Hermione sat in the compartment while looking out the window. She couldn't help but notice that Neville Longbottom had gotten onto the Platform with his grandmother, and had lost his toad. Oliver Rivers, who would, or rather, had helped her find a way into the past, was talking to his parents and siblings. And, of course, that Lee Jordan was proudly showing his pet spider to several other students.
It seemed all too strange to her, to be seeing her friends as children again, and know that they didn't know her. Being in the past was taking a lot of getting used to, especially now that she would be surrounded by more people than just her parents. She would have to guard her words very carefully.
Continuing to watch others out the window, Hermione noticed that the Slytherin boys had gotten onto the Platform, and had split up. Some of them seemed to be searching for something- or perhaps someone. Watching their behavior curiously, Hermione debated what they were doing. After a few minutes she determined that they were most likely looking for her, the first year muggleborn that had stood up to them.
The three of them eventually all disappeared from the Platform, getting onto the train, and Hermione was now back to watching the same things occur as in the past. However, her watching did not last long, seeing as the door to her compartment was roughly thrown open.
"She's here!" Adrian Pucey shouted back out into the corridor, before entering the compartment.
"What do you want?" Hermione asked.
"We just wanted to talk to you some more." Terence Higgs had entered the compartment behind Adrian, and Marcus Flint followed him in.
"Oh, really?" Hermione asked, "And why is that? Is it because of something I did?"
"Well, yes and no." Adrian Pucey started. "It isn't exactly about something you did. It's more about something we're hoping you'll do."
Hermione looked between all three Slytherin boys, who had all taken seats across from her. "Alright. Tell me what you want me to do."
"We want you to spy on Dumbledore for us." Terence Higgs stated.
"Hm… What's in it for me?" Hermione asked, generally curious about what they could have to offer her.
"A favor, I guess. From each of our families. You ask for one thing in return, our families will give it to you, no questions asked." Marcus said.
"And when do I have to ask for this favor?" Hermione asked.
"It will be a standing favor, I guess." Terence stated. "You can wait to call it in for as long as you want."
"Okay. Suppose I might as well ask, just who am I going to be doing the spying for?" Hermione asked. She had already figured she would be working for the three boys across from her, but it was probably best that they didn't know that she knew them currently.
"Us three. I'm Adrian Pucey, and that guy you kicked is Terence Higgs. And, that there is Marcus Flint." Adrian Pucey said, jerking his thumb towards the other two boys as he said their names.
"And you're Hermione Jean Granger, as we already know." Terence added, smiling.
"Jean is my middle name. Most people don't use middle names when addressing others. Unless they are angry at them." Hermione stated.
"Or," Marcus said, "If you're part of the Wood family. Then they just go by their middle names."
"…Wood family?" Hermione asked curiously, feigning confusion and ignorance. Although, the whole middle name thing was a surprise to her.
"Yeah, the Wood Family. They're one of three top rung families. Actually, since the Prewitt and Black families lines both died out, I suppose that they'd be the only top rung family there is." Terence Higgs said. "Otherwise stated, the Wood family is the richest and most influential family in the Wizarding World."
"Why would the Wood family go by their middle names, though?" Hermione asked.
"Cause they have… different, I suppose, first names." Adrian laughed, "Things like Leontes or Salazar."
"Salazar isn't a different first name." Terence snorted.
"Yeah, well, not many people on the 'good' side would be caught naming their children Salazar, but look at what's happened." Adrian commented.
"Well, I suppose for those who don't know muggle English literature, Leontes would seem like quite a strange first name." Hermione sighed.
"Muggle English literature? You mean, there's actually a story behind the name Leontes?" Adrian grinned widely, "Tell me!"
"It's the name of a king in a play by William Shakespeare." Hermione stated. "A fictional king." She added as an afterthought.
"Really, a king? From a play? What kind of play?" Adrian asked eagerly.
"The play's called 'A Winter's Tale'. Leontes was the King of Sicily in the play. I believe the play was a tragedy." Hermione said.
"How do you know about this play?" Terence asked.
