No one was ever quite sure if there had been a Muggle-born sorted into Slytherin House before. Definitely not in living memory. Certainly not in the last 200 years. And highly unlikely before that. Half-bloods or not-quite Purebloods were rather common, as the Wizarding population would have entirely died out, had they not started marrying muggles. The question of bigotry against muggle-born witches and wizards largely ran within the last remaining Pureblood families; the Sacred 28 as they claimed. Slytherin House, at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, was full of Purebloods, more than any of the other four houses, with a few select Half-bloods (that is to say, a pureblood magical parent and a non pureblood parent). Only the most bigoted Purebloods think that anything but the absolute abstinence of any non magical blood constituted a pureblood (all of which are found within the list of the Sacred 28 pureblood families), whereas the majority of the wizarding population felt that three-quarters (a half-blood with a pureblood) would count.
It was on Sept 1, 1991 that Slytherin House gained it's first muggleborn student, one Miss Hermione Granger. And the shockwaves it sent through the bigoted wizards worldview was profound. Reactions ranged from a petition forwarded to the Hogwarts Board of Governors to Howlers sent directly to the Headmaster. As if Albus Dumbledore could, or even would, have done anything but side with the Sorting Hat, the magical object created by the school's founders 1000 years ago when it came time for the four founders to think to the future and who would select the students they wanted under their tutelage long after they were gone.
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Hermione Jean Granger had been a rather lonely child, but well loved by her parents. At times inexplicable things happened around her, but for the most part, she simply took it in stride, her fantastic imagination getting lost within her worlds of books. She could, and would read everything she could. At one point, her mother found her in the Occult section of a bookstore and was horrified to find her eight year old daughter nose deep into 'A History of Witchcraft in Modern Britain,' particularly when her daughter commented, "I don't think that book has anything about real magic in it anyways. Nothing like I've seen, at least." It made Mrs Granger wonder what her daughter had seen, and why her daughter would attempt to read occult books at that. The Grangers weren't particularly religious, but after that incident, Hermione's parents made it a point to go to church every Sunday thereafter. Hermione was both pleased and not particularly surprised when a polite letter arrived on her 11th birthday that she had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her parents weren't sure what to make of the inexplicable letter, nor of the smiling man in odd clothing that showed up to their house for tea that day, confirming the receipt of Hermione's letter and to answer any questions they may have about the reality of magic in their decidedly non magical world.
Hermione did not want to wait to get her books. It was confirmed that the next weekend, the smiling man with the half-moon glasses, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, would accompany them into a magical district, Diagon Alley where Hermione could get her school books and any other reading she might want. Other school supplies, Dumbledore recommended, should wait until closer to the following year as performing magic outside of school was strictly prohibited and she would need to wait almost a full year before she would start at the school.
Hermione devoured the school books, reading and re-reading them over again. For Christmas, she begged her parents to take her back to Diagon Alley for more books instead of presents. Her parents complied, and within the bookstore, Flourish & Blotts, Hermione selected the next two grades textbooks of standard spells, as well as theory books for some of the basic topics she heard of. It was here that she met her very first friend, Neville Longbottom. He was with a stately older woman, dressed in black, with a red crocodile purse and a stuffed vulture on her pointy hat. The woman was severe looking, but smiled kindly at Hermione, seeing the advanced texts in her hands, and her animated conversation with her withdrawn grandson, who was smiling and even chatting back, which was a bit of a rarity. Both were to start Hogwarts the next year, and agreed to be pen pals, and hopefully meet up before school starts. Hermione impressed the older witch with her memorization of her first year texts already, and Neville's grandmother quickly decided she wanted this bright, precocious child to be a friend to Neville once they got to school. The Grangers were happy to accept Mrs. Longbottom's offer of tea in the upcoming weeks, and Hermione was thrilled to have a pen pal that she could send letters by owl as well as to fill herself in on what a magical upbringing was like. Hermione was secretly also quite relieved she'd be able to start her schooling with a friend, unlike the rest of her muggle schooling, where she'd skipped many forms. Even if she been better at making friends, the age gap of 2-3 years at such a young age was difficult. Hogwarts, to Hermione, represented a new beginning for her— one where she would fit in, where she would have friends, and where her schoolwork would be fun instead of routine. She would be learning magic!
