Chapter three

Halloween

Dear Hermione

I'm happy to hear that both Draco and you were sorted into Slytherin. You should have seen Lucius when I told him. I have never seen him so proud in his entire life... Except maybe on the day where Draco was born, that is. I did of course know that both of you would be in Slytherin; you've both shown promising traits in your personality. Your mother would be thrilled at the news, Hermione. The one thing that mattered the most to her was family. I'm also happy to hearthat Draco is interested in Pansy Parkinson. She is quite a proper young girl, and comes from a good family. Of course Draco will have to be older to court her seriously, though.

You asked me about why the Longbottoms does not seem to like you very much. The truth is... They Dislike everyone who was on the Dark Lord's side during the war. I know that you were just a baby when it ended, and that you have nothing to do with what happened, but that's Gryffindors in a nutshell. They speak up against what they consider bigotry, and yet they judge people as soon as they hear their last name. It's a shame really, for had it not been for the obvious Gryffindor traits, they Longbottoms would be quite a lovely family. Lucius told me to send you his love, and say congratulations for being put in Slytherin. Also, tell that daft son of mine to write me.

Love

Narcissa

Hermione smiled happily, as she read the letter from her aunt Narcissa. She even reread the first paragraph several times. Her mother would have been proud of her? That was enough to make her smile, although she also felt somewhat hollow inside. For a short moment, she envied Draco. She knew that she was told to be proud of her parents, for not cowering, and not denying their support for the Dark Lord. And she was proud... She was proud that they stood up for what they believed in, and stayed loyal to their promise. But Draco had parents with him, to tell him that the world revolved around him. Aunt Narcissa was very nice to Hermione and took care of her, but Hermione really just wanted her mother. Sometimes when she slept, she saw the face of the convicted Death Eater. She was beautiful. Her eyes were filled with love.

"Hey, Hermione can I have your cards?" Blaise asked, pointing at the pile of chocolate frogs Narcissa had sent her. Of course she had also sent Draco candy, but as he was a collector himself, Blaise knew better than to ask him.

"Sure, when I've eaten the frogs..." Hermione replied with a distant look in her eyes. Lucius had snaked his way out of being captured by the Aurors, even though she had seen his Dark Mark on many occasions. She also knew somewhere inside her head, that if the Dark Lord was to ever return, both she and Draco would be marked. She knew that she would make a good servant, even though she did not believe in all of his ideals. She didn't understand why he would torture people before killing them, and it made no sense to her that he valued blood purity, and still killed purebloods for being so-called blood-traitors. Of course she understood why respectable purebloods would not want to breed with the people like the Weasleys. The ones she had been unfortunate enough to meet during her time in school, had been very unpleasant.

"Thanks! You're ace to have around!" Blaise smiled happily. Hermione could not help but be amused at the sight; Blaise usually never smiled. He preferred to look arrogantly indifferent to everything going on around him. "It's a shame that you are engaged to Crabbe, you know... You would make an amazing wife" Blaise said playfully.

"And I'm sure that Vincent will make an incredible husband." Hermione answered, coldly. As soon as she mentioned her husband-to-be, he showed up behind her, much to her annoyance. No matter how many times she pretended in public to be content with the arrangement, she dreaded the day that she would be married to the mountain of a boy. She secretly tanked Merlin that they would have house elves to cook, because if they would not, she would be in for more than she could take. "Good morning, Vincent."

"'morning..." she heard Vincent's lazy voice say behind her. She faked her best smile, and turned around. To her surprise, he was carrying a velvet box. When he saw her eyes on it, he just shrugged. "Mum told me to give you this, so here... Apparently some Crabbe family jewellery... You know, because you will be a Crabbe some day" he said, indifferently.

"Charming." Hermione just said, the hint of sarcasm in her voice obvious to everyone but Vincent. He was not exactly a clever boy, and he did not really try to be one either. Hermione opened the box, to find a beautiful ancient necklace in white gold, that was obviously goblin made. It was decorated with emeralds, in it had a snake pendant. Hermione closed the box, and put it in her bag. "Thank you dear."

Harry Potter was walking on the Hogwarts grounds with his two best friends Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom. He could not help but feel content at the thought. He actually had friends. In the muggle world, he would have laughed if someone told him that someday he would. When he saw a blonde figure distantly away, he frowned.

"I wonder what Malfoy is up to..." he murmured. He and Draco Malfoy did not like each other at all. Of course that was mostly due to the fact that Malfoy had insulted his best friend while trying to befriend Harry himself, and due to the fact that Malfoy's father had been a loyal servant of Voldemort; the evil wizard who had killed Harry's parents.

"Well, it's Malfoy... So it can't be good, can it?" Ron wondered, looking at the figure from afar. What was odd was that Malfoy was usually surrounded by his bodyguards, and little fan club. Seeing him stand still, being alone on Hogwarts grounds was somewhat unfamiliar to them.

"He's probably just waiting for Hermione Lestrange" Neville sneered. While he was not the bravest of Gryffindors, he despised the Slytherin girl more than anything in the world. Neither Harry nor Ron knew why, and they were smarter than to ask. If Neville wanted to talk about it, he would.

"Well, considering that they're both bloody evil, I would have to agree with you there, mate..." Ron made a gagging sound, and Neville chuckled. Harry frowned slightly.

"You know, you pick much more on Lestrange than the other Slytherins..." he commented thoughtfully, wrinkling his forehead. "I don't get it. I know that she hangs around Malfoy a lot, but she never really says anything to us... She's very quiet."

"Of course she hangs around Malfoy, Harry, they're cousins." Ron said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Her parents are in Azkaban... They were very loyal supporters of you-know-who, and they did not even deny it. Dad says that they are responsible for more deaths than the entire Hogwarts staff could count on all of their fingers. And she was raised with him."

