Thankfully, they were soon arriving at Hogwarts so Draco and his two cronies left quickly, to get ready to leave the train. The journey was the same as it had always been, but this time Hermione took her time walking to the carriages, pulled by the thestrals whom she could not see, luckily she made it in time to hop onto the last carriage. During the ride, she admired the countless mountains and field that she passed. The night was falling and soon the landscape was lit by the moonlight

, she watched light shimmering on the surface of the Great Lake and the lanterns of the tiny boats which were led by Hagrid, that took the first years to the castle. She remembered her first year so clearly, it was like it happened yesterday but now she was going to Hogwarts for the very last time. The journey soon ended and she made her way to the Great Hall like she had did many times before, however this time she did not recognise it. It had always been lit by thousands of candles that floated midair over the tables and the ceiling was always bewitched to look like the sky outside: velvety black with millions of twinkling stars looking down at the pupils but this time everything had changed.

It was now replaced by cobwebs dangling everywhere, the candles were replaced by ancient lanterns that flickered like possessed souls, the once cheerful and welcoming room was never going to be the same again. As Hermione walked down the hall to sit next to Ginny, everyone's heads turned, to look at her, some whispered "Where's Harry and Ron?" whilst others just stared at her.

"Don't mind them. Everyone's just wondering where Harry and Ron are, Snape's been fidgeting since the start of the feast because he's noticed that they aren't here. You better be careful, he knows that your close to them, so he'll probably interrogate you for answers and make your life a living hell." Ginny whispered as Hermione sat down.

Hermione turned to the professors' table and saw Snape staring at her with his cold, black eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. So is there any news or changes for this year?" Hermione asked, tucking into a steak and kidney pie.

"Yeah a lot... Snape and his two death eater assistants Alecto and Amycus Carrow have basically ruined everything Dumbledore had been working for the past years, in just half an hour: Defence Against The Dark Arts is just Dark Arts now, so we are just practising incredibly dangerous and banned magic... oh yeah and Malfoy has been made Head Prefect so he has total control over every single student in the entire school and Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini are the Deputy Prefects for the school. All the prefect roles have been given to Slytherins. This year's gonna be great" Ginny smiled, sarcastically.

"Yeah just great! How can Malfoy be Head Prefect though, honestly...and let me guess have they got rid of Muggle Studies?" Hermione frowned, stabbing at the bold potatoes on her plate.

"No actually, they've been made compulsory for all students. But there's obviously been major changes to the syllabus, in Muggle Studies we now learn about how muggles need to be destroyed, how they disrupt and contaminate the wizard blood and why they should be punished." Ginny replied, looking at the head teacher in distaste.

Their conversation was soon interrupted by the sound of someone screaming at the back of the hall. They ran to see what was happening and found Neville Longbottom rolling on the floor, twitching and rocking from side to side soon the piercing screams stopped but he continued having spasms, they looked up and found Malfoy smirking at the tortured boy.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM? STOP IT NOWWW!" Hermione shouted at him, realising there was nothing she could do for Neville.

"It's only the Cruciatus Curse..." Malfoy sniggered.

"It's hurting him,can't you see, he's in so much pain!PLEASE STOP!"Hermione cried, practically begging him on her knees. Draco took no notice of her and started rolling on the floor with laughter.

Snape stood up and shouted "SLIENCE! I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in this school, Miss Granger!See me after to arrange a punishment."

"But sir..."Hermione began

"Are you contradicting me ,young lady?I am sure Mr Malfoy has an excellent reason for teaching Longbottom a lesson, leave the judging to him since he is the Head Prefect ,as you heard earlier. "Snape snarled ,almost spitting the last words out.

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