Secrets of a Slytherin Princess

Before leaving for breakfast the following morning, Apollonia made sure to leave a Pepper Up potion and a few bat wings on Pansy’s night table, leaving instructions for her to drop the bat wings into the potion for full potency. Apollonia snickered as she went down for breakfast. Only her father would ever get the joke. The others would laugh. And, Pansy? Well, Pansy would be furious. But, Apollonia really didn’t care; she simply wanted to get Pansy back for everything that she suffered through over the years. To be perfectly honest, Apollonia would have liked to do this with Draco around so he could get a good laugh out of it, but he probably wouldn’t be up for a few days. So, she would do it now and hope that Draco caught the tail end of it, when Pansy had the blotchiest skin on record.

Apollonia skipped cheerfully up to the Great Hall, running into her brother as she did. “What’s got you so happy?” her clueless brother asked. “I would have thought that you’d be moping around because of Malfoy. I hate him, and even I’m upset by what happened to him.”

“Just watch Pansy,” Apollonia whispered conspiratorially. A thought then popped into the Slytherin’s head. “Oh, and can you perhaps talk to that fifth-year, Colin Creevey, about getting pictures of her every day for the next ten days, preferably in color? I have an idea in the works and I’ll need five copies of each picture. The idea flitted around in the Slytherin’s head as she reminisced about a particularly excruciating day for two Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff. The result of that day would be something similar for Pansy, something that Apollonia would get a kick out of. Anyone who despised Pansy as much as Apollonia did would enjoy the payback that was coming for her these next ten days.

“What for?” Harry asked.

Apollonia grinned. “You’ll see.”

The pair of siblings talked for a few more minutes before Apollonia went to sit down at the Slytherin table. It was not long before the subject came into the Great Hall, looking rather perplexed as the entire population of the Great Hall erupted into bouts of uncontrollable laughter. She doesn’t know what happened, Apollonia thought gleefully as Colin Creevey rushed over to get a picture of Pansy’s dual-tone hair; yellow and black, Apollonia took note. The Slytherin peered up to the staff table and noticed her father’s quirked eyebrow. He knows! He knows what I did. Only one person in the whole school knew of this trick, for he saw it occur twice; once thirteen years ago, the second time eleven years ago. Apollonia knew it was a gamble; that her father would recognize the effects, but she hoped he hadn’t. It seemed however, that Severus Snape would not be fooled by the gambit.

Pansy’s screams soon began reverberating throughout the Great Hall, yelling for everyone around her to stop their hysterical laughter, simply at the sight of her. She seemed utterly clueless as to what happened and the Slytherin who instigated the event couldn’t take it anymore. It eventually caused Apollonia to slink away, going up to the dais where the staff table sat. No one noticed that she had done so; they were all intently focused on Pansy and her rather interesting new hair style. All except her father perhaps. His onyx-colored eyed remained glued on his daughter, yelling softly at the Slytherin as soon as she got up to the staff table. “Young lady,” her father hissed, “what have you done?”

“Payback,” Apollonia hissed back.

“And, I’m sure you recall what happened the last time this occurred,” her father warned. “Charlie Weasley, if I recall. You were five the last time you used said potion to get back at someone. Now, what, may I ask, happened with Ms. Parkinson to ensue your wrath this time?”

“Her existence,” Apollonia grimaced. “She treats me like I’m nothing. No one, aside from Harry and Draco,” and Hermione, “knows the true nature of Apollonia Evans.”

“Still?” her father questioned. Apollonia nodded. “Well, I was going to go brew the antidote, but I think this will be punishment enough, along with a week’s worth of detention. But, you young lady, will also be getting a detention for taking the matter into your own hands. Ms. Parkinson’s behavior towards you is intolerable. It will almost force me to reveal the truth. Perhaps at the end of the year, give Ms. Parkinson some time to think over what she did to you.”

“As long as said detention isn’t with Pansy,” Apollonia scoffed. The Slytherin knew that she’d get a detention for what happened; she recalled the last two times this occurred. The first was when she was three; forced to sit in the corner as well as suffer through the effects of the potion. The second incident—the one with Charlie Weasley—occurred two years later and the only reason she wasn’t punished for that was because it was during a detention her father set up for them. Had it been any other time, Apollonia would have received a detention as she had just now. With Pansy, it would be a bloody nightmare.

“I shall arrange for you two to have separate detentions,” her father assured her. “I would prefer to keep the two of you away from each other at the moment. I will inform you at a later date of when your detention shall be held. For right now, I will deal with Ms. Parkinson.” Apollonia slipped off the dais to allow her father the chance to come sweeping over to Pansy, who had just now come to realize the horrid sight that was her hair.

“Change it back!” she yelled.

The Head of Slytherin swept in. “Ms. Parkinson, your rather interesting new hair style will remain for its entire duration,” the Dark Arts professor said tersely. “I received a letter early this morning informing me of what had transpired, that your harassment of a fellow Slytherin caused another student—who has since been dealt with—to set this punishment loose on you. Rather creative thinking, I must say, in using your looks—of which you clearly love so much—as a punishment. Regrettably, I will not brew the antidote for you because of your continual harassment of said student. You’ll also be receiving a week’s worth of detention.” He turned to the rest of the school, as Pansy stamped her foot down and stormed out of the Great Hall. “ANYONE WHO CONTINUES LAUGHING WILL SERVE AN ENTIRE WEEK OF DETENTION WITH MS. PARKINSON.”

As Apollonia soon noticed—after the shock that her father would lie to student like that had worn off—that the entire student body stopped laughing at Pansy. The prospect of serving a detention with the Pug-Face frightened them into obeying. She already had her father’s assurance that Pansy would not be around during her detention, so there really was no problem. If Apollonia was the one to laugh, she could always cite harassment as a possible reason to stay away from Pansy. The pug-faced Slytherin got what was coming to her and, although Apollonia got a detention because of what she did, it was definitely worth it.

And, thankfully, Colin Creevey had not gotten his camera confiscated, so Apollonia’s plan was in motion. Five copies of each picture were to be made; one set for herself; two others for Bill and Charlie; a set to Tonks; and a final set to the Weasley twins, informing them of her Mottled Dye Potion. Apollonia had taken Tonks’s suggestion to market this potion with the Weasley twins; it was Pansy’s behavior that caused the Slytherin to finally go along with it. That was where the pictures came in; three would act as reminders of a detention stunt; another would remain with Apollonia; and the final set would inform the Weasley twins of the idea she came up with at age three. At the end of the ten days, Apollonia would ask that Colin have the pictures developed and send them off to their recipients. Her plan would work, humiliation-wise and securing her future.

The Slytherin had no doubt that Fred and George would get a kick out of what she had done to Charlie. No one knew the story, other than those present for the event. As the twins were known throughout Hogwarts as pranksters extraordinaire—Apollonia was reminded of their spectacular display last year to escape Umbridge’s tyrannical wrath, thus choosing not to complete their final year—the Slytherin felt absolutely sure that the Weasley twins might enjoy hearing about Charlie’s unexpected misfortune from eleven years ago. This is going to be fun, Apollonia thought as she peered between her father and Colin Creevey. Dad’s okay with what I did, albeit giving me a detention in the process, and I’m getting ready for a business venture with the Weasley twins that I’m sure they’ll jump at the chance to help.