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Chapter Text

Hermione granger was an orphan. And had been for a while now, since the age of 8 in fact. And she hated it with every fibre of her being.

For starters the women at the orphanage despised her. Coming to the orphanage at the dead of night as a crying and sniffling 8 year old set them with a mindset of irritability when interacting with her, and in all honesty, it slowly turned to despise as her regular bouts of accidental magic came along things that the old women couldn't explain.

So they did what they do best. Fear it. Or better yet attempt to get rid of it. For these women were "women of god" and such "devil-work" had no place in their St Mary's home for bereaved children. At first they tried to beat it out of her. Daily. She almost winces every time she thinks back to the times of constant bruises and welts that littered her body. Each inflicted with a multitude of kicks or belt lashes in their hatred for her. She can never forget the look on their eyes. One of glee. Even with the slight audacity to show amusement. They took pleasure in her pain, as if she were a toy. It was then that hermione realised she couldn't trust anyone in this world, not even those who are meant to protect her.

Eventually due to her reaction depletion (constant beatings made her pain tolerance increase, less susceptible to such easy pain), they took to isolation. Countless hours and days spent alone, isolated and quiet, with only her thoughts to keep her company. It would make anyone sane go mad. Locked away under lock and key, with only a dirty mattress and a thin itchy sheet for an uncomfortable substitute of a blanket. It was here she was told to "pray it away" and pray she did. She prayed to rid herself of this torture, prayed for her to become "normal". Of course such prayers were never answered. Leading to her second lesson, to not rely on God to help.

Hermione through this abuse learnt to quickly control her magic, to ensure she got to grips with it so that she wouldn't showcase her power. Unstable control, but control nevertheless. And the women, satisfied with their "cure" finally relented. The ignored her majorly, giving her and all children a set list of chores to complete, and reinstated her back at school (they were "homeschooling" her for the time being).

It was here that hermione learnt some semblance of peace, everyday after school she would be able to walk by the woods and read the book she had chosen, she loved listening to the birds chirping and the squirrels scuttling through the trees. And the trees swaying in the wind, branches quietly hitting eachother and leaves rattling noisily. She lived for quiet moments like these, for they were the only things that kept her sane.

One day, however, around the age of 9, as she did her usual rounds of the forest; she came across a harmless garden snake. Startled, she stepped back and tried to regain her bearings and go her merry way when she could swear she heard it speak, so she stopped, crouched down, and spoke back.

"Hello, who might you be"

"Oh? A speaker? I've never met someone who can. I am ajundé. Who might you be?" The snake quirked its head in intrest, curiously waiting her response

" I am Hermione Granger, and what do you mean a speaker? There are others like me?"

"Yes child, I've only heard about them in passing but, not everyone can understand snakes, few possess this ability" it paused, thinking of its next question "Who might your parents be?"

A certain solemn tone enveloped her, thinking about her mother "I am an orphan, my mother is dead. I never knew her father"

"I see, I do not know much but I can tell from your ability, that you are a powerful girl, one who will soon be able to do great things"

From that day on, Hermione took to conversing with the snake about a plethora of topics, and through these regular visits a regular smile appeared on her face. Her very first friend.

Her 10th birthday flew by without celebration as well as the many months that came after it. The caretakers, often left her alone, of course with a few hits here and there but never as much as before. And her regular meet-ups with ajundé never faltered. Her year was, in all honesty, mundane, or as mundane as it gets for her. Until a woman appeared

This woman greeted the orphanage caretaker, Mrs Bennate tentatively, as if she was trying to find the correct place. Hermione made a noise somewhat akin to a snort. What would make this woman want to come here? The impoverished, decrepit orphanage, where the children are scruffy and the clothes are too big for them. And her accent too. Odd. She'd never met a Scottish person before.

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed the womans eyes lingering on her, the woman had looked at her, and through that moment of eye contact caused the woman to smile. Hermione didn't smile back, choosing to leave instead, she wanted nothing to do with her.

Choosing to retreat back to her room and eventually went back to reading when a knock came about her door. It was the woman again, who closed the door behind them, leaving only hermione and herself inside it.

"Hello, how do you do" hermione asked cautiously, curious as to what the woman could want from her.

"I am fine, thank you, I'd like to ask you a question, Hermione"

Hermiones heart started to pound, frantically thinking back to all that she'd done to make this woman come here for her. Did she find out about me speaking to snakes? No it can't have, she was always careful in watching her surroundings. In fact she was more scared of the other thing

Hermione, assumed to be a pleasant child at school, often a quiet one who found the company of books more intresting than the company of humans. One that despite getting the highest grades in the class, didn't really want to interact with the class themselves. However she had a secret desire that she had kept to herself. And that is how she liked to hurt things.

It started off small, an ant or spider here, but then the desire got bigger until eventually she took to rabbits and even foxes. She carried around a small Swiss army knife she had knicked from a shop a while back and often took to stabbing the animals until she watched the light leave out their eyes. She knew what she was doing was wrong so she had a routine; she'd commit this act of sin then feed majority of the parts to her companion ajundé who loved her efforts (hermione was a stickler for wasting things, especially how growing up, she barely had anything of her own). Her second rule was that she wouldn't indulge in it too much, just once or twice a month.

So yes, it doesnt help that this woman has decided to come and speak to hermione so much as a day after her sinful indulgence. So hermione forces upon a smile and a sweet voice saying that

"Yes, I'd love to answer whatever question you'd like"

What came out the womans mouth, however, was not what she'd expected

"Have you ever done anything you couldn't explain? Shattered a glass when angry? Or levitated something you wanted? Or caused hives on a bully?

Hermione stifled a giggle at the last one, making her think that the old woman was speaking from expierience for the latter part. This, however made hermione somewhat trust her.

"Yes, yes I have"

"Hermione, you're a witch, and that is why you have this ability. It is a marvellous thing to have and its why I, Professor McGonagall am inviting you to attend my school" she said, holding a letter to hermione saying 'Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry'

Hermiome was quiet, to say the least. Multiple cogs were working in her brain trying to wrap her heard around the fact that her abilities were normal, even called marvellous by this woman. Filling her with hope and a feeling somewhat akin to pure joy.

"Yes, I'd love that"

--------------------------------------------‐---------------------------------------------------------

Hermione and McGonagall went to grab supplies over which she was also told how this whole endeavor must be remained a secret and thus McGonagall told the orphanage caretakers how she got a scholarship to a boarding school. A lie which was easily believed due to her stellar marks. She signed up for the funding for disadvantaged children at gringotts (giving her 20 galleons which must be spent carefully)

Hermione then darted from shop to shop to grab all of her supplies, most of her money went to extra books some of which McGonagall (observing her inquisitive mind) bought for her as well. Now she was down to the final thing. Her wand. And so with a grin she pushed the door to Olivanders to obtain it.

Hermione regarded him as scruffy, almost like a mad scientist, with the dark apron, quirky goggles and his manner of speech that had a hint of eccentricity, he was kind through and told her how

"The wand chooses the wizard, or in this case, the witch" whilst opening a case revealing an old wand "try this" he said

Hermione picked it up and instinctual flicked her hand...eventually causing the shop windows to explode. Expecting to see Mr olivanders wrath she inhaled deeply only for him to shrug and say "clearly not that one, try this instead". It was here that hermione realise that such reactions are common for witches and wizards finding their wands, so with more confidence she repeated the process again...and again... and again. She could see the frustration on olivanders face, trying to decipher her lack of partnership with a wand.

"What is one quality you have" he asks

"Pardon?"

"A quality, trait, characteristic" he says "what is your greatest strength"

"I suppose my mind" hermione says, "I remember almost everything"

"That my dear girl is a gift, a talent, yes, but not what I had in mind, i mean something that makes up your character" he paused "what do you want to be when you are older"

At this hermione thought for a moment, she'd never been asked such a question before "I want to be great" she settled on "as great as I can be, to reach my full potential, whatever that is in it doesnt matter to me"

Mr olivander laughs at this and says "that is a characteristic, your determination, your ambition, you'd make a wonderful slytherin. How about..." he then scrambled to the back to find the chosen wand. "This"

Hermione picks it up and a beautiful golden hue emits from her character. The wand had chosen her

"A very powerful wand" he says "it's one of my own creations, made from 2 Woods in fact. It's a Vine and Yew hybrid so to speak, with a dragon heartstrings core, 13 inches" he paused finally taking a moment to look at her, really look at her "you remind me of someone" he said quietly, hermione barely catching his whisper. He proceeded to stare as if he saw someone in her, a look of unease and fustration, as if trying to figure out who he saw. "I shall expect great things from you miss granger." Hermione said a small thank you, paid for the wand and left

McGonagall brought her back to the orphanage much to her dismay and said her goodbyes and hermione spent the rest of her time reading the multitude of books in her own personal heaven. Somewhat excited to start the coming year.

Chapter Text

Hermione arrived at King's Cross train station, with a ticket, one luggage case and a dream. She stared hard at this ticket with what she thought was understandable confusion as the ticket staring back at her is telling her to go to the platform 9 and ¾, it also dawned upon her how stupid it was to take up so much of McGonagall's time asking her about hogwarts itself, rather than how to get there.
Upon wondering in aimless confusion she eventually heard a group of individuals talking about 'muggles' a term she also heard said by professor McGonagall, making her infer that they are also magical people

"Hello there" she said "I am new to the school and cannot find my way onto the platform, can you help me?"

"Why of course, dear" the ginger haired woman spoke with a smile upon her face, "in fact we must be attracting a lot of muggleborns this year, we also have a new student who has asked us, Harry wasnt it?" Hermione looked around and found a boy whose hair was black and scruffy, his clothes too big and is arms too small. Kids from disadvantaged homes alwayd recognised their own, and she knew from the way he stared back, he recognised her too. "Anyway my name is Mrs Weasley, and these are all of my children" She then proceeded to list them out as they greeted her one by one and she smiled and responded back, pleased that this family are able to help her.

"You go through to the platform by running headfirst through the wall, the older boys'll show you, it's Ron's first year as well and Ginny will be joining next year". She nodded and waited for the boys to start, Percy ran first, he gave off an air of arrogance, the type one would find when they think they are more intelligent, hermione noted this down in her mind, possibly for one to be wary of. The twins came next, both giving a vibe of what can be described as the antithesis of Percy's, more carefree and mischievous, its clear they're ones for jokes and reminded herself to stay on their good side for the foreseeable future. Now it was her turn and so she ran headfirst into the platform where she was greeted with a beautiful steam train, she waited for Ron and Harry to also get in, greeting them both with a smile on her face as all 3 went to sit down in the same carriage.

"Hello, I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley" sticking his hand out to them both.

"I'm hermione granger, nice to meet you" and shook it, after all it would be terrible to make an enemy so early into her journey, and she'd need an interpreter for the magical world that can only be given from one who grew up in it.

"I'm Harry, Harry potter" he said nervously

"Youre Harry Potter?!" Ron exclaimed in absolute awe, hermione also now paying more attention, through the books she read she knew about Harry and his fame for defeating 'you-know-who' as people mentioned him in books, and was surprised that the world renowned boy was...well...this, a scruffy boy who looks like he's suffered through mountains of neglect, it was all rather underwhelming

"Do you have...y'know" Ron trailed off, signalling to his forhead. To which harry pulled up his hair to reveal a small lightning shaped scar with a small smile on his face

"Wicked" Ron said in absolute awe

Before anything else could be said, the trolley of food came round and a woman asked "Want anything?" and hermione had soon realised how hungry she was. At the orphanage she had barely been given any notice, the gruel for breakfast was the same, often accompanied with a slice of toast. The scowles on the caretakers faces, hell they'd probably be celebrating me leaving, the so called devil spawn, and through all this she forgot to pack any lunch for the trip, however she had no money so she replied with a

"No thanks, I'm not hungry" a slight growl of her stomach betraying her previous statement

Ron also looked sheepish to get anything holding up a wrapped crumbled sandwich from his side pocket saying that he's "all set"

Harry however was kind, and pulled out a bunch of galleons saying how "We'll take the lot" with a smile on his face. And smiles also grew on their faces too

After a while when their sugar rushes had slowed down and hunger cleared, they took to talking again, and Ron taking out his wand to try a spell "Sunshine, daisies butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow". Hermione giggled at this and asked "is that a real spell?"

"I don't know, it's what my brother taught me"

"Fair enough, have any of you practiced during the holidays?" She asked, glancing around to the 2 of them

"Not yet" Harry said, I spent the last few days getting my things in order, haven't had much time to start reading books yet

"Ohh understandable, in all honesty I've only started done a few spells, would you like to see?" Upon them both nodding she took out her wand, aimed it at Harry's nose and said "Oculus repairo" causing Harry's glasses to be fixed

"Oh, thank you" he said, pushing his glasses up with a smile

"Blimey" Ron breathed out "its not often people are able to do magic offhand, especially not someone who just learnt of magics existence, well done"

"Haha, anytime, now I think ill go off and get changed into my clothes, I'll see you back here when I am done, goodbye you two".

"Yeah we should too, meet back here in 20 minutes"

Eventually hermione came back and continued to talk to the two boys until the end of the train ride, certain she's finally made some friends.

She got off the train and they all boarded the boats, able to see the grandeur of the castle with such a view, no book (including Hogwarts, a history) could not do it justice. It was stunning. Once we got into the castle, Harry potter had a run in with a boy called Draco Malfoy who insured Ron and tried to befriend potter with his elaborate showcase of superiority, saying how "some wizarding families are better than others" and how he "shouldn't hang around the wrong sort" Harry refused to shake his hand, and through this he gained an enemy.

We all eventually gathered round Professor McGonagall to which she gave us the 'run-down' so to speak of what will take place; how there are 4 houses and the sorting hat will choose one for us.

Hermione wondered which house she'd be put into, she that that Ravenclaw, Griffindor and Slytherin were all amicable fits. Her heart beating as the first person was called "Hannah Abbot" and the girl shuffled forward, and put the hat on her heard before it shouting "HUFFLEPUFF" to which she smiled and sat down. "Lavender Brown" "GRIFFINDOR", "Seamus Finnigan" GRIFFINDOR"

The names worked its way down and more people were sorted into their houses, until for what seemed like hours"

"Hermione Granger" putting on a more confident facade, she stepped forward, sat down and placed the had on her head. She was surprised to see that the had spoke in her mind, and could hear her thoughts

"Hmmm, intresting, very intresting, you are intelligent for starters, and a desire for knowledge, you'd be an adequate ravenclaw but..."

"But?"

"You have other qualities, ones stronger than ravenclaw, your ambition and cunningness is bountiful, you've suffered in life amd it seems that you've developed those areas to help you survive, yess yesss youd be a fitting slytherin. Apart from one thing"

"Well what is it" a slight tone of irritability on her tongue, what could be making this hat think so hard

"Your courage, bravery, ability to fight, it also doesn't help that you haven't gone your 'families change' so to speak"

"Family change? What so you-"

"yessss yesss, it would be wise to see your personality afterwards and make a final decision based on what you truly are, for now however, I should put you in the house that suits you currently which will be..."

"GRIFFINDOR"

Hermione huffed and got out of her seat, she was happy to be put in griffindor but unhappy at the fact that the stupid had didn't answer any of her questions. She sat down when Lavender Brown started to speak to her

"That was amazing" she exclaimed, clapping her hands rapidly, a beaming smile on hermione

"What was?"

"YOU, you were, that was a proper hat stall apparently its been a while since the last one" Hermiome recalls hat stalls from one of the books she read, however the conversation barely felt like a minute

"How long was I with the sorting hat?"

"SEVEN minutes, not many people make it that long I must say, what houses was it thinking of putting you?"

"Majorly slytherin and griffindor but it did also consider ravenclaw"

"Three houses? You'll be one to beat I must say Hermione, nice to meet you"

Hermione smiled at the girl, albeit loud but kind, she wouldn't mind being her friend at all.

Harry also took quite a bit of time, but not enough to br considered a hatstall but he was sorted into griffindor like her, Ron was too but he didn't nearly take as much time, just a slight pause. On the other hand malfoy barely had the hat touch his head before it placed him in slytherin but that hadn't surprised her, nor her peers. But hermione didn't fret on it for a moment longer, she was happy in her current position and was excited her classes but also her new peers

Chapter Text

Over the course of the next few weeks with hermione going from a lonely kid from an orphanage to a witch at a boarding school she came to realise that there was one thing that still hadn't changed.

Her love for school. And by extension, her love for learning.

Hermione took to these classes like "a duck takes to water" as one might say, constantly absorbing knowledge like her brain was a sponge and never refraining from developing a curiosity by asking her teachers. She had also realised that she'd have to interact with her teachers differently.

Professor McGonagall was the easiest, she was firm but calm and kind, she was also exceptionally intelligent, striving for no less than 100% effort. She knew that to impress her all she had to do is work hard and practice often, and work she did. She made it her mission to perfect transfiguration early so that she wouldn't fall behind and more often than not spent time in the library to find new ways to improve and channel her magic.

Potions however was different, Professor Snape was a ruthless individual, cold to all but cruel to all but his slytherins. He doesn't tolerate inadequacy, let alone lack of preparation and thus he had his favorites to torment. Majorly people like Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. For neville, the poor guy was absolutely terrible at potions, always blowing something up at least one time per lesson, the absolute epitome of what Professor Snape despised. Harry however always seemed to be someone Snape took his anger out of, hating him for absolutely no reason. She thought it weird how Snape chose people he truly despised.

However her relationship with Snape was a silent tolerance. She did the work, obviously to the utmost perfection, and only answered when he called on her not when she wanted to answer. She had a feeling that he wasn't one to take to "know-it-alls" and besides, hermione had always thought that true intelligence is for it to speak for itself, she didn't feel she had to remind people that she was smart. And rather felt she'd let the grades speak for itself. This mindset however, thankfully kept her in his good books. Or rather, as good as she could get as a griffindor. But through his lack of torment towards her, she felt an enjoyment towards his lessons, she enjoyed potions and felt a peace.

However she couldnt feel the same peace for defence against the dark arts. Professor Quirrel was odd. Quite odd. In fact so odd that even hermione couldn't put her finger on what made him so, well, weird.
For starters it was his stance; one moment cowering away like a snivelling child only for him to stand tall and proud like an authoritative figure only mere moments later with a sharp piercing gaze to top it all off. Hermione could even swear his eye colour slightly changes.

Next was his stutter, Quirrel in some topics of the curriculum could harely get a word in because of his stammer. The man stumbled over his words constantly during these periods and despite him being a very skilled wizard, it was quite frustrating when it came to him being a teacher. However there are also other times she had noticed him speaking fluently. Eloquently. As if the speech impediment ceased to exist. All of this tended to put her a little on edge, hermione hated not knowing things after all.

However despite such inconsistencies actually did enjoy his lessons, and more often then not, to feed her curiosity, stayed after class to discuss parts of the lessons. It was on no particular day in one of the rainy foggy days of November that she decided to do the same

"Professor, may I speak with you?"

"Oh y-yes Miss G-G-Granger, always w-willing to help such a c-curious mind" he said, moving towards his desk in an almost shuffle towards his desk.

"I was reading a passage in a book and was wondering if you could explain its full meaning" the passage read:

'A legilimens is a person who has the ability to read a person's mind, they can be able to read the person's thoughts, memories and emotions at their whim. The antithesis of this however is occumency, the ability to hide one's mind away from prying eyes. In addition, extremely skilled legilimens have the ability to warp one's memories, making them take shape of whatever they fancy, but the amount of memories warped and the types of memories warped could cause harm to the warper, often warping and changing their own memories in the process. Such usage is not only strictly forbidden but also extremely dangerous, often having disastrous effects on the victim and perpetrator.'

Professor Quirrel took a brief time to scan the passage before saying, "I see no issue in the text, what seems to be the issue?"

Ignoring the fact that Quirrel no longer has a stammer she proceeded with her query "The passage doesn't provide any detail on if this is an innate ability or one that can be learned"

"I now understand, well for the short answer such an ability can be learned, it only requires a persistent dedicated mind to learn it, however what makes you want to hide your mind away, so hastily Miss Granger, hm? Or are you the one wanting to do the prying?"

"I feel thoughts are meant to be for the thinker, to hear ones thoughts is to hear one's secrets. I don't want to be read like an open book for others to see, as for the latter" she paused thinking of her response "I don't see why I shouldn't learn it in case I need it In the future, it is one's duty to be prepared in my eyes. Ignorance is another form of stupidity is it not?"

Professor Quirrel breathed out in the form of a slight laugh, his lip curling upwards into a smirk "indeed it is Miss Granger" he then picked up a pen and paper and began to write. "This is a letter to give to Madame Pince to gain access to the restricted section" hermione's eyes widen at this "Oh come on, you really think you'd find such books in the regular sections? This however..." taking out a small note to give to me "Is a list of books to read about the topic, and on the back are some other books to do with dark arts. I know you find these classes quite...lacking in challenging, so once a week we can talk and discuss your findings, and you have that opportunity to ask my any questions you deem appropriate to ask" finishing up with what hermione could only describe as a twisted grin

"Understood sir, and thank you for your help"

"Wishing you good luck Miss Granger."

So hermione went and did just that, and learnt the basics of both occumlency and legitimency in order to strengthen her mind. In addition she also checked out the other books that her professor recommended them, she knew they were on the borderline of dark knowledge but she didn't care, after all, it is one's duty to protect themselves. Is it not?. In addition she also met up with quirrel, and asked him all sorts of questions that she felt she couldn't ask other teachers and students alike. In some way shape or form she felt they were 'cut from the same cloth'.

It was during one of these meetings that she asks him to help her practice occumlency.

"So you want me to go into your mind? Miss Granger isn't the entire reasoning if you learning occumlency to defend it against people? I may have you know from first hand expierience that you can learn it without practicing for the most part-"

"And that's precisely my point professor" she defended with a reasoning almost unyielding tone, "for the most part I can practice without help, but I've come to realise it is harder, and with my limited first year knowledge it is almost impossible to learn so early in life without the aid of an experienced legitimens. And the fact that you gave me dark books to read and learn means that whatevers in your mind I imagine to be far worse than what you'd find in mine so...please?"

Quirrel thought for a moment before saying a final "Alright, but it will hurt"

"I didn't think for a moment that it wouldn't professor" with a beaming smile

And that was the start of their lessons, at first hermione was well, horrible, and she knew it. She hated being so exposed even with someone she sort of trusted but it didn't matter, whatever it took to hide her mind. And boy did Quirrel see everything, he saw her beatings at the orphanage, the isolation, her killing of animals, and whatever else that she thought was reprimanding worthy. But he didn't say anything, he treated it like it was nothing and always gave her tips for improvement. Hermione took this as a sign and said a thank you to whatever God was up there for picking the right teacher.

Professor Quirrel/ Voldermort's POV:

I had never intended to teach any of Quirrels classes. Despite in my early days of me wanting to become a professor and applying to the DADA position, I had stayed quite away from overtaking quirrel and was happy to co-exist, only interrupting when I felt there was something to add. But again teaching was only a small brief desire I had many years ago, and felt much less of a need in the present day. That was until Hermione Granger.
I always knew she was smart, from the moment she sat down she gave off an air of intelligence much similar to the way the Malfoy heir gives off an air of arrogance (such blonde hair stuck put like a sore thumb). But she never gloated or boasted about her abilities and seemed content in letting her abilities speak for her, I found her quite intriguing. However it wasn't until she asked me about defending her mind that she really piqued my intrest. I would've loved to have a teacher to ask about such things, rather than doing risky experiments and procedures to try and figure it out myself, so I decided to help her, indulge in her will so I gave her tips on the books, aided any questions she wanted, even going as far as to invade her mind for her practice. It wasn't until I did that, that the game truly changed for me.

From seeing her mind I truly saw who she is, an orphaned, abused child, who's both ruthless and hurting, I saw her as a kindred spirit, not only from suffering abuse from teachers but by enacting the same on animals. Something about my ability to control the animals final moments excited me, and from what I saw in her mind it excited her to. So, my idea to not teach had been removed from my mind, and I was more than willing to help this girl so to speak, and taught her more manipulative tactics to win her opponent, I told her the best places to hide the bones of her animals, just like I did, and telling her what animals lived where, their skills and bought her a knew knife as the ones she used was almost too dull to be deemed unusable.
Best of all hermione knew I knew, she knew I was helping her and from what I could tell she was greatful for it, believed me to be a good mentor and knowledgeable teacher, is it a wonder that she and I got along so well? It's a shame I was rejected from that teaching position. From the looks here, I think I would've been amazing at it.

Chapter Text

Hermione has always loved winter. It was always a special time for her. For at these times she felt the air turn cold. Almost still. And she felt like it enveloped her with an errie numbing-ness that she always started to crave when devoid without it.
Winter however also one of her favourite seasons and it contained her favourite holiday. Christmas. Hermione was never the sentimental type, she isn't the sort for gathering round a fire to open presents to hang stocking or decorate the Christmas tree but she had her own reasons for liking it. Typically at the orphanage, the caretakers were particularly "nice" to her (if you could count nice as indifference) and the portion sizes were always slightly bigger. However in hogwarts she thought of nothing better than to spend her days with the emptiness of the castle. And more often than not to tuck herself away in a small corner of the library and to pick up a good book
There was also one more particular reason for liking this holiday, and that was how she could finally indulge in whatever killings she wanted. Tis the season of giving after all, and what better way than to treat herself especially when majority of staff and students were away.

She packed a small bag for her little travels, consisting of gloves, leather not wool (hard to clean out the stains), a rope, her pocket knife, wand a small sandwich for her travels, a book and a small garden spade, one that she took from the herbology classroom. she decided it would also be best to keep ahead of her studies and this would be a good time to do it. Professor quirrel also told her of a certain spot in the forbidden forest, a part where its deep enough to not be spotted, but not too deep where the forbidden part comes to play. So as she was on her way to get to her Christmas celebration she was unfortunately met with a

"Hey Hermione, would you like to hang out with me and Ron?"

She paused with her back still turned to Harry and gave an unsightly frown. She was glad he couldn't see her face right now, so she turned around and forced a smile upon her face saying

"Oh, sorry Harry I'm a little busy"

"Do you need me to come with you??"

"Haha no no, I just want to go on a walk for a little while...Christmas was my mother's favourite holiday" she said slowly, emphasising the pause for a more emotional effect. She had already told Harry about her own predicament, with him agreeing not to say anything to anyone, including Ron, and knew that this was the best way to get him to leave her alone. I mean hey, if you have a dead mother why not use her for your own advantage, being an orphan has to have some perks, does it not?

"I understand, I truly hope you feel better, meet afterwards?"

"Of course Harry, talk later" she said, turning back round and briskly walking off to not prologue the conversation any more than it had to be. Once she was out of those doors she felt a strange rush of excitement, she's been awfully busy with fighting a troll, her studies with professor Quirrel, her constantly trying to keep out of trouble but also having mischief here and there that she hasn't had any time to herself. Even the mere thought of such a thing was invigorating.

She soon arrived at the edge of the forest and began to prepare. She loved this part and even after she found out she was a witch she never wanted to do this part with magic. Some things are better off done the muggle way. She laid down her rope and tied a knot leaving somewhat of a small hole, similar to a noose. Connecting that to her base (a twig placed on the ground) she then tied a sapling onto the hook and connected the hook and the base together. And put some bait. She then decided to take out a book and hide behind a tree dead tree trunk and read.

