The school was abuzz with the news of the TriWizard Tournament, every student speculated how to enter their names, even little first years. It had been less than a week but Pansy was already bored. Even the satisfaction of getting her O.W.L. results back had worn off in the face of the Hall being invaded by arithmancy calculations. Chalk boards lined the walls, filled with prediction arrays. Most didn't know about the cup, only thinking they would need to fool a panel of judges.
"Where are you off to?" Padma had snatched her arm when they left the potions classroom. It was one of the first classes with their new house schedule. Now, their houses were split with students from all four houses attending classes together.
"I don't have to take history of magic anymore, remember?" Pansy couldn't help the smug smirk that grew on her face at the pout her housemate sent her.
"Well, my lady, where are you off to while the rest of us peasants attend our regularly scheduled lesson?" Padma was joined by her sister, the gossip hound.
"Maybe I'll take a leisurely stroll and brush the dust off my parasol." Pansy snickered at the sour expression on Parvati's face, she was not a fan of the Gryffindor or her flighty blonde friend. "Honestly, I'll probably just enjoy a well deserved two hour nap!"
"You can take a nap in Binn's class!" Padma shouted at her retreating back, going so far as to stomp her foot.
Pansy enjoyed walking extra slow, leisurely making her way towards the seventh floor. She wasn't going to scavenge the room of lost things, instead she was going to enjoy the solitude. Mellie had been her looming shadow and being in the same classes as Malfoy and Potter were an exercise on her patience. Honestly, if they were messing with the schedule anyway they should have avoided putting them in the same room. As soon as they caught sight of each other they began hurling insults and barbs.
"Parvati says she's not in history of magic, astronomy, or muggle studies anymore." Granger's whispered voice wasn't nearly as soft as she thought it was but Pansy wasn't about to turn around.
"Shh!" One of her friends hissed when Pansy took a turn instead of heading up another flight of stairs.
A little smile bloomed on her face as she heard their footsteps rushing to keep up. It wasn't like they would get in trouble for missing history of magic. The ghost was still taking roll for a class he had over a century ago and didn't even pause for them to respond. Pansy started to whistle as she passed a familiar portrait when an idea formed in her mind. She hurried her pace until she found the woman covered in feathers and wine.
"Mighty maenad! A fellow witch is in need of your assistance." Pansy whispered in a low tone, already hearing the golden trio's hurried footsteps.
"We as women must look out for one another." The portrait said grandly, leaning against a marble pillar in her frame seductively. "I applaud you for not falling into the pit of envy that plagues most of the little witches your age! It-"
"Yes, this Gryffindor has two lovers, wrapping both boys around her fingers." Pansy cut her off, a devious smile on her face. "However, she needs counsel from someone like you! After all, who but a priestess of Dionysus can really guide a young witch in keeping the attention of more than one wizard?"
"Of course!" The portrait straightened her posture, her toga fell down her arm, coming dangerously close to flashing her breasts. Pansy managed to take a few more steps down the hall before whipping out her wand and casting a ventus down the corridor. The trio were exposed with the cloak fluttering uselessly to the floor, looking shocked when the portrait spotted them. "Only Callipeony could possibly help you, lion girl! Most believe the way to a wizards' heart is through his stomach; however, I know it's actually through a small lump of nerves inside of him. What you need to do is make sure your wizards are adequately prepared, much like a maiden on her wedding night. Start with one well lubricat-"
Pansy doubled over in laughter, sprinting down the hall, unable to continue listening. Potter was almost as red as Weasley's hair. The ginger had been steadily turning purple while Granger looked like she might faint. She wondered where Hogwarts got some of their more eccentric portraits. There were quite a few orgy scenes in an unused corridor on the sixth floor, their moans echoed sometimes leading the younger students to believe that it was haunted.
The large double doors of the Hall opened at the touch of her magic, leading to an open space the size of the great hall. It was constantly changing to the needs of their members, the elves did a wonderful job of keeping up with requests. Last year the entire room had been converted into a greenhouse while Professor Sprout had extra lectures. A house elf helped her roll out her latest project eagerly.
