Ok, so here's the deal: this is a small update because it's only the first third or so of the fifth chapter. I had planned to cover a lot more ground in this one, but then school happened…and I figured that even a short update was better than none at all for weeks and weeks on end without any explanation! This story won't update again until sometime after my exams are done (5/15), so that I have a chance to not fail my classes and become destitute. Thank you so much for your patience! And, as always, many thanks to Ogis for betaing this chapter…she really held me responsible for Draco's behavior, and thank goodness for that!

Edit: This is now all of chapter 5, glommed together as one for your viewing pleasure!

5. Friends and enemies

Pansy watched the brown-haired Gryffindor bolt up the path to the castle until she rounded a bend and went out of sight, and then turned back with her arms crossed over her chest to the shrubbery in front of her.

"Draco? Would you like to come out now? Or did you want to stay behind the bushes a little longer?" She tried to keep her voice innocent-sounding, but she couldn't stop more than a hint of sarcasm from creeping in at the end.

There was a muttered obscenity followed by a muttered Finite Incantatum, and the form of Draco Malfoy was revealed standing there as the effect of the Disillusionment charm drained off.

"How long did you know I was there?" he asked as he stepped out from behind the bush and crossly brushed leaf debris off his shoulders and arms.

"I knew you were there the whole time; you were standing right in front of me. Disillusionment charms aren't perfect, you know." Pansy surreptitiously scrutinized his face. It wasn't like Draco to sneak around and spy on her, or more, even care what she was up to when she wasn't with him. "I could very well ask you what you were doing standing around disillusioned behind a bush outside the pub, when I clearly said I would meet you inside like a normal person."

Draco's upper lip curled infinitesimally. "Just looking out for you, Pansy darling, since you were so late. A man has a right to be concerned; don't work yourself up into a state about it," he drawled. As if he expected her to buy that line. Draco, concerned about her?

She smiled at him as though she did, however, and followed him inside. Draco led them away from the front of the pub where most of the other students were congregating, and picked a spot that afforded them some measure of privacy. Pansy thought he was overreacting - why would anyone want to listen to their conversation? She would have to keep watching him for signs of what he thought he was up to, although she thought she might already know.

She moved to follow him to the bar after they had arrived at Draco's chosen table, but he stopped her with a look and another condescending remark (something along the lines of "just sit down, Pansy, I don't need your help to get drinks."), so she just shrugged and let him do it. She had known he was upset with her, and his current bad mood didn't surprise her in the least. It was best not to push Draco when he got like this, but to just let the mood run its course and hope that he didn't have any other nasty tricks up his sleeve in the meantime.

If she had to guess – and she'd known Draco long enough to be pretty sure of her guesses - she'd say that he was jealous of Granger, and wouldn't rest until he had assured himself that Pansy wasn't going to leave him. The situation was complicated, though, by the fact that Granger was not someone he'd want to consider as a serious rival – she would have to have been his equal, first. Pansy wasn't surprised that it had put him in a mood; such a situation would be double untenable by Draco's standards. All he had said before was that he "wanted to know" what Pansy was doing (as if she would tell him), but he would probably try to threaten her if the answers weren't to his liking. She would just have to make sure that he heard what he wanted.

After a rather long while, Draco arrived back from his sojourn to the bar with two bottles of butterbeer, one of which he handed to Pansy before sitting down and opening the other himself.

"The cretins were clogging up the bar," he sneered by way of explanation, as he took a sip. Pansy opened her own bottle and took a long drink of the buttery golden liquid, regarding Draco. He seemed antsy, his eyes never quite meeting hers, and she thought this might be something more than just a jealousy-fueled foul mood. Nasty she more or less expected, but shifty didn't match up. She took another swallow and put the bottle aside as she looked up at Draco, who was regarding her expectantly.

"Well?" she asked when he didn't say anything. "Weren't we here because you wanted to 'have a talk with me,' or is this a purely social engagement after all?"

"No, you're right," he said, with a hint of anxiety in his otherwise assured voice. "There were a couple of things that I wanted to…ask you."

Pansy smiled. Of course. Here came the revelation. She would finally know for sure what it was exactly that had gotten him into such a state. Then she blinked her eyes, feeling unexpectedly sleepy. She would have thought that all the events of the day were finally catching up to her, only it was still early and there was no reason for her to be tired. She picked up her bottle of butterbeer again, but then noticed how Draco's eyes followed its path up to her mouth, and put it down again without drinking. If he had put something in her drink…But she was finding it increasingly hard to put two thoughts together, and a lazy, drifting sensation was overtaking her mind.

