Disclaimer: Anything related to HP does not belong to me, but to JKR...Oh I love the use of acronyms.

Warning: HP/DM (snickers)

Sooooo, here's my next chapter...I hope you enjoy.

Manaka

Three Slytherins Are Better Than One Gryffindor...Hopefully:

I stalked into the Slytherin common room and to the door to the boy's dorm, not even bothering to acknowledge Pansy's yelling as I walked through the common room. As soon as the heavy door of my shared room shut behind me, I shed the cloak, earning myself mocking cat-calls from Theo, who was sitting on his bed, going over the Ancient Runes essay that was due the following day. Ignoring his immaturity, I neatly placed my pile of clothes in my wardrobe and retrieved a pair of green silk pajama bottoms. The drawstring had just been secured around my slender hips when the door burst open and Pansy waltzed in. She didn't even bother to shut the door behind her.

"Pansy! I could've been naked!" I scolded.

"And you're gay, what do you care?"

I shrugged with one shoulder - in agreement, not surrender - and walked over to grab a quill and parchment from my book bag. I then situated myself on the green coverlet of my bed to record my nefarious intentions; after all, I can't be expected to come up with a halfway decent Plan C if I had no way to edit it, that much should have been evident with Plan B. I had no intention of ignoring her, so I glanced up at here so she would know that she could continue with the rant that had obviously built itself up behind her blue eyes.

"So, did your little plan work?" Pansy asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Since you kept it a secret up 'til now."

Of course, any mention of 'plans' and 'secrecy' would catch the attention of any self-respecting Slytherin. Okay, so the mention of the above words would catch the attention of any Slytherin, no matter their respectful status. Unfortunately, those who were around to be interested in the subject were Theo, Vince, Greg, and Blaise. Oh, I can't forget the students in the common room that could listen because Pansy had yet to shut the door. Oh joy, this was going to be a fucking great conversation.

"Well, not entirely," I said slowly. She raised a questioning eyebrow at me. Damn, now I have to explain. "I went to the locker rooms-" Here, she gave a triumphant 'whoop' "-and tried to seduce him. It was going fine, well, up until he turned predatory on me. It was then that I decided to wait."

"For...?" she urged.

"I don't know... later?" I offered in response. The other boys knew it wasn't a good idea to enter a conversation in which Pansy seemed irritated, so they sat on their beds, watching in odd fascination.

"What the fuck do you mean 'later'?" she bit out.

"Well, according to the dictionary, it means 'at some eventual time in the future'," I recited. I always was one to read the dictionary for fun. Oh, wait, no I wasn't; it was more out of necessity, either do as the tutor said, or get reprimanded for it later. Aha, my new favorite word. "It's fascinating how well that fits my use of the word: I will be waiting until later to set another plan into motion. Meaning: I will be waiting until some eventual, and undetermined, time in the near future to set another plan into motion. It's like they're interchangeable."

Pansy scoffed at the sarcasm-laden words. Theo snickered at them. Vince and Greg looked on in confusion. Blaise...well, let's just say, Blaise isn't the fastest broom in the shed.

"Of course they're interchangeable, silly. One means the other," he called from Vince's bed, where he was sitting with the other two boys, a pile of Exploding Snaps cards left forgotten on the coverlet.

Pansy turned to the poor boy, her expression changing from irritated to caring, like when a mother's face changes from arguing with her husband to cooing at her children. Unfortunately, that's the same tone she gets when she speaks to him, too. "Blaise, honey. Why don't you let me and Draco settle this, okay?"

Blaise nodded at her, a smile still plastered to his face. Thankfully, he remained quiet through the rest of the conversation. I wish I could say the same for Theo.

"So, poor Drakie is left without a plan," Theo teased. "That's a first."

"Oh, shut up," I retorted, dipping my quill into the inkpot on my nightstand. "In case you hadn't noticed, I am in the middle of formulating a plot."

"Another plot," Pansy corrected.

"Yes, dear, another plot," I emphasized. "Since someone burned the other plans."

"Weren't you the one who burned them, Draco?" Theo asked, cocking his head to one side in a very feminine way. Merlin, if it weren't for the fact that I knew that he shagged anything and everything with breasts, I would think he was very much gay. There have been one - thousand - too many occasions when I came up to retrieve something from the shared dorm room and found some random girl parading around the room in some state of undress. Sickening. Some part of me thought, however, that he was a little over-compensative sometimes.

"Trivialities," I said in a dismissing tone, with a wave of a hand to match that didn't make me look poncey in the least. "Now does anyone want to help me with these plans?"

Knowing that the Dimwitted Trio would only offer equally dimwitted ideas, I pointedly ignored them and turned toward Theo and Pansy. Theo shrugged and set his homework aside before climbing off his bed, only to plant his arse on the end of my own bed.

"I'm in," he declared.

We both stared up at Pansy patiently. With a very heavy sigh, she plopped herself - inelegantly, I might add - down on the bed. "Fine. You know I can't say no to you."

"Most of the time," I corrected her. "I seem to remember many times in the past two days that you wouldn't tell me the name of your mystery partner."

"Oh, gods Draco! Are you still on about that? And here I thought you were a genius!"

I was hurt. "Of course I'm a genius!! I just can't find out who this person is! Can you blame me?!"

"YES!" she retorted. "I thought for sure you'd get it if you hadn't already gotten it, but no." Another, less melodramatic sigh. "Anyway, you need to put this behind you, 'cause you're not getting it out of me."

I cursed under my breath. "Oh, alright, be that way. Let's just put our heads together and think of a fool-proof plan."

"That may be easier said than done with those three in the room, listening to the conversation," Theo pointed out.

He had a point.

"Vince, Greg. Take your new friend down to the kitchens and get something to snack on, you haven't eaten since dinner," I ordered. Not surprising that they complied, taking a childlike Blaise from the dorm room.

"Okay, any ideas?"

TBC...