Slytherin Misconception
A fictional future of a known character
***

In my last years of life, I would often hear people whispering about the book. About all the dark magic I mustered to conjure the Book of Admittance. Many few people were curious, everyone seem to have answers. And everyone knew they were wrong.

The house at 66/6, Blackford Hill was somewhere between a chateau and suburban, from the outside. Pansy stood before the gates, the bell immediately rang itself. Then She took a step back, pouring her hands into her overcoat pocket. The streets of Edinburgh always made her want to fidget. Something more ancient than magic wanted to make its presence known here. Sometime after her graduation, Pansy was instructed that fidgeting in open was a bad habit.

Pansy adjusted her business casuals and tightened her overcoat. The door was opened by a middle-aged man, wearing a housecoat.

"Yes?" asked the man

"Pansy Parkinson. Admissions. Ilvermorny Academy of Magic," Pansy spoke the rehearsed lines, looking up, as humbly as possible.

"This is about that letter...!" the man lost his flow, clearly realising he had forgotten something important.

"Come in. Come in, Miss!" a woman, a little older than the man, came from behind. She opened the wider and let Pansy in.

Pansy followed the corridor from the door into a living room. The room appeared very small with furniture taking up most of the space. A showcase and couches surround a tea table. Three more corridors fanned out in the remaining directions to the kitchen, a dining room and a set of stairs, respectively. The stairs led to the bedrooms on the first floor.

"Take a seat, please," the woman came back closing the door. She held her coat and took a seat on one of the couches.

Pansy smiled a little and took the couch opposite her.

"So Henry is destined to be a wizard?" the woman asked politely.

"You're Miss Becky...?" Pansy put a finger on her forehead.

"Ms Beckett. Eleanor Beckett. That is my husband Alaric Beckett." the woman pointed at the middle-aged man, who disappeared into the corridor leading to the kitchen.

"He has displayed enough magical tendencies to be registered into the Luciana Scrolls," Pansy answered with a recognisable monotonous tone, "he is 'destined' to become whatever he chooses to be, but we would like you to consider him for enrollment into Ilvermorny Academy of Magic."

The middle-aged man came back with a tea tray and placed it on the table between them.

"Tea?" asked the woman.

Pansy nodded her head. She keenly looked at the man as he poured the dried leaves into the pot. Pansy's eyes followed the teapot as the man lifted it. Then slowly swirling it around midair. Pansy turned towards the woman, who was setting up the cups on the tray.

Steaming tea flowed out of the orifice, directly into the cup, swirling around the walls until pooling in the middle. Pansy breathed, as she saw the froth patterns on the tea. She sensed the invisible but powerful forces at work here, she continued.

"I assure you we have very able wizards and witches. Mount Greylock is a wonderful place for..."

"It's just that one of my cousins, her son received a similar letter from a school in Scotland," the woman interrupted Pansy, "She says it's the best school, one of the most famous wizards studied there..."

Pansy arched her brows, no one panders to their wizard children to convince No-majs of Magic.

"My cousin said nothing, my nephew was the first to tell me, after his graduation. Lavish it was, especially since the school suffered damage from some kind of war the previous year...!"

"Your nephew graduated from Hogwarts!?" Pansy breathed heavily and licked her lips.

"Yes, he studied with Harry Potter! Do you know him....!" the women asked excitedly.

Pansy widened her lips, taking a moment before speaking her next words.

"What are you waiting for? Someone grab him..."

The Gryffindor were the first to take their positions, but all the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuff joined in. All standing before Harry, pulling out wands from their sleeves and under their belts. In the end, the Professor was ordering Mr Filch to direct the Slytherins into their dorms.

"Come to the point, Elli!" Alaric broke his silence turning to his wife, "ask her what you want to!"

Eleanor suddenly changed her expression. It seemed that she was both excited and dreaded at the same time.

"Fine, I will say it then!", Alaric spoke loudly turning to Pansy, "we are fully prepared to send Henry. But tell us first, are you the Pansy Parkinson!?"

