Obligatory Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter and co. you'd know it lol THIS IS FANFIC

Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, life gets in the way. My little girl is sick, poor thing. And we've been trying to catch the fox that wants to eat our darling chickens grr!

Anyway, chapter seven is here! Hope you're ready for some more Pansy because I'm loving her right now. Also, Ron bashing ahead in this chapter. I get that many people like Ron, but I feel sometimes that JK missed a lot of opportunities with the character. To break it down, I find that at his most basic level, Ron is a shallow, jealous, vindictive character who would have been better suited as an antagonist than a protagonist as JK portrayed him. So I'm hoping to explore that avenue in this fanfic, and this chapter has a bit of Negative Ron in it. Enjoy :)

Chapter Seven: Hogwarts, Sweet Hogwarts

Halley stood with Pansy and Draco, prepared to follow them to the Slytherin dorms in the dungeons. Pansy was telling her all about how they were under the lake which might sound cold and dark but it was really quite lovely actually, when a Slytherin prefect came up to them and haughtily barked for Halley to follow him and the first years for orientation.

'Actually, Frogly,' interjected Draco smoothly. 'Professor Snape has asked that I give Halley her orientation, and I'm sure that as her roommate Pansy here can oversee her settling into the girls' rooms.'

'It's Foggy,' sneered the prefect, 'Miles Foggy, and you know that Malfoy. Whatever, like I really care anyway. Do what you want.' And he stalked off towards the first years and barked for them to follow him.

Draco rolled his eyes. 'Don't worry about Frogly,' he said to Halley as they waited for Pansy to gather up her bag. 'He's just a bit touchy because his father was arrested for smuggling Dark objects. And because it came out that my father wasn't actually a deatheater but a spy for the light side. Anyway, let's get going shall we?'

'Yeah, just give me a minute? I want to talk to Sev real quick before we go if that's alright?'

'Yeah of course. We'll wait for you right here.'

Halley thanked them and quickly made her way up to the high table. 'Hey Sev,' she greeted her guardian. 'Draco and Pansy are going to take me down to the dorms now, so I guess this is good night.'

'You'll be alright Halley,' said Severus, correctly guessing that she was feeling a bit nervous. 'Slytherin House is a good strong House. And you've got Draco and Pansy to keep you company.'

'Yeah, Pansy's already asked me to be her roommate and I've agreed.'

'I'm glad. Pansy could do with more female friends, and I think you could as well. Off you go now, have a good night and I'll see you at breakfast in the morning with your class schedule.'

'Night Sev, see you in the morning.'

Severus watched as Halley made her way back to Draco and Pansy and, linking her arm Pansy laughed at whatever the Slytherin girl had said to her. Draco looked back to Severus and gave him a reassuring smile and a nod, a silent promise to look after Halley.

'Well Severus my boy,' said Dumbledore with his usual twinkle in his eye as he came up beside Severus. 'It was truly a surprise to hear your niece was not only coming to Hogwarts this year but that you yourself were her guardian. I'm surprised that with her lack of formal education that she could be accepted into sixth year classes.'

'Yes well, as we already told you Albus,' said Severus, barely managing to resist rolling his eyes, 'her father taught her the basics and she kept reading the books available to her and once she came to me she had access to even more books and knowledge. I suppose she's a natural learner, similar to Miss Granger in that regard.'

'Yes, I suppose so,' agreed Dumbledore softly, his mind whirring. 'She came to you not long after the passing of Mr Potter, didn't she?'

Severus quickly made sure his shields were up and running, they always were but it didn't hurt to check. 'I suppose she did, what has that got to do with anything?'

'Nothing, my dear boy. Nothing at all,' agreed Dumbledore, 'however…' he drifted off, and Severus rolled his eyes before heading for his own quarters. The old wizard could be a problem, he mused to himself. We'll have to keep an eye on him.

Meanwhile, Halley was entering the Slytherin common room with Draco and Pansy. Despite having been here once before in second year (Polyjuiced with Ron as Crabbe and Goyle), she had never actually had a good look at the place. So her jaw dropped as she took in for the first time (properly) the large fireplaces that dispelled the chill and made the common room comfortably warm, thick ornate rugs, the armchairs and large cushions spread across the floor with small tables here and there, and the huge floor to ceiling windows that did indeed look out into the lake. The view at the moment was dark, but every now and then bright fish would flash by the windows.

'Wow,' she breathed, taking it all in. 'This is, it's gorgeous.'

