"I swear, if I hear one more word about his father I am going to Crucio him," Pansy was seething after their last class of the day.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that," Clara grinned. The friends were on their way back to the Slytherin common room. Draco had spent the entire Transfiguration class whining about how the Hogwarts house elves improperly made his bed. After he mentioned how his father would never let their house elf treat them to such shoddy work, Clara had focused all of her attention on Professor McGonagall.

"It's just… I know we've said a lot of bad things about him, but this summer he was just… so wonderful," Pansy shook her head, "It's like being here just reduces him to the whiny twat that he's always been."

"I don't know, it's hard to imagine him being good enough for you. You need to set your sights higher than Mister Daddy Issues."

"Rude!" Pansy laughed.

"The truth hurts, my dear," Clara smiled, "Besides, do you really want to be Pansy Malfoy?"

She visibly shuddered, "Oh God. Maybe we were just destined for summer love."

"Please do not insinuate that you are or were at any point in love with that toad."

"Fine. Summer… shenanigans."

Clara looked at her friend, holding back a laugh, "Okay. I'll take it."

At dinner, Clara and Pansy sat away from Draco and his groupies. This pleased Clara.

"I have my best friend back," she grinned, hugging her friend tightly.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't ruin my image. I need to present myself as the untouchable ice queen of Hogwarts," said Pansy seriously, but a smile tugged at the edges of her mouth.

"Right."

Clara ate more that night than she had since arriving at school. Since her mother's class, she had decided not to let it ruin her time at Hogwarts. Instead of worrying about what would happen in class tomorrow, she had already read ahead her book and was determined to retain her nearly perfect grades.

"You've got to be joking… he's coming over," Pansy groaned. Mouth full of mashed potatoes, Clara looked up to see the blond wizard striding over to them.

"Pansy, darling, I hate it when we fight," Draco was using the most sickeningly sincere voice she had ever heard.

"Do you?" Pansy replied, going back to her dinner.

"Sweetie, look at me."

"Okay. Draco, don't 'sweetie' me and we'll be okay. Okay?"

"I'm sorry," his eyes were wide and he was almost pouting.

"Can you let us eat? We can talk later but right now I'm talking to my best friend."

"Oh… alright. I'll see you later, then," Draco looked at Clara, his eyes narrowing for a split second before returning to his wounded puppy act.

"Such a winner, that one. I definitely know why you fell for him," Clara remarked after he had returned to his seat.

"Shush. Like I said, he was a different person."

Clara and Pansy spent their evening in the dormitory, doing their homework on Pansy's bed. Draco had taken up residence on one of the couches in the Common Room. The two girls had been lucky to walk in right before Goyle had accidentally set fire to his homework and distracted Draco.

"I don't understand why we have to write this much about why to avoid Venomous Tentacula… it's venomous, leave it alone, you'll be fantastic," Pansy groaned as she unrolled her parchment.

"Mine's finished, you can borrow from it if you'd like," Clara pulled it from her bag and handed it over.

"I love you."

Once the rest of the Sixth year girls had joined them in the dormitory, they gathered their books and repacked their bags.

"Are you gonna be okay tomorrow?" Pansy asked her best friend quietly. She smiled nervously, "Yeah. I'll have you. At least it doesn't seem like she hates me."

"Why would she? If anything, you should hate her."

"I don't know, she could resent me for ruining her marriage."

"Clara," Pansy was shaking her head, "You did not ruin her marriage. She did that herself. You have every right to despise that woman."

"I know," Clara wiped her eyes, before being pulled into a tight hug.

"Hey, I know you're having a moment, but can I say something?"

The two girls looked up to see Daphne Greengrass sitting on the edge of her bed. Clara nodded.

"I remember when we were all First Years. You used to cry at night, I could always hear you through the curtains. You wouldn't tell any of us what was wrong. Then Pansy seemed to get through to you," Daphne sighed, "I remember when you told us. You made a group of Slytherins cry, Clara."

They were laughing.

"I remember that. Even Millicent was choked up," Pansy shook her head.

"God, I remember my first train ride. I was with Gryffindors and they spent hours telling me about how awful Slytherin was. By the time we'd gotten to Hogwarts I was completely terrified," Clara gave a sharp laugh and sniffled.

"You walked over to our table and your eyes were massive," Tracey Davis laughed as she walked over from her bed on the other side of Pansy's.

"I was expecting you all to jinx me as soon as I was sorted!" Clara explained.

"Bloody Gryffindors. We're not all Death Eaters…" Tracey sighed as she sat next to Daphne, who nodded before saying, "The point is, Clara, we're going to protect you."

This brought on another wave of tears from the girl.

"We're all here. Tomorrow we will walk into Defense together. We won't let Professor Lisney do a damn thing to you," Pansy promised. Tracey and Daphne walked over to Clara's bed and the three girls pulled her into a hug.

After they had all returned to their own beds and the lights were out, Clara decided to finally write a letter to her father. She could take it by the Owlery in the morning.

Dad,

Sorry for not writing you sooner, the Professors have been piling on the assignments. Everything has been going well. I hope you've left the house for something other than work. You promised! I miss you. The food here is good, but it doesn't compare to yours.

I have to get to sleep, but I'll be writing again soon.

Love,

Clara

She made the decision to not tell him about her mother quite yet. After folding the parchment and placing it in an envelope, she laid it on her nightstand and closed her eyes.

AN: Shorter chapter this time around, just to build more of a sisterhood within Slytherin. Hope you enjoyed!