A/N: Some busy holidays and a busted hard drive later (thank Merlin for dropbox), I'm finally able to get this out. For anyone reading regularly: thanks for being patient, and hope you had some happy holidays.

Special thanks to Ariely and Hey It's That Guy for their reviews.

- x

"Straighten that tie Parkinson." Escorting her between classes became Draco's favorite pastime in the weeks following his humiliating defeat to Potter on the quidditch pitch. Usually she'd hit back with her own insults and taunts, but today she was in no mood. Two hours of pruning devil's snare and defoliating Malaysian stinging camellias took a lot out of you.

Daphne and Tracey slipped between her and Draco. They had a twenty minute break in the paved courtyard until charms started, and she could use some quiet for once. She heard Draco yell at them to move before her pace quickened. Pansy entered the courtyard, and spotted a shadowy place among a corridor of columns. Before she could get there, Warrington and the rest of the quidditch team swooped around from both sides and circled her. Crap.

"Parkinson."

"Not getting away that easily today." Draco sneered. Some of the other houses noticed the Slytherin team huddled around Pansy and stepped closer to overhear, leaving Pansy to wonder just where the hell the professor overseeing break was.

Pansy could take advantage of a captive audience, though. She painted an exasperated look on her face and exclaimed theatrically. "No, Draco. For the last time, I WILL NOT take you back." She shoved him, and tried to squeeze past Warrington and Montague, but they were a stone wall. "I don't care what desperate measures you and Warrington have to take together in your dormitory. The answer is still NO." She huffed, trying to push through. Faint chuckles from the students behind the fence of Slytherins reached her ears.

"Cute," Draco smiled at her tirade. "Not that I'm surprised to hear you barking for attention, Parkinson. We all know how much of a mutt you are." Pansy faced him and rolled her eyes. That insult wasn't clever the first time around much less four years later. "But for anyone out here who doesn't know…" His sentence broke in a cliffhanger, and he raised his arms over his head. Draco conducted an improvised choir as the team sang:

On a cold day in May

A woman Helena did lay

With a beast barking mad at the sun

So was born our girl, Parkinson

Warrington, Pucey, Crabbe and Goyle brayed like mules as they sang. She could point it out, but their throaty singing would blow away her voice like the cold wind did to her shivering breath.

With a blink and a shrug

Her husband welcome the young pug

The rest of Slytherin joined in, taming the quidditch team's booming chants into a ringing carol. Blaise and the girls formed a shield around Pansy as the quidditch team danced around her like she was a tribal bonfire. They shoved through Pansy's friends.

But with time he came to doubt

Suspicious of her squashed snout

She slapped away a hand that tried flicking her nose.

A girl none too nimble of wit

Another patted her head.

Sporting porkish fat, he did admit

Montague pinched her left cheek.

Could not be truly of his kin

Most likely born of a bargain bin

They danced outward, the solid wall of Slytherins around her become a cage with wide gaps for the onlookers to gawk. They might've hoped for tears, or anything at this point, but Pansy remained rooted in one spot. The rage of a tempest on the inside, but the calm of an oak tree on the outside. She wasn't going to let this go, but had to be patient for the right moment to retaliate. Their voices reached a crescendo.

Till over vermouth

Helena spilled all the truth

That with a dog she did lie

And in shame they both decided to die!

Laughter skittered off the cobbled steps, zipped around the columns, bounced off the walkways and pelted Pansy from all directions. They were all expecting a reaction. The only way she could win was to not give them one; force Draco to come to her.

She turned to Tracey. "Did you finish that sketch for Herbology last period?" They went to sit on some nearby steps with Blaise and Daphne following behind. She chose the spot strategically. Not so far away from Draco as to make it look like a retreat.

"Nothing to say?" Malfoy called. "Is the shame too much to bear Parkinson?"

