~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~
The next morning was one of the worst that Hermione Granger had ever experienced. After getting dressed in her normal green and black school robes she headed down to the great hall for breakfast, she didn't realize that to first get there she was going to have to go through the Slytherin Common room.
The minute she stepped through the entrance painting into the common room there was an Erie hush that went through the room. Almost all of the Slytherin Seventh years and a few of the sixth years were there. All of them were staring at her, not a smile or a nod of recognition any ware among the masses of students. Hermione had now stopped dead in her tracks; her face was impassable, hard and dignified.
It was the same face that Hermione had used when the Slytherin's had come after her for being Muggle born when she was in Gryffindor.
A tall blond haired boy moved away from the crowd of green and black and stared Hermione in the eyes with his cold blue steel ones.
"Lucius" Hermione nodded in recognition; she knew what was coming.
Lucius Malfoy sneered down at Hermione, if Draco had been evil looking when he confronted her Lucius Malfoy was the devil. " Mudblood." He snarled, the rest of the Slytherin's laughed at her.
Hermione felt her cheeks getting red from enbarisment and anger. She lifted her head high in a defiant gesture and started to walk past Lucius and the other Slytherin's who happened to be standing infront of the exit painting.
"Where do you think your going, Mudblood?" Lucius commented.
Hermione just ignored him like an annoying little Nat that desperately needed to be swatted. IT hurt her because only yesterday she had been friends with this monster, the Slytherin trio was dead.
A hand placed its self on her shoulder and spun her around. " I asked you a question you Mudblood wench!" Lucius growled.
She was scared, and there was pain beginning to shoot up her arm again, it was catching fire again. God she needed to get away from him, she needed to see Dumbledore! She winced in pain as it began its burning journey.
IT wasn't going to beat her, Lucius Malfoy wasn't going to beat her!
She stared back up into his cold eyes; hers were balls of fire. " Back off Lucius and the name isn't "Mudblood" its Hermione you dumb ass" She wrenched her shoulder out of his grasp.
Lucius flared at her and pulled his wand pointing it at Hermione, she wanted to close her eyes but was determined to win at least that simple victory. Slowly she began to reach for her wand.
" I wouldn't do that you little bitch, Im gonna teach you once and for all." He was grinning maliciously at her, she shivered.
Lucius began to speak a spell at Hermione when a gasp went up through the crowd of Slytherin's and a cold voice, colder than ice ran through the air.
"Drop it Malfoy!"
Lucius turned around in the direction of the voice, there behind him, his own wand drawn was Severus Snape.
"What the hell are you doing Sev?" Lucius growled.
"Saving your ass it would seem" yawned Snape.
Lucius laughed. " Snape I doubt I will need help fighting a little Mudblood."
Snape lowered his wand but did not reduce his threatening glare. " Have you even thought of what might happen if you were to attack her?" by the look on Lucius's face he had clearly not. " Professor Lacouse would of course penalize you, Dumbledore would expel you and non of this is worse than what would await you it you were to attack "her"!" Hermione noticed the added power in his voice as he said "her".
Lucius lowered his wand, and glared at Snape and Hermione. He walked past Hermione but not before pushing her over violently, with a growl he left the room with a loud. "Watch yourself Mudblood."
Nearly every one in the room jumped as the painting at the exit was thrown shut in anger sending out a large bang!
Snape cast a warning glare around the room to the other Slytherin's, all of them back away to there own business. It was then that Hermione realized that Snape wasn't just feared as a teacher but had been feared as a student in Hogwarts as well.
He was a powerful wizard and the magic that surounded him was more then anything Hermione could have ever hoped to achieve. It was like a heavy clock laid of a week body.
This was the man that would enter into the servace of the dark lord and teach her all she needed to know of the coldness of the world.
Snape's gaze fell to Hermione as she was picking herself up off the floor. "Your more stupid then you look." He whispered giving her a hand up. Hermione felt a shock go through her as her hand made contact with his own.
"Thank you." She mumbled, still very shaken at what had happened.
" You need to watch your self Granger, I'm serious, Lucius is dangerous beyond belief, and I can't be there every waking moment to save you." He voice was soft and almost caring.