It was based on the children's tap games of her last life, an interactive potion simulator. The twenty one foot slab of malleable stone had been charmed to be a soft three inches thick. A huge array with elder futhark runes shined with magic briefly once it was laid flat on the floor. The sphere grid had taken a couple months to plan out with a gilded mirror placed in the center. Each branch off was the typeset of potion ingredients, with even more geniuses branching from them. Every branch had small nodules designed for spheres which would have a sample of whatever ingredient she needed.
Pansy tipped over the pouch into the stone basin, hundreds of glass marbles spilled out. Inside of each perfect sphere was a sample ingredient with identifying runes inscribed on the surface. She had a jeweler in Monaco construct them all before they were handed over to a linguist in France who was an expert in ancient languages. There was no way in hell she had the patience to inscribe all of them by hand or wand. Holding up an encased lionfish spine to the light, the magic of it shimmered with a faint blue glow.
It was almost complete, she would have both Babbling and Vector come to take a look at the sphere grids once she put the marbles in place. She would have invited Professor Snape but he was an ass who would definitely turn his nose up at her hard work. This would revolutionize potion making if her array worked the way she hoped. Potion work was dangerous, there were plenty of melted cauldrons in class even with Snape stalking around the entire room vigilantly. With the mirror, she hoped it would recognize ingredient reactions.
"What's this?" Granger startled her, making her drop the marble onto the inscribed array. A flare of magic went through the sphere grid at the first touch of one of the marbles.
"Shite." Pansy threw a pointed glare at the trio to stay back as she scrambled to snatch the marble, not wanting to know the reaction it would have if it made it into the wrong nodule.
"Is this…no, it's not Furthings…." Granger was mumbling to herself while slowly circling the sphere grid in awe. Weasley had ignored her warnings and was standing with Potter at the stone basin, looking disgusted. "I've never seen anything like this in our books."
"Is that a heart?" Potter gagged, reaching out to grab one of the marbles when Pansy's wand slashed through the air, slapping his fingers away.
"Don't touch!" She snapped at them all, stomping over the basin with the intent on packing up early. It wasn't as though she would be powering up the sphere grid yet, she would not be ruining months of research before she was sure it would work.
"What were you doing?" Granger demanded, looking like she would vibrate out of her skin with curiosity.
"Nothing, now." Pansy shrugged, depositing all of the marbles back into the expanded leather bag that was no larger than her fist. The trio definitely were not the first people who she wanted to display her genius to.
"What is this, Parkinson?" Potter almost took a step onto the stone, making her magic snap out at them pushing them all away from her work.
"None of your business!" She scowled at them pointedly when the Hogwarts elf came back to help her carefully roll her array. It would be put away into the locked room attached to the Hall where students could leave their experiments without the fear of someone sabotaging it.
"Some kind of dark ritual, looks like." Weasley grumbled, rubbing his stomach either from the magical shove or because he was hungry, she couldn't tell.
"I don't answer to you." Pansy grumbled, her irritation meeting new heights when she turned away from their suspicious looks. "I don't know what you three are doing following me around but I hope you enjoy detention when your head of house realizes you skipped just to play detective."
"We'll stop you." Potter declared with all the self righteousness his house was known for, the brains of their vaunted trio was blessedly silent. Probably frustrated that another student was working on a project beyond the memorization they did in class.
"Stop me?" Pansy turned around with a laugh, stuffing her leather pouch into her dragon hide messenger bag. Absently, she traced the blue scales, taking a moment to relax her shoulders. "Listen, Gryffindors, I'm not sure what you are talking about but I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone. Granger here was banned from the Hall after harassing poor Penelope to tears in second year. So please just go away."
"Not if you're doing dark magic!" Potter's magic flared and if she had been anyone else, she might have cried. However, her idiot father's magic lashed out at her every time they were in the same room before his death. Weasley and Granger unconsciously cringed away, obviously feeling the hostility in his actions.
"Then go tell a teacher, you twat." Pansy turned and smiled at the elf in thanks, making the little guy vibrate in happiness. She wasn't sure of his name, Hogwarts elves lived by a code and preferred to be silent helpers in the castle. The only time she had ever heard them speak was when they were in their own domain, the kitchens.
