"And Power-hungry Slytherin loved those of great Ambition." –The Sorting Hat

*The summer leading up to Fifth year*

"For Merlin's sake Nott, catch the bloody thing!" Daphne called over the high winds that blew Pansy slightly from her position on her broom despite her knees locked tightly around the wooden object, down below her, Pansy was able to make out the faint out loud of the handsome Manor below, the distorted image of yet another albino peacock roaming along the yew hedges made her smile.

She was almost dizzily unaware of the of the hurtling Bludger heading in her direction, and as swift turn to her right and a hair rising whack with the bat from Zabini, she managed to avoid falling to her death at a distance of 50 feet, the mist that hung about the architectural genius almost seemed to cloak them further from the neighbouring Muggle towns –excluding the muggle repellent charms Draco's ancestors had drawn within a 50 or so mile radius of the home.

Pansy's hands felt numb, and her ears and nose felt far too red and exposed for her liking, however she tried not to dwell on her imperfections too long, her eyes were too busy scanning the sky for the Golden Snitch, Tracey's shrill squeals as she edged further from her defensive position of Draco's teams' goal hoops meant that her own team were much further ahead than she had previously anticipated.

Currently the scores were 50-20.

On her team were Daphne, Blaise, Rebecca and Goyle.

On Draco's were Tracey, Crabbe, Theodore and Millicent.

Both teams were evenly disadvantaged.

"Move it people! I'm sure Creevy's gran has more life in her, and for she's a muggle for fuck's sake!" Daphne yelled out once more, she had taken to the over use of obscenities after her aunt had taken her to see a particularly provocative play, apparently it showed more than brief nudity –something her parent's hadn't known about when they gave her permission.

Pansy dove down nearer towards the more stereotypical looking mermaid fountain, her quivering hand outstretched in front of her, as she dared her Firebolt to leap further forward –after several months of pleading her parents had given into the idea that she simply needed a Firebolt upon her visit to the Malfoy's during the summer, her mother had of course been more lenient to the idea it was her father who didn't seem able to understand his daughter's latest whim.

The wind and 'spit' (spit being another word for slight rain, barely present but there non-the-less) raced against her ears causing all other sounds to fall on deaf ear drums, her heart was racing wildly within her chest, Draco was ahead of her of course, his prized Slytherin robes billowed in the wind as he swerved expertly as though he were already able to determine the next movement of the winged ball before it itself had even contemplated it

Pansy was already well aware of the fact that she would most likely be unable to even catch a decent glimpse of the snitch in flight before Draco caught it, however the impact of her putting up an adequate fight for it would be enough for her to be able to bask in the warmth of Draco's praise, temporarily.

She alongside Tracey, the Notts, Bulstrode and Daphne had been invited alongside the Zabinis –Blaise and his mother, and The Goyles –Greg and his parents, to come around for the day, the invitation had not of course extended to their parents.

However Violet –Pansy's mother, had decided that it was only a matter of time that she herself be invited along privately to one of Narcissa's famous tea parties, similarly to her daughter Violet suffered from the idealism that Pansy was already a Malfoy in waiting.

It was her who had initially introduced the two Slytherin's to one another, much to Narcissa's dismay.

Mrs Parkinson was five or so years younger than Mrs Malfoy, and portrayed an ever present eagerness to please her, she had anticipated Lucius' marriage to Narcissa with almost as much anxiousness as she had anticipated her own, during the times in which Lucius was a well-known and highly desirable 'playboy-ish' bachelor Violet similar to many other young women of her time had fancied him a great deal, however it didn't come as much of a surprise to her when Narcissa Black whom she had idolised as being the only remaining Black remaining at Hogwarts –excluding Regulus and Sirius' side of the family, and who was something of a Socialite went on to marry him.

According to Violet although Narcissa had been in the final years of her education when she had enrolled into the school, she can distinctively remember conversations –more likely over heard, of Narcissa reminiscing over time spent with Lucius over the summer, and Pansy's mother being as intuitive as she was knew from that moment on wards that Lucius and Narcissa were destined in fact, she was so certain of it, she had won a 100 galleon prize through Witch Weekly for submitting them her guess of the wedding date.

