For the third time since the arrival of her friend a week before, Hermione sat at the foot of her bed watching in amusement while the blonde girl twirled around in a new pink silk dress.

"Oh, Hermione, you don't know how lucky you are." Daphne said wistfully.

"It's just a dress, Daph. You have dresses in England." the girl replied.

"It's not just the dress." the blonde girl pushed. "It's the macaroons and the chocolat chaud, and the shoes, and the city, and the boys, Hermione. Even the muggles are better looking."

The girl on the bed laughed, "If you like it so much, we can just never go back. Go to Beauxbatons instead, my father says the Academy is even prettier than Hogwarts."

"If only." the girl sighed. "But we're stuck at Hogwarts with treacle tart, and rain, and sensible shoes, and plain looking boys."

"You're far too mean to our boys." Hermione said.

"They're boys, that's the problem." Daphne said, ignoring the other witch. "What I need is a man."

"Daphne, you're twelve." said Hermione.

"Your point being?" her friend said, failing to see what she had been trying to say.

She just shook her head at the other girl. "Do we have everything we need for tomorrow? I don't want to forget something and have to ask Maman to owl it to me. Poor Mercury hates it when he has to do cross country flying." she said, thinking of her father's eagle owl.

"I think your house elf's done quite a thorough job with our trunks." Daphne said, double checking. "I can't believe we're going back already."

"Me either. I hate leaving France, I always miss it when I'm gone." Hermione said sadly.

"Do you want to pack a box of macaroons for the train?" Daphne said, trying to lighten her friend's mood.

"Sure, Blaise wrote me about them, so I think we should bring a box just for him, and Theo loved the bonbons I sent him over the summer, so I'll have Mimi buy some before the shops close." As if she had summoned the elf, there was a loud pop and suddenly, she was there in from of them, smiling at her young Mistress with large adoring eyes.

"Missy Hermione be calling Mimi?" the elf squeaked.

"Yes, Mimi. Can you please buy a couple boxes of goodies from Marcel's before the shops close at Le Carre? Only if you're not busy, of course." Hermione said with a smile.

"Mimi is never too busy for Young Miss, Mimi shall be going right this moment." the elf said, and disappeared with another pop.

"You treat your elves so kindly." Daphne noted, having observed the conversation between the two.

"My grand-papa always told me that if you want to know what a man's like, you should take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." she said simply.

"Not exactly the pureblood way of thinking." Daphne said simply.

"No." Hermione agreed. "But it's the decent way of thinking."

"Wonder what kind of man that makes Draco then." the other witch said thoughtfully.

"Draco's a good person, it's just that he's been taught to hate since he was very young. My grand-papa didn't like that about English purebloods. He says that children are not supposed to be exposed to anything but love, though they should be taught to understand hate. His brother treated his sons very much like Lucius Malfoy treats his own, with discipline and fear, if a child knows nothing but that, they're bound to have some bad ideals. "

"Is that why you act like you do when you're with Draco?" Daphne inquired.

"What do you mean?"

"Like you're trying to change him. You don't treat him like he's some sort of prince. You berate him when he's being a brat and when he says stuff like 'mudblood'."

Hermione looked at her friend, having misjudged the girl. She was more observant than she looked.

"What do you think about blood purity, Daphne?" she asked.

"Just what I was taught. We're better, but my parents never taught me to hate muggle borns. The Greengrasses aren't like the Malfoys. We believe in blood purity of course, but not to the point that we think half-bloods and muggle borns are dirt." the girl shrugged.

"That's how my grand-papa and Papa think. My mother has stronger beliefs because of my grandmother, I forget myself sometimes, because her, but my grandfather's always taught that muggle borns are just as magical as purebloods, we have an upper hand, of course, that's just how the world works, our magic can be stronger, because of our blood, but I can't deny the fact that they don't belong in our world, I'm stupid, nor am I ignorant." she said.

Daphne only nodded in agreement.

"That's what I'm trying to get Draco to see. I believe that we are meant to hate people who deserve our hatred, not the people who we are taught to hate."

"Doesn't your mother get mad at you?" asked Daphne.

