Everyone Has A Dark Side
By: Alianne
In response to your review, Blaise Zabini is a Slytherin in Hermione's year. In book 1, he is mentioned on page 122 of the American version, and page 91 of the British version. It doesn't say if they are a he or she, but I chose she. (UPDATE: JK Rowling/HBP have now clarified the gender of Blaise. He is a boy. However, since I wrote this story long before that happened, in my story, Blaise is a girl. So I guess it's kind of AU).
ALSO: This has been changed since it was first posted to make the plot work out. You will notice the train trip is different. In case you don't want to read thought again this is it: One of Ron's Dad's associates at work saw Hermione, Draco, Pansy and Blaise in Knockturn Alley, and tells the Weasleys, who tell everyone else in the whole school. Hermione denies this but accidentally says Draco instead of Malfoy, giving away the fact she has been talking with Draco.
Chapter 6: Sorting
Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione actually managed to arrive a few minutes before 10 o'clock at Kings Cross station, due in part to the absence of Fred and George. Molly and Arthur Weasley happily hugged Ron, Ginny, and Harry and tried to smile at Hermione.
Why did they have to treat her differently than they used to? Did a change in her name change who she was? Or could she be acting differently? She was not consciously doing anything differently. Well, if they wouldn't accept here as she was, she would change into someone else completely unrecognizable. Just let them wait and see she thought smugly.
Harry had found a compartment somewhere but Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, who were prefects, all had to go to the front of the train first to get instructions form the Head Boy and Girl. Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, who were sitting with the tow 5th year prefects, were conversing vigorously in hushed voices. They both fell silent and watched Hermione when she entered. She thought she saw Draco smile very slightly, but it could have just been the light. She sat down by Colin Creevey, who, like Ginny was a 5th year Gryffindor prefect. Ron and Ginny avoided Hermione and sat down further away.
"For those of you who are sixth years, you'll know your duties, for you fifth years, prefects are responsible for patrolling corridors and can give out punishments such as detentions to trouble makers and bullies. By no account however, may you abuse your position. Also, prefects help plan and decorate for such events such as Christmas and Halloween," the head boy, a tall Ravenclaw, said to the sixteen assembled prefects. He told then a lot more about their duties, then gave then their houses passwords. "The password for Gryffindor tower will be fidelis leones until the next prefect meeting. The password for the prefect bathroom will be aquaticus."
The head girl asked if there were any questions. When no one answered, they were dismissed.
Hermione was one of the last to leave the prefect compartment, so she had to look into each compartment she passed to find which one Harry and Ron were in. In the ninth one she checked, she found a bunch of Slytherins in her year, including Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Theodore Nott, Sarah Moon, Blaise Zabini, and Millicent Bulstrode. She made to shut the door, but Blaise called out, "Hermione, want to come in here?"
"Oh, no, I'm okay. I'm just looking for my compartment, I forget where it is." She said quickly.
Hermione closed the door, shocked. She thought that Malfoy had been too nice in Diagon Alley, that it was some sort of trick to lower her guard so they could make a fool of her. Why were they being so nice? She thought that the Slytherins seemed to know much more about her than she herself did. She continued checking compartments, buried in her thoughts.
When she finally found Harry and Ron, who were in the last compartment of the last carriage, she collapsed on the seat and grabbed a Chocolate Frog form the pile next to Ron. Neville Longbottom, an extremely forgetful fellow sixth year Gryffindor, and Luna Lovegood, Ginny's fifth year Ravenclaw friend, watched her coolly from the opposite seats. Harry had evidently told them about her.
Hermione stared out the window quietly for a while, avoiding conversation with the others, though they probably would refuse to talk to her even if she did. Finally, she could stand it no longer. "What is wrong? You are all avoiding me, treating me like I'm an infectious disease, and looking at me oddly. Why! Just because of my parents you suddenly seem to think I'm a Death Eater!" she burst out.
Ron sighed, "We've got to tell her I suppose." He said to the others. "Hermione, know how the name Malfoy makes you think 'on the Dark Side'? Lavinier is the same way. And then there's this. Hermione, one of dad's friends from work saw you in Knockturn Alley with Malfoy and some other Slytherins. You were chatting and getting on well, he said. No respectable Gryffindor would be seen within a mile of that place! And especially not with certain Slytherins." They all watched her expectantly to see her response.
"I told you, I walked in accidentally and then ran into Draco and told him to get lost! I wish you guys would quit suspecting me. I'm still Hermione." She said angrily.