"My parents, it was their favorite play of Shakespeare's. They named me after a different character in the same play." Hermione replied, "Hermione was the name of the Queen of Sicily in the play. It's actually kind of strange that someone would name their kid after a person in one of Shakespeare's plays. Other than Romeo and Juliet, of course. Most of the names are quite strange. Like Leontes."
"Ya know, I'm pretty sure that normal families name their children after their relatives. Usually dead relatives, but still relatives." Adrian commented, "Like my parents. They named me after my father's great-great grandfather."
The train began to move, pulling out of the station. Shortly after, the compartment door opened once again, and all four occupants of the compartment looked at the persons standing in the door.
"Do you mind if we join you guys? Everywhere else is pretty full." A blonde girl asked, watching the occupants of the compartment closely for reactions.
"Course not, Daphne, you should know this by now." Adrian said happily, "You can always join us. Also, that's Hermione Granger. She's a muggleborn."
"Hello." Astoria greeted Hermione, "I'm Astoria Greengrass." Pointing to the two boys who had entered behind her, "That's Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini."
"Hermione's just been telling us a bit about Wood's name. Apparently it's from a muggle play. She got her name from the same one." Terence said.
"Oh, so Leontes is from a play? I didn't know that. Suppose it makes since. Lady Wood loves her plays." Theodore Nott stated.
"Lady Wood?" Hermione studied them, "You have things like Ladies and Lords in the Wizarding World?"
"Yeah, we got them. Mind you, you have to be pretty high up on the social steps to be called a Lord or Lady by everyone." Adrian Pucey stated. "And like hell if any of our families are really high up. We're no place near Wood, or the Malfoys, for that matter. If we were, we wouldn't be caught talking to you. No one really high up would be. Except for Wood, of course. He just likes to talk to everyone."
"Also, it's not easy to get to be in the first few rungs." Blaise Zabini commented, "Although with the way my mother gets money and all….."
Hermione looked between the other occupants of the compartment.
"Money's one of the only ways to change social standing in the Wizarding World. Other than marriage, of course. But there's few families that can marry whoever they want and not change their social status. Those on the top step are the only ones. Only other option for not changing your social status for the worse is if you're already on the bottom. Then, since you cannot go down any lower, you can only get higher, so you can marry whoever you want, in theory. Doesn't usually happen, because very few higher up people are willing to marry lower people, no offense." Terence Higgs explained.
"But there are some, as you said that 'very few were willing'." Hermione pointed out.
"Yeah, there are some. James Potter, who married Lily Evans, a muggleborn, is the only one I can think of currently. Mostly it's girls that marry others from lower families. And it usually ends with them being disowned." Theodore Nott answered.
"Who?" Hermione asked, curious to hear who had been disowned.
"Well, there was Andromeda Black, who married Ted Tonks, he was a muggleborn. Molly Prewett, who married Arthur Weasley, he is a blood traitor, although that didn't happen until after her brothers were killed. Eileen Prince was nearly disowned for marrying a muggle, but her parents didn't disown her because she was their only heir. There were quite a few others, I believe, but I can't remember them right now." Adrian answered.
"It's very rare for a person to be disowned, of either gender. It's just less common for guys. It was Muriel Prewett who disowned Molly Prewett. Not Molly Prewett's parents. The Blacks hate muggleborns, so there was no chance of Andromeda not being disowned. It's actually part of why it's easier for girls to change their social status than guys." Blaise Zabini contributed.
"What would happen if a girl was to marry into a lower family that was only a few rungs down, though?" Hermione asked, generally curious now. She had never had a chance to learn all of this in the previous timeline, being that the Weasleys did not care for status, and Harry didn't know anything either. And then later, she simply assumed that it would be gone, and that she would never have to deal with social status degradation again. How wrong she had been.