" I didn't think he would have re-acted like he did to me being a muggle born." She whispered.
" That's his Malfoy upbringing, he was bred to believe that he was better then the rest of the world." Snapes eyes darkened a bit.
" Why don't you act the same?" It was a question she was dieing to get out.
" I just don't." He said matter of factly, she new that was all the answer she would get out of him.
" Common lets go get something to eat Im starved." With that Snape grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the common room.
~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~
As the two of them entered the great hall they were greeted by glares and snarls from the Slytherin table, add this to the rest of the house greetings and you got a very nice morning greeting.
Hermione immediately looked over to the Gryffindor table to ware the Gryffindor Marauders were sitting. Lily just happened to look up from her plate at this time and gave Hermione a very smug look. Hermione had had enough; she returned the look with a glare that simply said. " If I catch you alone, there wont be enough of you left to fill a match box." She nearly laughed as she saw lily go slightly pale.
It was really starting to scare her, how much she acted like a Slytherin.
With out warning she gasped.
Pain was starting to shoot up her arm again, but it was nothing compared to the hunger pains she had from skipping dinner the night before.
"You alright?" Snape asked while taking his normal seat at the Slytherin breakfast table. Ignoring the glares that were shot at him by the rest of the house.
"Ya Im fine, um..I just forgot that I have an assignment due in a week and haven't finished it." She wondered if he could be so stupid as to believe it, from the look in his eye he didn't. Thankfully he didn't press it, one of the few qualities she enjoyed about the Slytherin's was that they minded there own business most of the time.
She took her normal seat next to Snape at the breakfast table, he was the only person there who didn't scowl or wince with disgust as she walked by them. She gave him a small smile which he nodded in return.
She picked up her fork and watched as a large fruit salad appeared on her plate. Thankfully the house elves remembered from her last breakfast that she didn't eat pork. She laced into the salad with a vengeance, ending most of her hunger in a few minutes.
Snape stole a quick glance at her and his eyes bulged a little as he watched her speed eating progress.
"Your gonna choke if you keep that up" he sneered, taking a dainty bite of his own breakfast.
She was just about to say something to him when she noticed Lucius walking by carrying a glass of pumpkin juice. She wanted to say hello for old times sake but caught her self, remembering what might have happened had Snape not been there to save her.
Just as Lucius passed behind her he gave a fake tripping motion and dumped the glass full of pulpy juice down her front and on her head.
She gasped in horror and wanted to throw her self at Lucius as she heard him and the rest of the hall laughed at her misfortune.
Thankfully she was a witch and it was time to prove to the rest of the hall and the Slytherin's that she was in fact a witch and a damn good one at that. She mumbled a quick clearing spell and the pumpkin juice and pulp vanished from her robes. Then she looked at Lucius and gracefully pointed her wand at the smirking boy and mumbled a spell very quietly so that no one could hear.
The juice and pulp that had been dumped on her came crashing down on Lucius.
He was soaked. Large clumps of pumpkin pulp dangled from his now orange main of hair. The juice had also splashed him down the front giving the affect (or rather looking like) he had lost control of his bladder.
With in a second it happened, Lucius lunged at her wand barred, knocking her off the table bench. She landed on the stone floor with a large thump.
Lucius red with rage threw a boil curse at her and her face broke out in red blotches.
She screamed in pain, both from the boils and from the pain in her arm that was now ripping through her. She had just enough breath left in her lungs to mutter her own retaliation. It was a little spell that she had picked up from an old teacher that she and all the other female students in Hogwarts had loved and loathed.
Gilderoy Lockhart.
Effectively Lucius lost all the bones in his left legs and screamed as a numbing feeling washed over the limb.
He fell onto the ground with a thud, mumbling frantic words as he stared at his now boneless limb. Hermione relaxed as she saw him panic and stayed still for a moment trying to douse the pain that she was feeling.
The next thing she new was being hoisted off the ground roughly by a pair of hands. She saw Lucius being lifted off the ground by non-other then Professor Dumbledore himself. There was no twinkle in his eyes.
In less then a minute both were sitting in front of the large oaken desk of the headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, the aging man held fury in his eyes.
Hermione had never been so scared in her life.
