I still hope you will enjoy it.

"I told her not to attack him! Why can't anybody believe me?"

Snape was hidden under a disillusionment charm as he watched Granger and Potter walk at a leisurely pace at the borders of the lake. They had surprised him and on instinct, he had simply cast the charm. Now however, he was on to some interesting info.

"Harry, I am the first to believe you. However, we already talked about the Parsletongue thing. And seeing as the last writing decidedly talked about an heir of Slytherin, people think it's you."

The Potter prat threw his hands up in the air in a defeated manner and started to yell around. "I don't get this! One minute they love me, the other minute they hate me! Can't they just fucking stick with one thing! I mean…" he huffed and smirked, "I mean, take Snape, he always sticks with one thing. Even if he's not my favourite teacher, at least with him I know what I'm on about."

Granger smiled and snickered. "He's not that hard to see through really, if you're not Slytherin you could as well not hand in your homework – it's a failure anyways."

The resigned tone with which the boy spoke made Snape listen up. Granger was intelligent, very much so and would it not have been for his position, he'd have signed him O after O. As it was however, Granger was not only Gryffindor, but he was a muggle-born wizard as well. Considering the circles he frequented, it was a generally bad idea to encourage him. On top of that, he constantly went against Snape's instructions by helping Longbottom… who, however, got better by the lesson, and Snape knew that it was not because of his suddenly improving teaching methods. No, that was all Granger's doing.

Potter patted his friend's shoulder. "Never mind, Hermes. You still kick his ass." The boy sighed and gained on a wistful expression. "Ah, I wish I would have seen the expression on his face when he realized that it was actually you who solved his riddle. Oh I would pay a fortune for it."

Snape's mind stopped – Granger had solved his puzzle? He froze involuntarily and stared at the boy as he bent down to tickle a small bush of Sea-Crown weed. The tiny leaves rang like small bells and he listened to the sound, watching the boy as he smiled, lost in his world where tickling the Sea-Crown weed was his enjoyment. Finally the void in his mind cleared and he concentrated on the boy. So Granger had solved it… well, he supposed he could deal with that. It had, after all, been a logical puzzle, rather than a potion related one. Most wizards were unaccustomed to use their brains instead of just some formula or potion… but Granger had grown up in the muggle-world, he'd be used to using his own head.

On top of that, he was an intelligent little knob. Within his first year already he'd created the Avis Oppugno – a rather curious little jinx that was, and useful. Besides it had taken him to remove that attacking flock of Canaries from the pursuit of his Slytherins. Mostly though, it was Draco… and he guessed that the reason he found himself so often pursued by Canaries was because he constantly tried to disrobe Granger.

Now though he watched the boy as he gently stroke the Sea-Crown back to complacency and continued to walk with Potter.

"Have you seen Ron by the way? I swear he hasn't been at dinner… he's not ill is he? I don't think I can take another bout of decontaminating the showers…" Granger ground and Potter dissolved in most unmanly giggles. Snape raised his eyebrow, but Granger continued exasperated. "No, Harry, I swear if he ever pukes into the showers again, no amount of illness will be an excuse. He'll clean it up by hand, as did we the last time. He's a friend, yes, but friendship only goes that far…"

It was Christmas.

Snape, was stalking the corridors – it was useless, technically, seeing as most students had returned home by now, but two thirds of the Chaotic Trio were still in the castle and he had a feeling that the petrifier would next target Granger. Really, if it were him, that boy would have been his target all along – that was, if it was a conscious attacker. But Granger was clever, he'd seen him rifle through the library books and if that meant anything: then it was that Granger had a clue and was now checking for theories to back him up. Short: he was close to getting to the truth.

"Let me pass."

He groaned inaudibly as he realized the voice to belong to Granger – apparently the boy just had to constantly get into trouble whenever he was near.

"If you don't come willingly, I will have to employ other methods."

Strangely enough though the voice was hollow, as if the person that spoke were steered by someone else – as if they were being imperius-ed. Granger shuffled and then spoke again.

"Ron, I will be going nowhere with you as long as you do not tell me if that really is unicorn blood sticking to your arm!"

Snape choked on his breath. Unicorn blood? Surely not! Weasley was an idiot but not that much of an idiot. Chancing a look around the corner, he found that the two were a few meters still away from him, not immediately behind the corner – he had an alcove that would shelter him, should he manage to get there undetected, after all Weasley stood with his face into his direction.

"I'm sorry, you don't make this easy on me."

The professor's eyes widened as he watched the red-head draw a wand that was not his own. Snape knew that wand, he knew the skull-handle; there was only one person who possessed such a wand. Just, how the hell had Weasley gotten his hand on it?

"Ron, don't make me do this…"

"Incarcerous." Weasley's voice was still disembodied, but the spell was there. Snape was sure that he did not even have an idea of what he was doing – there was no way in hell that Weasley knew that spell.

Granger blocked the spell with amazing speed, before shooting one of his own and then flicking his hand into the direction of his friend. Snape stared… Was that just wandless magic? From a second year?

"Stupefy."

Granger blocked that spell as well. Before finally going for 'the kill' – he shot a few mild stinging hexes at his friend, busying him with blocking as he advanced at the same time. Then, just as he shot a slicing hex, he added a wandless 'Petrificus Totalus', finally able to still his friend.

Snape gave him a few moments to catch his breath, before he rounded the corner. "Fighting in the corridors, Mister Granger…" he drawled, "and against one of your house on top of that, what a disgrace you are."

The curly-haired boy trembled, unable to look him in the eye. Snape understood that – he could easily have the boy dispelled if he so wished, and Weasley as well. But he was surprised at the amount of skill that Granger had put into the small duel – he had not hurt his friend and had rather put him to still-stand.

