I am SO sorry for not updating sooner. It's been hard to get to a computer lately.
Disclaimer: I, sadly, own nothing.
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"What happened to you last night?" Cygnus asked Tom Riddle as they walked to potions class. "You disappeared last night. I thought you were just..."
"I appreciate your concern but it is none of your business." Tom said in a monotone. In truth, he didn't know what happened to himself. All he remembered was finding the new girl, Hermione, out of bed. Then... nothing; Everything was blank. 'She must have cursed me.' Tom Riddle thought as he and Cygnus entered the potions classroom where many people were already gathered.
Tom scanned the classroom for the new girl but he didn't find her. He did see Abraxas motioning for him to join him at the back of the classroom. Cygnus sat down next to Nott and motioned for Tom to join him. He walked slowly over and sat down next to Abraxas just as Eileen and Hermione walked in the room. Tom stared at Hermione. She looked tired and had slight bags under her eyes. Yet she still had some unique light in her. Her step had a little spring in it and her eyes were wide. She looked much better than she did last night.
"Isn't she gorgeous?" Abraxas said. "I plan to make her mine." Tom was about to answer when Professor Slughorn entered the room.
"Good morning class. Welcome back to school! For those of you that don't know, my name is Professor Slughorn and I will be your potions teacher." He smiled at Hermione. "You must be the new student I was informed about." Hermione nodded.
"Yes sir." She replied with a smile.
"Well it is always great to have a new mind eager for learning." Slughorn turned to address the entire class. "As you know this is advanced potions making. All of you should be very proud of yourselves, for only the smartest of the bunch can make it into this class." As Slughorn said this Eileen sat up higher in her seat. "Now everyone gather around."
The whole class followed Slughorn as he walked over to his desk where two covered cauldrons and a small bottle sat. "Now..." Slughorn took the lid off of the first cauldron, "Can anyone tell me what this potion is?" Everyone peered into the boiling cauldron, but no one raised their hand, not even Tom Riddle. Hermione spoke up.
"That is verituserium. It forces the drinker to tell the truth." Slughorn smiled.
"Excellent Miss Granger. 15 points to Slytherin." Slughorn covered the first cauldron again and pulled the top off of the second cauldron. Hermione suddenly smelled everything that she loved. She smelled freshly mowed grass, new parchment, and spearmint toothpaste. "Can anyone tell me what this potion is?" Tom Riddle raised his hand before Hermione could blink.
"That is the strongest love potion in the world." Slughorn smiled. "It smells different to every person." Slughorn beamed at Tom.
"Very good Mister Riddle. 15 points to Slytherin." Slughorn put the lid back on the cauldron and picked up the small, clear bottle. "This, class, is Felix felicitous otherwise known as liquid luck." Hermione rolled her eyes. Slughorn was probably going to ask them to make the potion called Liquid Death. If someone were to brew a correct potion of living death they would win the bottle of liquid luck. "Today you are going to brew Living Death. The instructions can be found on page 10 of your books." Hermione giggled softly as everyone flipped through the pages of their books. "If one of you manages to brew a correct potion of Living Death you will win the bottle of liquid luck. Good luck to you all, you'll need it. No one has ever been able to brew Living Death correctly."
Everyone immediately flipped to page 10 of their books and went to work. Hermione flipped to the instructions in her book and giggled again. This book had the same bad instructions as it did in her time. Luckily for her, she remember exactly how Harry had done it. She walked over to the supplies and picked out her ingredients.
"Hello." Hermione turned around. A smug looking boy with long blond hair was looking down at her. He had cold black eyes and a smug look on his face. He was the spitting image of Lucius Malfoy. She could only assume that she was standing in front of his father. She ignored him and collected her ingredients instead. "My name is Abraxas Malfoy and you are..." He drew out his last word wanting Hermione to finish it.
"Busy." She replied and walked away with her ingredients. Hermione set all of them down near her cauldron and proceeded to mix all of her ingredients. Abraxas followed her over.
"I was actually searching for your name." Abraxas said in a sickly sweet voice. Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Oh my god. He's trying to be charming!' She thought.
"Hermione. Now if you don't mind I am trying to work." She turned her back on him but he moved in front of her.
"But I do mind." He laughed and Hermione rolled her eyes. "So, what are you doing here?"
"Pardon?"
"Why are you here at Hogwarts? Where did you come from?"
"Why are you so inquisitive?" Hermione asked while crushing beans and squeezing the juice into the boiling cauldron.
"A guy can't be interested in a beautiful girl?" Hermione rolled her eyes and crushed the beans even harder.
"If I tell you will you go away?" Abraxas laughed.
"You are so quick to get rid of me." Hermione began stirring the potion. "Alright. If you tell me I will go away."