It was Sept 1, 1991, when Hermione Granger's dreams for her new school were tarnished. Boarding the scarlet steam train on Platform 9 3/4 with Neville had been as wonderful as she'd hoped. They had arrived slightly early and found a cabin for themselves and Neville's toad, Trevor. A few students poked their heads in, but no one seemed interested in sharing the compartment with the two first years, particularly with one already in her school uniform. Neville had taken Trevor out of his cage and was holding him, when the toad wriggled free, as he tended to do, and hopped out of the compartment door, starting a wild chase by Hermione and Neville, up and down the train trying to find and catch Trevor the toad. It was by chance that Hermione found another carriage that had two first years that were on their own, one of whom hand their wand out. Eager to see magic performed, Hermione demanded to be shown. The spell went something along the lines of sunshine, daisies and yellow, very clearly didn't work. Hermione, sure of what she'd already memorized from her textbooks for the year and the bits of magic Mrs. Longbottom had shown her and let her try with her wand, stated that she didn't think it was a spell at all, but everything she had tried had worked so far. Proud of herself, she was a rather puzzled and extremely disappointed that the boy with his wand out was annoyed with her, while the other just seemed puzzled. She introduced herself, and the boys were Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. Harry Potter, she knew, was famous for surviving the dark curse that destroyed his family's home, killing his parents when he was no more than a baby. Hermione was suitably impressed at meeting the boy, but took her leave to find Neville and Trevor.
While the trip by train took a few hours, Hermione found the time flew by and before she knew it, was in the foyer of the great castle that would be her home for the next seven years. And that was truly what she felt, down to her core— that she had come home, that she finally belonged somewhere. The Sorting scared her more than it should have, as she had read about it in one of her school books, and Mrs. Longbottom described it so that no one could lie to her and Neville in attempts to scare them. But even if it was just trying on a hat, Hermione didn't really want to do so in front of the whole school. She was curious that the hat seemed to need time to decide on some students but not others.
She tried to be dignified when it was her turn to go up. She read all about the different school houses, and didn't really have a preference— though thought she'd probably end up in Ravenclaw where intelligence was prized— just as long as she could still be friends with Neville. Hermione sat gracefully on the stool, and the hat was lowered onto her head. She could hear a little voice in her ear, speaking quietly to her.
"Hmm, Hermione Granger, what a head full of knowledge you have here. A real thirst for it, but beyond a normal Ravenclaw. You have ambitions to know things, to excel. Loyalty runs deep for you, but is hard for you to form close bonds, and it is your loyalty which could propel you into acts of great bravery. Yet, you are not quite a Gryffindor either. My, my, what is this? You are quite cunning with your knowledge, and quick with a story to avert trouble. Much more to you than will ever meet the eye. Salazar Slytherin himself would have picked you for his house. Yes, you will achieve your greatest potential and satisfy your ambitions in—"
"SLYTHERIN!"
The last word was shouted out to the hall, where a table with green and silver banners hung over it, and the students were clapping. Hermione set the hat onto the stool and walked to the table, throwing a glance at Neville. There was no way they'd be in the same house. Neville figured he'd like be in Gryffindor like his parents and grandparents, or Hufflepuff like his great aunt.
This was the moment when Hermione's dreams started to crumble. She knew it was irrational, she could still be friends with Neville, but he'd be farther away from her than they'd hoped. The other Slytherins, when she sat down, shot her appraising looks, some of them disapproving of her riot of bushy curls, and what she didn't know yet, her lack of familiar name. It was during dinner that the subject of families was brought up, and information was clearly being fished for to place the students into a sort of hierarchy. Said hierarchy was immediately obvious to Hermione who had spent the rest of the Sorting studying the table she was at, surveying her fellow housemates. Once the subject of families was broached, everything clicked into place for her.
