[PREVIOUSLY - Pansy rats on The Rat before the Sorting Ceremony even begins, joins the illustrious Slytherin House and is gets called up to see McGonagall and Snape for her efforts.]

Greg and Ruthven, the other prefect, split from them after the staircase to the First Floor, leaving Pansy to follow after a briskly moving Prefect Farley.

The Fifth Year student walked quickly, heading down a long corridor. "Really though," Farley asked, curiosity colouring her tone. "What did you do? Don't think there's ever been a student in trouble this early in the year since the Weasley twins."

Pansy winced. That was not a good precedent.

"I didn't mean to make a fuss." She said instead, though that wasn't necessarily true. And from the looks of it, Farley didn't really believe it either. "Weasley brought an animal onto the Express with no cage and it hadn't been approved. It bit Heir Goyle."

Farley chuckled low in her throat. "And this would have nothing to do with the fact that Malfoy was seen searching compartments for the Boy-Who-Lived. Or the infamous Malfoy-Weasley feud?"

Pansy blinked at her with wide eyes. "What's Heir Malfoy got to do with this?"

"Right." Farley huffed, clearly disbelieving but not calling her out on it.

The prefect stopped outside of a door and knocked twice. The plaque below it read 'Gryffindor Head of House' in shimmery gold calligraphy, just above a large lion head door knocker with a heavy iron ring in its mouth, jutting from the wood.

"Come in!" McGonagall's faintly accented voice called from the other side.

Farley pushed open the door and Pansy followed her inside. "Professors, I've brought Parkinson."

It seemed like a rather cosy office, bookshelves filled with different knickknacks and tomes covered one wall, with a portrait of an elderly gentleman watching the proceedings curiously on the other. In the centre of the room was a heavy wooden desk, with a few scrolls of parchment rolled up on one side and a wooden cage holding a trembling rat, in its centre.

In one of the seats in front of the desk, Ronald Weasley was already glaring at her, accompanied by what was probably one of his brothers - Percy probably, judging by the red shield pin on his left side. The older boy looked incredibly embarrassed to be there, a red flush crawling up his ears as he elbowed his younger brother quickly.

McGonagall sat behind the desk, looking decidedly tired and from the seat closest to the door, the man who must have been Professor Snape arched an eyebrow at them.

"That will be all, Farley. I'll send Miss Parkinson back later." He said.

"Yes, Professor." Farley nodded, and just like that the prefect was gone.

"If you'd like to take a seat, Miss Parkinson." McGonagall said after a moment, peering over the tops of her glasses.

Pansy took the remaining seat next to Snape. "Thank you, Professor."

McGonagall sighed, "I assume you know why you're here, Miss Parkinson?"

"Because I reported Weasley's breach of the rules?" Pansy answered. Professor McGonagall was a brilliant witch, someone Pansy honestly admired. She was one of the greatest Transfiguration minds in the last century, and one of only a handful of academically successful women. However, Pansy wasn't about to let her accidentally risk Pettigrew getting free if she could help it. "Should Gregory be here too? He was injured after all, his Mother will be furious."

McGonagall's mouth pursed into a tight line and beside her Percy Weasley went white. "We thought it prudent he was seen to by Madam Pomfrey first." She said.

Pansy's gazed flickered around the room. McGonagall obviously didn't want Greg or the Goyle's involved. Even if he ended up fine, his parents would definitely milk this for all it was worth. Percy Weasley seemed to recognise this too, or at least was aware they'd be in a load of trouble.

Snape was watching her with a measured look.

"Miss Parkinson," McGonagall pushed at the rim of her glasses. "While I appreciate your expediency in informing a member of staff, perhaps some discretion in picking a more appropriate time and place would have been better. You interrupted the Sorting Ceremony."

Pansy nodded. "Yes, ma'am, apologies." She said, then bit her lip before she could continue. There was a thin line between playing a crowd artfully and making a mockery of a conversation.

McGonagall let out a sigh, seeming neither overly pleased by her concession nor annoyed by it.

"Regardless, what is done is done." She said, looking at the cage on her desk. "Mr Weasley, you will keep your rat in this cage and return home with it during this Christmas break. Do not bring it back. The rules on bringing animals are stated plainly on the supplies list, in future do make sure you read this properly before bringing any with you."

"He's getting to keep it with him?!" Pansy gaped.

