Vincent Crabbe's hands closed around the chest and face of the unsuspecting first-year. The poor Gryffindor lad let out a muffled yelp as he was subjected to the binding jinx, stuffed into a potato sack from the kitchens, and abducted. When the bag was taken off his head, he was in a hidden room in the Slytherin dungeon, surrounded by a large, menacing gang of about fifteen Slytherin second and third-years. Draconia Malfoy sat cross-legged on a table in front of him, holding court over his kidnappers. "You're going to give us the password to the Gryffindor common room. Whether that happens the easy way or the hard way is up to you." "Mmmmhmmmffmmmmfffrrrr!" "...Oh right. Millie, ungag him." Millicent Bulstrode, who was leaning against the table, walked over and pulled the rope over the boy's mouth off. As soon as he did, the first-year tried to lunge at her, but was quickly held back down by Crabbe and Goyle. "I'll never tell you our password! Never! Not even if you torture me!" "...What if I gave you a chocolate frog?" ".............NEVER!" Wow, he really had to think about that one. "The hard way, then. Crabbe, Goyle, get it out of him." They nodded to Draconia and Crabbe held the boy down as Goyle pulled out his wand. "Rictusempra!" Draconia had to admit, the kid had impressive willpower, withstanding the tickling charm for nearly five minutes before he talked. But talk he did. Pansy Parkinson was still small enough to credibly impersonate a first-year, walking up to the portrait of the Fat Lady in the boy's stolen Gryffindor robe and tie, with her hood up so she wouldn't be recognized. In the next room, Draconia, Millicent, Crabbe, and Goyle peeked around the corner like a Scooby stack, Millicent angrily turning around to shush the giggling Slytherins behind them so nobody would give the ruse away as Pansy approached. "Wattlebird!" She gave the Fat Lady the most innocent look she could muster, the portrait pausing for a few seconds, eying her suspiciously...before swinging forwards and granting access to Gryffindor tower. Draconia raised her wand and motioned her army forwards. "FORCES OF SLYTHERIN! CHARGE! FOR MERLIN! FOR THE EMPEROR!!" The Slytherin kids stampeded into the Gryffindor common room, Pansy quickly doffing her stolen robe and tie and putting the correct colors back on so she wouldn't be mistaken for the enemy in the ensuing chaos, and ran in after them. Draconia had picked her moment expertly. At this time of day, most of the upperclassmen were taking lessons, and the few older students who were in the common room looked more exasperated by the interruption to their homework than inclined to start doing battle for the honor of their house. That did not mean there was no resistance. Ron and Ginny Weasley had immediately rallied Gryffindor's defenders and were making their stand from atop a coffee table as hails of red and green sparks flew back and forth. Harry Potter blasted Goyle backwards with a powerful Stupefy before dodging a burst of magic from Draconia. "Expelliarmus!" "Verdimillious Tria!" Lances of red and green energy struck each other as Harry's magic wrestled Draconia's in the air. "You're going down, Malfoid!" "NOT THIS TIME, POTTER!" Draconia spun left with the agility of a figure skater, letting Harry's beam pass inches in front of her to his considerable surprise. "Carpe Retractum!" A lash of magic shot from Draconia's wand and wrapped around Harry, pulling him off his feet, but he rolled with it, firing off a Periculum. Draconia narrowly evaded the flare, but it caught Millicent behind her, angering her more than hurting her. Draconia quickly dove out of the way as her friend charged, bowling Harry over. Hiding behind the sofa, Hermione was flipping through an advanced transfiguration textbook as Ron traded stunning spells and knockback jinxes with Tracey Davis and Theo Nott. "Just give me ten seconds!" "MAKE IT FIVE!!" Hermione flipped faster, though was momentarily distracted as an airborne Pansy Parkinson lost control of her momentum, erratically zooming past as Ginny and a flock of conjured birds gave chase. Just in the nick of time as Goyle had Ron in a headlock, Hermione found the right spell, poking her head up over the couch and pointing her wand at a large display of Warhammer figurines. "Piertotum Locomotor!" The entire diorama animated at once, a swarm of miniature soldiers attacking the intruders. Ron got loose as Goyle ran around in a panic, covered in tiny space marines like Gulliver's Travels. Daphne Greengrass screamed and started crying as Tyranids got in her hair. Hermione gawked at her own handiwork, looking monumentally proud of herself for nailing even a small-scale version of such a complex spell. Their victory was short-lived, though, as Crabbe hit the couch with a Depulso, knocking it out from under Ron and causing him to fall on top of Hermione. Draconia