Chapter III

Pansy's eyes narrowed upon entering the Great Hall. Melissa was sitting happily, discussing things (and she could have a pretty good guess at what) with some other bitches in her year. Pansy moved slowly, almost gracefully, her head held up high, chin out, the picture of control.

She sat next to Goyle, already there, and took a baked potato as Draco entered the hall. Their eyes met, and Pansy knew in that one glance that they shared that he would always be there for her. They had a connection like she had never had with –

'NO! I won't think about you. You're not worth it, you slimy, disgusting, …'

All her thoughts jarred for a moment, as she saw Draco walk towards her, give her a smile, and walk past her. And slowly, her heart stopped hammering, and plummeted to their normal position, level with her navel. She took a bite automatically and still, she couldn't seem to think. She turned around to see where Draco was, and her heart seemed to slip even lower down her body, as she saw him sitting opposite Melissa.

"He's not worth it, Pansy. He doesn't seem to look at you in any way other than a friend and you could do so much better." The whisper Millicent had uttered had just about reached Pansy, and for one second, it took Pansy back to second year, when the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. The Slytherins had had to stick together more than usual, as the other children had seemed to think that Slytherins were to blame, and therefore, they could do whatever they wished to them. It had been nice, in a way. The other house members had never liked them, and probably would never, but to be so close to everyone in your house was something.

Unbidden to her mind came the Weasley twins. And the first time she had met them. And then they left, replaced with the realisation that her house was fragmented, and that there were very few people that she could trust this year, thanks to the certainty that the Dark Lord was definitely back.

"I want revenge." Her voice was barely a whisper too, but when she looked up at Millicent, she knew nothing had changed between them. There were no competitions between them, and if one of them wanted revenge, the other wanted it more.

"Rumours?" But Millicent shook her head, without waiting for Pansy's answers. That wasn't harsh enough, not painful enough. The two girls ate in silence, both deep in thought until Pansy seemed to suddenly snap out of her trance.

"I want to hurt her, emotionally." She spoke slowly, as if explaining it to herself, not to her friend. "Hurt her the way she hurt me." She looked across at the little girl next to Melissa, at Melissa's little sister in third year, Sally.

Millicent understood. Melissa was a slut and therefore, largely void of emotions and hurting her personally would be hard. But if you hurt what appeared to be the only person she cared about, you would hurt her twice. Once because the said person would be hurt, and twice because she would feel guilty, being the cause of it. So the target was Sally.

Pushing away the remainder of her food Pansy stood up, being careful not to trip up (she hadn't yet managed to forget that incident yet), and for a second, she thought that Draco had looked at her, but when she looked at him from the corner of her eye, he seemed to be deep in conversation with Melissa, while his left hand seemed to be making patterns on the back of the girl left of him.

She left for the Slytherin common room, and began her preparations. Revenge was always best served cold, with a touch of spite.

"Oh." She blinked. Theodore Nott was sitting quietly doing some work. She hadn't realised that he hadn't had lunch, but shocking to her, Theodore didn't so much as glance up at her.

She sat tentatively at one end of the couch that he occupied, looking at him closely. He was normally quiet, and to the best of her memory, there hadn't been anything between her and Theodore – she definitely hadn't bitched about him and she didn't think that he had about her either.

He was a curious thing – his face wasn't blank but you could never tell what he was thinking or feeling. He was slight of figure, but, to her at least, it felt like he has some hidden power you didn't know, that he would throw all over you, surround you, so that you wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Pansy-" Draco stopped short, noticing Theodore. "Theodore." He nodded. And to Pansy's surprise, Theodore looked up and nodded at Draco too.

"Potions Homework." He answered without Draco asking anything. "I want to make sure it's ok before I hand it in to Professor Snape."

"It's not too difficult. There's a book in the library – 'Potions for Potion Masters' – it's really helpful" Pansy bit back a gasp. Draco…being helpful? And to a potential rival too?

'But maybe he just wants to get rid of Nott so that he can be alone with me?' And a familiar tingle ran down her spine, which seemed to intensify as Draco moved towards her and sat between her and Nott.

She could feel the heat from his thigh that was carelessly touching hers. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and saw a faint flush on his cheeks. She had just summoned up the courage to place her hand so that it would casually touch his thigh when he turned around to Nott and pointed out a mistake in his essay.

"Thanks." Nott didn't look up – only corrected the mistake he'd made. "Did the Weasley girl do something to you?"

Pansy's heart hammered louder, and she pushed out a sarcastic laughter that tasted bitter in her mouth. She knew Ginny was far prettier than her, and she also knew that Draco might soon start getting tired of girls in Slytherin and become far more interested in girls from other houses.

"She's a damn bitch." Pansy noted the intense note in Draco's words, and she also noted the sudden flash his eyes held, a flash she had never seen when she was around him.

"Sleep with her." Pansy's hands itched to slap Nott. Hell, she wouldn't just slap him, she'd beat the crap out of him! Draco's laughter eased her, although the desire remained within her,

And Millicent entered the common room. Eye contact wasn't necessary between Millicent and Pansy. They both headed straight for the dorm room that they shared.

"What can we do to her? Rumours aren't enough." Millicent was speaking out loud.

"Unless it's about her sex life…" Pansy caught Millicent's eyes.

"Who?"

"Crabbe or Goyle?" Pansy knew it was a no as she said it. "Erm…how about a guy from a different house? JUSTIN FINCH-FLETCHLEY!" They sniggered together, just like old times.

"But why not go a step further? And actually make something between the two of them?" Evil seemed to glow of off Millicent. "Why not tell Finch-Fletchley that Sally's interested in him? And that because she's in Slytherin, she's worried about what people would say."

"And take a photo when he tries to kiss her. I know he would – nobody wants him, so he's desperate. And she's…she looks nice." The jealous demon raised its head, in Pansy's heart. But she pushed it away for the time being. "How will we do this?"

"Leave it to me." Millicent grinned, and Pansy noticed, not for the first time, that Millicent didn't look that unattractive when she was feeling confident and happy.