Hermione didn't mind the wait, in fact she enjoyed it, she was a patient girl when she needed to be and patient she was. Books had always been her first love, and an escape for her for any hardships she expierienced. In fact the was so engrossed with her "Beyond the basics: Transfiguration Techniques" that she almost didn't realise the single snap of a branch and the fearful groan of animal.

Her smile slowly grew wider as she prepared herself for her secret present. She hastily shoved the book into her bag and hurridly put on the gloves and stuffed the knife into her trouser pocket as she approached the animal. A beautiful fox, it was hurriedly thrashing itself on the rope, further putting further strain on it, and bearing its teeth as it saw me approach. She carefully grabbed its mouth and held it together as she cut the rope and brought the animal down. Hermione held it down as she unsheathed the knife that Quirrel got me. The animal constantly trying to get away from my grasp so she pushed it further down and sunk her blade into the animal. Looking at it with such venom in her face she removed the blade and sunk it again, and again, and again. The animals making a weak feeble sound before the light left its eyes. She always did love that part. But even so hermione didn't stop plunging the knife inwards, it was her way of channeling rage, hatred, and more emotion than she's ever had even when interacting with most people. Blood splatters littered her face and neck as well as the snow around her. She breathed and huffed, sweat silently dripping down her forhead as she took in the sight in front of her. The animal was downright mangled, barely recognisable but it didn't matter. The second phase begins.

Hermione loved order, and is always a stickler for it. But she loved it most during these moments. She turned the dead creature on its back in order to cut it open. To see what's in it. Most people would gag or look onward in disgust at something like this but not her. Not hermione. In all honesty it probably intrigued her even more. She loved looking st the organs, the brain, heart, but it was always the bones thst intrigued her most. Most I'm the spines and skull. And so she began to cut it all up, to remove the properties of the animals bones and all. She pried out a canine tooth and shoved it into her pocket. A momento of sorts and only then when there was nothing left inside of this dead animal did she finally snap out of her trance. She looked around and with a breathless laugh muttered "Damn, overkill".

Now hermione granger is not stupid. She's smart enough to know to not leave this behind and to always cover her tracks no matter where she is. So she decided to put its guts sloppily back into the foxes body and with the spade dug a hole deep enough and wide enough so that she never has to worry about its rotting corpse ever again. Satisfied with her work, she checked her spot and using her wand, cleaned up the blood off the ground and off herself (a difficult spell she learnt from madam pomfrey who was quite reluctant to teach, but with ample persuasion she got her to teach it to her). She walked back with a slight smile on her face and a kick in her step as she went to find Harry and Ron.

"Hermione, welcome back, Harry said you went on a walk, did you enjoy it?" Ron asked her without looking up to her, heavily concentrating on wizarding chess with a look that hermione had never seen when in class

"Yes" she said with slight joy in her voice "I enjoyed myself very much"

Chapter Text

It was the end of the school year for Hermione and all things considered it was a really good year. She learnt legitimency and occumency to a decent enough degree, she was able to find the sorcerors stone and prevent it from being taken, she had was her house the house cup this year due to her brave actions (causing immense anger from the slytherin table) But in some ways it ended on a solemn note.

For starters her mentor Professor Quirrel was discovered have a head underneath the turban he wore so very often. One that was revealed to be the Dark Lord himself. It explained everything from his change in mannerisms to his surprisingly advanced knowledge in the dark arts, things thst he shared very willingly to Hermione. She was just glad that she decided to tend to Ron instead of going forward with Harry so she didn't have to verse him in a duel.
She saw a side of the Voldermort that not many people got to see. One where he saw the potential that she had and helped her in achieving all that she wanted in this year, and she couldn't have been more greatful.

As she was packing the book Quirrel (or Voldermort rather) allowed her to keep (an old book on Potions he'd allow her to keep) she was surprised to open it and find a letter inside. The book pages had been cut to fit it inside. There was contents inside it too she guessed. Now she was not the type to ever tolerate a book being ripped but it was outweighed by the eagerness to see what might have been one of the last things her mentor would say to her she read it almost tearing off the wax seal.

Dear Hermione,

I have given you this letter in case I do not see the end of the year. Stuck in an unfortunate body such as this, it wouldn't come as much of a surprise. However I know you had your doubts on me and my true persona from the very start. But by now I will either be asking for this book back to take the letter away or I will no longer be present to get it.

You are an intelligent inquisitive child. Remind me of myself as a kid. An eager mind who doesn't mind how light or dark magic truly is, the road you will embark on will be terribly isolating I must say, even more so with you being in Griffindor, so I've decided to help you, more in the fact of giving u books for the years to come to give you a stepping stool into infamous advanced magic. In hogwarts there is a place. The undercroft. I read about it in books that were in my family heirlooms. And no one has known about it for quite a long time. The directions are engraved onto the key. Which I have no doubt you'll find with ease. Once you open the door you'll have your own secret place to not only learn but to also practice. In this area you'll find stacks of books. The stacks closest to you you can learn now, the 2nd set of stacks for year 2 and so on. This is also my way of being able to protect these books from the aurors that'll come to invade Quirrels office so it's a win for me. You can take these home however you must be careful. Caught with this and it'll earn you expulsion at the very least. Heed my warning Hermione.

Good luck.

-TMR

She read the letter beaming with joy. 'He didn't forget me after all.' And shook the letter contents to find the key. An old metal key a pronounced 'G' at the base of it. Leaving her packed suitcase. She took to reading the key as if her life depended on it following the hidden map to her. He was right of course, it hardly took her much time to do so and found herself standing in front of a door with clocks on it. Looking to her right to see if anyone could see her she twisted the key to open it and walked down to see what was inside.

It was cold for starters. Cold like winter. And it was almost like a cave. Dark so dark she had to cast lumos to see and a certain damp smell that smelled like grass when it rained. 'This will do perfectly.' She cast confringus at the fire pit and the hanging lamps to get some light and walked towards her pile of books. To say they were quite a bit would be an absolute understatement. As she walked further down she also observed that there were more books than the previous piles, and more to read as she advanced. 'Just think about the potential, I could be the single most powerful witch to ever grace these halls with these'.

She practically ran back to her piles and started to look further. Finding books on "Dark Rituals and artifacts; how to use, make and cast" as well as "Moste Potente Potions".

After careful consideration she decided to bring at least 4 for her holidays. And decided to put those in her suitcase and carry 2 books on the ride home with her. The reasoning for this was simple. Most adults, knowing her desire to read, will just think that studious hermione is just wanted to get ahead or recap her knowledge, so it wouldn't look abnormal to see her appear with such dense books at the train station. Then the books, though not bring on her person can just hide in plain sight. So she spent the rest of her time talking with her griffindor friends and acquaintances in the great hall.

"Are you all excited for summer. Its been agess since I've seen my parents." Lavender said with a grin. Shoving her clothes into her own luggage carrier without a shred of organisation "My parents told me if I got at least 4 E's we'll be going off to Italy for 2 weeks.

"Well how many did you get?" Parvati inquired

"3 E's and one O. On they'll be so pleased at my work. I was ranked 31th in the year group"

Hermiones ear quirked at that "There are rankings? How did you find yours?" She inquired clearly missing this piece of infomation

"Oh you didn't know? Once you read ur grade letter you should see your ranking next to it, as well as the total in first year which is 60 students"

"Oh, that is intresting who was in the top 10?"

"Well most of the purebloods in slytherin as well the ravenclaws got the top spots as per usual; Blaise got 10th, daphne in 9th, Anthony In 8th, Padma in 7th..." she paused "I dont know the rest, we can ask around though"

"I see, I suppose its a mystery then" she spoke, then trying to find her sheet of paper, annoyingly enough with the whole issue on voldermort and his undercroft made her completely forget about her grades.

"Who do you think got first?"

"I think its Harry, he fought voldermort again, you need talent for that" said Aria Grey

Hermione audibly snorted at that

"What? You think it wasn't him"

"Harry isn't daft by all means but he also isn't the smartest person here, he's a good student but I don't think it's him"

"Hey!!" Harry said with a smile in his face "I'll have you know that beating voldermort was very challenging" he laughed and showed everyone his grade sheet "6 E's 2 A's, one A being in potion which is unsurprising. It puts me at 18th" he then folded the not to put back into his pocket. Whoever that person is, is far better than me."

"Potter! What did you get?" We all turn from out table to see Malfoy and his group of pureblood friends staring back at us

"18th"

"Ha! You're pathetic in your ranking, it's clear to me that fame isn't everything" he said with a sneer, repeating the words that Snape had told Harry on his first day. "I don't even need to ask the rest of you fools, especially Weasley, as dumb as an oaf that one"

"I'll have you know I got 21st, but what did you and your lackeys get?" Ron said clearly furious by the insult at his intelligence

"Well if you must know, pansy got 5th and I got 3rd. Nott however beat me for 2nd" he said holding his head high as if showing off his superior intelligence. The only think he reminded hermione of was a bird trying to prune his feathers. His attention then turned to her

"What did you get mudblood? Probably bottom of the year aren't you?"

"I wouldn't know, I've lost my sheet"

The slytherin table laughed at that

"Lost? Or making up an excuse?" He sneered again "it seems to me that the griffindor table is nothing more than a group of useless dumb brats"

Hermione had it with his insults, she stood up and walked over to professor McGonagall and told her how she lost her sheet, the professor smiled and with a simple motion magicked the sheet up for her.

She took it read it and showed 8 outstandings on the left, and on the right a "1st/60". Despite inwardly jumping for joy she kept her face straight, and marched back to the bullies slammed it hard onto the slytherin table and looking malfoy dead in the eyes said "Eat shit" his eyes widened at her page before she took it back and stuffed it into her pocket and going back to eat her food. Only one griffindor managed to get into the top 10, and it was her, a muggleborn orphan who singlehandedly beat out all of the purebloods who have been tutored for that grade. And it felt good.

Chapter Text

Hermione realised she had way too much fun at hogwarts. She enjoyed the freedom and the acceptance of it all that she had completely forgotten what life was like previously. And now she's back. From the moment she got off the bus to the dreaded orphanage, she felt her soul practically cry out due to the injustice of it. Her other friends got trips to Italy, Canada, India yet she was stuck here, with the dead rats and the rotting wood.

From the moment she got back she was given a mountain worth of chores and duties, to "make up" for her time at her "prestigious boarding school". This also made the older kids go from indifferent towards her to downright despise. They hated the fact that she had opportunities and they didn't, hated how she might get somewhere in life but they won't. And the caretakers weren't any better, their constant snides, sneers, and hits were enough to drive anyone insane. But it was tolerable. Until it wasn't. One of the caretakers Miss Biggs was an intolerable woman. Her tongue as sharp as the pencil skirt she'd wear around the orphanage, and her slight make-up to give an air of naturality. All to give off a pseudo-elegant aura. But she was anything but. And what made her one of the worst was her desire to single people out. Every now and again she'd choose a boy or girl to recently pick on for months on end. And if you weren't picked you'd often go to sleep with the sound of a child wailing in pain to the belt whipping through the air. Horrid sound of course, but better them that you. And it was just her luck that she chose her to be the target In these coming months, when she has no means of escape.

It often starts small, a few remarks no doubt, but a remark from her? Everyone knew the inevitable where to happen. It then slowly escalates, a slap here, a hit there all to build up to the pinnacle of torture. Hermione woke up to her covers being ripped off her. A hand came up fast to pinch her air and use it to haul herself out of bed. But hermione was smart. And she had learnt to bide her time and strike when the time is right. So for the first night, she took the bruises, but she didn't cry, and stayed an emotionless state that even the Miss Biggs was surprised of. She repeated the same with the second night
And the 3rd. But on the 4th night she decided it was time to teach her a lesson. Too long has her reign of terror occurred. And such revenge could be fine if its to a person like this, right?

So when Miss Biggs took her out of bed, and brought her to the empty classroom. A look of amusement evident upon her face, as if silently telling her 'This is the day you finally crack' 'This is the day you cry', hermione simply looked at her dead in the eyes and smiled.
Hermione always knew she could hurt people if she wanted to. She chose not to, just like she chose to put up with it all. So when she locked eyes with Miss Biggs she imagined the worst pain possible. Miss biggs slowly started to falter, her smile dropped and her eyes widened in terror. She dropped her belt and dropped to her knees. Her pupils dilating as she felt what could only be discribed as a serpent, slithering through muscle and bone slowly wrapping around every limb. Every ligament. As if trying to tear then out of their places. Every nerve screamed in terror, as her body felt pulled in every direction, as if the very flesh were pulled by an unnatural force. Hermiones gaze remained as it slowly invaded her mind, hissing whispers of madness which can only as if the snake was not only conducting her body, but her very soul. Her back arched in pain, and her hands clawed aimlessly, as if trying to escape but not knowing where to run to. She let out an ear piercing scream. One can only discribe it as pure madness. She woke the whole orphanage up. A wailing child is one thing, but a wailing caretaker is another. The other caretakers stormed into the room only to find Hermione standing there, her gaze finally off Miss Biggs and towards them.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS" Mrs Kilburn, one of the head caretakers screeched. Eyes wide as she tried to take in the situation.

"PLEASE HELP ME" Miss Biggs yelled, helplessly crawing towards them "That child" she said pointing a trembling hand at hermione "That child is the devil"

"I'm not any more a devil than you are. And I didnt hurt you, all I did was stood here"

"Miss Biggs is this true?"

"Yes b-but-"

"But what? Spit it out"

"I KNOW it was her. It had to be her. It's ALWAYS her. GET ME OUTT GET ME OUT RIGHT NOW" she shouted, thrashing about like she's in a cage. It took 2 male caretakers to subdue her and drag her out. And I never saw poor miss biggs again.

As for the others, the orphans and caretakers alike? They feared me. I was surprised they heeded her warnings but it seems that she made am impact to them as well. Apart from interacting with chores she could go days even a week or 2 without proper interaction. With a human that Is.

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Hermione had to admit even to herself there was no greater joy than meeting Ajundé again. She unfortunately had to leave him behind last year due to rules stipulating that they can only bring a toad, owl or cat. However seeing how many people had familiars deviating from the rules, she decided that it couldn't hurt to bring her own "familiar" with her this time. She found it fun to tell him about the year she expierienced, as well as everything she discovered. Another way she enjoyed her holiday was her friends owling her. Thankfully she had a small bedroom to herself (majorly because no one wanted to share with her) and could accept owl letters from her window. She enjoyed reading her friends letters. Knowing Harry's predicament with his parents however, made her decide to send letters via muggle post, either finding coins scattered around the orphanage and saved up or find them or asking Ajundé for help. It was though this that Harry realised that he wasn't getting any mail and she was more than happy to be used as a middle man to get Ron and Harry's letters across until we could all figure out what the issue is.

As for the books, she spent the first 2 amd ½ weeks utterly engrossed by them, the only shame is that she didn't take any more than 4. And unfortunately unable to practice wand magic due to the trace, she could only sit and read. She decided to make it an effort to strengthen her magic by practicing windless spells. Often having to retry a simple levitating charm for utter days on end. It was a good way to not only get better at spells albeit an exhausting challenge, but also a good way to pass the time. Time that she couldnt wait to speed up.

Throughout the holiday Hermione (and by extention Ron) had learned that the situation with Harry's relatives is worsening, more taunts and chores, less food and freedom, even going as far as to put bars on his window to prevent him from leaving to Hogwarts. It's totally barbaric. She felt jittery about the situation, nervous about it. Harry was her friend, its only normal to care about his situation. So hermione being the loyal friend that she is sent a letter to Ron asking for help, and through countless debates through letter form and passive aggressiveness they came to the conclusion that they'll use the car to break him out. For hermione however, she had to help Harry sneak some things out prior to the breakout, to smooth the whole operation out. Thankfully Harry's house was a 40 minute walk from her location (around 15 minutes via a bus) and so she spent the days before the breakout injured with a bruise or 2 through Harry's wreckless attempts at chucking parts of his luggage out of the window of his aunt and uncles (when they were off at work or tending to some other part of the house).
The day of escape came at 12am when Hermione had to walk to her main road and waited for the car to arrive, 5 minutes away from the orphanage so it wasn't too difficult to haul the items there. Hermione was beginning to feel impatient until she saw 2 beaming headlights in the sky, making its way down to her.

"Hermione!!" Ron shouted waving his arm frantically

"Ron!!" She waved back, unsure if he could truly see her that well

"Oh look what the cat dragged in" one boy said,

"Another conspirator to our devious plan ey?" The other chimed in, seemingly able to read his brothers mind. Identical twins.

"Names Fred, and that one over there is George" he said with a huff, stuffing all of Harry's items into the trunk.
"Now let's make this quick shall we? The sooner we rescue Harry the sooner we can go home"
So we all quickly got into the car and drove (of should I say flew off) as the twins were talking amongst themselves Ron and I decided to have small conversation

"So Hermione, I know it's been a while since we properly talked, I had asked you to give my letters to Harry so I was more focused on rewriting those than sending others to you. How are you though? Did you at least do anything exciting with your family?"

"Family?" Hermione snorted before realising 'she hadn't told Ron yet' "Oh Ron, I'm sorry I uh, forgot to tell you before, I'm an orphan."

"What? I had no idea, when did this happen?" Ron said dumbfounded as if it was a recent thing thst I had lost my parents

I laughed saying "since I was 8, i lost my mother, never knew my father"

"I'm sorry that that happened, Hermione, I won't say a word" he smiled, moving his finger to pretend to zip up his mouth

"Don't worry about it, now, where are we going after we rescue Harry?"

"Well the main aim is to prevent grab Harry and get the car back in time before my mum realises its missing" he slightly shuddered as if thinking of the repercussions of his actions if caught by her "but first we must be able to get Harry out"

For the rest of the car ride there the talked about all sorts of things to pass the time, and hermione felt as if she had seen him the day before, as if no time had passed.

Upon arrival, they ripped off the bars in his cage and carry could easily climb through with his main luggage and owl, he narrowly missed Mr Dursley by the skin of his teeth and hermione silently praised herself for bring some of his items beforehand. There would've been no way he could've escaped without her aid. Harry now in the backseat with ron and hermione spent ages chatting and cheering on their newfound win of Harry's freedom. On the way back to the burrow the dropped her off at the orphanage to avoid any suspicion of her whereabouts at such an ungodly hour (not that they would've cared much of course, but a missing child poses an issue to their establishment and so a strict hometime is imposed until the age of 14. Its clear that after that no one cares where you are.) She snuck into the orphanage, crawled into bed and slept with pure bliss on her mind.

Chapter Text

Hermione loved school more than anything. A sense of total relief washed over her as she stepped off the train and began her walk to hogwarts. It was as if the train station had a barrier to leave her past behind, all worries, troubles, trails and tribulations completely go away once she begins her journey to the castle.

Well, not all of them

For starters malfoy and his gang of lackeys had continued their ridiculous name calling and snides at her and her friends. Typically calling her a "filthy little mudblood" and trying to show her up in every class since then. It didn't work of course, but It seems Malfoy especially is particularly angry about me beating him. She also noticed a sort of hierarchy between each pureblood. Malfoy initiated all confrontations with us, Crabbe and Goyle only then unfailingly trying to help his insults with their brass attempts to add fuel to the fire. In contrast, Nott didn't say or do anything about me holding first place in last years grades. He was always the neutral type, and always with his head stuck in a book, quiet and calm, only answering when prompted to. Hermione always thought that Nott was most like her out of all the students in Hogwarts, often acting the exact same way. And to her there was no doubt in her mind that during malfoys antagonises, when Nott finally draws himself out from the comfort to the book to look up at her, that he feels the exact same way too.

The second most prominent issue was about herself. She was always drawn to the sacred 28. The way their gazes are sharp and intimidating. Their clothes are pristine and their voices are calculating. So young and yet, they know just the right words to say. It makes her attempts at similar actions look. Well, unrefined. Crass. Unpolished. She was going to make it her mission this year to emulate their actions. Almost as if conducting a study. She wants to act like them. Walk like them. Talk like them. Even be them (even though such a feat is impossible). Because behind a desire for such characteristics, envy lay beneath. She will make them respect her, no doubt about that.

The third issue is a new one. Now that her mentor Quirrel is gone she was feeling that her guidance was lacking. But what was even worse is that he was replaced with an absolute wackjob. He was useless. Utterly useless. Too far up his own arse to see how awful he was at any sort of magic. It was astounding he made it this far in life. What's worse is that he was, according to the daily prophet, accomplished. His books sound more like fiction the more she reads them as part of her work assignments and the more frustrated she gets that she has to waste her time with these when more of her time can be spent in the undercroft. Usless man.

Her final issue was more...obscure. she was hearing voices. More specifically a singular voice in the walls. She thought she was going mental, adding schizophrenia onto her list of problems was not on her bingo card. So it was an absolute relief when Harry mentioned to herself and Ron in the great hall

"I hear this voice sometimes. It sounds like it's in the walls. It keeps on saying 'come...come to me... let me rip you... let me-' "

"let me tear you... let me kill you" Hermione interrupted, looking at him dead in the eye. "I've been hearing it to Harry. I thought I was going mad"

"Wha?" Ron said his mouth stuffed with chicken, he really needed to do something about his table manners "I ha'e not eard ane thing" he said, swalling the food in his mouth "you guys should really get checked out"

"Yeah we really should"

"Hermione you can't be serious-"

"But its the truth, we are hearing voices that other people aren't. I'm not saying go to someone to get checked out but I meant to figure out what we were hearing" she said standing up, seemingly finished with her food. I'm going to go to the library and check out any books. And with that she turned in her heel and walked out

She had already checked the library. She wasn't stupid of course it's the first thing she would check when she started hearing that voice. She said it so she could turn to her secret collection and look for a book to help her. Books have never failed her before so why would they now?

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Books did in fact fail her. Weeks went by without any luck. She even asked Harry to borrow his cloak to sneat into the restricted section of the library but there was nothing on a "mysterious animal/plant/object that speaks in the walls" its like looking for a needle in the haystack without not knowing what a needle looks like. Meanwhile in the world of reality things have gotten worse, Multiple people, muggles, have been petrified. Frozen in a state of shock and strange clues to hint at the supposed "heir of slytherin".

Whats worse was the hate that Harry had been getting. Harry and Malfoy versed in a duel resulting in a snake being present. Harry tried speaking to it to drive it away from Simon Crawley. The snake however, irritated with his brass command was reluctant to obey him. She had to interrupt this power play. Hermione stood in front of Simon and looked the snake dead in the eye, and then, unrelenting, spoke to it in her mind. She knew better than to talk to it out loud. And she was more courteous, elegant, as Ajundé had also taught her a few things on how to not only talk to the snake but charm it. It was then that Snape removed the snake and glared at them both, putting a watchful eye not just on Harry but on herself.

Thankfully though, due to the fact that she had chosen not to speak out loud, people in class despite suspicious of her prolonged eye contact, didn't so much as spare more than a second to ponder it. Besides, their attentions were much more focused on Harry, who was a pastlemouth and deemed as the "Heir of Slytherin" it got her thinking, the trait that her and Harry have is rare, could it be possible that she herself could have some magical family? Recearch must be done later, but for now she's more focused on stopping herself from getting petrified and stopping the other hogwart students from killing Harry.

It was after this that she decided to also start looking through the undercroft books. Now at year 2 she was able to start on the easier books as she progressed through the year. One of which was given the title " Dark animals and their formations" That she stumbled upon an animal with similar things that match up with what's happening at school.

"The Basilisk, known as the "King of Serpents," is a serpent of extraordinary size and lethality. It may reach lengths of up to fifty feet, though its growth is continuous and dependent on habitat and age. Its scales are thick and impervious to most magical spells, and its fangs contain a venom so potent that few antidotes exist—only the tears of a phoenix are known to counteract it.

Its most infamous trait is its gaze, which is instantly fatal to any living creature that meets its eyes directly. Indirect sight—such as through a reflection or a camera—results in permanent petrification rather than death. The creature may be controlled only by a Parselmouth, one who can speak the language of snakes.

Despite its power, the Basilisk is vulnerable to the crow of a rooster, which is fatal to it, and to the use of mirrors, which allow safe observation. It dwells in dark, secluded places such as caves or underground chambers." The book also proceeds to fully elaborate on how to create a basilisk, as if a normalised thing, but hermione didn't care much for that. She had found it. The animal that's terrorising the school. But how could she catch it? She guessed that it would be moving through the pipes. Especially since she could constantly hear the damn thing in the walls, however she must protect herself, she is muggleborn after all. Armed with a mere mirror and evidence in hand, she sets off to try and find the creature, it was only until her mirror caught its yellow eyes that hermione felt immobilised, and the world faded to black.

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5 months. 5 goddamn months until she was unpetrified. Apparently Harry did find the note in her hand, and used that to figure the rest out. He even dueled with a version of voldermort from a diary which she would've enjoyed to use if she had known about it.
What worse is that school was officially over, instead of enjoying her time at hogwarts, albeit full of danger, she had to go back to that stinking orphanage, again! And although exams were cancelled she had a lot more to catch up on during the holidays, as well as advance her studies through dark arts. Hermione truly does hope that her 3rd year isn't as hectic ti make her have less time than necessary.

Over the course of the last few weeks she holes herself up in the undercroft like a maniac, desperately trying to absorb as much infomation as possible in order to make it to the final books of Yr 2 so take her new year 3 ones. Due to her excessively reading about dark animals, majority of the yr 2 stacks were on those so she was greatful she read up previously. She had also taken the time to know a Ravenclaw girl called Luna, she was sweet, odd, and always rambled on about nargles. Hermione however, being odd herself, accepted Luna's rambles with a kind genuine smile and with curiosity, there was truly so much she didn't know about this world. One thing she noticed about Luna was also the ability to well, see forward, often talking about events that hadn't happened yet. So as one does, Hermione decided to ask her.

"Luna, are you a psychic?"

"Pardon?"

"A psychic, y'know, one that sees into the future, some of the things you mention often come true in the end"

"Well if that's the muggle term for it then yes, we call them seers, and my great grandmother was one too. Its a trait passed down in the family"

"Oh? What do you see when you see the future?"

"My magic hasn't reached its full potential so I see mere snippets of the future, as if emerging from water, everything is often distorted" she trailed off, seemingly upset about it. "But I'm getting better though, I've been practicing"

"Thats good to hear Luna, well if you ever have a meaningful prophecy about me be sure to tell me about it" she said with a laugh, but Luna didn't smile back, she just sat there upset, fiddling eith her jumper

"What's wrong? Did you see something about me?"