A girl in her year with a snub nose that reminded Hermione of a pug squealed, "Oh, my mother will be so pleased I'm in Slytherin as well. Not like there was any other House I could possibly be in." Hermione remembered her name had been announced as Pansy Parkinson.
"I haven't heard of your name before." A pale boy with white blonde hair stared her down. He was also in Hermione's year.
"Is that so?" Hermione paused eating, set down her silverware and took a sip from her goblet before looking pointedly at the boy. There was an awkward silence at their end of the table, and Hermione saw no need to break it.
"Everyone knows the best families." The boy tried to continue.
"Really. How… fascinating." Hermione smiled blandly. The boy's name was… blast she couldn't remember. She'd been focusing on Neville who was sorted into Gryffindor just before this boy.
"I can't seem to remember your name." Hermione shrugged, before picking up her cutlery again.
"It's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. And if you actually belonged in Slytherin you'd know it." The pale boy snapped.
"Well, Malfoy, or Bad Faith, I was sorted here and so I apparently belong here. I'm not here for the company, that's for sure." Hermione looked at him pointedly.
"Bad Faith?" A girl with short brown hair next to her asked.
"Translation from old French." Hermione stated.
"Sure you're not a Ravenclaw?" The Parkinson girl snickered.
"If I was, the conversation would probably be more interesting." Hermione sighed.
"Well, I'm Tracey Davis" the girl next to Hermione introduced herself.
"It's lovely to meet you Tracey. I'm Hermione Granger." She smiled at the girl.
"But who knows of any Grangers? Where are you from?" The Malfoy boy continued.
"Does it really matter who my family is? It's not like they're here to do my schooling for me." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"So you're not from any family… you're… you're a mudblood!" The Malfoy boy's eyes widened and everyone within hearing of him stopped talking and eating.
"Hmm?" Hermione didn't bother looking at the boy. It was obviously intended as an insult, but it's hard to be insult someone who didn't take offense, she reasoned.
"Muggle-born. Non magical parents." Tracey whispered to Hermione while the Parkinson girl gasped, "A mudblood in Slytherin? Impossible!"
Hermione sighed deeply. "I don't have magical parents. The hat took it's time in choosing where to put me and said Salazar Slytherin himself would have selected me. So I guess that makes me a Slytherin mudblood. Now, if you're not going to say anything else intelligent, do shut up."
"Not, a Slytherin mudblood, THE Slytherin Mudblood." An older student a few seats down spoke up. "There's never been one before. Ever, in the whole history of Hogwarts."
"Well that's just lucky for me then." Hermione commented sarcastically before stabbing a potato with her fork. Aside from Tracey who would say something to her now and then, the rest of her house refused to talk to her or speak to her. Apparently being muggle-born was the worst offense so far. It made about as much sense to her as when she was back home and other children would tease her for reading or doing well in school.
In the dorm, the situation got worse. Pansy Parkinson was the worst, insisting she had to have the bed that was farthest away from 'The Mudblood,' whereas Tracey, who everyone found out had a muggle mother, subtly claimed the bed next to Hermione, leaving the other Pureblood, a Daphne Greengrass, to be between Tracey and Pansy. Hermione was closest to the door, which she preferred. She immediately went to her trunk and started organizing her things, looking up some spells from one of the advanced texts she'd gotten for Christmas for spells to protect her things. She was not willing to put anything past Pansy or any of the older girls if they decided to come in.
"Are you studying ALREADY?" Pansy sneered.
"Actually, no. I'm just laying down some enchantments. I prefer my privacy." Hermione replied, still flipping through her book.
"Isn't that a 3rd year book?" Tracey asked
"Yes. I already memorized everything from The Standard Book of Spells, Year 1. 2 and 3 I still need to reference but I've got a pretty good hang of everything." Hermione replied, settling on some sticking charms to make sure her things couldn't be removed from their place.
"You— memorized it?" Daphne asked in awe. She wasn't as snobby as Pansy, but made no move to be nice either.
