed.

Draco rolled his eyes in disbelief. After all these years, the chance of Crabbe and Goyle having a decent sense of logic has never been farther than this moment.

"Cream of the crop, the two of you," Pansy snorted, making the rest of the girls to erupt in laughter.

"Laugh if you will, ladies. Let's see who'll be crying and begging us to come back to buy you your roses and little chocolates!" Malcolm Baddock quipped from behind.

"The only people who will be doing the begging will be you lot, when you've got no one to copy your notes from!" another girl, Soleil de Pardieu declared.

"Ladies, tell us, who will catch the frogs you'll need for transfiguration?" Brice Butteringer posed a question that appeared very much more like a challenge to the girls.

"Face it, Parkinson," Draco uttered darkly, regaining his reason." Women are weak, just like you. Can't even stand being mad at me for more than a minute!" Malfoy said, half-smiling, half-smirking while slowly placing his wand back in his pocket, assuming his victory.

"And on the contrary, Malfoy," Pansy rebutted, "I am not the one who lowered my wand first! You did!"

Draco faced hardened, storming towards the stairs that lead to the boy's dormitory, grabbing Crabbe and Goyle by the robe. His anger was rising up in him again as the realization dawned upon him that he has just been outwitted---by a girl.

"This--- isn't over, Pansy!" he stopped halfway through the staircase with the rest of the male population trailing his steps with the same fury. "When all is said and done, you will eat your words till they make you sick!"

"Not unless you eat your words first, MALFOY!" Pansy shouted, stomping towards the opposite direction, followed by Millicent, Blaise and rest of the girls.

"Fine!" Draco voiced echoed unto the concave ceilings.

"Fine!" Pansy retorted with the equal force in her voice.

"FINE!" was the deafening last words from both men and women inside the Slytherin House before entering their respective dormitories.


PANSY

"Men!!!!" I exclaimed frustratingly before muffling my scream with my pillow as soon as I flopped down my bed. "Can't they just accept that they need us to justify their pathetic, mundane existence?"

Blaise and Millicent sat on their beds quietly and I immediately knew they were terrified at the things they had just done. Once our parents found out about what had just happened, I was almost sure that we all were to get Howlers tomorrow morning, mine being the loudest, of course. Not only did I insult a man in public but I insulted a Malfoy. If news reached my father, I'd find myself chained to my bedpost without a week's meal faster than the Hogwarts Express could bring me home. That's it Pansy, you'll really get yourself killed by Father this time.

I looked at my roommates' faces. They weren't really good at keeping their thoughts to themselves.

"Father will surely disown me now," Millicent whimpered softly.
Oh great. Dammit.

"Pull yourself together, Bullstrode. Don't you dare say you didn't enjoy the look on Malfoy's face when I offered him a black eye and a swollen bum," I grinned, in the hopes of getting their fire back.

I looked at Blaise for backup but she was still shivering from the experience. I glanced back at Millicent whom to my relief, was grinning back besides the tears she was wiping from her cheeks. "Asking me to massage his feet, that bastard. I am a woman of lineage and ambition. HE should be massaging my feet!"

Blaise suddenly came alive as though a switch was flicked open. "We will not tolerate being treated as though we are the same level as that Mudblood Granger and the rest of those unsophisticated dirty bloods."

I sat up quickly and looked at them earnestly. "We are Slytherin women. We were chosen by the same ruddy hat, are we not? We are as deserving to be in this house as the men are and we shall refuse to become mere objects of lust and substitute for boredom! Spread the word to the girls. This will be a new year for the Slytherins. This is the year Draco Malfoy wished he didn't get in the way of Lady Pansy Parkinson!"


DRACO

"Bloody women!" I threw my hands in the air exasperatedly. "All over you one moment then ready to hex you on the next! They're all nutters, the lot of them." How dare that woman humiliate me in front of the whole House like that, making me as though I was as dim-witted as Crabbe and Goyle. I paced around the room uneasily.

"Wait till our parents hear about this!" Goyle grabbed his quill and a piece of parchment, itching to owl his Father.

"No. Don't!" I took hold of Goyle's hand quickly.

"No?" Crabbe repeated, astonished.

"Can't you see? That's exactly what they want us to do. Run to our mummies for help, thus proving their point that they're the stronger sex."

Crabbe and Goyle stared at me for a moment; their minds seemed to be ticking for once.

"But why are we not writing to our mums again?"

"Why on Merlin's hat did I even bother explaining things to you two?" I sighed.

Note to Self: Don't EVER entertain impossibility of finding anything remotely close to intelligence in Crabbe and Goyle.

"Just tell the rest of us not to owl their parents. If the girls want a war, then by Salazar Slytherin's name, they shall get one!"

"Yeah!" Crabbe and Goyle yelled in unison.

"What are you waiting for? Go around the dormitories! We are the heirs and the future of the upper class wizarding families and we will not be beaten by the very women who are supposed to granting our every whim! This is the year Pansy Parkinson wished she didn't get in the way of the Amazing Draco Malfoy!"