Surely the rat would just escape the first chance he got? She wasn't sure if she had freaked it out with her little outburst before the Sorting Ceremony, but it was certainly looking spooked behind the bars of its cage right now.

"What if it gets loose again!? And bites someone else? Or gets out of Gryffindor? Wouldn't it be better to confiscate it for the rest of term? Getting to keep it is hardly a punishment - everyone will be bringing their animals in then, regardless of what the supplies list says." She said, a little desperately.

If it stayed in McGonagall's or Snape's custody until the end of term, at least then she'd know it was being watched and she'd get a bit longer to figure out what she was going to do next.

Ron exploded. "That's not fair! Fred and George's friend Lee has a tarantu-" His jaw snapped shut with a click.

"A what?" Professor Snape said dangerously, looming towards him. The rat gave a squeak of fright and scampered to the back of its cage.

"A- a-" Ron stuttered, eyes darting left and right.

Percy looked like he wanted to cry.

McGonagall sighed again, looking for all the world like she couldn't believe it was only day one. "Prefect Weasley, please inform your brothers and Mr Jordan to report to my office before breakfast in the morning, with the animal."

"O- of course, Professor! I will!" Percy looked pained.

The professor pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes moving over each of the students with some resignation before stopping on her with a cold look. "Thank you for your contributions, Miss Parkinson."

Pansy blushed at the condescension in her voice. Suddenly, she was acutely aware she was perhaps about to be the professor's least favourite student.

"As I was about to say," The witch continued, the slight irritation obvious now. "Mr Weasley, I am deducting fifteen house points for deliberately breaking the rules. And, for now," She said rather reluctantly, "Your animal shall remain with me."

Yes! Pansy wanted to cheer. Oh thank goodness!

Prefect Weasley led his brother away, stomping loudly, a few minutes later, and Pansy followed Professor Snape back down towards the Dungeons, firmly keeping her lips pressed together. She'd annoyed enough professors for the evening, there was absolutely no need to add her dour looking Head of House to the mix. They walked in silence for several minutes, footsteps echoing across the flagstones.

"I was informed," He said after a moment, "That there was an incident on the train."

Pansy wondered if she was going to have to defend Draco again. The boy certainly wouldn't be pleased to know his godfather already knew what had happened.

"Do you need to visit the Hospital Wing?"

Oh. Right. The crush coming off the train. It seemed like such a long time ago, she'd nearly forgotten all about it. "No, sir." Her hand went to her chest, remembering the tightness and the panic. But it was clear now, and the lingering ache was gone. "I think I'll be alright."

Snape nodded. They continued the rest of the walk in silence, Pansy following half a step behind him. He didn't look like Alan Rickman. His teeth were slightly crooked, his lips were thin and slightly cracked, his features were off. He was a severe looking man, pardon the pun. It wasn't necessarily his features, his nose was hardly as frightening as she had expected, and though he wasn't particularly handsome, he wasn't horrifying to look at.

It was more the air about him. He'd had a cold look of quiet disdain, for everybody and everything, on his face from the moment she'd seen him.

Still – she couldn't quite get the image, of a man like him, clutching his chest in despair, gasping 'always' out of her head.

He dismissed her inside the Common Room, leaving her by the door to the girls' dorms, himself heading deeper into the room where it looked like the prefects were waiting for him at one of the tables.

Pansy left them to it, wanting nothing more than to sink into her bed and forget about everything that had happened today.

The door to the girls' dormitories opened onto a narrow corridor. The first few doors on either side seemed to be lavatories and bathrooms, declared as such by silver scribed plaques on the doors. Further down, the rooms went in descending order, the seventh year room being the first on the right and the first year's down right at the end, as the last room.

Unsurprisingly, none of the girls were asleep when she entered. They had been clustered in the centre of the room on cushions they must have pulled from the beds into a loose circle. Millie got up immediately, dragging her into the room to join them. Pansy wasn't particularly eager if she was honest – with everything that had happened today, all she wanted was to curl under her covers and sleep. But it wasn't lights out yet, and all the others were clearly still excited.

"What happened?" Millie pounced forwards, ever eager.

Daphne and the new girl, Tracey, also peered at her curiously.

"I wasn't in trouble, I don't think?" Pansy said unsurely, "Well, I wasn't punished."

Daphne nodded sagely, as if she'd guessed so all along, though her shoulders dropped a little. "I mean, Weasley did break the rules."