"Not much I promise, its just, in the prophecy you looked angry at someone, blood running down your face as you yelled. I could hear your voice breaking, as if straining to get the words out. You are my friend hermione, I truly hope you stay safe"

Hermione could see her friend starting to worry, it was totally different from her usual zoned out face, it was probably more emotion hermione saw from Lunas face ever. She decided it would be best to not swell on such a matter, she must be better prepared in all aspects to ensure it doesn't happen. She stayed silent for a moment taking it all in before responding "Don't worry Luna, I'll be prepared for it. Thank you for telling me, and if you don't want to tell me any more prophecies it's alright"

Luna let out a breath that she had been holding, it had been a while someone acted calmly to a prophecy, some kids in ravenclaw had also found out too, but if she didn't give them the results they desired they turned her out. Refused to interact with her. Even going as far as to scatter her belongings around hogwarts. But hermione was calm, collected and came to terms with such a prophecy even though it wasn't desirable. So Luna simply gave a small smile, nodded and said "Thank you"

The conversation continued as if such a thing was not uttered and they hermione saw Harry and Ron in the hallway, Luna also saw a friend of hers nearby

"I'll talk to you later Hermione, goodbye now" and off she went without so much as waiting for an answer. Hermione walked towards Harry and Ron and they both gave her a hug and each walked beside her, as if trying to protect her as they talked about their day.

"Hey hermione I was wondering, I'd like to invite you to the burrow in the summer if you'd like" giving her a beaming smile as they walked to their last class, "my family is going to Egypt at the start so it would have to before towards the end, I already invited Harry but I'd want to invite you too"

She had never been to someone's house before, before her mother's death she had always been a lonely child, kids often teasing her about being a bookworm and she never had truly found a friend to play during playtime. After her death it was no different too. She had to admit she was a little excited to just enjoy her summer, she could even practice some magic there too.

"Of course, the caretakers would love to get away from me, and the feeling is mutual, so just owl me when I'm allowed to come and I shall"

"Do they despise you?" He asked tentatively

"Not anymore, they didn't like me due to me doing unexplainable things they couldn't control, but now they keep their distance, I enjoy the newfound peace, often relish in it" and proceeded to tell them a little about the orphanage and how it was like, somewhat opening up to her friends.

Ron loved Hermione. As a friend of course. But she was always so very quiet, don't get him wrong he wouldn't change her for the world but she was the type of person to be guarded, as if keeping secrets under lock and key, much unlike Harry and himself, who were always the oversharing type, hermione always brought a balanced dynamic. He had known that hermione was an orphan since the beginning of the year and he majorly pitied both her and Harry, both were in an unsettling environment without their parents, maybe worse for hermione because she had lost her mother in a way that she had never told them. Ron was happy she was talking more about her past, and felt honoured she had trusted them enough with it. And he still felt like he wanted to know a little more about her, he let her be and felt he'd ask those questions another time, or let her open up to him and Harry when she's ready. The rest of the evening was spent with the 3 chatting away about their families, getting closer than they were before.

Chapter Text

Hermione came back to the orphanage to a few changes around the area. For starters some caretakers resigned. And had new replacements. Some sort of new rule implimented in the gouvernment, something she couldnt be bothered to listen to. Anyway from this the reign of terror associated with people like Miss Biggs was finally no more. The place was newly renovated and there were new caretakers in their steed. And although hermione was a stickler for routine, she welcomed this one, hoping these people would be nicer.

She was first introduced to Marcella or Marcy for short she told her. She was a young woman seemed relatively new, a week or 2 before her arrival at most, and although she appeared worried she still found the strength to smile through it all. She saw hermione appear with suitcase in hand and asked

"Oh, are you a new arrival?", wiping her hands on her dress to give hermione a handshake, it appears she was cleaning

"No, I've been here for a while" hermione replied, already walking to her room to put her bags down

"So why haven't i-" Marcella began to ask following her

"I go to a boarding school, I'm rarely ever here. You don't need to concern yourself with me"

"You must be real talented to go to a boarding school on scholarship whilst still being an orphan"

"Yes. I suppose so" hermione muttered, deciding not to invoke further conversation with the woman

"It was nice to-" and that's all hermione heard as she closed the door behind her into the room. This woman had to be naive. To be nice in a place like this. There is no niceties, no kindness, she'll turn out like the rest of them. Hermione thought, already exhausted from her trip back home, it was the last thing she thought as she slept.

Fortunately or unfortunately more like, she proved hermione wrong. It seemed her kindhearted nature spread to everyone, from the younger kids who she acted more like a mother, to the older kids whom she acted more like a friend. She had managed to get on everyone's good side. Except hers. Hermione was still very weary of the woman, almost every adult had perilously failed her, so why should she trust her? So she just avoided her, reminded cautious around her, replying to whatever questions with as little words as possible.

"Hey hermione, what is your favourite colour"

"Red."

"Thats a wonderfu-" Hermione doesn't wait for the woman to finish her sentence and leaves the room
----

"Hermione, what would you like to do today?"

"Read"

"Oh you like reading? What type of books do you like?" Marcella asks with a smile, but no further response is given, Hermione as hermione continues to do her chores in silence. She's taken to blatantly ignoring her too.

It was on such a day when doing chores that Marcella had another question to ask

"Why are some of the children afraid of you?"

Hermione paused and looked up at her, face emotionless
"They believe I did something"

"And, did you?" Marcella asks, now looking in hermiones eyes

"People believe I did, that's all that matters"

"And what did you do?"

"Enough"

"Enough to make them scared?"

"Enough to leave me alone" Hermione snapped, letting her emotions get the better of her and reveal a look of anger. Marcella sat there and stared, seemingly shocked that the girl who refuses to answer has decided to have some semblance of conversation. It seems that this is a conversation worth responding to.
A pregnant silence fell upon them both as hermione and marcella continue their potato peeling. Eventually marcella pauses again.

"Do you...regret it? What you did?"

Hermione, stops to look up at Marcella

"Not in the slightest"

"Well what did you do?"

"What do you know?"

"Rumors"

"Do you believe them?"

"Why should I, rumors are as tangible as a ripple of water I think. Distorted. Warped. Unclear. I would be a fool to believe them." She let a breath out akin to a laugh "and besides, why would I believe them when I could ask you"

"What makes you think ill respond"

"It wouldn't hurt to try would it? After all you refuse to have a conversation with me on almost any topic"

"I don't entertain mediocre forms of communication"

"Getting to know someone is a mediocre form of communication?"

"No, but icebreakers are, what use is knowing peoples favourite colour or season, I prefer proper conversation"

"Like this I suppose?"

"Exactly like this"

"Well? What is your answer"

Hermione paused thinking about what to say next, she wouldn't lie to the woman but she can't exactly tell her the truth

"I made her hurt"

"Who?"

"A caretaker, Miss Biggs. Before your time I suppose" hermione said shrugging "she was a mean old hag who enjoyed picking on children, I made her regret it"

"How?" She asked, leaning in as if hermione is about to tell her a trusted secret

"I made her go mad. I made her in that instant, feel truly insane"

"Did she deserve it?"

"By my standards?"

"By anyone's standards. Did she deserve what you did to her?"

"Yes, she never hurt another child again"

Hermione waited for Marcella to respond but she never did, and they continued to peel potatoes in silence. Once done Marcella was the first to stand up, as upon walking out the room she paused without turning around saying "I would've done the same thing. Good job hermione".

Hermione looked shocked, and felt a fluttery feeling in her chest, someone had been proud of her for standing up for herself. Someone had understood. Perhaps she had judged Miss Marcella too harshly she thought whilst walking back to her room.

-----

Over the next few days Hermione made more conversation with Marcella, in other words Mercella would ask and hermione would answer with more than a one word answer, even occasionally asking questions un return. Marcella didn't know for how many years this child had been closed off but its clear to see that she is trying in some way shape or form to open up again. She is not so easily trusting and so Marcella knew to not only cherish every moment but also encourage it.

On the other hand Hermione was beginning to grow, often seen talking to Marcella with a small smile on her face, or reading a book somewhat near to where she was. She felt safe with Marcella over these couple of weeks, and enjoyed as much company as she wanted. In addition she didn't feel as angry at the world anymore, and had reduced the amount of times she'd go out to hunt for animals, going from 2-3 times a month to once a month. She didn't find love for animals overnight, but rather she felt less of a need to take her anger out in such a form. And as she was preparing to go to the weasleys to spend the remainder of her summer, she felt herself feel a sense of dread for leaving marcella. So when it was time to go, she decided to give her a small short hug, Marcella smiled at the gesture as if hermione gave her the keys to the city, but that's the type of person Marcella was, and she was happy to come back to the orphanage next year.

Chapter Text

Hermione was on the train ride back to school

"Come on, all the carriages are full" she said pushing open one to find a man asleep using his jacket as makeshift blanket

They all take their seats and hermione focuses on the man's suitcase.

"Who's that?" Ron asks

"Professor R. J. Lupin"

"How do you know that?"

"It's on his suitcase Ronald" she says exasperatedly as if pointing out the obvious. Hermione then drowns them both out, reading a book from the undercroft on blood magic, charmed to appear with a false cover. Her attention perks up at the mention of sirius black

"Sirius Black has escaped from Hogwarts to come after you?"

Sirius Black, from the most Noble and ancient house of black. They're renowned for the dark magic and metamorphagus abilities as well as the crazed madness that exists within their family. From the countless books hermione had read on the sacred 28, it's clear this family, the Gaunt family (that have recently ran themselves into ruin) and the Morvinagh family are the "it" families of wizarding Britain. And as soon as one comes of age, the pureblood houses battle and brawl it out for a chance at winning the hand (or a glance) from one of the most coveted families present. The fact that he had escaped is no joke whatsoever.

It was through this same recearch that she also found out that pastletongue, was almost always an inherited trait. The chances of it happening are next to none apparently, Harry himself was already an anomaly, apparently due to being the boy who lived, but whose to say the same for her? Its more improbable of a chance than her not having a magical lineage to begin with. If she had to had to really think about it, she could be from a squib line from Harpo the Foul, albeit a weak claim but still a reason nevertheless. Or perhaps a member of the Gaunt family, after all their Wizengamot seat is still apparently open, so who's to say she couldn't fill it. But such questions have no way to be answered here, and certainly not now.

"Hopefully he'll be caught and put away again. Everyone is looking for him aren't they? It'll be hard to hide when your face is plastered on every newspaper, every wall and alleyway in england and Scotland isn't it?"

"Yeah... except, no one has broken out of azkaban before. And he's a murderous raving lunatic"

Thanks ron" Harry said sarcastically, clearly noticing that in the 3 years we've known eachother, Ron still has trouble reading the room well. He looked at hermione to give a small smile before the train hissed, spluttered then jerked to a stop. They were here???

Hermione looked outside, confused at their location. This isn't the train station. They've stopped moving. She shoves her book into her bag and says

"Surely we aren't here yet? The journey is too short" but before anyone could respond they start to notice how the environment has shifted, its cold. Too cold. So cold thst frost has appeared on the windows and you can see every breath you take.

Then hermione saw a ragged ghost figure, one that looked like the epitome of death itself. She saw it slowly levitate towards their door. Saw its bony hands claw at the doorknob pulling the door open with such force, such vehemence. It stalked inside, like a predator hunting it's prey, and everything faded to black.

She woke up to a man crouching next to her, lightly shaking her. She determined from the fact that she hadn't seen his face before, and the fact that the ragged man was no longer where he was sleeping that this was in fact R J Lupin.

"Here, have some chocolate" he said shoving the chocolate into her face, "it'll help, I promise". She took the chocolate and ate it, now aware of her surroundings, Harry was still asleep and Ron was now shaking him awake. It seems that he was also affected by whatever that was. Eventually Harry soon came to and professor lupin repeated the same words he told her

"What attacked me" Harry said, slightly delirious

"That was a dementor an azkaban guard looking for sirius black. Now if you'll excuse me I have to have a word with the driver" turning round to give them a quick smile and leaving, shutting the door behind him.

The three sat in silence until Harry finally spoke "what happened to me"

Hermione turn to ron to give his input on what happened when she was out

"Well...you both sort of went rigid, I thought you guys were having a fit or something"

"Hermione? You were affected too?"

"Yes, I was"

"I felt weird though, despite not getting that affected. Like I'd never be cheerful again" Ron said solemnly, still with a worried expression as he glanced to his 2 friends.

"Someone was screaming, a woman." Harry thought for a second pausing "did you hear someone hermione?"

"I didn't hear someone, moreso something" she spoke confused as ever "I heard...crackling, and thuds, loud ones, nothing more"

"So we heard different things? How odd, what do you suppose it could mean"

"Who knows Harry, there is no way of knowing" hermione snapped suddenly feeling a surge of anger rise in her

"Why are you so mad? Bloody hell"

"Just- just forget it." Hermione says eyes close and hand up as if trying to physically pause the conversation "always so many questions and-"

"No answers?"

"Exactly"

Hermione knew what she heard of course, how could she forget it? But it was something that she'd rather not think about. It's with memories like these that she wishes she didn't have such a good memory.

"I'm going to the loo, we should change into our outfits. I'll meet back later" and hermione turns away to go and change

----------------------------------------

Hermione was excited, more excited than she probably had ever been. And it was because of her studies, all of her hardwork, had made her get recognised. It first started with professor McGonagall, hermione couldn't pick what subjects to do or not do. So McGonagall gave her a timeturner. Extremely rare and extremely coveted, she was made to swear she would not use it in front of others and to never let her past self see her. She was initially worried on how Harry and Ron would figure out, with Ron figuring out her timetable inconsistencies and Ron also realising how she appears from in his terms "thin air" (for a guy who cannot read the room he is very observant) but thankfully they didn't ask too many questions, and with the potential serial killer on the loose it took up most of their conversation.

What happened this afternoon though was albeit surprising. Hermione was in potions class, brewed perfectly of course, and she typically worked by herself in the corner far far away from Nevilles mishaps. After lesson she was about to leave when

"Granger, Nott, Malfoy. Stay after class"

Hermione could feel the looks of confusion from ron and Harry, could read their eyes that were practically yelling at her 'What does Snape want with you?!'

So she watched as the remainder of the class Slytherins and Griffindors alike flooded out of the room until only 4 people remained.

"Come to my desk you three." And so they all walked towards his desk, she could see out of the corner of her eye Malfoy shuffling away from her dramatically, as if she were a disease.

"What did I say with my first class with you"

"That you will not tolerate foolish wand waving in your class?"

"Precisely Miss Granger. And you three are my most talented students. I tolerated you because of it" he slowly spoke, glancing at the three children individually "I offer extra classes, either during free periods or after your overall classes, I want you to not only go through this class with good grades I want you to be challenged, my grading with you three will be harsher, my tone more impolite, my work more challenging. I assure you it will not be easy if you choose to accept. But if you do, youll receive a recommendation from me to whatever department you want to go into. As well as much skill than some of the most talented potion masters, despite your young ages."

"What?!" Malfoy protested "Me and Nott have to work with the mud-"

Snape immediately put his hand up to protest, immediately shutting malfoy up

"Do not test my patience Mr Malfoy. Muggleborn or not. You cannot deny Miss Granger has talent. Moreso than the 2 of you last time I checked. Despite there not being any formal grading due to last years circumstance, I am quite certain she would've bested you again." Malfoy looked at him with a hint of sadness like a kid scolded by his parent. Hermione struggled to hide a smirk

"You have a lot to learn from her and Nott, just as they have a lot to learn from you. I implore you to be civil."

He then sat down to pick up a quill. "Tell me your answer after tomorrow's class. You may leave"

Upon them leaving the class Snape calls out to them "I trust your discretion is a given" and the door shuts behind them. Malfoy turns "Don't think for a second I'll ever befriend the likes of you Granger" he says sneering as he leaves, leaving Hermione and Theodore. Theo turns to her "I'm not surprised this happened" he spoke softly

"However do you mean?"

"Potions always does this sort of thing apparently, my father was in a similar thing, told me about it." And there it is. Yet another thing hermione had yet to know about, another disparity between the Purebloods and the Mudbloods. They knew the ins and outs of their society. She was merely an onlooker.
"For what it's worth the group was larger then"

"It's not just three?"

"No of course not, it's just anyone with good enough grades and untapped potential. In out year however, there are three" he paused, positioning his bag on his shoulder better "for what it's worth I'm quite glad you'll be joining us Granger. I hope we can learn from eachother. Goodbye Granger

"I hope so too. Goodbye Nott." Theodore Nott, the only child and heir of the house of Nott, the only house in the same pedigree and sophistication as the Malfoys (who are just under the Black's and their rivals). The one who chose not to bully her and to see her for what she really was, a person. Hermione smiled to herself and walked to her next class. 'Perhaps things will change this year after all."

Chapter Text

Hermione loved to learn, nothing made her happier than to curl up with a good book, in the isolated depths of the library and read. It was as it always had been, a means of escape, of liberation. So it is absolutely ludicrous when the very thing that has been a means of freedom could quite possibly be a means of entrapment.

This is due to the boggart lesson coming up, she read the syllabus 3 times over to ensure she had read it correctly. Today was in fact the boggart lesson. Hermione had carefully curated her image to the public, showcasing herself as a silent passive strategist, one who is smart but also likable, but also never says too much about herself. She was an enigma, and she liked it that way. However with this, it'll shift focus from what she wants people to see vs who she really is, and that is worrying.

The thing is Hermione doesn't actually know her worst fear, she's not afraid of spiders like Ron (the boy goes terribly pale even with the smallest of critters) or Professor Snape like Neville is, leading onto her next worst assumption. Boggarts take the form of your worst fear, or reenact your worst memory. And she certainly wasn't ready to have her dirty laundry aired out in public so to speak. Thus she had decided to do one of 2 things. One, she would go to the lesson and sit at the back of the class, not making eye contact or talking. Or 2... She'd bunk altogether. Hermione went with 2 of course and with a kick in her step she was walking down to the common rooms.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Professor McGonagall asked, a raised eyebrow already in place

"Oh Professor, I was held back a little by my last subject, I'm just getting my books for my next lesson"

"For defence against the dark arts?"

Fuck. She knew her schedule. Why of course she did, she's the one who gave her the blasted timeturner in the first place, so she had to actually read the damn thing "...yes?"

"You won't need books for this lesson I think, more practical. Now run along now otherwise you'll be late"

"Yes. Professor." She said with gritted teeth, a pitiful attempt to smile as she walked in the opposite direction from her safe haven. There's no use even trying to go back there due to McGonagall and if she knows that she isn't in lesson it could be dire for her. So as a result she walks into defence against the dark arts to begin her lesson. Everyone is already standing, crowded around a a cabinet with a mirror on it "Intriguing, isn't it?" Professor Lupin calls out "Does anyone like to venture a guess as to what is inside?"

"Thats a boggart that is"

"Very good Mr Thomas. And would anyone like to tell me what a boggart looks like?"

"No one knows, Professor. It takes on the form of whatever the person fears the most. Or a persons worst memory re-enacted. That's what makes them so-"

"So terrifying yes. Well done Mr Nott, 5 points to Slytherin. Luckily, a very simple charm exists to repel a boggart. Repeat after me. Riddiculous"

"Riddiculous" the class chants

"This class is Ridiculous" malfoy mutters, earning a slight smirk from Hermione, 'sometimes his anger is laughable'.

"Now you must force it to assume a shape that you find truly ammusing. The incantation is not enough. Neville please join me" Neville comes forward tentatively. "What are you most afraid of?"

"P-p-professor Snape sir"

"And what about your grandmother-"

"Shes not the best image either" he says, making the class giggle

"I want you to.." and whispers in Nevilles ear as Neville stands in front of the cabinet. It then slowly opens to reveal, Professor Snape, in his grandmother clothes. The entire class laughs tremendously and hermione realises for some it could be a very fun class. She was still quite cautious of it all.

"Professor, must we all do it here?" She turns surprisingly to Nott, asking the Professor with a slight frown. Perhaps she's not the only one hiding stuff

"Why yes, of course, its all a bit of fun isn't it?" Lupin said dismissively still laughing at Nevilles one. "All of you form a line, quickly, quickly" as they all shuffle forward, some pushing to the front and others pushing to the back. Hermione and a couple of purebloods surprisingly all pushed to the back of the line, hoping the lessons would end quickly enough for there's not to be shown. Leaning to the right she could see everyone's fears, Ron's was of course a spider, who he changed for it to have rollerskating, stumbling and falling over repeatedly Next Parvarti, who stepped forward, showing a cobra and she riddiculoused it to be a jack in the box, rocking back and forth and back and forth. A sense of dread is forming, Harry went next, and found thst his biggest fear was loosing his friends, like he lost his family, he won over his fear with a happier memory, of us playing in the snow in school. Then astoria went, her biggest fear was not being recognised as her own individual, constantly in daphanes shadow. And funnily enough, daphane had the same exact fear. Then it was Aria with heights, Lavender with heartbreak, Pansy with high expectations. The line moved closer and closer and she started to realise the fears became worse as the line went on.

It was Malfoys turn, his fear was also expectations, but it seems it was twisted, his father was his main antagonist, shouting at him to do better, yelling of how incompetent he could be due to him earning 2nd place because of a "filthy mudblood". Hermione didn't know if this was a a fear or a memory. Perhaps both. It was Notts turn next, his was worse, actual physical abuse from his father, beaten with his father's cane with him yelling how he'll end up like his mother, "dead by my hands". The class was silent now, as Nott shuffled to the side, not daring to look up at anyone. Finally. It was her turn. What did the number one student fear?

She slowly stepped as the boggart took a while to change and contort to her worst memory, as like she said, she had no fears. But it seems the boggart knew what memory to pull out, from the very depths of her soul, as the environment quickly changed. It was hot, too hot, as fire surrounded her as she turned around and looked back at the boggart. It was a door. A door with a crackling fire, and repeated loud thudding, a woman screaming Hermiones name through the glass door. Hermione watched as the womans skin turned blistery and her hands turned to black. Her face twisted and contorted as the fire spread to her body as she released a hellish scream before collapsing. Hermione stood there, hands by her side, she couldnt even raise them if she wanted to, much less say the spell, tears in her eyes as she tried to stumble back but tripping and hitting the floor and said one word "Mother." The door finally opened and the woman started dragging her arms to get to Hermione, groaning and dragging her body towards her. Hermione did not move frozen in complete shock eyes wide. This was truly her worst memory after all. Professor Lupin overlooking the situation ran in front of hermione, separating her and the woman, his fear changed to a silver orb before dispelling the boggart back into the cabinet. Hermione stayed silent, still on the floor, she forced herself up, and felt angry, infuriated. Even after Malfoy and Notts he still didn't stop the programme. She was enraged, so enraged she felt like she couldn't stop such anger

"Hermione I-" Lupin started

"Do not bother. It's not just me" after that she turned and walked out. She got back to her common room seething with anger, seething with pure rage. She couldn't think straight and felt if she stayed any longer she'd pull her hair out herself. She grabbed her pocket knife and practically dashed for the woods that surrounded the castle. No hunt, no proper allocated location she just had to take her anger out on something. She spotted a moon calf, she immediately drew her wand out and shouted "Aresto momentum" causing the thing to slow down immediately. From there she practically tackled the creature, and drive a dagger through its chest again and again. Blood splatters all over her uniform and face as she finally relents, as the mooncalf is slowly dying due to the spell, she places both her hands around its neck and squeezes tightly, slowly constricting any and all airflow. The mooncalf, giving one last groaning sound let's out no more. Hermione sighs, breathing heavily as she slumps beside a tree, as she slowly starts to realise how foolish she had been. No gloves, used a wand, blood on face and clothes, knife and recently deceased mooncalf next to her. She jumps forward and steps into action. She picks up the mooncalf (dragging it would leave a trail) to a part of the forest nearby that had recently dug soil. She dug with her hands until she created a small pit and buried the mooncalf there. She quickly took her knife and at a nearby river washed her hands and knife when "Who's there?" Hagrid. The half giant is the grounds keeper who, since she's known from first year, frequently takes trips to the forest to get ingredients

"It's just me, Hagrid" Hermione says, her back still turned to him

"O er 'ello 'ermione, how yer doin"

"I'm p-perfectly find Hagrid" Hermione said a bit too fast for her liking, slightly stumbling on words as she said them "I was just here to take a walk"

"Ohhh alright, that makes sense then, I waz wonderin why 'ou were by yourself, best be getting back now don't yer think?"

"Precicely Hagrid. Nice meeting you here". She said now turned around snd stood up, behind her back closing the knife and clutching it tightly in her hand. Heart pounding as she did 'this was close. Too close.'

"Hey er 'ermione, what you got on your face?" She inwardly gasped and turned her head away, a few drops of blood still remaining on her face

"i fell and got a couple of scratches. I was washing my hands in the water, they got a bit muddy." Hagrid laughed at this and hermione thanked the gods he didn't think to look into it. Being a "smart 'rule abiding' student" really does help such situations.

"Alright alright. Do be careful now" he said and walked away. Hermione walked back to the castle cursing at herself for her foolishness. She told herself this would be the first and last time she'd let any emotion get the better of her. But this was very very helpful. She walked into the great hall and found Harry and Ron already there. Their conversation halted to a stop as they watched their friend in pity. Hermione ignored them and sat down with a book in hand and a fork in the other

"So uh hermione. How are you feeling today" Ron asked, a grim expression on his face

"...fine, and you?" 'Where are they going with this?'

"Well, me and Harry were thinking and we just wanted you to know that we are always here for you"

"I don't need assurance, I am perfectly fine" said with a monotone voice her friends are accustomed to hearing

"Hermione your reaction. Its the most emotion I've seen from you in 3 years-" Harry spoke

"And why do you think that is? My mother was a lovely woman, I buried that memory because of this." She said with a tone that left no room for interrupting "It's not a topic one talks about in day-to-day conversation"

"But hermione we are your friends, we should be there for you" "Precisely. You are my friends, and I'm not struggling with anything. I'm fine." She snapped, and her 2 friends said nothing, turning to eat their foods. Why are they so upset? It's her memories, they shouldn't be hurt by something like that " the shock wore off from me long ago. I went on a walk to calm my anger" she spoke softly, trying to think of some way to diffuse the tension

"Do you remember her well?" Harry asked "I have a good memory, so of course I do. Besides she died when I was 8, so not much room to forget such an endeavor" she paused "she used to tell me stories a lot. That's what I remember most" she recalled, as if retelling something from a textbook, her voice steady and certain, and lacking in any sadness

"Did she ever tell you about your father perhaps? There is a possibility you could have family"

"Well whoever he is my mother hated him. She said that he was a cruel senseless man, who took pleasure in people's pain. She asked me not to inquire and I adhere to it" hermione finished her food still not looking up from her book. "Whoever that man was, he's no good so I'd rather just stick to the orphanage" she said with a laugh, "I have wondered who he is though, but I'd rather not look for him, and he probably has no idea I exist, either that or he refuses to acknowledge me"

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"I simply don't care. He can ignore me all he wants, I don't need a father, I've survived without one for 15 years, I think ill manage for at least 15 more" she glanced at her watch, wanting some time to herself in the undercroft she excused herself from the table under the pretence that she's going to sleep early. She remained in the undercroft for some time, learning blood hexes and ancient Rituals before getting into bed and having a quick dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Hermione was a stickler for control. She hated feeling weak, powerless and vulnerable. And after that lesson with the Boggart she felt that her potential wasn't fully reached, she had been progressing of course, her magic was rivaling that of a 6th year student, and one could even say she's surpassed that with the amount of dark arts she had learnt due to her studies in the undercroft.