Pansy slouched against her bag, crossed her legs, and answered lazily, but loud enough for the non-Slytherins to hear. "I'm beside myself with embarrassment – to be serenaded by the quidditch team that the Gryffindorks trounced; I'd hoped for better." Graham Montague and Adrian Pucey's eyes flashed dangerously at her. Two weeks on, and the defeat still tasted bitter. "You know, in nobler cultures they have the decency to commit seppuku after such a disgrace."

Shushes quieted some of the non-Slytherins who were still laughing over Draco's song. Now that she had their attention, she could remind them that Malfoy wasn't their friend. "At least everyone can be proud you got Potter banned. Just do the same to Cho Chang and Summerby, then you'll be the best seeker in school with a guaranteed quidditch cup for Slytherin!"

The Gryffs and Claws edged closer as the Slytherin team moved to circle her again, probably for an encore performance. Graham Montague got tangled in a shouting match with Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell. Crabbe and Goyle looked ready to draw wands against Weasel and Potter. Pansy smiled, having stolen the smirk clean off Draco's face. Seeing his players dissolve into arguments with other teams, Malfoy pushed past Longbottom and ordered the Slytherin team to retreat back to class.

He snarled. "Careful Parkinson, you won't have this lot of ruffians with you next time."

It only egged her on. Pansy called after him. "Weasley is our King was such a hit, maybe we need a chant for you. Something like: "

Malfoy is so Ace,

On a broom he has no grace,

The snitch he'll never chase,

Even if it stares him in the face…

"…and so on. I'm sure you can come up with more." Her voice carried down the corridor after Malfoy. It was the first time she could honestly say her old singing lessons paid off. The other houses laughed along. She even earned some clapping from the Weasley twins for her performance. It stung her pride a little to pander to Gryffindors, but against all of Slytherin there wasn't much else she could do.

"Here's our little teacher's pet." Draco. Again. "Careful, I think Granger might get jealous." Pansy stayed behind after charms to discuss her continued work on the Protean charm, and it evidently didn't escape Malfoy's notice.

Ignoring him, Pansy sat down next to Blaise, and tucked in. Soon after, a flurry of flapping wings and letters distracted her from the roast chicken on her plate. Winter holiday was fast approaching. Parents were finalizing holiday plans and creating a blizzard of letters in the process. Pansy still had no idea what she'd be doing during break. Probably staying at Hogwarts. She prepared to bury the dismal thought with spoonfuls of pudding before she noticed Lavender brown receive a small square parcel in red wrapping paper.

Pansy elbowed Blaise and whispered to the girls. "Looks like Brown's about to open a very special gift from her secret admirer."

Tracey snorted, and Daph shook her head, but neither of them turned around, lest someone see them. Not that they had to. Lavender squealed loud enough for everyone as she tore open the package. In a swift motion she coiled a handmade bracelet around her left wrist, and showed it off. She clutched the accompanying note to her chest, only showing it to Parvati, who giggled madly after reading it.

Pansy choked on her pumpkin juice. Brown's reaction was even better than she'd imagined. Lavender's hand made a tour of the girls next to her before she displayed it prominently at the table, sleeve drawn back for Seamus Finnigan to take special notice.

Tracey made a discrete quarter turn to spy on the girl. "No reaction from Finnigan. I wonder when he'll get the picture."

"Boys do tend to be rather thick about such things." Daphne mused. "But that just makes it more exciting in the end." Blaise was the only one of the group who apparently found the enchanted ceiling much more exciting.

Pansy wasn't deterred. "I've nothing more to offer than this humble gift and my sincerest love. A small testament to the auburn of your perfect locks and…" She recited as much as she could before breaking down.

"How's she supposed to even know it's from Finnigan?" Blaise asked.

"That's just the introduction." Daphne said. "We put obvious clues into it like 'your eyes make my heart beat faster than a Ceili dance' and 'you're more breathtaking than the Cliffs of Moher'."

"Just for laughs," Tracey said. "We added some really silly lines like 'when I get close, your hair smells of home; lamb and stewed cabbage'." The three girls giggled, drawing attention from the other Slytherins who still sat apart.