'It is,' replied Pansy smugly. She was proud of her House, and rightly so. 'I haven't seen the other Houses of course, but I have heard about them. Apparently all the common rooms are similar in layout, couches and cushions and tables and the like, but no other House has the views we have, and they all have dorms of three to five whereas as I mentioned earlier, we have double rooms with private bathrooms as opposed to more public facilities.'

'Wow,' said Halley again. It was really the only response she could come up with. 'I think I'm going to love it here.'

Draco and Pansy grinned. They sat in front of one of the fireplaces for a while, chatting about their House and introducing Halley to a few of their year mates. Before too long though Draco announced it was time for bed, they did start classes the next morning afterall, and they still had to unpack. Halley and Pansy agreed, and Pansy led Halley to their room. The room was painted in pale green, with dark wood accents around the doors and window that looked out into the lake of course, it was bordered by two dark green curtains with silver threads throughout. Under the window sat two dark desks with silver handles on the drawers. There were two large four poster beds with silver curtains and green sheets. The house elves had already delivered their trunks to the room and placed them at the foots of the beds. Draco leant on the doorframe as he bid the girls good night, aware that it made him appear more handsome. Pansy rolled her eyes at him as she headed for the bathroom. Halley stammered her good night to him as he smirked and pulled the door closed for them.

Had Draco always been so hot? She asked herself as she set Nefertiti down on the bed. Wait, Draco Malfoy? Hot? What is wrong with me? She shook herself and opened her trunk before taking out her wand and magically sending everything into the drawers and cupboard, taking her pyjamas and toiletries out and laying them on the bed. She would wait for Pansy to finish in the bathroom before readying herself for bed.

Soon enough Pansy emerged from the steaming bathroom in her own green silk pyjama shorts and tank, lined with fine black lace.

'What are you doing here?' She asked Halley, towelling off her hair. 'You could have come in the bathroom you know.'

'You said the bathrooms were private here,' Halley replied with a frown. 'I didn't want to intrude.'

'Oh, I didn't mean private like one at a time,' said Pansy. 'You misunderstood. Come have a look.' She led Halley into the bathroom, and Halley saw that the bathroom was designed for two with twin vanity sinks and a large mirror across one wall, and two walled off shower cubicles on the opposite wall with enough room for a bench in each on which to place their towels and clothes. There were even two large but single tubs on the third wall, separated by a low wall between them and pale green curtains in the front.

'That door over there leads to the toilet,' said Pansy, hanging her towel on a rail in the left shower cubicle. Halley placed her things in the right. 'The baths are great for relaxing after a long day of studying, sometimes I even read my textbooks while soaking, but usually it's a romance novel.'

'This is amazing,' said Halley, examining the towels under the sinks. 'Much better than my last dorm.'

'Your last dorm?' asked Pansy.

'Yeah, I, um, attended a muggle boarding school after Dad died,' made up Halley quickly, she would have to let Sev know about this latest addition to their cover story. 'Mum didn't really want me around, she never believed Dad about magic so whenever we did some together she would tell us to quit our weird quirks before someone saw.'

'Huh,' said Pansy with a frown. 'That sucks. Sorry you had to go through that. But at least it's all in the past and you can move on now. You are happy, right?'

'Oh yeah, I'm really happy. Mum and I were never really that close, you know? Living with Sev has been awesome, and being here and actually learning more about magic is going to be like a dream come true.'

Pansy smiled at that, and told Halley she might not feel that way when their homework piled up and exams came around, and then left Halley to shower and dress for bed.

Halley emerged from the bathroom in her cotton pyjamas she had gotten in the muggle shopping centre. She self-consciously pulled at her top when Pansy put down her book and turned to her.

'Um, I really like your pyjamas,' she said to the dark haired girl. 'Can I ask where you got them from?'

'I bought them at Gladrags in Diagon Alley,' replied Pansy. 'The other girls have told me that they're too much for school, I guess they added fuel to the 'Pansy is a slut' rumours, but I really like them. They're comfortable and pretty.'

'I don't think they're too much,' reassured Halley. 'I really like them. And I don't think you're a slut because you wear them at school. Actually I'd like to get some for myself I think.'

'Ooh in that case, I'll order you a catalogue tomorrow, we can use Draco's owl, he won't mind.'

The two girls chatted for a little longer before finally turning in for the night.

