Every time I think I have a pairing set in my head, it gets messed with. Het, slash, triads? Cute and fluffy or fiery and angry? Everything is planned out except for that. There're only a few pairings I know I won't do, and while I used to see that as a great thing now I'm irritated.

As always, the response to your reviews are on the bottom. Unfortunately, there are no challenges today, but there will be more opportunities for outtakes in the future.

If there was ever any girl Pansy could fall in love with, it was Hermione Jean Granger.

The girl was smart, talented, and oh so vindictive that she just couldn't help herself. She even stopped minding the bushy hair and overgrown teeth. The girl could look however she pleased as long as she continued to be one of the best things that had ever happened to her.

Over the week, the two girls went on a tireless crusade to make Ron Weasley look like an idiot. It wasn't especially hard to do, seeing as the boy seemed to be incredibly incompetent. His charms were sub par, every plant in Herbology seemed to want to eat him, and despite the fact that DADA was absurdly easy under Quirrell he seemed to be failing that too.

Worst of all, he seemed to have rubbed off on Harry and Neville. It wasn't as if it weren't common knowledge that Professor Snape was a hard ass. He expected you to have arrived to class having done at least a review of your textbook and suffered no fools.

Potions was unarguably one of the most dangerous subjects taught in the castle. Students made mistakes every single day that could end up permanently scarring them at best, killing off half the classroom at worst. Students, in general, understood this, and therefore even if they didn't like the teacher they at least tried their best in class.

Which is why Pansy simply couldn't understand why it appeared as if Harry hadn't even read the first chapter.

"Tell me what will I get if I add Powdered Root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?" Snape asked.

Harry looked absolutely terrified. His eyes were so wide they kind of looked like a green field of fear.

Pansy knew she had to do something. Perhaps, though she knew it was a long shot, not appearing like an idiot who couldn't be bothered to read the book would soften Snape's opinion towards Harry. Or at least the more realistic version, wouldn't cement his already terrible opinion.

"susurri in mente." She intoned. She watched Harry shift a little as if uncomfortable.

The Draught of The Living Death

"The Draught of The Living Death?" Harry replied uncertainly. Snape didn't bother to let his surprise show on his face, instead moving directly to the next question.

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a Bezoar?"

The stomach of a goat

"The stomach of a goat," Harry said a bit more confidently though she couldn't miss the slightly confused set of his brow. Snape stared directly at the boy, a thoughtful look on his face.

Pansy was prepared to answer any other questions Snape might throw at the boy, but suddenly he straightened up to address the rest of the class.

"Well, why aren't you taking notes?" Snape questioned smoothly. He swept away from the boy with a thoughtful look on his face, and Pansy breathed a sigh of relief.


TOF


Perhaps one of Pansy's favorite places at the moment was her bed. The girls never came up while she was there except to sleep, so she had nothing but space and time.

Plus, she had work to do. Hannah Abbott had given her the journals, and she had already practiced the transfiguration and pulled up the runes in order to make it entirely permanent. She also had a stack of books behind her on time travel Pansy had to look through.

Pansy took her wand and waved it over the journals, watching as they flattened and widened. Tapping them again, the names of the subjects they were intended for appeared on the front and spines. To complete her work, she took a branding knife borrowed from a third year and carved the runes on the inside corner of the notebook.

Now that that was done, she moved over to the musty tomes she had been pouring over for the past few days. No matter what Pansy looked into, there was no reference of Fate's Gift. She would have thought that the Hat was just messing with her, but what would be the reason to even make up something like that.

Unless he just wanted to mess with you.

Pansy scowled. Possibly, however she was smart enough to know that it wouldn't do her any harm to exhaust all of the was never one to throw away a gift, even if she didn't know just exactly what it was.

She tiredly picked up the last book she had chosen from the library, a little slim one that she thought would be interesting.

The cover was made up of whimsical, beautiful colors. It was a book of tales about those who had supposedly made their way back in time. Pansy supposed like anything else, it wouldn't hurt to read the book.

"Parkinson," she heard a voice call from the doorway. It was Lavender, a strained look on her dark features as she avoided looking directly at her. Pansy bit her cheek to keep from shooting a hex at the girl. What, was she not worthy of the girls recognition?