She remained a neutral party when it came to dark arts, she learnt it because it contained a realm of possibilities that she deemed Intriguing enough to not not explore it. She found it quite foolish that there were some who refused to look at it. After all, doesn't it matter how its used rather than what is used?

She had also improved on wandless magic as well, realising that magic similar to the body was something she could exercise, realising that harder spells made her feel more tired, she dedicated her evenings, once all classes and projects finished of course, to flick back her timeturner to the afternoon and practice an array of wandless spells to exhaust her body just enough to drag her body to her bed and practically pass out as soon as her head hit the covers.

Her potions work was indeed a bit more challenging as she worked through, she spent countless days in the potions room studying countless of ingredients and their combinations. It was part of Snapes homework for the three, saying how we must start off with the foundations before we even begin to grasp the complexities. Thankfully, all 3 of us were quick to take to it all, and so we progressed in our studies, we learnt different potions and tips from Snape on modifications, its clear he frequently made his own potions by the way he new how to alter them. It had been about 3 weeks of this that he made an announcement

"Your next task Is to brew a draught of peace and your extention of the task Is to modify it. People say this potion is peaceful but it can also be quite disorienting, instead of a slow rock into peace its moreso like falling off a cliff-face. You three will have one month to do this, you can of course, try and fail to do so but I expect 2 potions by the end of the month. Failure of this task means my teachings aren't worth the effort, and you will be kicked out of the extra lessons" hermiones eyes slightly widen at this fact before switching back to her expressionless face. "Any questions?" You three remain silent "Good. Begin. I shall take my leave now, I will not be supervising you three with the duration of this month" and with that he turned and walked away

All three kids took different starting points, Malfoy took to going over ingredients and their uses again, seeing which ones could help soften the blow of the peace draught. Nott took to the library and brought books back to the potions classroom, with the hopes of researching if there are any similar potions to the draught, like the sleeping draught, and observing their properties and prowess, I the hopes of creating a hybrid. Hermione, well, thought for a moment before saying "fuck it" and using a sharp knife cut her arm with a deep slash. She sighed, rolling up her sleeve and said "I'm going to Madame pomfrey" and walked out leaving Draco and Theo in utter shock.

Hermione didn't like blood she didn't care about other peoples blood, nor the sight of it, just its smell, a horrible iron smell, and the way it felt on her skin, the way it looked. All in all such a sight always makes her slightly agitated. Madam promfrey witnessing the sight, let's an irritated sigh leave her lips before she said "sit down, let's have a look at you" as hermione was getting patched up (she needed to do 4 spells: one for blood, one for muscle, tissue and skin repair, it truly was a deep cut)
"What happened"

"I cut myself."

"And? What did you do to invoke such a deep cut?"

"Potions. The knife slipped out of my fingers, I promise." Madam pomfrey gave her a look that meant she still wasn't convinced but let it go after a couple of spells she was already patched up

"Youre free to go, try not to damage yourself anymore?"

"I'm feeling a little agitated Madam Pomfrey, I absolutely hate the sight of blood, it never does me any good" Hermione said feigning the feeling of nervousness, making a conscious effort to fidget and squirm in her seat.

"Fine" Madam Pomfrey huffed and stood up, getting a vial from her cupboard. This will make you feel better shoving the vial into her hands.

"You know Madam Pomfrey, I've always been fascinated with medical magic. In actuality growing up as a muggleborn, it made your work all the more intresting" she said with a beaming smile

Madam Pomfrey also shifted from anger to content, its clear not many people appreciate her work "Oh really? What do you like most about it"

"The ability to help people" hermione said, walking around the room in a seemingly randomised manner "youre always there to give people a helping hand come rain or shine, I think being a healer is a noble profession, I must say" hermione turns, hands behind her back, just where the vials were for the draught of peace.

"Not many people see it that way" Madam Pomfrey turns for just enough to time for hermione to silently open the glass cabinet slightly ajar "It's clear that they have no value in medical magic. But if you want to learn some parts I'd be honoured to teach you?" Hermione finally is able to slip 2 more vials into her pocket and paused at the weight of her words, she was allowing hermione to learn medical magic? This could be useful if she or her friends were ever injured

"Yes I'd love to" she said, her hands in her skirt pockets in an attempt to hide the vial outlines

"Well once a week, Sunday. Now if you'll excuse me I have other students to attend to"

Hermione didn't wait for her time be potentially caught and went back to the potions classroom "Hello you two. What have you been doing whilst I was away"

"None of your concen mudblood" Draco said, not looking up from his page

"And here I thought you would've loved my support. Oh well" she turned and started walking away hoping they'd take the bait

"What help" they both asked, attentions turned to her. She smirked at them

"Well someone got 3 vials of the draught of peace to try."

"Where did you get these?" Nott asked eyes wide in pure shock

"Madam pomfrey, I had to cut my arm to get this so this'll owe you" she said with a playful tone and a mocking wink

"Granger we aren't going to cheat-"

"And who said we're cheating Draco." She said coldly, eyes borrowing into his. He was sitting. She was standing. And this height difference made her all the more intimidating "Snape said we must brew one and brew a better counterpart. How will we know what to brew if we don't know what to change. It is simple, no?"

They both stayed silent for a second before they looked st eachother nodded and walked towards her to get the vials

She starts laughing at them "you really thought I'd give you a vial without something in return? Honestly are you slytherins or not"

"So what do you want then?" Nott asked

"I want you to owe me. Both of you. When and if the time comes for you to repay me then you will. No questions asked. Agreed?"

They sat back silently debating and nodded in return

"Say it"

"Say what?"

"Say it out loud. I want to hear it In person so thst if you refuse in the future I know to deal with you." Her gaze still cold and icy, her demeanor changing into a more sinister one.

"I agree." Theo said and Draco looked at him about to protest "We need this, and I somewhat trust her myself"

Draco stood their silently before looking at her dead in the eyes, cold eyes matching hers "I agree." She then put two vials onto the desk to the side of her for both boys to take one and drink it. She took hers herself and felt the affects. She felt a heavy rush wash over her as if a large wave submerged her underwater but to the point of a feeling akin to drowning, as if being punched in the face to sleep rather than being lulled into it. It felt disorienting and somewhat sickly and a knowing look to the 2 boys next to her she knew they felt the same way. They took it easy for the rest of the evening. And decided to leave to get some shuteye

When she woke up hermione knew she had to start. Today was Saturday and it was a day of no classes and the liberation to lie in bed and get some extra shuteye. But not for her, she woke up at 6 and upon eating her breakfast earlier than majority turned to the potions classroom to get a heads start. Only to find both Theo and Draco there.

"Fancy seeing you here Granger, got a lie in I see" he smirked beginning to work on his potion. It takes a week to brew and thus we only got 4 tries to get it right before the due date, not even including the extention. Hermione scowled at him but said nothing as she took to her desk besides Theo. How was she meant to know they would wake up earlier than her.

"You both typically early risers?"

"I am, Theo isn't, he's always grumpy waking up"

"And rightfully so. But he's right, this time however I woke up on my own accord. Too many ideas in my head, I couldn't sleep much longer."

She nodded and that was the end of the conversation. All three worked tirelessly on their potions, hermione becoming completely engrossed in their work in the coming days. In the end it took her a week and theo 10 days and draco 10 ½ (he stayed up a little longer on the 10th night to finish his. They all compared theirs with eachother of course, Malfoys, despite taking the longest was the lightest silver but the least like turquoise, leaning more to a bluish tint and Notts potion colour was the closest to turquoise out of the 3 but his vapour produced a greyish tint. Hermiones was moreso an equilibrium between the 2 but it wasn't perfect by any means, but she was starting to understand Snapes message; by them comparing and sharing ideas it made them better than doing it all alone, especially with no teacher to help. It's clear all 3 had talent that surpassed most of the students in this school.

The second part of the challenge was trickier, they all compared their findings on possible altercations, the process was slow and demanding, often giving her reason to stay uo later, work harder, skip meals, with the way all 3 had been studying and working it seems they all had this potion take its toll on them. So with persevering and luck they persisted and finally presented 2 potions each for Snape.

"I'll rank these one through 10, we will be observing the colour, consistency, as well as the affects. I trust that you all aren't going to put me into an eternal slumber?"

They all shook their heads no, certain they had tasted it beforehand before putting it on there

"Good. Mr Malfoy you are up first." He tried both potions and with a stern look writing something furiously in his book

"Mr Nott, if you please" and gestured to him putting his potions and repeated the process

"Finally you miss granger" and did the same

Upon marking all three he stood up, handing a piece of paper to all 3 students and saying "I'll see all of you next class".

She looked down at her paper: "Colour: 6 Vapour: 6 Consistsncy: 8 Affects: Normal - worked as usual 7 Altered - less of a punch, more of a slap, decreased the woosiness too 8."

She sighed at these words, upset at her low scoring. Malfoy however was beaming and Nott was indifferent as per usual
"Well you heard the man, see you lot next class" Malfoy says swaggering out of the classroom as if he'd won the lottery

"Is he always like that?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But he's naturally gifted at potions, gets it from his mother of course."

"And who is she?"

"Narcissa Malfoy, but most people know her from her maiden name Narcissa Black"

She paused, sirius black is his relative?

"How did you do then?"

"Colour 8 vapour 5 consistency 7 affects normal: 7 affects altered 7. And you?"

"Yeah similar results with mine", as she proceeded to list out her own

"Hm, looks like we both have a lot to learn then. I must admit I'm quite disappointed with how I fared"

"So am I, but it was our first major assignment, I have no doubt we'll improve in time"

"Haha I suppose so, well then, i am going to get some well deserved rest, seeing as it's just about curfew. Until next time Hermione" giving a small smile, her ears perked up at fact that he used her name

"Yes, goodbye Theo" he smiled and left towards the slytherin common room, putting the disillusionment charm on him to sneak back in, she also did the same.

She got back into the dorms to her dormmates huddled around talking about boys.

"He looked at me. Can you believe it? His gorgeous eyes and wavy hair..." Lavender said dreamily sighing back onto her bed

"I heard he talked to you, what did he say?" Aria Grey said, her and the rest of the girls leaning in to know more

"He wanted to go to Hogsmeade together, can you believe it? I cannot wait. God what am I going to wear? Girls you must help me" Lavender said pacing around the room

"Who do you like?" Hermione asked

The girls turned round in shock that hermione was getting involved in boy talk, she usually just goes straight to bed

"Seamus of course. He's so handsome and sweet" she said trailing off, before her eyes immediately darting back to hermione like a hawk locked in on their prey, hermione regretted asking in that moment

"And what of you Hermione? Any dashing man caught your eye"

She snorted, in laughter at the girls ludicrous question much to the confusion of her dorm mates "of course not, why would I have an attraction to them?"

"I mean we're teenagers, we are supposed to like guys yknow"

It hit hermione like a tonne of bricks, attraction, crushes, romance, all the stuff of films and books, she'd been so busy with her projects that she failed to miss the fact that she had still felt none of it. She still found people pretty, handsome, ugly, she had eyes of course, but it never went beyond that. And as for sexual attraction, she found it rather off putting, to be naked in front of someone just sounds like your putting yourself I'm a vulnerable position. She had read books sex and masturbation from an analytical sense, of course, but honestly never found the appeal or desire for it. Even though she knew people her age had found the appeal for it (sharing a room with 6 teenagers is not ideal in some cases, especially if youre a light sleeper. She knew such a thing is not normal so she did what she usually did, lie. "Oh well uh, I just haven't found the right person, I'm more focused on my studies and isn't really looking for anyone"

The girls sighed, seemingly accepting her answer, "that's Hermione for you, always with her head stuck in a book, I do hope that you one day snag someone your well type"

"Uhh, thank you?" She said questioningly, she didn't really know how to answer "I'm going to go to sleep goodnight guys"

"Goodnight" the rest of the girls say as they turn back to hushed conversations on boys and dates. Hermione can't help but feel like she wants to be a part of it, a part of her wishes her life could be as simple as worrying about the next date. But unfortunately she desires power and control and to add to this she doesn't feel that way for anyone. 'By the looks of it, I'll probably die a single woman... and i dont have a single issue with that. True love is a load of nonsense.' She thinks as she succumbs to a deep slumber.

Chapter Text

Hermione days were far from monotonous, rather chaotic in fact, but she still had time to notice irregularities with one Professor Lupin. Apart from the boggart incident he was a good person, and an even greater teacher, knowing how to interact with the class and what would make them learn best. It seems he might be a good candidate to hold the position, if he manages to survive the year that is. However one unfortunate thing that occurs is his absence, every so often he is off sick for a couple of days and comes back looking slightly more rougher than his usual attire. It was all rather odd. In addition came the deviation of their syllabus but none other than professor Snape, a man who follows his own schedule almost religiously, and all this to learn about werewolves?? It just made no sense to her.
It came to her however, a couple of days afterwards, as she was looking up from her book in the undercroft, a translucent window that projected a silvery orb. Similar to the one in professor lupins boggart. Suddenly it all clicked, 'Professor Lupin was a werewolf'. She was absolutely elated in her findings, simply for the fact she was the only one who knew, and in all honesty she didn't know who to tell about this infomation. Harry and Ron would probably get themselves in danger, and Luna would just go on a mumbling jargon on well, nargles and whatever that goes on in that girls head. Don't get me wrong, she's a very intelligent woman but separating the useful infomation with the not so useful infomation would be a long perilous task indeed. In addition she knew the potion wolfsbane was the only known potion to help werewolves, and not many people knew how to brew it. Despite being a mere 3rd year hermione wanted to learn it. After all isn't it her god given right to challenge herself? But for this it would be terrible daunting on her own so she decided to go to her potion acquaintances so to speak; Theo and Malfoy.

She wouldn't give them the answer mind you, she wouldn't want to take the joy she got from it herself. So she just briefly mentioned to them both that she has a new challenge and to "pay attention go Lupin" and waited for the bait to take hold.

Nott figured it out first, unsurprisingly a couple of days later, he passed hermione a book on werewolves to her with a prideful knowing smirk across his face, before asking her a simple "when do we start"

They were in the library that evening when malfoy came barrelling in, earning a scolding by Madame Prince. He marched over to where they sat and paused, a frown across his face seeing Nott there "when did you figure it out, I was certain I'd be first"

"This morning, we just started receach today actually on the wolfsbane potion"

"I lost by mere hours?! Damn it" malfoy mumbled sitting down in a huff

"In all honesty the fact that you both got it this quick is good, I was worried I'd wait for longer"

"I know at hogwarts they often accept daft oafs, but we aren't all idiots granger." He said with a smirk shes now used to seeing "Now that I think about it isn't that extremely advanced? Like more advanced than what we'd usually do?"

"Yes but I thought it would be a good challenge, listen I know I couldn't do this by myself it's unfortunately too complex to handle by myself..."she trailed off then looking at them in the eyes "but together? Now we might just stand a chance. If you want to that is"

"I'm in. Well I was already in otherwise I wouldn't be in the library researching about wolfsbane but thought it would be best to say it out loud"

"Sure why the hell not, got nothing better to do anyway. And besides, we three are the best of our year. If there's anyone I could trust to do such magic and not get, well, killed. Even if it is with a mud- er with you both" hermione almost did the biggest head spin of her life. Malfoy was not only no longer calling her a mudblood but he's recognising her as an equal, she sent a confused look before smiling and agreeing

"I feel the same way, I'd like to practice all sorts of spells and potions with you both, if you'd also like to that is?"

"All spells?" Theo inquired, emphasising the all to imply he's asking about dark spells too

"Yes, all" Draco and Theo grinned at this agreeing almost instantly

Hermione kept silent for a second, debating whether or not to discuss the undercroft yet, ultimately deciding to wait until 4th year. It was her safety net after all, and what better way to check to see if they're reliable than this time period. If not she can forget the idea of every becoming more than acquaintances with them.

"Let's meet after curfew next week to go start that part. The slytherin girls toilets that is, the one with moaning myrtle? As for now, let's go back to researching."

------------------
Draco, Theo and Hermione met up as expected, they wore black robes and hermione used the disillusionment charm to easy sneak past the prefects and faculty patrolling Hogwarts. Hermione was the last one to arrive

"Y'know, you really must hurry up Granger, me and Theo have been waiting for ages" he said firmly, before grinning to show he's only having a laugh

"Well Malfoy, I had to travel from griffindor Tower. All you had to do was merely walk up a flight of stairs." She said with a huff, putting her bag down. And they all sat in a little circle, well a circle for 3 people that is.

"First things first we should decide on what we are learning, we should also make sure we finish the entire hogwarts syllabus by 5th year, for then we can spend more time honing whatever skills we have."

"Agreed, there's nothing worse than falling behind" nott said "but in actuality will we learn light or dark magic?"

"Both in actuality, however I think it would be best to cover stuff more outside the specification of our school, this includes mostly darker magic" she paused treading carefully into her next sentence "your parents, I've heard the rumors of their side in the first war. I'm not here to ask if it's true or false as that's irrelevant, but due to your pureblood heritage I have a feeling it could give us access to books that are more...lucrative."

"Our families both have manors, both with enormous libraries, however accessing them would mean we must ask our parents first right now... and I dont want my family to have any more reason to push me towards being dark, and by extention a death eater. I will bring books for forth year, they won't notice they're missing anyways" Theo replied fiddling with his jumper in a very uncharacteristically theo way. She could wait till 4th year, she can be patient when she wants to be.

"Alright then, that's perfectly fine, I have a couple of books, I got from the restricted section (in reality she took them from the undercroft) and those we could study them" she took out her book on dark jinxes and set to work. They were knee deep in discussing theories of spells, learning the oppugno jinx as well as making up spells for their own use, slowly compiling their own creativity as well as their own intelligence.

And now, halfway through the school year they are inventing spells from the very groundwork, like locus aeternus (a permanent location for an object, or person. Or flumen incendere for a lightning spell. Of course however, they also worked on more torturous spells like ventricular exacerbatis causing a increase in heart rate leading to shortness of breath and feeling of suffocation. Or oculus ruptura. A spell causing the victims blood capillaries in their eyes to erupt, causing their eyes to bleed and to loose their vision. Or their worst one yet pulmo spina a curse involving the conjuring of thin sharp thornes on one's lungs, making every breath feeling like a stab.

On a side note these secret meetings both in the potions classroom with Snape and in the bathroom have made all 3 of them quite content with eachother. Draco no longer teases hermione for being a mudblood but she knows this same courtousy doesn't extend beyond her. And in all honest it doesn't matter to her, he can bully anyone he fancies, what matters is that even despite her blood he respects her. she's the exception, and she loves being one.

--------------------

Now Hermione loves Harry and Ron, they're her closest friends, ones who stick by her through thick and thin. The problem is the chaos. Harry and his "I cant go one year without putting us in danger" self, and her and Ron are often dragged into the mix. And when Ron turns to them both, leg broken shouting how sirius black is an animagus. They realise they are in far more trouble than previously thought

Sirius stood menacingly shutting the door behind him. His teeth black and hair rough and jagged, still in his askaban attire. It was a horrid sight to behold.

"Only one will die tonight" he said menacingly.

"Then that one will be YOU!" Harry shouted, running towards Siruus and bringing him down to the ground in an attempt to attack him. He laughed at this however,

"Are you going to kill me Harry" he said smiling madly

Just then the door swung open and an "expelliarmus could be heard, the shadow-y figure stepped forth. Professor Lupin.

"Well well sirius, looking rather ragged aren't you? Finally the flesh reflects the madness within" His wand pointing at Sirius

"Well you woukd know all about the madness within wouldn't you Remus" Hermione realised they must be allies, just before Lupin smirked, out his wand down and helped Sirius up and giving him a great hug.

"Let's kill him, let's kill him" Sirius said muffled as his head still in the crook of Lupins neck

Bullshit, hermione kept his secret, hermione was almost certain Lupin was trustworthy, just for him to be against Harry. Against her. Hermione was certain she would take futher precautions the next time round, if they survive this predicament that is.

"I trusted you." She said coldly, voice low and beaming with unspoken anger. "I trusted you. And all this time you were against us."

"Trusted him? Hermione-" Harry started to question but hermione interrupted.

"He's a werewolf. A goddamn werewolf. It's why he misses classes, why he has those scars, why he always has a secret stash of wolfsbane hidden is his desk drawer."

Lupin, picked up on his, his eyes wide in complete surprise. A child figured out what most adults could not based on little fact and investigation.

"How long have you known?"

"Since Professor Snape taught them to us."

He laughed at this "Well well well hermione. You really are the brightest witch of your age"
...

"HE BETRAYED MY PARENTS!" Harry shouted

"No Harry it wasn't him, however it was someone who until quote recently we all thought to be dead... Peter Pettigrew."

We all stood there in absolute silence. Completely dumbfounded

"The Map doesn't lie Harry. We were all friends. Your father, me, Sirius, Peter. Founded a group called the maudrauders and all made a pact to become unregistered animaguses." Hermiones ears quirked up at that. That's a smart Idea to do with her own little trio of sorts.

"Peters was a goddamned rat. And Ron's rat has had an unnatural amount of years to it. It must be him" just then Ron's rat jumped out of his hand scuttling on the floor and Lupin hit it with a spell to cause it to transform back. Harry and herself were shocked to say to least. She almost burst out laughing at Ron's absolute mortified face. 'I wonder how many times he and his brothers changed in front of that damned thing.'

They were going to kill him (which hermione actually wanted, his pathetic whining was an irritant to all who could hear him), but Harry said for us to offer him up to the detectors instead, which was a more torturous option. They had exited the hole intending to give him over when they realise it was past curfew. They realised it was a full moon. And Lupin, so preoccupied with Peter Pettigrew made the fatal mistake of not ingesting his wolfsbane potion that day, ultimately causing him to become a werewolf on that fateful day.

----------------

After the incident, Ron was ultimately in the hospital and Sirius was in prison, even after explaining it all to the headmaster he said that without evidence it would be utterly unbelieveable. But hermione was smart, and before running away from Lupin casted the spell that her, Theo and Draco had invented, locus aeternus. And with the help of Lupin, Dumbledore and herself, safely rescued Sirius Black and imprisoned Pettigrew.

The ministry made the headlines for the false imprisonment and ultimately lost respect internationally for subjecting the man to 12 years of dementors. Reparations were handed to Sirius Black himself as well as the Black family. Who were impartial to his imprisonment and his liberation, but relased a statement about it nevertheless. Hermione suspected it was to ensure their reputation remained as it should be.

She did however hear from Draco that in his letters he found his mother to talk in a more happier tone, and hermione thought that I'm a den of snakes known as the Black family, it was food for sirius to have at least one relative who was excited for his return.

Chapter Text

Dumbledore was distrusting of Hermione. Moreso that any other student and he couldn't pinpoint why. She was a good student mind you, empathetic to her friends, firm in what she believed in and would do anything to help them. All traits of a good loyal griffindor.

But he couldn't shake this feeling. It was a similar feeling he felt towards Voldermort, when he knew him as Thomas Riddle. She had a cold streak and a vast aptitude for magic that was typically uncanny for a muggleborn such as herself. Similar to the way he felt with Tom. It didn't help that they both were raised in an orphanage, finding solace with books and had a passion for discovery.

However despite this, what he saw in her eyes was someone else, someone who was just as dangerous as Voldemort, maybe even more so at the fact that he remains free to this day.
So to check this out further he did what he shouldve done the moment he first felt like this with her. Called him into his office.

--------

Hermiones heart was thudding in her chest. She had never been called to his office before, not for the philosophers stone incident, or the chamber of secrets incident, which in her eyes were way bigger deals than this. So why on earth was she called to his office now?
She had reason to believe it was to congratulate her but she wasn't foolish. If it was truly for that then wouldn't he give thanks to all three of them in person? She then thought it was for the time turner but professor McGonagall said that SHE would pick it up by the end of the year, and she hadn't mentioned that anyone else knew about it.

So why did he want her?

Her mind haggled with this question until she stood in front of his door. And with a 3 sharp knocks and a "come in" coming from inside. She stepped forward.

His office was magnificent of course, ordained with intresting silver magical instruments of splendour with a large brass telescope. To the side of her she could see a glass cabinet filled with an assortment of vials with small labels in scribbled handwriting. And to the right of her she could see the sorting hat and a sword.

What really amazed her was the golden perch where a beautiful phoenix stood.

"Come, sit Miss Granger" he said pointing to the seat in front of his desk

She sat down and before asking why she was here he spoke.

"I don't invite many students into my office, but figured I'd make a rare exception. I suppose you're wondering why you are here." He spoke "why do you think you're here?"

Hermiones throat suddenly went dry as she shifted slightly in her seat, she forced herself to remain expressionless, and forcing herself to show herself as completely confused.

"Well I don't know headmaster." She said with a slight laugh. "I would imagine it has something to do with the incident with sirius?"

"Yes exactly, among other things too. I must ask, where did you learn that spell?"

Oh. It's about that? She knew she wasn't in any trouble, it being a harmless spell and all so she let out a deep breath as if sighing in relief and said "It was my own spell sir, I hate loosing important things

"I suppose that's why I didn't recognise it. You're already inventing spells?"

"Yes sir" she said, deciding not to throw Theo and Draco under the bus along with her. It would be bad for all 3 to be repeatedly separated because of it.

"You have a vast amount of potential. Like I had initially thought, have you invented any others?"

She was now getting impatient, surely talk about other spells isn't the reason for her summoning? Lots of people invent spells

"No sir" she said with gritted teeth "Professor is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" She inquired

"Haha no, miss granger, unfortunately not. I want you to understand that I had met kids before with as much talent and potential as you and they squandered such opportunities. Turning to more darker means."

Hermione stayed silent for a second

"So this meeting was to decipher if I'm good or not?"

"This meeting is to inform you of the risks that come with holding more power than your peers"

"You held more power sir. Merlin did. Professor McGonagall did. And all three of you stayed good did you not?"

"Yes-"

"So why is it that you think that I'll turn to a darker side? Wouldn't it be best to round up all the kids you think have high potential and give them this same talk?"

"Miss granger-"

"Professor, I'm only asking why it is just me. Harry won against the killing curse, surely that shows more potential that mere good grades?"

"Because, you remind me of someone."

Hermione stayed silent again, seemingly puzzled by the fact that she was told this by Olivander as well. Who did she remind them both of?

"Who?" She inquired seemingly unconsciously leaning in

"A man, who's line is old and pure. A man who is capable of great magic, far beyond the things you and I can do. A man who's potential exceeds that of most people. And yet...he turned to a more darker fate. A streak of ruthlessness and cruelty and who was unable to convict. Every. Single. Time."

"And you think I could become like this?"

"I think everyone has the potential to become like this. But those with more power have a higher liklihood of turning to this fate. I failed him, hermione, I failed another similar to him. And in doing so it has let to a plethora of events that could've been avoided. More dark wizards and more terrible deaths.I don't want you to have the same fate."

She understood now. Was she bad? Was she good? She more a mixture of grey. But she knew that her actions need to be in check. She mustn't stray from being a good person. She had no desire to become a dark wizard. To kill people she once called friends. But she also wasn't acting in a moral way. 'No more killing animals'. She thought. She must be a better person.

