Disclaimer:No…Unfortunately I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters….(sobs…)
There she was again. After a long summer she was finally back. Hermione loved Hogwarts. And best of all she loved the library, full of treasures and knowledge. She made her way through the empty tables; it was after all the first day of term- no one needed to be there. Leaving her bag on a chair she decided to wander about a bit and look for something new to read. By instinct she turned towards the East wing of the library, she always went there. Which made her think: "What is in the west wing?" The West wing was clearly a place not many students, or teachers for that matter, went to often. The reason was simple, it didn't contain any books useful for homework, it just had biographies. It was full of books about the ancient magical families and their history. No one would be interested to read about the great great great grandfather of Neville. I mean let's face it; these books have probably never been opened. Nonetheless Hermione decided to make the most of it. Just as she was about to learn how the Potters began their magical careers, she noticed a black book. It was bound with black silk and it was the only one that had no title in the front. That simply made her curious and so she pulled the book out. It was strange but the family's book didn't have a title anywhere in the first pages, and so, her curiosity heightened, she started reading…
"The founder of the family was born in 1525 in France. His name was Antoine Vipère, youngest son of the richest and most powerful family in Normandy. From a young age it was obvious that he was a powerful and talented wizard. His powers however made him an enemy to his family who betrayed and imprisoned him. At those times muggles used to burn wizards in order to exorcise them and this was the fate chosen for Antoine. On the day of the execution when the guards went into his cell to lead him out, Antoine was nowhere to be found.
The next few months in the life of Antoine cannot be traced. However he appears 5 months later in Paris. He was walking through the dark streets of a city defeated by plague when he saw a young muggle woman lying at the corner of the street unconscious. As he tried to help her the woman opened her eyes and begged him to end her suffering. It was clear that the illness had taken its toll on her already and Antoine could not think of a way to help the ill woman except with his gift. He most probably used an ancient healing technique to stop the woman from feeling the pain; however as he was doing so the girl's brother came out of the house and saw the light emanating from Antoine's palms as he was touching his sister. Considering this to be the devil's doing he tried to catch Antoine and send him to prison. But when he realised that Vipère was too quick for him he turned back to his dying sister. Vipère looking back, saw in the distance the girl's brother setting her on flames… The muggle was trying to save his sister's soul by burning her. It is said that from that day on Antoine….."
"What on earth are you doing here? The library closed ten minutes ago!" Madam Pince snapped at Hermione.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't realise how quickly time passed"
"Well on you go then, don't sit here looking at me!"
"Of course" said Hermione as she ran passed picking up her bag.
"Are you going to take this with you?" asked the librarian.
Hermione thought for a minute looking at the black book. She couldn't help but think how sorry she felt about Antoine and how much she wanted to know his story. He sounded after all as an honest and good wizard. So she said:
"Yes I think I will."
She started making her way towards the Gryffindor tower, but all she could think of was Antoine Vipère. She wanted to know his story, she wanted to know what happened to him, and trace his offsprings. She looked at her watch, she still had five minutes till dinner, so she decided to sit in a corner and at least finish the page she was reading
"It is said that from that day on Antoine lost his faith in muggles and good. His guilt for letting that woman die such a painful death and seeing what his good magic did to her made him believe that muggles were unworthy of magic. He decided to leave France and travel north to England. There he established the first family of Dark wizards after Salazar Slytherin. He had three sons; each of them grew up to create an unforgivable curse. It is said though that until his last day he never forgot that girl. And as he was dying he whispered… "That girl I'll never forget...the mudblood" It is commonly believed that he was describing the girl as a mudblood, however it makes more sense to think that he meant her brother. It is certain though, that since then the word is still used to insult muggleborn wizards. Whichever way he meant it we know that the incident with the girl was the one that turned him towards the darkness. When he arrived in England, due to this loss of faith he changed his name to Malfoy."
"Malfoy…Typical…" Hermione whispered…
After dinner Gryffindors made their way towards their common room. Hermione was one of the last ones to get in as she spent time chatting with the fat lady who had quite significantly lost weight through the summer. Once in, she moved towards the right end of the room and sat next to Harry on the burgundy sofa. It appeared they were having a conversation about some sort of film Harry had watched.
"So then the dragon gave a part of his heart to the prince and then the prince would not die unless the dragon died first and then…"
"Oh that is rubbish Harry, that's not a movie or whatever you call it, that's an ancient legend!" interrupted Ron rudely.
"I will agree with the rubbish part Ronald because I never thought much of "Dragonheart"! But what legend are you talking about?" replied Hermione.
"Gee, thanks Hermione, nothing better than having your support when it comes to muggle movies" answered Harry irritably
"Well I didn't like it and that dragon was so fake! I mean the guy could NOT act"
"That dragon was played by Sean Connery! 007! You cannot be serious Hermione!"
