The days leading up to her Hogwarts departure were very busy for Pansy Parkinson. The morning after her friends came to visit, she woke to an owl with an ad for squib tutoring services. They offered a full range of muggle subjects and discretion so that by the time she finally told her sister, she would be prepared to go to school in the muggle world. Because of her name, every lesson a fully trained witch or wizard would be there to oversee the lessons. Lucky, since she feared her mother losing her mind when she left for school. Once she met the three private healers she hired, Poppy had become much more withdrawn.
Gringotts had been less of a pain than she thought it would be. For whatever reason, the paperwork was short and to the point. The only thing she had to ask for was an audit and inventory of her available vaults, properties, and paperwork for herself and her sister for the muggle world. While she could have easily asked for it from the Ministry for free, Gringotts asked no questions and cared very little for wizard gossip.
Penelope Clearwater turned out to be a godsend. Even though she had been head girl the year before, finding a place in the Ministry without a good recommendation proved to be impossible. If muggle parents actually knew what their children's futures were going to be like, Pansy didn't think they would allow them to come. The best they could get would be an apprenticeship, which would be difficult without a family with money.
While Penny had not been happy to learn that her scores and school badges did not give her the advantage she thought they would, she was soon desperate enough to realize being a governess for the Parkinsons was the best she would get. Even her now ex boyfriend, Percy Weasley had gotten a decent position just out of Hogwarts. She had scored higher, yet with Arthur Weasley calling in a favor, his son was the personal assistant of the Head of International Magical Cooperation.
"I'm serious when I say that if my mother ever presents a danger to you or my sister, you can stun her or get one of the healers to drug her." Pansy repeated when they were on the platform. It was the first time that her sister got to see the train and seeing just how ecstatic Prim was made her happy she could experience it without her parents ruining it.
"Thank you, Lady Parkinson." Penny had become much more formal and polite since they had signed the NDA, scared she would lose such a lucrative job. It paid nearly three times what she would have made at the Ministry as one of the pretty secretaries. "I'll send you an owl if I have any problems, like I promised."
"Need to work on your patronus." Pansy sighed, looking away from the older witch's crestfallen face.
The poor girl had been dumped harshly once Weasley had gotten his job, Penny had broken down into tears when he sent an owl the day before. Pansy wanted to storm the Ministry once the former Ravenclaw told her the whole story. Weasley didn't think that it would look good on him to have an unemployed girlfriend, he wanted to show that he was a hard worker after all and didn't his family name already hold him back? As if it wasn't his father's word that got him the job in the first place and Penny's blood that relegated her to the secretary pool. She was a pretty enough witch that she would have been picked up and coerced in a week at the Ministry. Then, when he found out she would be paid more than him working for a Lady? Suddenly, the ginger twit wanted to have dinner. Pansy promised that she deserved better and she had almost full access to the library to soothe her wounded heart.
"Yes, my lady." Penny attempted to curtsy and even Primrose cringed, looking up at her sister as if she were insane to hire a muggleborn.
"You'll behave for your new tutors and governess, won't you?" Pansy asked sternly, placing her hands on her little sister's thin shoulders.
"Why did you have to replace them all?" Primrose looked up at her with a pout, twirling her short hair around her finger. Pansy had a feeling that not telling her sister the truth could come to bite her in the arse. However, there had been no time and she wasn't going to drop that bomb and leave her alone while she was at Hogwarts.
"I told you I don't like the lessons they were focusing on." She pulled her into a tight hug, rubbing her sister's back when she started to sniffle. "I promise I'm only an owl away if you need me. I love you."
"I love you, too." Primrose started to cry in earnest, allowing Penny to pull the girl into her arms once Pansy let go.
"Oh my Helga!" Susan had assaulted her only a few feet away from her sister and Penny, Hannah jumping into the hug immediately. "I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to come! It's just you know Auntie! Even if she's never home, she always knows where I am. She didn't even let me stay with the Abbotts!"
"It's fine, really I've been keeping myself busy." Pansy awkwardly patted them both on the back, cutting her eyes to her little sister who was giggling wetly. Penny pulled her further away so they could have some privacy but would stay on the platform until the train left.
"Did you get our owls?" Hannah asked, still clinging to her and rubbing her hands up and down her arm and back, Susan doing the same on her other side.
"Yes, all fifteen of them." Pansy couldn't help but snort, finally pulling away to give them a look. "I even responded to most of them."
"I know you must have been terribly busy but we could not let you spend the week not knowing that you were in our thoughts." Susan still kept her hand on her arm, not allowing her to get far away. "Hannah even came over and we tried to bake you something but the elves threw it out."