"And besides... She takes pride in being an insufferable know-it-all. It's no wonder that her family had to get her engaged with Crabbe. She would never be able to find a man who would willingly..." Neville did not get to finish his sentence, as he was being pushed slightly by a fragile figure, who was drying her eyes with her Slytherin scarf. She hurried up and walked past them as fast as possible, obviously crying.

"I'm pretty sure she heard that." Harry concluded dully. He knew that Ron was a git, and would not feel sorry for the girl, but he expected Neville to be compassionate. Much to his surprise, Neville just shook it off saying that the girl deserved it.

Draco Malfoy was worried out of his mind, although he would never admit it if you asked him. His beloved cousin was nowhere to be found, and he had heard rumours while eavesdropping on a couple of Gryffindor girls, that the Lestrange-girl was in girl's bathroom crying. While this obviously worried Draco even more, he would never willingly step into a bathroom intended for girls. He had been brought up to never even consider doing anything like that.

"Are you okay, Draco?" he heard Pansy's voice ask, as she dropped down next to him in the great hall. It was the night of Halloween, which meant that they had a feast. Draco looked over at Crabbe and Goyle, only to see them stuffing themselves with an incredible speed. He felt disgusted that Crabbe did not look the least bit worried, even though his betrothed was obviously missing. "You have seemed distant all day..."

"Hermione is missing" he stated, as he took a sip of his pumpkin juice. "And Longbottom is looking awfully smug, which is not like him at all."

"I head Brown and Patil talking about her... They said she was in the bathroom crying, and had tried to hex them when they came in." Draco heard Daphne Greengrass say. He kind of liked Daphne, although she did not really talk a lot. She was always there for Hermione who was like a sister to him, and that was good enough for him. "I think that Potter, Weasley and Longbottom insulted her or something... At least that's what the rumours say."

"I wonder what saint Potter, Weasel and fatty had to say about an appropriate, clever pureblood." Pansy scoffed, scowling at the golden trio. Longbottom and Weasley did look awfully smug. She felt an urge to wipe the grins off of their faces with one of her infamous snide remarks.

"I just hope that she's okay." Draco concluded, and the group of girls nodded sympathetically. Their conversation however stopped when an extremely scared looking professor Quirrell ran into the great hall. Not that it was not normal for him to look, but this was worse than usual.

"TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" he yelled, shortly before he fainted. The great hall was in a state of panic, until professor Dumbledore instructed them all to return to their dormitories led by their prefects. Draco wondered why he would tell Slytherin house to do such a thing considering that their dormitory was placed in the dungeons, but he followed orders anyway.

"Ron, what about Hermione Lestrange?" Harry Potter asked his best friend, while Percy Weasley was enjoying his powerful position, trying to make the other students follow him to the Gryffindor tower.

"What about her?" Ron looked puzzled. He obviously did not understand why Harry would ask such a question, while the school was being attacked by a troll.

"Lavender and Pavarti said she was in the bathroom crying because of what you and Neville said. She obviously doesn't know about the troll!" the eleven-year-old boy felt somewhat sorry for the girl, even though she was a Slytherin and friends with Malfoy. He could not explain why, but she seemed different from the people she had befriended. She seemed quiet and modest.

"Harry, I swear to Merlin that if you get us killed saving Hermione Lestrange, I'll kill you." Ron shot Harry a death glare, but followed him when he left the line of Gryffindors to look for the Slytherin.

Hermione Lestrange could not say that she was particularly happy with the two boys that had saved her from the toll. Not that she was not happy to have been saved; she valued her own life quite a lot, but more because she was now in debt of Saint Potter and Weasel. It was not appropriate for her to owe a half-blood and a blood-traitor anything, but she knew that she did. And being an honourable person, she intended to help them however they needed. Of course she would not be alone with them, however. She was after all a young and respectable pureblood witch, who was to be married as soon as she turned seventeen. At least she had six years to prepare herself for the horror of marrying Vincent Crabbe.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Daphne's voice was worried, and Hermione smiled a little. She loved her friends. While they would often engage in acts that was silly and unimportant, they were all very dear to her. Each and every one of them. Daphne and she was more like-minded than her and the others. Daphne too was quiet, refined and ladylike. She held much more determination than Hermione did, and while she was not as clever, she knew things that Hermione could only dream of knowing. Yes, Daphne Greengrass was a great friend to her, but no matter how much of a great friend she was, Hermione did not trust her completely. The only person that she could tell everything was Draco.

"I'm fine" Hermione crossed her legs, as she sat up on her four poster. She did not look particularly elegant; her hair was still bushy, and she was wearing a night gown, but that never seemed to bother her. "I just don't like the thought of being in debt to Potter and Weasley. The only reason I was in that bathroom to begin with, was because they said... Anyway, you know how they are, Daphne... Potter is arrogant and Weasley is... Just disgusting."

"I know... I would not like it either, honestly. I do not get what their problem is, though. You never did anything to offend them. It's classic Gryffindor behaviour on their part... They complain and moan about how every Slytherin is supposed to be judgemental, but they seem to be the judgemental ones. Just because you're smarter than them..." Daphne's eyes twinkled, and Hermione sent her a genuine smile. "Now, let's go fix your hair."

A/N: Stupid troll ;)

Thanks for the reviews... They made me super happy (I was pracically dancing around my room, and for someone who doesn't get excited... That's a big deal).

Now, now... I will not reveal who Hermione is going to end up with, but I think that I might be able to surprise some of you out there :p

Oh well... I should actually be cleaning my room right now, but the internet got me hooked on Doctor Who...

See you soon! :D