They woke and dressed the next morning before meeting Draco in the common room and heading up to the Great Hall for breakfast. Draco received a letter during breakfast from his mother letting him know that they had finished their business and were going to spend a few days actually holidaying before heading home. Pansy asked to borrow his owl and attached the letter she had written that morning to Gladrags asking for a catalogue to the owl's leg before sending him off. She assured Halley that the catalogue would arrive later that day.

'What catalogue?' asked Draco curiously as he poured them all some milk. He had noticed Severus always made sure Halley had milk with breakfast so he was doing the same. He didn't see Severus's slight approving nod as he watched his godson and niece.

'Oh, Halley and I were talking clothes last night and I offered to show her the catalogue from Gladrags.' Explained Pansy, correctly assuming Halley wouldn't want her telling Draco she had admired Pansy's rather racy pyjamas.

'Yeah,' agreed Halley quickly, 'I don't much experience with wizarding fashions so Pansy offered to help me out.'

'Well, when you're done with the catalogue let me have a look.' Said Draco as Severus made his way down Slytherin table, handing out schedules as he went. 'You can never have enough clothes I always say.'

'Miss Parkinson, Miss Evans, Mr Malfoy, your schedules,' said Severus as he reached them. 'I trust you all settled in just fine last night?'

'Yeah Sev-uh, Professor Snape,' said Halley, stumbling a little at the correct form of acknowledgment for her uncle. This would take some getting used to. 'Draco and Pansy showed me all around the common room, it's really beautiful, and then Pansy helped me settle into our room.'

'I'm glad you're settling in nicely, Halley,' said Severus softly. 'Let me know if you need anything.'

'Of course, thanks Sev,' Halley replied just as softly.

'Right then,' Severus said louder, all business again. 'Don't be late to classes. I'll see the three of you in Potions later today.'

The three students said goodbye to their Head of House and returned to their breakfast, comparing class schedules.

Pansy and Draco shared all their classes with Halley, except for Draco's arithmancy class which neither of the girls were taking, instead that slot was filled with a study period for them. Pansy said she'd show Halley the library during that time later that day.

After breakfast, the three returned to Slytherin House to get their bags and books for the morning. After lunch they would have time to return and swap their morning books for their afternoon books.

Their first class of the day was Transfiguration, with the Gryffindors. Halley was not looking forward to seeing Ron again, but curious as to how Hermione would treat her.

Upon entering the room, they saw a tabby cat with curious markings like glasses on it's face. Halley knew this was Professor McGonnagal, this was her usual trick for the first years. Halley assumed it was being repeated for this class because of her.

When the cat jumped off the desk and transformed back into their professor who stalked forwards to Halley's desk, she knew she was correct in her assumption.

'Miss Evans,' said McGonagal, coming to a stop in front of her. 'Care to explain what just happened to the class?'

'Of course Professor,' said Halley calmly. 'You just transfigured yourself from your animagus form back to to your human form.'

'Correct. And how is it that a witch or wizard becomes an animagus?'

'Through long study and dedication,' replied Halley, knowing the theory behind the phenomenon thanks to talks with Sirius. 'The process involves holding a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month, and you cannot chose your animagus form as it is closely related to your own personality, though you could predict your form as it can sometimes resemble your patronus. If you manage to accomplish the animagus transformation you must then register your form with the Ministry.'

'That is correct. 10 points to Slytherin.'

Halley blushed as Pansy and Draco grinned at her. They all missed the dark look Ron gave them.

'Now,' continued Professor McGonagal, 'Sixth year is when we offer students the chance to study and maybe discover their animagus form. Not many students are up for the long hours of study and the level of dedication this branch of magic requires. I will only accept those students who I feel have the potential to accomplish this. I will be running a special class on Friday evenings for those who wish to try this difficult magic. Please stay behind after class if you are interested. Now, on to today's lesson.'

They spent the rest of the class trying to transfigure small stones into buttons and sticks into zippers. Draco managed to transfigure his grey stones into grey buttons, but could not manage to transfigure his stick. Pansy was able to transfigure her stick into a brown zipper, but her buttons while round did not have buttonholes.

Halley had observed the two of them at first and then, double checking she had the incantation right, had practiced the wand movement. She managed to transfigure her stones into a handful of small buttons, and her stick became a zipper that dropped a few splinters when McGonagal tried it out. The three of them managed to score 15 points for Slytherin for their efforts. After Professor McGonagal had moved on, a second shadow fell over their desk.

'Granger, can we help you?' asked Draco, looking up.

'I hope so,' replied Hermione. 'I'm having a little trouble with my buttons, and you seem to have perfected the spell Malfoy. I was hoping to get some pointers.'