"It's not like I talk about my beliefs to anyone. I'd be a social pariah in pureblood society. I'm no Gryffindor I'm just as much a Slytherin as you or Draco, I won't subject myself to isolation, I'm smarter than that, we both are. Besides, it's not like I'm bestfriends with a muggleborn." she said.

"True, you're bestfriends with a pureblood." the girl said and they shared a smile

"You look up your grandfather a lot." her friend said after a pause.

"He's a good man, and everything I want to grow up to be." Hermione said.

"You're a good person too, Hermione, you always try to help us when we need you. I really don't know why you're in Slytherin, you should have been in Hufflepuff." Daphne joked.

"Slytherins protect their own. You're my family, all of you." she said. "Even if you try to copy my homework."

The two laughed, the sound echoing around the room, and they both switched to lighter topics, making most of their last night before school began once again.

They boarded the train the next day, arms linked, with matching smiles, filled with excitement at meeting their friends again. The two girls scouted the train, and finally found the group of Slytherins, lounging about the carriage, they were the last to arrive. It seemed that the boys had all grown a few inches, much to Hermione's annoyance. Theo now towered over her, a good four inches taller, Blaise and Draco weren't far behind either.

Pansy hugged the two girls, asking about their summer, with thinly veiled jealousy in her eyes. She and Daphne brought out the blue Marcel's packages out of their trunks, before asking the boys to stow them away.

The group pounced on the pastries and chocolates, making the girls giggle, and soon, the boxes had been emptied of everything, with Blaise having laid claim on an entire box of macaroons to himself.

The train ride was full of talk about the summer, with Draco recalling the altercation with the Weasley family in Flourish and Blotts, leading to a slew of name calling and insults, which Hermione drowned out by listening to Pansy's stories about the Swiss alps.

Their conversation was cut when Draco, Greg, and Vince stood and left the carriage, most likely off to torment Potter or some unsuspecting first year. She moved to talk to Theo, who had been left to his own devices, since Blaise had fallen into a deep macaroon-induced sleep.

"My father's asked you to visit this Christmas." she said.

"What?" the boy said, his green eyes widening in alarm.

"No, not a betrothal visit, silly. Though you could try to look less frightened by the idea." Hermione teased, feigning hurt. He had the grace to look sheepish. "I just told him about your interest in potions, he seemed to like the fact that at least one of my friends could keep up with me."

"Draco's just as god as I am in Potions." he pointed out.

"That's sheer talent." Hermione brushed off. "You study the theory behind it. That's why my father was intrigued. He's invited all of you to stay for a few days, really. We won't be attending the Gala this year, so it would be nice to have something to do."

"Why won't you be going to the Gala?" he asked curiously.

"My father secretly hates society functions like that, he only goes because of my mother. I don't enjoy them very much either, so it's two against one. Plus, it's going to be in England, and my Mama doesn't like it very much here, she prefers Parisian weather." Hermione explained.

"Well, you have a point. It'll be much more boring without you there." he said, making her smile at the compliment.

"What did you do this summer, Theo?" she asked.

"Nothing much, really. My father's been teaching me some things, he's a Curse Breaker, though he doesn't work to often, I got to learn a few spells." the boy said proudly.

Hermione wanted to ask whether they were dark spells, but she bit her tongue, and smiled instead, asking about who he thought their new professor was.

"Well, it must be a witch, right? Have you seen our books? They're all by some smiling bloke named Lockhart." the boy said.

"I saw, it's a load of rubbish, really. He doesn't stop talking about himself in all of his books." she said with a hint of disgust.

"You read all of them?" Theo said. "I couldn't even get through one."

"Of course I read them. I didn't dwell on them much though, just focused on the Potions and Charms books. My father tested me on all the potions in the book. He made a couple revisions to some of the steps too, and added a few of his own notes." she said.

"Lucky." Theo said with envy.

"I'll show them to you, if you want." she offered. They're just minor changes really, one and a half doxy wings instead of two, three clockwise stirs and one added anti-clockwise. Things like that, just to make the potion a bit more potent."

"You're the best, 'Mione." he said.

"Mione?" she asked, her brow raised.

"Just trying it out." he said with a smirk.

"I don't like nicknames much." she admitted.

