Scene 3

"Black and portentous must this humour prove, unless good counsel may the cause remove."

By the end of the week, Madam Pince had overcome her smile-induced trances. Draco continued to spend his mornings lingering among the stacks and looking for Parvati, but when the librarian discovered he wasn't going to sit down and read something he found himself standing in the hallway with Professor Snape's latest book request in his hands. After all, he was Head Boy, wasn't he? He didn't seem to have anything better to do with his time, did he? He and Snape were very good friends, weren't they?

Draco scoffed at the irritable woman's words, but strode off in the direction of the dungeons all the same. He put some length in his steps and felt a twinge of satisfaction as a group of second years saw him coming and scurried off to the side of the hallway to let him pass.

"Why hello there," purred a familiar voice in his ear after he passed the Great Hall.

"Pansy," Draco replied curtly. He slowed his pace so that she match him.

"I've just heard the most hideous rumor about you, Draco," she said with a grin. "Daphne is having kittens about it."

Draco valiantly fought the urge to roll his eyes and failed. If Pansy and her gaggle ever got one of their 'hideous rumors' correct, he would eat his cloak.

"What am I supposed to have done now?" he asked.

"It involves you and a certain freckled enemy."

Pansy wouldn't know the meaning of the word discretion if it smacked her in the face. Draco sighed.

"Let me guess, I'm snogging the Weasel's sister?"

Her face fell. "How'd you know?"

Draco recounted a sanitized version of what had transpired in the library earlier that week. Pansy looked somewhat incredulous.

"You tripped? You, Draco Malfoy?" Her dark eyes sparkled with what Draco could only identify as friendly malice. For a moment, he had forgotten who he was talking with.

"Oh, all right," he said. "She tackled me."

Once upon a time, Pansy would have been both horrified and outraged. She would have swooped in to check him for wounds, and then swooped off to curse the Weaslette within an inch of her life. She would have used the incident in any way she could to prove her loyalty to him and her adoration of him.

Now, she simply laughed. Loudly.

"Bugger off," Draco huffed. He picked up the pace.

Pansy dogged his heels. "So serious, Draco," she said. She pushed her lips out in an exaggerated pout. Draco felt the color rising in his cheeks. "Surely it isn't that red-headed bimbo that's got our glorious Head Boy so worked up?"

"Red hair?" said a new voice, much deeper than Pansy's. Blaise Zabini melted out of the shadows of the hallway to join them. "Her hair's hardly red. Bimbo seems accurate though. But I hoped he'd have let her go by now."

"Dementor try-outs are next month, I think," Pansy told Blaise with a smirk. "And if you're not talking about his rather unfortunate run-in with a weasel, just who are you talking about?"

"Weasel?" Blaise sneered.

"I am right here, you know," Draco said. Somehow he had resisted the urge to sprint in the opposite direction while they talked over him. "But if you'd rather discuss my life without me, feel free. I've got to see Professor Snape." He indicated the book he carried.

Blaise, excellent friend that he was, heard the dismissal and nodded. "We'll see you in the Great Hall later," he said.

"Oh, come on now," Pansy whined. She grabbed them both before they could diverge. "Let's all go see Snape."

"At least call him 'Professor'." Draco grimaced.

"Not all of us can call him Severus," Pansy shot back.

Blaise raised his eyebrows. "Why do you really want to go down there, Parkinson?" he said. Draco recognized his resigned tone, and took a second look at Pansy's face. A brand of malicious mischief unique to Slytherins sparkled in her dark eyes. He tilted his head in interest.

"I would just hate to deprive you both of my charming company," Pansy said, batting her eyelashes.

Draco and Blaise shared an amused look.

"Indeed," Blaise said.

"Which professor's wrath are we avoiding now?" Draco added.

Instead of answering, Pansy smiled.

They were nearly to the dungeons when a crimson-faced Ron Weasley flew up the stairs, his usual posse behind him. Potter and Granger were nearly as red as their companion. All three skidded to a halt in front of the Slytherins.

"Bitch!" Weasley yelped. His wand was out the instant he saw Pansy.

Angry though they were, his friends kept their wits about them. Potter grabbed the back of Weasley's robes as Granger tackled his wand arm. Draco crossed his own arms and watched the spectacle with a grin. No need for wands here.

"Ten point from Gryffindor for the expletive, I think," he mused out loud.

Blaise sniggered appreciatively. "Never thought I'd see the day," he remarked to the others. "A Weasel done up as a Slytherin harlot."

Weasley's robes flashed in a shimmering pattern of green and silver scales. From the bunched up fabric he had tucked under his off-wand arm it looked like the rest of his school robes had been enchanted with the same spell.

"Glad to see you finally understand who rules the school," Draco said. "I knew even a blood traitor couldn't ignore it forever."

"Shut it, Malfoy," Potter grated before Weasley could choke his own reply out. Smart.

Pansy mimicked Potter's words in a sing-song tone. "Shut it. Shut it. Is that all you Gryffindors know how to do? You're supposed to be soooo brave. How about some action to back up those words?" She twirled her wand between her fingers. Beside her, Blaise drew his wand as well.

Draco glanced at Granger, still holding gamely on to Weasley's arm. Her Head Girl pin gleamed on her lapel. She returned Draco's stare with cold intensity. She didn't have to say anything though; he knew what she was thinking. What kind of Head Boy let other students make blatant threats with magic?

He gave Granger the same grin he'd used on Madam Pince as he drew his own wand.

"Come on then," he goaded. "Weasley there can be our cheerleader."

Weasley let out an incoherent howl, and Potter was forced to throw his full weight into holding him back. Draco and Pansy quaked with laughter, Blaise looking on with a dark grin.

"I'll be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this!" Granger said with a distinctly McGonagall-like sniff.

"That's right, Granger," Pansy taunted. "Run to the headmaster like the little girl you are. At least Draco has the guts to stand up for his House!"

Granger shook her head. "Let's go, Harry," she muttered. "We should get Ron out of here before any of us does something we'll regret."

Potter's mouth twitched, but he nodded. The two of them dragged Weasley around the Slytherins as the redhead expelled several more obscenities.

"That's twenty points down, Weasley!" Draco called after them. He stowed his wand with a chuckle.

"Excellent spell," Blaise congratulated Pansy once the Gryffindors had gone.

"Oh, Theo did it," Pansy said, giggling. "You know how brilliant he is. I'll bet it will take ages for Flitwick and McGonagall to sort it out."

"Brilliant, is he?" Draco said slyly. Blaise winked.

But Pansy refused to be embarrassed. "You know he is," she said simply. "Now, can we all agree on our plan for tonight? We've got the upper hand. Let's not lose it."

Draco's thoughts drifted as Pansy and Blaise got down to the business of crashing Gryffindor tower. He had his own plans tonight, and they did not involve abusing Potter's friends, as amusing as that was. He still wasn't exactly sure how to lure Parvati away from the party, but he knew this would be his best chance to see her alone.

"For Merlin's sake. He's doing it again."

"Not to worry, Parkinson. Not to worry. I've got the perfect distraction for him tonight…"