Slytherin

Slytherin
Chapter 3
Flustering the Slytherin Prince

~()~

Once Neville and I had stepped off of the carriage, students were already making their way up to the great hall for the feast. At least a hundred students were pushing their way through the entrance hall, including the two of us. Before we reached the doors to the great hall, I pulled Neville aside and grabbed both of his hands.

"I guess this is where we split, huh?" I asked sadly, looking down at the floor. I didn't hear him say anything, so I assumed he nodded his head. I looked back up at him, and we stayed like this until the hallway was mostly cleared out. I sighed.

"Best get going then," I told him. He nodded in agreement.
I gave his hand one last squeeze and let go. Neville went to the doors, looked at me, and then stepped through into the Great Hall. As for me, I needed time to gather myself. I slowly took small steps towards the door and took a breath when I finally reached it. Butterflies were flying spastically in my stomach. This was even worse than the train ride. With shaking arms, I pushed open both doors at the same time and they flew open. I stepped into the large room with a cold stare, and looked around the room. To my relief, not many people were paying attention; they were all chatting with classmates about their summers. The room was loud with conversation and the scratching of the benches on the stone floor. I grinned, and strutted towards the Slytherin table, and caught sight of Malfoy. He was staring at me, just like everybody else at the table next to him, but I wasn't going take it. I gave him one quick little glance and walked right past him, but not before I felt some sort of pressure on my stomach. Draco had put his hand there to stop me, and pushed me slightly backwards.

"I saved you a seat," he said with a smirk.

I glared down at him and removed his hand from my body. I began to walk away again when he grabbed my wrist, just as he had on the train in our first encounter. He looked at me with those grey, hypnotizing eyes. Mechanically, I sat down next to him. Pansy Parkinson was sitting across from Draco, and she did not look very happy. We both stared at each other for what seemed like forever, not noticing anything else going on, until finally Dumbledore stood up, and I looked up at him. Draco was still fixated on me.

"I know you all have heard rumors about something big happening at Hogwarts," Dumbledore began, his eyes sparkling in the candlelight. "These are all true. Hogwarts is going to be hosting this year’s Tri-Wizard Tournament."

The room burst like a balloon into excited conversation. I grinned at the people around the table, but said nothing. I never actually heard of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"Two other schools shall be joining us this year," Dumbledore continued. "Beauxbaton’s Academy of Magic, and The Durmstrang Institute for Magical Learning. A student from each school shall be chosen to represent their school in the tournament. Now, we have here, one of our judges, Mr. Barty Crouch." A man, assuming to be Mr. Crouch, with a toothbrush-like mustache stood up from the long table of staff. He made his way to where Dumbledore stood.

"For safety reasons," Mr. Crouch began. "No one under the age of seventeen will be allowed to enter the tournament."

Boo's erupted from every table. Even a couple, 'That's rubbish!' were heard.

"The schools shall be arriving soon, just in time for the first task," Dumbledore said. "Now, if you wish to enter this tournament, you have to meet the standards of our impartial judge. The winners shall be chosen that way. There will be more details once our guests arrive at the school. For now, let's eat!"

He waved his hands in the air, and the tables were once again filled with food. Seeing so much food made me want to go back to my old ways, but I knew I couldn't do that. I gathered as little food as possible, making sure to eat as daintily as a doe. I glanced over at Draco, and noticed he was resting his head on his arm, and still staring at me. His face was expressionless. I ignored him, and went to take a bite out of my chicken, when he brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear.

"I still don't know your name," he whispered, making sure to drag his finger down my neck. It made me want to melt, but I contained myself.

"In due time, Draco," I told him, and finished eating.

"Hey," Pansy said suddenly, looking around the table disappointedly. "I wonder where the cow is."

I went to dab my face with my napkin, and then stopped. I looked at her, but only moving my eyes. Everyone that had heard was snickering.

"Maybe she finally got the hint and went to fat camp," a Slytherin boy guessed. I continued to stare at Pansy. Draco's eyes had narrowed.

"Or maybe she's planning her revenge on all of us Slytherins as we speak," I guessed, with a smirk. I stopped staring at Pansy and continued to dab my face with my napkin.

"You don't think?" a Slytherin boy asked nervously.

"Nuh uh!" Pansy yelled in that annoying voice of hers. "She's too nice to do anything like that."

"Then again," I added, putting my napkin on my plate. "She has taken a load of crap from us for three years. Anger built up for that long could make someone explode...maybe that’s what happened to her!"

The table exploded with Slytherin laughter. Even Draco was smirking. He stopped staring at me and finally began eating.

It turned out that I had made myself the most popular girl in Slytherin; even more popular than Pansy, but even she seemed to like me. I was surrounded by almost every single Slytherin, with Draco on my left side. I was chatting away with a 3rd year about my summer, when a Slytherin seventh year that I did not know put his arm around my neck. He was very attractive; even gave Draco a run for his money. He began to nuzzle my neck, and I felt Draco tense.

"What is your name?" the guy whispered in my ear. He had short, brown, slightly curled hair. He was tall and muscular, with a great tan. I leaned into his ear and whispered:
"If I told you that, I would have to kill you."

"Oh, Avada Kedavra me, baby!" he moaned and I giggled.

Draco was none too pleased. He whispered something to Goyle, who nodded and disappeared into the crowd. I stared at Draco, curiously, waiting to see what he would do next. I didn't even notice that the boy's arm was gone from my neck. I searched for the brunette haired cutie, but only saw Goyle behind me. Draco seemed happier.