*. *. *

Pansy arched her brows again, turning to Eleanor.

"She's is the one Colin talks to!" Alaric said rudely, "it has been bothering her since She saw your name on the admission letter. Are you the Pansy Parkinson of house Slytherin!?"

Pansy heaved and backed on the couch. It has been a long time since someone asked her that exact question.

"Who is Colin?" Pansy asked trying to avoid the question.

"Colin Creevey! Her nephew! Answer what I am asking you miss...!" the man replied.

"Yes, I am her!" Pansy replied sternly.

"That's it," said Alaric slumping back on the couch, "we were prepared to send Henry, but we don't feel safe with what we have heard about you!"

"Sir, with due respect," Pansy pleaded, in a voice that sounded exactly the opposite, "you don't even know the whole story! And that has nothing to do with my work at Ilvermorny!"

"Well, I know you wanted to join him!" Alaric said in dread, fearing Pansy would pull out her wand anytime now, "what if the dark witch asks for children's stew, huh!? Are you gonna hand Henry over in return for immortality.....?"

Pansy sped up her breathing, her hand tightening around the birchwood on her belt.

"Sir, I wasn't gonna join Voldemort. I just wanted it all to stop!" Pansy said slowly.

"Sure just give them what they want, to do that....!" Alaric said in a fit of rage, almost enjoying himself.

"Honey, I think...", Eleanor tried to intervene.

"No. We should teach our children to fight back...!" Alaric continued until a sound turned everyone's attention towards the staircase.

Henry Beckett was tiptoeing towards his room. The Eleven-year-old was trying to hide something. Pansy tilted her head to get a better view angle of his left knee, it was bleeding.

"Henry, I have told you not to get into fights with those buffoons!" Alaric shouted at his son at the same level of anger, "just give them what they want....!"

Pansy held up her eyebrows, turning towards Eleanor.

"As my husband was saying..."

At that very moment, there was a loud noise, as Henry tried to go up again. The whole house shook violently, somehow everyone knew this wasn't an earthquake. The couple grasped their couch, Henry put his head down. Pansy instinctively produced her wand.

"Did you just hex us...!?" Alaric said in a mixture of fear and irritation.

There was a loud noise again and this time everyone was ready for it. However, they weren't ready for the gradual crack that snaked out of the ground around the walls. Pansy stood up, just to see the entire kitchen behind the corridor go up in flames. The explosion violently knocked down the Becketts. Pansy immediately corrected her footing for a duel, raising shields to stop further damage.

The smoke was cleared and Pansy extinguished her magical shields. The once neat drawing-room was bombarded with debris now. Three clearings were visible where lay a member of the Beckett family. Pansy held up her wand at the open night, that was once the kitchen. She patiently waited for the attacker to arrive from the other side. Soon a silhouette walked up into the smoke.

"Magiciente elidi!" shouted a male voice behind the smoke and a maroon light formed from him.

"Muggle Protectire!" shouted Pansy, blue streaks discharging from the end of her wand, surrounding all the family members one by one.

The maroon light extinguished. The man ran out into the night.

*. *. *

"Are you okay!?" Pansy kneeled to Eleanor.

"Yes," She replied coughing up dust.

Pansy helped her up. Immediately turning towards the staircase to look for the young Henry.

"Henry!" shouted Alaric as he managed to stand up. Ran towards the staircase before Pansy could.

Pansy stopped midtrack, checking the child from afar for wounds. She pushed back the hair streaks from her face and looked back at what was once the kitchen.

"This is what I am talking about..." Alaric wasted no time shouting at Pansy, stealing a glance towards what used to be the kitchen before he began.

Pansy exhaled and put back the wand in her belt. Her mind was on overdrive, sifting through weeks of memories. Pansy was afraid of the fact that she knew exactly what happened here. The Aurors and the teaching staff mingled very well in Mount Greylock. Pansy heard a familiar whooshing noise. She put back her wand, MACUSA was violating jurisdiction again.