"Then Cookie made biscuits and I ate them." Hannah added sheepishly, her blonde ringlets bouncing. "We brought some with us and Susan kept them in her trunk because I couldn't be trusted."
"Oh!" Susan gasped, unconsciously squeezing her arm in excitement. "That reminds me, I saw Sally and Luna! They are saving a compartment but we promised Justin and Ernie we would ride with them for part of the journey. Ernie has gotten so tall over the summer!"
"You should see Neville!" Hannah sighed, her blue eyes looking a bit glassy and Pansy couldn't help the sneer on her face. If only she had been born sooner and she could have snagged Regulus Black, she had seen the pictures and she didn't think she had ever seen such a beautiful man in either life. "-so tall and so sweet."
"Hey!" Susan bounced Hannah along with her but Pansy kept her feet firmly planted on the ground. "Maybe you should talk to Justin! He's so sweet and he has all the proper manners all the other boys are missing! I'll introduce you, I just know you'll love him!"
"We'll come sit with you halfway!" They both squished her into a bone crushing hug and kissed her cheeks before dashing off to the Hufflepuff car.
"So, did you get your results?" Sally asked once Pansy took a seat in their compartment, Luna was already comfortably hidden behind a copy of The Quibbler. She turned out the window, locating her sister quickly and giving her a wave when the horn blasted.
"No, they said I would get it by dinner tonight so that I can give it to Flitwick." Pansy grinned, not the least bit concerned with the results.
The three separate tests had been a breeze even with only a couple days to study. She had always read ahead in their courses and since there had not been any practical application she had enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with her sister. Her sister who was following the moving train just like she always dreamed. Pansy opened the window to wave back at her until she couldn't see the platform. Sally and Luna joined her, making Primrose cry harder.
"You will not believe what an absolute arse Malfoy is being." Milicent didn't even greet them when she flung the door open and shoved her trunk onto the overhead rails with one hand. Her curly hair was distinctly fluffy, a sure sign that the Slytherin was agitated. "He's been asking everyone if they know about the big event happening and then when they don't he brags about his father telling him all about it. I heard him go through the same routine four times and the train had not even left yet. I had to leave before I twisted that pointy little git into a pretzel."
"Hello, Millie." Pansy decided Luna had the right idea and grabbed one of the extra issues the blonde always carried with her to hide behind. "How was the rest of your summer? Mine was brilliant, all psycho hormonal mother, all day."
"Oh, don't start, Pans!" Millie was not the least sympathetic when she gracelessly fell into the seat beside her. "We've been over your problems, remember? We all came to your tacky castle and ate delicious roast while you whined about your dead father?"
"You are a well of compassion, Millie." Sally snorted, immune to the scathing glare she got her in return. "I don-"
"I think we were talking about my problems." Millie interrupted, startling Pansy when she tore the magazine from her hands. "I have to put up with the little prick and his annoying little hounds all year. We share a common room, there is no escaping him."
"We all know Malfoy is a little braggart." Pansy shrugged her shoulders, snatching The Quibbler back. The horoscopes were always worth a read, they were hilarious.
"It must be sooo awful to be a Slytherin." Sally hissed Millie's house over dramatically, wiggling her tongue in a rude imitation of a snake. "How did you even get sorted there when it's so obvious you're a Gryffindor? You'd much rather smash someone's head in than scheme a way for your enemy to walk under a falling brick."
"Obviously because I'm a leader and achievement oriented." Mellie drawled, throwing herself down on the bench with her head in Pansy's lap with a glare. When she did not understand her nonverbal command, she grabbed one of Pansy's hands and put it on her head. "Pet me."
"I would like to point out that giving orders does not make you a leader." Pansy crossed her arms across her chest, looking down pointedly. "In fact if anyone is the leader here, it's obviously me."
"Point to Parkinson but only because I'm a lion." Sally's grin was smug in the face of Millie turning red. "My Lady will point me at her enemies and like a good Gryffindor I will charge into battle."
"Well, I'm still proud of my achievements." Millie huffed, widening her brown eyes in a weak imitation of her sister's puppy eyes. "Please pet my head, my lady?"
"Urgh, don't be gross." Pansy relented, running her manicured fingers through her thick, kinky hair. "What are these achievements?"
"Well, I obviously won the dueling club."
"Didn't you put Granger in a headlock until she passed out?" Sally giggled, her hatred of her muggle born roommate rearing its head. She never talked about why they didn't get along, Pansy didn't think it had anything to do with blood. Hermione Granger had more than enough qualities that irritated her without ever thinking about her perfectly ordinary loving parents.
"You also helped her in her metamorphosis into a neko." Luna nodded sagely, her magazine moving along with her.