The next morning was one of the worst that Hermione Granger had ever experienced. After getting dressed in her normal green and black school robes she headed down to the great hall for breakfast, she didn't realize that to first get there she was going to have to go through the Slytherin Common room.
The minute she stepped through the entrance painting into the common room there was an Erie hush that went through the room. Almost all of the Slytherin Seventh years and a few of the sixth years were there. All of them were staring at her, not a smile or a nod of recognition any ware among the masses of students. Hermione had now stopped dead in her tracks; her face was impassable, hard and dignified.
It was the same face that Hermione had used when the Slytherin's had come after her for being Muggle born when she was in Gryffindor.
A tall blond haired boy moved away from the crowd of green and black and stared Hermione in the eyes with his cold blue steel ones.
"Lucius" Hermione nodded in recognition; she knew what was coming.
Lucius Malfoy sneered down at Hermione, if Draco had been evil looking when he confronted her Lucius Malfoy was the devil. " Mudblood." He snarled, the rest of the Slytherin's laughed at her.
Hermione felt her cheeks getting red from enbarisment and anger. She lifted her head high in a defiant gesture and started to walk past Lucius and the other Slytherin's who happened to be standing infront of the exit painting.
"Where do you think your going, Mudblood?" Lucius commented.
Hermione just ignored him like an annoying little Nat that desperately needed to be swatted. IT hurt her because only yesterday she had been friends with this monster, the Slytherin trio was dead.
A hand placed its self on her shoulder and spun her around. " I asked you a question you Mudblood wench!" Lucius growled.
She was scared, and there was pain beginning to shoot up her arm again, it was catching fire again. God she needed to get away from him, she needed to see Dumbledore! She winced in pain as it began its burning journey.
IT wasn't going to beat her, Lucius Malfoy wasn't going to beat her!
She stared back up into his cold eyes; hers were balls of fire. " Back off Lucius and the name isn't "Mudblood" its Hermione you dumb ass" She wrenched her shoulder out of his grasp.
Lucius flared at her and pulled his wand pointing it at Hermione, she wanted to close her eyes but was determined to win at least that simple victory. Slowly she began to reach for her wand.
" I wouldn't do that you little bitch, Im gonna teach you once and for all." He was grinning maliciously at her, she shivered.
Lucius began to speak a spell at Hermione when a gasp went up through the crowd of Slytherin's and a cold voice, colder than ice ran through the air.
"Drop it Malfoy!"
Lucius turned around in the direction of the voice, there behind him, his own wand drawn was Severus Snape.
"What the hell are you doing Sev?" Lucius growled.
"Saving your ass it would seem" yawned Snape.
Lucius laughed. " Snape I doubt I will need help fighting a little Mudblood."
Snape lowered his wand but did not reduce his threatening glare. " Have you even thought of what might happen if you were to attack her?" by the look on Lucius's face he had clearly not. " Professor Lacouse would of course penalize you, Dumbledore would expel you and non of this is worse than what would await you it you were to attack "her"!" Hermione noticed the added power in his voice as he said "her".
Lucius lowered his wand, and glared at Snape and Hermione. He walked past Hermione but not before pushing her over violently, with a growl he left the room with a loud. "Watch yourself Mudblood."
Nearly every one in the room jumped as the painting at the exit was thrown shut in anger sending out a large bang!
Snape cast a warning glare around the room to the other Slytherin's, all of them back away to there own business. It was then that Hermione realized that Snape wasn't just feared as a teacher but had been feared as a student in Hogwarts as well.
He was a powerful wizard and the magic that surounded him was more then anything Hermione could have ever hoped to achieve. It was like a heavy clock laid of a week body.
This was the man that would enter into the servace of the dark lord and teach her all she needed to know of the coldness of the world.
Snape's gaze fell to Hermione as she was picking herself up off the floor. "Your more stupid then you look." He whispered giving her a hand up. Hermione felt a shock go through her as her hand made contact with his own.
"Thank you." She mumbled, still very shaken at what had happened.
" You need to watch your self Granger, I'm serious, Lucius is dangerous beyond belief, and I can't be there every waking moment to save you." He voice was soft and almost caring.