"Professor I want to be good. I want to remain good. I won't fall stray to the allure of power sir. You have my word" she said keeping eye contact with him. Memories flashed in her head of her promising her mother the same thing, and she felt a strange feeling in her mind, like someone was carefully peeling away the walls within her mind. But contrary to her previous motion she let him. It was good for him to not realise she knew occumlency and also he could understand that there was weight in her words.

She soon felt a swift breeze in her mind, and relief. He had stopped prying. And he finally looked up and smiled.

"Good Miss Granger. I do hope you keep your word.

------------------

Hermione still learnt, used and invented dark spells with Theo and Draco. But she felt it was a more strictly learn and not a learn and maybe use basis. It was purely for understanding, nothing more. In addition after her talk with Dumbledore she stopped killing animals like she promised, realising there was no empathy in it. She had started to take pictures of her killings with an old camera, as a sort of trophy of sense. And despite her body telling her to throw it away or destroy it. She couldn't bear to part with this. And decided to put it at the bottom of her chest. Away from the potential prying eyes of others.

It was less of how her actions changed but her mindset. But still a major change nevertheless.

And so the school year was coming to a close, with a mere three weeks until then school closing date. She was catching up with her dormmates, joining in more in their late night conversations, even if she didn't really feel the same way. She constantly spent her days with Harry and Ron, as they lightly teased Ron for his slight limp (it'll clear up in a week or 2). She got closer with Draco and Theo, finally making a wolfsbane potion and surprisingly Snape with their extra potion lessons. She had also gotten her grades back (top of her class with straight O's even with the extra work) and her, Ron and Harry celebrated with going to Hogsmeade, (her and Harry had to sneak in).

And for Harry finally got the family he deserved with Sirius being who his parents wanted to take Harry in case of their death. He's going to escape his own cycle of abuse with his aunt and uncle and come live as as adopted son.

Things seemed to be going amazing for trio. Things finally looking up for them of course and on one day Hermione felt the urge to study in the library before dinner hit

"Guys, I'm going to go and study for a little while in the library. I'll catch up to you guys at dinner"

Harry nodded and smiled and Ron laughed "only you mine, see you at dinner, if not we'll ask the kitchens to make you something"

She was knee deep reading a book on Newt level charms when she saw owls being delivered to each person in the library. Including her. She opened the letter saying "All students must urgently report to the great hall. We have an unexpected visitor."

And following instructions as well as the curious looks that each person in the library made they all gathered their things and left.

One of these people in the library was no one other than Theodore Nott. As she was exiting the library she started to talk to him

"What do you think this is about?"

"I have no idea. I don't recall this ever happening before"

"How could they have an unexpected visitor? What business could anyone have taking an unexpected floo to hogwarts."

"Floo? Hermione what are you talking about? There's no way to floo to hogwarts. Safety reasons you can floo around the castle but not to the castle itself." He paused giving a huff of impatience. "The only way you can get here apart from living in Scotland and having a regular way in, or the train is by port key. A scheduled port key."

"But you can't apparate either, so how the hell can a guest be unexpected?"

"Some can"

"Can what?"

"Apparate. To hogwarts"

Hermione stopped in her tracks looking at Nott with intense seriousness "What?! What do you mean some can, how??"

"Not a lot of people Hermione, just one family is exempt from the apparating rule. No one knows why, but they rarely use it"

"And what family is this?"

"The Morvinaghs. That's who."

Chapter Text

Harry:

Harry was talking to Ron, Seamus, Dean and Lavender about their future holidays. He had to admit it was the best year he could possibly think of for now he will have a family. Officially. Through multiple letters he got to know and love sirius and was excited to officially become Harry Potter-Black by the end of next year at the latest.
As they were eating in the great hall talking about something unimportant, they all felt a slight rumbling in the great hall, as if the walls were vibrating. It eventually caused everyone to go silent as they watched onto this event. Then a sound similar to a whip crack and out stood a man dressed in a black outer coat with a red waistcoat. He held a long black cane and wore a sinister grin. His hair was jet black with a slight bit of waveyness to it, his skin pale with few slight scars adorning his face. He was charismatically good looking, giving off an aura that can only be discribed as one that emulstes the devil himself. He clutched a old book in his other hand and stood silently turning to great the faculty.

"My dearest Professors, oh how lovely it is to see you." He said expression Truly, I always did love this place but apparating here is quite difficult to do so"

"What do you want, Morvinagh?" Professor Dumbledore asked, face fixed in a perpetual frown. His ears picked up on this, he'd never heard of the morvinaghs before. Who were they?

"I come here" he shouted, now addressing the students "looking for a child. My child. My bastard child is here and I intend to find them." He paused, "and I expect total cooperation." He said leaving no room for objection. The students went into a whispering frenzy over who this child could be, but apart from perhaps most purebloods it was anyone's game.

Dumbledore slowly nodded, allowing Mr Morvinagh to assess the children, Harry thought that it was moreso a curtesy than a direct allowance. Something in his mind thought that even the faculty are unable to refuse him.
"Mr Morvinagh will assess each and every one of you now. Please remain seated."

Mr Morvinagh made no effort to hide his discontent for Dumbledore as he dived towards the slytherin table. His Alma matter one could say. He observed each and every one of those kids with a scrutinising gaze, only once to give a brief nod and acknowledgment towards malfoy saying "Black". As if signifying he's only acknowledging one side of Malfoys heritage. As if that's the only side worth acknowledgement. No one else on that table got so much as a look.
Once he was done he heaved a heavy sigh of impatience snd intolerance. Already maddened by the fact his child is not a slytherin. He then turns to what he believes is the next best house. Ravenclaw. He immediately turned to the table, robe flowing behind him. This was clearly a man who meant business. His eyes scanned the table quicker than before but more scrutinising and with more urgency for his child to be there. He was searching for any sign, anything at all. Unless he came up empty. Now his expression turned to anger. As he started with his 3rd house option Griffindor, which was a surprising pick for the man. Typically slytherins put griffindor last but it seems he values the traits of bravery far higher than the trait of kindness and loyalty. But when he didn't find the supposed child on either tables. He paused, now more seemingly confused than ever.

"Perhaps you're mistaken Mr Morvinagh" Dumbledore spoke, as if trying to urge him away from such a thought

"I am NEVER wrong. The book is NEVER wrong. This book holds all the potential heirs of the house of Morvinagh." And showed it to dumbledore

"It doesn't say anything under your name." McGonagall says somewhat confused herself

"It is unable to show illegitimate children, only a small faint line appears. Because of I know my child exists."

"And what if its a squib? You cannot possibly be certain it has magic"

"If its a squib then there won't be one for much longer." He said menacingly, voice low and tone grating. Implying he'll find the child to kill it

Finally he said "are these all the children in the school?"

"Most are-" McGonagall started

"Did I ask that?" He turned to look at her pointedly, eyes filled with rage. "Call all the children here. Immediately"

Harry felt a terrible gut feeling in his stomach that he couldn't decipher why. It became clear to him later that someone dear to him at that time, hadn't been cleared from being a Morvinagh.

-------------

Hermione met up with a couple of people, as she walked down to the common rooms, there were kids coming back from quiddich practice, kids coming back from clubs and sports. And obviously, kids like her coming back from the library. She walked with Theo in utter silence, both too curious and too nervous to say anything further. When they got to the door they bid a quick farewell as the kids all walked back to their seats.

Hermione saw a man standing with the teachers, McGonagalls face was screaming with anger and even Dumbledore, a man who's emotions are always masked gave a slight frown. Snape however was impartial, as always, and looked at her with eyes filled with, worry??
She sat down and without saying anything to the students, the man started his slow walk in his observation of the slytherin table. Hermione took the time to whisper to her 2 friends

"What the hell is going on"

"It's Sebastian Morvinagh. He says he has a bastard in the school and he means to find them."

She paused. Sebastian Morvinagh. Head of the most Noble and most ambitious house of Morvnagh. She must admit they were the most mad and rambunctious purebloods she ever read about. For starters they were old. Older than most "old" purebloods with an insationable thirst for dark arts. They are secretive, and cunning, and are always able to get out of convictions based on the lack of evidence. They are ruthless, not only through their outerworldly ability for wandless magic, but also towards their own children. However they are more "up with the times" than any other purebloods. They delve in both magical and muggle business to grow income and revenue, and given a "Good" reputation in both worlds. In addition they are neither a matriarchal or patriarchal line. They choose the child with the most potential, often forcing the children to battle it out between their siblings for a chance to gain the position as heir. To be a child of Morvinagh is so much as a death sentence. And if your siblings don't kill you for your inadequacy, then your parents surely will.
But to be an heir of Morvinagh, is ultimate power, no matter how young the child is. They are renowned so much as feared. And God help the soul of those who act against the heir, let alone the head of house.

By the time she was done with her internal conversation. He was already halfway through ravenclaw a 2nd time. Eyes so piercing that kids could barely maintain eye contact with him. He looked so angry. How can a mere bastard he hadn't met envoke such a reaction. He was now at the griffindor table and hermiones heart started to slightly thump a bit harder. She didn't know what to feel but even the possibility of her being his child made her anxious. It was in fact a possibility to say the least, and not one she wanted. She was fine without knowing her father. But this would derail her already fixed plans for her life, and she knew that if she was his kid it would change her life drastically. For better or worse? Only time would tell.

Finally he was just about to where hermione was sitting. He eyed Ron first, but he spared him so much as a glance. His red hair and blue eyes creating a sort of branding for all to know he's a weasley. He then eyed Harry next who even hermione must admit looked a little like him. Same black hair and jet black eyes and she could see even in his eyes he considered it. But the boy was a Potter. A spitting image of his father so to speak, an image even his facial similarities with the boy could not contest with, and after staring at potter with what seemed like ages he moved on.
And finally he looked at Hermione, his eye contact seemingly brief, glancing into her own dark eyes. He held his eye contact a moment longer (recognising how the girl barely has any of his features)before turning away, just after seeing a brief flash of red within her eyes that he almost didn't pick up on.
And as he started to walk away further glancing at other students. He stopped. As if a deer in headlights. He slowly turned around walked back to hermione and firmly grabbed her chin forcing her to look up at him.

He leaned slightly all the while watching her curiously, "name." He said commandingly, as if she should comply without any incentive to reject him

"Pardon?" She asked, so racked up in her mind she wasn't paying attention to what he said.

"Your name. What is it?"

"Hermione sir. Hermione Granger"

He let out a breath that almost sounded like a brief laugh. As he looked at her again sneering

"Figures she called you that. From what I recall that blasted woman was a reader. Do you know what I am?"

"A morvinagh, sir." She said quietly

"Speak up. I have no time for impotence"

"A morvinagh, Sir" she said with a hint of mockery towards the sir, unsubtle enough for him to get it, but not blatent for him to be able to call her out on it

"And surely you realise who you are now, yes?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." And with that he released her chin leaving a stinging ache where he held.

"I will meet you at King's Cross Station when the train arrives. You will be coming home with me from now on. Its time you learn your heritage." "Especially now that the Morvinar genes take effect" he quietly muttered.

"I must get your things from your home. Your home location."

"All the possessions I own are with me at Hogwarts sir. I've am- was an orphan for some time"

"Saves me a trip then." He said without a hint of remorse

"Thank you Professor Dumbledore for aiding me in my search. Pleasure doing business eith you all." And left without so much as saying a goodbye to Hermione.

'So this is the man mother warned me about'.

She sat there in absolute silence, she looked up and could see the pitied looks from Theo and Draco. All the while hearing the multiple whispers echoing through the hall

"Shes a morvinagh"

"is she dark then? Like her father?"

"I pity her, going from the muggle world to a man like that"

She didn't want to hear anymore but she couldn't just get up and leave. She couldn't cry or shout for she knew that every action from now on will be watched and scrutinised by the public. And without the respect of being heir she knew she was subject to bullying. She had been recognised as his child but not his heir. It didn't help the fact that he barely spared so much as a glance back after he released her from his iron grip. And for her to be a bastard. An illegitimate child. Orphan. Born of a muggle woman tarnishing the blood that ran through her fathers veins. It was a scandal indeed.

So with a small breath. She sat up, back perfectly straight as one of higher status should make it. And slowly ate her food in silence. This was going to be a difficult week. And probably the worst summer she'll have to endure. Left in the hands of a man she should call father.

Chapter Text

The days following after were weird to say the least. All Professors who used a more casual tone in calling her Hermione now immediately switched to Miss Morvinagh. And as much as she prompted them to call her Granger they didn't seem to listen to her request. As if this rule was far beyond her and far beyond them. They still shot her looks of pity though, as if she was being led to a sacrificial fate, and they could or would do nothing to help prevent it.

Snape was the only reasonable teacher, and now perhaps her favourite. He called her Granger outside of class and spoke to her the same way he always did. He wasn't one for charity cases and he didn't start now. In addition he provided key Intel on her father, something that no one bothered to do

"Your father is..." he trailed off trying to find the proper words for it "a complicated man. One that doesn't take inadequacy lightly either. I have no doubt that you will live up to whatever standards he wants you to live up to"

"And if I can't professor? I know nothing about what he wants with me"

"Well he needs an heir, it was believed he was infertile for years. You are he only child."

Hermione was more relieved at this, no competition with siblings that she doesn't have

"But I must make you aware the morvinaghs are different than the other pureblood houses. Don't think that because you're the only option, it means you'll be the option chosen. Theres a reason why the Morvinagh children are killed by siblings first. Its to weed out the weaklings. And if need be...the parents take matters into their own hands"

"Surely the spouse would object to this ordeal?"

"When a marriage contract is signed, the morvinaghs stipulate a cause that this is the morvinagh way, and the spouse has absolutely no say in the heir"

"What if they have 2 houses to inherit?"

"Then 2 children will be spared. The top 2. Which is also why you have an aunt. Your father, Sebastian the Morvinagh heir, and your aunt, Victoria, the Carrow heir"

"No one told me tha-"

"That you have an aunt? Surely you have other things to worry about. You will surely meet her during the summer so don't fret. For now, worry about your father"

"If I didn't exist, who would inherit the Morvinagh name?"

"Gwendolyn Carrow. Your cousin, but she would have a hard time managing both so she would've probably exempted herself from being the Carrow heir to be the Morvinagh heir. I imagine she isn't happy about this ordeal"

"Why? She's still an heir is she not?"

"Yes but the Morvinaghs is something else entirely. She's already put the Carrow name alongside the influence of a Malfoy and a Nott just due to a person of Morvinagh blood inheriting it, but the Morvinaghs are cut from a different cloth. It's why your teachers no longer call you Hermione or Granger and why some lower years are more scared to approach you. Even if they aren't truly sure he's your father"

"And why do they have doubts?"

Snape sighed opening his desk drawer and pulling out "The Daily Prophet" date titled this week

𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝?!

𝐌𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞-𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐎𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬!!

Hermione Granger, a believed Muggle-born age 14 has grown up in an orphanage after the loss of her mother. It was just last week that charming bachelor/widower Sebastian Morvinagh attempted to find his bastard child within Hogwarts. It was here after a small conversation with Hermione that it is heavily implied that she was his child.

People however disagree with this suspicious claim. For it is wildly believed that Mr Morvinaghs infertility after his inability to have a child with half-blood Miss Mary Craine. Furthermore through other sources it took Mr Morvinagh 2 tries to find his child. Possibly due to Hermiones influence? A possible unlawful spell. As it has been speculated she makes her own after the the new locus aeternus used by hermione to catch the recently un-dead Peter Pettigrew.

Miss Granger? Morvinagh?? Is no daft child by any means, but hasn't shown the raw talent of wandless magic that the Morvinaghs are renowned for. Can she keep up with their growing standards? Is she hiding any hidden talents? Is she actually a Morvinagh or are her mothers faulty genes at play??

Only time will give the answer to these questions. And intended or not, a spotlight has been cast on Hermione Morvinagh to see whether or not she lived up to Sebastian Morvinaghs crippling standards.

Licenced Journalist: Rita Skeeter.

Hermione was shaking with rage as she put the paper down. How dare this Rita Skeeter woman think she actually WANT this. The attention of all this felt despicable at best. She hated being in any spotlight especially not one associated with her father. She paused, focusing on one line that Rita said "what does she mean the 'raw talent of wandless magic that the Morvinaghs are renowned for'??"

Snape was about to say something when he paused. Seemingly conflicted with saying this next part "You'll learn in due time Miss Granger." Hermione opened her mouth to protest but was stopped by Snape putting his hand up "And before you protest this Is something best heard by a Morvinagh themselves. They will go into it in detail that I cannot. Now if you have no further questions I bid you good luck on your summer brea-"

"Do you think I'm his daughter sir?"

He stopped and looked at her "however do you mean?"

"I look nothing like him. And I dont even know how he thought it was me, the most he did was make eye contact"

"Ah yes one trait of the Morvinaghs was a small flash of red within their eyes. Something you have."

"My mother said it ran in her family too though" she whispered as if telling a secret. "She said it came from her great grandfather, what is Skeeter is right, what if he made a mistake and I'm not his child"

Snape softened his tone eyes with some sort of remorse "whether or not you received it from your mother, father or both your parents is entirely up to your genes. Your father made the mistake, not you. It isn't your fault anyways. But for what it's worth I thought you had some sort of distant relation to them long before he came to hogwarts to declare it."

"However so?"

"I have no idea. You just look like him for a split second every now and again. It just takes a trained eye to see it. I dont think he made a mistake Hermione."

Hermione nodded. Unable to bring herself to respond. A part of her wanted him to say that she wasn't his child, that it's possible he made a mistake. But he didn't, he rewarded her with the truth. As greatful as she is with that, she couldnt help but feel disappointed that it's the truth she wanted.

"You are safe in Hogwarts walls, but during summer you are out of our hands. I'll look to see if there can be someone to look out for you in the Morvinagh home. But I make no promises, understand?"

"Understood sir. Thank you Sir." And with that she left.

She walked back to the common room, head a little low and eyes still on her as she walked. She walked to the common room and joined into Ron and Harry's little conversation

"Mione look, Sirius just sent me a present. It's my own Broomstick servicing kit. After I told him I play Quiddich!!!"

"Thats wonderful Harry. Truly" she said with a tight lipped smile, one that didn't reach her eyes.

"Yes I'm going to practically run down to get my broomstick and-" he paused, now realising that hermione isn't acting like herself "Hey mione, are you okay?"

"Yes Harry I'm quite alright"

"Are you sure, considering..."

"Yes I'm fine, I uh just need to finish packing, that's all, I'll see you on the train"

She went up to her dorms and ignoring the conversation her dormmates were having next to her, finished up packing her bags. She then turns to Ajundé and spoke to him

'We are about to leave soon so don't be startled when I pick you up'

'Yess yess i'll be fine. Are you excited to go to your new home?'

'Not really, I rather worried. I wonder what's in store for me.'

"Hermione?" She turned around to Aria, Lavender and Parvati looking at her in absolute shock.

"Yes what's wrong?" She said confused as to what could surprise them

"You...speak to snakes?"

"Oh yeah" she laughed a little "you guys always seem me turn around to Ajundé, I thought you had an inkling by now"

"I always thought it was the snake hissing at you, not you hissing at it" Lavender said, with a hint of irritance to her tone

"Are...are you uncomfortable?" She murmured, she did know that being a Parselmouth was associated as a dark trait. She also knew it was a sigh of being a Morvinagh. This essentially just sealed the ticket for her dormmates, and how they would treat her because of it

Lavender sighed "no, of course not Hermione, you are free to do as you please. It was just surprising that's all." "How are you holding up though"

She hadn't confided in any troubles with the 3 but they were tolerating of her ability so she could tolerate their wuestions

"Rather nervous. He seemed cold, I do wonder what will happen"

"You must be careful, I haven't heard a single good thing about that man"

"Lavender! That's her dad now" Pavati protested

"And so what? She must know who she'll be living with!!" She said, and Pavati didn't interrupt as Lavender continued "I recommend you to stay out of sight, and just try to appease him? The worst thing you could do is go against that man"

Hermione nodded curtly "I understand, I'll be fine guys, and next year I'll come back here the same old hermione you're used to"

All 4 of then gave her a big group hug, which again, hermione would've protested against but she'll tolerate it today. She smiled again at them all and with that they departed for the train.

Chapter Text

Hermione got off the train and stood there. She could see countless of kids running to hug their parents and embrace them. Even malfoy with his stern father ran to hug and embrace his mother, shooting her a beaming genuine smile that she had rarely seen. Harry finally had a taste of family, running and hugging sirius as they walked back to wherever Harry was staying at. Hermione felt more alone than ever.

She waited...and waited...and waited. Until it was just her and Theo.

Theo and her sat down as Theo pulled a book out to read. It's clear it hadn't been the first time he waited at the train station for so long.

"Is your father always late?" Hermione inquired curiously, she was usually the first out to catch the 2 trains and 3 buses home to the orphanage.

"Yes, it's often like this but I don't mind. The longer I wait the better." It's clear that he despises going home himself. He slammed the book shut "however, this time I might enjoy waiting even more than usual because I have a friend to wait for me." He turned smiling at her

She breathed a sigh of relief. A breath she didn't think she was holding. Her heart was thudding in her chest as more anxiety threatened to creep in. Theo could tell she was worried about her father, and was trying to calm her down

"I look that nervous huh?" Theo laughed at this

"Yes you really do" he took out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Here" he said "this is my address. Send me an owl or too over summer, we could talk about anything" he said, implying that he was asking to tell her how it all was

"Yes I'd like that, thank you...Theo-"

"Theodore." Someone to the left of him said. They both turned and she could see his eyes widen slightly as the sight of his father. A tall man with scruffy stubble but a menacing look to him. Theo silently stood up, bid hermione a small farewell and left silently next to his father.

Not too long after this a man came in dressed in a suit. "Miss Morvinagh, come now, your fathers waiting." He said looking down at her with a small smile. "We wouldn't want to waste time now do we. I'll take that" he said scooping up her suitcase to his left hand, holding his right arm out. "Take my arm and we'll apparate there. If its your first time apparating then don't be surprised if you feel sickly afterwards". Hermione took his arm she felt her body was being pulled in all directions, as if on some hectic roller coaster. By the end of it hermione stood hands on her knees gasping for air. Silently praying she doesn't throw up.

After a couple of moments she stood up straight and looked up at him

"Good. Well now I must introduce myself. I am Mr Montague. I work for your father. He entrusted me in picking you up. I do apologise for the tardiness, I was sorting out a prior issue but, never the matter. Here we are, Morvinagh Manor"

Hermione finally checked out her surroundings. It was huge to say the least. A towering, gothic structure with high, narrow windows and thick, blackened stone walls that seem to absorb the light around it. Its beauty is undeniable — ivy creeps along the edges, and the grand entrance is flanked by statues of long-dead creatures, their expressions twisted in silent torment. Yet, there's an eerie stillness in the air, as if the very walls hold their breath, waiting for the next dark ritual. If the walls could speak, they would whisper of cursed experiments, tortured souls, and the echoes of spells that still linger in the shadows. A pulchritudinous insanity. They walked through halls, ballrooms courtyards until they found the door of her fathers office. It is there once the door pushed open that she came face to face with the man who right now was writing a some sort of ledger.

"You may leave us Louis. I'd like to have a word with her"

"Understood Sir" he said, giving hermione a small smile and closing the door. Leaving her alone with him.

She stood there awkwardly for what seemed like ages, as he finished up his own work before talking to her. After an eternity of waiting. He put his pen down and looked up at her

"Sit" he motioned to the chair in front of his desk and hermione walked slowly and sat down on it

He didn't say anything for a moment. Just staring at her. His icy glare burrowing deep into her soul. "Do you know why I brought you here?"

Hermione, shrugged before saying "because I'm apparently your child"

"You ARE my child, Hermione. But no, I could've left you at the muggle orphanage if I so pleased. But I did not"

"So why?-"

"What you are, is untapped potential. When all magical children are about 14-15 they undergo a change. Their magical core increases exponentially. Morvinaghs are no different. Except the way this change effects us by giving us magic that no other pureblood, halfbloods or muggleborns can do."

"The potential we have is unlimited, and we each gain one or 2 traits that the rest cannot do. For starters most of us are pastlemouths and most of us have the ability to fly without a broom. But the power I'm talking about is different from that, it's unique to each and every Morvinagh." He paused stopping his monologue to look at her
"Controlled, it is a wondrous thing. Uncontrolled it is dangerous, more often than not lethal. That is why you are here"

She understood now, he didn't bring her because he wanted to, moreso because he had to. It was an obligation for Morvinaghs to mentor the child through it. She was no different.

"So you expect me to have such powers?"

"Precisely."

"But how do I know-"

"You will know." He said leaving no room to speak up further

"Despite all of this however, you have my blood just as much as you have your mothers." He said with a slight face of disdain 'he's the one who fucked her and yet even so much as speaking her name leaves him disgusted'.

"You will be raised here from now on. I won't get tutors for you unless you request because of your grades. But you will need to learn the pureblood ways. How we act, talk, our etiquette, are all things a Morvinagh has to know and study. I also expect you to keep up with some muggle studies too"

Hermione must've looked confused because he then added "we Morvinaghs are not the same as any other pureblood, you must have your foot in both worlds. And so you will be learning both muggle and magical studies from now on. I expect you to do Science, Math, Literature, Language and music." He said as he took a book labelled 'A guide to french, beginner to advanced.' And slid it towards her

"This is your first task. Learn this book quickly, the next conversation I have with you shall be in French. Failure is not an option. You are dismissed" and with that he walked back to his desk, sat down and started writing again.

Hermione walked out , book in hand, to find Mr Montague waiting for her.
"This way Miss Morvinagh, I'll give you a quick tour of the house and we will end at your room." Hermione followed obediently, trotting just a few steps behind his own, shoes echoing through the the halls. It was as he was showing her the house that he decided to make himself more acquainted

"So how was your year? Quite eventful I assume after what happened with Sirius Black?"

"Yes, quite, but it was albeit a little enjoyable" she admitted truthfully, "I was just glad I could help"

"Yes your father read up on it after realising you were his daughter"

"Did he say anything?"

"No, miss Morvinagh, nothing at all"

She sighed, meeting the man she didn't even call a father was odd to her. She acted nothing like him, looked nothing like him. And as far as she could see she had absolutely nothing in common with this man. Strangers were more acquainted with hermione than the man

"I wonder why he dislikes me so"

"Your father is a strange man hermione, even to me and I've known him for years. He has brought you here though, but I imagine he'll be strict in what he wants from you. The best thing to do is to simply follow his instructions"

She looked down at the book in her hands. She knew the Morvinaghs held immense power and influence and she must get in his good books no matter what. If he sends her back to the orphanage then...let's just say she could never face magical Britain again out of pure shame.

"And here is your room. Dinner is at 7:30. Down the hall, down the stairs, to the left."

"Thank you Mr Montague"

"Please, call me Louis"

"Alright, but please call me Hermione"

He smiled, nodded and walked away at that

Hermione sat down and checked the time. '15:18'. Couple of hours before dinner. She opened the door to find a wonderful room. It had a good sized bed, probably a queen perhaps? And a large shelf filled with books and tomes. She couldnt wait to read them but she decided to get a head start on French. She had always wanted to learn the language regardless, and because her father wanted her to then it fueled her want even more. So she studied. And studied and studied. French despite being a wonderful language took time and so required more brainpower than the usual book. She put down her pen in a huff and checked the time again '18:48' . She still had less than 45 minutes. And besides Louis didn't say she must remain in her room for the duration of her time here. So she left. Louis didn't really show her a tour of the house, just the specific things she'd need. The study, the bathrooms, the dining room her bedroom. But she wanted to see all of the house like an exploration.