It only came as a slight shock that just as she was leaving her seventh year of Hogwarts –fresh from school, she fell pregnant with her soon to be husband and long term boyfriend Thomas' child, it came as an even greater shock –she had apparently almost fainted with glee over the news, that Lucius and Narcissa were also expecting a child.

And a mere two months separating the births, Pansy and Draco came into the world.

With a mother as fanatical and ambitious as Violet it was a wonder Pansy had turned out the way she had.

*presently*

Pansy sat in platonic silence as she pushed her food around on her plate, she had purposely sat so she was facing the Gryffindor table, it was an excuse for her to zone out of the mind numbing conversation that was taking place around her, and it was also an excuse for her to sneer whenever Daphne or Draco spoke to one another without anyone sending her one of their so called pitiful glances.

She sighed glancing down at her bagel feeling as though every bite required more effort than she was willing to give, her Herbology book was set out in front of her but despite the slight movement of the somewhat boring Venus-fly-trap, she still couldn't bring herself to focus on anything, it seemed like the day was just moving in slow motion around her.

Tracey's sudden laugh jerked her back into the current situation, she narrowed her eyes slightly at the auburn haired girl who was busy looking towards a passing seventh year couple, Adrastea Doherty and Sean Champion had been in an on and off again relationship since fourth year, most of the time it seemed that they were both more interested in the melodrama of their relationship than the idea of actually being with one another, currently it seemed they were on the verge of yet another public break up.

"Well then why don't you tell me why I found this, in your dorm?!" Adrastea exclaimed dramatically pulling out a set of feather like ear rings from the pocket of her robes and dangling them in front of Sean's face, as a group of Ravenclaw girls –presumably friends of Adrastea, took it upon themselves to add gasps of shock which soon had a majority of the hall whispering amongst themselves as Sean balled his hands into fists as his, an angry red blush began working its way up his neck.

"I don't know, that seems like one of those dangly things you always seem to be pinning to yourself." He shot back shaking his head at her.

"I do not wear fake earrings, unlike some girls I know like Cathy." Doherty spat in return causing more heads to turn towards the tense Hufflepuff girl who was now looking panicked towards Sean, the latter didn't even glance her way in return.

"Like Cathy? So what?! In case you haven't noticed Adra, I do share a room; she could have gotten off with anyone." Sean snapped turning away and storming angrily out of the hall, with a mildly shocked Adrastea and a small group of Ravenclaws trailing behind them.

Pansy smirked slightly to herself; it seemed that Ravenclaw wasn't quite as 'greater-than-thou' as they seemed.

"Trouble in paradise again." Draco smirked as he raised his glass towards his lips and smoothly swallowed down his pumpkin juice.

Despite herself, Pansy sent a sideways glance in Daphne's direction, watching as the blonde let a smile slip across her face –during the past few days that ever present arrogant smile of what almost boarder lined on pity was ever present on Daphne's face whenever she looked towards Pansy, and each time Pansy had to dig her finger nails into the palms of her hands to avoid the ever present itch to reach across the table and drag Greengrass across the room by her luscious blond hair.

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure the only reason they get together is so that they can break-up again." Daphne added taking an identical swig of her own pumpkin juice.

Rebecca let out a short shrill like laugh that made Pansy's insides churn a little.

The owl post chose that moment to arrive, and Pansy glanced up with more than the usual feeling of trepidation. There was no good news that could come from the owl post; especially not today. She didn't want to hear from her parents. Even if her father had gotten the promotion, then it wouldn't do Pansy any good seeming as she was resolved to never speaking to a certain arrogant blonde ever again –whether or not she meant Draco or Daphne didn't matter to her anymore, they were both effectively dead to her.

Predictably, a familiar owl dropped a letter directly into Pansy's porridge. Millicent and Tracey at least had the decency to cover and turn their faces away before they snickered; of course Rebecca being as slow as she usually was, gave out the shrill laugh of her's again gaining her a swift scowl from Pansy who hesitantly peeled away the letter from her bowl, shooting the bird a foul look as he cocked his head towards her.

"You're expecting a reward of some kind, aren't you, Charleston?" she growled.