"You really didn't get a detention?" It was Tracey that spoke this time. She was a rather plain looking girl in comparison to Daphne next to her, yellow-blonde hair that reached her shoulders, and a smattering of brown freckles across her face.

"No –" And though, she felt a bit sorry for leaving McGonagall to handle the hot mess she'd dropped on the witch's plate, she did feel a little smug at actually having done something. "He got house points taken off him and the rat got confiscated by Professor McGonagall." She tried to stop her mouth from ticking upwards.

Take that, plot!

The topic of conversation moved on to other things afterwards – to the strange Headmaster, how good dinner was, when was everyone sending letters home? Pansy listened with half an ear, chiming in occasionally but soon enough, Prefect Farley came through and told them all to get changed and ready for lights out.

Pansy copied the other girls in pulling the drapes around her bed closed, leaving a small gap near her bedside cabinet for convenience and also to allow some of the dim candlelight to light up the interior.

The bed was firm, and the sheets cool and comfortable as she tucked her legs under the covers, propping thick fluffy pillows behind her back so she could sit.

Finally, she was alone.

A lot had happened today. Pansy had muddled through the last eight years, ever since she'd realised where and who she was, telling herself she had time and that she could make plans before everything went down.

Realistically though, despite having socialised with some pureblood circles, and learning what Mother had expected of her, she hadn't really come up with much. At home, everything was – not lacking – but out of reach. Her learning was set by Mother and various tutors. Her knowledge was limited to the books in the Library, and the speed at which she could get through them. Her movements and actions were almost all decided by Mother – when they left the house, who they met.

She had been here for eleven years now. Her memories from her earliest days were hardly clear anymore, drifting shadows and fear. Even more so, was her memory of what was supposed to happen. She couldn't write things down back when she was so little – Pansy had neither the tools nor the skills to write with a quill back then. Often, she went over what she knew in her head, but after so many years, it wasn't a guarantee that she'd remembered things correctly.

This year was supposed to be Harry Potter's first year. He was a Gryffindor. He met Ron and Hermione. Voldemort was on the back of Professor Quirrel's head. And they managed to save the Philosopher's stone by going through some sort of set of trials.

Next year was meant to be the chamber of secrets, then the Prizoner of azkaban. After that, the Triwizard Tournament. Fifth year… fifth year was…

Pansy stared at her palms. Fifth year was when Voldemort came back? No. What happened in Fifth year? What about Sixth Year? That must have been when Voldemort came back? There was a war. Draco would have been tasked to kill Dumbledore somewhere in those two years.

She could remember snippets. Horcruxes. Dumbledore falling from the Astronomy tower. Neville lopping off the head of a snake. Na-something. Hogwarts being attacked.

She couldn't double check any of these things, couldn't find out more about when these events would happen because there were no reference books, no internet to rely on.

Hopefully, she'd remember more later – like an amnesiac being led to places they'd been but opposite.

She'd made a blind gamble today, getting Pettigrew away from Ronald Weasley. The rat was important in the scheme of things. He'd betrayed the Potters – been responsible for the ritual that resurrected Voldemort.

If she could somehow get him out of the way?

Things would change - but was there any guarantee it would be for the better?

Pansy felt like she'd tossed and turned the whole night. At some point the candle by her bed had gone out and left her blinking in the darkness, willing sleep to come. She must have eventually nodded off at some point, though it didn't seem like very long because one moment she was staring up at the bed canopy and the next faint blue light was illuminating her view of the door.

She waited a beat, listening for movement as she blinked the sleepiness away, before pushing back the heavy drapes as quietly as she could. The others didn't seem to be awake yet and didn't seem to stir. The flagstones were cool under her feet as she moved down the centre of the room, between the beds. The wall opposite the door to the dorm was covered by heavy curtains, though a gap in the centre revealed a triangle of light seeping through.

The curtains parted with a tug, shifting and then magically sliding out from beneath her fingers and pulling back until her view was unobstructed. She blinked at the sudden brightness. A window – looking out into water. As in a pale sage-blue murkiness without end, clumps of thick tendril-like vegetation waving in an unseen current, tiny silver fish that scattered when she went to touch the glass.

How did this even work?! Wasn't the castle on a rocky cliff? How did it have an underwater view in the dungeons? Was this an underwater cavern within the cliff? Or the great lake they had crossed on boats yesterday?

