The moment that Hermione Granger's loyalty to Hariel Potter was set in stone… really should have been addressed by her head of house. But considering Minerva was too busy for that, and Severus was not touching the situation with a ten-foot pole… well, it really shouldn't have been a surprise it occurred at all. Truly, the public at large had only themselves to blame when years down the line, Hariel had someone made into a creature as insane as her.

The end result, years down the line: Hermione Granger a witch compared to Bellatrix Lestrange in her mad loyalty.

The beginning? An unfortunate accident that no one knew Hariel caused.

It started one November morning, as Neville Longbottom accidentally tripped and managed to dodge the poisoned dart aimed at his back. Severus, who personally could have cured that particular poisons, exhaled in relief. He could have cured it, but the boy was as lucky as he was unlucky, and he'd dodged the blow… which went right past him into the back of Ronald Weasley.

"Ouch!" Ron grumbled and reached over, brushing the minuscule dart out of the side of his arm. He never noticed the little piece of metal dropping to the floor and didn't notice Severus Snape leaning up, ready to go rushing for an antidote, because he didn't feel ill or anything.

"Che," Hariel muttered unhappily as Longbottom got back up and fled from her furious stare. She huffed and turned away from the boy giving Ron a look, then nodded. "You should probably slow down eating today Ronald, don't want you to overdose."

"Huh?" Ron asked with a mouth full of poisoned food.

"Never mind." Hariel waved it off; truly the boy's resistance to poisons was beyond even her own, even she would have gotten a bit sick from that dart, yet Ron didn't even twitch. It was honestly and quietly impressive.

"Mmkay." Ron finished inhaling his food. Hariel ate slightly more sedately, but they were still out of the hallway and heading toward class a touch earlier than most of their house. Which worked out, Hariel wanted to visit that lovely doggie on the third floor and-

And wasn't that a beautifully blood-curdling scream. Hariel picked up her pace and rushed around a corner with a rather confused Ron at her heels; they sped around the corner in time to see a massive dismembered arm clutching at the neck of one collapsed and perfectly on time for class, Hermione Granger. The arm, ah-

"How did that get there?" Hariel wondered as she stepped forward. With perfect ruthlessness, Hariel planted the heel of her foot into the back on the hand, she shoved the fingers under her feet and snapped a finger. "Bad! That's not for you!"

Hermione frantically crawled away from the hand, she was sobbing and panicking with that scream continuing to echo through Hariel's brain. It was stunning background noise as Hariel swooped down and grabbed the troll arm from the floor and tucked it under an arm. Then, she turned around, robes swirling dramatically about her. "Not to worry, he's learned his lesson." Ah, but Severus did say no maiming… did it count it the arm she was experimenting on maimed someone? Or was it Hariel alone who couldn't maim? She wasn't sure. She'd better remove the arm just to be sure. "Wait here, Ronald, I'll put it away." Then she turned and skipped down the hall, ignoring the arm trying to choke her.

"You are so eager darling," she told it, "you really should have stayed in my trunk. Severus will be displeased if you go around maiming children."

Hariel vanished down a hall unaware of Hermione Granger clutching her neck and staring after the perfectly odd Potter child in complete awe. "The stories were right," Hermione breathed, "she really is a hero… she- she saved me!"

Ron hummed: "yeah, I think she's lucky, I haven't been pranked once by my brothers since I became friends with her," he helped Hermione up, "it's completely brilliant how Malfoy is terrified of her… you should see his face when she comes round!"

"Does he? I hadn't noticed," Hermione rubbed her neck, "is it true she got rid of the troll on Halloween? I'd heard it but…"

"Oh yeah, that was her. I heard Hariel tried to save Nevile Longbottom, and her accidental magic blew it up. Glad she did though, the teachers didn't do anything about it, and it was heading right for our common room!"

Hermione loved cats, though she'd always been drawn to the odd-looking ones, which was probably why she alone had no trouble with Hariel's familiar, unlike the rest of the girls in their year. Lavender was frankly terrified of it, swearing up and down that it watched them sleep. Hermione thought that was just how cats acted, they weren't dogs after all.

