Hermione Granger nervously walked up to the stool where the sorting hat was. Professor McGonagall smiled warmly at Hermione as she placed the hat over her head.

'Well, you seem to be a sharp one,' The sorting hat said in her mind, 'Where should I sort you?'

'Gryffindor.' Hermione mentally said to the hat, 'Please, I want to go to Gryffindor.'

'Gryffindor? Well I can see that you could be good there, but I think you'll be better in-'

"SLYTHERIN!"

Professor McGonagall took the sorting hat off Hermione's head, and Hermione shakily walked to the Slytherin table. In most of the books she had read, they mentioned how Slytherin was the worst possible house to end up in. Slytherins were biased and prejudiced against anyone who wasn't 'pure' and most of the Death Eaters had come from Slytherin. But then again, the authors of those books seemed to be a bit biased. Slytherin couldn't be as horrible as they made it out to be, right?

"Figures that Potter would be in Gryffindor," Hermione heard a blonde-haired boy (Whose name was Draco Malfoy if she remembered it correctly) "He's friends with Weasley, of course he'd side with those blood traitors."

"How much do you want to bet that he's going to use his popularity to get 'benefits' from the other Professors?" another Slytherin chimed in, "They'd do anything for The-Boy-Who-Lived!"

"Harry isn't like that!" Hermione protested, "I met him on the train, and he's really nice!"

"I bet that's just an act," Draco said, "Of course the Gryffindors and Mudbloods will eat it up."

"Mudbloods?" Hermione asked.

"It's what we call Muggleborns," Draco explained, before he blinked. "Shouldn't you already know this; your parents must have mentioned it."

"I don't know why my parents would ever mention it, they've never gone to Hogwarts." Hermione said.

Suddenly, the Slytherin table grew silent as Draco stared at Hermione incredulously.

"Did they go to Beauxbatons then?" Draco asked.

"No."

"Drumstrang?"

"No."

"Mahoutokoro?"

"No, my parents never went to any Wizarding school," Hermione said, "They don't even know how to use magic."

"...so you're a muggleborn." Draco said, "Father was right, Hogwarts truly is getting worse."

…

After that 'revelation' most of the Slytherins in her year had pretended that she didn't exist. And while she was lonely since no one would talk to her, it was preferable than getting attacked on a daily basis. She tried her best to earn as many points as she could for Slytherin in their Transfiguration and Charms classes. And for a few days, everything seemed to be going well. Until she woke up on Friday and found that she couldn't find her book for class. She tried to ask for help but...

"Well that's a shame," Pansy Parkinson, "If you show up to class without your book, the Professor isn't going to be happy."

"He'll probably give you a weeks' worth of detention," Daphne Greengrass chimed in, "I heard that he hates it when you show up to class unprepared."

"Could you help me find it then?" Hermione asked, "I know I left the book in my trunk, but it isn't there..."

"Why should we help you?" Pansy ask, "It's not our fault that you're so disorganized."

After that, the girls left Hermione alone to search for her book. Eventually, Hermione decided to give up, and she rushed to get to Potions.

"Ah, so you've finally decided to show up for class Ms. Granger," Professor Snape said from his desk as Hermione tried to slip into the class, "I contemplated handing you a failing grade, that would certainly put a brat like you in your place, but I suppose taking fifty points from Slytherin is a good punishment."

"A-alright Professor," Hermione said she looked down at the ground while the Slytherins and some of the Gryffindors snickered at her, "I'm sorry for being late to class..."

"Apologies aren't going to make me go easier on you Ms. Granger, you can partner with Longbottom." Snape said as he continued to grade papers, "Well, why are you just standing there? Get to work!"

"Y-yes sir!" Hermione stuttered. As she walked to the back of the class, a Slytherin stuck their foot out which caused Hermione to tumble to the ground.

"Honestly Ms. Granger, are you planning on being as clumsy as Longbottom today?" Snape asked, "You're interrupting the class."

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Hello Neville," Hermione said as she sat next to the nervous boy, "You don't have a partner, so is it okay if I work with you?"

"Yes, that's fine." Neville said.

"Alright then, how far are you on your potion?" Hermione asked, "Are you almost done, or do you still need some help?"

"Uh, I'm on the last step," Neville said as he reached for a bottle that had some whitish powder in it, "All I need to do is add some of this powder and then-"

Suddenly, Crabbe who had been sitting at the table next to Hermione's and Neville's stood up and 'accidentally' bumped the table, causing Neville to drop the whole bottle into the potion. The potion began to bubble, and the cauldron began to shake.

"Get down!" Hermione shouted as she tackled Neville to the ground. The potion shot out of the cauldron and splashed against the celling, burning a hole through the concrete.

"Longbottom, are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Professor Snape shouted, "Why would you add the whole bottle into the potion?!"

"It wasn't Neville's fault professor!" Hermione shouted, "Crabbe bumped into the table when Neville was trying to pour the powder into the potion!"

"Then he should have kept a better grip on the bottle," Snape said, "I'll be failing your potion today, and you two will clean this mess up after class is over."

"F-fail..." Hermione muttered under her breath. She had never failed at anything school related, so for this to happen to her was shocking.

Once class had ended, Hermione and Neville were stuck cleaning the remains of their failed potion.

"Remember, I want this room practically spotless," Professor Snape had said, "Otherwise, I may have to dock even more points from Slytherin and Gryffindor."

Hermione sighed as she moved to scrubbing a cupboard that had potions stains on it. She sighed as she opened the cupboard to find that the potion had somehow gotten into the cabinet. Inside the cupboard, was a book labeled, Advanced Potion-making.

Thinking that someone must have left it in the cupboard Hermione took the book out of the cupboard. The spine had worn out, and the cover had nearly fallen off of the book. The pages were yellow, and there was writing scribbled in the margins.

"Signed, the Half-Blood Prince..." Hermione read the signature out loud. "Well, it looks like whoever owned this book had a high opinion of himself..."