"Double 0 what?" whispered Ron clearly uncomfortable with his ignorance...
His friends turned and gave him that looked that clearly said "Muggle stuff, you're not going to get it anyway!"
"Anyway," said Ron ignoring their looks, "So there was a guy centuries ago who was from a powerful wizard family and then he fell in love with one muggleborn witch but his father was never going to let him make out with a muggleborn witch and…"
Ginny's voice broke her brother's monologue, "Ron, you're saying it completely wrong!"
"No I am not!"
"Yes you are, just be quiet and I'll say the legend! So there was this handsome, young and powerful wizard that met a beautiful but muggleborn witch. However they didn't fall in love then, he was prejudiced against muggles and muggleborns and she was in love with a muggle, or she thought she was at least. Then one day there was a battle, and the handsome wizard…
"Oh, so that's why my version was not good…? It was not fluffy enough?" interrupted Ron
"Well I like that version more" said Hermione.
"Of course you do, you also thought Krum was prince charming too! What about you Harry, what do you think mate, isn't my version better than Ginny's?"
"Well actually I do like Ginny's version…"
"Of course you do mate…Of course you do… Well then I'll leave you GIRLS to it and I'll go upstairs!"
"Anyway now that he's gone I can carry on with my story! So, in the battle the handsome wizard was with the dark side, helping them in his animagus form. You see he could transform himself into a dragon. Just as he was fighting against good he noticed the witch, who was on the opposite side on the square mortally wounded. And he felt something break inside him so he went near her. To save her he gave her a part of his heart. That way she couldn't die unless he did. So when the battle was over she put the piece of his heart into her wand and they stayed bonded for eternity. But she never managed to find him again. She spent her life looking for him and he spent his life hiding from her and protecting her from evil. Some believe she's still looking for him…And one day she'll find him…"
"Wow…" Whispered Hermione
"Yeah said Harry, but I still cannot believe you don't like Sean Connery!"
"He's 200 years old! And he is fine as an actor; I just didn't like the movie! Anyway that aside, did anyone notice how Ron keeps staring at Lavender 24/7?"
"Oh…yeah..." said Harry "you see Ron has a bit of a crash on Lavender"
"Oh please" said Hermione…
And laughing this way the three Gryffindors said their goodnights and went to bed…
"Come on guys! We are going to be so late for Defence against the dark arts!" said Hermione as they were running through the corridors.
"You know what Hermione, for a witch that doesn't do any sports except stressing you are too quick!" Answered Harry
"…Can't…breathe…can't run faster" said Ron
But it was ok because they were there, and they saw that the class was just entering.
The bad news of the new year was that unfortunately Snape now took defence against the dark arts and potions for sixth years…This was going to be painful…
Twenty minutes through the lesson Snape was explaining how he wanted the student to duel with each other so that he could see the various techniques they use and they get to see what it feels like facing an enemy. He had already split the class in pairs to start their duels, and five minutes later, as Hermione had already petrified Neville she was told to duel with Dean Thomas. Five minutes later he was knocked out too and she turned to Snape:
"What now professor?" she said noticing that everyone seemed busy with their pairs.
"Miss Granger you can duel with Mr Malfoy"
"Oh no no nooooo" She thought… "The guy is vicious he's going to rip me into pieces, he will actually try to murder me and make it look like an accident! And all that because I'm a …"
"Mudblood, are you going to carry on daydreaming about your Potter boyfriend or are we going to duel so that I turn you into dust?" said the Slytherin
"Oh no Malfoy when I'm done with you, you are going to feel sorry you were born. And don't ever call me a mudblood again otherwise" snapped Hermione
"Otherwise what? Mudblood…"
"Calamus Avolo" screamed Hermione as arrows started flying from her wand...none of them actually getting him though…
"Ooh...Granger using a banned charm…interesting…don't see that everyday …Petrificus totalus"
"Protego" shielded Hermione
"Very good Granger…Impressed…Not doing bad for a mudblood… "
"Incarcerous" screamed Hermione. But as the ropes started rounding Malfoy he yelled
"Incendio" burning them to dust...
"Amusing…remember that nice spell I used against you in the first year mudblood? That made your teeth go pretty? What was it again? "Dens..."
But Hermione had not yet said her last word…
"RELASHIO" and sparks of fire hit Malfoy on the chest exactly where his heart was. But something was happening, Hermione was in pain too, not just pain, excruciating pain…. It was as if someone had put on both of them the cruciatus curse. Neither of them could move. They couldn't even scream for help. They were frozen. She was pointing her wand towards him and he was halfway through stepping back, the stream of light still hitting him in his chest. But the pain was terrible, and they both sank into darkness…