"I am here at Hogwarts because my parents, who are now dead, believed that I would be safer here. I left the war front to come to Hogwarts. Now go." Abraxas stood there shocked.
"You are lying." Hermione looked away from her potion and stared into his eyes. She wasn't really lying. She was fighting in a war; just not the war that was going on in the current time period. She kept a straight expression as she stared into his eyes. "You were really on the war front?" Hermione said nothing, but she nodded her head. It was, after all, partially true.
"I kept my word, now you keep yours." Abraxas still stared at her, astonished. He finally broke eye contact and walked away. as soon as his back was turned, Hermione smirked and went back to work.
After about 10 minutes of work, Hermione had finally created a seemingly perfect cauldron of Living Death. She smiled at the clear liquid. It was more perfect that her last attempt. 'Don't get too confident.' She told herself. 'Let Slughorn tell you if your potion is perfect or not.' She turned around to see Slughorn stop at a boys potion. The boy looked exactly like a younger Sirius Black.
"Mister Black this potion is not up to your usual standards."His face sank. Hermione stared at the boy, racking her brain for any memories of Sirius talking about his family. Slughorn patted him on the shoulder and moved on to the next cauldron. "Oh Mister Malfoy. You haven't even come close to completing you potion." Abraxas didn't even seem bothered by the disappointed look on Slughorn's face. "Maybe next time you should concentrate on the assignment instead of talking to Miss Granger." Hermione snapped out of her memories and kept a blank expression on her face. She didn't want to give Abraxas any encouragement nor did she want Slughorn to think she wanted to talk to Abraxas.
Slughorn moved onto the next cauldron. "Mister Riddle. I trust you made a better potion than your friend Abraxas here." Slughorn looked into the cauldron and Hermione leaned over a little. She hoped that he didn't win the bottle. "It seem like a correctly brewed cauldron." Slughorn took a leaf out of his pocket and dropped it into the cauldron. It exploded upon contact. "I'm amazed that not even my best student could brew a correct Living Death potion." He walked away. "It appears that no one has been able to..." Hermione cut him off.
"Sir, you never checked my potion." Hermione said. A boy laughed.
"There is no way a girl brewed the potion correctly." A mousy looking boy said.
"Now Mister Nott that is not polite." Slughorn walked over to Hermione's cauldron and looked in. His eyes went wide in amusement. He then reached into his pocket, pulled out a leaf and dropped it in. The leaf sizzled but still remained afloat. "It's perfect." The entire class gasped. "The first time in 30 years." He ushered Hermione to the front of the class. Everyone gathered around as Slughorn took the bottle of liquid luck off his desk and handed it to Hermione. "Congratulations." Hermione took the vile. "Use it wisely."
Hermione muttered a thank you and stuffed the vile in her pocket. She rushed back and collected her bag. She slung the bag over her shoulder and was about to walk out of the room when Slughorn stopped her.
"Miss Granger would you stay a moment?" Hermione walked to his desk. Eileen walked past her.
"I'll see you later." She whispered. Hermione nodded and walked toward Slughorn. Once everyone was out of the room Slughorn began.
"That was amazing Miss Granger. You should feel very proud of yourself. No one in my entire 30 years of teaching has ever brewed Living Death correctly." Hermione smiled. "I was wondering if you would like to join my little club. Only the best of the best get accepted." Hermione . "You have certainly proven yourself worthy."
"Yes sir. I would be honored." Hermione said as calmly as she could. Slughorn's face lit up. "I should be going sir. I'll be late to class." Slughorn nodded and Hermione turned to walk out.
"Look for my owl Miss Granger."
"What did he want?" Eileen asked as they walked to their last class before dinner.
"He asked me to join his club. The..."
"Slug Club." Eileen finished for her.
"Are you in it?" Hermione asked. She hoped she would know someone in the club. She did know that Tom Riddle was in the club, that was the rel reason she joined. Still, she would have liked to have someone she was friends with in the club. Eileen shook her head.
"You are the first girl who has been asked to join." Hermione's face sank a little in disappointment. They walked in silence for a little bit.
"Who else is in the club?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence.
"Abraxas Malfoy, I think you know him." She smiled. Hermione nodded for her to continue. "Cygnus Black..." Hermione's eyes lit up. She knew that name! That was the name of Sirius' uncle! She recognized it as one of the cigarette burns in the Black's family tapestry. "...and Gabriel Nott. Tom Riddle, Crabbe and Goyle, and a few other slytherins." Eileen said as they entered the defense against the dark arts classroom. Hermione and Eileen took seats at the front of the classroom as the professor walked in. He was a young looking man, perhaps twenty- six or twenty- seven, with blond hair and blue green eyes.