"Not your decision to make, is it?" he teased.

Daphne quietly observed the interaction, watching as the two laughed openly, and Theo slung his arm over the girl. Well, this was a new development.

Draco came back a while later and, with a brilliant smile on his face, announced that neither Potter or Weasley were aboard the train.

"What do you mean?' she asked.

"I mean, they're not here. Missing, absent, disparu." he said, not losing the gleeful grin that had permanently settled on his face. "Do you think he's not coming back?"

"Hope so." Blaise muttered, fixing his bed hair. "The wanker cheated us out of the House Cup."

But luck was not on their side, it seemed, as they watched the two boys get carted off, out of the Great Hall during the welcome feast by a grave looking Professor Snape, who led them out by the collars of their robes. Rumors started spreading at once, finally reaching them, through Tracey Davis once again, that Weasley and Potter had missed the train, and drove a flying car to Hogwarts, crashing into the Whomping Willow.

"But weren't they seen?" Hermione asked in alarm.

"They were." Tracey nodded. "It was in a muggle newspaper."

"They broke the Statue of Secrecy." she muttered in disbelief.

"Now Dumbledore will have to expel them!" Draco exclaimed excitedly.

"Shh, don't jinx it!" Blaise chided.

"He's the Golden Boy, the headmaster can't expel him." Daphne said reasonably.

"A boy can only dream." Draco said, still thrilled with the thought.

As it turned out, Daphne had been right. They watched as the two boys walked into the Hall for breakfast the next day they were getting clapped on the back and congratulated by their housemates. The Slytherins glowered, falling into a sullen mood, that is, until an owl swooped down and a red envelope fell into Weasley's porridge.

Hermione nudged Blaise, who was buttering his toast with a frown on his face. "Don't look now, but Weasley's got a Howler." she whispered.

"A Howler?" he said loudly, causing the entire table to turn to look at the red haired boy, who was holding the envelope in his hands like it would explode any minute.

"This is going to be good." said Draco in anticipation.

And it was. They all watched in barely contained glee as a roar filled the great hall, and a woman's voice filled the Great Hall. All through out the rant, Weasley sank deeper and deeper in his seat. Draco didn't hide the ecstatic look on his face when he heard that Arthur Weasley was facing an inquiry at work. They all broke into laughter when the envelope burst into flames, leaving a pale faced Ronald Weasley to pick up its ashes.

"Sweet, sweet, justice." Blaise said snidely, and they laughed a little louder, causing the boy at the Gryffindor table to redden in both embarrassment and anger.

After breakfast, they all walked to Charms with the Ravenclaws, with a smell skip in their step, their day considerably better than it had started.

Flitwick had them practicing Engorgement charms on apples, and they tried to best one another by seeing how big they could grow their fruits. Blaise had enlarged his apple to the size of his head before having it burst, covering anyone within range with apple sauce. Hermione succeeded in making the apple she had been given to swell up to twice the size Blaise's had been, stopping the charm before it could explode, delighting Flitwick with her success.

The Ravenclaws glared at her enviously, it was not a normal occurrence to have someone from a different house do better than they did in classes, but Hermione Dagworth-Granger always seemed to be one step ahead of them. She smiled proudly at her work, pointedly ignoring the looks she was receiving from the opposite side of the class.

"Can you, for once in your life, not be perfect? You're making the rest of us look bad." Blaise complained while they walked to Defense.

"Sorry." she said, smirking unapologetically. "Can't help it. It's an inborn trait."

"Bloody swot." he teased.

She laughed in reply, continuing to follow Draco as he led the group of Slytherins to class.

"Signed photos, Potter?" he said abruptly. She craned her neck to see what had captured Draco's attention. A first year Gryffindor was standing next to Potter, camera in his hands, looking terrified of the blonde in front of him. "Oi! Everyone line up, Harry Potter's giving out signed photographs!" Draco roared.

"No, I'm not. Shut up, Malfoy." Potter said angrily.

"Hey, Potter," Blaise said lazily, "Maybe Weasley over there could use on of your photographs. He could sell it for a couple of sickles and earn more than his father does in a week."

"Eat slugs, Zabini." Weasley growled.