"There's only one Irish student she has her eyes on." Pansy took a deep breath. She didn't need to explain that she'd read this straight out of Lavender's diary. "She'll assume it's Finnigan. And after she makes an arse of herself around him, she'll go through the roster of other Irish students trying to find out who sent it."

"Girls…" Blaise muttered. Let him and the others think this was petty revenge for Lavender's accusations in Umbridge's class. Pansy took care of that problem weeks ago when she stole Brown's journal. This was about something else. In almost a month's time, Brown hadn't given her a single useful lead on Potter. Pansy was, however, now intimately aware of how bad Brown had it for Finnigan. And she could at least turn that infatuation to her advantage. There was a tracking charm on the bracelet, and a map of Hogwarts in her rucksack to go with it.

Just as she ladled a final helping of pudding, an underfed owl dive-bombed her bowl. The tired creature looked so droopy and half dead, Pansy could swear it was just poorly embalmed. Ripping a galleon-sized hole in the packaging, pansy satisfied herself that her jar of powdered horn of bicorn was safe. She put some galleons in the creature's pouch, and plunged the package into her bag before her friends could ask. This very minute, the next phase of her plans against Potter was simmering in a cauldron under her bed. Before November was out, she'd have infiltrated his group, and have gathered all the evidence she needed.

In an effort to avoid questions, Pansy nodded and smiled toward Lavender as she rushed out to catch Finnigan. The girls laughed again. They got up to leave as well, when Draco passed by and placed an imperious hand on Daphne's shoulder. "I'll see you at tonight's meeting, Greengrass." He drummed out each word louder than needed.

Daphne nodded as Draco left then fiddled with her hair. "Look…don't be mad, but…" Her last few words crashed together "…I-took-your-place-in-the-inquisitorial-squad." She flinched as Pansy's rucksack pounded on the floor.

"Umbridge replaced me with you?" Pansy tasted vinegar on her tongue as Daphne nodded stiffly. "Don't be silly. Why would I be mad that one of my only friends is consorting with an enemy?"

"Consorting?" Tracey tried to diffuse the situation with a snicker. Pansy's glare would've withered a tropical rainforest.

"I was going to tell you…I mean you'd have noticed anyway…once I started wearing the badge… Umbridge just cornered me in the hall…a few days ago…"

"…And forced you to join at wand point." Pansy completed. She tried to catch Blaise's reaction out of the corner of her eyes, but as usual he was a statue.

"No…but it was a one-time offer…and I thought it would help…to have an insider in their ranks." Blaise nodded appreciatively. "And the way Malfoy's been abusing his power…I could, you know, be a little fairer."

"Please. They aren't masterminding anything more important than their next excuse for taking points from the Gryffindorks, or figuring out what stupid name they're going to call me next." Pansy scoffed. "Like we really need insider information for that."

"Pansy…" Blaise put his hand over hers, but she pulled away.

"You see it, Blaise, don't you? Umbridge doesn't give a toad's spleen about Daphne. Draco put her up to it. He wants to tear us apart." They knew she was right. "That part about having someone on the inside. It works both ways. He wants someone that's close to me."

"I would never –"

"Daphne's the most loyal Slytherin I know." Tracey stood up.

"I didn't say that she would betray anyone." Pansy waved Tracey back down before addressing Daphne. "Except, I know you, Daph. You won't be standing up to Draco. Come down to it, you'll give in and become the unwilling witness to whatever he does. When that happens, I don't know if I'll be able to look at you the same way." Daphne dropped her gaze to the table. The pretty blonde looked like a wilted flower, and Pansy couldn't help feeling responsible, even Daphne's own thoughtless actions were to blame. "I am mad. But I'll get over it." She forced a bitter chuckle that at least resurrected the smile on Daphne's face.

"We can figure out a way for this to work out." Blaise put his arm around Daphne as they all finally left the Great Hall.

After a long day, she was going to bed early. Pansy swished a gulp of water to banish the dry toothpaste flavor on her tongue. She walked to her room, and waved good night to Tracey and Daph, both working on a potions assignment.