"What the hell is a neko?" Millie demanded when Pansy fell against the window in laughter. Regretfully, she never saw cat Granger, otherwise she definitely would have gotten pictures.
"She was part cat in my first year, I saw her in the hospital wing." Luna lowered her Quibbler with a small smile. "For some reason she and her friends blamed you."
"You turned Granger into a cat?" Sally leaned forward eagerly, clapping her hands before she slapped Millie's arms. "You didn't tell me you turned Granger into a cat!"
"I think I would remember turning Granger into a cat!" Mellie tried to back away, pushing Pansy further into the seat and crushing her lungs.
"I said part cat." Luna helpfully corrected them, giggling at the slap fight she had started. "She was still the same size."
"See, you turned Granger into a giant cat and didn't tell me?" Sally hissed angrily, laying bodily across the foldout table to keep smacking their friend. "Did she have a tail?"
"I told you-" Millie was cut off when Pansy let out a blast of magic that sent her face first onto the floor.
"Merlin, this is what I get for being friends with a giant amazon!" Pansy huffed after she caught her breath, glaring when they just laughed at her.
"Your hair!" Sally collapsed into a fit of giggles when Mellie sat up and saw her curls were standing on end after Pansy's magic zapped her.
"I'm never petting you again!" She huffed, throwing her legs up on the bench to stretch out. The door opened before Mellie could even stand, Malfoy leaned forward with Crabbe and Goyle looming over his shoulder.
"Ah, Parkinson." He paused when he first saw her, his cheeks turning an alarming pink. "Tell your friends about the fun planned for the year?"
"No, what are you talking about?" Sally gasped turning to Pansy looking scandalized that she wasn't up to speed on all the gossip. Goyle and Crabbe jumped when Mellie stood to her feet, her hair turned into a frizzy afro. "Why wouldn't you tell us?"
"Well, my father says there's all kinds of new regulations to protect the students." Malfoy looked far too smug, resting awkwardly at an angle on the door frame. She was sure in a few years and more practice it would be a very good move for him. Unfortunately, he was only fourteen and unused to his new height. "It's a shame about the new age guideline, I definitely would have put my name in. Bring some pride back in the name of Slytherin house."
"Yes, I didn't get all of the details out of my father before…" She trailed off pointedly and had to bite her lip when he almost fell on his face. Her friends turned to look at her in confusion, not seeing Malfoy's conflicted reaction to her father's untimely demise
"Oh, uh." Malfoy cleared his throat, shoving his hands deep in his robes. He looked contrite and even a bit sheepish, an odd look for such an arrogant git. "Sorry to hear about your Father, Parkinson. Let's go."
"How did you do that?" Millie turned to her with worship in her bright eyes, one of her hands had gasped her robes to pull her closer. "He went on forever in the Slytherin car, even when they knew about whatever the hell he's talking about!"
"Speaking of…" Sally scooted to the edge of her seat, Luna copying her movements. "What was he talking about?"
"The TriWizard Tournament." Pansy stated plainly, struggling to pry Mellie's hands off her freshly pressed robes. "Let go, you heathen!"
"What's the TriWizard Tournament?" Melicent only released her after she received a stinging hex to her thigh.
"It was canceled after 1797 when all of the champions died during the first task." Luna said with a pleased nod, twisting her hair and wrapping it around her wand. "I can't remember all the details but they lost control of the occamy and it grew so big it eventually crushed half the stadium."
"Brutal." Millie whistled, obviously impressed while Pansy sighed, wishing she had an occamy. They were so pretty but tightly regulated after Newt Scamader's research. Like dragons, they even got their own reserves to regulate the population.
"And they're bringing it back?" Sally couldn't help but exclaim incredulously. "I read about it before, didn't one of them get canceled after a cockatrice killed the judges?"
"Who knows they used all kinds of creatures like chimeras and heliopaths." Luna shrugged, unconcerned while she disappeared behind her magazine.
"Just what we need, more dangerous creatures roaming the grounds." Sally sat back with a pout, throwing her legs over Luna's lap. The blonde just moved her arms up but did not look away from the article.
"At least Lupin was a half decent professor." Pansy commented, pulling her legs up to her chest so Millie could sit but not try and lay on her.
"Except the whole boggart and werewolf thing." Mellie drawled, wrinkling her nose at their former professor's condition.
"I think I would like to face my greatest fear." Luna said absently, tilting her head to the side as if in deep thought.
"Well, I wasn't too happy about it being in front of the entire class!" Sally sneered, obviously traumatized even though she was a Gryffindor.
