Hermione looked out the window of the train compartment her brother had picked out.
"Do you suppose Severus enjoys fighting with those stupid Gryffindor boys?" She asked as she watched her friend say something to Potter on the platform, both of their faces red with anger.
"He's going to get hexed and miss the train," Evan said, glancing out at the scene before turning back to shoving his trunk into the storage compartment.
Hermione watched as Potter slipped his wand out of his sleeve and sighed. She opened the compartment window and flicked her wand towards the boys at the center of a growing crowd. There were gasps as Potter tripped backward, seemingly for no reason. Severus looked around quickly and smirked when he saw Hermione grinning from the train window, and waving him closer.
"Almost missed the train," Hermione said with a smile as Severus pulled open the door to their compartment and dropped into the seat next to her. He lifted his long legs and propped them on the bench seat across from them.
Even frowned at the feet mere inches from his lap, and pushed them down to the floor.
"How was your holiday, Severus?" he asked politely.
"It was fine, thank you," Severus responded before turning to Hermione. "How was your holiday?"
She smiled wanly, "It was lovely."
Evan snorted. "Hermione just sat at the Manor in the library reading the whole time, the only time she spent out of it was entertaining for Christmas."
Hermione kicked her brother. She didn't want to talk about the Dark Lord sitting at the same table as her, laughing at things she said, or eating the same rolls she'd ordered the kitchen elves to never make again. She didn't want Severus involved, at least, not yet. She knew it was probably inevitable that he would join; everyone was talking about "that fantastic Mr. Riddle" and his "bold ideas for the future".
"Just because I like to read doesn't mean there's something wrong with me. There was simply nothing else to do." Hermione huffed.
"Well I'm going to run up a few compartments and check in with the rest of the lads, will you be alright for a while?" Evan asked her, standing and moving towards the door.
Hermione smiled wryly. "Yes Evan, I'll be fine. No dark creatures will pop out of our luggage and attack me while I sit here and talk to Severus."
He rolled his eyes at her and left, muttering something about boys under his breath.
She turned back to Severus and laughed. He smiled at her, amazed at the light in her face. She seemed to glow from within, pure unadulterated joy shining out.
"Beautiful," he breathed.
"What was that Sev?" She asked, leaning into the space between their bodies to hear him better.
"Oh, I was just insulting Evan. He's so dramatic." Severus responded quickly, glad she hadn't heard his unbidden thought.
Severus knew Hermione was the bastard Rosier, but she was still a Rosier. She and her family were far too posh and wealthy to even entertain the idea of possibly getting to date her. Plus, she was his very best friend, not even Lily stood by him this steadfastly, nor had anyone ever stood up for him to the marauders the way she did every week.
He smirked thinking about how Gryffindor it was for her to constantly run out in front of the danger, just to protect him from pranks or insults.
No, he wouldn't do anything to damage this friendship. It was too precious to him.
But, he thought as he watched her pull a book out of her bag and settle into the seat next to him, God did he want to.
"It was surprisingly cozy, I suppose," Hermione said as she leaned back in the short squat chair across from the Headmaster. "I expected my first visit with Voldemort to be terrifying, you know, with dark shadows and curses, but it was just, cozy."
The headmaster nodded. "It is easier for us, I believe, to think of him as a devil made to man. Instead of a man emulating the demons in his mind."
"It reminds us of what we all are capable of. We want to distance ourselves from that." Hermione agreed.
"He may be using this 'friend over for dinner' relaxed persona as a recruitment tool." Dumbledore said, "Perhaps for your brother?"
Hermione shook her head. "My father believes that he wants one of us, but hasn't expressed an overt interest in Evan. After that dinner, I'm fairly certain he'll want me, which suits my plan perfectly."
"Are you sure you wish to do this?" Dumbledore asked. "We could use you in other ways, just your knowledge of the future is enough to change things. You don't have to spy and put yourself in active danger."
"With every day I live in the past, the future I knew becomes more obsolete. Some big things will probably remain the same, but the small things will shift. You need someone inside to hear about the small things, I might as well do both jobs." Hermione shrugged.
Dumbledore sighed. "It will not be easy to become a Death Eater. You know this?"
"Yes, I spoke with someone who defected once, while I was gathering information for my journey. I knew it would require me to do terrible things before I ever left."
"Do you believe you can do this? You would not survive if you are not convincing at all times. You will have to be engaged and active to get the kind of information we'll need."
Hermione blinked back the tears in her eyes, thinking of how Draco had described his initiation ceremony, the hollows of his cheeks ticking through the words he spoke. She remembered the rage constantly simmering under the surface of Professor Snape as he walked around Hogwarts. She thought of how they both died, their bodies so mangled from the torture it took them hours to positively identify them.
There was no way to get around it. She nodded once sharply. "If it meant ridding the world of that man, I think I could find myself capable of doing a great many things."
She shook herself out of the memories replaying in her mind and turned to the headmaster. "I do think we're a few years away from worrying about my initiation. The Dark Lord appears to be accepting only members of age right now."
"Well, then," Dumbledore said as he clapped his hands, and a tea service appeared on the table between them. "Perhaps you could tell me more about this Lord of the Rings that we were discussing last week. You mentioned a wizard?"
The next Hogsmeade weekend was a few weeks into the new term, and Hermione noticed that the students of Hogwarts were beginning to couple up ahead of it. Up and down the table she saw nothing but disgustingly public displays of affection. She sighed as she watched Lucius whisper something to Narcissa Black, who giggled and responded in kind.
It wasn't like she wanted a boyfriend. With the plans she had, she didn't want to be tied to anyone who could get hurt because of her death eater ties. It was bad enough she'd befriended so many people already, people who might get hurt, who might get recruited through her. Or people who might be used to guarantee her agreement to commit atrocities in the name of her pureblood.
