AN: I know it's been a few days, sorry about that, but I had a busy week this week and just didn't have enough time to write this chapter properly. But now it's the weekend and I do. I love all of your reviews, and I beg you to keep them coming! I'm also very happy to see that you all seem to love Pansy as much as I do. It warms me up inside. Anyway, I hope you all love this chapter and PLEASE keep reviewing!

Disclaimer: If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times- I own nothing but the plot.

Great Hall, Breakfast, Daphne's POV:

If anyone had told Daphne Greengrass that she would be sticking as close to the side of Ginny Weasley as she could for her own protection, she would have hexed them into next Tuesday. As it was, that seemed to be exactly what she was doing. The only thing that made her feel any better about this was the fact that Theo was sitting in between Longbottom and Potter for exactly the same reasons.

Daphne rubbed her shoulder as she glared and the Patil twins. Last night she had learned that not all Gryffindors were honorable, and that not all of them were forgiving. The Patil twins in particular seemed to be holding a rather nasty grudge, but then again they had lost their best friend Brown thanks to Greyback. In a way Daphne could see why they would hate her for once being a Slytherin.

What she couldn't understand, however, was that Potter, Little Red, and Longbottom had taken up the cause of Theo and herself with such gusto. Her old thoughts had been confirmed, Gryffindors were indeed lunatics.

And now I'm one of them.

With a deep sigh she took a drink out of her goblet of pumpkin juice. What Daphne really wanted was to see her little sister and Pansy again. Would they hate her?

In answer to her question, Astoria Greengrass walked into the Great Hall alongside of Nicolai and Clarissa- a bad sign. When Daphne and Astoria met eyes, her little sister mouth two words to her before sneering and walking over to the Slytherin table.

Blood traitor.

A tear began to form in Daphne's eyes. It wasn't her fault that she was stuck over here! It was the stupid sorting hat, and at that moment if she could have ripped it to pieces, then she would have.

"Don't worry, Daph, she'll come around…." Theo said. But the fact that he had trailed off and the look on his face stated quite plainly that he knew this wasn't so. She had lost her little sister.

"On the bright side, it looks like you've still got Pansy," Potter stated as he sent a wave over to Hermione Granger, who was walking side by side with Pansy.

Daphne and Theo's jaws dropped just as both Pansy and Hermione waved over to the Gryffindor table.

"What the bloody hell as gotten into Parkinson?" Ginny asked as she stared after the pair. Daphne shook her head, mouth still gaping open.

"Couldn't agree with you more, but it's not just her... Blaise walked in toting both Smith and Thomas with him. It's as if they've all been replaced by some sort of… of… of… not them, person." Theo finished lamely.

"Eloquent," Weasley snorted.

"Quite frankly I don't give a damn why they're doing it, but if it means it'll make this at all easier on Hermione and Dean then I'm not going to question it. The Slytherin common room is intimidating enough without having to live there all the time, I can't imagine how they're doing," Potter said, his brow furrowing in concern for his friends.

This was something that Daphne wasn't used to. Of course her old circle of friends all cared for one another, but this sort of open affection just didn't happen. It would be the same as giving up one of your weaknesses. Yet here they seemed to think something was wrong with you if you weren't displaying some sort of emotion. She was so confused, how was she supposed to adjust? Was it even safe to adjust? If she did and then went home, she wouldn't last a minute.

The thought of going home after this terrified her, especially after Astoria.

When she turned her attention back to what was going on around her she was relieved to see that no one was paying attention to the range of emotions dancing upon her face. Carefully she reconstructed her mask and watched the situation play out before her.

Weasley's hand found Potter's and gripped it tight for a moment. "Mione will be alright, she always is. She went through worse with you and Ron last year. The world knows that she doesn't really need protection and-"

"Oi, Little Red, what in the name of Merlin's left one is wrong with your brother?"

Daphne shook her head at Theo's language, and had to refrain from laughter at the look on Weasley's face once she heard the nickname Theo had used for her.

"What did you just-"

"I called you Little Red and since it's the nicest nickname we had for any of you I wouldn't fight it too much. But your brother looks like he's about to kill Granger and I want to know why," Theo crossed his arms against his chest and nodded in the direction of Hufflepuff table.

Daphne turned around along with everyone else to see King Weasel glaring daggers at Granger and the rest of the 7th year Slytherin's. His face was changing colors and if he didn't take a breath soon Daphne suspected that it would start to match his hair.