"Yes. It wasn't terribly hard. I had most of the past year to do it. So I decided to get the next two years as well, and start working on those. I can only do so much at my own home, but Mrs Longbottom was always nice and helpful whenever I was over with Neville." Hermione replied.
"If you're muggle-born, how do you know purebloods like the Longbottoms?" ask Daphne, curious.
"We met at Flourish & Blotts around Christmas, when I asked my parents to take me to get more books to read. My birthday is on the 19th, so I had almost a year between my letter and actually going to school. I've been to Diagon Alley a few times, actually." Hermione looked up and smiled at Daphne, taking note of the scowl on Pansy's face. Daphne gave a small smile back.
"Well, I guess we know who to ask for help when we get stuck." Tracey laughed, but no one joined in. Hermione gave a smile though.
"I just really like to read. I hope to go to the library tomorrow, actually." Hermione grinned at the thought. She found another spell to repel damage, which she cast on her things as well. It was complicated, but when she tried to tear a page out of a book, it was impossible. Hermione was pleased, and her roommates, shocked.
"What spell was that?" Tracey asked, wide eyed.
"A variation of a repelling charm. There are a few— you can make a cloak repel water, for example. I made my book repel damage." Hermione answered brightly. She was now going to look up some more advanced locking charms, but figured she had at least a day with regular locks, as she doubted any of the girls in the room could pick a lock with a hair pin, as she'd taught herself after reading about it in some mystery novels. And while the basic unlocking spell was in their year 1 text book, she didn't think the rest of her roommates had opened their books yet.
"Woah, I might ask you for help with my cloak. Do you think it would work on hair?" Daphne asked brightly. Even Pansy looked curious at that.
Hermione blinked. "Well, I don't see why it couldn't, if you cast it correctly. I never really thought about charming my hair."
"I know a few of those! Hey, if I teach you some hair charms, do you think you could teach me the water repelling charm?" Daphne offered, Pansy nodded behind her. "I know some beauty spells as well. Mother insisted."
"I think we can come to an arrangement." Hermione smiled. She did not pretend that these girls were her friends— she didn't like the way they only chose to like her when she could offer them something, but if there could be agreement to be reached to be pleasant, Hermione would be pleased as punch. She had Neville to be friends with. And maybe Tracey, who apparently didn't care that she was Muggle-born. Well, having a non magical parent would probably do that.
Her first night in the castle was not what she expected, but Hermione decided, it could have been worse. And she did not like the looks she got from the rest of Slytherin house when word quickly spread that she was Muggle-born. If she could get them to realize her potential as her roommates did, Hermione surmised that she could make herself quite comfortable in Slytherin house. Anything she provided, be it spells or knowledge outside of class, was going to need to be bartered. And after getting a peek at the catalogues that Daphne and Pansy were pouring over, she might just have things worth buying aside from books.
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Hermione Granger was never caught going against the rules, per se, but it was likely because she knew the rules so well. She was almost caught by her head of house, Professor Severus Snape, in her second year brewing potions for cash, but purposefully let slip that she only learned from the best and a certain Eileen Prince had never gotten in trouble for brewing potions for herself. Of course, Snape smiled nastily and told Hermione to not sell her private stock of potions— it was his mother that Hermione had cited for her defense, a brilliant potion-maker who had in actuality been selling potions for profit during her school days. Hermione did well with sobering solutions, particularly as it was generally bought in a hurry and with the least amount of notice and Hermione always kept a well maintained stock of that.
She also did incredibly well with a hangover cure of her own invention in her 3rd year, which is when she was under the scrutiny of Professor Snape again. Somehow, she managed to get away with a single detention, when he decided he would oversee her brewing and bottling the potion, while looking over and questioning her on the recipe. When satisfied the potion did exactly what it was supposed to and wouldn't cause bodily harm, the Professor awarded her fifty points for good work and the recommendation to patent the recipe, and subcontract out brewing it. Hermione wasted no time in filing the papers for the potion to be patented, and was pleased that it passed the Ministry's review board by the end of her 3rd year. She planned to spend that summer researching potions distributers and how to create her own company to manage it. The work didn't require the use of a wand, a limitation she found very frustrating over the summer.