Draco leaned forward eagerly. "What is your name?"

"Pansy Parkinson," Pansy replied calmly, the answer floating to the front of her consciousness effortlessly. It was so much easier to just answer, and not worry about thinking.

Draco smiled. "And my name is…?"

"Draco Malfoy," Pansy supplied immediately.

"Where are we right now?"

"In the Three Broomsticks pub, in Hogsmeade." Pansy supposed she should have been bothered by the strangeness of the questions, but her mind was entirely filled with the blank, drifting sensation, and when Draco asked a question, her mouth opened to answer it without any direction from her.

Draco leaned forward. "Are you in love with Hermione Granger?" His voice was low and intent. Again, the words bubbled to the front of her mind and out of her mouth as though drawn forth by an irresistible force.

"No," she answered, before she had even decided what to say. Well, it was true, anyway. What a silly question to ask, whether she was in love with Granger…

Draco pressed on. "Do you fancy her, then?"

"No."

Draco didn't seem satisfied with her answers. "Well, are you at all interested her in that way?"

Pansy found her mouth opening of its own volition to answer again, but this time there was something slightly different. It was as though there were two different answers waiting on the tip of her tongue, neither more true than the other, and for a moment the fog cleared. What was happening? With great difficulty, as though the thoughts kept sliding away from her and wouldn't stay put, she dragged together the pieces. Draco had put something in her drink…and now he was asking her questions…and she was answering them all truthfully, without thinking…

Veritaserum. She knew of the potion, of course, but had never been on its receiving end before. She must be failing to answer now because the question was too ambiguous to have one true answer. (What 'that way' did he mean, exactly?)

With this realization in place and the two possible answers hovering there, ready to come out, it was not too difficult to subtly nudge the one she thought he wanted to hear, and make it spill out.

"No, I am not."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Are you interested in me that way?" Again, the question was vague enough that the potion didn't quite know what to do with it, and although her mind was still clouded, she was now aware enough of what was going on to find the ambiguity and exploit it.

"Yes," she said. And if by 'that way' he meant 'for his power and influence,' then this was indeed the true answer. She hoped he didn't notice anything different in her manner; if he thought she had found even this tiny loophole, he would probably start asking smarter questions.

"Are you planning on leaving me for Granger?" Draco did not appear to have noticed any difference, but his question was more direct this time anyway.

Yes bubbled up to the top of Pansy's mind and struggled to get out, but she fought it back, and fought through the mental fog to find the ambiguity, any ambiguity, in the question. She wasn't exactly planning on leaving him for Granger… It was too early to tell with her, and really, any Gryffindor would do. Or Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, if it came to that. And in the end, she might not have to leave him at all, it depended on so much…

"No, I am not planning on leaving you for Granger," she managed to get out, in a monotone voice. Strictly speaking, it was the truth. She cursed the potion; had she not been under its influence she would have turned the question back on him (Why, that depends entirely on you, Draco dearest…),or pretended offence (How could you say that? I would never give up what we have for a filthy Mudblood!) Oh, what she wouldn't like to do to him when this was over…But even this fleeting thought was whisked away when she failed to concentrate on it.

"Have you said anything at all to her about me?" Draco maintained the eye contact he had kept up throughout the interrogation, but she saw his eyes flicker minutely toward his left arm.

This one would have been harder to get around, being a direct question, but luckily the true answer was the one Pansy would have liked to give.

"No."

Draco leaned back, apparently satisfied so far. "What do you plan on doing with her?" he asked, linking his arms behind his head. Now that his own petty insecurities were addressed, he clearly felt that he could sit back and simply satisfy his curiosity.

Pansy knew the question was ambiguous, but she also knew exactly what he meant by it. And she knew exactly how she would answer; the words were already floating up and chasing each other to reach her tongue. I'm going to make her fall in love with me harder than she's ever fallen for anyone before, and I'll make her think that I've done the same. I can play the part as long as I need to. And then, in the case that the Dark Lord falls, I'll have my protection when the ministry tries to prove that I was fighting on your side. A Gryffindor would fight to the ends of the earth for the one she loves, and no one would believe that Hermione Granger would take a Death Eater lover besides. I plan to use her to make me safe. And if, against all probability, He succeeds, Granger will surely still have her uses…