"It's time for dinner." Lavender choked out reluctantly. Pansy rose from her bed, stuffing the tales book into her satchel. Moving to the doorway she saw the entire crew of her housemates standing behind Lavender, all ready to jump to her rescue.

Pansy sneered. Was she really just so awful that they couldn't bear to send one of their own alone?

I guess I'm just naturally unlikeable.

She blew by them in a huff, ignoring the looks Harry and Neville gave her as she passed. McGonagall had already approached her about her utter lack of socialization with the other Gryffindors and now she had to sit with her classmates at least once a day from now on.

Somehow the word had traveled fast among her year mates, and now they were eyeing her with even more disdain than usual as they walked down to the Hall. Pansy decided to walk next to Sally Anne Perks. The fear she exuded was decidedly preferable to the worried looks of Harry and Neville and the downright hatred given to her by the others.

Also seeing as Perks was the only girl in their room that didn't hate her, she was the only one Pansy ever actually talked to, whether to ask her for her notes from History of Magic or asking her to pass the salt. Looking over at the mousy girl, Pansy spotted a little black mark right below her ear. It was almost like a star, with about twice the amount of points.

"Where'd you get that?" Pansy asked curiously. Perks jumped in surprise, then looked over at Pansy with wide eyes. Hazel, Pansy noted. She had never been interested enough to study the girl, but her eyes were a nice hazel.

"Um, what?" Perks asked, but her automatic move to touch the side of her head proved to Pansy the girl knew exactly what she was inquiring about. Pansy decided to play along.

"That mark under your ear. Is that a tattoo or something?" Pansy asked in what she hoped was a friendly voice. She was never that great at dealing with meek people. They came off as weak.

"Um, no. It's more, uh, like a family birthmark you know?" Perks replied with a tiny shrug. Pansy noted how her eyes darted away from her for a quick second, and how hesitant she seemed about answering. Pansy couldn't decide if she was lying or just incredibly intimidated by her.

"Well, it's nice. Did you get your glasses from Prim's Perfect Pair of Specs on Diagon? I think I recognize them." Pansy asked, trying to make more small talk.

Perks didn't seem like a bad sort, and one of the many many things on Pansy's to-do list was to figure out why exactly the girl had been sorted into Gryffindor. While not the most important thing for her to do, it would be good to figure out just exactly how much of an impact she had on the timeline.

"Um, yeah. I got them just before school started." Perks replied with a small smile.

Pansy nodded. "My family owns that place."

"So what Parkinson? Gonna try and buy some friends with some stupid glasses?" Weasley taunted.

"My glasses aren't stupid." Perks muttered under her breath.

"What was that Perks?" Weasley teased. The others tittered as Perks cheeks flamed, but she squared her shoulders and looked Weasley directly in the eyes.

"I said my glasses aren't stupid. And I think you shouldn't be so mean to Pansy, she hasn't even done anything to us." Perks said. Pansy blinked in her surprise at the smaller girls defense of her. She certainly hadn't done anything to deserve it. Then again she was the only one that actually bothered to talk to her. Maybe Perks considered her an odd sort of friend?

"She's the kid of Death Eaters," Weasley ranted in apparent outrage. "She's evil, she's probably planning to kill us all in our beds."

Pansy paused. Well, that wasn't a complete lie, but she almost certainly wasn't going to follow through with it.

"And your grandmother is a Black, which means you're directly related to Sirius Black and Bellatrix Lestrange," Perks retorted.

Weasley's mouth opened and closed for a few moments, surprised at either the girls quick response or the girls knowledge of his ancestry or possibly both, Pansy quite couldn't decide which.

Pansy couldn't wrap her head around the fact that the boy was constantly surprised at the fact that his heritage and family history were common knowledge. They weren't even dirty little secrets, and certainly would be studied by prominent pureblood families if no one else.

Then again, as blood traitors the extensive lessons in history and heritage probably weren't paramount.

Weasley stalked off with the rest of their year mates trailing behind him. Pansy rolled her eyes at his bratty behavior before turning to Perks.

"Thanks for defending me. I do tire from calling him an idiot all the time by myself." Pansy said with a smile.