Malfoy sneered at him, "Careful now, don't want Mummy dear hearing you're causing trouble again, do you?"

"What's all this then?" a voice came from behind them. The Slytherins scattered as soon as they saw Lockhart appear, leaving Potter to fend for himself. They snickered as he posed for a photo with the professor, mocking him with huge smiles as he passed.

Lockhart cleared his throat, calling for silence, as the class found their seats. Hermione waited to see whether or not the man actually knew what he was talking about in his books, or if he was just all smile.

Turns out, he was the latter.

He had given them a joke of a test, asking questions like, 'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color? and 'When did Gilderoy Lockhart receive his first Witch Weekly award?'. Hermione answered them, of course, having read the books, but she passed her test while giving the man a look of disgust.

The man had even been disappointed when half of the class hadn't known what his ideal birthday gift was. She tried to fight the sneer that was threatening to appear on her face. She turned to look at Theo sitting next to her. He had a similar look of disbelief on his face. They watched as the man unveiled a cage of Cornish pixies, they looked agitated and flighty.

To their surprise, the wanker let the pixies free, and suddenly they were whizzing through the classroom, pulling hairs and throwing quills around. She heard Lockhart shout a ridiculous spell, and it did exactly what i=she expected it to do — nothing.

The professor gulped, "Consider this your first test!" he shouted, "Good luck!" he left the room, slamming the door behind them.

Hermione surveyed the room, students were diving under desks, trying to avoid the devilish creatures, others were fighting them off with their textbooks, she sighed, and shouted, "Stupefy!"

All at once, the pixies froze and dropped to the floor with soft thuds.

"Unbelievable." she muttered, slinging her bag over her shoulder and hurried out the door, her friends following closely behind her. "What the hell was Dumbledore thinking? The man's a joke!" she yelled to no one in particular.

"Maybe he was running out of choices for the job? It's cursed, after all." Pansy suggested.

"Anyone would have been better, honestly." she grumbled.

"Calm down, Mione." Theo chided. "It's just a class."

"It's a waste of my time." she said.

"Hermione, wake up!" Daphne said, pulling back her curtains and jumping onto the witch's bed.

"Daphne!" she screamed. "It's seven in the morning!"

"Yes, I know, we've got to go!" the blonde witch said, forcing her to sit up.

"What are you talking about, you crazy witch?" asked Hermione, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"It's Draco's first practice today, remember? He told us last night after dinner."

"Ugh. Did I say I was going to that?" she groaned. "I really should pay attention to what I say."

"Never mind that. Get up and get dressed already! Draco's been going on and on about his skills for years and I want to call in on his bluff. Pansy and I have a bet going and I'm not losing any money today." she said decidedly.

Hermione pulled a green jumper over her hair, matching it with a black skirt, twisted her hair into a long plait and followed the other girl out of the room, still in a sleepy daze.

"Put me down five galleons for Draco telling the truth." she said.

Daphne glared at her, "You're betting against me?"

Hermione just shrugged in reply, lacking the energy to argue. They met the others in the common room, Draco had already gone up with the team.

"I can't believe you got her to wake up." Blaise whispered to Daphne.

"You just got to give her a little push, is all." the blonde said with a smirk.

"That was not a little push, Daph. You scared the magic out of me." she said grumpily, joining Theo in a huff. He at least, seemed to have had a rough start to the day, too.

"You too?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah." she said. "What did Blaise do?"

"Levitated me off my bed upside down." he muttered, turning to glare at the grinning boy.

"You poor thing." she said teasingly.

"Oh, shut up." said Theo. "You look just as bad."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "There's no such thing."

"Quite right." he said, smiling. Hermione failed to notice the faint blush that had crept its way into the boy's cheeks.

"So Draco's the new Seeker, right? The same position as Potter?" she asked.

"Yeah, I hear he's not half bad at it too."

"Did you hear that from him?" she joked, to which Theo chuckled.

"Actually, Adrian Pucey told me after their try outs." he confided.

"Looks like I'm winning a bet today." she said triumphantly.

They got to the Quidditch pitch just in time to see the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams begin to walk towards each other.

"What are they doing here?" Pansy asked.

"Marcus might have stolen Gryffindor's time slot this morning." Blaise admitted.