But she bit down on the betraying words and forced others out instead. "I'm planning on going out with her for as long as I can stand," she said, holding fast in her mind that this was not an untruth - perhaps it could be true; perhaps Draco had meant what she planned on doing if she were as petty and vindictive as he thought she was, or maybe her plans would suddenly change and she would follow this one after all… "And the whole time, it will be wreaking havoc on Gryffindor house – they'll all have to either be for her or against her; the damage will be magnificent to behold." Pansy relaxed a bit; the lie was becoming easier and easier to spin off her lips, and she could feel the mental fogs clearing. The potion must be wearing off. She continued on in the monotone, though, not wanting to give anything away until she was ready to. "And then, when I've had enough, and when Granger is in too deep to get out, I'll wreak havoc on Granger herself. By the time I'm done with her, she'll wish she had never heard my name – in fact, I'll tear out her heart and throw it in the gutter and stomp on it so hard, and so many times, that she'll wish she had never even heard of Hogwarts." Pansy had to fight down a smile. Honestly, if Draco swallowed that one, then his hyperbole sensors were in desperate need of a tune-up.

But Draco apparently had great faith in his serum, for he didn't look suspicious, only vaguely stunned. "Girls," he muttered under his breath. "Unbelievable." He shook his head to clear it from this vision of emotional warfare heretofore unknown, and barreled forward with his questions.

"And after you're done with…that…you won't do anything stupid like this again?"

Pansy decided that he didn't deserve an answer to this question, not even a false one, and so she shook her head as though to clear it. When she looked back up at Draco, all pretense of vagueness had left her.

"Draco Malfoy, what did you put in my drink? That was Veritaserum, wasn't it," she hissed at him, grabbing her butterbeer bottle and making a show at sniffing it.

Draco's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Pansy…" he growled, warningly.

"Don't even pretend that you didn't just try to drug me," Pansy said, in her own warning tone. "Where were you able to get that from? Veritaserum's a controlled substance; you can't just walk into any apothecary and pick some up. I bet Filch would be all too pleased to hear that a student had been dealing in illegal potions."

"Believe me, I have access to that and more now," Draco said in low voice, pointedly bringing his right hand to rest on his left forearm. You're out of your depth now, the words and gestures said. Back off now, girl, or you'll be sorry you ever dared threaten me. "Besides, who would even believe you? It's your word against mine, and we both know that Snape wouldn't let anything happen to me."

Pansy gestured toward the bottle still clutched in her hand. "Except that I have hard evidence that I could bring forward whenever I wanted, and who says I have to stop at Filch, or Snape? Unauthorized use of Veritaserum was a criminal act, last time I checked."

Draco made an ungraceful swipe at grabbing the incriminating bottle at this point, but the table was between them, and Pansy easily lifted it out of his reach. "I don't care –" he started, hotly, but then apparently remembered himself, and settled back into his seat, practically radiating anger.

"You wouldn't."

"Actually, I would," she said, smug. "Unless you behave, that is. Then I'll probably manage to forget to mention it to anyone…"

Draco gritted his teeth, obviously pained at the words he forced past them. "What do you want?"

Pansy leaned across the table, flatly serious for once. "I want you to stay away from me in public. Granger can't know about us, or she'll never fall for it in the first place. You won't do anything to ruin my plans until I'm done with her, and you will not question my motives again. If anyone asks you about me, you'll either tell them that you're sure I have my reasons and that it's none of their business, or say nothing at all. And if you try anything like this again, I won't be so quick to give you a second chance. Understood?"

"And what do I get from all this?" Draco was aiming for arrogance, but it fell flat.

Pansy let out an exasperated sigh. He could wear on the nerves, this one. "You get me not telling Dumbledore about your little potions experiment here, so that you can stay out of trouble and go on with whatever devious assignment you have from You-Know-Who in peace –"

"Pansy!" Draco's eyes were flashing.

"Oh? Don't want anyone to know about that either?"

"No," he ground out.

"Well, then you know what to do, right?" She paused to allow his grudgingly muttered consent. "Otherwise, I might just feel like telling Granger what I know…Or Potter, maybe, or the headmaster…It all just depends on so much…"

Draco seethed while Pansy just smiled blandly and capped her butterbeer before sliding it into a deep pocket of her robes. That would teach him to try and pull one over on Pansy Parkinson… Though she had surely broken some of the illusions she had cultivated in him by playing her hand so openly, on the whole, she thought it was well worth the tradeoff. Now she had two very effective pieces of blackmail against him, should she need them, and anyway, it was really he who was at fault for altering their relationship dynamic in the first place by choosing to drug her.