She was met by a blank stare from the barn owl.

Pansy gave a disgusted sigh and offered the bird a piece of toast, which it took and flew off without so much as a by your leave. She shook her head as she watched it return toward her mother's correspondence room back home. Paying more for the "best" was clearly overrated.

She opened the previously crisp white envelope and clenched her teeth together hoping it would give her a look of monotone to whatever news she received, however she could practically feel the anxiety radiating from others around her, and didn't need to glance up to know that even Draco's eyes were focused on her, and Pansy didn't hesitate to reveal in the feeling of his undivided attention.

"Draco," Came the distinctive voice of Vaisey Urquhart, who had now replaced Montague as both a Chaser and Captain for the Slytherin team, Urquhart brushed his choppy dark hair back before looking appraisingly at the Malfoy heir, the distinctive hand shaped mark around his neck suggested that he too had had a less than pleasant holiday.

Pansy looked up towards Draco who had now diverted his gaze towards Urquhart, and watched as the usual wayward smirk came across his pale features, she could see how his chest almost seemed to square even beneath his school robes, and the way he almost seemed to draw complete attention to his askew green and silver tie without even touching it –it was one of the things she had marveled in last year during their brief but sacred time together spent as prefects.

"Urquhart." He replied equally as distinctive, his arm which had previously been draped around Daphne's shoulder like an ill-fitting shawl was now set down stiffly onto the wooden table top, "I believe we've already had this discussion before, my answer is still the same. No."

Vaisey at least had the self-control not to look too shocked or perhaps unsettled by Draco's words, however despite his best efforts the vein on his temple seemed to double in size, despite no longer taking a keen interest in the sport of Quidditch since Draco's sudden departure from the team, Pansy was still aware of how hard it was to find a decent seeker especially considering how eager the first years had gotten since the Toss-pot, had managed to make school history by being the youngest seeker in a century.

"What about you Crabbe? Still up for knocking some sense into a few of our fellow students?" Vaisey asked the corners of his lips pulled up into what was intended to be a persuading smile however reeked of desperation and pumpkin pasties to anyone with a brain, fortunately for Urquhart, Crabbe was very easily convinced on most occasions.

"He hasn't got the time." Draco answered, in a tone that rivaled that of a well-rehearsed theatre director.

Urquhart let out a shaky breath through his nostrils, his gaze momentarily moving towards Goyle before thinking better of it once more and turning back towards Draco, his dark eyes narrowing, whilst Draco's pale eyebrow was raised in mock engrossment, the elder boy gave a curt nod towards the rest of the table before stalking away.

Leaving an awkward silence in his wake.

It was Tracey who had managed to break it, "So Pans, what's it about?" She said propping her elbows up against the table, her breakfast had long since grown cold after the recent entertainment provided by their fellow students, however the drama didn't quite seem to satisfy Davis' itch for trivia.

All eyes were once again turned towards her, some –Crabbe and Goyle's in particular, seemingly more eager for the swift change in topic, Pansy however paused taking the time to momentarily revile once more in the undivided attention, her hands clasping a little firmer to her letter, she took what she had hoped appeared to be a coy look around the room before allowing her gaze to settle momentarily on Draco, the blonde however remained unresponsive, Daphne in contrast seemed to shift almost uncomfortably.

"None of your business you insufferable Pigmypuff." Pansy smirked a little in response to Tracey; she had made up her mind. Regardless of whether or not her news was worthy of sharing to the group, she would retain a slight air of mystery by keeping it to herself, the less people who knew the better, it made her ability to keep her mouth shut –a trait both Daphne and all the other girls of their circle, excluding Millicent lacked.

"It's probably just your Mum, writing to say that once again, she's having a jolly time not being invited over to Narcissa's tea… Again." Daphne piped up, resulting in a small wave of snickering spreading from Rebecca right down to Goyle, even Draco's lips twitched up into a slight smile at that, and he turned his head back towards the blonde beauty, and leaning in –in a way in which Pansy had only literally dreamt of him doing to her, whispered into her ear before placing what looked like a meticulous kiss against her ivory neck.

