A/N: Special thanks to Alias for her very helpful advice!  Everyone who reads this, please review!!!  They make my day. :)

        My portrayal of Blaise in this story is way different than usual- be forewarned.  Actually, the Pansy in this is more like my usual Blaise…anyway, carry on.

--

        The four had continued talking about their excursions in Hogsmeade (both good and bad) well into the night, mostly laughing at Ginny and Ron's and yawning at Hermione's, much to her irritation.  Harry had mostly remained quiet about his meeting with Hannah.  This made Hermione and Ron rather curious, but on the other hand, it didn't seem to please Ginny too much.

        "Well, I'm knackered," Ron announced, getting up and yawning widely.  Harry grinned mischievously. 

        "I didn't think you'd be able to stretch your mouth too much after yelling at Parkinson so much," he said teasingly.  Ron just glared at him, bid goodnight to Hermione and Ginny exclusively and trudged up to his dorm. 

        Having reached his bed, he collapsed on it face first, head in the pillow.  Ron lay there like a stiff board for some time, straining his ears to hear if Harry was coming up.  This was made very difficult by Neville and Seamus' gargantuan snores, paired with Dean's gnashing teeth.  This was maddening.  "Bloody hell," he muttered sighing, rolling over onto his back.  He looked up at the bed 'ceiling', exhausted.  That Parkinson sure knew how to get him infuriated!

        It had been a long, trying day for Ronald Archibald Weasley.

--

        "Complete nightmare.  I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking."  Pansy took a long sip of the Butterbeer Blaise Zabini had brought up for her.  "This whole project is insane."  Blaise giggled. 

        "Well I had a good time."  Pansy scowled.

        "Of course you did, you got paired up with Seamus bloody Finnegan!  For a Gryff he's not half bad looking," Pansy said scowling, thinking of the sandy haired, blue eyed Irish boy.  Blaise wound a strand of black hair around her finger.

        "Yeah…" she agreed, trailing off dreamily and leaning against the Slytherin balcony rail.  Pansy narrowed her eyes and pushed her slightly.  Blaise shrieked.

        "Oh for pity's sakes, you're a sorry excuse for one of us," Pansy (the Leader) sneered, motioning towards the 'us' in question to Blaise (the Giggler): Millicent Bulstrode (the Brawn), Carmen LaFuetes (the Looker) and Tawny Flint (the Whiner), Marcus Flint's equally repulsive little sister.  They all blinked at her, obviously not having been listening.  "Oh great, have you been at it with the fags again?" Pansy asked exasperatedly, smelling the tobacco smoke.  Millicent shook her head sluggishly (being the equivalent of Vincent Crabbe, she couldn't be trusted to use a lighter without setting something on fire), but Carmen and Tawny rolled their eyes and stubbed the cigarettes out under their heels.  "That's just a filthy habit- makes your teeth yellow." 

        "I can't help it Pansy," said Tawny, only semi-apologetic in her high voice.  "The stuff's addictive!"

        "Maybe that's why they put warning labels on the bloody package!" Pansy yelled suddenly, making Tawny shut her mouth quickly.  "Thank you, I could be spared the headache.  You lot haven't been so annoying since we got interviews with Rita Skeeter, and all you wanted to do was talk, talk, talk…didn't matter though did it?" She smiled smugly.  "She only used my words."

        "You didn't let us get a word in edgeways!" Blaise protested, but was stopped by Pansy's manicured nail. 

        "Not another word," she growled, turning to lean on the banister.  The other girls exchanged mocking looks behind her back and then, giggling, ran back into the Common Room.  Pansy sighed in complete frustration and buried her head in her hands.  "This is so pointless," she muttered, trying not to inhale the horrid stench of smoke left over from Carmen and Tawny.  She thought back to that afternoon- what an ape that Weasley was!  "'You're only a girl'", she mimicked in disgust.  "'You sound just like my mum!' Prat."  Downing the rest of her Butterbeer, she let the empty bottle go over the side of the balcony and watched it fall lazily.

        Crash.

*

        There was probably only person that Pansy hated more than Ron Weasley, Granger, or Draco at the time breakfast came around the next day.  For once, on the top of her list that morning was Albus Dumbledore.  She glared unashamedly at him as she past his table to get to her own; all she received in return was a friendly smile and twinkling wink.  She scowled deeper than she had been before and sat down heavily at her table.

