Thank you for the kind reviews. I'm sorry this took so long to get up, life has been crazy lately.

Would you be interested in reading a bonus chapter about Jade and the Court, or about Harry and Parvati?

September 5, 1993

"My mother wants to meet your mother," Draco said abruptly, sitting down next to Hermione.

Hermione blinked, looking up from her position in a soft velvet chair. She closed her book, giving the blonde her full attention. "Excuse me?"

Draco sighed. "My mother wants to meet your parents," he repeated. "Preferably at Yule break."

"Okay," Hermione said slowly. She glanced down at her book again, before turning back to Draco. "Was that it?"

Draco nodded affirmatively, standing up to leave. Hermione watched as he joined Blaise and Theo, who were playing a game of chess in the corner, before returning back to her book.

It was only the first week of school and already she had so much work to do. She was only taking two new classes this year, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, but the homework from those two alone was nearly double of what she was used to. Hermione had briefly considered taking Care of Magical Creatures, but had decided against it. She was never a big fan of animals anyways, and two new classes were already a lot. Divination and Muggle Studies, the other two classes, were never an option for her, and from the reports of those taking it, Hermione had made the smart choice in crossing them off of the short list immediately.

After a couple minutes of reading, Hermione felt a pair of eyes on her. She looked up to see Zinnia Travers glaring at her, the older girl heading over.

"Yes, Travers?" Hermione said politely. "Can I help you?"

"That's not your seat," Zinnia said loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the common room.

Hermione arched an eyebrow. "Well, I would certainly hope not," she drawled. "It's rather narcissistic to mark your name on a seat, don't you think?" she said, staring the older girl in the eye.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Zinnia hissed. "You don't belong here, and you definitely don't deserve to sit in that seat. That seat is reserved for members of the Court only, and last time I checked, you weren't on there."

"Last time I checked, you weren't on there either," Hermione said coolly. "Was it because Jade saw through your fake personality, and you couldn't find someone else to suck up to?"

Zinnia flushed, her cheeks turning red. "My sister was on that Court," she said hotly. "I have more of a right to be there then you."

Hermione laughed, tossing her head back. She hoped that she didn't sound too fake as she stood up, tossing her book on the chair. "And did Lilian leave her spot on the Court to you? I don't think so."

Zinnia scoffed. "And you're claiming that Jade Greengrass left hers to you. Which one of those is more believable?"

"I would say the one that's actually true," Hermione replied. She motioned towards the bookshelves, where the outline of a door could be seen besides the Potions section. Jade had shown it to her on the last day of school last year, claiming that it would come in need. "But if you think you belong on the Court, then try to open the door."

Zinnia suddenly looked worried. She had probably heard of the rumors of what would happen if anyone not on the Court touched the door, and didn't want to take her chances. "I-I don't need to," she stammered. "I don't need to prove anything to you, mudblood," she spat out the last word.

Hermione looked at her with a neutral expression, ignoring the gasps and whispers. Whether she knew it or not, Zinnia had broken an unspoken rule by using the slur in public. "If that's all, Travers, have a nice night," Hermione tossed over her shoulder as she strode towards the door, easily twisting the knob. She shot a glance over her shoulder, pleased that Zinnia's fuming face would be the last thing she saw before Hermione stepped inside and closed the door.

Immediately, all sound quieted. Was there some kind of noise cancelling spell placed on the door? A scroll of parchment lay on the center table, and Hermione picked up a nearby quill and jotted the question door.

She glanced around the room again, taking it in fully for the first time. Jade had never taken her inside, merely shown her the door and spoken about it in length. The room was medium sized, with a large circular table taking up most of the room. A variety of chairs surrounded the table - Jade had told her that they could be magically altered depending on how high ranked the sitter was in the Court. A small, barely noticeable door led to what Jade had described to be an office room, but Hermione ignored it for now, sinking into one of the plush chairs.

"Nice show, Granger," Gemma Farley said as she let herself in the room, closing the door behind her. "How did you know that would work?"

Hermione gave her a small smirk. "Oh, I just heard a couple of things here and there," she said airily.

Gemma snorted. "So in other words, Jade told you."

"Yes," Hermione admitted.

"Oh she already told me that," Gemma waved her embarrassment off. "Jade's filled me in on quite a bit, I'm here to help you get ready to take over next year. Don't worry, I have no intention of taking the crown for myself, so you'll really only have to deal with the idiots like Travers junior or Vaisley, for example."

Hermione nodded. "Who else is in the Court at the moment?" she asked curiously. "Jade and I didn't exactly get to that."

"You, me, and Aimee Brodeur," Gemma said. "But you already know who she is, right?" Hermione nodded again. "And since there's no official leader, we need a majority to appoint new members, and we have the numbers. So we need to discuss who we want added," she said, getting right down to business.

"Daphne," Hermione said immediately. "She's got the smarts and knows a lot about Society, and is in good with the younger years. Plus, she's Jade's sister, which could endear her to Aimee."

Gemma nodded approvingly. "I wasn't sure whether you were going to say her or Malfoy first," she commented.

Hermione shook her head. "Not this year. He needs to grow up a bit first and get rid of some of his prejudice. Or at the very least, learn to hide it," she added. "I don't really know the upper years well, so as long as Travers isn't on it, I'll back whoever you want."

"Alright, sounds like a plan," Gemma said, grabbing her own piece of parchment. "I'll come up with a few candidates."

Hermione waited a second. "You already have a list, don't you?"

"Always think two steps ahead," the older girl winked at her. "One of the first things Jade taught me, and something you should definitely learn if you don't know already."

Hermione stood up from her seat. "It's late," she said. "I'm going to go to sleep. Goodnight, Gemma."

"Goodnight," Gemma said in response. Hermione's last look of the room showed the dark haired girl sitting down in Hermione's vacated chair, pulling out scrolls of parchments from her pockets.

Looks like she wasn't the only one who had come prepared for school politics.