"Hello class. I trust you all had a good summer?" There were some people who muttered yes and some who muttered no. Most of the girls just sighed a yes and stared lovingly at him. Hermione looked around the classroom to find most of the girls fawning over the professor. Even Eileen was drooling over him. Hermione rolled her eyes in disgust. The professor noticed this and walked over to her. "Hello. You must be the new student I was told about. Hermione Granger I presume?" Hermione nodded. "My name is Professor Montani. I'll be your defense against the dark arts teacher this year." He smiled at her at turned his attention back to the rest of the class. "Everyone take your wands out and form a straight line." Everyone rushed to do so. Eileen dragged Hermione toward the front of the line. Professor Montani then flicked his wand and all the desks were pushed to the side. "Since today is our first day, I was thinking of having a little fun." He then summoned a large, dark trunk. The trunk shook and everyone took a step back. "Now who wants to take a guess at what is in here?"
Hermione's hand went up when she saw no one else raise their hand. Professor Montani pointed to Hermione. "It's a Bogart." Professor Montani smiled again and nodded. Hermione continued, "Bogart's are shapeless creatures that take the form of what ever scares the person most that is the closest to them. They are known to reside in dark, closed spaces. Such as trunks, closets, and even desk drawers. The spell against them is Ridiculous. If the spell is performed correctly, the Bogart will be transformed into something that will amuse the person most."
"Very good Miss Granger. Twenty- five points to slytherin." Professor Montani said. "I would like everyone in the class to say the spell, without your wands." The class all said 'Ridiculous'. "Very good. Now when it is your turn up here I want you to think of the funniest image in the world and say the spell." He then walked over to the person at the front of the line. "Mister Crouch, what frightens you most?"
"A bad test grade." The class laughed.
"Okay." Professor Montani got a firm grip on his wand. "Are you ready? I'm going to release the Bogart." The boy gripped his wand as the professor opened the trunk. A large piece of paper with idiot written in bright red ink across the page came out.
"Ridiculous!" Crouch screamed. The paper was transformed into a giant paper airplane that flew across the classroom. It landed and the next person stepped up. The classroom was filled with laughter when Abraxas and Cygnus walked up to them.
"Hello Hermione." Abraxas said in his sickly sweet voice.
"Go away Abraxas." Eileen sneered.
"I was talking to Hermione." He snapped. Abraxas and Eileen glared at each other while Cygnus stared at Hermione.
"I don't believe we've met. My name is Hermione." Hermione extended her hand to Cygnus. Cygnus took it and, instead of shaking it, kissed it.
"Cygnus Black." He replied. Hermione couldn't help but smile.
"It's nice to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine." Abraxas looked at the two with jealousy in his eyes. Hermione couldn't help but smirk at Abraxas' jealousy over something that wasn't there. He reminded her a bit of an over jealous Ron.
"So, Hermione, what are you afraid of." Abraxas asked. Hermione finally looked at him.
"You talking to me." Cygnus and Eileen laughed.
"Funny." Abraxas said sarcastically. "What are you really afraid of?" Abraxas asked again. He moved closer to her. Hermione was about to tell him off when she appeared at the front of the line. Abraxas smiled before he stepped aside. "I guess I'm about to find out."
The Bogart flipped through many shapes and objects until finally taking the form of an older Dumbledore. The whole class was silent as they stared at this older Dumbledore. Their were patches of blood all over his body and his glasses were cracked. He stared at Hermione, his familiar twinkle was gone from his eyes.
"You failed." Hermione's eyes went wide. She raised her wand and pointed it at the bogart.
"You're wrong." She said in a small whisper. "Ridiculous." The bogart changed shape to Abraxas Malfoy in a red halter dress and heels. The entire class erupted in laughter. Even Montani was laughing.
"That was brilliant!" Eileen exclaimed as they sat down in the great hall for lunch. "I don't think I've seen Abraxas run so fast!" Hermione smirked as Eileen went on and on about how amazing what she did was and what she missed when she left the class.
"Hermione that was so funny!" Christine said as she approached the table. Gabrielle and Cygnus followed behind her.
"My stomach hurts! I was laughing so hard after I saw Abraxas in that dress I..." Cygnus cut Gabrielle off.
"I told her that it would look way better on me." Everyone laughed except for Hermione. She was still shaken up from the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She had been forgetting about her mission and seeing that older, destroyed Dumbledore made her realize what she came here to do.
Halfway through dinner Hermione's head began to ache. She excused herself from dinner and went to get some fresh air. Tom Riddle watched her get up from the Slytherin table and walk out the doors of the great hall before calling over Cygnus.
"You are close with Hermione Granger, are you not?" Tom Riddle asked Cygnus.
"Yes."
"I want you to follow her. See where she goes at night." Cygnus nodded and stood up. "Don't tell anyone else." Cygnus nodded and walked out of the great hall.
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