"Um, it's um fine. I mean like he's just such a jerk sometimes. He thinks he's better than everybody else just because he's Harry Potter's best friend, you know?" Perks looked away as they continued down the hall.

"I know. He's a jerk." Pansy agreed absently, lost in her thoughts. She simply just didn't get why Weasley was acting the way he did. People didn't usually just act like little shits for no reason, and she wasn't the only one Weasley liked to pull his little superiority act with. He strutted around the common room like a proud peacock.

The only good thing seemed to be it was boosting Harry's confidence as well. Though he was still just a bit too nice to act like Weasley, he wasn't the shrinking violet he was at the beginning of the year. Pansy tried to remember when Potter had started turning into more of a douche than was warranted by just being young. Thirteen? Thirteen.

The two girls stepped into the hall, and Pansy immediately started over to the Slytherin table before Perks' hand on her elbow stopped her. Pansy allowed her to guide her over to the Gryffindors, where they uncomfortably shifted over to make room for the two new additions. Pansy somehow ended up next to the Pompous Weasley, one of the only ones not perturbed by her appearance in the house.

"Oh, hello Parkinson. How was your day? How are you doing in your classes?" Weasley asked her cheerful, as Pansy picked at her food. She shrugged.

"Alright. I'm making a lot of top marks, trying to stay awake in History of Magic." Pansy replied truthfully. With this Weasley, she could take or leave bestowing some snark upon. His almost unbeatable energy was a bit much.

"Good, good, always a great way to go. I've heard you've been studying with that smart Granger girl. Hold on and the two of you may find yourself Prefects by the time you're my age." Weasley said, letting his badge shine in the light.

"And you know we just all want to be like you," Pansy said in a dry tone of voice.

Weasley frowned, but when he saw her tiny little grin he couldn't help smiling. "Despite your sarcastic tone I'll take that as a compliment."

Pansy laughed, and Sally tried to smother her little snickers before two identical flashes of red seat themselves across from them at the table.

"Ah, Percy we see-"

"You're associating yourself with the baby lion snake."

"Do you really have to trade off on your sentences like that?" Sally asked. One of the twins looked at her with a twinkle in his eye.

"Of course not lovely. I can talk to you one on one all you'd like," he said with a wink.

Sally flushed bright crimson as the red haired twin continued to grin at her. Pansy finally took the initiative and kicked him under the table.

"Stop flustering her, I need her with all of her brain cells."

Both twins cocked their heads. "What are brain cells?" They asked at the same time.

"I'm not quite sure how I'm going to explain muggle science to you two," Pansy admitted. She could say they were tiny building blocks, but then that would lead to all sorts of questions like what they were made of and if there are different kinds and atoms and molecules...

"You know muggle science?" Percy asked. Pansy could have slapped herself for her mistake. She pasted a fake smile on he face.

"Yeah, a little bit. Um, the Parkinson house is located really close to a muggle neighborhood. They left a textbook there with all kinds of things in there." Pansy said, scrambling to cover herself. Or, you know, she'd bought the textbook herself during that brief period of bliss when she went to the University of London.

The other twin smiled at her. "So you're the girl who's got our little brother all worked up. The evil one, yea?" His tone was sweet and joking, and Pansy found she really liked these Weasleys.

"Yep, evil to the core and I haven't even done anything yet." Pansy bragged.

"Of course you did something. You dared steal from him the great Harry Potter. I doubt he'll ever forgive you for that."


TOF


The word had finally made its way down the first year grapevine that they were to start their Flying lessons.

Some were so excited that Pansy was surprised they weren't wetting themselves. Draco began bragging to anyone and everyone about he had been getting flying lessons from the time he was big enough to toddle, and some made up daring escapades about how they had incredible adventure where the just barely swerved out of the way of some flying something or another.

Of course it wasn't uncommon at all for children from magical families to have toy broom that went up no higher than about five feet, and most brooms that went any higher you had to be twelve and up.

The students few children from nonmagical families were either reading flying manuals and looking at broom catalogs in awe or they were completely terrified. The latter perfectly described Hermione Granger.