"I think, for now, a week of detention with me and for Weasley with Filch, shall suffice, starting tomorrow night at eight o'clock."

Finally Granger turned to look at him, barely. There were tears threatening to fall down his cheeks, but he held them in bravely – Snape admired him for that, begrudgingly so, but he did. Up to now, he had managed to make each and every student cry, even Potter for that matter, but not so Granger. Never did he allow even one of his tears to fall, willing himself to keep it in at least until he was gone.

Snape was about to turn away, when he remembered the wand in Weasley's hands, turning he lifted the petrifying spell of the red-head and immediately snatched the wand away. "Fifty points from both of you, by the way, and you, Mister Weasley will immediately accompany me to my office."

He dragged the boy off at his ear, noting with some relief that at least now he had his natural eye-color back and was struggling like a real, live boy, not like the puppet he had been mere seconds ago.

Hermione was angry – very, very angry at Ron. Luna could understand her and had promised to look up the Ron-incident with the aid of books. Hermione was sure that somewhere in the whole action, Ron had lost control of himself, had not been conscious of his actions anymore. But that did not mince the fact that she had gotten detention with Snape because of him.

Rationally Filch was worse, and yes, Hermione was used to tedious tasks as cleaning and filing away – she'd done nothing but that at The Leaky Cauldron over the summer, and within half an hour of working, she found she even enjoyed the familiarity of her actions. However, a detention would mar her perfect grades and she certainly didn't want that.

Actually, she couldn't need it – at all. If she was to prove those wizards wrong about muggle borns and women, then she had to be the best of her class, her year and generally the whole school, no way around that.

As she scrubbed the cauldrons, she thought about what Harry had told her about the voices he kept hearing. She assumed that they were Parsletongue, otherwise everyone would hear them too and Harry was far from being crazed – there were no signs to that. So now, it appeared that a giant snake was moving around Hogwarts, intent to kill.

And then there were the mysterious cases of the petrified students – Miss Norris and Colin Creevey had been joined by Edgar Flute and Nearly Headless Nick. She had not even known that ghosts could be petrified, for all she knew they couldn't be… unless.

The gasp that filled her and made her sit up also made her hit her head on the rim of the big cauldron, she rubbed her aching head, as she thought about the possibility. Of course then there was the question as to how that thing moved around the school and showed up just wherever it pleased…

"Mister Granger if you are finished with the cauldrons, then move on to the pipes… as I told you."

"Pipes!" she gasped in revelation again and completely ignored the professor who looked at her with a raised eyebrow – oh she could kiss that man right now!

"Lysander! Lysander!"

Luna stopped mid-step when she heard Hermione's deepened voice call for her – the Gryffindor hastily ran down the stairs, well aware that, if she would get caught, she'd cost her house points, but she was too excited.

"Oh, I have had the most glorious epiphany of the millennium!" The Gryffindor yelled as he grabbed hold of her elbow and pulled her out into the small court, beaming brightly.

"Lysander, the thing that moves up and around, you know the thing that Harry claims to hear…. It's a Basilisk!"

Luna listened attentively as her friend rattled off the information she had found about Basilisks, no doubt in a dusty tome in the library.

"Think about it! It's a giant snake, so of course Harry would hear it, and it kills with only a look… but none of the victims actually looked directly at the beast, so they kind of got lucky with only a Petrifying. And it moves…" she caught her breath, "it moves through the old pipes of the school that are no longer used."

Luna was convinced – Hermione was always thorough with her researches and after all, it went well with the fleeing spiders she had observed near the victims: it appeared that spiders fled from a Basilisk, though she was not sure why.

"But how do you suppose the messages got on the wall?" she asked musing as they walked back to the Study Hall, "I mean, I don't think that a Basilisk would write, or am I wrong…"

Hermione nodded, already lost in thought again. Luna smiled at her and guided her to their intended spot. Whenever she thought, Hermione hardly kept track of where she was going, or even who would be talking to her – if she was lost in her thoughts, then she was, she was unreachable then… but mostly, she was also incredibly ingenious whenever she was lost in her thoughts. Luna smiled softly and opened her book on silent casting.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Madame Pomfrey instantly toppled over, being caught in a full-body bind. Hermione watched as the doors to the Infirmary closed and she looked at the woman lying on the floor.

She recast her Glamours. Obviously Hermione had not thought that her magic would leave her once she'd be revived from her Petrification of the Basilisk, but it was good to know at least. Bending over the woman, she levitated her gently on a bed and looked sympathetically at her.

"Miss Pomfrey, I am incredibly sorry to have to do that." She bit her lip – she did indeed feel guilty for what she was about to do, but it was for the better anyways. "You need to know, Miss, that I adore learning here and that I will prove that women can be witches. I can unfortunately not allow you to leak this tinsel of information to anyone… Maybe your soul will be able to forgive me someday, Miss Pomfrey. Obliviate."

It was easier than she had suspected. After she had released the binds at the same time as she had cast the memory spell, Madame Pomfrey simply found herself lying on the bed with Hermes Granger next to her.

"Are you fine, Miss Pomfrey?"

The elderly woman nodded her acquiescence and then, finding that the Alraun's potion had worked on the earlier petrified Hermes Granger, let him go. Hermione was glad, although sad to see that women did not hold together even in this world, that she had evaded the near fiasco. Lysander was waiting for her outside the infirmary.

"I think I might have an idea as to how the messages got on the wall." Luna said silently, making sure that no one was around before moving to a more secluded area, where she produced a book. Tom Riddle it read at the back. Hermione's eyebrows vanished in her hairline – Luna only nodded.

"Now guess where I found it."

Second chapter today. I have the feeling it's a little short. And I have the feeling my muse will be generous ;) Let's see if I can get Hermione's second year to a close.

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