Out of the Room and Into the Fire

Disclaimer : JOY to the world, and we shall sing. A SONG, of ME, owning NOTHING. Not Har-ry Pot-ter, nor his really groovy frie-nds. Now I shall mourn my loss. Now I shall mourn my loss… ForEVER and ev-er I'll mourn my loss.

Aren't I just FAB? (Feel free to disagree. Toto does.)

Chapter Five – Pass the password

Draco watched with morbid fascination as Pansy led the Slytherins back to their dorm after the welcome-back-to-school-and-evil essays feast. Now was the moment of truth.

He couldn't wait.

His fellow snakes were in a cheerful mood (for evil people) after a relaxing holiday and a hearty meal. Most of them had even gained weight, Draco was pleased to note. But he himself was impervious to weight gain, as he was Marvelous Malfoy the Magnificent. But all that weight they'd gained was going to drop off the moment they jumped out of their socks when they found out what the new password was. For the next TWO MONTHS! What was Dumbledore doing? Why was Snape's pestering not working? But more importantly, WHAT THE HELL HAD PANSY BEEN THINKING? Yes yes, she claimed it was him, but he was in denial, and no one would believe her even if she told them.

Draco was planning on writing to Father to get the password changed, but Father would tell his 'friends', and Draco wanted to see his fellow Slytherin's reactions for himself. First hand.

This was going to be fun.

Pansy walked down to the dungeons, followed by most of the Slytherin house. Breathe in… breathe out... breathe in… why is breathing not working!

Pansy walked down to the dungeons, followed by most of the Slytherin house. why is breathing not working!

Draco Malfoy was sauntering along just behind her. This was just amusement for him, entertainment. She was the one going to be skinned alive. She was the one who hadn't slept for nights on end because of worry. And it wasn't even her choice of password! But nooo, the Ice Prince can't possibly be to blame. Bloody ice cream man wannabe. What is with that hair, anyway? At least he doesn't gel it back anymore, but still! Oh look, there's Mick the Wall! Hi Mick! Pansy waved vigorously (mentally of course), but stopped quickly. Mick was a bad sign. Why was Mick a bad sign? Oh yeah! Because she had to tell the ENTIRE SLYTHERIN HOUSE THAT 'I LOVE POTTER' IS THEIR NEW PASSWORD FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS. How could she forget?

Pansy wrapped her cloak more tightly around her and scurried forward, putting a few feet distance between her and the rest of her house. She reached Mick, panting only a little (she was proud to note).

"I love Potter." She whispered. Maybe it didn't have to be like this. Maybe she could avoid telling them altogether. Stick up a sign up or something…

"What was that Pansy dearest?" Draco sauntered over, followed by the rest of the house, and swung an arm over her shoulder, effectively halting her escape. Pansy bit her lip and shook her head slightly, indicating that Draco should shut up and let go of her so she could hide.

But Draco didn't get the hint. He turned to her and in a convincing stage whisper (dungeons have really good acoustics) asked

"When are you going to tell them about the new password?"

Crabbe and Goyle were just behind him, and like the brainless pigs they were, echoed his words, thereby furthering Draco's plan.

"There's a new password?" They asked stupidly, in loud voices. This attracted the rest of the house's attention. Along with the fact that they'd stopped moving. This was getting them grumpy. All according to plan.

Blaise pushed himself to the front of the crowd, some burly sixth years not far behind him.

"There's a new password? What is it?" Blaise's slanted eyes narrowed at Pansy's silence. "What have you done Parkinson?" He asked in a deadly tone.

Pansy put up her hands, palm outwards in a calming gesture and took a hurried step back (Draco had let go of her and moved away a little, to a better spectator seat). She could see Miles Jixof (one of the burly afore-mentioned sixth years) crack his knuckles. He did that a lot, but unfortunately he was a guy who fancied himself a leader, and encouraged others to follow in his distinctly confused footsteps. Pansy backed away further, stopping only when her backside bumped into a sofa. Her fellow Slytherins fanned out around and behind her. Her nervous, twitching eyes caught Draco in a corner, watching her with a smirk. Ooh, he could make her mad.

Her anger at Draco using her for entertainment turned to foolhardiness. After all, when you're angry you don't generally think things through, do you? Pansy would later regret this rule of humankind.

Pansy looked around, and finding what she sought, she stomped over to a coffee table and climbed on top of it, so she was head and shoulders above everyone else and all attention was on her.

"Hem hem." She stated, unnecessarily some might feel, since she 'hem hem'-ed a silent room. But she found the sound useful.

"I am Pansy Parkinson and as a Seventh Year Prefect I invoked my right to change the password of the Slytherin common room." From the many eyes staring at her, she could almost hear the silent 'and…?', so she plunged on. "And due to… unfortunate circumstances beyond my control," her eyes flicked to Draco's corner and his smirk grew wider. "The new password is… mmmbpfh."

"What?"