'Uh, sure,' said Draco, perplexed. Granger had never asked him for help before. 'Um, how about you show me what you've been doing?'

Hermione placed her stones on their desk and, saying the incantation, waved her wand over them. The stones flattened and changed shapes until they were square not round, but no holes.

'Hmm, okay,' said Draco, lifting one up to examine. 'Pansy also had trouble with the buttonholes, but none of ours turned out square. Let's see the wand movement again.'

Hermione did the wand movement again, this time without the incantation.

'You're making the same mistake with the movement that Pansy was,' explained Draco. 'It's too wide of a swirl, try it like this.' He showed Pansy and Hermione the movement with his own wand, both girls nodding as they saw where they went wrong.

'That sorts out the buttonholes, but what about the shape?' asked Halley, drawing Hermione's attention to her.

'Hello, I don't believe we've met yet, I'm Hermione Granger.' the bushy haired Gryffindor said, holding her hand out.

Halley shook her hand. 'Halley Evans, nice to meet you.'

'Now that we all know each other,' drawled Draco good naturedly, 'How about we get back to the lesson? Pansy, Granger, let's try that spell again.'

The two girls cast the spell again, this time both their piles of stones formed buttons with holes, but Hermione's were still square. Draco frowned at them.

'I'm not sure why they're square Granger,' he said, picking one up to examine. It had the holes at least this time. 'I think we should ask McGonagal.'

Hermione agreed and waved their professor over.

'What seems to be the problem?' sighed McGonagal. She was truly sick of the animosity between her Gryffindors and the Slytherins.

'I was having trouble with the buttons,' explained Hermione, 'And I saw that Malfoy had it down and was helping Parkinson so I thought I'd ask for his help too as you were busy with Neville, and he helped me and Parkinson get the buttonholes but my buttons are still coming out square instead of round and we don't know why.'

'Show me,' requested McGonagal, happily surprised that Hermione had asked for help from a Slytherin, and from the Malfoy boy no less. 'You too please Parkinson.' She watched closely as the two girls did the spell again. Parkinson's buttons were perfect, maybe a little rough around the edges, but otherwise perfect. Hermione's on the other hand were indeed square instead of round.

'Let's try this,' the professor offered, switching Hermione and Pansy's stones. 'Cast the spell again.'

This time it was Pansy's buttons that were square, not Hermione's.

'Just as I thought,' mused the transfiguration professor. 'I'm so sorry Miss Granger, it seems the stones you were given should have been phased out from classes a long time ago. When an object is transfigured over and over again as the learning materials in this class are for instance, it can become stubborn and unwilling to change as the caster wishes. I shall have to conduct an inventory and procure some new items. 10 points to Gryffindor for a correct transfiguration, another 10 for asking for help from a fellow student when you saw I was busy. 10 points to Slytherin Miss Parkingson for correctly learning the spell, and another 20 Mr Malfoy for helping your fellow students. Well done all of you. Now, off to your next class please, unless you wish to stay for the information on the extra animagus class.'

Hermione and the three Slytherins smiled at each other before packing up their things and heading to the front of the room with the others who were interested in becoming animagus.

Ron grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged her away a few steps, hissing at her for 'fraternizing with the enemy' and 'what was she thinking?' Hermione pulled her arm out of Ron's rough grasp and told him to get over himself. She returned to the front of the room as McGonagal was taking of note of those who had stayed.

'I'm sorry Mr Weasley,' she said to Ron as he approached. 'I don't think that you're ready for this type of advanced class, maybe if you study hard and improve your grades you can try again next year.'

Ron growled and stomped out of the room. Draco hid his smirk behind his hand as McGonagal continued.

'As for the rest of you, while your grades reflect your determination for this subject, they are no guarantee that you will be able to accomplish the animagus transformation. It could take up to two years for you to finally realise your form. If you still wish to try though, I will be holding special classes starting this Friday evening. However, before you can attend said classes, I need your parents' or guardians' permissions, so please get this note signed and returned to me before Friday, and I will know if you forge your parents' signatures.' She handed out the forms and dismissed them to their next class, which was History of Magic with the only ghost professor, Professor Binns.

'I'm thinking of spending my study period this afternoon in the library researching just what we can expect from this class,' said Hermione to the Slytherins as they walked to their next class together. 'Do you want to join me?'

'That sounds great,' replied Halley as Draco and Pansy looked at each other in shock. The Gryffindor girl had never spoken to them like this before. 'When is your study period?'