"I stayed at the back of the line, there was no way I would face that boggart in front of everyone." Pansy shuddered thinking back to her end of the term exam. The look on her professor's face when he saw her Father telling her it was time to marry him would haunt her forever. How dare Remus Lupin look at her with pity after a year of suspicious glances.
"Hey!" Susan shoved the door open, her gate a little shaky with the movement of the train. "Do you know what Malfoy's going on about? He's been up and down the train bragging about his father being sooo informed!"
"Hello!" Hannah waved excitedly, making sure to hug everyone before taking a seat beside Luna.
"Must you?" Sally sighed when Susan wrapped her arms around her.
"So?" Susan laughed when Mellie shoved her into the last seat when the Hufflepuff came at her with open arms.
Sally filled them in on what they knew about the TriWizard Tournament while Pansy was lost in thought. The night before, she read through her old notes on her book knowledge even though she promised herself that she wouldn't. Before her first year, she swore that she would be the background character she was born to be. Well, she wouldn't hang off some boy and be an obnoxious bully but she also wouldn't involve herself in canon. In the book her whole role was making Draco Malfoy feel better about himself and offering up Harry Potter to Voldemort.
Fuck. That.
Pansy Parkinson got herself sorted into Ravenclaw after a long ten minute conversation with the Hat. It wasn't witty, it only argued that she had the wits and determination to do well in Slytherin but in the end it was her choice. Then she proceeded to ignore the major players and befriend other background characters. It worked for three years, Voldemort on the back of Quirell's head? The strong smell of garlic helped her keep the terror from showing on her face. Basilisk slithering in the halls? Pansy got together with Penelope Clearwater to arrange for the Ravenclaws to move in groups. Sirius Black breaking into the school? By that point, she just stayed away from Potter.
Even after reading the books, it was surprising how ridiculous that kid was.
"Pansy?" Hannah waved a hand in front of her face, making her blink and look around to see the trolley witch was at the door.
"Oh, we've interrupted deep thoughts." Luna nodded sagely, shaking her box of Bertie Bott's like it owed her money.
"A grab bag, box of sugar quills and gilly water." Pansy rose to her feet to pay for her treats, the trolley witch smiled at her and started to move on when Potter opened the compartment next to them. He stared at her suspiciously, like she had some kind of evil plan with her nefarious purchase of candy.
"What a nosey git!" Mellie exclaimed loudly, poking herself out of the compartment to flip him the bird.
"Well, I never!" The trolley lady gasped like she had never seen something so scandalous before. Which was ridiculous because it was insane how many people forgot to silence their compartments to shag.
"Sorry about her, she gets hangry!" Pansy smiled brightly, pushing Mellie back into the compartment, completely missing the shocked expression on Potter's face.
"What does hangry mean?" Hannah asked curiously, nibbling like a squirrel on her cauldron cakes.
"You know when you're really hungry and you get those irrational feelings of rage?" Mellie asked with her mouth full of chocolate frog, throwing herself into Sally's window seat before she could reclaim it. There was a scramble as Sally and Pansy looked at her own seat before the Gryffindor was pushed into Luna's unsuspecting lap.
"Sorry, not sorry." Pansy smiled from the comfortable nest she made with her robes. Sally sent her a sneer before sitting beside her, making sure to jab her pointy elbows into her side. "Watch it!"
Six grab bags were ripped open to scatter their contents on the small table. The magical bags were always filled with surprises. Muggle and magical candy, home made cakes, sandwiches, buttons, stickers, and even sometimes stuffed toys. Hannah and Luna became avid collectors of stickers and buttons.
"Looney." Cho Chang looked into the open compartment in surprise, probably because of all the people around her.
"What did I say about bullying the younger students, Chang?" Pansy threw a handful of beans that had been painstakingly separated from the other treats, making her squeal. "You're a Ravenclaw, not a Gryffindor."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Granger demanded, stepping closer to the compartment with that disapproving expression. Potter and Weasley were close behind but the corridor was already packed with Cho's friends, Edgecomb and Bailey.
"Everyone knows the biggest bullies in school are the Gryffindors." Pansy rolled her eyes, not looking the least bit guilty at the faux glare her friend was sending her.
"How could you say that?" Sally gasped dramatically, hand to her heart like she was gravely wounded. "We're the chivalrous lions!"
"Tell that to every little firstie who flinches at the sight of gingers." She deadpanned, laughter filled the compartment and Chang looked a little contrite at the sight of Luna giggling and leaning into Milicent Bulstrode.
"I think you're confusing us with Slytherins." Potter grunted, looking at Millie suspiciously while Granger was watching her like one does a dangerous animal.
