Author's Notes: Hello and thanx for the reviews! I really need them as you guys can give me useful tips and ideas.

This chapter is different beause its a new character. Don't judge too quickly, this IS a Draco/Hermione fic. This chappie is a lot about the character's background which is important for the story.

So please tell me what you think and Enjoy!

Hathor x

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Chapter 3

Abigail Serpent was her father's last hope. A couple of years ago her mother had found out that she could no longer have any more children and so Abigail became the sole heir to the Serpent family. It was only then that her mother had suddenly decided to teach her daughter all the Serpent magical knowledge as rapidly as she could to make sure that it would never be forgotten.

Abigail discovered that same day that her family was in possession of twelve books, twelve volumes, that contained the only written evidence of all the Serpent spells and potions. Most books contained spells that were well-known among the wizarding world, some were even taught at Hogwarts, but certain books contained more than that. Albatorus and Alexia Serpent, the founders of the Serpent lineage, had started writing down their inventions and discoveries, passing on the books to their family, and each following generation would add his or her contribution.

Today the books were well-hidden within the family mansion. As their magical knowledge was so great and powerful, the books presented a danger to the wizarding world. Over time, the Serpent family had become suspicious and secretive, as many wizards and witches desired to possess these magical books and within the wrong hands, the family secrets could become dangerous weapons. In the end, due to reasons even Abigail did not know, the Serpent family was forced to take refuge abroad by the Ministry of Magic, although their daughter was given permission to remain at Hogwarts.

At the beginning of the summer, however, Abigail lost her mother to a Muggle mental hospital.

The cause of Selena Serpent's sudden madness was still unknown. The woman had disappeared one night only to reappear a couple of days later in England, raving mad. Because of the emergency of the affair and having no knowledge of the whereabouts of Selena's family, the Ministry had ordered the Serpents' closest family in England to deal with the situation.

Mrs. Granger, (Abigail didn't even know her first name), being the family's closest cousin, made the decision to place Selena in London's finest Muggle psychiatric hospital until she recovered. To Abigail's despair, the Grangers did not believe magic could cure her mother. How they could commit such a barbaric act, Abigail could not understand. Her father had spent the rest of the summer travelling back and forth to the Ministry to complain about the unfair decision, but the Ministry continued to refuse to let Selena out of the country.

Of course, their ultimate intention was to discover some of the witch's secrets, and Abigail and her father knew it. Abigail just could not accept the idea that her mother was condemned to never leave that Muggle prison because of a Muggle's ignorance and the Ministry's deceitfulness. This terrible event had caused her to change. She became stricter with herself, practicing her magic everyday, letting no physical or emotional stress disturb her until she was finished. And thus, she was gradually growing thin and fragile.

She also developed a pure hatred towards the Grangers, especially their daughter, Hermione, who was a year above her at Hogwarts.

This year, Abigail thought it was finally time for people to discover her real identity and so she had chosen to change her last name to Serpent, her mother's maiden name. Indeed, it was her mother that held the strongest of magical powers: her father had no more magic than any other wizard, and had married Selena Serpent for love without ever seeking to gain more power through the family books. He was a loving, caring father and Abigail always obeyed his will, for he always knew best.

Abigail had spent her first week at Hogwarts ignoring her classmates and keeping as much to herself as she could. The task was difficult, as she noticed several professors had started keeping an eye on her, probably on Dumbledore's orders. He was certainly concerned that she had changed her last name.

Hermione had dared to approach her a couple of times, mumbling that she was sorry about her parents and that she had tried everything she could to change their mind. Every time the other Slytherins had needed to restrain Abigail to prevent her from cursing the Gryffindor.

Being a Slytherin, it was easier to keep to herself as friendship and bonding was not encouraged within the house and her dark looks scared away anyone who even tried to approach her.

One Saturday morning, which also happened to be the first Hogsmeade trip, Abigail's snowy owl appeared at breakfast, to deliver a letter from her father. Anticipating news from him, she tore the envelope open only to find a short message.

Dear Abigail,

I hope you are well and your first week at school is not too difficult. Do not keep so much anger against the Granger girl, she is not responsible for her parents' crime. I am leaving shortly for the Malfoy Manor; I am expected for dinner. Lucius assured me no Ministry officer will notice my presence in the country. He wishes to talk business and I have great pleasure in meeting with him. The Malfoys are powerful wizards and I expect them to become our allies. Try to socialise with their son, Draco. It would be a good thing to become his friend. He seems to be in the same house as you. Do you already know him? You shall hear from me soon.

Love, your father.

Abigail felt as if her jaw was hanging off its hinges.

Lucius Malfoy! He's staying with Lucius Malfoy! Voldemort's most trustworthy follower. He wants him to become our ally? What was that supposed to mean?

Abigail had shivers running down her spine. And what was all this crap about her becoming friends with Draco? Surely her father knew how arrogant and foolish the Malfoy heir was at school?

She turned her head to face the white-blond hair boy, sitting further down the table drinking his coffee. She noticed he was alone, lost in his thoughts and seemed to have purposely sat away from the usual crowd which surrounded him. Looking at him closely, Abigail noticed that over the summer there had been a sudden change in the boy's physique.

He no longer looked like a boy.

His musculature had developed quite rapidly over the summer, his boyish face seemed to have given way to more manly features, but most importantly, his eyes no longer held any pride and contempt; only power and darkness. He had obviously matured quickly, although she did not know the cause of it, she could see that Malfoy was now more stunning than ever. Abigail had never contested his good looks, but being a Slytherin, she had learnt to see his horrible personality behind his angelic features.