The four compared their schedules, they actually shared all the same classes, even Draco and Hermione had arithmancy together that afternoon. Halley and Pansy had a double study period instead of arithmancy. They decided they'd spend the first one they had with Pansy showing Halley around the library and starting any homework they received and then the second with Draco and Hermione studying up on the animagus transformation.

When they arrived at the History of Magic classroom, Ron once again pulled Hermione away by the arm, though not as roughly as before. Hermione glanced back at her three new friends and sighed in apology. They grimaced back at her before making their way to seats in the back by the windows.

'This class is so boring,' moaned Pansy as she claimed the seat with the most sun. 'You'd think it would be really interesting but all Binns does is drone on and on about Goblin wars. There's more to our magical history than that but you wouldn't know it with him around.'

Before Halley could reply, the ghost himself drifted through the wall and began to indeed drone about some old goblin war. Halley found herself once again drifting off, but shook herself awake when Draco slid a note over to her.

This class is terrible, but at least the text is mildly interesting it said. Halley smiled at him and opened her book and resigned herself to reading it to the background sound of Binns' monotone voice and a few snores through the room.

'Merlin's saggy balls, could that class be any more boring?' exclaimed Pansy once the class was finally over and they were on their way to Charms. 'I can't believe it's a core subject through all seven years! Why don't they just replace Binns already?'

'Father's been trying for years,' revealed Draco, holding Halley's bag for her as she fixed the buckle on her shoe. He tried not to stare at her ass as she was bent over. 'But the board loves that they don't have to pay Binns for his work. He did mention that a petition from the students might help, but I don't know how the rest of the school will react to a petition by a Slytherin.'

'Maybe Hermione could help with that,' said Halley, standing up and accepting her bag back from Draco with a pretty smile. 'She's a Gryffindor right? Well liked by the student population? Let's talk to her about it this afternoon.'

Charms class was as much fun as it always was. Professor Flitwik had them all practicing cheering charms and colour changing charms, and Pansy and Halley were having a ball changing their hair colours. Draco laughed at their antics, then growled when they changed his usually white blonde hair green. He spelled Pansy's hair blue and Halley's blonde and laughed till he fell down at the look on Halley's face. Eventually they all returned to their original hair colours, then Halley had the bright idea of changing just a streak of her hair. It took a few attempts but she left class proudly displaying a hot pink streak through her red hair. Pansy had tinted the ends of her dark bob green, and Draco just shook his head at the two of them. He had opted to keep his signature Malfoy look.

Lunch was quiet, and afterwards they all returned to Slytherin to gather their afternoon books. Halley spent a little while just staring out the common room window. The water outside was clearer than she had expected, and there were countless fish swimming amongst the weeds that grew along the sides of the window. Her eyes widened to comical proportions as the giant squid lazily swam by.

Their schedules said they had double potions to look forward to next, followed by arithmancy for Draco and a double study period for the two girls. Hurrying down to the potions lab in the dungeons, they discovered they also shared this class with the Gryffindors.

Hermione smiled and waved them over to where she was standing. Ron was talking with Dean and Seamus and Neville and didn't notice the four of them chatting amicably.

'Wow, I love your hair Halley, and yours too Parkinson. How did you manage to concentrate the charm that precisely?'

'Oh it was easy,' explained Halley. 'I just sectioned off this strand and did the charm on that specific area instead of my whole head.'

'Mine was a bit harder, I had to gather it behind my head and feel it out and then do the charm where I thought I wanted it, but it worked out pretty good I think.'

'Yeah, it looks great Parkinson.'

'Alright Granger, if we're going to be all buddy-buddy with each other, I insist you call me Pansy.'

'Only if you call me Hermione and not Granger,' grinned Hermione. 'What about you Malfoy?' she asked, turning to the blonde boy. 'Want to be all buddy-buddy too?'

'I don't do buddy-buddy,' drawled Draco, but he smiled too. 'But I do do friends, Hermione.'

'Excellent, Draco. So, what do you think Snape has in store for us today?'

'Hermione!' Shouted Ron angrily, drawing everyone's attention to the foursome. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'

'Talking with friends Ronald, what does it look like?' replied Hermione, rolling her eyes. 'Honestly, what's your problem lately?'

Before Ron could reply, Severus opened the classroom door and gestured for them to hurry up and get in their seats. Pansy, seeing that Ron wasn't about to let go of his anger anytime soon, linked her arm through Hermione's and pulled the wryly smiling Gryffindor to her seat.

'Be my partner, Hermione?' she asked with an easy smile.