        Being sexist, being an overall superior bitch or just being plain arrogant didn't seem quite as bad when Pansy compared the three main banes of her life to Dumbledore.  He had shoved her with Weasley, and knowing him it was on purpose.  Bad temperedly, Pansy dug at her porridge with her spoon messily, letting it gloop over the edges of the bowl and onto the immaculate green tablecloth.  Normally this would have bothered normally neat-freak Pansy, but that morning she was too preoccupied to care.  Draco Malfoy looked up from his waffles and laughed nastily at her.

        "What's the matter Pans, too tired from yesterday?"  A ripple of sniggers went up and down the Slytherin table.  Pansy turned her glare on him. 

        "I'm surprised you came down at all Draco," she replied cordially.  "You must be done in after all the shagging with Weaslette."  Sniggers quickly evolved into loud guffaws, making members of other houses turn around and stare, but made extinct with one of Draco's icy glares.

        "Yeah right.  She's such a pathetic little dab of life, I wouldn't even consider it," he replied haughtily, digging into his waffles murderously.  Pansy smirked, ignoring the angry looks from her housemates- she had just put Draco Malfoy in a foul mood, and that was never good for the rest of them.

--

        "More sausages Ron?" Ginny asked her brother as politely as could be expected at eight in the morning.  Ron grabbed the platter away from her and started piling them on his plate.  Hermione made a face.

        "Did you have to ask?" she replied instead of Ron, watching in amazement as he wolfed down three at a time.  He looked up at their shocked faces (this excluding Ginny of course: she was far too used to it to care) and raised an eyebrow.

        "What? I'm hungry," he said after swallowing the sausages painfully.

        "We noticed," Harry said, forking some pancakes on his plate carefully.  Ron shrugged and continued eating.  The rest laughed as they daintily sipped orange juice, pinky extended, just to show Ron what a pig he was being.  He stopped mid-bite and rolled his eyes, putting down his fork.   

        "OK, OK, point taken," he said grumpily, shoving his plate away from him.  There came a 'Hermione?' from somewhere behind Ron's head.  He whirled around quickly, almost knocking over the sausages in his hurry.  It was Terry Boot, holding a Charms book and looking increasingly sorry for ever coming to the table as Ron was starting to look dangerous. 

        "I-I was just wondering if you wanted to talk about yesterday's lesson," he stammered.  Ron nodded in satisfaction and turned back around, now that he had assessed that Terry wasn't out for Hermione's body.  Hermione kept her laughter in at seeing Ron so protective and nodded 'yes' to Terry.

        "Sure, I'll meet you outside ok?" she replied.  Terry grinned.

        "All right.  See you later!"  He waved and walked back to his table.

        "Nice guy," Harry commented as he deposited a maple syrup sodden pancake bite in his mouth.  Ron grunted while Ginny nodded in agreement with Harry.

        "So quiet though…" she said, looking after the brown haired Ravenclaw.  Hermione shrugged.

        "You were quiet for the longest time," she pointed out.  Ginny flushed and started cutting up her pancakes.

        "Yes well, I'm not now am I?" she said hurriedly.  Ron rolled his eyes and checked his watch.

        "Hate to interrupt the fascinating discussion, but we've got half an hour until Charms and if Hermione's going to talk to Boot then she'd better hurry up," he cut in, emphasizing 'hurry up'.  Hermione glared but took the hint, shoveling the food down in a very Ron-like manner.  "See? Doesn't seem so ridiculous now does it?" Ron said happily, referring to the eating style.  Hermione ignored him, wiped her mouth, picked up her bag and left to go outside. 

        "Well I guess Dumbledore's plan worked with them two," Harry commented, wiping his own mouth of syrup.  Ginny smiled after Hermione's retreating back.

        "It's nice she has an intelligent friend to talk to," she said.

        "Hey!" Harry and Ron exclaimed, slightly offended.  Ginny giggled.

        "Oops, my bad." 

        "Well well, if it isn't my Hogsmeade chum." Ginny gave Ron and Harry a stony look that plainly said Here-We-Go as Ron snarled and took out his wand.

        "Leave her alone Malfoy," he said threateningly.  Malfoy smirked.

        "No worries, I was just greeting her- we had the best time, didn't we?" he said sugar sweet.  Ginny looked up, fire dancing in her brown eyes.

        "If listening to a bunch of pathetic, desperate for a shag schoolboys exchange crude jokes is your idea of fun then yes, I had a lovely time."  Harry and Ron laughed, Ron looking more pleased now with his sister than ever before.

        "I hope you know- " his soon to be insult was cut short when Professor McGonagall's firm voice interrupted.

        "There's no trouble here, is there?" she asked, staring down at them beadily down her pointed nose.  Malfoy, Ginny and Harry shook their heads reluctantly, not especially eager to let the other walk away unscathed, but Ron turned around quickly and looked up at her with pleading eyes.