Hermione seemed to be devouring every piece of flying literature she could find, even while the other Slytherins reassured her that they would tutor her and nothing bad could happen. When Draco assured her that it was in her magic to do incredible things she seemed to calm down, but then she started looking up what safety precautions were in store for brooms.

Pansy noticed that Neville seemed to be doing worse this time around without Hermione to read things to him. Harry was too enchanted with the idea of flying, and Weasley was too busy trying to out boast Draco in what seemed to be a contest of 'who can shout louder'?

Madam Hooch strolled back in forth in front of them, pointlessly lecturing a bunch of eleven-year-olds on flying etiquette that it was clear to see about three-fourths of them weren't even paying attention.

"Now I want you to put your hands over your brooms and firmly say 'Up'! This should command our broom to come to you." Hooch instructed.

Calls of 'Up' began to ring around the practice area. Some, like Draco, Hermione, Harry, and Pansy, went into their hands immediately. Others, like Neville, just saw their brooms roll around on the ground for a bit.

Pansy looked around and thought she saw tendrils of light reaching between some of her classmates hands and brooms. She squinted, and the light became clearer as more and more people commanded their brooms to come to them.

Once everyone had managed to summon their brooms - or cheat and pick them up from the ground while Hooch wasn't looking - Hooch issued her next instruction.

"Now you can mount your brooms. Let your feet dangle over the edges, yes like that Miss Patil, and push gently from the ground."

Pansy pushed herself up. This was comfortable, she had always been a decent flyer. Hermione rose from the ground with a surprising amount of grace, probably from the continuous pep talks her house had been giving her.

"Neville, what are you doing?"

Pansy whirled around to see Neville wasn't pleasantly hovering like the rest of them. She had completely forgotten about this incident. She felt a bit of fear as she saw Neville rise up further and further, before he finally fell off of his broom and hit the ground. Everyone surrounding him cringed at the resounding crack as the bone snapped.

Madam Hooch escorted a sniveling Neville off to the health ward after a stern warning to all of them to not fly while she was gone or they would be expelled.

Pansy looked around curiously. Draco was just standing there, bragging to a Theo, who so obviously didn't care, about something or another. So without Draco to antagonize Harry, who would? Would he end up on the Quidditch team?

Pansy tried to tell herself that she didn't care about whether or not he became the bloody Seeker, that he was a jerk and a follower and she wanted nothing to do with him. She erased from her mind her memories of the future when she would see Harry fresh off a win, his hair wind tousled and his eyes glowing, and replaced it instead with how he looked at her in the halls recently, with his eyes full of disgust and fear.

"Uh oh," Sally muttered next to her.

Pansy looked where Sally was staring to see Hermione, dismounted from her broom and picking up a tiny sphere from the ground.

"Hey, isn't this Longbottom's Rememberall?" Hermione asked innocently.

"Give that back you dirty little snake." Weasley hissed at her. Hermione's eyes widened for a second in hurt, before her expression hardened and she narrowed her eyes.

"Not a chance Weasley."

"Give it back, Granger." Now that was Harry, stepping forward and holding out his hand. It was times like this Pansy could see the leader he would become.

"No." Hermione spat. Harry made a grab for the tiny sphere, and Hermione backed out of his way before grabbing her broom and kicking off from the ground.

"If you want it, come and get it." she shouted, before pushing off from the ground and flying away.

Harry wasted no time in grabbing his broom as well and flying off at a startling pace. Hermione speed up, and soon they were chasing each other around at neck breaking speeds.

"Well, I guess she won't need those flying tutoring sessions after all," Daphne commented.

Hermione threw the glittering glass ball into the air and shot up to catch it. Harry went at her full speed to try and get her to drop the ball in surprise, however as soon as he flew at her she dropped to the side and he missed her completely. Unfortunately, his tactic did work, and she dropped the ball.

Harry rushed to catch it, grabbing on to the glass ball, however just as he was about to descend Hermione rushed past him and her hair clouded his vision, causing him to drop the ball again. Both of them realized his folly at the same time and headed for the ground at breakneck speeds.