'Sure, why not?' agreed Hermione, placing her things on the table with Pansy, both of them studiously ignoring Ron's angry gape.

'Halley, want to be my partner?' asked Draco with a mocking bow towards their seats.

Halley blushed and giggled. 'Yeah, alright then.' she agreed, giving him a funny little curtsy in return.

'If we are all settled,' drawled Severus with a barely concealed grin at his students' antics, 'shall we begin? Firstly, I want to let you all know that who you are currently sitting with will be your partner for the rest of the school year.'

There were some groans here as people realised they have made a mistake. Ron actually dropped his head to the desk with a loud thump as he realised his partner would be Neville, who glared at him with a hurt face. Sure, he wasn't that great at potions, but what had happened to their Gryffindor commandry?

'As I was saying,' continues Severus after glaring at Ron, 'You and your partner will be paired together for the rest of the school year. There will be a few group projects, you may choose another set of partners for these. I also wanted to let you know that after speaking with our headmaster, I am in the process of setting up a new potions classroom on the first floor. I had hoped it would be ready before classes began but unfortunately this was not the case. The new rooms should be ready in a few weeks, I will let you all know of the change beforehand so you know where to go. The new rooms will provide us with some much needed light and ventilation. But until then we are stuck here, so let's make the most of things and begin today's lesson. The potion we will be brewing today is fairly simple, but the ingredients can be volatile, so before we start brewing I want you all to open your books to page 57 and read about how these ingredients can react if prepared incorrectly. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions.'

The classroom was filled with murmurs about how weird it was to have Snape being nice to them like this and warning them about the potion before hand, some speculated he had been mellowed by his niece, in fact many students were stealing glances at Halley as she and Draco turned around to face Pansy and Hermione behind them so they all discuss the set reading together.

Snape didn't even reprimand them, Ron noticed, his face dark with anger. And how dare Hermione partner with a Slytherin slut over him? She was acting like such a traitor, socializing with these future deatheaters like this. Who cared that Voldemort was gone? There would always be another Dark wizard to fill his ugly shoes, and it would probably be Malfoy, he thought darkly.

'Ron, what do you think of this part?' asked Neville. 'I mean, I know how dangerous Venomous Tentacula can be, but I didn't know the leaves could react with frogs spleen like this, especially after the leaves have already been harvested. Ron? Are you listening?'

'Oh, shut up, Neville,' Ron growled. 'Can't you see I don't care? I'm trying to figure out how to get Hermione back from those snakes before she gets seduced by the Dark.'

'What are you talking about?' asked Neville, confused and angry at his friend. 'She's just making friends. The war is long over, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gone, so what if we make friends with the other Houses?'

'I don't care about making friends with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, but Slytherins? Everyone knows they're Dark, the whole lot of them.' Ron kept going on about how all Slytherins are evil incarnate and how snakelike they are and how all the girls were nothing but dirty sluts, until Neville snapped. He stood up, ignoring Ron's demands he come back, and did what he had never done before and approached Professor Snape.

'Excuse me, Professor Snape?' the young Gryffndor said bravely. 'I would like to request a new partner.'

'Mr Longbottom, as I said at the start of the class, all partners are final, there will be no changes.' Replied Severus, looking up from his potions book.

'I know sir, and I'm sorry but I am still requesting that I change partners. I'll even work alone if I have to, but I will not work with Ron. He's being quite rude towards Hermione and the Slytherins and I don't like what he's been saying ever since the train.'

Severus was about to reply that he was sorry but the partners were final and that Neville would have to just live with Ron as his partner, when Blaise Zabini came up to the front of the room as well.

'Excuse me sir, I couldn't help but overhear,' he said respectably, 'If it's alright, I will be Longbottom's partner for the year.'

'And your own partner Mr Zabini?' asked Severus with a sigh. 'I already said there will be no changes, what possible grievance could you have with your partner that you think would convince me to allow the swap?'

'Actually sir, there's an odd number of students this year, so I don't currently have a partner. I was going to just work by myself for the year, you know I'm capable of it.'

'Yes you are, and Longbottom could benefit from being your partner, but I already said-'

'If Neville doesn't want to be my partner then I refuse to work with him,' interjected Ron rudely, gaining everyone's attention. 'So just partner him with Zabini already. Another traitor buddying up to a slimy snake.' He glared at Hermione again.