She opened door after door to wonders behind it. Behind one door, a music room. Filled with instruments from a grand piano to a beautiful clarinet. She was eager to try out an instrument or 2. She opened another door to a massive library. Books in mahogany bookshelves, with multiple study desks to sit on. She'd definately be coming here a lot.
She had finally opened a door, and came across a hallway slightly dusty and old. A hall with pictures that didn't move. She soon realised it was oh her family. Dozens and dozens of photos lined the long hallway, with titles below the portraits. It seems it was customary to take one painting of the family and another one the heir had been chosen.
She slowly made her way through the hall

"Morvinagh family - 1848" of a mother, father and 3 children. Both parents were not smiling but all 3 children had beaming smiles and missing teeth.and right next to it "Morvinagh family - 1856" was of the same family, except only one child remained, the boy, now a teenager frowning and angry, posed to look courageous and tough, far unlike the innocent look he had a few years prior.

She moved forward "Morvinagh family 1892" with a family of 2 kids, evidently twins, boy and girl both standing hand in hand. The parents were again, not smiling. But as she moved on "Morvinagh family 1905" only the girl remained, standing tall and proud, again that innocent look no longer there. It was clear she was the heir, and her brother failed.

Hermione running out of time decided to skip forward all the way down to the last 2 pictures "Morvinagh family 1953" and here she saw a mother and father with 8 children, none smiling in this one. All angry despite their young age. She then moved forward one last time "Morvinagh family 1966" A father clutching the shoulders of 2 kids. Mother no longer in the picture one she could see was a girl, who inherited black hair with a few white strands, clearly inheriting hair from both parents (the mothers hair was white). It's clear that was her aunt Victoria. And the other she could see had stark black hair, looking slightly down towards the camera, showing a deadly stare and an expressionless face. That she could see, was her father.
Just then she realised she took to long and rushed to retrace her steps before heading down to eat. Just before she opened the door she checked the time 19:30. Just on time. As she opened the door to see her father.

Which to her absolute surprise was not there.

"Ah, hermione, I see you found your way here well?" Louise said smiling

"Yes, I got here perfectly fine, thank you." She then looked around

"Where is he?"

"Your father is at a meeting at the moment, muggle business so he had to fly out. He'll be back in a week or two. Enjoy your dinner." And with that he closed the door.

--------------------

Hermione ate alone that day. And every other day afterwards.
She was left alone for most days, if she didn't see Louise then she could go almost days without talking to a person. Her own solace of proper conversation was Ajundé but he unfortunately had to hunt every now, often leaving for a couple of days to do so. She still wrote letters though. She loved talking to Ron and Harry who were both enviously having the time of their lives. She learnt to live vicariously through their own adventures. She had also recently started talking to Theo and Draco too, them telling her what to do to help

So hermione sharpened her skills. Refined her French carefully, she could understand conversations now through the sheer grit it took her to learn it. She took the time to refine her wandless magic and could now do novice level transfiguration. But her father was seemingly no where to be found. Not in his office, not at dinner, not around the house like the parlour or library. The man was a ghost or a planet. Orbiting close not never going as far as to meet her face to face. It took him an entire month to have a second meeting.

"Come in" she heard behind the door. As she slowly opened it.

*French*

"So have you kept busy over these past few weeks?"

Hermione stared at him, confused as to why he's been speaking in French after a month of silence

"What are you confused about, I did make my rules clear, no?"

"Pardon? What rules?" her voice sounding slightly hoarse. How long had it been since she actually spoke?

He huffed a sigh of impatience "The rules on you speaking French. Or is your memory that blunt"

She just stared at him. A month of pure isolation and he only summons her here for a test? "Oh. Well it's been a while since I've spoken anything other than parseltongue out loud so, excuse my pronunciation"

"You speak to snakes?"

"Yes, it seems I've inherited one Morvinagh trait after all"

"And your other bouts of magic? What of them?"

Hermione was struggling in that reguard. She didn't understand how she's meant to understand something she doesn't know what to feel. So instead she just said a quiet "I'm working on it" and looked down at her hands. She was irritated when things didn't come naturally to her. Irritated that no matter how much she practiced or well tried to, she didn't know what to do.

Her father however, was displeased with her antics

"Every time I look at you, you remind me how disgustingly muggle you are"

"I was raised in a muggle world, sir. I've only recently been a half-blood, or regarded as such"

"Yet you still act like one"

"Hard to act like a pureblood when the only pureblood around me is never truly here."

"You will do well to watch your tongue." He father spoke, but hermione didn't mind staying quiet, she had said all she wanted to him anyway.

*English*

"Your French is adequate. You will start classes tomorrow on your muggle subjects and pureblood etticate. That will be all"

"Sir I-"

"That will be all." He said firmly, leaving no room for discussion. Hermione turned and left in a huff, angry at this man for dragging her here then leaving her to fend for herself. To hell with this, this situation, her father and the whole bullshit house of Morvinagh itself. But one thing was certain, she would prove herself to wipe that smug grin off her fathers face. If it isnt the last thing she'll do.

Chapter Text

Hermiones first week was...manic to say the least. A woman by the name of Agatha Huebert woke up up at Precisely 5:30am in the morning. Angrily drawing the curtains open with a frown on her face. This however unphases hermione. And this stupid intimidation tactics was beyond her.

"Up up, let's go now, you must get up."

"You know...my father has a more intimidating frown that you" she said smirking at the woman

"Hmph! Father. We'll see about that" she said stomping towards the door like an angry toddler. "I expect you to get dressed and ready in no more than half an hour" voice already seething with anger. Hermione wondered what she had done to piss off a woman she hadn't even met.

This fact became clear once the woman introduced herself. I am Ms Agatha Huebert and I will be your watcher.

"Watcher?-"

"I am, as your father discribed it, to watch you. Ensure that you are at your classes, and no less than 90% on all tests taken within the next 2 months here. I expect excellence from Morvinaghs. And WILL be reporting to Mr Morvinagh if you step so much as a toe out of line."

Hermione just stared at her emotionlessly, but internally however she was in utter disbelief. A watcher? A fucking watcher? This father of hers will surely be the end of her. Fuck this. Fuck my father, fuck this bloody woman fuck-

"Understood ma'am, I hope to live up to only the highest of expectations" she said with a dashing smile.

"Good. Now at 6:30 - 11:00 you will have muggle studies. You will have an hour to rest and eat. Then from 12:00 - 15:00 you will have pureblood training finally from 15:30 - 18:00 you will have other specialist training. But that starts as of next week. You will be free for the remainder of the-"

"What? What specialist training?"

"Do NOT interrupt. As for your question, even I don't know about that. I am to drop you to the dueling room and leave instantly. For your information I am yet to believe you still share Sebastian Morvinaghs blood, as are most of the rest of the staff here. Do not expect to be treated any more than what you truly are."

Hermiones brain racked with ideas but she was didn't have much time to ponder as she was whisked away to her first class.

As for what Agatha said about her treatment. Let them not believe, she will prove it to them 10 times over how she IS his child. And she WILL regret not treating her as such.

Her first class was French, majorly lax a good hour spent on the teacher assessing her work. Correcting her slightly on her incorrect accents or misgendering of various objects. The man Mr Blake, was a muggle, who she learnt his mother was French. He was happy to converse about his life and was a good teacher to hermione too. She enjoyed his lessons.

After he left, a woman came in next, she was soft spoken with kind eyes and curly brown hair. She reminded her a little of her mother. She introduced herself politely and she was informed she was hear to teach literature. Hermione always rather liked that subject as a kid, this time Shakespeare was a little hard to follow but she was getting used to it, slowly but surely. By the end of her sessions she never prescribed too much homework, just to interpret passages or a little bit of light reading, but after finding hermione to be sharper than most of her students, with a love to read, she allocated her more hefty difficult work. Hermione enjoyed this however, and was delighted to embark on the challenge.

Maths and science she also had no issue with. She liked the rigidity of it all. It's fixed, constant, but also there was something beautiful when looking back at ones equations and feeling a sense of joy
But it was music that truly made hermiones heart leap. She always found music to be a means of escape, similar to that of books. After all, if listening to music envoked such a visceral reaction, then wouldn't playing it be more intense? She met with Mrs Vanshkova. A short Russian woman with an intense tone. And said shed train hermione in 2 instruments of her choosing. She picked violin and piano. She made hermione train long and hard during her lessons, constantly critiquing her bad behaviours, and making her practice at least 2hrs per day in what free time she had left. But she was an amazing mentor. And although she had never heard a good word come from her lips, she knew that all she truly wanted was an eager student. And hermione does aim to please.

--------------------

Her etticate lessons were, at best intresting. She was firstly introduced to her teacher and surprisingly her father had chosen none other than Narcissa Malfoy, which makes sense as she would need to learn more ladylike mannerisms, and Narcissa was the best bet considering she was a Black and her 2 sisters were both disowned and jailed.

Hermione never knew where to truly place her really. She was a woman with a sharp gaze but never truly piercing, its as if she gazed through you rather than at you. She was clearly intelligent, seeing as she had a high up position in the ministry and never truly spoke idle conversation with hermione. She first taught her, however, the rules she must follow

"Miss Morvinagh, you come from a special line of purebloods. And this your rules don't apply to other pureblood women"

"However so?"

"For starters most pureblood women take on the roles of housewives, they're expected to learn how to host socialite meetings, balls, and maintain strict order of the household, both in finances and other duties"

"...but??"

"But you're separate from that. Your role is to work, to gouvern, to lead, the Morvinaghs have always pushed their children to be the best they can be regardless of gender. It's i think their one redeeming quality I must say" she said that last part more quieter, more like a mumble

Hermione however, still picked up at it and giggled slightly, "and what of you Mrs Malfoy? I heard you still work In the ministry, are you exempt too?"

"Unfortunately I am not, the world is changing, albeit slowly, I was fortunate enough that my generation could put our skills and talents to good use, thus my reason for working, but I still have to embark in some roles that are expected of me, although not as frequent as traditional pureblood women.

"But aren't the Black's, Morvinaghs and Gaunts, all on the same level in terms of the hierarchy?"

Narcissa slightly smiled at this, sometimes she could truly see how clueless this child was

"That is merely a curtesy that the Morvinaghs let the Blacks and Gaunts share the pedestal. Although both lines are or were rich with a strong lineage. The morvinaghs outrank the other 2 in every other way. The morvinaghs are on top, whether the wizarding world likes it or not. And because of this they get the acceptions, does this make sense?"

"Yes, thank you" Hermione still felt odd about the fact that she's a Morvinagh. She had never felt powerful before, in terms of family at least. And now, learning these rules and obligations it's clear she now has to get used to being treated better by others purely by the fact that she lucked out at birth. If she gets chosen as heir at least.

"In addition you are allowed to wear both suits and dresses based upon occasion. It is entirely up to the person's choosing. This is strictly for Morvinaghs. And finally" she trailed of trying to find the right words, "pureblood men are typically ones of to embark on a little "fun" before settling down with a woman, as long as its done in the privacy of themselves and specific company then it is socially accepted. It is also acceptable for Morvinaghs to embark on this as well, both genders. Understood?"

Hermione nodded, she had a feeling it would be the last time she heard that from Narcissa. She wasn't dumb by what Narcissa was implying she could do and it's clear that Morvinagh women had the same rights as men in wizarding society. Its all a load of idiotic hypocrisy.

"Now, I must teach you the basics..."

-----------------------
Hermione was still wearing some clothes she brought from the orphanage, but even she must admit she had a little bit of a growth spurt, her trousers were now too short and her shirts a tad bit too tight. she had also noticed some...developments with her body unfortunately coming in a time she couldn't even ask her father for money with the way he was never at home. But besides that Hermione was slightly more enthusiastic today and there was a good reason for it. Today was her first day with specialist training. She must admit the whole thing had her quite curious. She was doing well in her own subjects, and was able to fit in any extra reading she could do as well as write letters but she's often more exhausted than before. At times like this she kind of misses the time turner. She opened the door to what she had hears was called the dueling room to a spectacular room filled with swords and other weapons mounted on walls. Along with animal carcases. It seems this room doubles as a hunting room. She grazed her finger lightly on one of the swords and blood started to emit from a small cut the blade made. Immensely sharp even when not used. In the middle of the room stood a matted floor, similar to ones at dojos in the old films she used to watch as a kid.

She took off her shoes, thinking how it felt right in this situation and waited for her new instructor. After a little waiting she decided to check out the room some more, it didn't hurt to look around right? She was checking out the various pictures of different Morvinaghs in both magical and muggle photographs, posed with various animals, beaming from ear to ear on their findings, she came across an old magical photograph, the man there was young, around 18-20. Wearing clothing that reminded her a little of an explorer. His leg perched on top of the animals carcus, beaming from ear to ear at the fact that he killed a tiger. He was still holding the curved blade he used to slay the animal. Blood still dripping in both the blade and his face. It was the first time she'd seen her father smile. And it was to an animal, not to her. She'd also peered at the picture besides his to see her aunt Victoria, standing proud and all, her leg on top of a dead rhinoceros, Gun in hand, probably a skilled long distance shot with the way there was no blood on her. But what was this?? A Morvinagh ritual perhaps? Once an heir is declared?? Once the weeds known as siblings are gone?

She was slightly startled by the door opening, and seeing a figure stand in the shadows. She had backed away from the pictures now.

"Liking the pictures are you?" The woman said pointedly, "I must admit it's a good photo, showing strength and prowess, probably one of my best" she could practically hear the smirk on her face

"My?"

She stepped into the light, and it finally immuminated her face. Hermione could tell who she was from the white streaks in her hair, not from old age but rather genetics, she had a perfectly sculpted face with high cheekbones and a commanding stature

"So you're the child that has invaded my brothers home" she said, gazing down at Hermione. "Do you know who I am?"

"Victoria Morvinagh. The famous aunt of mine that no one has told me about"

A smirk appeared on her face, raising her head slightly at the weight that she carried due to her name

"Precisely."

Chapter Text

"So Mrs Morvinagh, i assume you are to be my teacher for this 'specialist training?' "

"Oh please, Aunt Victoria is fine. And yes I am. But first..." she said "how much do you know about fighting?"

She paused, confused.

"No. But aren't these classes for the unique Morvinagh magic?"

"What? Oh god no" she said laughing as if she's said the most shocking thing ever. Hermione stood there slightly angry, 'they make me assume and yet when I assume the most plausible conclusion I'm laughed at.'

Once she had finished laughing "God my brother really does not tell you anything does he?"

"It's kind of hard to know how that all works when the only thing told is that 'you will know' "

She laughed even harder at this, in a very unrefined way. A hearty laugh echoing throughout the room. This aunt was so unlike her father, more joyful and carefree.

"Figures you'd struggle with an explanation like that. The magic is triggered by a certain stressor unique to the person." This stressor correlates to the power. For example she held out her hand, and put her hand on the wall she was leaning on. The entire thing soon became covered with a light bit of frost. She removed her hand. "See this? This was triggered by my parents yelling at me when I was 13. They said they were angry at how I wasn't Morvinagh enough. A child being too cheerful was oh such a monster indeed in a household like ours. I spent wishing I was more colder, more aloof than my brothers and sisters. It then channeled itself into my magic." She then with a flick of her hand, removed all ice from the wall and leaned back on it again.

Hermione sat there entranced at her skills and technique

"Do you have any other powers?"

"Of course, but Morvinagh powers aren't for flashy convenience. Only to be used when needed, the only exception is if your magic awakens in public than there's no prevention that can be done obviously.

But again, I cannot teach you how to awaken them. Only you have that power. Its a mark of a Morvinaghs maturity. Their power. Their magical prowess." She suddenly became quite serious "you staying a Morvinagh relies on it. But a word of advice? Try evoking reactions out of yourself, sorrow, joy, disgust, hate. These are all things that could help"

"Did you ever fulfill your wish?"

"What wish?'

"Of being cold and more aloof"

"I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't. I'm a Morvinagh. When I set my sights on something I will stop at nothing to achieve it."

She said staring at hermione dead In the eyes, and hermione stared back. That was the face of a Morvinagh.

"Now then, let's start practicing. Take up any weapon you'd like from the shelves. Morvinaghs typically learn to use 2 or 3 so we will begin with your first pick. But once you pick a weapon you cannot exchange it. That is the Morvinagh way."

Hermione first started walking towards the guns but she wanted the gun she picked to be long range, not short range. And she was more eager to learn something close or well closer range anyway. She shifted towards the blade wall. Littered with Persian swords and scimitars. Each practically calling her to pick it up. She heard her aunt call out to her

"Pick the one that speaks to you the most"

Hermione almost scoffed at this, they're all speaking to her. 'This is a game of pure riddles. This house and all of its goddamn idiosyncrasies.' She was about to give up and pick one at random when she saw it. A blade still not unsheathed. Only the handle of it was apparent. It was the only one that remained silent. Watching. Waiting for someone to choose it on their own accord. And against better judgement, she picked it.

"Ahh, a katana, I don't think we've had someone to weald that before. I haven't seen someone use that yet. And it's one of the only swords that I have no idea who made..." she paused smiling "you picked an anomaly, an enigma and surprisingly a blade that reminds me of you"

"You think I'm an anomaly?"

"Well of course. To hear my infertile brother had a daughter is an anomaly indeed. My own daughter wasn't content with it actually."

"Ah yes, Gwendolyn Carrow right?"

"Gwendolyn Morvinagh" Aunt Victoria corrected. "Morvinaghs born as heirs of other houses are regarded as Morvinaghs until they inherit. Up until the 3rd generation. I am the Head of house Carrow and so am regarded as a Carrow, Gwen is still heir so she's still regarded as Morvinagh."

Hermione mentally made a note of that. All these rules for Morvinaghs is quite tiresome at times.

"So she's stuck being the heir of house Carrow whilst I am being thrust as a potential morvinagh heir? I'd rather be in her position"

"I beg to differ. Morvinaghs have more power and status than all houses, to be a Carrow is to be a cheaper substitute. But Carrows are on their way to being regarded as highly as Notts and Malfoys so I'm not too disappointed that my child might miss out on being Morvinagh heir"

"Might?"

"Well she's still in the running mind you, she is your biggest competition. But ultimately your father will pick who becomes the heir. He is watching you quite closely, even from afar Hermione. He's also doing the same with Gwendolyn. As well as a few others. One cannot have just 2 contenders after all. My money is on one if the 2 of you though"

"So I'll have to kill her? Like you guys did with your siblings?"

"No, luckily for the 2 of you, you are both cousins and she is the Carrow heir. Far too valuable to loose. You must show eachother up in magical prowess, studies, both magical and muggle, dueling etc etc, the Carrows are also forming a base in the muggle world, obviously due to Morvinagh heirs coming into play. And thus she's doing the same studies you are."

"So a battle of who could make the best heir...in theory"

"Yes precisely. So you better hurry up and manifest those powers already Hermione. The further you delay, the harder it'll be to catch up" she said smirking at her

"Now, your training. We shall begin."

--------------------

Training was troublesome for her. She started out absolutely awful at it hearing a multitude of critiques from her aunt.

"Relax your arm...not too much"

"Hold it like that and you'll loose a finger"

"Channel your mind to think like you're slashing water. You must make it cut through not break it."

All in all it seemed to her that the katana was not for her at all. And so she trained hard. Often after her music lessons into late at night. It eventually started to show

"Yes, good. Now again"

"Lean more forward or you'll loose your grip. Perfect"

"Good now parry the movement I'm about to do. Good, but lean slightly more forward next time".

So much so that by the after almost 1 month of training she was improving at a steady pace. Learning it takes years, and thus despite her improving faster than the average person, it still will take a while with her.

She was going about her evening about to start training again when her aunt burst through the doors in a more frantically that before. It was so unbecoming, unrefined, not unlike the woman she'd conversed with for the prior month. After seeing Hermione though, she masked her emotion and said "your father is coming to see you. Get your katana."

*just before her aunt burst through the doors*

"How is she doing?" Sebastian Morvinagh said gruffly, while taking a swing of his fire whisky. Him and his sister took the meeting in the smoking room. A room where newspaper is read and friendly conversation is held. And here sat Victoria and Sebastian Morvinagh, each with a cigar in hand, whiskey on table ties loose and slouching. Any and all social etiquette left them as soon as they entered this room

"She's doing fine, her sword skills are improving at a good pace She's a fast learner."

"Fast for them or fast for us?" He said mumbling as he leaned back on the couch

"Fast for us. Its clear dear brother she is a good candidate. I also heard from Huebert that she's also doing well in her muggle studies, and has taken a love for music"

Sebastian scoffed swirling his drink around, "a soft subject."

"I happen to remember you being quite the violinist, all those years ago. She takes after you in that reguard." She said smirking. Victoria Carrow was the only one who had the guts to talk to him like this. To argue. To refute. To retort. That and moreso she was the only one who Sebastian allowed to do this, he was her most trusted confidant just as he was hers.

"Yeah well i don't share much with the girl, not in appearance or personality"

"It's clear you've barely so much as looked at her then, oh what a pity" she said that last bit mockingly whilst holding her hand to her head and posing like some renaissance painting.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Shes stubborn, dedicated, awfully ambitious and has high intelligence. All traits you share-"

"All traits all Morvinaghs share Vic. She is no different" he said grumbling. They went quiet after that before he spoke again

"Her awakening. Has it happened yet?"

"No. Unfortunately not."

Sebastian seemed restless, rubbing his eyes furiously "I just don't see why it hasn't happened yet!"

"The girl probably needs more time. I was a late bloomer was I not?"

"Thats because you held urself back and you know it. With her it's different she's actively trying to awaken it." He said now standing up and pacing around the room

"Who knew the one child I had was a defective one." He paused seemingly thinking of an idea. He grabbed his coat and started to exit.

"Where are you going?"

"To get her myself, she will not be defective, if I must beat the damn thing out of her I will do so as I please" he said angrily, voice picking up volume

Victoria sighed and stood up herself "Well if you're going to do this then let me get her. She'll be more comfortable if I escort her"

"Fine. I'll meet you in the dueling room."

------------------------

Hermione stood there in shock. She wasn't scared of him. In all honesty he angered her a little. But she nodded silently, and grabbed her katana

"Stand on the mats and wait for him there."

"You're not going to be here?" She said confused on what was going on

"No, whatever a Morvinagh does with their own children is entirely up to them. Others cannot interfere. Ur father has no influence on how I raise my own child. And I have no influence on how he raises his."

"But-"

"No buts, this is beyond my help. You better hope you impress him. I'll wait in the study or music room"

Hermione had taken note of this infomation in case she needed it later. The door shut and hermione was left alone. With the dim lighting of the dueling room, it's purple walls and black portraits. It gave the feeling of subtle eerieness. A calm before a storm more like. And here she was waiting for her father, for something beyond her. After waiting for a few minutes the door opened again and in came her father.

He said nothing to her as he took his outer robe off, leaving behind his regular attire of a waistcoat and trousers. Said nothing as he rolled up his sleeves to the highest he could. Exposing arms littered with scars. Said nothing as he grabbed a sword off the rack and walked towards the end of the mat.

"I want you to show me what you can do. Understood?"

She nodded firmly clutching her sword, this was her first test from her father and she wants to show him that she isn't a liability, even if she hadn't awoken her powers yet.

"Good. Begin."

As soon as the words left his lips he lunged forward with an attack, sword aimed right at her chest, ready to strike. But hermione was quick with her reaction, putting up her katana to block his longsword just before it truly hit her. Barely making it up in time.
The force of his attack so strong it made her stumble back, barely able to not topple over. But he didn't stop, she lunged again, raising the sword over his head and bringing it down in a mighty swing. Hermione lunged to the side. Chest pounding, breathing heavily, sweat already dripping from her forehead. 'This is going to be a hard fight
He wasnt taking it easy on her, rather quite the opposite, she felt like he was trying to kill her, he swung and slashed with all his might but hermione was now getting small cuts on her face and arms, sword barely missing vital organs the attacks so quick that there was no time to pause, no time to think. Only react. She felt her face falter slightly, her father seeing this and slashing his sword across her stomach. It tore through her shirt and left a transverse tear spanning from the side of her right hip all the way to her upper part of her stomach. Hermione groaned in pain, and tried to attempt to clutch her stomach when a kick came flying to her. She has the wind knocked out of her as she stumbled to the ground, a few feet away from him. He clutched his sword and angling it to her stomach he slashed downwards but hermione blocked it. She blocked his sword and the 2 stayed there, he pushed his sword further downwards, as it slowly pushed itself towards her. Her own sword cutting her in the process, she had to act now.
In a desperate attempt to attack, she kicked his knee activating a pressure point and he knelt to the ground just giving her enough time to flip to her stomach and stand up. Her father was having none of that and gave her a swift punch in the stomach. Hermione fell to the ground coughing furiously as he dragged her by her leg and pushed her to the ground punching her face as he did. He then got on his hands and knees clutching her neck as he began to strangle her.
Hermione couldn't breathe, started pushing his head away but he kept at it only saying the words "awaken your magic and I'll relent". She tried, she really did as she thrashed around, her hands clawing and scratching her fathers hands. Her face became deprived of oxygen as she started to turn blue. Her father shouted "AWAKEN YOUR MAGIC NOW!". But hermione couldn't, her thrashing was getting slower and dark spots began to appear in her eyes as she slowly started to go unconscious. It was then that he released her from his iron grip. Hermione rolled over hunched up coughing and sputtering, her body trying to get sufficient oxygen after such a deficit. Once she had somewhat recovered she looked at her father. His face only showed one emotion. Pure disgust.

He looked at his daughter as if she were gum on his shoe, repulsive and vile. He looked at her the same way as the way he talked about her mother, as if its her genes that won in the end.
"You truly disgust me" he said, still looking at her. "We will pick this up 3 weeks from now. Let's hope some improvements are made" he said without a hint of remorse for his daughter. And with that he turned and left.

Hermione rolled over and lay down on her back, her breathing more deep and quick absolutely exhausted, but she was still sane. It was here that she realised the true extent of becoming a Morvinagh, he left her alive as a kindness, and even though she has no siblings to fight. She does have a father that will kill her with no hesitation if he doesn't see any worth to her. A small smile came on her face upon the realisation, as thats all she no strength to laugh at the mere thought of it. She was worth enough to leave alive. And for now, that was enough.

Chapter Text

Hermione in the next few days was more solemn, as if she was in an upset mood. She was more tired and quiet from extra training and thus felt even less of a need to speak than before. Her aunts eyes having a slight look of concern before the mask is rebuilt again. She was majorly more upset for not awakening her magic yet. After all by this time she was definitely already 15 years of age due to the fact that she was born in September and the fact that she used the timeturner all throughout last year. And she didn't like that. Why hadn't it happened to her yet? She didn't want to be the only morvinagh without it. She had tried evoking a multitude of emotions like her aunt had said, which was already a struggle as emotions for her were already hard to come by and how can anyone be happy in a place like this?, but she did it anyway. So she did what she does best. Read

Hermione hit the books silently cursing herself for not thinking about this earlier. What better place to read about this stuff then the Morvinagh library itself. She went from cover to cover, picking books from various authors, furiously jotting down notes. This was the first time that hermione could happily say 'schoolwork be damned' as this was more important.