She did have to hand it to him, though – for a situation that could have come near to ruining everything, he had managed, through a combination of bad ideas (did he really think she wouldn't be able to figure out what he had done? Or had he thought he would have been able to get enough dirt on her while she was under the influence that it wouldn't matter what she knew?) and bad questions (This seemed to be about his ego more than anything – was she in love with Granger? Was she interested in him that way? Of all the questions to waste Veritaserum on…), to turn it into a situation that worked more by far to her benefit in the long run. Now she had a guarantee that he would stay out of her way with Granger, but she could still appear to be close enough to him that she could soak up the benefits of his good reputation among the Slytherins – which would be needed, eventually, because her decision to date Granger couldn't stay popular forever.

And now that the Draco situation was under control for the foreseeable future, she really had more important things to take care of. She bid a disgruntled Draco farewell, deflected one more futile grab at the contents of her pocket – they both knew that this piece of 'hard evidence' would be much less important than Pansy's magically retrieved memories of the event in an actual investigation - and left to go gather Millicent and the girls so she could have a bit more proper Hogsmeade visiting before it was time to go back.

-) U C (-

5. Friends and Enemies (part two)

The Gryffindor common room was mostly empty when Hermione got back, for which she was glad. She needed somewhere still where she could sort out her thoughts in peace; they had all jumbled in her head while she was walking.

First of all, Pansy had kissed her – no, she had kissed Pansy. No, that wasn't first at all. Hermione forced herself to think back to the beginning, and sort through things in the proper order.

First of all, Pansy had been her enemy. Was she still her enemy? Hermione frowned and put this question aside to be asked later, after she had established the facts of the matter. So, first, they had been enemies, or rivals at least, because their friends were rivals. She disliked Pansy because she had no reason to like her – she had never looked for one, true, but Pansy had certainly never given her one. But maybe people could change…

So that had come first. Second, Pansy had asked her on a date, very publicly, where Hermione couldn't refuse. And she had seized the opportunity so fast, and worked so effectively, that it almost looked premeditated. Was she trying to trick her somehow? This seemed most likely, given their history. But there was more to it than that, so Hermione put that theory aside for later.

Third, she had behaved…well, nicely, on the date. This was the first thing that didn't match up. Hermione had had fun; far from being repulsed or annoyed or even bored by her Slytherin rival, she had actually - Hermione grit her mental teeth and admitted, in the spirit of pure honesty, that she might have been the tiniest bit attracted to Pansy. At that particular moment in time, while she had been acting in that way. Which opened up all sorts of other questions, namely, the one about what it meant if she could be attracted to Pansy – did it extend to girls in general? But Hermione shoved that thought away into another room of her mind entirely, and locked the door on it. She could only figure out one thing at a time, and she was focusing on understanding the Pansy situation right now.

So. She had enjoyed herself, mostly, and Pansy had been pleasant enough company, and Hermione just might be a bit attracted to her. Then she had made all that fuss about not letting Hermione pay for her share, which was definitely a strike against her, and had managed to get Hermione to ask her out on another date. It would seem she was up to something. Though that's exactly what someone would do if they just wanted to keep seeing you, a less suspicious side of Hermione chimed in. Though a normal person would have found some way to ask me rather than trick me, she bit back. That was another strike against Pansy; the underhanded way she went about things.

And then there had been the kiss. Hermione didn't know if she liked it or not, and she definitely didn't appreciate being coerced into doing things, but she still couldn't quite seem to stop thinking about it. And that wasn't exactly coercion, the same annoying voice as before added. True, she could have easily gotten out of doing it if she wanted to. Which meant… .

Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself. Fine, maybe she had wanted to. Or maybe she was just curious, or maybe she just wanted to get it over with and going along was easier than finding a reason to say no. Whatever it was, she hadn't thought about it then, and she felt she was thinking too much about it now. These things couldn't be changed now that they had happened, and now all she needed to do was figure out what she should best do next.

That, she knew, depended on what Pansy planned to do. On the one hand, her first impression might hold and this whole thing might be some kind of set-up. Based on their previous interaction, and the suspect circumstances under which she first asked her out, and the way she had tried (and succeeded) to extort more things from Hermione, this was the theory she should go with, but that didn't explain the way she had acted on the date proper. Unless it was a more long-term plan, and the punchline would come much later, when Hermione was least expecting it. That would be the most Slytherin thing of her. Hermione grimaced.