The gorgeous Head Boy was no more than a bully to her, and she hated him for it.

Leaving her breakfast untouched, Abigail left the great hall, sensing a pair of sparkling blue eyes watching her walk out. Dumbledore was obviously keeping a very close eye on her. Wanting to escape the castle for a while, she decided to join the others on the trip to Hogsmeade.

As she reached the magical village, she ran into Ginny Weasley in front of The Three Broomsticks. The red-haired girl seemed quite upset.

"Abigail, thank Merlin I've found you! You've got to help me!" she cried out. "I've just overheard Pansy Parkinson in the street telling the other Slytherins not to enter the Hog's Head because Malfoy was there teaching a lesson to the Mudblood. She was talking about Hermione! Abby, please, we have to go help her or warn somebody! We have to do something!"

Ginny looked terrified and she had reasons to be. Only yesterday rumours were circling around Hogwarts about Malfoy having become a Death Eater.

Granger is an idiot to go and challenge him. But Abigail kept her mouth shut and decided that, despite what she thought of Granger, Ginny needed her help.

The youngest Weasley had helped her out before when she had most needed it and gradually they had become friends. Begrudgingly Abigail decided to help Ginny despite her hatred for Granger.

"Stay here," she told the Gryffindor and ran down several streets and alleys to finally reach the Hog's Head. Ginny didn't know about the backroom in the pub, and she didn't want her to know about it either. The room was for the Slytherin's private use, and even Snape probably didn't know about it.

Calling a teacher for help would only make matters worse: Abigail knew she couldn't count on them in this case and was pretty much by herself. As she reached the backroom door, she barged in and as she had assumed, she found Malfoy gripping on to Granger's arms menacingly. Her face was bruised, her eyes were sore red and her lips were bloodstained. Abigail noticed Granger flinch when she realised who had come to her rescue.

"Malfoy! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Abigail exclaimed, realising how serious the situation had become. "Merlin, why are you threatening the Head Girl? Dumbledore will have our necks for this if anything happens to her! And if the rest of the Golden Trio finds out, we're history!"

Abigail was furious with him, but also with Granger for being so stupid. How else did she think all this was going to end? Slytherins and Gryffindors just didn't get along, didn't she understand that?

Draco's entire body tensed as he turned to look at his intruder and tried to contain the immense rage overwhelming him, which seemed to pour out through his dark grey eyes. Abigail had expected his reaction to be bad, but this was much worse than she'd expected, and she began to shrink back a little. After all, even though they were in the same house, she was just another insignificant girl to him, but one who should never oppose him.

"It's Abigail, right?" he asked, very quietly. His voice chilled her to the bone, but she held her nerve, and her voice was still steady when she replied.

"Let her go."

"I asked you a question!" His voice caused her to freeze on the spot and her courage seemed to slip away with every second passing by. She had never seen the Slytherin Prince so angry before and it usually didn't bode well. No one talked back to Malfoy nowadays without facing dire consequences - no one.

"Yes, Abigail Serpent. Sixth year Slytherin. Now let her go!"

As she said her name, she noticed a change in Malfoy's attitude. He looked back at her in confusion for a fraction of a second, but his face quickly gave way to his trademark smirk.

"I was just about to let Granger go anyway," he explained, letting go of Granger's arm.

The Gryffindor looked at him incredulously as he gave her wand back and advised her to clean up her face before she left. She tried to thank Abigail but it was no use.

"Just leave!" Abigail snapped at her. Anger seethed through her sharp words and Granger hurriedly left the room. Abigail turned her back as well, but she abruptly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Not so fast, Miss Serpent," a cold voice hissed behind her. The scathing tone made her stop dead in her tracks. She could tell that Malfoy was going to make her pay for talking back at him and she didn't know what game Malfoy was playing at, but he was mistaken if he thought that he could harm her.

"What's the matter, Malfoy?" she spoke up, turning around slowly to face him. "Surprised that I interrupted your little session with Granger? As Head Boy, you should probably know better than using Death Eater methods on the Head Girl!"

Judging by the look on his face, Abigail suddenly knew that she had gone too far.

Damn! Why didn't I keep my mouth shut?

Malfoy looked positively dangerous, and in a flash she saw him grab his wand from inside his robes and pull it out at her.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego Alexia!" Abigail whispered a curse of her own, holding her wand.

To Malfoy's surprise, his spell bounced off an invisible shield and hit the wall behind him, sending rubble flying across the room. As Abigail watched the spell being deflected, guilt suddenly took over her. Why did she feel this way? The prick had tried to harm her after all. Had she done something wrong protecting herself from Malfoy?

But then she understood her guilt as nearly forgotten words came flowing back into her mind.

Try to socialise with their son, Draco. It would be a good thing to become his friend.

She had disobeyed a direct order from her father. If he ever found out, he would be so disappointed in her. She looked back at Malfoy in a state of panic. He was watching her with mild curiosity now, having witnessed the magic she could do.

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that," were Abigail's last words as she hurriedly walked out of the back room, closing the door behind her. She knew Malfoy and the Slytherins would make both her and Granger pay for this in the near future, but she didn't care, just so long as her father didn't find out.

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So what did you think? Please review! Next chapter back to Draco's POV.