'Mr Weasley,' growled Severus, standing up. '20 points from Gryffindor for such horrible talk in my classroom. Pack up your things this instant and follow me. Longbottom, you may partner with Zabini. The rest of you, no brewing until I return. I mean it. Discuss the possible reactions between the ingredients amongst yourselves and read the directions for the potion on page 59. I will return shortly. Mr Weasley, let's go.'

Severus led Ron from the room, and once the door clicked shut behind them the room burst into chatter about what had just happened.

'Come on,' said Blaise to Neville, 'let's get to it. Your desk or mine?'

'Um, yours is fine,' replied Neville shakily. Had that really just happened? Had Ron really mouthed off to Professor Snape and insulted the Slytherins, not to mention Hermione and himself, like that? 'Let me just grab my stuff.'

Neville joined Blaise at his desk next to Hermione and Pansy and received welcoming smiles from the two girls and even Malfoy and the new girl.

'Hey, I'm Halley, nice to meet you.' Halley said to Neville.

'Um, hey, Halley, I'm Neville. Are you really Snape's niece?' Blurted Neville, going red with embarrassment. he hasn't meant to say that. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked like that, I don't know what came over me.'

'I am,' laughed Halley. 'Don't worry about it, Sev told me to expect some mixed reactions.'

'Sev?' Squeaked Neville as the others laughed. 'You call him Sev?'

'Only when we're not in class,' grinned Halley. 'Don't worry, he promised to treat me the same as everyone else during classes. Speaking of, shall we all get back to work before he returns?'

The others agreed and were discussing the potion they would be brewing when Severus stormed back into the room, minus Ron.

'I trust you have all completed the reading by now?' he asked the class as they all fell silent. In response to their nods he told them all to get to brewing the potion if they had no questions.

Hermione looked around the room before tentatively raising her hand.

'Yes, Miss Granger?' sighed Severus.

'Sir, if it's not too forward, could you tell us what happened with Ron?'

'I suppose, you'll all find out eventually. I escorted Mr Weasley to the headmaster's office and explained what had occurred in the classroom prior to us leaving. Mr Weasley then launched into an angry tirade against Slytherin House and how he believes yourself Miss Granger, and you too, Mr Longbottom, have apparently been seduced by the Dark side and how Dumbledore had to save you both before it was too late. Professor McGonagal was called in to decide his punishment and Mr Weasley began yelling at all three of us that Mr Potter wouldn't have put up with this and we were all betraying his memory. Professor McGonagal took 50 points from Gryffindor for his behavior and the decision was made to suspend him for two weeks. His mother was summoned via the floo in the headmaster's office to take him home. She assured us he would be punished at home as well. His homework will be delivered via owl so he can attempt to stay on par with the rest of you.'

The room erupted in loud discussions about Ron and his behavior. It was a rare occurrence for a student to be suspended from Hogwarts, and it had certainly never happened this early in the school year.

'Now, if that is all, shall we continue with Potions class? Ingredients are in the cupboard as usual, we're now running a little tight on time but you should all be able to produce a passable anti-acne potion. What are you waiting for? Begin!'

The class began to move, half of the partners collecting ingredients while the other half set up the brewing stations.

Halley left to get the ingredients with Pansy, leaving their partners Draco and Hermione behind to set up.

'I suppose you wouldn't know about the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalries being new and all,' commented Pansy as they gathered what they needed. 'But what just happened with Weasley was big, especially for this early in the year and in class no less.'

'Yeah, I figured there was something going on back on the train,' replied Halley, waiting for Pansy to gather the rest of her ingredients before they headed back to their respective stations. 'But Hermione doesn't seem so bad.'

'No, Grang-sorry, Hermione, seems to have put aside the House differences. It can only be a good thing in the long run.'

Each set of partners began brewing their potions and the chatter died down as they all began to concentrate. Blaise and Neville seemed to be getting along quite nicely, they managed to turn in their potion with no explosions which made everyone sigh in relief. In the end, Severus declared all the potions as passable, showcasing three or four that were the exact right colour, including Hermione and Pansy's, Halley and Draco's, and Blaise and Neville's, much to Neville's surprise. Blaise offered to tutor Neville in Potions to get him up to level which Neville gratefully accepted. Severus dismissed the class and they all left, chattering again about Ron and his suspension. Severus sighed, he knew it would be all over the school by dinner, but it would have been anyway without him saying anything.

Draco and Hermione headed off to arithmancy, while Pansy and Halley headed towards the library. On the way there, Draco's owl caught up to the two girls and deposited the catalogue from Gladrags that Pansy had ordered that morning.

