Chapter Three

She had been summoned back to Professor Snape's office, something she wasn't looking forward to at all. She knew that her other teachers, especially McGonagall and Flitwick would tell her Head of House about her...behaviour in class.

She hoped that she wouldn't be yelled at for her inability to finishing her homework. Still, she slowly got up off the couch she had been sitting on and made her way out of the quietly abandoned Common Room and into the equally empty halls of the Hogwarts dungeons.

She made the agonisingly long walk to her Professor's office, her heart beating just that little bit faster the closer she got. She was not looking forward to this at all.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she had done nothing wrong, but that part of hher was hiding. Hiding somewhere inside her mind, along with all the pain and grief she felt.

Finally, the door to Professor Snape's office came into view and she knocked lightly on the door hoping that she had done so too softly for her Head of House to hear.

"Enter." She heard from the other side and, with a huge breath of air that didn't seem to reach her lungs, she slowly reached up one of her hands and reached for the handle to open the door.

She peeked her head about the corner and spotted Professor Snape with his head down and his, in some opinions, favourite quill and red ink working furiously about the page of an essay. She didn't look at whose it was, but at least Snape himself didn't seem angry.

"Sit." Came the gruff voice of her Professor, as he pointed for two seconds at a chair opposite himself, while he scrawled a large A at the top of the paper.

She waited, a little impatiently, as he put the stack of reports he was going through away in a side drawer of his big desk. He began to fidget, a sure sign that the teacher was just as nervous and unsure as she, herself, was.

"All of your Professors are worried about you and thought it to be a good idea if we had a little...talk. I agreed with their little plan, as it was something I would have done anyway."

Pansy just stared. Was it her imagination or did the man in front of her Seem to be nervous? This, she thought to herself, must be a first. She waited until he had stopped his talking and cleared his throat. "About what?" She asked then, not thinking it wise to bring up this strange behaviour in her Head of House.

"About the other Slytherins and how they are reacting towards your new place as an underaged witch who has just been orphaned." Pansy winced at the blunt way her Head of House came out and said it. Couldn't Snape, for once in his life butter words a bit?

"Most...they are treating me like...like dirt. Like I am no better than a Muggleborn. Especially Draco. He has turned everyone against me, Millicent and Blaise too!"

Snape looked as if an idea of his had been justified. "Your friends? Miss Bulstrode and Mister Zabini, they are also not talking to you? Give them a while. If they are real friends, they will begin talking to you again soon."

Pansy squirmed in the seat she was on, suddenly very uncomfortable with the whole conversation. That last sentence wasn't as cheerful as Snape possibly meant it to be. What if they weren't true frien? What if they never talked to her again?

Her Professor sighed. "There isn't a thing I can do about this, you do realise that? Professor McGonagall has suggested you find friends in another House, but that could do more damage than already has been done to your...position in Slytherin."

Pansy thought about that and shrugged. "It is my choice whether or not I do make othher friends isn't it?" She asked, not knowing if she would be allowed.

"You are your own person, Miss Parkinson, especially now. The choice is yours. And again, if you had true friends from your own House, regardless of you interacting with other Houses, they will go back to you given time."

It suddenly occured to her, for the first time ever, she was free to make her own decisions. She didn't have to go about pretending to fawn over Draco, her parents couldn't make her decisions for her and she could make friends with whomever she wants.

The grief that always seemed to be in the back of her mind fled for a whilereplaced by a fierce joy. She would be able to marry who she wanted. Why, she could marry a Mudblood if she truly wanted! Her world had suddenly gotten that little bit bigger and, along with that, brighter.

A smile formed on her face and, without thinking she jumped out of the seat she was in and hUgged her Professor around the waist. She let go fast, before Snape could begin glaring daggers at her. "Thank you Sir!" She stated, before she walked towards the door and waited to be dismissed.

"You can go." Professor Snape said, pointing at the door. Before she had vanished ouut the door, shhe could see another big A forming on another paper.

She made her way back to the Slytherin Common Room and began the homework set for the night. She was in a really good mood and felt up to it. By the time the night had started she was over halfway done! Her teachers would be proud.

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Minerva was busy, as she usually was at this time in the evening, marking all the homework that had been sent in to her for the day.

She was at one of the desks in the Staff Common Room, as Peeves had seen it fit to let off one of the foul smelling dungbombs in her office.

If she could get her hands on the pesky polergeist, she would not hesitate to bringing him straight to Argus to do with as the Caretaker pleased.

The doors opened and Severus slowly stalked into the room. The was no other word to describe his entrance. His cape flew out behind him and the angry sc wl on his face seemed to have deepened. Only to one who knew Severus like she did would notice that most of the anger brewing inside him now was mainly caused by worry over Miss Parkinson.

"Have you spoken to her yet?" She asked, forgetting her work for the time being and decided to grab herself a cup of tea. God knows she could use a bak. She honestly wondered who Severus was trying to punish by giving out extra homework to misbehaving classes, the students or himself?

A grunt was the only answer she recieved until Severus was ushered to a chair, a steaming mug of tea placed in his hands. "Yes. She seemed pleased that I brought up your suggestion of finding friends in other Houses. She would too, knowing her."

"What does that mean, Severus?" Minerva asked, sitting opposite the Potions Professor.

"Her parents are dead because they decided to go against the Dark Lord. Her House has betrayed her. She is quite willing enough to betray what little she has left of her reputation by becoming friends with other children in other Houses."

Minerva thought on that bit of news thoughtfully, slowly sipping at her tea and chewing her bottom lip. A nervous gesture few knew she had. "Do you believe her to be in any...danger. From Mister Malfoy and his friends?"

Severus stared blankly at her for a few moments befoore shrugging slightly. "At the moment, I very much doubt it, but if she does manage to find friends outside the Slytherin walls, they could decide to gang up on her."

Minerva nodded, lapsing into silence. She feared that one day Pansy would get into trouble by her own peers. Until then she would have to go about trying to keep her out of trouble. Nodding to herself, she finished her tea before it could grow cold and went back over to the desk she was working at.

She set about marking the papers, though her mind wasn't fully on the job.

A/N - Another chapter done and wow! I cannot believe that t is story reached 14 reviews in the first two! A lot more people than I first imagined actually like this story! You people are so cool! All nine of you!

Thanks go to my reviewers for the last chapter:

uten, Em Starcatcher (glad you like it anyway), SSC, Vinese, Barbara Kennedy, dumbrunette23, Lilybee2003 (I was plannign quite a nice little Albus and Pansy talk, don't you worry about that, hehehe), Kemenran, ZarabadSly