Pansy drew back the curtains around her four poster bed – and froze. Her blood turned to ice. Her heart stopped.

Time stood still, except for the captured memory playing on repeat before her eyes. Dad picked her up and perched her on his shoulders. Repeat. Mum said something and smoothed his jacket with her left. Repeat. She did it again, clutching a graceful wineglass in her other hand. Repeat. Pansy was four, smiling and then plucking the same grape from a vine. Again. And again. Again.

"Is everything alright, Pans?" Tracey reeled her back in from infinity. She walked over and the picture frame lying on Pansy's bed stole her breath.

A fake? All the details were right: mum's scowl, dad's old aloofness. Her heart told her it happened once; even if her brain couldn't remember. How did it get in her dorm? Pansy stared dumbly at Tracey and Daph, not noticing when they arrived next to her. "Did – did one of you put this on my b-bed?" She hoped it were true, but knew it couldn't be. Tracey was a half-blood, and the Greengrass family was never close to the Parkinsons. She didn't even look as they both shook their heads.

"Who could've done this?" Tracey asked.

That didn't matter. What mattered was where the picture came from. Considering all he'd done that day, she could think of only one person: Draco. He could've convinced any Slytherin girl to deposit the portrait.

But why did he have it? It was such a private moment in her family's life. A rare scene where they were all smiling and happy. It wasn't the kind of thing mum would gift away, or even display at home. For someone else – for him – to know about it and not her…

He must've been there. The though boiled her icy veins. Lucius Malfoy must've been there to see the light leave her parents eyes. He skulked around the house taking valuables like a common thief; maybe looking for that ring her dad was fixing. Pansy's intestines tied into knots. Draco lost his little battle in the courtyard today, and it gnawed at his ego. He had to put Pansy in her place. Remind her that he and his family had influence over any dimension of her life. He could dig something up that she didn't even know about.

But he'd also given her definitive proof. Lucius had been there, and Draco knew.

"What are you going to –" Pansy slammed the door on Daphne's question. The glass of the picture frame shuddered under her grip. She marched to a familiar leather armchair where Draco read by the fireplace.

"What is this?" Pansy pushed the book away from Draco's face with her picture frame.

"Very nice." Draco appraised the portrait and propped his feet on an ottoman.

"WHAT IS THIS?"

"A family portrait. Used to preserve and remember fond familial moments." Draco explained patiently. "And this," he held up the hardcover in his hands, Archimago to Grindelwald: Powerful Wizards Through The Ages. "…is a book, B-O-O-K." When she didn't leave he added, "I'm sorry have you forgotten your letters also?"

"Cut the rubbish." Pansy kicked the ottoman away. Daphne and Tracey swept in from their dormitory. Draco dog-eared the corner of the page he read.

"Pans." Daphne called. Tracey's hand already hovered over her wand, even though Malfoy was the picture of tranquility.

The placid confusion in Draco's eyes was so convincing Pansy found herself explaining what he must already know. "You had one of your sycophantic harpies put this in my room." She shook the frame in front of his face.

"Oh, yes. My favored pastime: collecting private photographs, and then returning them when they're least expected. It's positively evil." Some Slytherins around them chuckled. "You probably forgot about the blasted thing – I know I'd want to – and just found it in your trunk." He bent forward to get up from his chair, but Pansy planted an arm at the hand rest.

Face to face, Pansy could smell the mint in his breath. Neither of them saw the score of Slytherin students who abandoned their half-written assignments to get closer. "Your father took it from my house didn't he? The day they died." Pansy hissed.

"You're losing it." Draco smirked. "Did hearing the truth today about mother Parkinson hurt that much? Or is it that I've started plucking away at your only friends?" His head flicked toward Daphne. "Is the loneliness already too much to bear?"

"He was there, wasn't he?" Her grip on the armrest cut creases into the chair's leather.

"We've been through this before." He pushed around her.