"They're hecklers." Susan shook her head in confusion, looking over at their Slytherin friend who had a disturbing grin on her face while she stared down Granger. "You're the only one who can keep Malfoy's attention. Everyone else just gets quill shavings thrown at them or catcalled. The demon twins are menaces and will single out the younger students to test out their products. Even some of your own housemates are terrified of them."
"That's not true!" Granger looked offended and scared but still stood next to Chang in the doorway to glare at them. "Slytherins call me names all the time!"
"They call everyone names." Pansy shrugged, already over the conversation since she called out Chang. "Hence, hecklers. Their head of house comes down on them hard if they're caught."
When Luna was a first year, she had shamed the older witch in front of the entire house for picking on little girls in their own house. Going so far as to summon her friend's things from Chang's room as proof. Flitwick finished off the rest of the beginnings of their little posse by giving them detention for a month for theft.
"Not you." Granger snapped, crossing her arms over her chest like she had made some kind of point.
"Actually, Pucey tried calling her a blood traitor once when she opened the Hall." Millicent's smile was downright vicious as she recalled the memory.
"Yeah and now he won't even look in her direction." Susan and Hannah snickered, wiggling their eyes at her.
"And it would never have happened without my badger friends."
"What did you do?" Edgecomb asked curiously, squeezing forward to rest her head on Chang's shoulder.
"I didn't do anything at all!" Pansy smiled innocently when Millie guffawed loudly, slapping her thigh.
"All we know happened was that Pucey went to his dorm that night and ran out screaming in his pants! Went right through the common room and carried on through the halls!" Milicent had tears in her eyes, leaning on a giggling Luna.
"I was in my dorm and a second year, what could I have possibly done to an upperclassman?" She batted her eyelashes at Susan with a coy smile.
"You didn't tell them the best part!" Sally grinned viciously, her eyes gleaming. "He had to be escorted back, draped in Snape's robes!"
"Bully!" Pansy cooed, shoving her friend lightly with an affectionate smile.
"He was clinging to Snape like a proper damsel!" Mellie bellowed, Luna joined in on her cackling, finding the entire situation too funny.
"What is the meaning of this?" The Ravenclaw head boy was looming over them with a stern expression that embodied every bit of Mcgonagall's disapproval. It was very impressive and Pansy was sure that he had practiced that look in the mirror.
"Fawley!" Edgecomb stood up straight, hurriedly smoothing down her robes and fluffing her blonde curls. "Congratulations on getting head boy! You-"
"Edgecomb, Chang, Bailey." Victor Fawley interrupted, a pleased smile spread across his handsome face, dismissing the others loitering in the corridor. "I'm sure you ladies aren't causing any mischief."
"We were just greeting some of our housemates." Edgecomb smiled coyly, twirling a glossy curl with her finger.
"Mmm, Lady Parkinson." His posture straightened when his eyes landed on her lounging against the window in their compartment. Chang and her friends had to press themselves against the opposite compartment so he could come closer. "My family, I'm sure, already sent their condolences on the loss of your father in the riots after the cup. Let me just say that if you need anything in these trying times of your ascension, I'm always available to a fellow Ravenclaw in need."
"Thank you for your family's continued support." She smiled politely, noticing that everyone in the hall appeared surprised by the news. The Gryffindors shooting her suspicious stares while the Ravenclaws were sympathetic. "I'm sincerely touched by the outreach in the aftermath of my Father's passing."
"Oh, Parkinson!" Chang's face crumpled, looking as if she might cry when her friends crowded around her in support. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea! What happened?"
"My father fell ill during the World Cup so he sent us with one of his friends." Pansy glanced down at her hand where Sally was clutching it so tight her knuckles were turning white. "Unfortunately, when the grounds burned my father was trapped in the tent while the expansion charms failed."
"That's awful, Parkinson!" Edgecomb nodded sympathetically, her arms draped over her friend's shoulder. "Atleast, it was painless. I'm sorry for your loss."
"Alright, stop crowding!" Mellie stood up with a menacing scowl, standing even taller than the head boy. "My friend's grief is not a spectator sport. Move along."
"Quite." Fawley nodded sternly, pointedly glancing at the Gryffindors who remained silent. "Move along, no more blocking the corridors."
"Urgh, they make me ashamed to be a Gryffindor!" Sally hissed as soon as the compartment door closed behind the head boy, glaring pointedly at Granger and Potter who lingered.
"What are you doing?" Pansy asked Hannah who was muttering and waving her wand at the shared wall between theirs and the Gryffindors. Suddenly, it was as if the wall turned opaque, like it was just a hazy film that separated them.
"I was curious." Hannah had no shame, she was such a gossip monger.