Hermione had been under the impression it was impossible to break into Gringotts, but she was taking the news better than Anthony, who seemed to be totally at a loss.
"Don't you see what this means? If someone can break into a vault at Gringotts, of all places, asset security basically doesn't exist! Imagine what will happen with investor confidence-"
"Anthony, that's really quite enough. There's no need to worry about your assets, they're improving the security-" she argued, interrupting. It was indecorous, yes, but he had gone on enough about it to disturb her reading. I'm going to have to keep this one away from the Weasleys. They would have a field day if they learned about Anthony Goldstein, the walking stereotype.
"Why would I be worried about my own assets, Hermione?" he asked, suddenly in wonder.
"Do you have any intention to work with the goblins after graduation? Not that-"
"Oh, of course, it sounds like the most exciting career out there. What are your plans after graduation? Actuarial science?"
"Not really, I haven't decided. I'm still new to this whole magic thing." Just as she was sure he would go on about the time value of decision making and staying ahead of depreciation, a second-year Ravenclaw named Cho Chang entered, announcing she had made the Quidditch team.
"That's wonderful, Cho! Just goes to show you can be anything you want, doesn't it?" Hermione responded, staring at Anthony, who seemed to be missing the implication entirely.
"Most certainly. My parents know the best way to get ahead is by being top of the class, playing an instrument, and distinguishing myself in athletics."
God damn it.
Hermione's head swiveled to see if anyone had noticed she swore in her mind.
She had seen little of Ron Weasley, which was well enough, as it appeared he was studying, or at least practicing. It was her understanding that Neville sometimes joined him, but that was no matter of great concern as she doubted either of them knew enough spells to hurt each other.
What concerned her was the rumor about the Inspectors from the education department at the Ministry of Magic. As near as she could figure, the Ministry was partially elected by a simple majority, though many of the positions of power were appointed from within. As a result, the government was highly bureaucratic, with very little room, if any, for grassroots change. The Inspectors showed up at Hogwarts once every three years, but at an uncertain time.
The Ravenclaws managed to distract Professor McGonagall in Transfiguration long enough for an explanation.
"The Headmaster has informed me that he suspects this will be nothing more than a routine inspection. As always, there will be three of them to arrive at uncertain points in the year. They have every search authorization, though they usually perform a broad sweep and find nothing, as expected." A hand shot up. "Yes, Miss Patil?"
"Professor, what are they trying to find?"
"Dark wizards- the threat is minimal, but they believe that as all magical children in Britain go through Hogwarts, it is the most effective time to perform a search." So it works like a sieve- with a funnel on top.
"They've never found one?"
"No, never." McGonagall concluded as she quickly resumed the discussion on transfiguring living things out of inanimate objects, which continued to baffle Hermione. She had taken the opportunity to read about Inspections, which had apparently been instituted by a Hogwarts professor in the mid twentieth century after growing concerns, but that was all the resource said.
In the library, she found not what she was currently seeking, but a valuable book nonetheless. Reading on old Slytherin families to look for any trace of a Gryffindor, she first looked through the Malfoy family tree, and failing that she looked through a closely related family and an apparently quite ancient one. The Black family was solid green until a man named 'Sirius' caught her eye. She had been thinking that she would at least find some evidence of two families being related, as all magical families were at some extent, but what she found was even better. As a cherry on top, the whole Black family seemed to believe in a wizarding version of supremacy doctrine, and quite a few were dead or 'locked away in Azkaban', which she supposed was a prison. Checking the book out, she went to her next class, deciding she was most likely to see Ron in the Great Hall.
In the hallways she passed by a tight group of Hufflepuffs talking in hushed voices, but she thought better of deliberately approaching them to find out what they were saying.
Potions class was nothing special, as always, though she could tell the instructor interpreted the 'correctness' of potions by his own metric. Hermione doubted he was as bad as Ron said- if nothing else, he was a highly qualified teacher, though there was a rumor that suggested he had his eye on the Defense position. For some reason, he seemed to ignore her efforts to draw his attention when she believed she knew the right answer, but the most likely explanation for that was a round-robin question and answer policy.
Contrary to her expectations, it was not Ron she found with Neville, but a different boy entirely. Dressed in Slytherin robes, she might have seen him before, but he seemed to be another walking stereotype from the way he went on with the trusting Hufflepuff. The Ravenclaw caught herself making that distinction, the second one in a day, no less, and narrowly avoided mentally swearing again.
"Draco." Hermione addressed suddenly, remembering his name as he discussed something he was noticing in his own house.
"Yes?"
"Did you tell Neville your nickname was 'Silver'?"