Classmates scattered out of the way as the two dove for the ground, and just as suddenly as it all began, it was over.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, what are you two doing?" Pansy turned to see McGonagall striding across the grassy field towards the two of them. Hermione and Harry glared at each other, and their babbling blaming each other could be heard even as McGonagall dragged them across the field.

Daphne had gone pale. "Oh no, Hermione is going to be in so much trouble."

"I wouldn't count on it." Pansy thought she heard Sally mutter.


TOF


"He got on the Quidditch team?" Millicent exploded. The Slytherin's hadn't taken long to break Hermione about what had happened on the field after Flying lessons.

"Well, I got on as well. However, I'm not the one who came from old money so money so I can't purchase a broom through the school." Hermione grumbled.

The rest of the Slytherins looked suitably indignant. It wasn't as if they could just ask their parents to ask a kid they had never even met a broom, and they were so pricey Hermione couldn't afford one.

"But I only got offered a spot because when we went to get the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Professor Snape was walking by on his way to the dungeons. McGonagall hadn't even thought of putting me on the team, but Snape said that if Harry was such an amazing flyer and I was keeping up with him, that meant I should get the same opportunity."

"But...we already have a Seeker," Blaise stated the obvious.

"Snape rather ruthlessly cut him from the team, though apparently the boy was failing his Potions class anyway so he wasn't keen on having him on the team as is. They just didn't have any viable prospects until now. Snape says I'll just use a school broom for now." Hermione explained.

Though her face was utterly calm and her posture straight as she cut perfectly into the chunk of meat on her plate, Pansy didn't miss the bitter tone to her voice. From what Pansy remembered, Hermione had never seemed that interested in Quidditch. She would also be the only girl on the Quidditch team.

The next morning as the whole of Gryffindor sat eating their breakfast., Draco gave the others at their table a look. They wordlessly rose as one, then made their way over to the rival table.

"Ah, so Precious Potter gets to have his very own broom. How sweet, how against the rules." Hermione drawled in what Pansy thought was a great impersonation of Draco.

"Get off it Granger, you'll be getting one too." Harry shot back. Hermione's lip curled.

"Some of us weren't born with everyone bending over to kiss our arse. I have to use a school broom. And the only reason I didn't get expelled instead is because even McGonagall knew that would be incredibly biased." Hermione said. They spoke in quiet voices, trying not to let those who were obviously eavesdropping hear in.

Pansy and the others guarded the conversation as well as they could. Slytherins could keep a secret better than anyone else, but if the other Gryffindors heard Pansy had no doubt the entire school would hear about it within the hour. Marcus Flint was already too attached to the idea of having Hermione as a secret weapon, a no one crossed Marcus Flint.

"Well, then that's too bad for you Granger," Harry said angrily.

"Well, then how about we have a wizarding duel tonight to make things even?" Draco suggested casually.

"A duel?" Harry repeated with a confused look on his face. Weasley looked excited and nudged Harry to shut up.

"You're on. Tonight, in the trophy room."

"I'm Hermione's second, I'm assuming you'll be Potter's."

"Of course."

Pansy walked away with the rest of the Slytherins as Draco began to laugh.

"Now all we have to do is not show up, and they'll end up in detention like the idiots they are," Draco explained.

"No, we're going," Hermione said in a voice that brooked no argument.

"But then we might get caught," Draco whined. Hermione shoved him.

"But then we get to beat them. Honestly Draco, how well do you really think they're going to do?"


TOF


Pansy stayed up late that night with Sally Anne Perks by her side. They had already sent up a sleepy Neville up to his bed. Sally sat next to her, nervously gnawing at her lip.

"Why exactly are we doing this?" Sally asked, rolling up the last of her homework she had been doing to pass the time.

"We need to make sure that they don't get caught," Pansy explained, calmly turning the next page in her book on muggle versus magical brain development. "They might lose us a bunch of House points."

"But you don't even care about the House cup," Sally said. Pansy didn't bother to reply, something that within the last week Sally had become accustomed to. Pansy loved that about her, how Sally seemed to just get some of the things Pansy did. demanding no explanation whatsoever.

A heavy foot came down on the steps, and the two girls heard the boys muttering to one another as they walked down the steps. The boys passed right by them to the portrait, and Pansy chose that moment to stand up.