" I didn't think he would have re-acted like he did to me being a muggle born." She whispered.
" That's his Malfoy upbringing, he was bred to believe that he was better then the rest of the world." Snapes eyes darkened a bit.
" Why don't you act the same?" It was a question she was dieing to get out.
" I just don't." He said matter of factly, she new that was all the answer she would get out of him.
" Common lets go get something to eat Im starved." With that Snape grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the common room.
~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~
As the two of them entered the great hall they were greeted by glares and snarls from the Slytherin table, add this to the rest of the house greetings and you got a very nice morning greeting.
Hermione immediately looked over to the Gryffindor table to ware the Gryffindor Marauders were sitting. Lily just happened to look up from her plate at this time and gave Hermione a very smug look. Hermione had had enough; she returned the look with a glare that simply said. " If I catch you alone, there wont be enough of you left to fill a match box." She nearly laughed as she saw lily go slightly pale.
It was really starting to scare her, how much she acted like a Slytherin.
With out warning she gasped.
Pain was starting to shoot up her arm again, but it was nothing compared to the hunger pains she had from skipping dinner the night before.
"You alright?" Snape asked while taking his normal seat at the Slytherin breakfast table. Ignoring the glares that were shot at him by the rest of the house.
"Ya Im fine, um..I just forgot that I have an assignment due in a week and haven't finished it." She wondered if he could be so stupid as to believe it, from the look in his eye he didn't. Thankfully he didn't press it, one of the few qualities she enjoyed about the Slytherin's was that they minded there own business most of the time.
She took her normal seat next to Snape at the breakfast table, he was the only person there who didn't scowl or wince with disgust as she walked by them. She gave him a small smile which he nodded in return.
She picked up her fork and watched as a large fruit salad appeared on her plate. Thankfully the house elves remembered from her last breakfast that she didn't eat pork. She laced into the salad with a vengeance, ending most of her hunger in a few minutes.
Snape stole a quick glance at her and his eyes bulged a little as he watched her speed eating progress.
"Your gonna choke if you keep that up" he sneered, taking a dainty bite of his own breakfast.
She was just about to say something to him when she noticed Lucius walking by carrying a glass of pumpkin juice. She wanted to say hello for old times sake but caught her self, remembering what might have happened had Snape not been there to save her.
Just as Lucius passed behind her he gave a fake tripping motion and dumped the glass full of pulpy juice down her front and on her head.
She gasped in horror and wanted to throw her self at Lucius as she heard him and the rest of the hall laughed at her misfortune.
Thankfully she was a witch and it was time to prove to the rest of the hall and the Slytherin's that she was in fact a witch and a damn good one at that. She mumbled a quick clearing spell and the pumpkin juice and pulp vanished from her robes. Then she looked at Lucius and gracefully pointed her wand at the smirking boy and mumbled a spell very quietly so that no one could hear.
The juice and pulp that had been dumped on her came crashing down on Lucius.
He was soaked. Large clumps of pumpkin pulp dangled from his now orange main of hair. The juice had also splashed him down the front giving the affect (or rather looking like) he had lost control of his bladder.
With in a second it happened, Lucius lunged at her wand barred, knocking her off the table bench. She landed on the stone floor with a large thump.
Lucius red with rage threw a boil curse at her and her face broke out in red blotches.
She screamed in pain, both from the boils and from the pain in her arm that was now ripping through her. She had just enough breath left in her lungs to mutter her own retaliation. It was a little spell that she had picked up from an old teacher that she and all the other female students in Hogwarts had loved and loathed.
Gilderoy Lockhart.
Effectively Lucius lost all the bones in his left legs and screamed as a numbing feeling washed over the limb.
He fell onto the ground with a thud, mumbling frantic words as he stared at his now boneless limb. Hermione relaxed as she saw him panic and stayed still for a moment trying to douse the pain that she was feeling.
The next thing she new was being hoisted off the ground roughly by a pair of hands. She saw Lucius being lifted off the ground by non-other then Professor Dumbledore himself. There was no twinkle in his eyes.
In less then a minute both were sitting in front of the large oaken desk of the headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, the aging man held fury in his eyes.
Hermione had never been so scared in her life.