I managed to escape the mob of followers when I reached the girl's dorms in the dungeons. Today had ran...rather smoothly. For the first time in my life, no one made fun of me. It was as if I was a normal human being, just like everybody else, but I had a feeling things were going to return to normal tomorrow on the first day of term, and my dream will be over. Maybe the news of the Tri-Wizard Tournament will cover up the cow...

~()~

The first class of the day was Herbology with the Gryffindors, and was pleased to see Neville once more. I took a spot across from him, and Draco unceremoniously took the spot on my left. He was very keen to make sure I was on his right.

"Good morning, class!" Professor Sprout greeted cheerfully as she entered the greenhouse.

"Good morning Professor Sprout," the class mumbled back.

"This term, we will be studying how to properly care and tend to magical plants.Today's lesson is about a plant called Lilliopous," she began, writing the name on the chalkboard behind her. "Open up your books to page 12. Can anyone tell me what a lilliopous plant is?"

Two hands shot in the air: Hermione Granger's and Neville's. Sprout chose Neville.

"A lilliopous plant is a water plant that only grows on the bottom of swamps," Neville told her excitedly. "It is almost like a muggle's Venus flytrap, except it catches humans instead of flies."

"Very good, Mr. Longbottom!" Sprout exclaimed. "Ten points to Gryffindor! What you will be doing today is learning how to uproot them. They are very vicious plants, but that's why I've given you baby plants. As time moves on, you will deal with the big ones. The directions are in your books. The plants are in front of you. You have the rest of the class period to de-pot them. When you are finished, help others. Begin!"

All of the students, including myself, began reading our textbooks and finding out how to uproot them. The plant was inside a large fish bowl, and it looked like any other lily, except ten times the size and it was yellow. The book said that you needed to stir up the water to awaken it, and then, when it was open, fill it up with a powder called mungstung. I did as the book said, and the plant spit it back at me. I wasn't the only one having difficulty with this: Ron Weasley's bowl had shattered and water was spilling all over, and Blaise Zabini's plant curled up and died. I looked over at Neville, and he was already replanting his in another tank at the back of the room. He returned a few moments later and asked if I needed help.

"Oh yes please," I asked, my voice filled with relief. I had no idea what I was doing, and was more than happy to step aside and allow him to take over.

"Your first mistake was that you stirred the water clockwise, instead of counter-clockwise," Neville informed me. I took the stirring stick one more and did as he said. The plant opened again, except this time its petals were pointed, instead of slightly curled. I sprinkled in some of the mungstung into the bowl, and it uprooted itself. I pulled it out and repotted it where Neville had his.

"Wow, Neville," I said in admiration. I raised my eyebrow at him, impressed. "You're really good at Herbology, aren't you?"

He shrugged his shoulders slightly and blushed.

"Of course," Draco said, turning to us. "He's not good at potions, charms, transfiguration, or anything else. He had to be good at something." The other Slytherins around us sniggered.

"Better than you, Draco," I said, putting my hand on Neville's shoulder. "Who isn’t good at anything. Well, there is potions, but you only excel in that because you suck Snape's dick every night."

The whole room gasped in surprise, and Draco’s smirked disappeared entirely from his face. He didn’t sneer at me or anything; in fact, he seemed quite stunned. No one would've ever suspected that I would have said something like that to the prince. Draco swallowed harshly, and glared at me angrily. Professor Sprout hobbled back into the room and smiled at me and Neville.

"Ah, it seems that Mr. Longbottom and Ms...Uh?" she began, looking over at me. Without thinking I blurted my name out to her.

"Hollands," I told her, and then realizing my mistake, I turned my head towards Draco. "Paige Hollands."

"Ah, well you two are the only ones to have finished. You can help the others if you'd like," she suggested, and once again, disappeared from the greenhouse.

"Need some help, Draco?" I asked, taking a step towards him. His mouth was slightly open, and he was staring at me in disbelief.

"No," he said, his mouth gaping like a fish out of water. "No way! Impossible! You can’t be the cow! I mean, look at you!"

"Sh-she was never a-a cow!" Neville stuttered, stepping next to me. He was scared as hell, and yet he still stood up for me.

"Stay out of this, Longbottom!" Draco snarled at my defender, taking a step towards him. I took Neville's hand and stepped face to face with Draco.

"Draco, I told you at the end of last year that you weren’t going to mess with me anymore," I muttered at him, making sure my voice was as cold as my eyes. "Stay away from me. And stay away from Neville as well.”

I dragged Neville and myself out of the greenhouse and walked to the front door of the castle. I put his face in my hands and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

"You stood up for me," I told him, answering his quizzical look. "No one's ever done that. Thank you.”

"Well, you stood up for me," he pointed out, his face turning red. "Wait, does this mean we're ditching class?"

"Hm...you're right...should we go back?" I asked, and he smiled.

"We probably should," he said. "I really don’t want to get into any trouble, especially on the first day and after I earned Gryffindor 10 points. That’s a first for me."

I laughed and squeezed his hand. I could see that Neville was gaining confidence ever since he made friends with me, and I felt warm inside. Suddenly, someone was pulling my hair backwards, dragging me into the castle. Neville yelled after me, but tripped on his own two feet. My captor and I disappeared into the castle and down into the stairs towards the dungeons. Whoever it was, slammed me into the wall and pinned me there. It almost knocked the wind out of me.

"I have had enough of you screwing around with me," a cold voice said sinisterly. I could recognize that voice anywhere. "Just because you were once the cow doesn't mean I wouldn't want you now. Sure it was a little shocking at first, but then I look at you now and the past doesn’t matter. How does it feel to be Slytherin’s new princess?”

I narrowed my eyes at Draco.

"Keep dreaming," I whispered to him. "And I am not the princess. I am the queen."

I pushed him off of me, and strutted away, once again, leaving him flustered.