Chapter Four

Her First Prank

"Kaleb, honey. Could you do me a favour and hold onto these for a minute?" Jo pleaded her newest boyfriend sweetly. His name was Kaleb Goffry, chaser from the Slytherin Quidditch team. Jo had played alongside him since she joined the team as a beater in second year. "It helps get rid of stress, whacking those bludgers." She used to say. Just to add to her beauty and intelligence, Jo was a marvellous athlete with a great body. She was definitely a triple threat. Most of the female students at Hogwarts either despised her, or tried to be her best friend. Now Kaleb, on the other hand, he used to be a disgusting creature. His teeth were chipped and in definite need of braces, his hair was constantly greasy and tended to smell like horseshit. But recently however, due to the fact that his father was ironically a wizard dentist, his teeth were whitened, repaired, and straightened. Also, he learned the positives of taking a shower more then once every two months, and the brilliance of cologne. He actually looked half-decent. Yet all of this was not enough to impress the younger sister – a very tough critique. Hermione was completely disappointed in Jo.

Blimey! We've barely been inside the castle for 5 minutes and she already has a new boyfriend!!! Wonder how long this one will last before she blows him off. I can't wait for a guy to dump her. It's like they're all too scared of her!

Hermione fought herself to restrain her thoughts as she entered the Great Hall for the umpteenth time. There sat the four long tables separating the houses from each other. The brunette uncomfortably walked over to Slytherins table which was right under large green and silver hangings with the Slytherin serpent on them. She wished that she could sit somewhere else.

No. Now I am going to change. Right now. I want to sit at this table because I am a proud Slytherin. It doesn't matter if I don't like it because this is who I am. I can and will accept it. From now on, I want to be 'Hermione, Confident Slytherin'. She decided as she began to now strut over to her housemates.

"Hey boys!" She greeted some of her fellow students with enthusiasm. "It's good to be back."

"Welcome students and professors back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Hermione heard the familiar voice boom into the Great Hall. "I was going to start off by introducing your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but unfortunately, she had some unfinished business to deal with and will hopefully be arriving in time for your first classes. Now let us begin the Sorting Ceremony!" And with that, he flicked his wand over the empty space in the room and there stood a stool with the legendary hat sitting upon it.

The sorting hat had finished its new song and was now dividing the students into different houses. Although, as Hermione paid attention to the song, she noticed that Slytherin's bit had been changed. It no longer included the bit about being pureblooded. The brunette seemed to be the only one who was paying attention, so she left it alone.

"RAVENCLAW" the battered hat yelled as a timid boy hardly even placed the hat on his head. He nearly fell off the stool when the hat yelled so loudly. He immediately dropped the hat and ran over to the Ravenclaw table.

"What a wimp." Draco chuckled to Hermione.

"Yeah. I remember when you got sorted you walked over to the Slytherin table like you were the coolest guy in town."

"Are you telling me that I'm not cool? And besides, I'm more like the coolest guy in the universe, doll."

"Your so full of it Malfoy," Hermione laughed.

The Slytherin common room was full of light, as Draco, Blaise and Hermione re-entered. At the entrance there was a huge sign welcoming the new first years. They did this every year. After the great feast there was a big party to show how the Slytherins liked to live. I can tell. Some of these kids are gonna be troublemakers. Hermione thought. Especially that one with the curly brown hair. He already reminds me of Blaise! Oh, and there's another Millicent Bulstrode in the making. Yikes.

"Hey Mione. Wanna do me a favour?" Blaise asked. "Go down to the kitchens first and ask for some more punch."

"Is that all?" Hermione questioned suspiciously.

"Arg! You caught me! I also want you to sneak down into Snape's Office and get some itching powder. These guys are all going to go mad when they drink it! It'll be like a bloody zoo! Which reminds me, I need to go get my camera. This'll be great!

"I don't know if I'm comfortable sneaking into Snape's Office. What if I get caught? It could be danger- Ah forget it. Should I throw in some extra hyperactive juice while I'm at it?"

"Whoa. This is new. I had no idea that you'd even consider it. Yeah, hyper juice! They'll go insane!"

Hermione slunk out of the room, trying not to allow anyone to notice her. The hallways were very dark, as it was late at night.

"Lumos," She whispered as she took out her wand. I think this is the most outgoing, rule-defying thing that I've ever done in my entire life. And I like it. I feel spontaneous! She thought as she snuck silently down the corridor. Her heart raced with every new step she took. Down, and down the stairs she went as she headed towards the kitchen, finally making it there about five minutes later. She tickled the pear on the painting to get to the kitchen, and was shortly greeted by Dobby.

"Hello friend of previous master!" He said, excited to see her.

"Oh hello Dobby. How have you been lately? Is the headmaster treating you well?"

"Yes, very, very good is master to Dobby. Dobby is having lots of fun at Hogwarts. He is liking to talk to the other house elves. They is very friendly to Dobby and he makes many friends."

"Well that's great! But I really came here to ask you a favour."

"Yes! Anything for friend of previous master."

"Could I get some fruit punch? Were having a party in the Slytherins­-" Before Hermione could even finish her sentence there was a large bowl of red-coloured juice floating in front of her.

"Is this good for friend of previous master?" He asked happily.

"Its great Dobby. Thanks so much… I really must get going now. Some of the fourth years are getting thirsty. I wouldn't want to keep them waiting," She lied.

