A/N: This might be the last chapter for a couple of days - I never have time to write except on Saturday mornings. So have fun with it! Thanks for the reviews so far.
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Chapter Three

Theodore, Blaise, and Millicent were invited to Pansy's on the second day of summer. She paraded them around her frilly, arched mother and dark, secluded father as if they were precious artifacts. She showed them all the rooms in her mansion, and told Theodore he could take any books he wanted from the library - "since you read so much." She even gave Millicent one of the kittens from her cat's litter, which Millicent cooed over like it was an infant. Pansy was an excellent hostess.

They spent the whole summer there, being bossed about by Pansy in a maternal sort of way, swimming in the pond behind her house and chasing gnomes in the garden. In the last week of holiday, Pansy's mother insisted they invited Daphne Greengrass, who came looking rather upset at the prospect. Pansy fixed that by bossing her just as much as the rest and making her feel like she belonged. They played chess outside and when they were sick of losing to Blaise, Daphne made obstacle courses for them to go through on their brooms. She was an adept flier, and soon she and Theodore were having long involved conversations about Quidditch.

"I'm a Chaser, myself," she told him, "so I won't try out next year. But the year after there'll be two open spots, and I'll get one of them."

Theodore didn't want to tell her that their hadn't been a girl on the Slytherin team for nearly forty years, because she looked very eager, but he thought it very hard at her, just in case the vibes lowered her confidence a little. He didn't want her to be disappointed.

"You know, I was spending the summer at Connie's house with her and Tracey," she said, "but my mother insisted I come here. She said she didn't want her daughter spending the entire summer with the Lestrange family. I thought she liked Connie."

Daphne was terrible at History of Magic, so she probably didn't know that two of Constance's uncles and her aunt were in Azkaban prison, and that her mother simply didn't like that Constance's family had gotten caught.

"Don't worry too much about it," Millicent said, petting Artemis serenely on the porch swing. Millicent was the sort of person who thought everyone would get along eventually. "Everything's going to be okay."

And it was okay, for a little while. When they got back, Malfoy trained like an idiot to get the Seeker spot, and he secretly told Pansy who secretly told Theodore that his father had promised new brooms to the team if he made it. Theodore, thinking of his own father, wondered what it would be like to need that kind of acceptance. Malfoy was terribly open about his father.

Pansy grinned like a fool when he made the team and the other second years were proud for him. Blaise and Theodore laughed their arses off at the look on Harry Potter's face when he saw the new brooms. They laughed at Lockhart's fruitless attempts at teaching and the way Tracey, Daphne, and Constance fell over themselves to get his attention. They laughed when Michael Corner and Anthony Goldstein fainted because their earmuffs weren't on tight enough for the mandrake lesson in Herbology. Actually, they spent most of their time laughing at other people, and each other, until Mrs. Norris was attacked.

Malfoy told them they would all be safe, and he said it with such confidence that Theodore believed him. It didn't stop them from huddling in little groups in fear, and Constance from waking up screaming about monsters and Petrification and the cold, cold dark. But it wasn't the monsters that were the worst part - it was the rest of the school.

"Has anyone else noticed that none of the Slytherins are getting attacked?" said one of the garrish Weasley twins in the hallway one day. Pansy whirled on them instantly.

"Yes, but we're not attacking anyone either," she said, gripping her wand with white knuckles.

The Weasleys laughed in her face. "You expect us to believe that? All Slytherin is, is a Death Eater training camp."

Millicent cracked her knuckles threateningly, which was the first semi-violent thing Theodore had ever seen her do, and the Weasley's laughed again but looked slightly more afraid.

"Your stupid gorilla can't scare us," said the other Weasley. Pansy's fist was in his crotch before he knew what was happening.

"You stupid Slytherin bitch!" the first yelled and jumped on her. Theodore launched himself into the ensuing fray before he knew what was happening, Raphael's words ringing in his ear. Sometimes all you have are your own. Theodore was hitting and kicking and ducking as best he could while rolling around on the ground.

"What precisely is going on here?" Professor Snape came striding into their midst, outraged. "I have never seen such a display of behavior."

Theodore looked up to find that it was only he and the Weasley who were fighting. Pansy was watching with vested interest and Millicent and Blaise were keeping the other one back.

"They called Millicent a gorilla, Professor!" Pansy yelled instantly.

"She hit me, sir!" the fallen Weasley said.

"And you pounced on her?" Snape sneered. "Fighting a lady, Weasley. Terribly ungentleman-like. Twenty points from Gryffindor."

"What about Nott?" cried the other twin. "He was fighting too!"

"He was obviously defending Miss Parkinson's honor," said Snape flippantly. Theodore felt a surge of what might have been affection for the man as the Weasleys' jaws dropped in outrage and disgust. "Don't let me see this happen again or you'll cleaning the trophy room so long your grandchildren will be joining you."

Back in the boy's dormitory, Pansy helped him apply Healing ointment on his various wounds because Madame Pomfrey fussed too much, and would insist on writing his father. Blaise hung about the edge of the bed looking wildly amused. "You're crazy, Theo," he said with a slight chuckle. "Those Weasleys are gigantic."

"I don't care," Theodore said, shaking. Blaise smirked and Theodore stuck his tongue out at him. They were silent for a few more moments, and it grew awkward rather quickly.

"Why do they hate us so much?" Pansy wondered. "We aren't hurting anybody. We're just kids."

Blaise shrugged. "It doesn't matter what they think. We're going to come out on top anyway."

"I hope the monster gets them all," Pansy spat. "I hope it gets all of them."

Theodore held her hand then because she was his friend and she was scared and hurt and angry. He couldn't remember ever having touched someone out of affection, but Pansy seemed to appreciate it.

After that day, Malfoy ordered all of them to never leave the common room unaccompanied. Theodore didn't argue, and neither did Pansy, who usually wouldn't even let Malfoy tell her what to do. "We'll be fine." Malfoy said it like it was an order. "We just have to keep our heads about us and we'll be okay."

Vince woke up screaming one night, and all the girls rushed into the boy's dorm room. "I was sure someone had been killed," said Daphne with tears in her eyes. Tracey held her hand and sobbed openly and Constance seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

"We'll be fine," Draco kept saying. "Everything's going to be fine. Don't be afraid."

What he meant was, You are not allowed to be afraid, and Theodore found himself obeying without even thinking. They made a pile of blankets on the floor and huddled together, pretending to be strong and almost forgetting that nothing was really normal anymore.

They were saved, of course, by Harry Potter, and they lost the House Cup again, and Draco ranted and raved. Theodore was just happy that they were safe and sound, happy that they could go home and write each other and be okay.

"I know my father's been fired," Draco said on the train, "and it might not be advantageous for any of you to be seen with me anymore."

"Shut up, Draco," Pansy snapped. "Don't be stupid."

The rest of them nodded their agreement. Draco looked pleased. "I should have known I was irresistable to you all," he said. "I'm so clever. What would you do without me?"

Theodore rolled his eyes along with Blaise, but secretly wondered what they really would have done if he hadn't been there to tell them they were okay.

Sometimes all you have are your own.