Pansy snorted with mock amusement –an act she would later berate herself for. "Actually Greengrass, my mother is not as pathetic as to worry herself over such trivial thing as 'social climbing', especially over some poxy tea."

Merlin's beard, would Draco hate her now? She had just undermined his mother's tea, the idea of apologizing for it had popped into her mind briefly, honestly she was sure that Narcissa's tea tasted brilliant; and who cared if perhaps she was telling a faint lie, who cared if there was the slightest possibility that the Malfoy family had made Violet as eager to please as they had made Pansy.

Rebecca all but gasped at Pansy's words, and Draco's lips paused momentarily from their occupation caressing Daphne's ears, both blonde's gazes turned towards her, as though each were as uncertain of what measure of retribution they should take against her blasphemy.

The brunette however, wasn't too eager to linger much longer, she pushed herself up from her spot on the bench, grabbed her Herbology text book with both hands, clamping the pages against one another once more before stowing them disorganized into her bag, she reached forward, shoving her letter into the pocket of her robe, before reaching out for her essay, her unsteady hands knocking the ink forward and allowing the onyx liquid to flourish across the table.

She almost let out a growl of frustration, feeling somewhat hot tears begin to form in her eye sockets, however not from sadness from anger at her own severe lack of self-control and how desperately she wished to be able to reach forward and grind Daphne's –and in this case Draco's as well, face against the ink stained table.

She retrieved the remains of her now thoroughly blemished essay with some of her remaining ferocity and pivoted.

She marched determinedly out of the hall, sparing no-one so much as a backwards glance.

She didn't look at Draco, nor did she acknowledge Daphne as Professor Sprout lectured the class about their current assignment for the day, to gather Foxglove, she barely felt the urge to toss an insult Finnegan's way –he was looking much too happy for her liking.

In fact her lunch time experienced seemed to have left Pansy feeling so discouraged that she had lowered herself to getting the equipment, something Potter merely raised his stubby eyebrows at in response.

As they walked the familiar passage through the heavily blooming trees that had previously led them to the fortune of meeting Sidebottom and 'she-who-should-be-strung-up-by-her-knickers', this time however the thick layer of trees only seemed to increase the tension between the Slytherin Princess and The Boy Who lived, as they walked in a mutual silence, neither acknowledging the other, which saved them from an afternoon full of begrudging insults.

Pansy's eyes glanced down towards her shoes, she paused for a moment amusing herself with the idea of what Dumbledore's response would have been if a wild batch of Devil's Snare had managed to enslave Greengrass on her expedition, when Potter finally opened his mouth to speak.

"I take it you saw Sean and Adrastea this morning." He said coolly, his tone neither conveying a heavy dosage of prejudice nor a friendlier atmosphere.

"If this is your way of presenting me with humdrum chit-chat Potter, I think I'll pass."

Harry's brows pulled together, and for a moment his glasses seemed to slide further down his nose as he glanced at her before kicking the dirt with his feet as they continued on, it was at least another five minutes of half-hearted searching on both their parts before he spoke again.

"What did you think of that match the other night, between Puddlemere and Cork?" He asked.

"Between who and who?" Pansy asked glancing back at him over her shoulder as she poked a cautious stick towards what looked to her to be a slightly malnourished yew bush.

"Puddlemere and Cork… you know the Quidditch teams." Potter said with what she assumed was his attempt at a civil or perhaps somewhat exasperated sigh.

"Do I look like I mindlessly troll through the sports pages of The Daily Prophet?" The Slytherin asked shooting him an almost affronted look, however there was that brief time during third year when she had in the hopes that due to the upcoming buzz over the Quidditch World cup, Draco might think she was interesting enough to even consider inviting, it had worked for a short period of time until she had mixed up Cybèle Peltier and Alexiei Levski.

"I dunno, you might be so interesting as to have a hobby, or perhaps this whole ice-cold bitch thing isn't simply an exterior, it's just you." The Gryffindor shot back.

Pansy narrowed her eyes turning completely towards him, her temper once again rising, perhaps now she might have taken on some sort of steely expression as she stared him down –and he mirrored her, her hands were clenched tightly to her side.