"I did. And you are?" he drawled in response.
"She's Hermione Granger." the other boy answered on her behalf. "She's brilliant-" An unidentifiable look of concern briefly flickered on Draco's face. "Say, she could tell us about what's been going on in Ravenclaw."
"That will not be necessary. I looked into the matter and apparently they're all one-dimensional caricatures with no variability."
"There is- most certainly- variability in our house." Hermione responded, stunned, face flush.
"Notice how she's not contradicting me on that her yearmates are caricatures."
"Neat trick, Silver." Neville responded as the appall grew in her expression.
"Neat trick, Silver?!" the witch shrieked, losing her composure. "Neville, his name's Draco and the only one he's tricking is you. He told you to refer to him as Silver so your real friends wouldn't figure out who he was- anyone who so much as knows his name could smell something fishy. You have to realize he's up to something. You're related to the Black family, aren't you? How many of your family members are in jail?" she asked accusingly.
Draco stared back a bit before answering.
"Hermione, there's more than one black family in England, and just because they're black, doesn't mean they're in prison, or trying to steal something from you." the Slytherin said calmly, something of a smirk fading from his lips.
"I challenge you to a duel!" she declared angrily, not knowing how else to respond. "Two on two- bring whomever you like from the first-years." Hermione rose and stormed off angrily. How could Neville be so stupid? Well, it's more like Draco's just clever.
She had learned of Ron's predicament after talking to his house prefect and part time elder brother, whom she found to be a reasonable enough individual. Their conversation had initially been about the Ministry, where Percy had ambitions to work, though it shifted to the younger Weasley rather quickly. Apparently the boy was itching to get back at Draco, but would be severely punished if he started it. He continued to practice in the vain hope that the Malfoy heir would challenge him, though he was cleverer than that. Looks like this plan just might not work out for you, Draco.
She had little against him, even after the display he put on in Defense, all that meant was that he was a prat. Their last conversation, however, revealed more than enough of his character.
Finding Ron in Charms the following day, she explained what had happened.
"You got a duel with Malfoy?" he sounded almost jealous.
"He won't refuse- he can't refuse. The best part is, it's pairs."
"Did he say when it was?"
"No." I was too angry to arrange that- trust him to come up with something that works to his advantage.
"Well, we could do it Halloween night- no one would miss us in the Great Hall." Hermione decided Ron was right to have his doubts about sneaking out after hours again. She had not for a moment doubted his willingness to duel Malfoy, but he had not bothered to tell her what actually happened. Considering his better spirits, she decided to ask later.
"Well, it was weird. I went there just a bit early, and I ran into Quirrell going around a corner-"
"Professor Quirrell." she corrected.
"Yeah, and he sent me back to Gryffindor by portkey- I may have pretended I was lost."
Hermione listened as he explained it, but there was something that was difficult to understand. As she understood it- portkeys were instant, or near enough. If he had disappeared before midnight, the latest anyone would have seen him was still before midnight. He couldn't have run after Malfoy arrived- he said it himself that he arrived after midnight.
She worked on her Charms assignment toward the end of class, already ahead on the spellwork. Ron had been less interested in charms in relation to jinxes and hexes, but was making considerable progress all the same. He seemed particularly annoyed by the ones he deemed 'useless'.
"Oh, come off it, is anyone going to put a wand to your head and tell you to to change the color of something or get an explosion to the ear?" he had asked. "What about the somnambulating charm? Can't figure out why anyone would want to use the leg-growth-charm. Merlin, look at that incantation. Tarantallegra? Are they absolutely daft?" Oddly enough, it brought a bit of a smile to her face, though she proudly declared she would print his words out and make him eat them one day, though he seemed to be even more baffled by what 'printing out' was, and whether or not it was a charm.
Professor Sprout had some minor comments about Neville in Herbology, apparently he enjoyed it, whether or not he was particularly good at avoiding getting covered in Bubotuber pus. When Hermione asked if there were any other noteworthy students in the first year, the instructor also commented on Hannah Abbot. Hufflepuffs.
The voice inside her head would eventually leave her alone for classifying the gifted plant-watchers, technically the Sorting Hat beat her to it and there were only two of them, not nearly enough to cast judgement on the lot. It was almost an engrossing enough subject to keep her from noticing the older witch behind her. Hermione kept her eyes forward, relatively sure she was not being followed. Speeding up to take a turn, she caught a glimpse of the woman by peripheral vision- a stocky, thick looking witch. She had never been one to take stock of appearances, but it was safe to say she had never seen her before. Best to play it safe- Hermione ducked into an empty classroom and allowed the witch to pass. If she follows me in here, she'll give herself away.