Another theory – perhaps she really did mean what one usually meant by all of it, and just wanted to go out with Hermione for her own sake. Hermione imagined that a decision to date a Gryffindor girl couldn't go over well with Pansy's house mates, and she could forgive Pansy herself if she went about it a bit strangely.

Or maybe someone had put Pansy up to it?

Hermione paused for a moment and stared out the open window, not really thinking. The silence, she found, was much needed when her thoughts got too loud like this.

After a while, she turned away from the window, and things did seem clearer. As far as Pansy went, it was one of three things – either she had some secret evil plot behind all of this, or she didn't and just had a funny way of doing things, or she was up to something that even Hermione couldn't think of. Knowing Slytherins, and their reputation for deviousness, Hermione couldn't put the third option aside.

And that left her with What should I do about it? Hermione knew what she wanted to do, and that was to just see where this was all heading before she decided concretely one way or the other. And perhaps she was a bit curious to see what it would be like to kiss Pansy again, not that once hadn't been enough, just…twice couldn't hurt either, could it? She would just have to be careful, since it was obvious that Pansy could still easily have something very nasty in store.

-) U C (-

They weren't the only students who had decided a stroll around the lake after dinner was a good idea, apparently, and Ginny and Hermione had to walk some way before they were out of earshot of anyone and Ginny could ask what she was obviously bursting to say.

"So, Hermione, how was it? What did she do? What took you so long? Me and Neville didn't see you at all after, were you two really at Madam Puddifoot's that whole time? Were -"

Hermione held up a hand weakly for Ginny to slow down, and stepped over a few rocks, looking at her feet, before she answered. "It wasn't bad, actually. I did go back up to the castle after without telling you; sorry about that."

Ginny made a shooing motion as though the apology were unwelcome. "Just 'not bad'?"

Hermione kicked a clump of grass and kept her eyes fixed on her shoes. What about these things made them so hard to say out loud? She usually had no problem with talking about anything on her mind; usually it got to the point where people probably wished she would shut up.

"Well, no, I kind of enjoyed myself, a bit." At least she wasn't blushing.

Ginny cawed and grabbed her arm. "I knew it!"

Hermione rolled her eyes; Ginny had never said she would enjoy herself, but she obliged with all the details when Ginny demanded them (except for the few more personal details that Pansy would probably appreciate her leaving out), and found it easier to talk about as they went on. Ginny was almost too supportive, and thought that everything was a good sign, even Pansy insisting on paying.

"But Hermione, that means that she really likes you! You can't hold it against her that she's trying to be traditional; you can't call it a date unless one person pays for the other." She scoffed under her breath, a sound Hermione was surely meant to hear. "So, what did you think? Do you fancy her?"

Hermione was arrested mid eye-roll at the abrupt change of direction in the questioning. "Do I what?"

"You know. Fancy her." Ginny's eyes were positively dancing with glee; Hermione could only imagine how long she had been waiting for her friend to become romantically involved so she could subject her to this treatment. "I mean, even a little tiny bit? Or even if you think you could, possibly, at some point?"

Hermione sighed. "Well, I guess so, maybe a tiny bit. It's too early to tell though." Ginny positively jumped on her in her haste to give her a congratulatory hug, and Hermione was glad that by now her blush was hidden in the twilight.

"Ginny, do you think we should start going back now?" Besides the fact that it was getting hard to make their way in the gathering darkness, they had gone some way along the bank while caught up in conversation.

Ginny released her from the hug only reluctantly, with a giggling, "You really do? How brilliant!" as they went back up to the castle.

"But what'll you do now, Hermione?" Ginny asked, when she had regained some gravity. "I mean, of course I hope it works out the best for you, it would be horrible if it didn't, but she is a Slytherin, and it's only practical to think that we don't quite know what she meant by this in the first place…"

"Yeah, I know," Hermione agreed, wrinkling her nose. "I already thought of that. I guess all I can do is keep an eye out, and just try not to get caught up by any plot she has against me. If she did, it'd depend on me not knowing what was going on. And I don't know, but I just don't have a really bad feeling about this. I sort of just want to pretend like I trust her for now, and see where this goes…"

Ginny was chewing on a thumbnail. "Mmm…I think you're right. We can't automatically assume she's up to something bad, but we can't be stupid about it either. I'll keep an eye out too; if she's really turned the charm on you, you never know what you might miss."