"See? I thought he and Granger were a love match, so why is he trying to kill her with his mind?" Theo asked.

"I have no idea… I mean I knew they had broken up but I was told that it was because they felt too much like siblings…" Ginny said. "They were fine on the train, weren't they Harry?"

Longbottom picked this moment to clear his throat, and despite the fact that he had recently grown into himself, he looked to be a little uncomfortable with what he was about to say. "Well… it is Ron, you know?" Longbottom looked expectantly at everyone else around the table, hoping that he wouldn't have to go into too much detail. At the uncomprehending looks he was getting, he continued.

"Out of all of us, he's the one who hated Slytherin the most. And Hermione got sorted into Slytherin… knowing the way he overreacts to everything, he probably thinks it was the gravest betrayal she could have done."

The dark look that took over Potter's face was enough to make Daphne shudder, and Weasley had begun to shake- the way she was gripping her wand certainly promised trouble.

"To be honest, Ron's probably not the only one who is thinking that way Harry. Everyone wants to know what she's done to land her in Slytherin," and when Longbottom said this he looked a little bit guilty.

"What she did, was help to conquer the darkest wizard of all time," Weasley growled. Her grip on her wand was actually starting to make it snow a little.

"Without Hermione I would have died more times than I could possibly count, and not just last year. She's been saving my skin since we first went chasing after the Sorcerer's Stone. Convenient, isn't, how everyone seems to forget that."

Silence fell then, and Daphne looked at the people surrounding her, wishing profoundly that she had as good a group of friends that Granger seemed to have- excluding Weaselby. With the situations they were in, they were both going to need their friends more than they ever have.

Daphne knew, of course, why Pansy was making such a drastic effort to show the world she had changed, but for now she chose to keep it to herself. If Pansy had yet to tell anyone, then neither would she; Daphne didn't have so many friends that she could afford to risk losing one so easily. But, as she looked at the people surrounding her, her outlook on the whole situation seemed to brighten- if only just a little.

Maybe she wouldn't be so friendless for long, but the loss of Astoria would be one that she would feel for a long time to come, and she feared that the rest of her family would soon follow. Daphne was shaken out of her reverie by Theo, who punched her lightly on her sore arm. She really needed to have Madame Pomfrey take care of the damage the Patil twins did.

"Good to see that at least some things never change, isn't it Daph?"

Daphne looked up to see what Theo was talking about and saw that Draco had just entered the Great Hall, and he was scowling.

Draco's POV:

He walked through the Great Hall doing his best to ignore the stares that came his way. Normally they would make him feel good about himself, but that the moment they all seemed to be accusing him of something. Of what, he couldn't tell you, but at the moment he wished for nothing more than for all of them to stop.

When he made his way to the table he saw that once again Granger was sitting in his seat, and he saw the perfect opportunity to get make sure Granger hated him.

"Out of my way, Mu-Granger. You're in my seat." Draco was careful to make sure that he added in a sneer, to maximize effect.

Pansy's eyes were starting to burn into the side of his head and he could tell that she was pissed, but he didn't care. The look of surprise and hurt in Granger's eyes was worth it all, he didn't care what he had to do as long as she stayed far, far away from him.

"Fine, Malfoy. I wouldn't want to sit anywhere that your arrogant ass would sit anyway, I wouldn't want to risk the catching of some disease transmitted by ferrets," Granger said before sliding things down so that she sat on the other side of Thomas. She was seething.

Draco slammed down into his seat and scowled down at his breakfast. She wasn't supposed to fight back! She was just supposed to move and then continue to stay away from him! Never mind that he knew very well that the know-it-all always fought back, but it didn't matter, she still wasn't supposed to.

Lost in his thoughts, he shoved a bite of eggs into his mouth and swallowed before he noticed that Blaise was still staring at him. When Draco looked up he followed the cat-like eyes of his friend and saw that he now was looking at Granger, and that she had a tiny little satisfied smile on her face. Blaise's eyes returned to meet Draco's and he raised an eyebrow.

When Draco caught on to what Blaise was saying, he could have hit himself.

"Oh shut it Blaise, I just didn't think she was worth it." This statement did nothing other than cause his best friend to smile and go back to his breakfast.

Draco was berating himself. How had he gotten so lost that he hadn't even noticed that he had allowed Granger to get the last word?

His plan was starting to fail before it had even really begun.

AN: I know it's a little shorter than you're used to getting, but this was just the best place to cut it off. Not to mention you'll probably be getting another chapter this weekend, so try not to hate me too much