Though on a side-note: Hermione's parents had always been too busy for pets, so Hermione had never had one and wasn't at all sure how a regular cat should be acting, and all she could compare it to were the cats from the unfortunately inaccurate muggle stories about familiars.

Therefore, as Hermione attached herself to Hariel Potter she also attached herself to Hariel Potter's familiar Barghest. Which was why, when finishing homework in the common room, Hermione absently reached up and ran a hand along Barghest's furred back. As she did, her arm nudged Barghest's ear… and Barghest's ear fell off.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped as the ear fell onto her book, "oh no! Ha-Hariel!"

"Hmm?" Hariel looked up with her own homework, something Snape had given her. To Hermione, it looked like a diagram of the human body, and she wondered if she could ask for the same homework from the surly professor. Hermione was sure she could handle whatever the man threw at her.

"Oh Hariel, I'm so sorry, I think- Barghest's ear!"

"It fell off again?" Hariel heaved a sigh, "honestly, Barghest, that's the third time this week, I'll have to get you a new one."

Somewhere on the other side of the room, Lavender Brown gave a terrified noise, because she unlike Hermione, realized that Hariel was quite serious and the girl would be finding a dismembered ear for her familiar. But Hermione, poor muggleborn Hermione, she thought Hariel would use magic to accomplish this. Hermione was under the mistaken idea that Barghest's faulty ear was because the cat had been in some sort of feline accident.

"It's a prosthetic, right?" Hermione asked, "I've read about them in a muggle medical journal, though I didn't know the magical world has something similar."

"Prosthetic?" Hariel asked.

"It's a replacement body part," Hermione explained smartly.

Hariel blinked large eyes at Hermione, then nodded slowly, "yes, it's a 'prosthetic' I'll have to get Barghest a new one… this one doesn't fit anymore." She sighed, "he is a growing boy, and he's so rough on his body. No matter, I'll find something new for him."

"Can I help?"

"Of course! I'll teach you how to sew the fur properly," Hariel beamed, "it's not too different from leather, but you have to be careful not to get the furs stuck."

Tom Marvolo Riddle pressed his magic down on the unicorn, he pinned it to the ground with his sheer core strength. The thing screeched, struggled uselessly against the inky blackness of his power and it brought him a rush of satisfaction. This was his power, his magic, it was not borrowed from Quirrel it was him Lord Voldemort that did this.

Teeth glittering in the dark, Voldemort swiped a hand across the neck of the beast and a line of red appeared. This alone he displeased, overpowering the beast was satisfying… but drinking blood, no, he did not enjoy this. It was, however, a necessity for his continued survival. He needed to drink to regain his strength enough to slip through the old fool's so called 'protections' on the stone. Most of which were simple enough that a first-year could pass through without problem. But that last one… it was so drowned in the fools magic, Voldemort would need to take care to not trip any of the many alarms in his weakened disembodied state.

He dipped his head forward and pressed his lips to the burning silvery liquid and something stirred behind him.

Voldemort felt Quirrel's body flinch and lifted his blood-stained mouth to peer into the forest around him. That magic… that presence in the dark… it was… deliciously dark. Where was it coming from? He scanned the forest hearing no sign of movement… but something was moving in the dark… there- a voice.

"If you're going to murder something, murder the acromantula, then at least, I will find use in their decaying corpses."

Severus.

He was not supposed to be wandering the forest this night. Quirrel had checked the staff schedule; Severus was due to patrolling the halls this night… so why was he in the forest?

And to whom was he speaking?

"Their bodies are dull, all shell and cracking," complained a girl's voice.

Potter.

Voldemort rose from his position unwilling to truly leave behind all the work he'd put in to pinning and locating a fully grown unicorn. But Severus and Potter were in the forest at the same time, the girl-who-lived was within reach and his loyal Severus could cover for him-

No.

He, Lord Voldemort, would find no satisfaction in this kill. Instead, Voldemort returned his task for that night, Severus and Potter were moving in a different direction and would not come upon him this night.

What a shame.