"Depends on whether or not her family approves. She may not be disowned. Of course, there is always the option that it would boost the family's status that she's marrying into. It would improve the family's status a little bit, but not a lot. Or it could be slightly different than that, like if Astoria here married one of the Weasley boys. While it may not improve the entire family's status, it would improve the status of the person that she marries, so long as she's not disowned, and her sister doesn't inherit everything, and she's named heir. The Greengrass family would lose their place on the second step, of course, by marrying a Weasley, unless her sister married someone on either the second or first step," Adrian started.
"Or, in certain cases, it would not affect the family that the girl was from originally, as with those only on the top step. If the girl was the last of her family's line, and heiress to everything that belongs to the family line, then the family that she marries into, as long as she is not disowned, which is highly unlikely if she is the last of the line, will be pulled up to the top step, once they are married." Marcus Flint spoke quietly. "It's the same way with males in the line, too. Currently, Sirius Black and Leontes Wood can marry whoever they wish, even a muggleborn or a muggle, and they won't lose their families' spot at the top, because they're the last of their line. There's a fairly good chance that it won't happen with one of the two, though. Black's in Azkaban, so Wood's the only who might do it, but from what I can tell, he's been looking out for this little girl that turned up a couple of years back."
Hermione's fellow compartment occupants all looked towards Marcus as he spoke. Adrian's eyebrows furrowed together as though there were something wrong, but then seemed to shrug it off.
"Oh, yeah. Alicia Spinnet, the one that we were teasing, and Wood attacked us for it." Terence said.
"This Wood person attacked you?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, McGonagall was pissed off at him for it, but of course, he got off of it easily. He explained what had happened, and little Alicia Spinnet confirmed the story, and we got in trouble." Adrian spoke again.
"Who is Alicia Spinnet?" Hermione asked. Pretending to not know anything of the Wizarding World was somewhat annoying, but if she could learn more about others, like through this way, it was worth it.
"Alicia Spinnet is a third year Gryffindor. Her family's pureblooded, I believe." Terence Higgs said.
"Yeah, they came here from Germany. They were of middle standing over there." Marcus said. "Not that it honestly matters what her family was over there. The family's here in Britain now, it's highly unlikely that they are going to go back."
"Why would they not go back?" Hermione asked.
"Things are getting pretty bad over there in the Wizarding World. It's the same way with most of the other witches and wizards in other countries, too." Blaise said. "We had a war here; nearly a decade ago was when it was finished. Thing is, is that those places are also dealing with the same issues that we dealt with. Hopefully theirs will end better."
"A war," Hermione asked, "Was it really bad?"
It would be interesting to learn of the war from the other side's viewpoint, she decided. That was not something many could say they had the privilege of knowing. Most people heard one side and either agreed with it, or were killed, as far as she knew.
"Yeah, it was." Theodore said quietly. "A lot of people died during it, muggles, and witches and wizards. Entire families were wiped out, too."
"Certain families didn't stand a chance of surviving the next century, let alone a war." Astoria added, snorting.
"Do you want us to just tell you the whole story of the war? Or do you want us to just keep saying stuff about the war. And hope that it answers all of your questions." Terence asked, looking towards Hermione.
"I suppose that you simply telling me the whole story of the war would be quicker." Hermione replied, realizing that she was not supposed to know anything about the war currently, because of her muggleborn status.
"Alright, I'll start then." Terence said. He sighed, "There's actually a backstory to the war, and I believe that the backstory is always the best place to start a story.
"And so, the story starts like this. Back several centuries ago, perhaps before 1000AD, magical and non-magical folks all lived together in peace, I guess, and they were all aware of each other's existence in this world. However, eventually the muggles either grew jealous or became afraid of the witches and wizards, no one actually knows which it was, and they began to attack and kill witches and wizards. In some cases, they also killed other non-magical folks that they thought had magical powers. In order to stop themselves from all being killed off, many of the Wizarding families went into hiding from the non-magical folks.
"Several years passed by, and there came to be four exceptionally talented witches and wizards. Their names were Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They worked together to form a school. The school was built in a castle near the Wizarding Village of Hogsmeade. The four witches and wizards decided to call the school Hogwarts.
