Cheat

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They had always been different, Slytherins. Always apart form the other houses. They weren’t united. They were special, just as special as the other houses. But they were different.

Slytherins are cunning. Oh yes, they are cunning. Sly, shrewd, calculating, however you wanted to put it, it all equates to the same thing. It was really no coincidence that she got to him; a simple plan from her calculating head, and she had the guy of her dreams.

She carefully plotted, because she knew he would plot too, if it didn’t suit him. That’s simply what Slytherins were like. Their first priority was themselves. Everyone else was inferior.

Everyone else didn’t matter in the end, just as long as you could slither your way out.

Slytherins play games. Many different types of games, mainly seductive and manipulative and dangerous games. But they don’t really play in the sense that they cheat to win.

He played games with her heart. Hurtful, cunning Slytherin games which were dangerous. And he cheated to win, just as all Slytherins cheat in games to win.

Slytherins are cold. They don’t show emotions other than hate, occasionally anger. They definitely don’t show love. Love is a luxury and luxuries can’t always be afforded. Love is what stands in Voldemort’s way. And they don’t dare to defy him; their life would be lost in an instant. They either follow him, or pretend to.

Doomed either way, really, but that’s life as a Slytherin.

Pansy Parkinson was made a Slytherin in 1990, as was Draco Malfoy. They knew it of course; it was no surprise when the brim of the Sorting hat touched their heads, it yelled out SLYTHERIN only seconds afterwards.

It didn’t take long. Slytherins are definite; you either are, or are not. There’s no nearly Slytherin. And the Hat knows that.

But 2 students sorted in 1990 were distinctly different from the other Slytherins. Different in a way that you could not see, touch or smell. But one that you could simply feel.

Maybe that feeling was what made them the top of the twisted Slytherin Hierarchy. Because everyone could sense that somehow, these 2 were distinctly different. And they weren’t sure whether it was different as in useful, or different as in Gryffindor-ish.

But the fact that it was a Malfoy and Parkinson at hand, two members carrying surnames of ancient Pureblood families, the rest decided it was a useful sort of difference in them.

Underneath their cunning schemes, underneath their hurtful games, underneath their cold and unemotional exteriors, Draco and Pansy shared something.

They shared a hidden secret, an understanding of sorts. They were together yes, as it was required of them, and they continued to cheat in their games to win. But their hate for life was so strong that it stated to blur out other distinct lines in life. They shared a tiny spark of love.

It set them apart from the others. Or maybe it wasn’t love. Everyone knows Slytherins don’t love. So maybe it wasn’t love. But it was the closest thing to love that Slytherins could feel.

To the school and the public they were Draco and Pansy, the hot couple; Slytherin Prince and Princess. But away from prying eyes, it was different. In their first year they were the same. Cold, cruel cunning, model Slytherins. But things change. Because from two icy Slytherins emerged two new people, who although were cunning and crude and cheated to win, were discovering a game that they couldn’t cheat in.

So they simply played it instead, not to win, but just to play. Just to love.

Being traditional Slytherins for most of their lives came at a price. They weren't allowed to feel. Their parents approved of their dating, of course. Pansy, marrying into the Malfoy line, pureblood and ancient. Draco, his girl had to make a good trophy wife and of course, must have been of respectable blood.

Pansy, fortunately, fit the criteria. Lucius Malfoy thought she would make a simply fabulous trophy wife; the Senior Parkinsons talked off how Pansy usually kept to herself at home, didn’t really raise a voice.

Oh how wrong they were.

Cold, cunning Slytherins learned to feel, married not just because they were betrothed.

Death took Pansy's mother away, a figure who had always been important in her life. So Draco comforted her. They didn't really talk about it, but he was there. That's what mattered, becuase Slytherins don’t really do the whole comfort deal.

Together, this pair learned to feel. Their whole lives, they never showed emotion. Now they did. Showing yourself is a hard thing to get used to, though.

Yet they were Slytherins. Snakes, slithering around Hogwarts. Slytherins didn’t have happy ending written in the stars. That kind of thing was for the heroes, the good people. But Slytherins were dark, not good. Slytherins played games far too much, and cheated just a bit too well to come out on top in the finale.

Even though Draco and Pansy changed a lot, they were still Slytherins. And there was no happy ending for them, either. Draco couldn’t defy his father; it was condemning himself to death. So he went with the Death Eaters. Surprisingly enough, his pretty flower followed. Pansy became the second ever female Death Eater.

Everyone knows the light side wins. Death Eaters are definitely not the light side. So eventually, Pansy and Draco lost. But they lost more than just the war. They lost each other too.

He died fighting for what he believed in, dying for his Master, that’s what Draco did. She was just an empty shell after his death, because she had lost her love. The things she had seen would never leave. Pansy was just another person, ruined by the war.

But that’s what happens to Slytherins. That’s what happens to people like them, there’s no happy ending pre-written for them. For the lions, of course there is. But they weren’t lions, they were snakes. Slytherin snakes who were cunning and cold and cheated to win.

But they couldn’t cheat in the game of love. And they couldn’t cheat in the game of death.

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The End.

Originally posted as Slytherin Snakes on the 27th of June, 2004

Edited repost as Cheat on 2nd of April, 2005

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