It was on such a day in the evening after music lessons and training where she was met with an unexpected visitor of the library. "Hey Louis, how are you doing"

"I'm fine Hermione, thank you. I'm here as I bring news from your father"

Hermiones stomach dropped, a feeling of dread washed over her. The last time that man wanted her she almost died, what does he want now?

"He realises he's kept you away from high society for too long. There is a social event that Narcissa Black is hosting, you among with other pureblood children and their families will attend in 5 days. Similarly, he's yet to introduce you to the muggle world as his daughter. The headlines are practically begging to see you and its come to a point where he cannot turn them away anymore. You will have to be seen with him as he does a press conference in three days time. That is all"

Hermione sighed at this, she had completely forgot about the reputation and political standing of the Morvinaghs and how it must be upheld. But its better than another duel so, uncomfortability be damned.

------------------

It was the day if the press conference. Her fathers company was well renowned in the muggle world, Morvinagh and Co were a company that specialises in an array of muggle products. From automobiles to circuits, it was a company was a channel for the inventive morvinaghs to make use of their skills in the muggle world, a place known for its ever-changing technology and rapid industrialisation.

She was surprised to wake up in the morning to find the clothes laid out for her. They clearly weren't the clothes from the orphanage. A blouse, tie, trousers and a cotton trench that reminded her of pictures of detectives on book covers that she used to read. She was driven and escorted towards the building. One in canary wharf of course. Where sky scrapers were the choice of architecture and men and women in suits worth more than someone's rent was the everyday norm. The first thing she noticed was the flood of paparazzi that took over, circling her into an entrapment, she made a note to thank the security being there to practically shove them out of the so she could at least make it to the building. And whilst she sat in the lobby she was introduced to a multitude of people

"Good morning Miss Morvinagh, delighted to meet you, I am Marcus Crowborn" he said extending his hand

"Good morning Mr Crowborn, the pleasure is all mine" she said, smiling slightly and reaching out herself, shaking his hand

"I must admit, your fathers is an amazing man, his ingenuity and ..." Mr Crowborn droned on about how amazing and smart her father is but hermione just tuned him out. She had already expected people woukd try to butter up to her but she didn't realise it would happen that the first person that she speaks to would have the gall to do such a thing. As she bid Mr Crowborn a farewell when he came to a pause in conversation she then started to look around. She divided the rest of the employees into 3 groups. One being the who saw her as a tool to get a promotion, tolerable albeit irritating. Another being the people who looked at her with scorn, seeing her more of her fathers daughter than her own individual, with these she knew she must keep her guard. And the third and final group, probably her most favourite, people who didn't give a fuck. She hovered around those as she waited for her father. They gave simple smalltalk but both parties were more than happy to stand in silence.

It took almost another half an hour for Hermione to be summoned her father stomping towards a conference room and told hermione to sit down in a small corner and read as he gave her a book. Hermione was delighted to do so, nodding swiftly saying a quick thank you as she took the book from his hands and practically inhaled the book, he brought her frankenstein by Mary shelley. 'Typical' she thought. It wasn't the first time she read it, it was one of her favourite muggle books. But it also perfectly embodies how ones ambition and dedication can transcend human limitations, even if it was Victor's downfall. But she can't exactly deny that that's the reason why she loved it in the first place, so she read peacefully.

The conference was going well for what she tuned into. Her father was revealing a new product something about a... oh well she wasn't listening hard enough. She could tell her photo was taken every few minutes. This was her first appearance after all, but she didn't mind, as long as she wasn't disturbed. It wasn't until her father was taking questions from the press that things went a little...off topic.

"Yes the product will be avaliable soon, within the next 6 months in fact. Our team is working well to meet the deadline efficiently. Yes you"

"This one is more so on the basis of your daughter. How did you find out about her"

"No comment. I want to keep my daughter majorly out of the public eye, she has no need for it. And how I came about finding her is private. What I will say is that she is without a doubt my daughter. Yes you"

Hermione made a small sigh in relief, she didn't want any spotlight on her. And it's good that her father mentioned it, even if it's to save himself from any trouble with the press.

"How is she settling in? What has been going on in the morvinagh household?"

He opened his mouth to answer but then he stopped

"Perhaps hermione is best to answer that question. Hermione" He called out to her, she was brought back from the comfort of her book and cocked her head to the side clearly showing how she was not listening
"Hermione come and answer some questions"

She stood up, put the book down in her seat and walked up to the stage next to her father. She took the mic, "What was the question?"

"I asked how you were settling in"

"Oh" she said giving a slight laugh, feigning nervousness. In reality she didn't give a rats arse talking about her life, and she has better things to worry about that a little stage fright.

"I love it there, truly. My father" she paused taking the time to find the right words "is a very understanding man, he's slowly getting to know me and our relationship is getting stronger. Meeting him was a bit of a shock and I was quite nervous at first but" she took the time to turn her head to her father Meeting him in the eyes with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes "I've grown to love him. He's the best father I could ask for"

The press ate this up, snapping shots at a rapid pace, as more people put their hands up. She looked to her fathers guidance before he made a small gesture to answer the crowd "Yes you"

"Where were you living beforehand? Do we have any news on your mother?"

"My mother has sadly passed away a while back. I was" she trailed off looking at her father again to see if she's allowed to say this next part. He nodded slightly and so she continued "I was raised in an orphanage from the age of 8"

More shots were taken of her as she moved onto the next question

"Did the orphanage treat you well-"
"What is the orphanage name-"
"How did you feel growing up in such an environment-"

Hermione felt a little overwhelmed at the flying questions at her. She stood there hearing all and none at the same time. She was about to say something when her father took the mic

"Settle down now. That's all my daughter will answer for now"

Protests came from all corners as hermione was escorted out of the room and into the hallway. She barely managed to grab the book as she did. The doors shut and she was left in the lobby.

Moments later her father came out, seemingly as exasperated as her with the whole ordeal. It seems he finds the press ratched to.

He turns to her "we will be going soon, make sure you have everything"

"Yes sir." She says as she goes to hand the book to him

He looks at her before he says "Keep it. I have no use for it anyway. Follow me outside." He said walking off, hermione trailed after him seemingly satisfied of her new book addition. As she got into the car she was quite pleased to see her aunt also inside.

"So how did your first conference go?"

"Satisfactory, smiled, talked about family, read a book. I'm pleased that nothing went wrong"

"Thats good then. Isn't that good brother" she said smirking, trying to prompt a conversation

"Yes." And he said nothing more

"You don't think hermione deserves anything as a reward?" She said looking at him longingly, clearly trying to prompt a reaction out of him

He sighed, loudly, and without taking his eyes off his work asked "is there anything you want?"

"Some new clothes please. The ones I brought from the orphanage are far too small." An odd sound escaped his lips, a humming noise that seemed to be his way of silently acknowledging amd accepting her request.

----‐--------------

Hermione got back home and immediately resumed her studies, she was making an effort to pre read for her year, so that she can spend the majority of the year learning things that she wants. She was elbow deep in potions when an owl came to her. She had recognised that brown barn own countless of times throughout the holidays it was Ron's owl.

Hey Hermione,

Wondering if you'd be able to spend some time at the burrow? We plan to go to the Quiddich world cup and see Bulgaria vs Ireland. It'll be loads fun. You can also tell me how your new home is!!

-Ron

Hermione beamed at this, time out of this place seemed like heaven to her. But she must ask him first. She trudged up the stairs thinking of a ploy to ask him. After a long internal debate she realised there was nothing else to do but flash a dazzling smile and attempt to charm her way into it.

"Come in" he said at that desk again doing some paperwork. 'Does he ever rest?'

"Hello...father." his ears perked up at that as he shifted slightly in his seat before continuing to do paper work "A friend has invited me to go watch spend time with their family, and take me to the Quiddich world cup. May I attend?"

"You language mannerisms are improving I see. You sound much more eloquent" he said seemingly ignoring her request

"...thank you. As for the question??" She inquired slowly words drawling in her mouth.

"Name?" He asked with no hesitation

"Ron Weasley"

As soon as the words left her mouth he made the decisive decision to say "No."

She paused now standing straighter, agitated at his reluctance

"No? Why not?"

"You will soon realise that being a Morvinagh means you cannot hang around the wrong sort"

"He isn't the wrong sort-" she protested

"He's a blood trainer." He said curtly "His family are too, they arent of a good social standing because of it. Thus, no"

She was absolutely enraged by this, "the Morvinaghs have a social standing in the magic and muggle world. You employ muggles, you shake hands with muggles-"

"I tolerate muggles. You think everyone I shake hands with is a friend? You have much to learn I see" he replied back, implying her lack of expierience in this world, as if she didn't know anything.

Without even thinking she said the first thing on her mind, damn the consequences "you fucked my mother didn't you? Seems like you do more than tolerate muggles."

He stopped writing. Finally taking the moment to look at her, his icy gaze piercing through her anger rising and face contorted into a grimace/frown. But for a split second she saw something that can be only discribed as a sliver of pride.

"You will do well to watch your tongue. This will be the last time I tell you" he said calmly, barely controlling his emotions

"Oh don't worry father. You won't have to tell me again" she said with a hint of smugness written on her face. She knew he couldn't come up with a retort

"I'll tell you this, be on your best behaviour for the gathering this weekend. Put extra effort into your etiquette lessons and build your own repertoire. And I'll consider it."

Hermione smile grew nodded, and left as giddy as a child in a candy shop. Who knew that challenging her father was the one way to make him come around. Far better than buttering up of any sort.

Chapter Text

Today was the day where the purebloods have all been waiting for. Narcissa Black's socialite meeting. Those who were rich and powerful enough to get an invitation were elated at for the coming celebration. Narcissas balls and meetings of high society were internationally renowned. Only the best from France, Japan, Uganda, Russia, China, and the multitude of other places, were allowed to come.
This also meant that those purebloods on the fence were gnawing at their nails hoping and praying for a chance to get in with the big guns so to speak.

Unfortunately for hermione, this wasn't the case for her family, who recieved one of the first invitations sent out, their invitation so much of a guarantee that they didn't even bother to fret about it. Hermione was given the option of a suit or dress and she gladly picked a suit. For others to perceive her as a morvinagh she has to stand out from the get go. That includes how she dresses. She was given clothing in a similar fashion to her fathers, waistcoat, suit trousers and a victorian styled trenchcoat. She also realised how much of a similar fashion when she realised she was given clothes in the same colour as her fathers, only thing different was the ring that he had on, on his left index finger, a family heirloom it looks like.

At the time of 16:51 her and her father were waiting for exactly 17:00 for the port key activation. The port key was the letter itself thus removing any hassle of transportation.

"Will Aunt Victoria be there?"

"Yes, the Carrows were invited."

"So...Will I be meeting Gwendolyn there too?" She had wondered how her cousin will be, probably not nice, after all she is competition. And cousin or not, the morvinaghs don't take lightly to any competition. House before blood after all.

"Yes, I think she's still home from Durmstrang, but she will be meeting you and all of the other kids.

"What year is she in?" She inquired, wanting to know more about this cousin of hers

"She will be in sixth year as of next september" he said now turning away do that they can spend the duration of the wait in silence. It seems he's tolerating a mere conversation now, which was more than brief one worded answers.

At exactly 16:59 he asked her to grab his arm and so she did, making things more awkward for the pair but they barely had any time to dwell on it as the portkey whisked them away to the malfoy Manor.

It was grand, stately, almost as big as her own one. It had large marble floors on the steps leading up to the manor and 2 large columns that decorated the sides of the Manor that reminded her of homes in ancient rome. She could also see other people appearing via portkey. The greengrasses appearing with poise and grace, mother and father smiling and talking with their twins. The parkinsons appearing with more of a dramatic the mother semi frantically dusting herself off. But they still seemed happy to be there, Pansy appearing to get along well with her father as she talked with him all the way to the entrance. She could also see people of other cultures, the a group of people, probably from subsaharan Africa adorned themselves in beautiful robes, with jewels that shimmered in the evening sky. The Brazilians and japanese went for more minimalist styles but the Brazilians has beautiful vines weaving through their clothing and the Japanese had clothing of robes that had a beautiful flower adorned on its side. But what was truly intresting about theirs was the sword on their side.

The school of Mahoutokoro (from what she read in her fathers library) was renowned for its use of both wand and sword magic. The ability to channel elemental magic through sword duels was exemplary. Although few possess this ability to do so and must go through rigorous training to advance it all students are required to go through sword training for the sheer chance of awakening power in such a raw form. It was rare in purebloods but almost impossible for a half blood or muggleborn. She wanted to ask questions on it to the people that she saw, but knew she must hold herself in a better reguard, and refrained from doing so.

As she walked in with her father she saw him briefly converse with most of the arrivals, using a plethora of languages to do so. It would seem her father was also a polyglot. 'Probably expected of him as a Morvinagh' she thought. It also became clear how Morvinaghs fit into the whole situation, they were talked to, they were the sun and all the others mere flies, trying to bask in their light

"Stay by my side and don't speak unless spoken to" her father, she almost scoffed at this remark. He's dragged her to this place and is now forcing her to stay by him, like a statue. It seems she'll have no enjoyment tonight. Her father marched onwards to the main room to greet the malfoys on their wonderful hosting

"Lucius, how delightful it is to see you" earning a rare smile from her father. It seems he prefers bigots over his halfblooded child

"The pleasure is all mine Sebastian. I must say it has been an awful while since we last spoke. How are the companies?"

Her father and Lucius conversed to the ends of the earth on money, finance, investments, politics both had a Wizengamot seat due to heritage after all and they were more than welcome to discuss the latest issues, even if they were in the presence of other company.

"So this must be your heir?"

"Child." Her father said point blank

"Sorry?"

"Child. She hasn't earned the title yet."

Lucius laughed at this, "sometimes I forget you are Morvinagh, so many extra rules I suppose. Hermione is it? Would you like to go and speak to the other children?"

She looked up at her father for confirmation. He sighed and said "yes you may go. I have no use for you here anyway, but remember what we spoke about"

"Yes father." And she walked quickly out of the room before he could change his mind. She went looked around the room and spotted Theo, practically chained up next to his father like she was until freed by Mr malfoy. She walked up to the pair

"Greetings Mr Nott. We never got to be introduced properly. Miss Hermione Morvinagh, delighted to meet you."

He stayed silent for a second, he reminded her of her father the way he always has that look on his face.

"Charmed to meet you Miss Morvinagh."

"May I borrow Theo? I was meaning to go to Draco but saw him first"

"Mr Nott was also making the same decision for his son as her father did "Fine. Theodore, you may go." He said already walking off to talk to Mrs Greengrass

As soon as his father left, theo beamed with joy and practically skipped towards her "Thank you!!" He said "I thought I'd be stuck with him forever" she laughed at this

"You're telling me, Mr Malfoy helped me out so I figured I'd pass it on"

"Brilliant, they then both shuffled to a corner and called Draco over"

"So hermione, how has it been going with your father?" Theo asked

"Yeah, I heard that he's not one to be messed around with, we've both been worried ever since the duration between lettets got longer"

"Sorry about that, my father has haggled me on learning etiquette, dueling, and muggle studies. Its been a learning heaven and nightmare simultaneously" she then explained to them her timetable

"And this is all to prepare you as heir? An heir position you might not even fill? That is awful!" Theo said eyes screaming with anger

"Exactly, it's bad enough as it is for pureblood heirs, but your father is taking it way too far, even for our standards"

Hermione chuckled at this, and was about to answer when she was interrupted by a boy putting his each arm around the shoulders of theo and draco. Both grumbling but reluctantly letting it slide

"What are we talking about here folks, bit too early for a discussion on dark topics I must say." He said smirking whilst still bothering the 2 boys. He was tanned, and looked more relaxed than most stuffy purebloods, with his tie loosely around his neck and his blouse untucked. Both of the most impeccable quality

His eyes then turned to her
"A new kid? The new Morvinagh I presume?? Blaise Zabini. Charmed to make your acquaintance."

She remembered him, he was in slytherin, and from what she could tell a constant joker. A vain boy who had no loyalty to anyone, not even to Draco or Theo, he was still prejudiced by any means, like most of the other purebloods but didn't bother to voice his opinions unless prompted. But she could tell he's often underestimated, and that beneath his witty repartee and carefree mannerisms, reveals a hint of intelligence that not many people bother to find. Even less bother to point it out.

"Hermione Morvinagh. Glad to make yours"

"I've heard from Draco and Theo that you have a little club of sorts. One you learn things beyond the course? Me and a few others want in. It's as simple as that" he said, leaning over to the table to grab a couple of grapes. She was surprised by how curt he was, even more so by the lack of food etiquette he possessed, but she didn't care much for it, in actuality she rather preferred him to the stuffiness of wizarding high society he was like a breath of fresh air.

Hermione smirked, "What's in it for me?" She was fine with letting him join mind you, but she wasn't about to let him in Scot free. These were slytherins after all.

"Now there, can't you be satisfied with the pleasure of my company?" He said smiling but she stayed silent, waiting for him to cave

"Fine" he said grumbling "what do you want?"

"I have no idea. I'll think about something for you to do when the time comes up. Now who are these others??"

"The greengrass twins and Pansy-"

"And does anyone else know about this? This isn't a secret it's infomation-" she said angrily now turning to the 2 boys. "What happened to secrets? God you guys might just be the worst slytherins I have ever met-"

"Now now there that's not very nice is it?"

She stayed silent at this giving him a glare that made his smile drop "listen it is my fault really, I noticed they were sneaking out and asked about it. I refused to drop it until they told me. As for the girls" he paused slightly confused "I actually don't know how they know. But all in all we want to join and we won't tell anyone. We are all smart students anyway, we'll have no trouble keeping up with the rest of you lot."

Hermione pondered for a moment, as they all silently looked toward her for an answer. It's clear who was the leader of this group. "Grab the girls, we all must talk then. Draco, do you have a spare room we can discuss in?"

"Yes, a smaller library, not many people go there or know about that one, and it's far less grand than the main one. We can go there."

She smirked "Good. Go and talk with other people, we'll reconvene there in 20"

----------------------------

"Sorry I'm late" Pansy said rushing in and closing the door, she was the last one in "caught up making small talk with some bloke from Brazil, I was certain he'd never let me go" she said sitting down

Once she had taken a seat all of the eyes were directed onto Hermione as they waited for her to talk "Now you all know why you are here. You want to learn more, what I will first say is none of what we speak of shall leave this room. Do I make myself clear?"

They all nodded

"Good, from halfway into 3rd year Theo, Draco and I have been learning spells, both with and without a wand, as well as brewing potions for snapes extra classes. Before you ask he only invited the top 3 students, but I will see if I can convince him to teach all of us. We are learning everything from all topics, this also means dark magic. If you're not fine with this I ask you to leave" everyone remained in their seat and hermiones lips slightly curved into a smile

"Good. Now I require one thing from all of you, I'd like to make the vow of fealty" all of their eyes widened at this and hermione spoke quickly "its not to force you to do anything. It's to maintain secrecy, no one is to know about this. If you're caught after dark, say you were out snogging a student. If you're under veritasium then vow forces you to say something different. It's a weaker version of the unbreakable vow but works efficiently especially when modified."

"So you want us to make the oath?"

"I want US to make the oath. I wouldn't ask for something I'm not up to doing myself. 1- absolute secrecy on our meetups, 2- we don't ask someone to join unless the group agrees on the person. Sound fair?" She said raising an eyebrow slightly looking at the rest of them.

Theo sighed "I suppose so. Let's just get this over with" They all placed their hands together in a circle hermione took her right hand holding her wand pointed it to the centre saying "iusiurandum fidelitatis". "Absolute secrecy of our meetups, protection against inquisitive minds and truth serums, and only when the group leaders agrees, can a person be added" and with that she tore her wand off

"Wonderful. Now we are bound. Pleasure doing business with you all" She began to stand up when she was paused in doing so

"And where do you suppose we will meet up? We can't keep doing it in the girls bathroom" Draco said, muttering that last part

"I thought I'd smelt a weird odor from there. I guess that clears things up." Pansy said laughing

"I have a place in mind. I'll meet outside the slytherin common room on the 3rd night of hogwarts. I'll take you there myself."

"Take us where?"

"The undercroft."

Just when they were about to ask, the door to the library opened, revealing hermiones aunt

"There you are, I've been wondering where you were. It is expected you to interact with other people Hermione, you can discuss what you were discussing later"

"It's fine, I'm already finished with the conversation" she said walking away she turned around and gave them what could only be known as a cocky grin and left.

She was listening not so intently to a tall man with a grey beard talking about his findings of mallowsweet containing healing properties when she saw a group of people enter the room. Through their cocky mannerisms, fashionably late manor, beautiful attire and heavy accent, one can only assume they must be French.

The French aristocrats of the wizarding world were complete rivals to the British wizarding one, both were centre of diplomatic discussions, produced the most capable witches and wizards, and has the most stubborn people ever to exist. Just like people wished they were Morvinaghs, others from other countries wished they were British or French. But what caught hermiones eye the most was a girl, she was no older than 18. She had straight flowing blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Hemione felt odd after that, her heard pumped just a tad bit faster and she felt the urge to talk to that girl. But in the end she brushed it off, wanted to find and talk to her cousin instead. But that feeling of the girl did not go away. Just who the hell was she? She barely had enough time to rid away such thoughts and find more composure when her cousin finally introduced herself

"Greetings cousin, we finally meet" she was sat across from Gwendolyn, she looked a terribly lot like her mother, they had the same face. All except her hair which was uncharacteristically Morvinagh, with blonde hair.

"Pleased to meet you Gwendolyn-", as much as hermione wanted to meet her she was so tired of first impressions by now

"Gwens fine. I hate that basted name" she said grumbling. Hermione was confused, she'd thought she'd be madder at her. After all she's the one that complicated an heir title that would've been easy to inherit.

"Oh, well I understand you in that reguard"

"You hate your name?"

"Not necessarily, just that I always have to correct people on it"

An hmm of acknowledgment could be heard from Gwens lips, but she said nothing more. An awkward silence fell upon them both

"I was quite surprised when I found out about your existance" she spoke after some time. "I had my whole life mapped before you came along" she said, but hermione could tell it wasn't from a place of malice

"And were u angry? And are you still?" She asked tentatively

"Before, yes I thought I wanted to be heir, and I would've done anything to achieve that goal"

"But now?"

"I'm fine with leaving it in your hands, capable as they are, the house of carrow is still respected and valued, one of the only houses to climb up the ranks in high society in a while. I get all that plus Morvinagh benefits. When I think about it this benefits me more than it benefits you." There it is, the reason why she isn't mad is not because she's satisfied with being second place, but rather she's satisfied to have all the positives that come with being Morvinagh but none of the pressure of it. That's a burden shell gladly pass on to her younger cousin. The morvinaghs have loyalty to their house, but what hermione learnt with this is that the only loyalty you must have to survive in the morvinagh family is to yourself, family is all but a word that leave a a foul taste in a morvinaghs mouth.

"I'm glad you feel that way, it's good that we haven't gotten to a poor start"

"Yes I suppose so. How are your studies going? Are they still as rigorous as when I had them?"

"God yes, I almost can't wait until the school year" Gwen snickered at this with amusement

"What?"

"Oh nothing, nothing, you'll find out soon enough after all" just as she said that, her aunt came and told us she'd be taking her leave, it was past 10 after all.

"I'll be going now cousin, see you next time. Let's hope you're still alive that far down the route though." She said with a smirk, and with that, they apparated away

Now alone again, she tried to find that woman from before, bit her arm was violently grabbed by someone. She turned around to see her father "we'll be going now" she nodded wincing in pain.
After her fathers duel, he healed her face and neck himself, all bruising and scarring gone. However her arms, legs and stomach were a different issue, he left them behind to heal on their own accord, the muggle way. His reasoning? "A morvinagh has scars to prove their worth. Not to waste time healing", so she was unfortunately left with the scar from her stomach, as well as the small scars on her arms which haven't quite fully healed due to repeated practice.

But once they got back home, he sighed rubbing his eyes in annoyance, he must really dislike social events. Not bothering ti concern himself with his child right now, he left the room saying "you behaved. You can go." And with that he shut the door, leaving hermione to her own devices.

Chapter Text

Today was the glorious day in which Hermione will meet her friends again. She cannot believe she's admitting it but she actually missed them and their antics for some time. And it was good to regain some sense of normalcy after all that's happened. She packed a simple back, filled with a couple of clothes couple of books (regular ones like Intermediate transfiguration, potions a 5th year guide and Frankenstein, (she wanted a muggle book for light reading too)). She walked into the fireplace and without so much as a goodbye said "the burrow" and threw her floo powder on the floor getting whisked away to the burrows one.

*Ron*

We heard a loud bang in the fireplace "that must be Harry or Hermione" Ginny said running downstairs to see who it was. I followed suit behind her, excited to see my friends after so long. But to our surprise we were greeted with...Hermione??
She looked different this time, she was taller than before and had darker hair than before, it was more in between black and brown now. It was less bushy and more wavy, and she had darker eyes, ones with slight eyebags on them. She ran to me and ginny and hugged us almost immediately

"I've missed you guys" she said muffled, still in between the crook of my neck as she spoke "it has felt like ages since we last saw eachother "

"Mione! How have you been? Getting used to your new life I presume?" I said taking a look at her clothes now, they weren't the regular muggle clothing Harry and her used to wear, nor were they the typical pureblood clothing that Draco wears. It was in between, with the quality of a Rich pureblood, but the style of muggle clothing. Its clear the Morvinaghs come as loaded as the rumors say.

*Hermione*

Once she walked into the kitchen of the burrow she found Mrs Weasley scolding Fred and George on some elaborate prank they did. But as soon as she turned to hermione she tensed??

"Greetings Miss Morvinagh, I'm proud to welcome you into my home" she said scowling as she did, anger brewing up

"Mrs weasley-"

"I'm sure this home of ours is not fit to house a Morvinagh"

"Pardon?"

"But I'm sure that we can make it work, somehow"

Hermione stood there confused. Mrs Weasley treated her like a daughter a year prior, showering her in kisses and hugs, she had taken a liking to it. But now? It seems that has all been backtracked by the simple fact of her surname. She really did despise the burden that came with being a Morvinagh So hermione did was she had done to all the people she's greeted, she was respectful.

She straightened her back and bowed, a low bow to convey her gratitude and said "I understand there might be bad blood between our families. I have been foolish to think that i could act in the same manner despite all that has happened. You were very dear to me and I apologise for any inconvenience I have made. If you'd like me to take my leave you need only say the word" she said still bowing. But when she looked up she saw mollys eyes slowly soften, clearly regretting how she was taking her anger out on a mere child, who only knew about her heritage months prior.

"It's fine." She said, "you'll share a room with Ginny, just as before yeah?"