"Hello, Pans." Luna stood in the open doorway, a small potted plant in her hands. It was a dirigible plum cutting, the little fruits were floating. The blonde's grip was the only thing anchoring and stopping the plant from floating away. "Are you not powering up your The Apprentice?"
"No, the Gryffindors have stopped me in my wicked plans." Pansy dead panned, pulling her bag closer to her body once the elf popped away with her array. "Darn those kids and their little lion, too."
"Is that?" Granger sputtered but Pansy walked towards her friend, lightly tracing the little fruit with her finger.
"Daddy had it sent so that I could experiment." Luna happily explained, leading them over to the Herbology corner where there was an expanded greenhouse. It had pedestals placed for students' personal and class projects that could be programmed for their care. Some needed extended moonlight while others may need constant rain. "I think if the juice is harvested right, we could completely replace the need for billywig stings."
"Really?"
"Oh, yes." Luna nodded, completely ignoring the trio following them into the greenhouse. "Even with weather charms and magical reserves, they are miserable outside of Australia. Their life expectancy is almost halved when they are shipped away for breeding. It seems wasteful just for a couple of potions and candy."
"I'll look into it." Pansy nodded while tapping the pedestal, a green light shooting from the ceiling and encasing the plant in a dome to confine it in its perfect atmosphere. "Most of the creature laws are to restrict the trade, wand makers and apothecaries are always whining about the reserves snatching creatures up. They don't even bother to find alternatives, once they find something that works they stick to it."
"Looney." Weasley finally gasped, looking as though he had been thinking hard about who her friend was. Pansy was instantly offended.
"Her name is Luna." She scowled, turning away from her friend to glare at him pointedly.
"I've known Looney forever, she doesn't mind." Weasley scowled right back, ignoring the confused stares of his friends. "It's just a nickname."
"You were the first person to call me that, Ronald Weasley." Luna commented airily, as if she wasn't bothered by their presence in the least.
"Is she a dark witch too?" Potter asked curiously, looking ready to villainize her housemate for the crime of being her friend.
"Oh, I would say I'm more gray." Luna nodded, looking quite pleased with herself when the entire plant started to levitate. She quickly caught the clay jar it had been in, allowing the roots to spread out like it pleased.
"Don't bother, you know how those Gryffindors ignore the shades, it's all black and white to them." Pansy huffed when the blonde linked their arms together in solidarity. "I don't understand why they're around every corner this year, they've been ignoring the general population for three years."
"Perhaps, it was that you healed Draco's nose?" Luna hummed as they made their way out of the greenhouse.
"What was I supposed to do, let him bleed all over the place?" Pansy huffed, looking back at the trio who were still following them and not even pretending as if they weren't listening in on their conversation. "You can come back to the Hall once it's open to all students after dinner."
"Why are you allowed in here, then?" Granger questioned, her eyes trailing to the rows of reference books that had been moved in along with the large private desks. There were two dozen of them that could be reserved, they even had minor wards on them for privacy and silence.
"Pansy and Susan are in charge of the Hall now that Penny and Greg graduated." Luna informed them with a little pout. "The professors wanted to keep house politics out of the assignment so they chose a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw. Professor Sprout wanted to choose upper classmen but when Cedric turned it down…Although, the Hall was Pansy's idea in first year, so that might have helped. Do you think it helped?"
"Maybe but I'm just glad they didn't give Warrington the position." She shrugged, unconcerned because while it was nice to have a place to study and practice magic without politics and pranks, she didn't need it. She did wonder why Cedric would turn down more responsibility. "The idiot completely missed the point of the Hall with all his postering."
"The Slytherin?" Weasley retched overdramatically, as if his very name induced his gag reflex.
"We accept students from all houses as long as they work with others." Pansy told them primly, every inch the gracious pureblood lady once they reached the corridor. "While we do have a dueling ring, it is only used under Professor Flitwick's supervision and I would like to keep it that way."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Potter asked impatiently, watching her every move while the wards slid into place with a touch of her hand. To avoid other students coming in to sabotage members' projects or even vandalism the doors were locked unless the leaders or professores entered.
