Disclaimer: Yeah right, I own all of the stories and I am the goddess J. K. Rowling. If you believe me, you need more help than I could ever give you. Good Luck finding it.
Kit-Kat back again. I haven't stopped the other story; I just got inspired to write this one. I will continue with both as well as possible. Also, again, I have read tons of fanfics, so I might have borrowed stuff from one or more of them. If you think I borrowed something from you and you want credit, please just leave a review or e-mail me, I'd appreciate it. And if, by some odd twist of Fate, you feel the odd urge to borrow something from me, have a blast, just let people know I did it or point them to me. That would be awesome.
This by the way is set after the OotP; however, I have kept a certain character alive for my own purposes. As far as I'm concerned, he did not die in the last book.
Chapter 1: What is Fate's issue?
Sixth year was about to begin for Hermione.
Everyone was seated in the Great Hall waiting, impatiently in some cases, for the Sorting Ceremony to end. The train ride over had been uneventful for the first time. Surprisingly, Draco Malfoy had avoided coming to bother Harry, Ron and Hermione and they had spent the ride to the school talking about what had happened over the summer. Harry's summer had passed much the same as it had over the last five years, the only difference being that he had gone to the Order's headquarters earlier in the summer. Ron had passed his time at the headquarters as well, helping his brothers test their newest inventions.
Hermione, however, had had a very interesting summer. Her parents had again spent the summer in France, but she opted to stay with her cousin Valerie, a muggle who knew that Hermione was a witch. They passed the summer away at the beach and at clubs and Hermione's cousin had helped her tame the mess she called hair and find a newer, more flattering wardrobe. Hermione's only real disappointment came when she boarded the train and Ron was unable to look her in the eye while talking to her. It had to be a guy thing.
And so the Sorting Ceremony was drawing to an end. The last first year, Zacharias Zachary (his parents were cruel), had just been sorted into Hufflepuff and Professor McGonagall was ready to put the hat away until next year, when suddenly the hat spoke again.
"HERMIONE GRANGER!"
The whole school sat in silence and as one unit turned to stare at Hermione. Shocked, she turned to look at Professor Dumbledore for guidance, but all he did was point at the hat. Seeing that she was to in shock to respond, he stood up.
"This is the first time since I have become headmaster that a thing such as this has happened. But seeing as the hat has never done anything without a reason, I see no reason for Hermione Granger to not sit here again. Miss Granger, if you would please."
Shocked, and maybe a little frightened even if she would only admit it to herself, Hermione Granger stood and slowly made her way to the hat. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head and backed away.
"Well, well. You have definitely changed since the first time I was on your head. There are many things about you I did not know before that change which house you are in. Do you know to what I am referring?" Everything the hat said to her confused her more than she had been before.
"I have no idea what you're talking about and what do you mean change what house I am in? I'm a Gryffindor." The hat was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Then right before he shouted out which house she belonged to, he whispered in her mind, "I guess you'll have to find out by yourself."
"SLYTHERIN!"
Again, the whole school sat in shocked silence. Hermione Granger, the know-it-all, bookworm, Gryffindor who was best friends with Harry Potter, had just been resorted into Slytherin. Things like this just didn't happen. How could a muggleborn (or as most of the Slytherins were thinking, a mudblood) have been sorted into Slytherin, home of the purebloods?
Hermione again turned to Professor Dumbledore for guidance, but again he just pointed to where she was supposed to go. She made her way to the Slytherin table, glancing a few times at Harry and Ron, who just stared at her, shell-shocked. Looking back to where she was headed, she was terrified to realize the only seat left open was the one right next to Draco Malfoy.
"You don't mind if I sit here, do you Malfoy?" He turned to her with a smile on his face, the first true smile she had ever seen on him.
"Of course I don't, Hermione." Hermione stared at him. He had never smiled at her, he had never used her first name, and he had never been nice to her. Who was he and what had they done to Draco Malfoy?
"Hermione, you're one of us now. From here on out, we basically start over. I'm Draco Malfoy. It's nice to really meet you." Hermione was again shocked (that seemed to be a recurring theme) and hadn't noticed that the rest of the school had begun to eat dinner again and the noise level was steadily increasing. She was still sitting there, staring (again a recurring theme) at Draco, mouth slightly open.
"In Slytherin, we do not act like cods, Hermione. And since you seem entirely uninterested in your food, maybe I should show you down to the dungeons."
Draco stood up, hand outstretched to Hermione. She took his hand and he pulled her up and in the direction of the dungeons. He turned to leave, only to find his path blocked by Harry and Ron. Luckily, Dumbledore appeared behind both boys and placed a hand on their shoulders.
"Why, thank you Mister Malfoy. I think Miss Granger will greatly appreciate it if you would help her to find her way down to where her new rooms will be. Now I know you want to talk to Miss Granger, Mister Potter and Mister Weasley, but it is my guess that she wishes to retire after such a stressful night. If you would save your questions for another time, I think she would appreciate it. Now Miss Granger, I'm sure Mister Malfoy will be able to show you where your rooms are."
Dumbledore walked away, basically dragging Harry and Ron by the collar and left Hermione alone with Mal---Draco. He pulled her along in the direction of the dungeons, allowing her no time to think, before she was led to her new rooms and house.