        "Please Miss, are we allowed to switch partners?  I'll take anyone over her," he begged, glancing quickly at Pansy, who was talking to some girl with Latin features and glaring at him coincidentally.  McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

        "Certainly not Mr. Weasley.  Consider it a challenge."  With that, she swept away.  Malfoy looked down at him in amusement.

        "She's driving you mad."  It wasn't a question, but a statement.  Ron glared up at him, and noticing the 'up' part, decided to get off the bench.  At his full height he was equal in height to Malfoy, who wasn't very short at all.  Harry opted to get up as well, leaving poor Ginny in the shadow of the six foot tall guys. 

        "Let's put it this way- now I see why you two went to the Yule Ball together," Ron replied coolly, unlike his usually heated self.  Harry started laughing, and Ginny grinned in appreciation of the joke.  Malfoy scowled and stalked away- yes stalked, why on earth would he just walk away when he can skulk, or stalk, or slink, or something with more alliteration?

*

        The next couple weeks passed without much notable incident.  Neville blew up his fourteenth cauldron, thus sending Seamus to the Hospital Wing with a smitten Blaise Zabini following the ashen boy up.  Hermione and Terry continued to have their academic conversations, while Harry and Hannah had only about two more meetings, both of which took longer than two hours.  Ginny and Malfoy avoided each other whenever possible, and unsurprisingly the same went for Ron and Pansy.  One day in Potions however, an unfortunate accident forced them to do otherwise… 

        "LONGBOTTOM!" Snape roared as Trevor the toad, now quite fat from Hogwarts leftovers, splashed into Tawny and Pansy's cauldron.  Neville cowered in fright, backing up into his chair and looking like he wanted to melt into a gooey puddle on the floor.  The girls shrieked in disgust as the moss green potion dripped all over their similarly green robes.  A few boys in the class imitated the shrieks while sniggering, causing Pansy to furiously flip them the middle finger.  "Now now Miss Parkinson, that is hardly necessary," Snape reprimanded her breezily.  Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged dark looks: if any Gryffindor had dared to do that in his class they'd be in detention until they died. 

        "This is disgusting Professor," Pansy declared, looking down at the slimy mess on her front.

        "Doesn't look any different," Draco commented snidely in the back to Carmen.  She laughed, which made Pansy narrow her eyes in dislike- even though Pansy knew Carmen was practically in love with the boy she didn't find that a good excuse for siding with him against her.  Although Pansy really hated to admit it too, Carmen's thick black hair and smoldering eyes probably was exactly the kind of features Draco wanted in a girl; despite her scoffs, Pansy still had some sort of fluttery feeling for the aristocratic blond.

        "Gee thanks Carmen," Pansy said sarcastically, shaking off her sodden hands and getting a few others wet as well.  They groaned and tried to move away, but the splatters of potion caught them. 

        "Oh great Parkinson," Dean said angrily, looking at the dots of potion on him.  Similar moans of protest echoed throughout the dungeon. 

        "Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said lazily, as though it were just instinct. 

        "That's not fair!" Ron howled miserably- Gryffindor was tied with Hufflepuff for last in the House Cup, and now with points gone they were sure to be dead last.  Despite Harry's success prior to the first Hogsmeade weekend, their points were sufficiently lacking.  Snape narrowed his eyes at him. 

        "Ten more points from Gryffindor, and if you utter another syllable I will make sure it's fifty."  Ron sighed grumpily, but didn't make a further comment.

        "Could I please go to the Hospital Wing to wash this filth?" Pansy asked impatiently.  Snape nodded curtly.

        "Be back as soon as possible Miss Parkinson."  Tawny opened her mouth in an 'o' of surprise, as only Goyle had ever left one of Snape's classes before due to injury.  Pansy just smirked and hurried out, hitting Draco on the head with her wand as she did.

        Ron watched her go sniggering, safely out of the view of Snape.  Now that was something to tease her about!  Hermione was biting her lip, looking at them in disapproval but also fighting the mad urge to burst out laughing.  Harry was chuckling along with Ron, bent over his cauldron pretending to be meticulously adding ingredients. 

        "She is maddening," Harry mumbled lowly as Snape started coming around to check on all their potions.

        "I told you mate!" Ron crowed triumphantly, chopping up some Fennelweed Lettuce.  "Completely bonkers, that one."

        "Oh just stop complaining Ron!" Hermione exclaimed exasperatedly.  "Honestly, she can't be so bad, and what could be worse than your sister's partner?"  Draco, hearing this, straightened up in protest. 