She shuddered.
"Alright there Hermione?" Severus asked as he sat next to her.
Hermione smiled wanly. "Just a little cold. There's such a draft in here. Someone should fix that."
"Isn't your dad on the board of governors? Owl him." Severus said with a shrug.
Hermione blinked. She'd forgotten that she had that kind of power here. The power Draco had always lorded over everyone. It was a sharp reminder that things were so very different here in this time. She thought about how other students treated her with respect, even before they knew she was going to be top of her year in grades. She had to be careful, not to let it go to her head as it had with some of her peers. Draco and Pansy had been insufferable at school and she had no interest in gaining that sort of reputation.
"Yeah, maybe." She said quietly and began digging into her potatoes. She quickly put her fork down, however, when she saw one of her housemates stick their tongue down another person's throat.
"Well, that's just rude." She said, ``We're trying to eat here."
Severus snorted. "You don't believe in public displays of affection?"
'Affection is certainly alright to display in public, but this is practically intercourse!" She insisted loudly, causing the offending couple to get up and leave the table.
"Hermione! You're taking all the good entertainment away! He was bound to show a little of her skin." Evan whined from a few seats over, causing everyone in hearing distance to chuckle.
"It's not proper Evan, " Hermione insisted. She caught the eye of Narcissa Black and gave her an exasperated look.
Narcissa smirked. "Hermione is right. Why my mother wouldn't let me leave our manor for weeks if she caught me behaving that way."
"There are certain standards that must be adhered to," Hermione said with a firm nod.
She tried not to smirk when she saw that several of her pureblood housemates nodded in agreement with her. It never hurt to remind them that she was on their side, and getting the future Mrs. Malfoy on her side could only be helpful.
"Rosier! Hey!" a voice called through the corridor, causing Hermione to stop and turn. A boy she'd seen in her Transfiguration class was waving and walking quickly towards her.
"Can I help you?" She asked politely, wracking her brain to figure out the boy's name.
"Hi," he said when he stopped in front of her. "Um, I was wondering if you had any plans for the Hogsmeade trip?"
"Oh, um no I don't. Did you need someone to study with? I was about to head to the Library, you could come with me." She said and reached down to open her satchel and check which books she had on her. "I don't have my Transfiguration work, but I could run down and grab it from my room."
"Oh no, I meant, didyouwanttogotohogsmeadewithme?"
Hermione leaned closer. "What was that?"
He cleared his throat. "Do- do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?"
Hermione was at a loss for words, no one had actually asked her to Hogsmeade before unless you counted Lucius and she had sort of manipulated him into that. Before she could let him down easily though, another boy appeared next to her.
"What's this then?" Severus demanded, sneering at the boy, who had the grace to blush before her friend.
"Severus, this nice boy only asked about my plans for the day, there's no reason for you to be so upset." She said, placing one hand on his chest to calm him down. She was surprised he was actually angry, she could feel him breathing heavily and saw his wand hand twitch, but she couldn't figure out why. Maybe he thought the boy was insulting her because he was from Ravenclaw?
Severus flicked his eyes down to his chest where she touched him and relaxed a little. Hermione turned back to the other boy.
"I'm sorry for that," she said smiling. "I'm flattered you asked me, but I'm very focused on studying for my O.W.L. 's right now, and I'm not looking to date."
The boy nodded dejectedly and left, shooting a dirty look at Severus over his shoulder as he walked away.
"Severus, not everyone who talks to me is out to hurt me. You should listen to the conversation before assuming I need a rescue." She chided him gently, before looping her arm through his and leading him towards the Library.
Severus didn't tell her he'd listened to their entire conversation before interrupting, and he didn't tell her that his only goal was to scare that idiot away from her, and all of his idiot friends who might try to ask her to Hogsmeade too.
Instead, he nodded. "You are right, as always Hermione."
"Hermione!" A voice called from behind her, and Hermione quickly turned.
Narcissa Black was waving her hand over to her and patting the seat next to her on the bench near the fountain in the courtyard.
"Narcissa, how are you?" She asked warmly and conjured up her favorite blue flames in a jar to keep them warm.
"I'm well, thank you," she said. "I'm so glad you could meet with me. Lucius seems to think that we should be best friends." Her smile seemed more brittle then like it would crumble at any moment.
Hermione sighed. "Narcissa, I know what people said about Lucius and I, and what you must think, but there was never any truth to them. We went to Hogsmeade once, and I told him that we would never work as a couple. I'm not planning to be his mistress or whatever people are whispering about behind their hands."
Narcissa nodded and sniffed. "So, you don't plan to try to steal him?" She asked quietly, and Hermione recognized the deep insecurity in her eyes. How could this beautiful, wealthy young woman possibly be jealous of her?
Hermione shook her head. "I don't plan to do anything like that. I plan to watch you marry him, and maybe visit for brunch to cuddle the adorable children you will undoubtedly have together. Besides, Lucius loves you." She spied the necklace around Narcissa's neck and grinned. "Your necklace is quite beautiful."
She watched as a genuine smile appeared on Narcissa's face. She hoped this meant the Malfoy's would be her friends in the years to come. Very helpful, to know them so well.
O.W.L.'s snuck up on them far quicker than Hermione expected, considering she'd sat them before. She threw herself into the work just as she'd done in her own time, and when it was all said and done, she knew she was looking at all Outstandings. Finished with her fifth year, Hermione packed a trunk and headed home to Rosier Manor, ready to practice the massive list of "skills to master" before she graduated and became embroiled in the war she couldn't seem to stop.