"Please, take this the wrong way, Potter." Pansy started in a gracious tone, a mean little smile curling on her plump lips. "You and your friends somehow offend nearly everyone with your very presence. If you're not stealing the house cup and killing teachers, then you're petrifying anyone who so much as introduces themselves."
"I was not petrifying anyone!" Potter snapped while his two friends looked deeply offended on his behalf.
"Sure, it was the youngest Weasley." She snorted, eliciting a giggle from the blonde at her side. "Like anyone would believe a first year Weasley could afford a private tutor in dark magic."
"There are tutors for dark magic?" Granger gasped in surprise, looking sheepish at the looks her friends shot her at the comment.
"You can get a tutor in just about anything if you know where to look." She said blandly, a coy little smile on her face when she noticed the calculating looks the Gryffindor boys were exchanging. "In fact, I found a witch who was offering up her services in teaching the beast speak."
"That's hereditary." Luna spoke up, looking up at Pansy with genuine confusion.
"She claims that she found a ritual that would allow a family to absorb the ability in their bloodline." She laughed at the blonde's offended expression, looping their arms together to walk away without even acknowledging the Gryffindors. "Poor fools will probably end up as some kind of chimera-weres and pay the witch for it, too."
"I don't think that will end well for them." Luna said absently, looking at the ceiling as they walked.
"I'm sure Meghalaya District will send someone to silence her eventually for even trying to advertise it." Pansy said nonchalantly, pausing when she noticed that the trio were still following them. "Can we help you?"
"You can't just accuse me of all those things and walk away!" Potter hissed, glaring at her intently.
"Is there a problem here?" Moody suddenly appeared at their side, making Pansy nearly jump out of her skin. Was he disillusioned? She had to fight down the instinct to shiver, his eye was just so unsettling.
"I'm just trying to get back to our common room for free period, Professor." Pansy answered before the Gryffindors could turn their exchange into something dramatic.
"If I'm not mistaken, you should be in History of Magic?" Moody scowled, his magical eye swirled in his socket, making a wet sound that made her nauseous. It stopped on each of them in turn but lingered on Potter for too long to be comfortable.
"Lady Parkinson is excused from Astronomy, Muggle Studies, and History of Magic for the next two years, Professor." Luna broke the awkward silence airily, her gaze focused on the window showing an empty quidditch pitch. "I'm in my third year and have a free period."
"Well, I'll be checking that out for myself!" Moody huffed, his eye swiveled around too fast and the teacher stumbled a moment before he turned back to the Gryffindors pointedly. "I suppose you three have some reason to be out of class?"
"Parkinson is working on a dark ritual, Professor!" Weasley blurted out quickly, practically trembling before the retired auror.
"Dark ritual?" Moody's tongue flicked the side of his mouth, looking genuinely excited at the ginger's words. He flinched before taking out his ornate hip flask to take a quick drink and shivered visibly. "Constant Vigilance! You'll be showing me this dark ritual, won't you Miss. Parkinson."
"It's not a ritual!" Pansy gasped in anger, it wasn't even close to being ready to display! She still had to run the numbers and triple check that the linguist didn't make any mistakes. "It's a sphere grid that is not nearly ready to be put together."
"Well, you'll be showing me now." Moody smiled wickedly, his crooked face making her flinch away from him. All that dark magic had really done a number on him. "Or we can call the Headmaster."
"Fine." Pansy hated the smug smiles that the trio were wearing so she was determined to wipe it away. "Invite the other professors too, I wanted Babbling and Vector's opinions anyway!"
There was a stunned silence in the corridor but Luna had already charmed a note shaped in the form of platypus with wings to their Head of House. It was the middle of the day, not even lunch yet so most of the teachers would be in class. There was no way that Moody or Crouch would pull all of them away from their jobs, right? What had she done to get the Golden Trio's attention? It wasn't fair, three years of just living her life and now they wanted to accuse her dark magic? In Dumbledore's school?
"I'm more than qualified to judge whether you've been dabbling in the dark arts, girl." Moody scowled but she looked back at him blankly.