She peered out into the blue – were there grindylows about?

The glass was clear, despite the murky water, and a thin, eel-like fish, no thicker than a pencil, swam by, wriggling gracefully.

Maybe they were more nocturnal.

Growing bored, Pansy went back towards her bed and clicked open the second compartment of her trunk to dress for the day. None of them had done any unpacking yesterday, beyond grabbing sleepwear. Looking around, there didn't seem to be much in the way of storage either. There was a cabinet by each girl's bed, probably enough to store toiletries and sweets and a few knicknacks. Each cabinet had a candle and a small clock with three hands. Currently, it read five forty-five and one of the hands had ticked onto "very early", though she didn't need a magic clock to tell her that.

The other girls were unlikely to be up yet so Pansy grabbed her toiletries (Gilli had put them in a handy little bag) and left the room to visit the bathrooms she'd seen in the corridor last night. One thing she'd noticed at home was the lack of a shower. When she'd washed, she had always had a bath in the Parkinson home – was it just a Parkinson thing, to not own a shower? Or was it a universal magical thing?

Pansy was only a little dismayed to find a singular bath, semi set into the ground. A bath was still a bath after all. And who didn't love baths? The edge of the tub went to her knees but the basin itself was deeper so that she was actually stepping down into the water. In keeping with the themed decor, the taps were fanged snakes with water shooting out of their open mouths, and the thick bath mat and stacks of clean towels were deep green.

Thinking about it, there really were snakes everywhere in the Slytherin Dungeon. There were little snakes carved into just about every piece of furniture, from the bedside cabinets, to the wooden scrolling details on the armchairs in the Common Room.

Were the other Houses just as obvious? It was all very in your face.

She ended up just soaking for quite a while, enjoying the heat and feeling of her muscles relaxing, until the water turned from steaming-hot to lukewarm. Eventually, the water cooled and she towelled herself off and changed into a grey skirt and a slightly stiff white collared blouse.

The others were moving about the room when she got back, getting changed or grabbing toiletries. Pansy sat on her bed, slipping the loop of her still-knotted tie over her head. It might not be the proper way, but leaving it tied and tightening it was far easier than trying to re-tie it whilst fighting Daphne and, surprisingly, Tracey for space in front of the mirror as they got ready.

Once they were dressed, Pansy and the other three made their way out into the Common Room. Seeing that the boys weren't about yet, Millie tugged her over to one of the tables, Daphne and Tracey on their tail, where they all sat down to wait. The Common Room during the day seemed somehow softer, rippling blue light filtered through the unobscured windows into the Lake, casting the faint shapes of passing small freshwater fish and long tendrils of seaweed across the walls and floors. With all the drapes now drawn back, it really did feel like the whole room was submerged underwater, like some sort of medieval submarine.

"Magnus said there's a Giant Squid in the Lake." Millie said, as they both eyed the a suspicious piece of algae drifting by the window. "Don't know if it comes near the Castle though."

"I thought squid were from the sea."

"So did I."

As promised, Farley and Ruthven, the fifth-year prefects, led them over to the Great Hall for breakfast, going over the directions as they walked. The Slytherin table was mostly empty, bar the odd few people already helping themselves to breakfast. The prefects led them to where they were seated last night, towards the front of the hall and stayed long enough to pass out bits of parchment.

"These are the timetables Farley and I copied out for you last night – don't lose them." Ruthven warned.

"You're expected to know your own timetable and be on time for classes." Farley added, "The floors the classrooms are on are written down, but if you do get lost, just ask one of the other Slytherins for help."

They left them to their own devices and all eyes turned to their new schedule. Today was Monday – so there was Herbology in first period, Charms in second period and History of Magic in the afternoon. Overall it wasn't a particularly busy schedule, especially compared to Mother's lessons. Classes only started at nine o' clock in the morning and the day was finished by half-three, apart from Thursday where, in a few weeks time, they would start getting an hour of Flying lessons. They had an hour for lunch in the middle of the day, and a half-day on Fridays.

"It doesn't look too hectic." Pansy said, as the pot of porridge to her right was spontaneously refilled by itself. She scooped up a good amount and dolloped it into her bowl, adding a spoonful of honey and some dried fruit to the top.

"Urgh, gross –" Millie pretended to gag, as she spread some jam over a slice of toast. "Can't believe you like porridge."