"Going somewhere?" Pansy inquired with a little smirk. Weasley jumped, and Harry just turned to her with a tired expression.

"Really, Parkinson? What do you want now?" Harry complained. Pansy hid her grimace at his use of her last name. It hurt more than it should that Harry apparently didn't think she was good enough to be his friend.

"I'm going to come with you," Pansy said in a tight voice. Weasley's eyes bounced all over the place, and he abruptly grabbed at Harry's sleeve.

"Come on mate, we have to go," Weasley whispered. Harry turned away from the girls, and the two whispered to each other for a moment before Harry turned back to them and said, "I guess you can come, but don't get us in trouble."

"Right then," Sally said, throwing a cardigan over her flowery nightgown.

The four Gryffindors crawled out of the portrait with a warning glare from the Fat Lady. As quietly as they could, they made their way down to the Trophy Room. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by the shiny awards and waiting.

"They're probably not going to show up, dishonest little bastards," Weasley growled.

"Language," Sally reminded him absently.

"You're one to talk Weasley," Draco's voice came from the door frame. He leaned against the smooth wood, a cool look in his eyes. "For one from the house of courage you've certainly proved yourself to be a coward."

"Shut it Malfoy!" Weasley shouted without a thought.

"You idiot." Hermione hissed. That was all she could get out before Filch's voice came floating from the corridor.

"We need to run," Pansy said. The group of children sprinted out of the room as quietly as they could. Filch's voice seemed to come at them from all directions as they ran. Every time his voice came from come where different, they changed directions. They ran up a staircase and around a corner.

"Little firsties out of bed..." Filch's voice came. Pansy stifled the cold fear collecting in her throat. She was twenty-two for god's sake. She shouldn't be afraid of what couldn't be worse than a simple detention.

"Look, a classroom," Weasley whispered.

Harry pulled at the door to no avail. "It's locked," he whispered.

"Honestly, are you a wizard or aren't you?"

Hermione muscled her way to the front.

"Alohamora," she intoned. The locks clicked, and the kids all piled their way into the room.

"Okay, do we have everyone?" Hermione asked. The bushy haired girl counted heads, making sure all six of them were there. Meanwhile, Sally was entirely silent even as the others argued over whose fault it was exactly for the position that they had found themselves in.

"Sally, take my side! It was completely the Weasels fault, wasn't it?" Pansy asked irritated. She nudged the girl to get her to speak up and turned in the direction the girl was staring.

"How is it you always notice these things before I do?" Pansy muttered.

Behind them sat the hugest dog Pansy had ever seen. A Cerberus, her head supplied. Big, three headed, and vicious.

"Holy crap." Pansy murmured.

"What's 'Holy'?" Weasley whispered.

"Never mind that, let's get out!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing the red headed boy by the hand.

The children tumbled out of the room much the same way they went in. For a moment, they stood quietly in the hallway, catching their breath.

"What the bloody hell was that doing in there?" Weasley asked, he face red and his hands on his knees.

Hermione, while in the same state of disarray still managed to sound more dignified.

"Probably guarding what's ever through the door it was standing on."


TOF


Pansy simply didn't get what was the big deal with Gryffindors and adventure.

The next morning as she ate breakfast, the two boys seemed torn between hating her and berating her as to what could be under that door.

"It could be a treasure. Just think about it, what place could be safer than Hogwarts to hide your fortune. I bet that's where the founders put it." Weasley murmured next to her. She picked at her waffles before leveling a cool glare at him. Weasley didn't seem to notice. He seemed conflicted between involving her and shutting her out, so he did this weird thing where he sat very close to her but still leaned towards Harry on his other side.

A huge package dropped down on the table and directly into her porridge, spattering the entire mess onto the table around her.

Welp, that's the end of that meal.

"Harry, it's your broom," Weasley exclaimed excitedly before he looked around suspiciously. Pansy could already see the curious gazes of the people around them.

"You'd better get that up to your room right now. I'm not about to have both Wood and Flint putting my head on a stick because I couldn't keep you from ruining everything." Pansy said, shoving the package into their arms as Sally dragged them from their seats. The boys ran off to the tower, giggling like madmen and dragging Neville behind them.