"I'm a Lady, Mr. Moody." Pansy stated with all the grace that had been cursed into her in the years she was tortured with etiquette lessons. "The head of my own magical family, to accuse me of using dark magic without definitive proof could have you in front of the Wizengamot faster than you can say pension. I don't mind showing off my latest project but you better believe that I will protect the integrity of my research. So, unless you've managed to get a couple masteries you have neglected to mention in your resume, we will be waiting for the other professors and the Headmaster."
"I see." There was a gleam in the professor's remaining eye she did not like at all and it was only Luna's hand on her arm keeping her in place. She should have just quit Hogwarts when she got those O.W.L.s, it would have been much simpler to hire tutors and take the exams in her own time.
"Scared, Parkinson?" Potter jeered, obviously missing the threat that hung in the air.
Lucius Malfoy got away with being a death eater with barely an interview because he was the head of his family. So did a lot of others. It wasn't worth the hassle to accuse a head unless they were caught in the act. It was only because the Lestranges attacked a noble family and were in the process of violating Alice Longbottom that they were sent to Azkaban. The claim that casting unforgivables was an automatic life sentence was misleading, the trio got thirty years…something about a muggle's life expectancy. It made no sense to her since witches and wizards could live centuries.
It certainly helped that they were considered Lord,Lady, and heir since the unexpected death of their father a week before trial.
Was Potter even the heir? If he didn't claim it soon some bastard or distantly related cousin would steal it away. His father never became Lord even after his parents' death so Potter couldn't be named. Weasley really wasn't doing his friends any favors by allowing him to remain ignorant. Pansy tilted her head to the side, thinking of Fleamont Potter's family that escaped Grindelwald by fleeing to Australia. They had certainly prospered in less than a century, any of them could claim the family magic.
"Miss. Lovegood, Miss Parkinson." Flitwick rushed towards them with his short legs, still clutching the note in his hands. He completely disregarded the others in the hall, even his fellow professor. Moody did have a reputation for suspecting and even accusing entire families of being dark before he was forced to retire. What had her friend written to their head of house to get the half goblin into such a frenzy? "What appears to be the problem?"
"Potter here is accusing me of being a dark witch." Pansy spoke with just the right amount of deference and feigned hurt to have her favorite professor scowling at the Gryffindor trio. "Now, Professor Moody wants to review my latest project for dark magic and threatened to involve the Headmaster. Not that I mind, it's just not done yet. You know what foreign magic might do to the sphere grid, it's still very temperamental."
"They do appear to be infested with wrackspurts, Professor." Luna nodded sagely as if that explained their wild accusations.
"The Apprentice?" Professor Flitwick asked, looking just a little giddy. "Yes, you told me about it but how did Mr. Potter learned about it?"
"You kno-" Potter opened his mouth but Granger elbowed him sharply with a complexion of spoiled milk.
"Alastor, I can assure you that I've read through Pansy's notes and I am very excited to see the finished product." Professor Flitwick looked up at the defense teacher with an excited grin. "Although it does overlap with many subjects, dark magic was not involved."
"Potter here already made the complaint." Moody looked like he was holding back a smile at the sight of Potter finally realizing how stupid his accusation was. "I might not be an auror anymore but I am the defense professor, so I'll need to follow up."
No matter how many different ways her head of house tried to dissuade Moody, the man was determined to know every detail of her project. So, fuck Potter's gang and their stupid, big mouths. Flitwick ended up dismissing his class and escorting them all to the Hall before sending notes to the other teachers. Apparently, the defense professor didn't want to wait so they would all be spending their lunch reviewing The Apprentice. So, with Luna's help Pansy made copies of her heavily redacted notes and rolled out the slab with her sphere grid on display. When the teachers started arriving, she wanted to crawl under the table to hide from their scrutiny.
Pansy was the top student in her year, it wasn't exactly hard. However, she had done her best to avoid too much attention. Hermione Granger attracted praise because she was a very smart muggleborn, Pansy was a pureblood. It may have been classist but it was expected of her where Granger was expected to flounder even in the progressive halls of Hogwarts. Her father had hired so many tutors she could hardly remember their names. It was all a review for her and school wasn't any kind of hardship. It was a fun time away from her stifling family castle experimenting with magic! If she had not been trained so ruthlessly in her courtesies, she would have slumped over when Snape made his appearance.