"Okay. Byebye."

Hermione directed the bowl of punch in front of her and kept it floating as she left the kitchens. She silently crept down the narrow passageways throughout the school. This is easy! Hermione thought to herself as she rounded yet another corner. Dammit! Spoke to soon Granger! She was staring straight into the green eyes of Mrs. Norris. Filch must be around here somewhere too. I better hurry up. She continued staring at the cat until it spun around and scurried away, its sharp claws scratching against the stone floor.

Slowly but surely she reached Snape's tiny office and put her ear to the door to check if anyone was inside. Brilliant. It's all clear Granger. Hermione looked around once more before slowly opening the door. Suddenly it let out a light creaking noise. Oh shit. She stopped immediately, holding her breath. This could be a problem. When no one showed up, she carried on, through the doorway.

The small room was surprisingly very organized. All of the potions seemed to be colour coordinated. She reached for the cabinet nearest to her and opened the doors. Nope. She said to herself. Itching Powder is greenish blue. Hermione remembered last year's studies in potions. She closed the cabinet and moved to the next. It was full of jars with different gels in them. The next had liquids. Yes! She noticed it on the third row. It was bright orange with lots of foamy bubbles at the top. One down, one to go. She grabbed an empty vial out of a drawer below the cabinet and poured a small amount into it.

After looking through two more cabinets she had successfully found and 'borrowed' some Itching Powder. She began to close drawers and cabinets that she opened and rearranged the empty vials so that it looked like the same amount were there. She replaced the itching powder and extra hyperactive juice exactly where they had come from – not even an inch away from where they were originally.

She left the room levitating the potions with a sense of satisfaction. That felt really good, She thought to herself with an evil grin on her face.

Hermione had stopped paying attention to what she was doing when out of nowhere two voices started a conversation. She was frozen solid in her footsteps. She could do nothing except listen to the two deep voices, not so far ahead.

"Have you done the last check for students lurking?" one asked.

"No, I was just about to. I think right after I will lock up everything."

"Fine. Wait to lock my office, though. I need to make sure that I locked all of the cabinets. You never know when some of those crazy hooligans will try and pull a fast one on me."

Snape and Filch! Hermione bit her tongue so hard at the comment, she nearly screamed in pain. The witch could only hope that she had left everything exactly how she found it. If anything was in a different spot she could be doomed. Who know what could happen if the missing ingredients were recognized.

As soon as the two finished there meeting, the brunette wasted no time and was off to the common room.

"I see that you've made it back in one piece then Granger. Bravo!" Blaise said.

"You would not believe how close I got! On my way back I nearly ran into Snape… and Filch!" she exclaimed. "And Snape was going to go check his office to make sure all his potions and ingredients were still there! I may as well commit suicide now!"

"Uh Mione, you're the last person that anybody would expect to do anything like this, so your pretty well off the hook." The brown-eyed boy assured. "Hand over the goods. I got my camera ready and everything. Your brilliant Granger."

The first to taste the contaminated concoction was a third year, Graham Pritchard. He was content for the first few minutes. Then he began to scratch his neck. His knee. His foot. His ear. His elbow. And so on. Soon enough he also started to giggle like a maniac. Hermione and Blaise sat together laughing in hysterics at their achievement.

"Not to shabby for your first prank," Blaise smirked.

"I think I've had some pretty good teachers," She replied casually.

The class was filled with talking and murmuring among students, Gryffindors on one side and Slytherins on the other. Most of the conversation was generally revolving around the new teacher.

"I personally think it should be Gilderoy Lockheart again. He sure knew his stuff." Said Parvati Patil dreamily. Harry rolled his eyes at the stupid comment from the ditzy girl. He had no idea who Dumbledore could have found at the last moment. It was a mystery to everyone.

"Hello students once again" said the voice of Albus Dumbledore, a big smile across his face. "I am here today at this unusual hour to welcome to you the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. She has only arrived today, so she may seem a bit flustered, but I assure you, she is a perfectly qualified member of our faculty."

A young woman, about twenty-seven or so stumbled into the room. She had long wavy hair, golden brown in colour, with subtle blond highlights. She seemed very clumsy and unaware of her surroundings. As she entered the class she knocked over an empty jar, shattering it loudly.

"Oh my! Look what I've done now! I'm incredibly sorry Dumbledore. I just kinda bumped into it, and I didn't see it and-"

"Its quite alright. We can fix that easily." The old wizard stated as he flicked his wand, simply repairing the jar to its original state.

Who is this woman? Harry thought to himself. She seems really clumsy! I wonder why Dumbledore would hire someone like her. At least she could maybe walk in a straight line! Harry turned around to look at the rest of the class. Most of the girls looked either jealous, or excited to finally have a nice young lady on staff. The guys were all drooling and staring, as if she was a veela. The wizard looked back to the new teacher. She was beautiful, but did not draw his view like a veela normally would. There was something strangely familiar about this girl, but Harry could not seem to put his finger on it.

"Once again everyone, I would like to introduce to you your newest professor…"

A/N: Well here's the fourth chapter...Hermione's decided to come out of her shell a bit and I left it as a cliffhanger just for all you suspenseful readers. We tried to make Hermione stand out a bit more as a Slytherin

And thanks to all previous reviewers, we tried to take comments and suggestions as much as possible

R&R :D