"If they weren't such jerks, it would've been nice to be friends," Sally mused. Pansy didn't say anything, but she agreed.


TOF


Over the next month, a weird world order was struck.

In order to make up for the moment they actually seemed like they may become friends, Weasley and his entourage of Gryffindors launched a relentless tirade against Pansy and by extension, Sally. They went extra hard against the Slytherins as well, but for the most part they targeted Hermione and Draco.

Pansy took to hiding to avoid the taunts and tricks they would pull on her. For once she could actually admit that all that stuff hurt, and it hurt badly. Being targeted like this brought up too many memories. She and Sally pushed their beds together and studied wards to put up around their curtains after a particularly nasty incident when they filled their beds with mud and a dead baby chick someone took from Hagrid's yard.

They taunted Hermione with names like "Death Eaters Pet." Even the older ones seemed to get into it, calling her filthy names and a traitor to her own cause.

They knocked books out of their hands, sabotagued their potions, tore through their belongings, and spread nasty rumors about them throughout the school.

The Slytherins, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't keep Hermione sheltered by the seemingly relentless nature of their year. Fred and George helped them when they could, and Percy tried talking to his brother, but regardless more often than not, Pansy would find Hermione locked up in the library with her lip chewed raw and dark circles under her eyes.

Draco seemed to be doing the best out of all of them. He had been bred with such a sense of innate superiority that many of the taunts appeared to just slid off of him. If Pansy didn't know him any better she would think he was entirely fine, but she knew the warning signs with Draco. How his hair seemed to be gelled entirely down to his skull. How he retied his tie every half hour and his nails were filed down to the nub.

She could barely restrain the urge to hex Weasley into next week, but she knew at this point it would be nothing but bad.

Time seemed to drag till finally Halloween came around. Professor Flitwick had them working on the levitating charm.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Pansy said, barely bothering to look at her feather. Hermione had seemed extra agitated today. Just to burn off her energy, she made the feather fly higher and higher, then tickle the side of Theo 's head who simply blessed her with an amused smile.

Weasley had been trying to make his feather float for the past fifteen minutes, saying it over and over again. Pansy saw the exact moment Hermione couldn't take it anymore.

"It's Wingardium Leviosa Weasley, not Leviosa. For Merlin's sake, crack open a textbook." Hermione snapped. Weasley's face darkened, and he threw down his wand and refused to try another spell.

After class, most of the Slytherins rushed ahead to get to their next class clear across the castle, but Hermione hung back to talk about all of the notebooks Pansy had been transfiguring for the Hufflepuffs.

"They are very nice Pans. Apparently the Ravenclaws have heard about them as well, but none of them can manage it the way you can. They want to offer you cash." Hermione said.

They walked out of the room and somehow ended up behind a grumbling Ronald Weasley.

"Honestly, that little Death Eater pet is ridiculous. She's going to wish she hadn't been such a little swot when they dump her like a piece of trash."

Pansy gasped. She to her side to see Hermione absolutely trembling. Before Pansy could say anything, the girl took off. Pansy ran off after her with Sally trailing her, but not before she wished she had hexed Weasley when she had the chance.


TOF


It had been hours, but Hermione was still sobbing in the stall.

Pansy no longer attempted to try and convince Hermione to come out, no matter that her stomach was grumbling. Sally sat miserably against the wall, her head tucked between her knees so that her brown hair fell and covered her cheeks.

"Do you smell that?" Pansy asked, sniffing delicately at the air. It smelled like rot and garbage. She heard what sounded like a tiny earthquake, before feeling the ground shake beneath her.

The troll.

How had she forgotten about the troll?

Before Pansy could warn the other girls, the small mountain of a creature stomped into the bathroom.

"Hermione, get out of that stall now!" Pansy shouted. The brown haired girl stumbled out of the stall with fear apparent in her eyes. The troll rose his might arms to take a swing at her.

"Accio Hermione." Pansy pointed her wand at her, and Hermione came shooting into her arms. Just then, Weasley and Harry burst through the door the troll had already partially destroyed.

