Beneath the Façade

Hidden Talents

Draco Malfoy had the surprise of his life. Last night, he was celebrating along with the other Slytherins the demise of Gryffindor for the poor Boy-Who-Won't-Die had just been injured well enough to not participate in the final match against Ravenclaw. But then again, was it him, or are the rest of the Slytherins looking in horror at the same guy he successfully tackled 'to the ground' yesterday? Harry Potter is right then and there eating his breakfast, wearing his Quidditch robes and by some weird fact, kept stealing glances on the robes of every Slytherin he could see, as if looking for someone.

"Harry, stop it," the bookworm chided. "There is no way for someone to apparate inside Hogwarts."

"Yeah, mate," Ron Weasley, "I mean, it's quite impossible for any Slytherin to be able to apparate in the first place."

"But I'm positive I saw the Slytherin crest last night," Harry said as he still kept glancing at every Slytherin, mostly girls because of the lavender scent he caught, thereby receiving curious glances from the female population of the Slytherins.

"Harry, stop it," Hermione this time had a hint of irritation in her voice, "no one could apparate inside Hogwarts, and stop looking at every girl Sly—"

But before Hermione even finished what she was saying, Harry suddenly caught the smell of lavender in his nose and caught the person he thought was the one who paid him a visit last night—Draco Malfoy.

"Watch it, Potter," Draco sneered.

"Malfoy?" Harry's eyes widened. "There must be a mistake…"

"Mistake, Potter? What is? The fact that you suddenly have developed attraction to Slytherin girls or the fact that you grabbed me without remorse?" Draco smirked. "So tell me Potter, gay?"

"I don't know Malfoy," Harry retorted with loathing. "But unless I'm using lavender which is clearly a woman's cologne scent, then I guess I am."

Almost all color in the Slytherin's face drained and was soon replaced with a reddish color of anger.

"I'm not a gay, Potter. If you must know, I've ran out of cologne and I had to borrow some of Parkinson's instead."

It was Harry's turn to lose color.

"Parkinson?" Harry choked. "Pansy Parkinson?"

"You doubt me, Potter?" Draco stood with superiority facing Harry, and laughed with mirth. "Everyone knows that Pansy Parkinson uses lavender as her essence, the fact that she's the only one who has a unique scent of lavender, except now of course… So scarhead, you're behaving quite weirdly today, don't you think? Why, you must have hit your head hard after the fall. So tell me, Potter, how ever did you manage to recover from all your injuries in one night?"

"Shut it, Malfoy," Ron interrupted. "Everyone knows that what happened was no accident."

"Are you accusing me, Weasley?" Draco inquired with a smirk on his face. He turned his attention back to Harry, "You're not behaving yourself so I guess I'll let you off… for now," and then left to the Slytherin table, after casting a brief glare in Hermione's direction.

"probably leaving to plan another sabotage against our team," Ron snorted. "Honestly mate, you'd better be careful around those Slytherins."

"He's right Harry," added Hermione, "and you really need to pull yourself together. It's impossible for someone to apparate inside Hogwarts… Harry?"

"…it was Parkinson."

"Wha..?"

"It was Pansy Parkinson!" Harry told Hermione in particular. "You heard Malfoy, she's the only one with a lavender scent."

"What does that tell us, Harry?" Ron inquired incredulously. "That Pansy Parkinson, the Slytherin slut and self-acclaimed girlfriend of Draco Malfoy saved you and the rest of Gryffindor from losing the Quidditch Cup?"

"Actually, the last title you gave her is no longer true, as far as everyone knows." Hermione corrected.

"What do you mean, 'Mione?" asked Harry.

"Well, yesterday during breakfast, before the match, Draco Malfoy dumped Pansy Parkinson in front of everyone. Now I can understand that she may have had a motive but she doesn't really have the capability of someone—huh?"

Just then, Ginny Weasley was seen dashing to the Golden Trio, panting and hastily told Hermione,

"'Mione, I think you should see this!" and grabbed her, followed by Harry and Ron.

Reaching the Entrance Hall, it seemed like both Gryffindor and Slytherin were celebrating in a manner.

"Oh Merlin!" Hermione blurted, as she pointed to the bulletin board.

TOP 10 Students of the Year

TOP 10

Parvati Patil / Ludwig Kohlberg

……….

……….

TOP 3

Draco Malfoy / Harry Potter

TOP 2

Blaise Zabini

TOP 1

Hermione Granger / Pansy Parkinson

"BLOODY HELL! You TIED with PARKINSON!" Ron.

"Dare to reconsider what you were saying earlier 'Mione?" Harry asked looking incredulously at Hermione.

"I—I—She never showed prowess in any class...!" Hermione Granger replied in shock. "She never even rose her hand to answer a single question!"

"Answering questions in class is not the only way to show your talents, Ms. Granger." And to the Gryffindors' horror, the dear potions professor was standing straight behind the Golden Trio, with a well satisfied smirk in its glory.

"G-good morning professor…" Hermione greeted with obvious tension. "I was just… trying to uh—"

"Enough," Snape interrupted with a gesture of his hand. "I will not take it well that our beloved bookworm has felt such a great reluctance to tie with another. 50 points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Ms. Granger. Now off to your classes." Snape added to the rest of the students.

As the rest of the students were filtering out of the Entrance Hall, Snape's face however took on that of the image of one who just experienced absolute shock. Looking back at the bulletin board, Snape left with the trademark swish of his cape thinking of how in the world did Pansy Parkinson pass all of her subjects with flying colors?