Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me because I'm not JK Rowling.
The Silence Was So Thick
Hermione Granger had been sitting at the long table in the Great Hall for fifteen minutes listening to the jeering from the Slytherins. "Hey mudblood," "listen to this mudblood," "what you doing here mudblood?" And it was driving her mad.
And that was when she snapped.
She pressed the heels of her palms against the table and stood straight as an ironing board at a distinct right angle to the surface of the table and she yelled. She yelled song lyrics. Later on she wouldn't be able to tell people the thought behind this outburst, years later she would sit around and laugh about it with the friends that would survive their days at Hogwarts but just at that moment something came upon her. Her subconscious just seemed to leap in to the forefront of her mind.
"But that's just the trouble, desegregation, mass paticipation, unification, do things gradually will bring more tragedy...."
The entire hall stopped, a few mutters sounded from the Gryffindor table, "Nina Simone? Is she quoting Nina Simone?" A number of Ravenclaws laughed, a few actually let out a whoop. The Slytherins looked confused, perplexed and a little angry and then one of them, clearly deciding that it simply didn't matter, got up and threw some mashed potato in her direction. Within five minutes every member of the hall was engaged in an odd and unseemly war. The muggle-born children who had understood the reference had taken it upon themselves to howl slogans as they lobbed food at each other. "Rights for Mudbloods" a small Gryffindor girl screamed at the top of her lungs and the cry was taken up by other members of the house until the room was filled with the words. Showing himself to be rather more sophisticated one Ravenclaw boy of the same age was screaming about his basic human rights with every handful.
My God, Hermione wondered as she huddled underneath the table, what have I started? Will they start using their fists next? Muggle heritage, so rarely referred to within school walls seemed to have taken a rather large place in the proceedings.
Finally the staff rushed in to the hall, responding to the aggression rather belatedly, they had to use magic to split and control the brawling masses. Even the Slytherins, looking rather more thoughtful than usual, refused to tell them who'd started it. The students had bonded.
The next day, walking to her Arithmancy lesson, Hermione Granger was rather startled to find a smiling Draco Malfoy singing softly in her vicinity. Her eyes welled up when she realised precisely what he was singing. "Where am I going, what am I doing, I don't know, I don't know. Just try to do your very best, stand up be counted with all the rest."