was trading a rapid series of hexes with Seamus Finnigan, her graceful battle ballet collapsing under his relentless pressure, and she fell back into the fencing-style movement her father had taught her. "Flipendo!" "Protego!" "Vermillious!" "Defodio!" Draconia's gouging spell doubled Finnigan over like a punch to the gut. Draconia had seen her father put a hole straight through a giant with that one, but she, obviously, was not her father, not at 12. Still, she was pretty proud of herself for managing to cast his favorite dueling charm at all. The tide suddenly turned against the young Slytherins though, as Percy Weasley, red in the face, stormed into the common room. "What is going on here?! Go back to your house!" Crabbe was the first target of the prefect's wrath, barely getting a Protego around himself as Percy flicked his wand upwards and yanked him into the air, then slammed him back down, dribbling the boy like a muggle basketball with a rapid series of Leviosos and Descendos until his shield broke and he lay sprawled on the ground like the world was spinning. Percy knocked Pansy out of air next with a Depulso. "Inanimatus Conjurus!" However, he conjured a pile of soft pillows for her to land on. Millicent, endowed with more anger than sense, attempted to charge at a sixteen year old, but Percy stopped her dead with an Arresto Momentum, holding her like that until Draconia provided a distraction to break his concentration. "Lumos Solem!" A powerful blast of sunlight forced Percy to shield himself and before he knew it, Millicent was out of his charm and attempting to pick him up on her shoulders. "Hey! HEY!" It required the quick use of a strengthening solution to actually accomplish, but Millicent managed it, staggering around as she attempted to maneuver Percy towards a table she could powerbomb him through, but the unfortunate prefect was saved by his younger brothers. "Tarantallegra!" "Cantis!" Percy managed to fall off Millicent and clamber back to his feet as she was suddenly forced to put on a one woman musical by Fred and George, who had been watching the entire raid for some time now with considerable amusement and had been way too busy laughing at their brother to help him sooner. He shot them a glare before regaining control of the situation, yelling at Goyle to stop pulling a first year girl's pigtails and then, when he failed to heed the warnings, giving him some pigtails of his own by transfiguring him into a rabbit. Draconia ran by, quickly scooping him up as she haphazardly fired off curses that Percy easily knocked out of the air. Draconia jumped over a table, rolled, landed on her feet, aimed perfectly, and... "Diffindo!" The spell sliced a hole in a Gryffindor banner behind Percy and he waved his wand at Draconia accusingly. "You're lucky that missed, young lady! Severing charms are dangerous!" However, Percy's moral outrage was cut short as he heard his own brothers' uproarious laughter behind him. Fred was too overcome to speak and was just pointing downwards, while George managed to get out... "SHE DIDN'T MISS!!" Percy looked down. His belt was cut cleanly in two and his pants were around his ankles. Everyone could see his heart-patterned boxers. Percy's entire face went red as a beet. "Your father will hear about this! And so will Professor Snape!" Percy quickly ran back to his dorm to change as the Slytherin kids, victorious, proceeded to run wild through the Gryffindor common room and dorms. Draconia smirked to herself. She was pretty sure that both authority figures Percy had threatened her with would at least tacitly approve of her actions, and she could look forward to a half-hearted scolding and a token house point deduction at worst. -------- Upon withdrawing to their own common room, the Slytherins split their spoils of war. Honeydukes sweets and exploding snap cards went the fastest. Pansy was too busy taking care of bunny Goyle, who she found irresistibly adorable, to join the scramble for loot. The victorious raiders thought their leader incredibly magnanimous, the only trophy Draconia had demanded for herself was Harry Potter's scarf, which she had personally purloined from his dorm in the chaos and paraded through the halls of the Slytherin dungeons like a Napoleonic general who had captured the enemy colours. But come that evening, Pansy and Millicent could not help but wonder if the entire adventure had, perhaps, been organized with an ulterior motive as they watched their tiny, exhausted field marshal kick off her snake slippers and collapse into bed, hugging tightly onto her "plunder" like a treasured stuffed animal. She would have endless excuses the next day. "Victory celebration", "guarding my spoils", "I must have thought it was a blanket in my sleep". But Pansy had enough pictures that Draconia wasn't going to be living it down for a while. #Malfoid