"What are these, Parkinson?" The potions master had picked up a marble that shone brightly with magic. Fuck him for being so attractive and mean.
"Ahh." Dumbledore swept in, bedecked in some fuschia monstrosity that had little green constellations twinkling along the hem. Who the fuck designed his wardrobe? "Oh, I've been curious about your enchantments since word of your rings spread."
"My rings?" Pansy unconsciously curled her hands in her lap to hide the many pieces she was wearing. There weren't any kind of harmful enchantments, just a little flashbang or reflective charms to protect her. She went to school with the Weasley twins, those arseholes were not ruining her hair or skin like they had her classmates.
"Oh yes, Narcissa has been searching for the jeweler you use." Professor Vector chipped in, not even being subtle in her attempt to inspect her rings. This was all Potter's fault and now he was off to the side with his friends, smiling at her misfortune.
"May I?" The Headmaster held out his hand, actually giving her a choice. When he lifted her hands, each with at least five rings minimum, his bushy brows rose on his face. He shivered when he ghosted a bony finger over the most ornate black diamond that rested on her pinky.
"That's my family ring." Pansy couldn't help but inform him, there was no way she could yet create something as ornate as her signet ring.
"Yes, strong magic." Headmaster Dumbledore nodded absently, moving on to the primrose made of her sister's blood and a ruby. She just raised her head stubbornly when he met her defiant gaze. "Much love between sisters, I see."
"Primrose is only eight." As if that explained her using her sister's blood to monitor her at all times. She had not done it for her mother, hoping that the healers would be able to keep the woman well in hand. Pansy had practically raised Prim, she was more her daughter than sister anyway.
"Oh, re-"
"Albus." The potions master cut off his inspection and Pansy was happy the professors stepped away from her. They were all crowding around to get a look and if she wasn't mistaken Vector was actually sketching out the details. "We've been called here for a reason. During our lunch for that matter."
"Ah, yes." Albus Dumbledore looked a little sheepish when he stepped towards the stone slab and unlit brazier filled with marbles. "Oh, yes."
"What do you see, Albus?" Moody was beside him, his magical eye whizzing around as if he could see the dark magic through the marbles if he studied them long enough.
"Extraordinary." The Headmaster looked at Pansy astonished before picking up a marble for a closer look. "Infinite possibilities with infinite options."
"It's quite unlike anything I've ever seen a Hogwarts student produce." Professor Babbling voiced with a suspicious glance. "I didn't realize you were so far advanced, Miss. Parkinson. Did someone help you?"
"If you want to see the notes, I've already acknowledged the outside help that I paid for their labors." Pansy couldn't help being offended, she had a reputation for being the most studious in their year.
"No!" Milicent Bulstrode ran into the room, looking around wildly. "Did you start?"
"No!" Pansy snapped, not feeling all too reassured as Sally Smith followed the Slytherin into the room. "I won't be completing the sphere grids until I've finished finalizing it! It took months to get those marbles from Master Hermes and I haven't even finished checking them all."
"But this was supposed to be my birthday present!" Millie whined, putting on an exaggerated pout for the professors.
"Perhaps, Pansy, you could give some of the other professors your thought process?" Professor Flitwick waved her forward with a smile.
"Well, after Millie almost murdered Sally by blowing up her cauldron in second year I wondered if there wasn't a safer way to learn potions." Pansy said softly, ignoring both Millie and Snape's indignation. "I know some people just don't have the…inclination for it but it really is a very important part of everyday life in our society. So, I thought if I could make an interactive enchanted device that would allow witches and wizards a safer way to view the process."
"The process?" Professor Snape sneered, twirling a lacewing fly encased in marble in his hands idly.
"Well, I'm sure you know what would happen if you added a bouncing bulb, saltpeter and vervain into an acidic potion base?" Pansy offered the first example she could think of, in theory it would create a noxious gas that follows the brewer. "With this, it would show the reaction without the trouble of being followed around by a cloud for a few hours. If I can refine it, I hope that I can have full potions register. I've only just started."