"Deny it all you want. After he watched the Dark Lord murder them, he skulked through my house like a common thief." The conviction in her voice stopped him in his tracks. "A coward and a thief." Pansy hissed behind his ear.

Draco spun around. "Father wouldn't have touched any of your family's trinkets."

"But he was there…" Her tone rested in the no-man's-land between a question and a statement of fact. Draco's pupils retreated deep into his eyes in alarm. He tried to turn around, but Pansy grabbed his shoulders. "TELL ME." This time loud as a thunderclap.

The common room's eyes were all on him now. He could see some of them weren't so convinced that Parkinson was a nutter after all. The tremors in his eyes lasted only a second before his face turned glacial. "Let me go." His thin lips breathed icily.

With a flick of his chin, Crabbe and Goyle appeared on either side of Pansy. Tracey and Daphne came closer too, but Pansy held them back with a raised arm, still clutching the picture frame in it. With his cronies at his side, Draco's confidence returned. "Haven't you all got better things to do?" His sneer dispersed the other students, then turned into a smile of triumph. One that told Pansy, you can't win. How wrong he was. She'd soon have those case files from Howell. Then he'd be telling her everything she wanted to know. For now, it would be enough to teach him a lesson about disrespecting her family's things. She released him.

"I challenge you to a duel, Malfoy."

"Are you serious?" His snort nipped her ears. She saw Tracey and Daphne exchange stricken looks, and the Slytherins inching back toward them, slack jawed. "What possible reason would I have for dueling you?"

"The petty pranks, hounding after me between classes, your abominable singing; take your pick. Unless you'd rather keep making spectacles for the other houses' entertainment." Silence from the Slytherins behind her. No one spoke against Draco directly, but if they didn't object to her, then it meant they agreed. "We can settle our differences honorably if you're not afraid to."

"Afraid? I just don't want to fight a girl." He spat.

"If Morgana Le Fay could duel Merlin, I don't see why you won't fight me."

"If you recall, Merlin won that particular duel. Just like I'd crush you."

"Gosh," Pansy joked. "I hope they're able to recover my remains after I'm crushed by the boy who: peed himself over an injured unicorn in the forbidden forest in first year, couldn't beat Potter in the dueling club second year, got knocked flat on his arse by Granger third year, and by me this year." Pansy counted off his disgraces in one hand. "You don't have a great record, Malfoy. Even if you are an incessant pest."

"Fine." He didn't really have another choice. Any more excuses and everyone really would think he was a coward; even if they didn't say it. "I accept, if I can have Zabini as my second."

"Have Crabbe or Goyle do it." Blaise stepped forward, Pansy hadn't noticed him in the crowd.

"I can't be expected to risk my life with an inferior partner at my back, can I?" Draco addressed the crowd. Crabbe and Goyle apparently took no issue with their skills being called into question. "Blaise is the only one I trust as competent enough for the task."

"Really? You need me to fight a girl?" Blaise, taller than Draco, smirked down at him.

Draco deflected the question. "Well if she's your girlfriend or something, how about Davis then?"

"Sod off." Tracey's face turned feral. "You don't want me at your back with a wand, Malfoy. It'll be hard to aim at anything other than the enormous git on the field."

"Just do it Blaise." Pansy ordered him. If this was all it took to get Malfoy in the open, so be it. Dueling seconds never fought unless it was a duel to the death anyway. Draco was grasping at straws trying to tear a rift between them.

Blaise looked right at her, as if trying to telepathically say that this was a mistake. "Alright, Malfoy." He agreed.

Pansy held her hand out. "Saturday, at dawn in the Forbidden Forest just outside the oaf's hut. We'll leave together from the common room. Tracey will be my second." Draco shook her hand. The commons splintered into islands of two and three chattering among themselves. They'd be tagging along on Saturday. It pleased Pansy just fine; the more public Malfoy's humiliation, the better.

"Come Greengrass, the squad meeting will begin shortly." Daphne offered her an apologetic smile as she followed Malfoy out.