"Yes Mrs Weasley. Just as before"

She said as she went up to put her bags down. She was then rugby tacked by Ginny onto the bed. Its clear her brothers taught her that move.

"Hermione!!" She said giving her a bear hug. Hermione was still shocked she still had energy after that tackle. Hermione fought the urge to groan a little in pain, Her injuries were still a little tender. But she won in the end and out up a smile, which was also slightly a grimace

"Didn't you greet me downstairs?"

"Yeah but this is like a second greeting" she said laughing

"Missed you too Ginny" Hermione said patting her head. She had spent a lot of time with Ginny in year 3, she had gotten to know her well enough to call her a close friend.

"Hey what was that on about with my mom, you acted so..." she said trying to find the words

"Stuffy? Courteous? Like a pureblood?"

"Yeah. That."

"Your mother seems to have a little bit of bad blood with my family. God knows what they have not done. It makes sense for her to dislike me a little"

"What?! That's ludicrous!! You're the same hermione as you have always been!"

"I mean, I'd like to think so. But it seems like things will change no matter how similar I am. But never mind on this, tell me about your holiday" through countless of social interactions (hermione realised its best to parry a sad conversation by ending it on a lighter note. It makes the speaker more comfortable.) And put on a smile emulating with pride for her people skills

"Oh I have lots to tell you! At the beginning of the year we all went to Egypt! Oh it was so..." Ginny rambled on as Hermione putting her bag down and sorting out her clothes into piles putting them away. This is going to be an enjoyable week

-------------------------

*Harry*

"Do any of you feel Hermiones been acting...odd?"

"Odd? How do you mean" Ron asked stuffing his plate with breakfast. The time was 7:00am, a few days after Harry and Hermiones arrival. Ron, Harry and Ginny were the first ones down and already putting a plate of food before the rest came

"Just that she's weirder now. For starters how many times does she speak in a day?"

The other 2 paused at this trying to think.

"Well??" Harry asked expectedly

"What do you mean well? It's not something we spend our days thinking about. Now that you mention it. Not a lot, no?" Ron says looking up in a dazed manner, trying to recount in his mind

"Exactly, it's almost like she's used to this routine of not speaking like she's happy to listen to them speaking but not bothered to speak herself. Excluding the other signs of communication, the nods and gruff noises she makes instead of talking she could go almost full days without discussing something"

"Also I've noticed something else as well, she has a few hours to herself in the evening, where I see her practicing movements with a stick? Like she's training or something"

"That actually isn't weird Harry." Ron spoke "purebloods always get their children to take up some sport. I doubt the morvinaghs are no different. They want their children to be the best of the best and I guess it's something Hermione must do"

"Shes a lot more tense with Mr and Mrs Weasley he remarked."

"Well it makes sense considering..." Ron said trailing off

"Considering what?"

"Mum got mad at her when she came here on the first day. Like a silent anger but her words were full of disdain. It was only when hermione apologised that she seemed to snap out of it. I think she realised even she was being too hard on someone who didn't know her heritage, I mean she was left at an orphanage how was she mesnt to know." Ron grumbled, stabbing his eggs with a fork.

"But that doesn't explain Mr Weasley, when he went to hug her she just stood there and reluctantly hugged back"

"Alright now THATS weird, but hermione has always been a weird one, I'm sure she has a reasons and we should just understand that she's obviously not going to be the same person" ron countered. "Hey ginny, you've been awfully quiet" he said nudging his sisters arm with his elbow

"Huh? Oh right, yeah, sorry"

"Do you have anything to say?"

"Whattt? No. I mean yeah but, I'm sure Hermione is fine." She said looking at her food dejectedly. Now ginny was no awful liar by any means, she's often involved in her brothers pranks all the time, much to her mothers chagrin, but If there was one think she couldn't lie about was about someone's wellbeing. Especially if she knew something she wasn't meant to know

"You know something" Ron said, eyes squinting at Ginny, "come on, tell us, we won't tell anyone"

"It's just personal okay, something I know she wouldn't want spread"

"So it's about hermione??" Harry said, picking up on the her part. "Please, we're worried about her, please tell us"

After major internal debate and an awkward silence, she sighs, slouching and said a dejected "Alright. You know how hermione wakes up really early, and comes to bed really late" she said, voice low as the 2 boys nodded leaning closer to her.

"I woke up a little early yesterday, nothing on her part she's always pretty quiet when waking up early, and I was awake when she was putting on her shirt

"Ginny I don't see how that's relevant-"

"Will you let me finish?!" She snapped, shutting Ron up "as I was saying, she was putting on her shirt when I woke up and she had this huge scar."

"A scar? How big??"

"It was from the bottom of her hip to the top of her stomach. She either went through a massive accident, which doesn't make sense as why wouldn't she tell us, OR it was done intentionally by something or someone" she said eying the 2 boys carefully

"You think he did that??" Harry said astoundedly

"He did what?" Hermione said, coming into the room

"Oh nothing" Ginny said a but too fast for her liking.

*Hermione*

Hermione eyed her suspiciously but said nothing, sighing as she said "Alright then". After all, she has a plethora of secrets that she keeps, if they wanted one, who is she to say no. She sat herself down and ate as she read her fathers book. It was adorned and littered with notes in the margin, scribbled handwriting dissecting each and every sentence like it was his bible. And the more she read, the more she had learnt about her father, its infomation that lingered in the pages far better than any person's recount of him. His ambitions were clear, he wanted to be better than any morvinagh that walked in the estate. Had her father meant to give her this?? But in doing so he revealed what he did to achieve it. The dark spells he learnt and invented, the group of people he rallied into an alliance with, deeming himself as the leader of course. And how angry he was, about everything really, using the allegory of the Victor killing the monsters wife as his own killing of animals in a twisted acknowledgment of desperation to be rid of such anger and a small undertone of pleasure that came with it. A sickly feeling washed over her as she started to realise. She was just turning into a Morvinagh. She was turning into her father. The man regarded as savage and cruel by all who knew him. And regarded as an exemplary pureblood by all who wanted to become him. And she didnt feel good about that. Not good at all.

-----------‐------------

Today was the day of the Quiddich Cup. It was a good day, a clear day to watch it, but hermione didn't care much for quiddich. She took to books and pages more than sport, and she couldnt find a conversation any more boring than one about the sport. Fortunately for her, Harry, Ron and Ginny loved the sport, and could find nothing better than to talk about it nonstop. She preferred to be around them but not talking to them so on the day of the march when they sat round the breakfast table yabbering on about the godforsaken sport, hermione could find nothing better than a good book and a comforting plate of buttered toast.

"Hey hermione are you excited for the" Fred started

"Quiddich world cup? What team do you fancy?" George finished, she must admit she found the whole ordeal of them finishing eachothers sentences quite amusing

"I think it'll be quite fun. I've never been"

"Quite fun?!" Ron said mouth agape absolutely astounded by what she said " merlin hermione, you really are boring. How can this be quite fun?! It's a Bulgarian match, staring the Victor Krum as a seeker. Krum oh krum..." Ron said trailing off, probably fantasising about his man crush, if she didn't know Ron any better she'd think he was gay.

Fred and George picked up on this and started dramatically putting their hands on their heads flopping over the breakfast table dramatically shouting out "KRUM...OH MY DEAR KRUM"

Ron's face went bright read as he was slapping his brothers out of sheer embarrassment as Mr Weasley came into the room

"Right, we must leave in the next hour, make sure you're sorted out before we leave"

----------------‐--‐-----------

"Where are we going Ron?" Harry asked. They had been walking through the woods for some time now

"Dunno. DAD where are we going"

"Haven't the foggiest"

ARTHUR!! ITS ABOUT TIME!" A man shouted ahead of them. It seems they were friends by the way Mr Weasley shook his hand with a smile

"Sorry Amos. Some of us had a sleepy start." He said gesturing to Ron who was yawning as he said this "This here is Amos Diggery. Works with me at the ministry" just as he said this a boy came falling down from the tree above. Hermione had noticed him before but couldn't see his face properly, but now she could see his defined cheekbones, tall stature and a perfectly sculpted face. He was very handsome "and this I'm guessing must be Cedric"

"Yes sir." He said shaking his hand. Ginny looked at her with look implying she in colloquial terms "fancied him". Hermione however felt no pull towards him. He was attractive yes but it was moreso through the lens of a scientific approach, not necessarily a love one

They speed-walked up a hill till they came across a "mankey old boot" for Harry's standards. They all touched it and felt like they were being spun around as they floated into the air

"Let go!" Mr weasley said

"What?" Harry shouted

"LET GO" he said again, letting go as he did, Hermione did as instructed and was flung through the air. 'Fuck. Don't fall don't fall don't fall don't fall.' She said over and over until fell all the way to a 2 feet off the ground before, hovering?? As soon as she realised what she had done she fell to the ground slamming her face into the dirt.

'Was that regular magic or her awakening?' She thought as she stood up, making a not to ask her aunt later.

"I bet that cleared your sinuses" Mr weasley said laughing as he, Amos and Cedric Diggory floated to the ground.

Well now, welcome to the Quiddich world cup!!" He said as they walked upwards to see it.

Chapter Text

It was crowded, to say the least, rows upon rows of small tents with people outside them cooking, blasting fireworks with faces painted in red or green colours. It was all rather chaotic, in a comrade in arms sort of way. Hermione also felt excited for a game she once deemed boring.

She entered the tent skeptically to an enlarged area inside. With bunks one one side (boys and girls separated of course) and household ammendaties on the other in the centre she found a large conversation pit. It was all very beautiful, with draped curtains and large pillows. And a magical fireplace in the centre.

-------------------------

"Blimy how high are we?" Ron said as they walked up the steps to their area

"Well let's put it this way. If it rains, you'll be the first to know" Mr malfoy said smirking at the group. Mr Weasley said nothing, and looked cross as he eyes were like daggers, borrowing into Mr Malfoy's.

"Father has us in the ministers box under the personal invitation of Cornelius Fudge himself"

"Don't boast Draco" he said, hitting his son firmly with his cane. "There's no need with these...people" he said with a sneer. His eyes then turned to mine

"Miss Morvinagh, how very nice it is to meet you again"

"And you too Mr Malfoy."

Ron and Harry's mouths went wide and expression soon turned from shock to anger as she talked further, how could she be in cahoots with a man like him?

"I'm happy to invite you to the box with myself and my son. Goodness knows you'll see nothing up there"

"I'm inclined to accept such an invitation Mr Malfoy, but I'm afraid I have to decline. I've made a prior arrangement with Mr Weasley and his family, and I intend to keep it"

"And how would you father feel about this?" He said, raising an eyebrow

"We struck a deal sir, I filled my end of the bargain and the end of his was to allow me to attend. He knows I'm here, I assure you." She said quickly defending herself

Harry Ron and Ginny then had their expression soften. Clear to them that she had to do something just for her to hang out with blood traitors, like a bartering system. But they soon started to worry and wondered what it is she had to trade for her to join them?

Mr malfoy chuckled a little "you needn't worry Hermione, even if he didn't know I would've kept this to myself. Do give your regards to your father for me" he said slightly bowing

"Yes sir. I will" she said lightly bowing herself.

"And you" he said putting his cane on Harry's foot to prevent him from leaving
"do enjoy yourself up there. While you still can".

And with that he released his cane and walked away. Draco shot her a confused look but she shot a look saying 'discuss later' and he turned his look into a foul sneer to cover it up. And with that, they left.

They then took their seats and the match was in Ron's terms "Bloody Brilliant" she watched on as players zipped past the crowds and them screaming their heads off in return. Goal after goal Ireland scored and Bulgaria were trailing behind and the half time scores were 100 Ireland - a mere 30 for Bulgaria.

It was at this time that they released the mascots At first hermione found most of the boys around her were acting weird. It was almost as if they were drooling at the women, hell she had to practically push Harry down as Mr Weasley and Ginny took to grabbing the rest of the boys. The mascots? Could they be Veela?? She'd never seen one before and looking up now she could see that they were truly beautiful. But she wasn't affected. Ginny however looked more angry, and was jealous?? It took her bear hugging Harry and for the veelas to leave the stage for him to finally calm down.

"You okay?" She asked

"Uh, yeah, what happened?"

"Veela, you were in a dazed state. Victim to their enticing thrall."

"Were you affected?"

"Of course not why would I be"

"Women are affected hermione. I know I was" ginny said with a shrug "It makes regular women more jealous or envious, I felt a little angry at the Veela. Whereas it makes men susceptible, makes them want to take a Swan dive over the railing for a.chance to get on stage."

"What? Surely that's wrong that first part wasn't even in the book-"

"Listen its a well known fact, not everything is in books hermione" she said laughing 'What? I didn't feel envious nor attracted. I just thought as I always did, thought they were attractive. Why am I immune?'

-----------------‐-----------

The match ended with a staggering 170-160 with Victor Krum catching the snitch restoring some honour to the Bulgarian team, and their fans. She was walking back when she felt the want to observe the place a little further

"Mr weasley, may I be allowed to take a walk so to speak?"

He inwardly debated with himself "you know the way back, yes?"

"My memory is good sir, I'll know the way back"

He chuckled at this "Well alright then, but don't be back too late or I'll have to send a search party" he said jokingly.

She smiled back and departed She wore a knitted jumper and some suit trousers, not the best for mud but she didn't fine any other clothes to put on that were more laid back or muggle. As she was walking through she came across an group of more luxurious camping sights. The tents were bigger on the outside, surely meaning they were bigger on the inside as well and contrary to the crowd she saw near Mr Weasleys tent, she was surprised, and a little pleased, to see this section was relatively quiet. She had accidently also stumbled upon Draco, who was luckily also nearby. It seems their discussion wouldn't have to wait after all.

"Miss Morvinagh how delightful it is to meet you" he said sneering.

"I unfortunately cannot say the same for you Mr Malfoy" she said keeping a straight face. But then they both started smiling and giggling as they walked side by side talking just as they had been in year 3. Draco took to going on about his upset on Bulgaria loosing, how he had friends that played for the team. As well as going on about how great of a seeker Krum is. Hermione did wonder if in another lifetime Ron and Draco would be friends, they did have similar intrests after all. Not that she'd tell either party that

"Hey, why did you ignore me at the stands today" he said now drawing her attention

She scoffed amusedly "isn't it obvious?"

"What is?"

"The others cannot know we are friends"

Draco stopped and cocked his head to the side in confusion
She stood. In front of him holding her 2 hands up. "The left side is Hermione Granger, part of the golden trio and yes I despise that name, the brightest witch of her age, strong proud griffindor. She wouldn't dare step a toe out of line...the right side however, is hermione morvinagh, cunning, skillful in dark arts, leads her own secret group to victory as well as a part one of the, if not the most dangerous pureblood house in wizarding Britain. Those 2 sides, mustn't, no cannot meet EVER."

"The facade you've placed will be ruined if it did"

"Precicely. I must show the world that I'm the same golden girl I once was. Proving to the masses will be easy. Proving to those like dumbledore will be far more difficult." She said thoughtfully tapping her chin
"Harry, Ron, Ginny and all the others are far too good to want to do stuff like this. Too ingraned in their morals and too blind to see the true potential it all has. Its all idiotic in my eyes i must say" she said firmly, glancing up at draco to meet his eyes "I have great plans for all of us Draco. Far beyond hogwarts. I don't want us to be great I want us to be exceptional. And for us to be exceptional we all must remain undetected, grades are exempt from this of course."

Draco nodded "i have no doubt we will all achieve what we want. We all have faith in you Hermione. " He went to go speak to her some more but before he could could anything she spoke up

"It's getting late. A little longer and Mr Weasley might worry. Goodbye Draco." She said cheerfully "And don't forget our little conversation, you've been slacking off on your bullying."

And with that she left, she was busy making her way back through the more privatised location where she saw someone in the distance. A woman who's shadow was only immuminated in the twilight sky, but this mysterious figure caught her eye and didn't let it go. And she felt it again, her heartrate quicken, her palms more sweaty. She became more away on every change in bodily function there was because this girl was an enigma. She was different. She invoked a reaction.

The girl then cocked her head to the side as if looking at her, confused as well by this whole ordeal, and hermione now wondered if she also felt it too. So she did what she only thought of and cocked her head to the side as well. A seeming acknowledgement of the other party occurred, but thst was all they had time for. For screaming could be heard and not the good kind. The kind of ear piercing screams one would only find in the worst of times. She turned her head distracted and saw multiple tents on fire. People running and screaming for their lives as masked cloaked figures stood marching during it all. Death eaters no doubt. Active in today's society??? If she liked divination she would've taken this as a bad omen.

She turned back around to find the woman gone, and spotted several figures running backwards to get to safety. But hermione run towards the danger. Towards uncertainty. Maybe she really Is more griffindor it presumed.

She was pushed and shoved in all directions, getting.mud and face paint dye all over her clothes and face. But she pushed forward nevertheless, screaming her friends names,
"HARRY!!" "RON!"
she knew she had to find them, knew she had to find the portkey too or she had no change of getting out of this hellish area

------------------------

It was deserted now, but she was still looking for them all, but it was almost hopeless given how bast the expanse was
"Harry!" "Ron"

"HERMIONE!" They yelled running towards her and giving her a bearhug

"Jesus we thought we lost you for good where have you been?"

"I went on a walk right before the attack. I wasn't gone for long but once it started I ran in to find you guys. I'm so glad your safe"

"STUPEFY" people yelled in all 4 directions, all 3 barely ducked to prevent themselves getting hit. What idiot fires at unarmed teenagers

"STOP! THATS MY SON" Mr weasley said pushing his was through the aurors and the minister of magic?.

He ran to his son giving him a hug then called out to us "Harry, Hermione are you alright?" He said checking our faces to see if there were any injuries.

"WHICH ONE OF U CONJURED IT?!"

"Crouch you can't"

"You have been discovered at the scene of the crime? Who did it? Was it you Miss Morvinagh? Heaven knows what your father is doing as of late" he said pressing his wand to her neck

"No si-"

"Mr crouch. Get your wand out of my daughters face. Now" her father said appearing out of pure thin air itself.

"Crouch wasn't having it "And where did you come from? You couldn't have found us unless you were here before. He said no waving his wand in her fathers face"

"Oh Crouch get that filthy thing away from me. An associate of mine told me what had happened when they got back, I came here because of it"

"And the associates name?"

"Lucius Malfoy"

It would make sense, he knew she was at the tournament and knew I probably hadn't been helped afterwards, it's a good alibi but she couldn't shake of a small feeling that he might have had something to do with it all.

"There was a man sir" Harry now spoke up "there!" He said pointing that way

"Those with me, this way!" Barty Crouch said running off into the foggy abyss. Taking his accomplices with him.

The all looked up to see a glaring dark mark upon them. And hermione felt that things will start to change very very soon.

Chapter Text

"Come now Hermione, we must take our leave"

"Understood." She looked behind her "goodbye, see you guys at hogwarts" and with that they apparated away

Her father lead her through the halls of her home and into his office. And instructed her to sit. He asked her questions on this night and hermione answered perfectly, her memory was excellent of course and it clearly didn't disappoint. Her father sighed heavily "is there anything else that you found suspicious?"

Hermione thought back to her hovering "Well yes but-"

"-but what?"

"It isn't relevant to the situation"

Her father quirked an eyebrow at this "but It happened yesterday, yes?"

She nodded

"Say it."

"We travelled by portkey grabbing an old boot. Mr Weasley told us to let go of it after some time, I remember I was headed stomach side down onto the floor. I kept on saying to myself don't fall and for a split second I...hovered?"

Her father went serious at this "and you are certain?"

"Yes. Very."

He sighed heavily rubbing his eyes. "Alright then, you are excused"

-----------------------‐------

It was the 2 days before her leave for hogwarts. She ahd wrapped up her duties for the day and the last thing she had was her sword practice.

Her sword skillls have improved through continuous effort and dedication, her hands now calloused and rough. Her arms she could feel were stronger and she had even felt her overall health had improved because of this. She was greatful she had gotten to train her body just as much as she got to train her mind that summer, even if it was hard work.

She entered the halls of the dueling room to meet with her aunt, whom she'd grown quite fond of.

"Hello hermione, you ready?"

"Just a minute" she said about to get her katana"

"Oh no no no, you won't be using your sword today. Grab a staff, Pass me one too while you're at it" hermione looked confused but listened to her aunt nevertheless. She was pleased to see she was advancing but to what?

"Alright ready?"

"Ready." Hermione said firmly. But it was at this moment the light shut off. Leaving hermione in the dark. 'A new stage in training I see'. Hermione stood there staff in hand, trying desperately to listen and find locate any sound. But her ears were untrained and her aunts movements quiet. She felt a stabbing sensation everywhere and looked to see a frosty mist, blurring the darkness so much couldn't see a simple shadow. Their air was thick and her breathing quickened. Hermione fought the urge to laugh a little 'my dear aunt and her dramatics.' Just then she could hear their air being cut. And brought her staff in front of her just in time. She'd need to keep her wits about her. Unfortunately that move was a mere lucky shot. Her aunt took to beating the poor girl with the stick time and time again. It was an unfair fight but hermione didn't dare say that.

Her aunt however was not going for an overkill, she only hit when necessary and from what hermione could tell, her movements were slower than the usual. Once she was done she switched the lights on and healed hermiones wounds on the spot

"What was this new training for?"

"You are very skilled. Managed to work well in duels and are becoming a good welder. But you are unable to change form your comfort zone. You aren't adaptive, you rely on the same moves to help you so much so that anyone who just watches you can use them against you." Aunt Victoria said firmly, hermione felt disappointed with herself too. "You would be able to hold your own during a fight when and only when the conditions are right. But what if its dark? What if your opponent is smart? What if its cold? These are the boundaries we must push through Hermione. You did good for your first time but hopefully we'll fix this by the end of your school hear" Hermione paused at this

"Pardon?"

"Hermione don't tell me you thought this training would be over when you went back to school? Your muggle studies and etiquette can wait until holidays but your sword skills and music lessons must be regular if you have any chance of advancing"

"Undersood. I look forward to training in the future then"

Her aunt stayed silent for a second. "I heard someone had a bout of magic just last week"

"My father told you?"

She laughed at this "the man tells me everything of course I know"

"So is it normal magic or my awakened magic?"

"Neither Hermione, its like being a pastlemouth, runs in the family but not unique. And even having either quality is rare in the bloodline."

"Is or was there anyone else in the family that can do both?"

"Yes, there has been one person in the family with those 2 traits"

"Who?"

"Only the current head of house himself. Your father" she said taking her leave after that

"Oh and before I forget. You might want to ask him about when he'll give you classes on that. Don't want to be surprised on a random Tuesday morning now do you?" She said walking off back turned to Hermione, who could practically hear the smirk on her face. Her aunt always gave an air of nonchalance that kind of reminded her of a more refined elegant Blaise. Both are just as charasmatic though. Hermione had always wondered how her aunt and father are siblings, from her perspective they couldn't be any more different.

------‐--------------------

*a few days prior, after the quiddich cup incident. Once hermione had left for bed*

"I heard what happened" Victoria said storming into Sebastians office without so much as a knock

"News travels fast I see. How did you find out so quick, didn't the ministry hush it up for now?"

"Hush it up? Dear brother with all those people around, it was doomed to become infomation from the start. How's hermione doing? Wasn't she there?"

"She was."

"...and will I have to mourn a dead niece or what?"

"She is fine, she is sleeping upstairs"

"How did you find her?"

"With Barty's wand at her neck" he said with a look of distaste

"What? He would dare threaten one of us? He must be put in his place"

"The minister of magic?" Sebastian laughed "Oh Vic you really do overestimate our power

"A small hurdle to leap over. You have faced worse challenges."

"Nevermind about that. The house will not crumble due to Barty's insubordination. There's another pressing matter"

"And that is?" Victoria said raising an eyebrow

"She flew."

"Hermione?"

Sebastian nodded

"Fuck."

"Exactly."

"Are you certain?"

"She said she was."

"How could she develop that before her awakening? That hasn't been heard of before?!"

"I know that." He said distastefully "so it's either 2 things. One she's developed flying, a more difficult thing to achieve, than her own magical awakening. Or two. She's defective."

"Being defective hasn't been seen before in a Morvinagh-"

"And so what? There are squibs are there not? Maybe this is a Morvinagh version. Either way she cannot inherit without this. Besides she is almost 15! FIFTEEN VIC. I must admit her chances of awakening must have significantly dropped by now."

They stayed silent for a moment. A sense of worry flooded Victoria, 'if she doesn't prove her worth I can only fear what'll happen to her'

"Give her until the end of this coming year."

"What?-"

"You heard me. End of this year. Then make your decisions on the heir."

"Why are you so insistent on her. Why not your own child"

"I have my own reasons" she protested "one of which being that child has promise. If she's able to fly then her abilities cannot be far off-"

"FINE, fine" Sebastian "you are an insistent pain in the arse as the muggles would say" he said smirking

"Well its a good thing I'm your sister, Sebastian. Merlin knows you would've killed me otherwise."

He shot her a confused semi-joking look "is your memory going foggy or don't you remember the siblings we killed?"

She laughed at this "I do remember. Those were troubling times It took us to adulthood to finally act like normal siblings"

He chuckled at her remark "Oh dear sister. You and I both know we'd have never been normal siblings Morvinagh name or not.

-------------------------------‐-

The first day of school started swimmingly. She had put her bags down and already arranged her clothes and assorted items on her desk drawers. She was the first one in the dorms and was excited to finally get back to her old normalcy. Her home away form home so to speak. Not that the manor was home-like anyway, but she could at least appreciate her room at least.

Dinner occurred soon after and students chambered into the halls for their meal.

"But before we began i have an announcement" Dumbledore spoke voice echoing through the great hall, "this castle will not only be your home this year but the home of 2 other schools. Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event. The tri wizard tournament. This brings together 3 schools for a magical contest. And for each school 1 student is selected to compete. Not let me be clear. If chosen you stand alone and it is not a contest for the faint hearted."

"Now please give a grand welcome to the students at the Beuxbaxons Academy Of Magic!! And their headmistress madame maxine" He said as he started clapping

The doors opened and a flood of perfectly graceful witches and wizards came into the halls. They were elegant and graceful, acting poised with every step, and charming in the next. Its clear that all of hogwarts was swooned by the group of men and women. It was here that hermione saw a girl at the front of the crowd, one that even she couldn't deny she was swooned by and felt her chest tighten at the thought forcing herself to turn her gaze away. She then looked at the headmistress who was exceedingly tall. Half giant perhaps? As they fluttered and gave a grand bow at the front of the tables. The school was in uproar clapping cheering and whistling at the students. As they all went to sit down at the Ravenclaw table.

"And now from the North. Please greet the proud sons and daughters of Durmstrang. And their high master Igor Kankarov"

Whereas Beaxbaxons was elegant and graceful, durmstrang was rough and cold. They marched in almost like soldiers, showing no fear and no emotion as they walked in creating displays of fire as they stood proudly in front of the tables. All hogwarts students were starstruck, so much so that no applause was needed. Hermione even more so, for in the crowd she recognised a familiar face. Her cousin Gwendolyn Carrow. They made eye contact and Gwens face twisted into a mischievous smirk. 'This is going to be an intresting year indeed.'