Pariah

Nothing about Pansy Parkinson's seventh year is going right.. For starters, there is a Weasley Situation that must be dealt with, NEWTs are looming over the Seventh Years' heads, and the terrifying menace of reality threatens to take down the castle of Hogwarts stone by stone. And to make matters worse, the new fifth year Slytherin prefect has the hots for Draco. Her name is Teeny Nott, the second most wicked being on the planet, and she is out to get Pansy Parkinson any way she can. When Slytherin House turns against Pansy Parkinson, she vows to get revenge- even if it means seeking the help of a Weasley. Welcome to the politics of teenage Slytherin girls, but be warned: here there be catfights.

Ron nearly choked, but managed to swallow successfully. “What? She was wearing what?” This was his prefect partner, after all. The one he spent hours alone with every week roaming the castle. That she could have been a Cannons fan all this time and he’d never known…

“That could have gone worse, don’t you think?” Pansy whispered as they stood just outside Snape’s door.

Oddly enough, it took several seconds before anyone reacted at all. And then there was screaming. Lots of it.

Pansy feigned a sputter and rested her hand above her heart. “I assure you, I know naught of what you speak,” she demurred.

She had always known that everything that could go wrong on Halloween generally did...

A whistle split the air, and Ron turned to see their esteemed referee, looking scandalized, storming through the snow toward the tumbling Seekers. "Miss Nott and Miss Weasley!"

"What do the Creevey brothers have to do with Pansy Parkinson?" Hermione looked at each of them in turn as they looked at each other. "I mean, come on, that's why we're here, isn't it?"

Of course, in the history of Christmases, Pansy knew, logically, that this couldn't be the worst. It was statistically impossible, after all, that of all the families over all of the years in all the places in all the world, that this occasion right here, right now, would rank as the worst Christmas ever. Still, it gave Pansy pause to wonder.

If they were all thinking what Ron was thinking, they were scared as hell.

"And the whole thing with our houses being rivals. And how we need to be professional on these little rounds. And how Snape would die and probably expel me. And how everyone would talk about it, and we'd both lose whatever respect anyone had for us. And that whole thing about it sending Draco into catatonic shock, which would be kinda great, actually, so maybe we should move that into the 'pro' column." Pansy said, rambling off the list of reasons why This certainly could never work.

"No one likes to be reminded of his or her mistakes," Hermione said. "Think about how you would feel if I went to you for help and then reminded you about fourth year when you and Harry weren't on speaking terms?"

Of course, Professor Tonks had quickly adapted to her new position at Hogwarts. She had found it all rather fun at first, having a front row seat to the daily Hormones and Angst Variety Show. She would never in her life wish to relive her own adolescence, God no, but from an objective outside viewpoint, the entire charade was rather amusing, with the girls and the boys and the coy glances and fragile egos. Sometimes, she just wanted to tell them that it would all be over soon and that everyone had, at one point or another, gone through the exact same thing.

And wasn't it criminal how delicious Ron Weasley looked covered in dessert?