As a few minutes passed and nothing happened, she began to feel silly, getting worked up over nothing. She knew she was no stereotypical Gryffindor, taking every challenge that came her way and handing them out one for one- but it did not do to be frightened without cause. Fear clouded the mind and could reliably generate incorrect conclusions.
Peering out, she saw no one.
It was curious to her that she never guessed the wizarding world might be a dangerous place. She imagined there was little to no poverty, at least by a normal person's definition- regular crime was almost entirely out the window. Dark wizards were the boogeyman of a bygone era, the fact that they were going to such lengths to look for them only proved how few of them there were. Worse yet, they're looking for them in secondary school- I suppose there may be some natural proclivity for dark magic, but isn't it a little early? She had some idea of the amount of resources spent hunting down the last few Nazis, digging them out of the tree hollows in the jungles of South America, in some cases all for being on the wrong side of a war. Of course criminals needed to be brought to trial, but most crimes had a statute of limitations after which it was impossible to prosecute.
Hermione was beginning to wonder what manner of world into which she had wandered.
The Inspectors haven't been officially announced- though it was supposed to be a surprise. Is this just work ethic gone mad?
Classes went well enough, though she had to explain why she was late. Fortunately, she had built up enough credit as a legitimately good student for her excuses to be believed, though she had no intention of taking that for granted. As she got to Defense Against the Dark Arts, she remembered that Halloween was coming up and it was best to inform Draco of the time of the duel. With any luck, she might learn who would be his partner. If it's either of those bull boys who follow him around, I expect no trouble.
The subject of class was evasive action. It was different, as it was not entirely a magical technique, though certain spells like the locking charm would help here and there. Professor Quirrell explained that most of the time, it was better to recognize the difference in abilities and escape. Using magic was almost impossible when panicking, especially for first-years, so he decided to have the students pair up and chase each other around the castle. To represent the difference in abilities, the runner would not be using magic except potions, and only if he or she happened to possess them. If there's such thing as a speed potion, I should probably invest the time in making one, though invisibility might be more versatile. Paired up with Draco for the first time in weeks, the simple task before her was to find him in minimal time and hammer out the details of their upcoming duel. He was granted thirty seconds head start. It did not escape her notice that Vincent Crabbe received only a whole minute before Ravenclaw's Terry Boot was allowed after him. I suppose it doesn't replicate real world conditions, but Crabbe would hardly learn anything if he were caught straight off. That's not to say he won't still learn nothing, of course.
As she kept a good pace going after the Malfoy heir and trying to figure out where he could be headed, it occurred to her that their instructor may have intentionally paired them across houses, as a motivation. In our case, it makes even more sense- he probably figures Draco would keep a chip on his shoulder. At first it appeared his pattern was random, perhaps to take advantage of the chaotic nature of the assignment, but he managed to lead her into a moving group of third years, forcing her to go around and lose distance. She attempted a leg-locking hex, but missed twice and gave it up. I just can't hit him at this distance- or at this speed. I have to catch up without using magic.
Reaching the moving stairs, the tripping jinx and the leg-locking hex were out of consideration. Tripping him up here might as well be a lethal curse. She chased him onto a stair that was swinging at its base and tapped the banister with her wand, stopping its movement as it was about to reach the lower landing. Draco turned.
"Arresto Momentum?" he asked. "Learn that one in a book?"
"I did. I figured it would be useful- more so now that I have you cornered."
"You have me cornered only for my lack of a wand, Granger. Were I allowed to use magic, I would have waited around a corner and cursed you. There were several places where I could have done it." It occurred to her that he was telling the truth, there were times he would make two successive turns to go around a wall separating two hallways. She would have kept running, assuming he would do the same, and it would have been the simplest matter to hit her in the back with a tripping jinx, which might have knocked her teeth out. Bleeding and on the ground, there would be a lot less she could do about further attacks.
"I suppose. The purpose of this exercise, though, was to test our ability to evade a magically superior opponent." She stepped out onto the stair, not stopping to undo its arrested momentum. "How many curses do you know, Draco?"
"More than enough. Find out Halloween night." he answered as Hermione stifled a laugh.
"Funny. Ron said the same thing."
"Ron who?"
"Weasley." she responded, nearly losing her composure to confusion.
"Of course you're taking him- he's the only one mad enough to go up against me."
"So you know-" Hermione announced loudly before he could go back on it. "You know Ron didn't run out on the duel."
"Of course not. I saw Quirrell going out the door in the third floor corridor moments before I arrived. I ran for it myself- I know he's been up to something there, my sentries have told me as much. All the same, what better way to win than by default?"