Harry and Ron picked up on Hermione's mistake immediately. "Draco! Since when do you refer to Malfoy as Draco! That was a really lame lie. Hermione, it's so obvious you are on the Dark Side. Your owl is called DARK Lady, you reread Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts last week! You call the guy who used to call you mudblood daily by his first name. Do you honestly expect us to trust you?" Ron yelled at her.
"I can't believe you guys! I'm not on the Dark Side, okay!" she shouted as she jumped up with her face burning. She left the compartment, slamming the door so hard that the glass in it shattered. She faintly heard Ron say, "I told you. Being a pureblood has gone to her head," as she stormed away.
She walked through the corridor as if patrolling it for misbehavers. She couldn't believe it! Her two best friends for five years had turned against her just because she was pureblood Lavinier and not mudblood Granger. So what if she had hung out with Draco? Well, they wouldn't be her friends ever again, she was sure of that. So much for Golden Trio.
She slowly walked down the corridor. Where would she go now? She didn't have any other friends. She supposed she could go to the Slytherin compartment if she had to, but she'd rather not. Their kindness would probably turn out to be a joke and they would all laugh at her. As if her mind had been read, a door opened and Draco came out. Hermione froze, unsure what to do. Draco saw her miserable expression. "What happened Hermione? Did the Gryffindors kick you out of the Golden Trio?" He spoke kindly, not patronizingly, however. " Do you want to come in here with us?" He asked. Hermione almost said yes, but she realized that since they were nearly at Hogsmeade, she had to put on her robes.
"Thank you Draco. I'd like to, but I need to change since we're nearly there." She said smiling at him.
"That's okay. Come back after if you'd like." Draco replied. Hermione hurried to retrieve her trunk from the prefect carriage.
Soon enough the train began to slow as it entered Hogsmeade station. Hermione headed to the front, where she had to supervise the younger kids. She directed some lost first years towards Hagrid who would take them across the lake and into the Great Hall, then got into one of the carriages that took them up to the school. She knew they were pulled by thestrals, although she was unable to see the winged, reptilian horses.
When the carriages drew up before the big oak door that led into the Entrance Hall, Hermione tiredly walked up the flight of stone stairs, through the Entrance Hall, and took a seat near the end of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.
Students trickled in, and Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown sat down next to her. Ron, Harry, and Ginny had thankfully found seats near the other end of the table. The girls chatted about their summers.
When almost everyone was there, the first years were lead through a side door by Professor McGonagall. She was carrying the Sorting Hat, an old, enchanted, black wizard's hat, which decided which of the four houses a student would be in. McGonagall set it on a stool and stepped back.
The Great Hall was quiet now. A slit on the side of the hat opened like a mouth and it sang a variation on its usual song about the original founders of the school, the qualities of students in each house, as well as telling them to work together. This was because there was the looming, ever present threat of Voldemort and the Dark Side in the 'world outside Hogwarts'.
Professor McGonagall called the names of the fist years, and they came forward one by one to try on the hat. "Addison, Mandy" became a Ravenclaw, and the fist new Gryffindor of the year was "Bolster, Thomas." It went on until "Lakes, Bridgett" was made a Hufflepuff.
Professor McGonagall paused and frowned before calling out the next name from the list. "Lavinier, Hermione." Hermione looked up sharply. There was another first year with her first name! She waited to see which of the eleven-year-olds would come forward, but none did. "Lavinier, Hermione," professor McGonagall repeated, frowning more deeply. Hermione suddenly realized with shock that it was her. She had forgotten she had a new last name. She wasn't sure if show should go forward. She was after all a sixth year. Only first years were sorted, right?
Ron, Harry, and Ginny were goggling at her from the other end of the table. Parvati and Lavender stared at her and whispered, "You're a Lavinier?" in disbelief. The Slytherins all looked over in interest.
Slowly, Hermione stood up and walked to the end of the table and then forward to the hat. She was terribly conscious of the loud whisperings of the other students. They were probably talking not just about the fact she was being sorted, but also about her name.
The teachers all looked very shocked, too. Professor Dumbledore, seated at the high table, did not understand how this could possibly be happening. For once, he had no idea what was going on. He had written that list of names of the new students, and Hermione Granger's name had not been on it, Lavinier or otherwise. For that matter, why was the name Hermione Lavinier? Everyone knew the significance of that name. The Laviniers had been some of the most dangerous Death Eaters, but had been killed. But they had had a daughter. Dumbledore put the puzzle pieces together, and thought hard, watching as the sixteen year old lifted up the hat and put it down on her head.
"Well, well, well, we meet again, I see. However, you are someone else now. You are angry and upset, but you are also now aware of who you really are. Well, I see I was wrong. You'll do well in Slytherin now, won't you?"