"It's good for you," Pansy rolled her eyes as she picked up her spoon. "And tasty, I bet you haven't even tried any."

"I don't have to try it to know it's gross."

"To be fair," Across the table from them, Blaise was reaching for some sort of fruit salad with a serving spoon, but had clearly decided it had better use pointing at Millie's plate. "You're making a jam and butter sandwich."

"It's delicious!"

"Isn't it supposed to be peanut butter?" Pansy scrunched her nose as Millie smushed two slices of toast, one thickly buttered and one with jam, together and then bit into it with a loud crunch. "Nevermind, don't say anything against my porridge and I won't say anything about the abomination you're eating."

"It's not an abomination." Millie said, dipping a corner into her tea.

Daphne made a screeching sound in the back of her throat. "Not in the tea!"

"It's my tea! I can do what I want, you Princess! It's delicious!"

They went back down to the dungeons, on their own, after eating quickly; worried about packing bags and making it to class on time. Between the nine of them - the girls, Draco and the boys, Blaise and Theo, all together - they managed to muddle their way through the halls, pack their bags and head back out again. It was a rather large group to be traversing the halls with. Draco and Daphne happily took point squabbling as their heads bent over the directions listed on the timetable, with Greg, Vince and Tracey behind them.

Theodore Nott seemed happy enough to stick with Pansy, Millie and Blaise at the back, where Millie was happily retelling what happened yesterday in McGonagall's office to the two boys and Pansy was pretending she didn't exist.

Theodore Nott – 'just Theo' – spoke in rather soft tones, despite being almost a head taller than Blaise who had been the tallest previously. There was a small criss-crossed white scar on his chin that looked old and when he spoke his eyes flickered left and right. Despite that, he wasn't exactly timid – just quiet.

Pansy found herself sharing a glance with Millie when his back was turned.

Luckily, Herbology wasn't difficult to get to. Their timetable stated they were in Greenhouse One and once they left the Main Doors and stood outside, it was easy to see the glass houses in the distance. They found a group of unsure looking Hufflepuffs milling by the front door, peering in through the glass at the figure of a rounder, curvaceous looking woman inside who had her back turned to them.

"Do you think we should go in?" A boy was asking, "It's still pretty early."

Behind the unaware group, Draco cleared his throat loudly. "Good morning, is this Greenhouse –"

"YOU!"

"YOU!"

Comically, Ernie and Draco spotted each other at the same time.

"Oh boy." Blaise murmured.

"I see you're still the same loudmouth chatterbox." Ernie said with a sniff.

"I see you're still the same pompous idiot." Draco fired back.

"And I see that my first year class has already arrived but not taken their seats." A voice interrupted. Pansy wanted to groan. It seemed like the commotion had alerted the Professor to their arrival and she looked like she wanted to laugh at them already. Was it fate that every first meeting with a teacher was going to start this badly? First McGonagall, then Snape, now the supposedly jolly Hufflepuff head.

"Well?" She said, gesturing inside. "Why aren't you taking your seats?"

Hurriedly, the group rushed to obey. Inside the glass building, a long table bisected the room, with benches on either side. By the glass walls, various small plots of soil and wooden boxes of different plant-beds were arranged neatly. Pansy slid onto the bench between Draco and Millie. The witch waited until they were all seated before standing at the front to begin speaking.

"Welcome to your first Herbology class." The woman began cheerfully. "My name is Professor Sprout, apt I know. You may also know me as the head of Hufflepuff House. Herbology is the study of magical and mundane plants and fungi. In my classes, you will learn how to grow, propagate and harvest different plants as well as the different properties and uses we have for them."

"We have three lessons a week," Professor Sprout said, "Mondays shall be theory-based and Tuesdays and Thursdays will be practical – so I expect you to all bring your gloves tomorrow. If you do not own gloves, please find me after class."

"Now, this week I want you all working in groups of two." She said, stepping down the line, she began to tap on the top of people's heads. "One… two… three… four… five…"

Pansy found herself as number four and subsequently paired off with a boy named Oliver Rivers, who fidgeted awkwardly when she made eye contact with him and looked a little reluctant. Oh, right – the incident before the feast, right, everyone had been there. Pansy sighed. She wondered if she'd already given herself somewhat of a reputation.

