"Well, shit," Theo muttered under his breath so only Pansy and Blaise could hear him. Pansy appreciated Theo and his avoidance of Crabbe and Goyle. He had his reasons as she had hers whether or not they divulged them with each other.

"There is no way they're going to let this happen, is there?" Pansy asked them while subtly wincing as Crabbe and Goyle slid closer now that the buffer Draco created was absent. Pansy felt her body tense, wrapping around within itself as if her veins were coiling. If they even spoke to her she might hex them. She was so occupied with compiling a list of spells that she nearly missed Balise and Theo's discussion of her question.

"It is undoubtedly possible this will happen, we do attend Hogwarts...With Potter." Theo said, a slight grimace on his face now that Crabbe and Goyle were in the conversation. The grimace was so subtle that it was only visible to someone mirroring it.

"Can't believe Draco didn't tell us" Goyle all but shouted to be heard over the noise from the other tables.

"It's brilliant! A Sacred 28 champion! Now we won't have to settle for some half-blood tosser or one of those foreigners" Crabbe said.

The volume in the room continued to rise until Moody yelled "Heads of Houses and Prefects, escort your houses back to your common rooms!" Once the orders and tasks were underway, Moody went through the same door as the other professors and the champions. As soon as he was gone Adrian Pucey stood on the bench and shouted, "Party in the Slytherin Common room!" which earned him a combination of cheers and boos as his own house and the others responded.

"Nobody wants to come to the party of a cheater!"

"Look who's talking Gryffindork, your so-called champion cheated!"

"No one was inviting you anyway."

"What a loss, I will go cry into my pillow and write my mummy"

"Party for the real champion in Hufflepuff!"

"There will be no parties in any common room!"

"Pansy, you should send the Malfoys a letter."

Pansy was thankful for Blaise, he was always ready with a plan when others, like her right now, were struggling to comprehend the situation. A benefit of being in a political family.

Still, a bit shell-shocked and Pansy made to join the flow of other students but noticed Blaise and Theo sit back down.

"Aren't you coming?"

"We'll wait for Draco," Theo answered.

"Meet you back in the common room," Blaise said.

"We'll go with you, Pansy," Goyle said.

"Yeah, we'll keep you safe from any roaming serpents in the pipes" Crabbe jeered elbowing Goyle's side as the two laughed at the attempted innuendo.

Pansy could only blame herself for this unfortunate turn of events. This is what she got for not wanting her friends to know. She wanted to save herself from further humiliation, thank you very much and her only friends were…well, male, and she had known them her entire life. Draco had not pressed her to, which she was thankful for, but in this moment she almost wished he had. But, knowing herself, she would have lashed out and quite possibly attacked him. None of which changed the current situation.

She could walk ahead of them giving them the pleasure of staring at her bum the entire journey. She could walk next to them, but they would flank her, as they did, and breathe heavily on her.

She could walk behind them but not only would that be a glacial pace, but she would also have the unfortunate view of their bums and that did not sound appealing... though it would give her the opportunity to slip away...if only they did not know her destination or where she lived.

"The slags are going to be swarming him more now."Goyle commented, speaking of Krum.

"If only he wasn't such a prat and shared" Crabbe complained.

"Well Draco is a champion now" Goyle pointed out.

"So?" Pansy wasn't sure how his face could scrunch up more since he appeared confused at all times.

"So? He's going to get his own flock! And we're his friends...which means?" Goyle smirked.

"We're going to be surrounded as well!"

A perk of being ahead of them meant she could shudder and visibly express her distaste freely.

"Gods, I hope he is generous," Goyle responded, basically salivating.

"Draco treats his friends pretty well, but not like Marcus," Crabbe said.

"If he was here we would have no problem getting some Beauxbaton girls," Goyle added.

"He let me keep some of his photographs," Crabbe bragged.

"Wanker! You've been holding out on me. I shared that oriental girl magazine." Goyle said.

"The pages were all stuck together. Didn't want to risk my photographs" Crabbe replied.

"I know the spell now-oof" Goyle bumped into her. Pansy held her wand to Crabbe's throat. His hands automatically raised in surrender.

"Pansy what-" Goyle began but Pansy shoved him back with her other hand. Her eyes never left Crabbe.

"What." She jabbed her wand into the folds of his neck. "Photos?" When he didn't answer she sunk her wand in further.

"Just," He stammered while looking over to Goyle for some form of assistance. "some dirty pictures of some bints Marcus got when Roland Rowe graduated. They're ancient!"

She slowly pulled back her wand and lowered her arm. She felt light-headed from the burst of adrenaline and now felt a bit stupid at having acted so rashly.

"We're nearly there, why don't you both go ahead and head back to the common room." Pansy suggested as if giving them a choice. She could only imagine what she looked like.

They nodded in unison and Crabbe finally lowered his hands. She turned and continued on her way rolling her eyes at herself and their echoing conversation about whether or not she was on her monthly. While the conversation was gross, listening to them try to do math or weave together whatever they think they know about menstruation did bring a small smile to her face.

She exhaled deeply and tried to reason with herself. He had only just graduated; she was bound to be on edge... yet the ghost of him felt far more palpable than anything else around her. He lingered in the shadows until she brought in light, but there were so many places he could hide, the worst of which was her mind.

Hogwarts was her safe haven now that he had left. Now she had space where she was only dogged by the memory, not the actual person.

Yet that did little to lift the weight off her chest, he was everywhere.

She rested her hand against the cold stone archway leading to the owlery. The stone drew out the warmth within her hand and made her long for the frigid waters of the Black Lake again... She quickly lifted her hand from the stone and started up the steps. She did her best to will those thoughts away. Draco would help her. She was not alone anymore.

When she entered the owlery a large eagle-owl soared down from high in the tower and landed in front of her ready to be of service. Pansy would have used Draco's owl, but he was not the fastest… at least not these days. Between the treats and massive deliveries, the owl was rather bulky and better equipped to carry large packages than a quick missive.

When she did not immediately secure her letter to his outstretched leg, Pansy knew the owl was going to hold a grudge and sulk much like his owner.

"Ulysses, I would prefer to use you. You know I would!" Pansy tried to reason with him. The bird had not taken off yet and Pansy smiled knowing he wanted a treat. When her hand slipped into her pocket she wanted to smack herself for coming here without a peace offering. "I don't have-"

Ulysses did not wait for her to finish before taking flight and going to the upper rungs with a noise that could only be a string of curses.

She would have to make this right as she was one of the few people the owl liked and he would even bring her mail. She was going to end up with shredded letters if she didn't make it up to him. Though if he ate fewer treats he would have been the right bird for the task, but she wasn't going to deprive him, especially not after this.

She hastily wrote the message to Mr. And Mrs. Malfoy hoping to be direct and to the point while all of her instruction in letter writing etiquette screamed in her head. Now was not the time to inquire how they were or whether or not Mrs. Malfoy had added to her greenhouse since she'd last visited.

Once that was done she moved to the bird she hoped would take the missive. The peregrine.

No one knew how they came to live at Hogwarts and most students left it alone as it seemed to glare at everything, Pansy understood the facial expression and attitude better than most which is why she had no problem locking eyes and walking straight up to it. Something some first years only did on a dare.

"I need you to take this to Malfoy Manor and to not leave until it has been read...please" at the word "please" the falcon stretches out a leg for her to secure the letter to.

They were gone so quickly the perch vibrated with sound.

"What a strange little bird," Pansy whispered as she watched it in the moonlight. She turned to leave once it was out of sight while promising Ulysses treats