-Prologue-

At the tender age of 11 Hermione Granger found herself staring down at the neat scrawl of a curious letter, written in beautiful cursive. She didn't know yet that this letter was the trigger for events that would change her life in great and dangerous ways.

Her face scrunched up in confusion as she first read it, and then smoothed out into an expression filled with curiosity and glee.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

After reading thoroughly several times, she ran to her mother and allowed her to read, with desperate hope in her eyes. Her mother smiled softly and showed the letter to her father, who in turn began making the preparations to allow Hermione to go through with this great opportunity.

After contacting the school to confirm acceptance of the placement, Hermione waited for one month in anticipation of joining the magical school. This month couldn't pass fast enough. Hermione wasn't overly eager about the school she had been attending, as her bushy hair and less than girly appearance had never really mixed well with her class-mates. She had great difficulty making friends and preferred to keep to herself, never really talking much, just trying to stay under the radar- away from predators waiting for the prime opportunity to humiliate her.

As a whole this method worked out fairly well for her, She got by, gaining meaningless grades, staying at the top of her class but remaining in the shadows. She was never fearful, however something inside her longed to be feared, she tired of living in the shadows –however safe it was- and decided not long after receiving her letter, that life was about to change for her. She was going to make a name for herself.

She had pondered over this for the many days leading up to the 1st of September and still pondered after waving goodbye to her saddened parents and finding a compartment she could keep to herself. After boarding the train she promptly changed clothes –out of sight of her parents- into a neat pair of black jeans and a cute purple top, before proceeding to spike up her short hair. She had decided on her style not long before leaving for Kings Cross, and now looking down at herself felt reassured that it was the correct choice.

Not long after this 3 young men appeared at the door of her compartment, one with greasy blonde hair, one that was short and quite on the chubby side, and the other tall and lanky. The first boy extended his hand and nodded curtly. "Malfoy, all the other compartments are filled with snivelling idiots, mind if we join you?" he spoke quietly and politely, and after careful consideration she nodded in agreeance. "Did you see the ginger freckly kid and the kid with glasses then? I'm assuming you did, I saw them pass a while ago with a crying boy." "Yeah we saw them, Potter and the Weasley kid. I've no idea who they were with and frankly don't care to know, the boy looked like an idiot anyway" Hermione laughed at the blonde boy sitting next to hers remark "I'm Hermione by the way. Nice to meet you guys" "and you" Malfoy replied snatching the book from her hands to look at the cover, the other two grunted their replies before pulling stacks of food from their pockets. "Defence against the dark arts? Interesting. I think it'll be one of the better classes we get. I already know a couple of spells, my father taught me, I hope we learn some cool hexes to use on the nerds from further down the train" Hermione smirked, resuming her reading. She felt good about Malfoy.

Over the course of the train ride Hermione found out a lot about Malfoy, exchanging little information in return for his wonderful stories surrounding his family. She learnt the names of his friends, Crabbe and Goyle, and a little about them but found them quite boring and mundane in comparison to the platinum blonde boy. When it came to the final journey to Hogwarts, Hermione stuck by her new acquaintances, in the hopes to learn more about the fascinating "pure blood" families.

It didn't take long for them to reach Hogwarts, and crawl shyly into the sight of Professor McGonagall who awaited them inside the enormous, beautiful castle. After some time they were led into what was suitably named the Great Hall, they were led between four gigantic tables littered with students of all ages, wearing varying colours. She watched as her new friends were sorted into their new houses by the talking hat that lay on a stool in front of the teachers table.

"Hermione Granger!" the voice of Professor McGonagall rang throughout the hall, sending shivers of anxiety through Hermione's body. She crept slowly towards the stool not sure what to anticipate.

"Brilliant mind" the hat whispered as it was lowered onto her head. "A burning passion, but what for? Should I sort you into Gryffindor...? No, perhaps not. I see the underlying desires of your mind. You seek great power, and admiration. Respect." The hat rambled to itself for a few minutes, completely deaf to the whispers that broke out and spread like wildfire throughout the hall.

"SLYTHERIN" the hat screamed, so suddenly that Hermione had to grab hold of the stool to stop her from falling in front of the whole school. She blushed lightly, before running over to the cheering table and finding her blonde friend.

The year passed slowly for Hermione. It took a lot of work to build a name for herself, she found herself in trouble on numerous occasions, often with her blonde friend by her side.

By the beginning of her second year at Hogwarts, she found herself becoming quite close with the blonde. Even considering him a best friend, and on a mutual level. They stuck together, both playing an important part in all schemes involving Weasley and Potter.

By the end of year three, Hermione had come further with herself than she ever thought she could. She had a great sense of pride, a terrible hatred for Gryffindor's, who -more often than not- were the reason she would find herself in trouble. She found their overly "courageous" efforts vile, as well as their misplaced pride and lack of working brain cells. She stuck by Malfoy through all his tussles with Potter, Weasley, and eventually the new addition to their group, Lavender Brown.

However the first three years of her Hogwarts education were completed without her knowing about a great part of her life, the very essence of her being.

That changed when she found herself in her fourth year.

Authors Note:

Greetings fellow Bellamione lovers! I've read a few good fics for Bellanione, but as an incredible fan of this ship I'm still somewhat disappointed by the small number of them, so I've decided to add one or two myself (depending on how this goes). I don't know how many people still read Bellamione, but I do know that I frequent my favourite fics for the pairing, and overall I'm hoping this story becomes one of those fics that people get enjoyment out of and can follow –at will-.

I'd like to thank you for giving my fic a try, the story hasn't really started at this point but I did need to lay some background for Hermione to help with her character development. I hope you've enjoyed what I have written so far, and I hope the future chapters continue to entertain you.

-BellamioneLove