Professor Sprout made them switch seats to sit with their new partners and there was a bit of shuffling and faffing about until they settled again. Thankfully, Draco and Ernie were not paired together, however Ernie was looking disgruntled in his spot next to the stockier, taller Vince. Likewise, Draco did not seem all that pleased with his partner either, a Hufflepuff boy she didn't know the name of.

"Okay – now that we're ready to begin, please turn to page fifteen – Miss Runcorn can you read the first paragraph under the heading 'Bouncing Bulbs', please."

Apart from the initial bad impression the class had likely made on Professor Sprout, the class itself went fairly well. They went round in a circle reading paragraphs from the chapter, stopping occasionally to answer prompts from Professor Sprout or discuss questions from the class. There was a worksheet to fill out, labelling the different parts of the Bouncing Bulb plant and answering questions about it's uses, the function of different parts and various safety measures.

For all that Pansy had been prepared for Hogwarts – she hadn't been prepared for school. It was still magical, of course, but there was bound to be some crossover, and listening to Sprout simplify photosynthesis gave her a funny feeling in her stomach.

There was a short break between classes but nobody really went off to do anything else. Their next class was Charms and it seemed a rather long way away in 'Classroom 99 - South Tower' according to Farley and Ruthven's timetable. The Hufflepuff's split off from them when they made it back to the Castle proper, moving off down a corridor on the second floor.

"Bet they don't even know where they're going." Draco snorted.

"I'm pretty sure we don't know where we're going – where's the South Tower?" Daphne rolled her eyes.

It would have been nice if they'd been given a map. There seemed to be about a billion moving staircases in the castle and, as they soon discovered, trying to go back after getting off on the wrong floor was harder than it looked.

They did end up in Charms on time luckily, hastily taking seats around the already seated blue-tied Ravenclaws just as Professor Flitwick dropped down from the chair behind his desk. His form disappeared behind the furniture for the moment before appearing to its left and stepping onto a stool. He was a rather jolly fellow, with a happy grin on his face as he introduced himself to the class.

So far, Charms might be her favourite. There was just something so inherently exciting about actually getting to use her wand, a happy little fizz from somewhere in her stomach as she followed Professor Flitwick's instructions.

"- Now, see how the tip of my wand has lit up! That's what you're aiming for – Try and practice the wand movement first, follow the diagram on the board, that's right – and practice the incantation. We're looking for lumos – LOO-mos. Repeat after me, class!"

"LOO-mos."

"Wonderful!"

Flitwick's personality was also a joy, especially after having met McGonagall and Snape last night. By the end of class, no one had gotten it to work yet, but Padma and perhaps, Theo seemed the closest to going it, a faint barely there glow at the end of their wands. The Indian girl waited at the end of class, approaching the Charms professor on her own as the other Ravenclaws left the room in groups.

Pansy waved away the others as she waited for Padma outside the classroom. She hadn't had a chance to talk to the other girl yet, and it would be nice to do so on the way down to lunch.

"- oh, thank you Professor!" She heard Padma's voice through the closed door.

"Not to worry, Miss Patil, it's lovely to see students so interested on the first day of classes." The door opened and Padma stepped out, turning to thank the professor once more.

Pansy waited until the door shut again before moving away from the wall she'd been leaning against. "Padma."

"Oh, Pansy," The girl turned, a small smile lighting up her features.

Pansy reached out to loop their arms together as they took the stairs. "How have you been?"

"Oh – you know – it's ," Padma kept her eyes on the stairs, her voice getting steadily quieter. "- fine." She finished lamely.

Padma glanced at her, waiting for her to continue. They walked in silence down the spiralling staircase for a few moments, before Padma inhaled.

"It's just! You know – It's great, there are so many books in the Common Room – and good nooks to read in – and everyone is so interesting and clever – and Professor Flitwick is so kind – and the girls in my dorm are really nice and we've got loads in common and –" It was a veritable explosion of words, Padma's free arm flailing wildly.

Pansy kept quiet, waiting for her to wind herself down.

"It's just - It's just!" Padma stopped in the middle of the hallway, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. "It's –" Abruptly, she deflated, shoulders drooping like her strings had been cut. "It's not the same."

Pansy gave her arm a squeeze encouragingly.

Padma was staring at her feet, her voice faint. "It's weird – I'm so used to sharing a room with Parv, and having her wake me up every morning, and fighting over who gets to use the bathroom first. It's just… weird." She finished, trailing off quietly.