        "I heard that you know," he informed them.

        "Good," Hermione replied without moving her head.  "If I hear you say one more word about Pansy in the duration of this entire year then I'm charming your freckles to move."  Ron's eyes widened and then he scowled.

        "Oh sod off you evil genius," Ron mumbled, making Hermione smile in satisfaction and triumph and turn back to her quietly simmering potion.  It really wasn't fair of her to do that; she'd been talking incessantly about her time with Boot for weeks now.  Besides, for some unknown reason seeing Hermione so happy with him made Ron angry.  Very angry.

        He shook his head, ridding his mind of these thoughts, when suddenly something very hot hit him in the back.  Arching his back in pain, Ron gritted his teeth together as he felt whatever it was scald him deeply.  Hermione gasped, hands to her mouth, as Harry leapt up and ran to Ron's back.  He straightened his glasses and looked closer at Ron's back as Ron closed his eyes trying not to cry; Lord knows he'd probably get points off for it, Snape being the git he was. 

        "What's going on Weasley?" Snape barked, having stopped temporarily from inspecting Dean and Seamus' potion. 

        "A bloody hot rod hit me in the back Professor," Ron said, straightening up and waving Harry way, his fist clenched as he felt the heat sizzle. Snape walked over to him and looked on his back.

        "Five points from Gryffindor- can't you recognize a Flame Knob when you feel one?" he asked unpleasantly.  Ron fought very hard not to use his fist to rearrange Snape's face. 

        "Apparently not sir," Draco drawled from the back lazily.  Harry looked over at him and glared; a makeshift catapult made from the Potions tools was smoking slightly near Draco's elbow.  

        "Look Professor it was Draco he-" Harry began, but Snape cut him off.

        "I don't have time for your prattle.  Weasley, get to the Hospital Wing."  Raising an eyebrow, Ron got up and complied, running out of the classroom as fast as possible.  Draco and his friends could barely suppress their laughter, spurred on by the Looks Hermione and Harry were giving them.  

        "Reckon that mustn't be too comfortable," was the last thing Ron heard Draco say as he closed the dungeon door behind him.

--

        "A Fire Knob?  Oh dear."  Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips in worry, clucking over Ron like a mother hen.  Pansy popped her head out of the cot she was sitting on and her hand flew to her mouth in an attempt to mask her laughter; Weasley was sitting on another cot with his back bent like a hunchback, his expression betraying the complete embarrassment he felt at the Pomp's fussing. 

        "Look I'm fine all right?  Just patch it up or something and I'll be on my way…" Ron was saying, trying to hop off the cot and pull down the back of his top. 

        "Sit down Mr. Weasley, you're not leaving here until I say you can leave!"  Ron groaned and sat back down.  This time, a giggle escaped Pansy- Ron looked up, his eyes wide with horror. 

        "So what happened Weasley?" Pansy taunted.  "Did you stick your hand in your cauldron or something?"

        "What about you?" he snapped back, clearly short of patience.  "Get splashed by a toad?" Pansy scowled and shut her mouth, defeated.  Ron smiled grimly, but was soon brought back to earth when Madam Pomfrey prodded the circle burn in the middle of his back with a cold finger.  He jumped and winced.

        "Steady on Madam P, it stings."  Pansy was about to make a snide comment about Ron having low pain tolerance when Madam Pomfrey sighed and put down her wand.

        "This must have been shot at a great velocity…I'm afraid this will be a scar."  She blew on it carefully, patted some icy blue gel on it and pulled his shirt back over his back.  Ron looked very angry.

        "Oh, he is going to get it!" he growled, a little stunned with the fact that he'd have a circular scar the size of a Muggle coaster the rest of his life.  Pansy's jaw dropped.

        "Draco did it?" she asked, knowing perfectly well the tone of voice Ron used to issue his threat.  Ron looked at her and nodded. 

        "Bloody ferret," he mumbled, getting off the cot.

        "He actually gave someone a scar??" she gasped.  Ron rolled his eyes, trying not to show his lingering pain.

        "Surprised Parkinson?" Pansy frowned. 

        "Maybe."  Ron shrugged and started walking out the door.

        "Better get back to class," he said as he pushed the doors open.  Pansy hopped off her cot and followed, sighing.  She nodded thanks and goodbye to Madam Pomfrey, who smiled gently and waved her on.  Pushing open the door, she looked right to left- Ron was nowhere to be seen.

        "What are you up to Draco?" she muttered to herself sighing, as she walked back to the dungeons.

--