"Are you listening to me?" Alaric was still shouting, "You should've gone after the attacker...!"

"No Sir!" Pansy answered without knowing Alaric's question, "a special messenger's position was right here beside an untrained wizard, protecting him and his family." Pansy pointed her finger at the ground to make a point. Then she turned towards the door, and several people in overcoats started pouring into the living room through the corridor. Eleanor embraced Henry and walked up the stairs. Alaric stood quietly.

Pansy made a fist with her hands inside her jacket pockets. About five people poured into the living room, which was appearing to be quite spacious now that one of its walls was missing. A woman among them came forward, wearing heels making her taller than Pansy, who was in pump shoes.

"For weeks I have wanted proof," the woman said looking into Pansy's eyes, "I know you are behind Gabriel. This is the first instance he attacked your presence. I will get you for this Parkinson!"

"Is that before or after you notify the London ministry!?" Pansy spoke back, not the least bothered about her shoes, "I hear the Minister doesn't like a pseudo-government ordering him around in the International confederation of Wizards."

The woman stood quiet, noticing Alaric, then she turned to Pansy again and said, "there's a witness here."

"Sir," the woman walked past the people surrounding her and Pansy, "did this woman have anything to do with what happened here!?"

Pansy bit her lip. Alaric hates her.

"Yes ma'am. She protected us!" answered Alaric.

Pansy raised her brows, the woman turned to her.

"If that is all Ms Beckman!" Pansy said with a smirk, feeling herself again, "I have to notify Ilvermorny of an attempted Elidias curse!"

Pansy walked out of the gathering and climbed up the stairs. Alaric still stood there, surrounded by the people of MACUSA.

*. *. *

The first floor was just as closely packed as the ground. The staircase opened into a passage that led to four rooms on either side, with a window at the end. One of the rooms with its doors open. Pansy walked towards the door, as Eleanor came out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"How's Henry?"

"Not traumatised, unlike me!" answered Eleanor, "what did that person want and what do those people want!?"

Pansy took a deep breath, "that person is Gabriel Thoreau," Pansy hated how easily she said the name she was not supposed to. She stood quietly for a moment, "he was once an employee for the Ilvermorny."

"Ms Parkinson, I understand school staff not being cooperative but he was homicidal! I can't send Henry to that kind of school."

"I won't blame you," Pansy drooped her head, "it just seems that the shadows followed me from Hogwarts to Ilvermorny! The same wizard was hell-bent on having the wizarding world function his way. The staff is constantly on guard. Less and fewer students are being sorted into the Pukwudgie house!"

"What? Never mind, first tell me who is this Gabriel Thoreau!?"

"He is a wizard who has mastered this ancient spell created by a Celtic wizard referred to as Elidias by some historians. The spell was to draw out magic from people who don't want it."

"But Henry..."

"Gabriel wants to rip the magic out of all wizards he deems unworthy! Children too, don't escape his wrath."

"Why? These are little kids!"

"Voldemort! Gabriel believes if magic was made to reside only with good people, there wouldn't exist dark wizards..."

"But..." the sound of Eleanor's voice was cut off by a small air moving Pansy's hair curls.

Pansy raised her head slowly and breathed in. Then she suddenly pushed Eleanor to the wall. At that very moment, a blue ball of lightning crashed through the window and sped between them. Pansy drew out her wand and pointed it at the lightning ball before it could touch the ground. She swayed her wand to float up the ball and batted it out of the window again.

Immediately red streaks came through the broken window and crept up Pansy's arms. Eleanor watched in horror as the crimson filaments of light dragged Pansy through the broken window into the garden.

*. *. *

Pansy fell headfirst onto the ground as the red streaks vanished in mid-air. Pansy hoisted herself up, her vision blurred, and she started to feel the ground for birchwood.

