Devils in the Dark
Chapter IV
"Stupefy." A careless flick of Pansy's hand and a lazier flick of Millicent's hand caused the two girls surrounding Daphne Greengrass to freeze and fall down.
"What do you want, Parkinson?"
"We need to talk. Follow us." Pansy walked past Daphne without looking back, pushing a second year girl out of the way. She didn't seem to register the autocracy with which she had spoken, and a shared glance between Daphne and Millicent showed that both were used to it, but still found it amusing.
They walked swiftly along the corridor, most of the younger students moving out of the way without having to be pushed. A few insults were thrown at the three Slytherin girls but only a mere smirk was spared for them, with an occasional snort. Walking down the stairs, Pansy muttered the password for the Slytherin common room, still not looking at either girl.
Nodding at Nott, Pansy resolutely gave Draco only a single glance, resisting the urge to do many, many things that came into her head, some of them to him as well as with him. She walked up the stairs, whispering to Crabbe to not let anyone up stairs whilst they were there.
"Lock the door, Milli. Daph, we called you here because we need to have a discussion."
"We?" Daphne raised a single, perfectly arched eyebrow that was a soft ginger, the same shade as her hair.
"Yes, me and Milli." Impatience was apparent in Pansy's voice.
"Milli and I. Now what do you want to talk about?" Milli could see straight through the bored voice of Daphne, sensing the interest she tried to hide, but Pansy clearly couldn't, since her chin started to jut out the way it did when she was stubborn.
"We need to discuss…recent events, the House of Slytherin and the response of the rest of the school." Milli remained on the side line, silent, as she so often was.
"What Draco does in his spare time with women is not my concern and nor should it be yours, Parkinson." Milli again sensed the regret Daphne felt immediately as she finished what she was saying. They were the only two that knew for certain the strong feelings, or rather, obsession that Pansy had for Draco. Others guessed, assumed, maybe even presumed but they didn't know.
Pansy flushed slowly, and tried to keep her face as neutral as possible.
"I was thinking of slightly more important recent events, Greengrass. Certain events that Potter has mentioned, and that we have since then known to be true. I was thinking about the return of a certain Dark Lord." Talking through clenched teeth was more painful than Pansy had thought it to be. "We know the Dark Lord has returned and we know his aims are the same as before."
She paused thoughtfully. In fairness, that was all that they did know. Anything else from here onwards was guesswork, or at best, intelligent deductions.
"We know to a large extent the parents that actively support him, and to a lesser extent, the parents that passively support him, in less obvious ways. What we don't know is who…in our year...support him. We can say with confidence that most people in Slytherin are not…against him. But we have no idea as to who has joined him as a DeathEater, who will or may join him. Or…when he will ask us to join him."
The silence felt almost comforting.
"What we do know about the rest of the school is that…they have always been against us. They have always thought of us as DeathEaters and the return of the Dark Lord is going to make them even more vindictive than before. There have already been a minimum of five Slytherins that have been to Madam Pomfrey because of other students. There are…well, it's certain that there will be more attacks. Especially against the more vulnerable Slytherins"
"Who do you mean?" The masks had been removed now, and there was little hostility in the room, as Daphne asked the question, sitting down on Milli's bed, next to her. Both girls were looking at Pansy, almost hypnotised by the charisma that Pansy gave of when she took the role of 'Slytherin Queen', or as Pansy jokingly referred to it, 'Demented Dictator'.
"Slytherins that are by themselves. Alone. They are easy prey for a gang of, say, even three other students. No matter how skilled a witch or wizard is, they will most likely be overpowered relatively easily if they are outnumbered." She paused, hearing footsteps coming towards the room, but hearing nothing further, she continued. "What we need to do is have a system of sorts, by which no Slytherin is ever alone. The younger they are, the more people they need in their group, or instead, someone older and more experienced. Despite differences and intra-house competition, we need to join together to combat the animosity expressed towards us."
Daphne stared at Pansy, her face blank. Milli watched first one girl, then another, as if it were a match of tennis that she learned about in Muggle Studies.
"Why did you come to me in particular? Why not everyone in one go?"
"Because…they all hate me." An embittered laugh followed. "The return of…Him has meant that there is competition now. Intense competition. And that makes it easy for other people to…" She trailed off. Nobody in Slytherin had to be told the dangers of going into that House. There was even supposedly a book that had the tales of the worst things that students had gone through. Pansy was sure that Flint must have had at least 6 entries in it.
"I'm in. Now how are we going to convince other people?" The sudden authority with which Daphne spoke seemed to be in strong contrast to the normally quiet-spoken, green-eyed girl most people knew. In particular, there seemed to be an Irish tilt in her voice that there normally wasn't, but Milli only gave notice to it with the slight lift of her mouth. Pansy ignored it completely.
"We talk to them. One by one." Pansy stood up to go, indicating the end of the meeting, but her poise fell apart when she opened the door. Her heart beating at least double the speed it was before, she managed to convert a shrill scream into a 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!'. Milli and Daphne choked back laughter, walking quickly to the furthest corner of the room, where the silent shakes of the bodies clearly showed their laughter.
"GET OUT!"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, cherie, but I'm not in the room. Unless you want to invite me in. You know I wouldn't complain, cherie."
"In your dreams."
"Frequently, cherie. But Monsieur Malfoy wanted to talk to you, and we had to distract Monsieur Crabbe. Now, cherie, about you, me and a bedroom…"
Pansy sighed. After discussing the re-rise of Him, Draco didn't seem all that important…much. But she still had to restrain herself from shaking Pierre to find out where Draco was. "Where is Monsieur Draco?"
"In his room, cherie. But don't tell me you're going to leave me so soon! You're breaking my heart, ma belle."
Pansy registered partially what he had said. If Draco wanted to meet her in his room, it meant that he wanted to be alone with her. It could be to be alone with her…it could be to apologise for Melissa….or it could be to discuss with her what she had just been discussing with Milli and Daphne.
'Only one way to find out.'
"How about you, cherie, join me and Draco in his room." She thought she heard someone say 'Draco and I' but she must have been mistaken.
"Sorry, ma belle, but I won't do a damn thing with a boy, not even for you." Pierre took her hand and led her down the stairs. Behind his playful demeanour, he was a little worried about what Draco had in store for Pansy, but there was nothing he could do about it. Was there?