"I can't hear you!"

"Speak louder!"

Pansy drew another deep breath.

"Mmmbpfh" She stated.

"Come again?"

"Grindewald's gonads Pansy! Speak clearly."

Pansy breathed once more, and her eyes locked onto Draco's. Merlin, he was starting to feel bad…

"I love Potter."

"…"

Silence met her ears, until Miles just had to make sure he'd understood.

"You mean to tell us," he rotated on the spot, arms spread wide as he looked at his surrounding Slytherins before facing once more at Pansy. "You mean to tell us that you changed our password, the Slytherin Snakes, Generally Evil-Wizard Supporting Slytherin Snake's password to 'I love Potter'?" He spat the word 'Potter' like it was filth in his mouth.

"Yes. I did."

"…"

Silence.

"GET HER!" Miles shrieked, picking up a chair and waving it above his head like a pitchfork. The other Slytherins (minus a few including Draco) did likewise, with other chairs and their wands. Crabbe and Goyle struggled to pick up a sofa while Millicent Bulstrode got herself stuck in the Christmas tree.

"GET HER!" They chanted in echo of Miles' words.

Realisation dawned on Pansy like someone tipping ice down your pants and then pinning down your arms so you can't get it out. In this case, realisation was not pleasant. What had she done?

Pansy shrieked hysterically and ran for the girls dorms; dodging people, chairs and curses alike while she was chased across the common room by her fellow Slytherins, who had picked up Miles' chant of 'Kill the Witch! Kill the Witch!'

Pansy flew up the staircase as if a pack of angry Slytherins were chasing her. Miles reached the staircase first and hastened in her footsteps. Halfway up, it was his turn to shriek, along with half the house, as they slid painfully back down the stairs again, in a snowball effect, chairs wands and limbs waving manically in the air, knocking other Slytherins unconscious.

The pile of bodies that resulted at the bottom was very amusing, and Draco cackled merrily. This had turned out better than he had thought.

No one who had avoided the fight moved to help the pile – the girls continued filing their nails and the boys trudged up to their dorms, alternately laughing to themselves – stopping and cursing Pansy for the new password – and laughing again.

The pile of Slytherin at the bottom of the staircase took a while to sort out.

And what of Pansy? She locked and charmed her dorm door with almost every spell she new (including a few contraceptive ones for good luck), and then did the same to her hangings. She would live to see another day, if she had anything to say about it.

And what of Miles? After many torturous hours of lying in a heap, he decided that no one was going to help him up and so removed himself from the very top of a very large pile. Leaving his minions to pick themselves up, he left for bed, plans whirling in his mind for how he was going to murder Pansy alive. Yeah. ALIVE, he thought with an evil glint in his eye.

"You didn't happen to have anything to do with this, did you Draco?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Blaise's face crinkled into a smile as he got up from Draco's bed, where they had been talking.

"Oh, the fact that I know you so well. You rascal."

A green satin pillow whacked against the side ofBlaise's head before he could slip his hangings shut. Blaise chucked it back, but it bounced harmlessly off of Draco's hangings. He could hear Draco's muffled laughter. That schemer.

"Goodnight Blaise."

"Goodnight Draco." Blaise replied as he slid under his duvet.

"'Night Crabbe, Goyle. Don't snore." Draco warned.

Draco turned over and closed his eyes, and was eventually lulled to sleep by the sound of pigs snoring.

A/N

Hey, a shorty – I know. But the next chapter will be up soon and it will be relatively long. I've practically WRITTEN it! (Well, I've written out the title…).

This chapter was in response to requests for a semi-decent reaction to the new password. I hope it meets expectations ;-). While I'm on about reviews, I can't help myself. I have to say a huge thank you to everyone, but in particular HPFan123321 for a review that kept me laughing for days. Not sure why… but it was hilarious. (My twisted humour coming into play again). Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY xXx xesha xXx! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…

Next Chapter – Potions! Mwa ha ha. Golly gosh I'm evil.

CHECK MY PROFILE PAGE FOR A SUPER-GROOVY LINK THAT YOU HAVE TO CHECK OUT! Oh, and for updates regarding the progress of my fics…

Btw, sorry about the Grindewald's gonads thing, I just could help myself. Think about it:

Good people: "Merlin's Beard!"

Bad people: "Grindewald's gonads!"

People like me: "mmm… cookies…"

Do I even need to ask for reviews? I think not! The brain waves I am sending out are enough. Your head is throbbing with the thoughts 'Must review greenfly, must review greenfly, otherwise Toto will bite my butt, otherwise Toto will bite my butt, must also send greenfly cookies in the mail, must also send greenfly cookies in the mail.. WAIT! No! Greenfly will give my virtual cookies if I review, greenfly will give me virtual cookies if I review…'

Cookies anyone? Their chocolate chip… mmm… and the chocolate is all gooey… mmm… On second thought, Digestive biscuit anyone?

What?