"According to the history books, however, that is all they could agree upon. Who should be accepted into the school is where the disagreements started. Godric Gryffindor believed that only those that were brave of heart should be taught. For Rowena Ravenclaw, it was only those of the best of mind. Salazar Slytherin, it was those of pureblood. And it was only Hufflepuff who believed that students of every background and personality and ability should be accepted and taught." Terence hesitated.
"Now, the light side will tell you otherwise. They will try and convince you that Gryffindor was on Hufflepuff's side. And that Gryffindor faced off Slytherin. They will completely ignore Ravenclaw when arguing their point. And all of the teachers you ask will agree with this version of the story." Adrian interjected. "Of course, there is another separate, lesser known story that has equal ability to be true. In that story, it was not Slytherin, but one of his children, that caused the disagreements between the founders. It does not say why or how the child caused the disagreements between the founders.
"And, of course, there's another story where the founders formed the houses based off of learning ability. Which is actually highly doubtful, because if that were true, they'd need a lot more houses in the school."
"Anyways," Terence said loudly, giving Adrian an exasperated look, "Something happened that caused the four founders to disagree and make for separate houses for students. Each house had their own requirements for students. Gryffindor only took the brave. Ravenclaw only took the smart. Slytherin took the most cunning and those who had wizard ancestry. And Hufflepuff took everyone else."
"Go forward a few centuries, long after the founders have died, and that's where the problems start up." Marcus said. "Albus Dumbledore is sorted into Gryffindor, and shortly after graduating starts his quest for the 'Greater Good'. A few years later, and he's leading a war against Grindelwald, who everyone believes is evil.
"A few years forward again, and Dumbledore is Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. He's sent to inform a boy in an orphanage of his wizard status. This boy is Tom Riddle, the last remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin. The boy goes to Hogwarts, and in his fifth year, some sort of monster is released into Hogwarts. It kills a student, named Myrtle. A few days later, Rubeus Hagrid is expelled from Hogwarts and becomes groundkeeper at the school where he once was a student. The monster was never found.
"Another few years forward, and a wizard by the name of Voldemort appears. He's young, powerful, and what a lot of pureblooded, and halfblooded, witches and wizards believe is needed for a better Wizarding World. And so a lot of them blindly follow him, doing as he tells them to do."
"Voldemort made many claims about himself and his ideals." Astoria said, "Claiming things such as he was descended from Salazar Slytherin, and that by working together, they could create a better Wizarding World for themselves. One where everyone is pureblooded, and there are no muggles or muggleborns. Only one little thing – if you didn't fit in with his ideals, you were to be killed. Just like the muggles and muggleborns.
"Of course, this is a false ideal. There are not enough witches and wizards left of pureblood status in the entire world to have a full society of just pureblooded witches and wizards. Yet most of the pureblooded witches and wizards who want this don't want to realize it. To them, they can always achieve a prefect pureblooded society.
"And it's not like the other side is much better, either. They are all for getting rid of the pureblooded witches and wizards, never mind that many of them did not agree with the ideals of the others. The witches and wizards blindly believed everything that Dumbledore, their 'Leader of the Light', tells them about the other side. And he tells them that all pureblood witches and wizards are the same. Unless they do something such as marry a muggleborn or a half-blood.
"There was no in-between for either of the two sides. However, there actually was an in-between. A side of the war that both were pretending wasn't there at all. Maybe 20 families in total were in this in-between side. Families like mine, Blaise's, and Theodore's."
"And then there was a prophecy. The prophecy said that there would be a boy born who would be the one to vanquish the 'Dark Lord', as many people called Voldemort. And, sure enough, it comes to pass that there is a baby boy who is born that can vanquish him. A little boy named Harry Potter, son of Lily Evans and James Potter. On October 31, Lily and James are killed by Voldemort, who then tries to kill Harry, and fails. Harry becomes the only wizard to survive the Killing curse." Theodore said. "And no one has seen Voldemort since."
Outside the train, the sky had already gone dark. The train was now beginning to slow down, and Hermione suddenly noticed several things. One, the trolley lady had not come down this far the train. And, two, Neville hadn't come by looking for his toad.