"Come on Harry, we have to save them." The boys ran to help. Weasley ran to grab Sally from where she sat still on the floor, entirely in shock. He cradled the small girl in his arms and ran to set her next to the broken doorway.

The troll smashed the sinks, sending debris flying over them. Pansy grabbed the two people closest to her and pulled them under the shield she put up, then dove as the troll took another swing.

At this moment, Pansy was no longer a first-year student at Hogwarts. She was another soldier on a battlefield rife with madness.

Wesley appeared from behind the troll and jumped on his back, stuffing his wand in his nose. The troll roughly shook the red haired boy off of his back. Weasley flew off and hit the ground with a crack that Pansy knew from too much practice were his ribs.

"Harry!." Pansy shouted, rushing over to Weasley. "Say the spell incendio and think of fire. Keep him busy while I stabilize Weasley."

Harry nodded, his eyes determined as he shot fire jet after fire jet at the troll. Pansy put into practice the spells she had learned in the future. A few to stabilize internal bleeding, tear the bones out of whatever organs they had punctured, and another to start mending. It all took under thirty seconds.

She turned just in time to see the troll flick Hermione out of the way, knocking her into Harry. Sally, finally out of shock, dragged the two of them out of the way with surprising strength.

Pansy knew she had to put an end to this. She rose and in a single flowing moment, pointed the wand at the toll and shouted, "Bombarda."

The trolls head exploded in a shower of gore. For a moment, he swayed uncertainly, before pitching forward. Pansy felt cold fear when she saw he was headed for the still form of Weasley.

"Accio Weasley," she intoned. The boy came hurtling towards her, and she cast a cushioning charm on herself and the floor around her.

The teachers chose this moment to walk through the door.

"And just what did you think you were doing?" McGonagall asked.

The teachers gasped as they took the in the sight of the carnage on the walls and the blood on their robes. Sally was shaking as she clutched an equally terrified Hermione to her chest, and Ron was moaning in pain, his brow wet with fear.

"We're so sorry Professor. We needed to go to the bathroom and didn't hear about the troll. The boys came to warn us and we got trapped." Pansy explained. She didn't need to fake the tears in her eyes of the shake in her voice. As the adrenaline faded, she could feel how she, too was shaking. There was a gash along he temple, and somehow she had scratched the top of her hand.

The professors, perhaps sensitive to the fearful expressions of a bunch of young children, sent them off to the hospital wing. Flitwick conjured a stretcher to lay Weasley on, and they sent the traumatized eleven-year-olds on their way.

"Pansy..."

Pansy turned to see Weasley on his stretcher, smiling sheepishly. At her.

"I'm sorry about how I acted with you. You saved my life, you must be alright."

Pansy stopped, and the others around them paused with her. Pansy was shaking, but this time it wasn't from fear. All she could think about was the mud in her bed and Draco's gelled hair and the bags under Hermione's eyes and the tears, all of the tears.

"Screw you Weasley. It shouldn't have taken a bloody troll to realize I'm not evil and that you're a jerk." Pansy shouted with tears spilling down her cheeks. She stormed down the corridor towards the hospital wing, then stopped.

"And you better believe I'm going to collect on that life debt."

Longest chapter yet. I'll need to cut back. The outtake The Rise and Fall of The Red Death was posted on Monday, go over and read it if you haven't.

HopeWithinDarkness - I'm glad you liked it. And Hermione does seem unexpectedly endearing at times

Goundry - I don't know. I feel like it would be pretty easy for Draco to fall for Hermione in the future, as even in canon he cared way less about blood purity than he did staying alive. I'm not sure how Draco/Neville would work...kinda want to look into it.

blinddivinity - Well I already know Ron definitely didn't make you happy in this chapter. He'll have his redemption soon, but he is eleven and children can be thoughtlessly cruel. Exhibit A, Lord of the Flies

KodeV - Unfortunately you were about them not becoming friends though. To be fair, Pansy would have told them off except for the fact that Hermione had run away. I'm actually sort of worried about Sally Anne. Since she doesn't have much to her in canon, I don't want her to become a Possession Sue. I highly doubt Pansy would ever truly turn her back on her friends.

Guest Evi - Thanks, I even put this through a grammar app.

See you on Sunday!