Pansy tugged her forward a little to get moving again, trying to think of what to say. Padma was eleven, and had shared a room with her twin Parvati since she before she could remember. Even though Padma had joined them for Ancient Runes lessons at the Parkinson house on her own before, that was very much an anomaly in their childhood. Normally, everywhere Parvati went, Padma went too, following her more boisterous twin like a quiet shadow.

"Have you spoken to Parvati – about this?" Pansy asked carefully.

Padma shook her head. "No – I didn't want to get in her way, she's probably busy making friends."

"Doesn't mean you can't talk to her, you guys are sisters, she's probably missing you too, you know."

Padma looked unsure. "Do you think so?"

Pansy didn't know Parvati all that well, but even a blind person could tell Parvati and Padma got along well. Where Padma was a bit shyer and bookish, Parvati was loud and protective, trying to exclude Padma was an easy way to trigger Parvati's temper as a much younger Draco had figured out.

"I do," Pansy said as they approached the line outside the Great Hall, where people were queuing to get into lunch. "You could find her during lunch, you know? I'm sure you're allowed to sit at other tables occasionally."

Padma hesitated, before finally shaking her head. "It's okay, I'll wait until tomorrow –" She looked at her hands and then tried to straighten up a bit. "She'll be worried if I go and find her this quickly. I think we have class together tomorrow, I'll try and catch her then."

Pansy thought about inviting the other girl to the Slytherin table, just for this lunch, but she saw Terry Boot on the Ravenclaw table waving in their direction. Nevermind, Padma would be fine. "Looks like you've got a seat saved for you anyways." She said, pointing him out to Padma.

"Yeah," The girl exhaled as her eyes landed on the group Ravenclaw first years joining in to wave her over, a faintly pleased expression on her face.

"I'll see you around?"

Pansy parted from Padma with a quick hug and left her with the eagles, instead finding her own seat by nudging Millie and Blaise, who both grumbled good naturedly but still made room for her between them.

"How's Padma?" Millie asked as she added some steak pie to Pansy's waiting plate. "You guys talked?"

"Thanks – yeah, I waited for her after Charms," Pansy added some peas to her plate. "I think she'll be fine, honestly. She's finding it a bit weird without Parvati but otherwise it seems like she's liking Ravenclaw."

She saw Theo glancing at her curiously across the table and she turned to point out the Indian girl among the Ravenclaw students. "That's Padma Patil, she has a twin, Parvati, in Gryffindor," She said for his benefit.

"Also, their mother is like the sister of the current Maharaja of Magical India, and she works in the Department of Mysteries," Blaise added. Pansy blinked, she hadn't known they were that closely related to royalty. "I think their father has a minor Ministry role?"

"Oh," Theo nodded, "Can you get me some peas?"

"Sure," Pansy scooped another helping, adding it to Theo's outstretched plate instead.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They had History of Magic after lunch. Pansy had picked a seat near the back, dragging Millie with her. Blaise and Theo were too tall to sit in front of them and thus were across the aisle from the girls. Initially, she'd been a little worried at having to share the class with the Gryffindors after last night, but Weasley must have been thoroughly scolded by his brother because he refused to even glance her way, sliding into a seat in the front row with Harry Potter.

Surprisingly, it was the Boy-Who-Lived who reacted instead, giving her a little glare as he sat down. Pansy resisted the urge to shrink downwards in her seat – say what you want about cowardice, but this kid had smited Voldemort out of existence as a baby and would maybe have the ability to do so again in the future. His glare was a little cute but also a little scary.

Hermione Granger had, of course, placed herself in the centre of the front row, her hand instantly shooting up, when the ghostly Professor Binns made himself known to the class, and continued to do so when he began his lecture of the Goblin Wars.

It should have been an interesting topic – Pansy hadn't read much on the Goblin Wars, though she'd seen them referenced in books. War was always interesting, if tragic. But somehow – somehow – Binns monotone droning voice had her eyelids feeling heavy and her stomach was warm and full… and the wall next to the desk was close enough for her to lean her head against…

The only thing jolting her awake was Granger's occasional interrupting cry of "But – Professor!" followed by a wildly waving raised arm. Next to her, Millie let out a tiny snore, using her notebook for a pillow, her textbook propped up to shield her from Binns' gaze though he didn't seem like he would care.

And with that anticlimactic end to classes, Pansy's first day at Hogwarts was over.