Hermione suppressed a chuckle at how her "I" had turned to Ginny's "we," and nodded. Logically, there always was the possibility that she would get so caught up in Pansy's "charm" that she wouldn't see if something was coming, but to put it like that just sounded silly. Hermione, all caught up in a witch's charms?

Ginny's next question came as if she could read thoughts. "So, if you want to keep dating her for now, does that mean you really do like girls? Would that make you a lesbian?"

Hermione swallowed. "Um. I don't know about that yet?" Truthfully, it was never a subject she had considered much before. One didn't need to think about one's personality traits, they were just there – right? "I mean, Pansy's just one girl, maybe it's just her. And I didn't even say if I totally knew whether I was attracted to her yet." It was really far too early to tell.

Ginny just gave a knowing nod and a patronizing "mmmm." When she looked over, though, her eyes carried no hint of a joke. "When do you think you will know?"

Hermione let out a sigh and wished that this subject didn't make her so uncomfortable. "I have no idea - after I get to know her better I guess. And I just need time to get used to the idea," she said, trying to put Ginny off.

Ginny didn't look very dissuaded, but she didn't press the subject. "I know, it's not something I've ever had to deal with either, obviously." She was silent for a minute. "Look, I know I said I was excited for you – I am, really – but only if this all turns out all right. I guess I just really hope it does, but be careful, ok? It could go bad so easily. You shouldn't rush into this so fast…maybe you should get her to tell you what she thinks about it before you're alone with her again. I wouldn't be too easy on her if I were you."

"Yeah, I know. I already said –"

Ginny cut her off. "No, promise me you'll be careful. I think this could be really good for you, but only if you don't get hurt because you let yourself get tricked. I know, I know, you don't get tricked easily," said Ginny, rolling her eyes, "But this is different, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," said Hermione again, but this time with resignation. Ginny did have more experience than Hermione with dating, after all, and unlike Pansy, Hermione knew that she had her best interests in mind. Then why didn't she really want to hear her advice?

-) U C (-

Pansy's evening, unfortunately, held no leisurely walks by the lake. It had consisted mostly of avoiding Draco and doing what she thought of as 'damage control' among her friends. They were all too willing to believe that she had some nasty surprise in store for Granger, but they were less than happy to be kept out of the particulars. She had been giving out a combination of the "If I tell too many people, it'll ruin it," variety of explanations, alternated with a why on earth should I let you into my plans attitude, and it had worked pretty well so far. Hell, most of the girls were still jealous of her for having gotten Draco first, and as long as they remembered that fact she wouldn't have much trouble convincing them that she was better.

It was tiresome to have to wait until they were all asleep, however, to do her real business of the evening – namely, applying for private lessons with Professor Snape. The deadline for applications was on Monday, so she had little time to work on it, and even less if she didn't want anyone seeing her at it. He was their head of house, and people would have approved on that count, but Pansy had never been the most academically-minded of students. O.W.L.'s came easily to her, but that was only to be expected of a pureblood of her family's stature. Private lessons were another matter, and bespoke an attitude toward work entirely unbefitting someone of her class, and something that would not help her status among her house mates, no matter who she was taking them from.

She needed this though, and she thought it was high time that she took her plans for the future a bit farther than simply tempting away a Gryffindor. Although she was happy about that – very happy, in fact; she hadn't expected it to go nearly this well on the first try. But she wanted to know more about Veritaserum, and how to resist it (she didn't expect to be that lucky twice), and about other potions that her potential enemies might slip her, and of course defensive or dark spells – everyone knew that had always been his real specialty – and whatever else she could get him to teach her without rousing undue suspicion. Of course she would be applying for Potions lessons formally, but she was almost certain she could get him to understand her need for a more varied curriculum. She had felt incredibly unprepared today, and she didn't want that to happen again.

Maybe for a Gryffindor love really did conquer all, but she wasn't willing to throw all her Galleons in one bag. A Slytherin made double and triple-sure that everything would go off all right.

And with that in mind, she bent over the application that she had bullied off a twitchy-looking Ravenclaw the other day, and began to quill in the answers to the horribly inane questions. Honestly, what was her dearest ambition and why? Name one person that has influenced her life? Who made up these questions? She was sure that Snape would let her in since she was in his house, anyway. And if he didn't….she clenched her quill, and then relaxed it. And if that happened, she would get what she needed some other way.

Maybe Granger could even help her…Pansy grinned, since no one was looking, and wondered how many other uses she would find for the girl before she ran out of ideas.