"Listen Pot-head, unlike you some of us can't just float by because we managed to get a weather designed scar stupidly placed onto our undersized foreheads." She retorted, her hands were eager to reach into her robes and feel the familiarity of her wand as it submitted to her every whim.

Harry snorted, his green eyes rolled behind the protection of their circular glasses, and his lips pulled up into a slight smirk, half caught between mild offense and to the same extent, amusement. "Oh really, and what is it exactly that the rest of you get by on? Inbreeding and a worrying affection for green?"

Pansy felt her blood boil a bit more at that comment, perhaps if her day had been somewhat more accommodating and perhaps if she didn't have the slight threat of yet another misdemeanor on her part against Draco, than maybe she would have appreciated Potter's words as less insulting and aggravating, and a little bit more well-crafted.

"Better than polluting and a cynical sense of superiority due to your own affection for red."

"Oh right, angst, a Slytherin's alternative to real problems." Harry said crossing his arms over his chest, he took on a look of self-satisfaction that Pansy had only truly seen on Draco's face before, an expression that only seemed to come onto his face when he had ruffled up Weasley to the point in which he was told to leave the class, or out witting a cocky fourth year.

And if The Chosen One, thought he had even the faintest idea about real problems, he was highly mistaken, the world was nothing compare to insincere smiles shared between two teenage girls, to the feeling that over took you when a former friend betrayed you, to the continuous battle for power, attention, boys, sex, to be the funniest, to be the pretties, to hide all flaws and imperfections, to the embarrassment and shame you'd have to undergo for days after the slightest bad hair day.

The dark-lord could take a few pointers from Pansy if he really wanted to know how to derail a Hogwarts student's spirits.

"Real problems?" The Brunette found herself repeating, her voice coming out somewhat harsher than she had intended however it seemed to do the trick, Potter's smile did seem to waver if not briefly. "As if you would know about real problems! Hogwarts is like your kingdom, oh boohoo Snape doesn't like me, oh boohoo Umbridge said I was wrong, oh Dumbledore, oh McGonagall, you've even got the house elves siding with you, what on earth would you know about real problems Toss-pot!"

Harry's face seemed to flush red with an equal bout of anger as he stared back at Pansy, his hands balled up into fists and he opened his mouth as though to bombard her with a rain of night terrors that he had experienced during his time saving the school –on numerous occasions, however he seemed to think better of it, and with much self-restraint turned on his heel.

"I'm going to check the south end." He said with gritted teeth, before stalking away once more.

Pansy was left, face still flushed with anger, hands still clenched, however hot tears of frustration had managed to spill over this time.

A/N: Hello, I hope none of you have lost faith or hope in the story and I apologize profoundly for the lateness of this chapter, a lot of fragments of it where written much, much earlier however I struggled to put them together, again I'm sorry.

I had some trouble continuing on with the story not from lack of trying but from a bad case of writers block, I had many ideas on how this chapter should go, however I had trouble either holding them long enough to write them down, or making them into decipherable sentence.. but the story must continue I hope that you enjoyed the increase in communication between Harry and Pansy, initially it was supposed to end on a bit of a friendlier note than that believe it or not.

I'd like to say THANKYOU to everyone who has taken the time to read this story, review, favourite and follow it, it genuinely means a lot to me :')

I'd also like to say a special thank you to the following:

Unnamed visitor – thank you for your detailed reviews and insights and suggestions, they're much appreciated, and thank you for being patient with me

Morbid17 –thank you, I do try to make Pansy's reactions seem as realistic as possible, and I'm glad you think she's so palpable

To all the anonymous reviewers:

I'm not entirely sure on making Harry anti-muggle mainly due to the fact that I am trying to keep his character more or less the same in his beliefs as he is the good guy *trying not to give too much away*, but he is the good guy in comparison to Draco for Pansy

Thank you, I'm trying to keep the story at a reasonable pace, as I'm quite anxious to write more Harry/Pansy, however they're so different, that they really need time in order to see each other as slightly more than they originally thought, they're both very stubborn people.

I had to use google translate and I believe what you wrote was "long time no update" or something along those lines, and I'm sorry I will try to update more regularly now.

Thank you very much

Thank you

Thank you

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.