Pansy's vision was clearing, just about when another hex threw her further into the backyard. Pansy groaned as she managed to turn herself over and hold her body up by her elbows.

She saw the silhouette firing spells at an approaching horde of MACUSA Aurors. Pansy stood up with difficulty, feeling distorting cuts beneath her top, where the hex hit her. She spotted her wand and limped towards it. The silhouette was more clear now.
Pansy picked up her wand and struggled to grip it properly. At that very moment, a chirabel wood top touched her throat.

Pansy looked up, Gabriel Thoreau was smiling at her. She could see the aurors lying motionless behind him.

"Qui magicae non credunt, numquam eam invenient," Gabriel spoke in his medium pitch voice, "but so many believe in magic for the fun of it! And reality...," Gabriel produced a letter with an Ilvermorny seal, probably the one meant for Henry. He removed his wand from Pansy's throat and touched the letter with it.

Pansy froze as she saw the letter burst into flames.

"Reality arrives at unworthy doorsteps!"

Pansy shakily held up her wand, the hex wasn't going to heal soon, "so you hate No-majs possessing magic!"

Gabriel held up his wand and passed in under Pansy's in a fencing disengagement move. He smirked and replied, "No, that was the dark lord. I use more stringent criteria to determine one's worthiness to learn magic!"

Pansy and Gabriel circled each other, wands shivering closely together near the centre. Pansy was the first to go. She put her foot down and back and slashed her wand across the air throwing a non-verbal spell at Gabriel.

Gabriel grunted as he parried the spell, "I made aurors kneel! You think a pencil pusher can defeat me!"

Pansy gripped her wand tightly, it was not so hard anymore.

"What happened to you, Parkinson? You used to worship the Dark Lord, I am just undoing his work, join me..."

Pansy attacked again, more violently this time. Gabriel deflected it but this time was chanting a spell of his own. Pansy attacked again, and so did Gabriel. Violent streaks of colourful lights danced around them.

"Magiciente Elidi!" Gabriel chanted loudly amidst the light streaking between them.

Pansy suddenly felt her whole body paralyse, as if in a night terror. Then something started to flow out of her. There was no streak of light, just the growing emptiness within. Gabriel held his wand to Pansy's throat again. Pansy loosened her grip on her wand, she heard the dragon heartstring core thrumming within, her magic has left her. She fell to the ground.

"Come on! Slytherin Spawn," Gabriel lowered himself to look Pansy in the eye and whispered, "let me take Henry Beckett just as you were willing to give up Harry Potter, just a few months ago!"

"Less and fewer students being sorted to the Pukwudgie house," Pansy spoke with difficulty, blood stains were starting to show on her clothes, and the hex has stopped healing, "you are ripping out magic from students who are potential pukwudgies!"

"Then I will move on to cleanse this world of Slytherins!" Gabriel proclaimed as he twirled his wand on the grass.

"Why kids?" Pansy said under her breath, "you could have picked someone your size!"

"You're my size aren't you?" Gabriel said menacingly, "Be grateful I'm sparing you. Because in a few years all Slytherins and Pukwudgies will die and no wizard will be left to replace them!"

Pansy supported herself up again.

"You can't defeat me, Parkinson! You haven't suffered so you didn't earn your power!"

Pansy picked herself up and her wand, "you think consequences don't come for me. I have tried being evil, I wasn't evil enough! I am just the mean girl and I hate egotistical nerds...!"

Pansy held up her wand and suddenly Gabriel felt a pull in his own. The wand started to light up from the tip to the base. It wanted to reverse a spell of its own volition.

Colour returned to Pansy's cheeks. She momentarily lowered her wand and smirked and twitched her eyebrows.

"We all sing the song! Slytherin did it when he conjured the book of admittance to Hogwarts. I am doing it, as a subscriber of the Luciana Scrolls! Parents of new admissions always doubt the school because I work there. We all sing the song, Gabriel..."

Pansy raised her wand and chanted loudly, "unum Carmen Slytherin!"