Hermione also did very well in the tutoring business within her year, and as she got older, years below her. Even a few older students contracted her. She was not an easy tutor to have, but if you hired Hermione Granger, you'd get at least one letter grade or more higher. The Goyle and Crabbe families kept her on a retainer from her second year on, so their sons Gregory and Vincent, would get Acceptables or event Exceeds Expectations on all of their coursework— much better than the Dreadfuls and Trolls they compiled their first year. And after hearing what Hermione could do with them, she was kept pretty busy and was saving quite a bit of money up.
And so it came to be that by the end of her second year, Slytherin House affectionately called her their Mudblood Princess, learning that while a slur to most, Hermione never learned to care and took it as a badge of pride. After all, it was hard to see it as a slur when she was the best at whatever she set her mind. If her blood was mud, and she was besting them, then their blood wasn't doing them very much good, whereas hers suited her just fine. By the end of her 3rd year, Hermione Granger was simply the Slytherin Princess; she'd become endeared to her house for winning points, always fitting Slytherins in for tutoring sessions, and generally getting away with everything from selling potions to trading in 'contraband' muggle goods that the Purebloods wanted but couldn't get due to their parents. If you wanted something procured for you, you asked the Slytherin Princess, and she'd cut you a fair bargain.
Hermione, while busy, was still a fairly lonely girl. While Tracey Davis was the closest person she was to in Slytherin, Hermione never really trusted the Slytherins except that they were possessive of her— she may have been a mudblood but she was their mudblood. She was their Slytherin Princess. And she ruled by being knowledgeable, and generally having favors owed to her when someone couldn't pay for a much needed sobering solution or a tutoring session so they wouldn't fail a class. It was those debts that Hermione savored, knowing that with a few strings pulled she could get anything she really wanted if necessary. Neville Longbottom, however, was the only person Hermione truly counted on as a friend. She always helped him with his homework, exempting him from her hard and fast rule of always charging for tutoring help. Neville was grateful to her, and always slightly in awe of his friend, but the two of them were loyal to the bone. It was Hermione who encouraged Neville to ask out his first girlfriend, and Neville who insisted that Hermione accept Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Quidditch star and Durmstrang Triwizard competitor, proposal to go to the Yule Ball held their 4th year. Hermione encouraged Neville's interest in Herbology, noticing how easily the subject came to him and plants just seemed to love him.
Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger's strictly platonic friendship baffled some, but it always simply made sense to each other. They were like brother and sister, and Neville simply understood that Hermione hated that she constantly needed to be 'The Slytherin Princess' when out with anyone else, whereas she was just Hermione with Neville. Even boyfriends, including a fun tryst with the Weasley twins during her fifth year, expected her to be 'The Slytherin Princess.' Hermione enjoyed her power and influence, but she also found that without her schedule that required people to leave her alone to brew, spend time with Neville, or her personal reading time, she would be inundated with lackeys seeking favors or wanting something from her— even if she'd be well compensated. She just wanted time to be herself. And so far, only Neville understood the pressures on her, and never made any demands. It was why he was her only true friend, in her opinion. Tracey was close, but at heart was also a Slytherin.
And eventually, Neville took Hermione to meet his parents. It wasn't well known that the same rogue group of dark wizards that cursed the Potter's house had previously evaded capture when they had tortured to insanity Neville's parents, who had been Aurors alongside Harry's. Neville confided in Hermione during their first year what happened to his parents and why he lived with his stern grandmother. It wasn't until the next year that he took her to visit his parents with him, over the Christmas break.
And that was when her life changed, because in the Janus Thickey permanent spell damage ward of St Mungo's, Hermione saw the sleeping boy, looking to be sixteen or seventeen, off in a corner away from all other patients. Nothing seemingly could wake him from his enchanted sleep. He fascinated her, and over the years she found herself dreaming of him, in a reverse version of the Sleeping Beauty muggle fairytale she'd grown up with.