Upon arriving at the library, Pansy introduced Halley to the librarian Madam Pince who warned her to respect the books and take care of them or suffer her wrath. Halley agreed and the two girls hurried away from the old librarian. Pansy gave Halley a quick tour, pointing out tables for group studies, individual study corrals, and hidden private tables and couches. The catalogue was a magical version of the old muggle card index, you just asked it where to find what you were after and followed the trail of light.

Pansy led Halley over to a table near the back of the huge library in front of a wide window.

'This is the table Draco and I usually use, so he'll know where to find us later.' She explained as they gratefully dropped their heavy bags and flopped into the soft chairs. Pansy pulled out the catalogue and spread it out on the table so they could both see. She explained to Halley about the different fashions, how this section was for wizards and that section was for witches. They pulled out the wizards section, set it aside for Draco to peruse later and began looking through the witches selections together.

Pansy showed Halley how witches robes different from wizards, different cuts and folds between the two. They examined the formal wear closely, not that they had any real opportunities to show off such clothes at Hogwarts, and turned their attention to the more casual wear and the sleepwear. Halley was interested in a few dresses, so Pansy marked them with her quill for later perusal, then showed Halley the pyjamas she had been wearing the night before. They came in different colours, the green Pansy had of course, but also a deep blue, a royal purple, white, ruby red, even a shimmering gold. Pansy decided to order a set of the blue while Halley wanted the green and the purple, so they marked those as well. Pansy explained that Gladrags would withdraw the money from their vaults at Gringotts after they signed the order slips. The goblins would retrieve the money for Gladrags, no one but the vault owners and the goblins themselves were allowed in the vaults. Turning to the back of the catalogue, the two girls also decided to order new tights for everyday wear, the ones from Madam Malkins were a bit rough and these promised to be soft as silk. Halley also decided to order a new bra and a couple pairs of the matching panties, her face red as she wrote down her size. Pansy smirked but didn't say anything, Halley was obviously still a bit shy about some things.

Once the two Slytherin girls had finished marking their order slips, they set them aside to post after dinner and sighing, pulled out their books to start the homework they had been set. It wasn't much, Severus had asked them to write a short essay on why certain ingredients could turn volatile without proper preparation and McGonagal had asked for an explanation on why some objects resisted transfiguration. They had just finished those two short essays when Draco arrived with Hermione in tow. He raised an eyebrow at the two order slips for Gladrags but then grabbed the wizards section and began to peruse as Hermione sat down and began telling them about the arithmancy class they had just attended.

'Oh Hermione,' said Pansy as Hermione finished and began pulling out her books. 'Halley and I were looking the Gladrags catalogue and I thought you might like this.' She passed over the witches section and pointed to a dress that she had circled for Hermione earlier. It was a rockabilly style dress, with the flared skirt and covered shoulders, in a tasteful and simple red with black trims. 'It's casual but still nice enough for small events like birthdays or even Christmas if you wanted.'

'Its gorgeous,' agreed Hermione. 'But I don't have a Gringotts account, I couldn't order this.'

'You don't need a Gringotts account, though it does help,' explained Pansy. 'They also accept those muggle card things, I don't know how that works though.'

'The same as muggle catalogues I expect,' said Hermione, turning to the back of the magazine where the payment options were laid out. 'Yes, I just provide them with my card details and they go through a muggle bank. Excellent. Though I really should open a Gringotts account at some point. You know, I think I will order this dress, I don't have anything like it and it would be nice to have something pretty for Hogsmead weekends I think. Oh, there's lingerie too. I forgot to get a new bra before coming to Hogwarts this year, I was too distracted by the new book list. What do you think of this one?' She turned the catalogue around and pointed to a black lace bra with silver butterflies stitched across the cups.

'Beautiful,' said Halley, going red again. She had never realized girls spoke about things like this in public.

'Agreed, and it'll go nicely with the dress too.'

'If you ladies are quite finished, how about we do some actual work?' drawled Draco as he set aside the wizards catalogue and order form he had filled out.

'Oh like you can talk Draco,' sneered Pansy as she glared at his order slip. 'But yeah, let's get this done already.'

They managed to finish their homework before dinner and headed off to their Houses to deposit their belongings, meeting up with Hermione again at the entrance to the Great Hall. The bushy haired Gryffindor girl started a conversation with Pansy and Halley about their cats and the three girls decided to introduce their cats to each other at some point. Hermione was called over to the Gryffindor table and with a sigh and a smile she said goodbye to her new friends for the night.