They crossed the field, approaching the two teams, and moved to stand behind the Slytherins.

"What's he doing here?" asked Weasley, looking at Draco with loathing, taking in his Slytherin Quidditch robes.

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley." Draco said smugly. "Do you like our new brooms? They were a gift from my father?"

"You probably just bribed them to let you in, anyways." said Ron. "Harry's got in on pure talent, not money."

"We're lucky Draco's got both, aren't we?" she snapped. "Jealous that his broom's better than yours, are we, Weasley?"

"Oh, you'd know all about his broom, wouldn't you, you Slytherin bitch?" he replied sharply,

Draco, Theo and Blaise had all pulled out their wands before she could even reach for hers. "How dare you insult her!" Draco yelled, his face reddening in fury.

Weasley had his wand drawn too, and before they knew what hit them, there was a loud bang and a jet of green light. Hermione braced herself, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes to fin Ron Weasley flat on his back, being held up by Potter and Longbottom. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, he a handful of green slugs slipped out of his mouth and onto the pitch.

All around her, her friends were in fits of laughter, Draco especially, was fighting tears, clutching at his stomach. They watched as he was carted off by his friends, and the rest of the team dispersed. Now, the Slytherin team was free to practice, and their group left to sit by the stands.

"Hey, Hermione." Draco called out.

She turned, facing the boy questioningly.

"You okay?" he asked.

She gave him a sharp nod, and jogged to join Theo who had waited for her.

"You sure you're alright?" asked Theo stiffly.

"I'm fine." she said impatiently. "I'm not breakable. I don't need you to look after me."

"It's our job." the boy said.

"I look after myself, Theo." said Hermione. "Besides, he's said worse."

"What?" the boy said, looking at her sharply. "What do you mean, he's said worse?"

Hermione just shook her head at him. "Forget it Theo, it's nothing." she moved to sit down on one of the bleachers.

Theo sat next to her, his green eyes glaring into her own. "It's not nothing, Hermione. What did the git say?"

"He called me a blood purist bitch." she said blankly, noticing the boy tense. "It was last year, Theo, I've forgotten about it."

He didn't respond, just kept his eyes focused on the sky.

She found out at dinner later that day. Ronald Weasley walked into the Great Hall with a blackened eye and a cut lip, and, coincidentally, Theo was nowhere to be seen.

She had stormed into the Slytherin common rooms, making a beeline straight for the boy's dormitory, where she found him lounging on his bed, a book in hand.

"Theodore Nott!" she growled, making him jump in alarm. "What did you do!?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." he said, avoiding her gaze.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about Theo." she growled at the boy.

"You don't deserve to get treated that way." he said. "I was only looking out —"

"I fight my own fights, Theodore!" she yelled. "I'm capable of defending myself!"

"You shouldn't have to!" he argued.

Hermione glared at him angrily.

"Look, Mione —" he began to say.

"What did you do to him, Theo?" she said.

He sighed in resignation. "It was one of the spells my father taught me over the summer. It conjures an invisible force that hits the opponent over and over again."

"That's a dark spell, Theo." she whispered.

"No, it's not." he said defensively. "It's a fifth year charm, but it's not dark."

"Theo, magic is classified based on intent. If you use a defense spell with the intent mainly to hurt, and not defend yourself, it's dark." she said.

Theo shook his head at her. "I didn't intend to hurt him just because i wanted to. It was defense on your part, Mione."

She sighed, approaching the boy, who had risen from his bed.

"Whatever the reason, Theo, I don't want you using spells like that, even if it's to defend me, or Pansy, or Daphne." she said. "Spells like that aren't for second years, and you're better than that. Promise me you won't, do it again?"

She twined her hand in his, and looked up at him, her eyes pleading. The boy seemed to lose all the tension that had been building in his body, and he let out a shaky breath.

"Fine." he agreed. "But promise you'll tell me if anyone says or does anything to you again."

"I promise." she said, and enveloped him in a tight hug. "I know you meant well, Theo. Thank you."

She turned to leave the room before any of their friends got back and started wondering what they had been doing.

Once more, she missed the wistful look Theo sent her as she walked away.