"Wait, why are you changing my house?" Hermione thought desperately.
"Just think about it a little. SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted the last word loudly so the whole hall heard.
Hermione pulled the hat off and stood shocked and trembling while her fellow students looked back at her the same way. Professor McGonagall, who was very pale, waved at her to move to the table so that the next student could be sorted. "Mattel, Bruce."
Hermione stumbled toward the Gryffindor table, but the Gryffindors all glared at her. Remembering, she walked towards the Slytherin table instead. Pansy Parkinson was sitting on the nearer side, and there was a space next to her that Hermione took.
Pansy watched her, looking slightly surprised, but not shocked. Blaise and Draco also watched her with little surprise, while Crabbe and Goyle looked stupid. Hermione again had the felling that they all knew more about her than she did herself. At least they are kind she thought, comparing the Slytherins to the now glaring and hissing Gryffindors.
The sorting finished and Dumbledore stood up and said, "Welcome and welcome back, all of you. Eat Up!" Dishes materialized on the table as well as jugs of pumpkin juice, but Hermione was not very hungry. Absentmindedly, she put some mash potatoes and steak on her plate ad looked around.
Some of the Slytherins watched her with confusion and interest, although all Malfoy's friends seemed to have expected this to happen. "So, it seems you are one of us now. Why are you so surprised?" Pansy asked.
Hermione answered, "Well, I only found out two weeks ago who I was, and since then, I've had civil conversations with you guys, my friends have broken up the Golden Trio, and, well, I'm in Slytherin. Everyone seems to know more about me that I do. Do you know if anyone has ever been resorted before?"
"Not that I know of," replied Pansy, "It is a very unusual occurrence, but then, most people know who they are from the time they come here. I suppose it must have been a big shock. I'm sorry Blaise and I weren't very nice in Knockturn Alley, but it seemed so impossible you could be who you said you were. I mean, we've grown up knowing your parent's names, because they had been our parent's friends. You'll be fine in Slytherin, though. Everyone will want to meet you," said Pansy kindly.
Draco watched as Hermione and Pansy talked together. He thought about what his father had said.
After Hermione had left the Black Dragon, Draco had told his father everything Hermione had told him. When he finished, Lucius said slowly, "I doubt she realizes how much she told you. Firstly, she is angry with her muggle guardians and the Ministry for keeping this information from her. Second, for whatever reason, she is confused about who she in and which side she is on. That stuff she said to Blaise and Pansy is particularly interesting. She isn't sure if she should be an honorable Gryffindor like she is supposed to be and she isn't who she thought she was, either. This is very important. Just imagine if she could be convinced to join the Dark Side. She is smart, she would make and outstanding Death Eater. The Dark Lord will be very pleased with this."
Draco stared at his father, appalled. "Father! She's best friends with Weasley and Potter. You'd be hard put to find anyone less likely to go over to the Dark Side!"
"Once she is in Slytherin, she will become friends with some of you. Just wait, when you receive the Mark next summer, she may well be there, too." Lucius told him.
But I don't want to manipulate her!" said Draco.
"You won't have to. Just let things alone," answered his father.
Now Draco watched Hermione as she cautiously met her fellow Slytherins and thought that perhaps his father was correct.
Soon the feast was over and Hermione followed Blaise and Pansy out into the Entrance Hall and down towards the Dungeons. Harry Ron and Ginny looked at her disgust as they headed up to the Gryffindor tower. Pansy stopped in front of an empty stretch of wall and said, "Infidelis." She told Hermione that that was the password as part of the wall slid back to reveal the entrance to the Slytherin common room.
Carved wooden chairs with soft cushions were grouped around the large fireplace and some small tables. Greenish lights illuminated the room with a soft glow. "Here's the girl's dormitory," Pansy said, leading Hermione up a staircase and into a room much like the Gryffindor dormitories, except that it was more finely furnished and had the Slytherin green and sliver color scheme. There were five velvet draped four poster beds.
"I thought there were five Slytherin girls in our year already," Hermione said.
"Oh, Jenny's parents moved to Germany last year, I think she's going to Durmstrang now. Look, there's your stuff." She pointed to Hermione's trunk and owl cage, which were in front of one of the beds. "I wonder how they know to put those here and not in the Gryffindor dormitories?"
Just then the other two sixth year Slytherin girls, Millicent Bulstrode and Sarah Moon, came it. Millicent was rather sullen, but Sarah was friendly like Pansy and Blaise. The others started arranging books, pictures, and posters around each of their beds. Hermione put a dozen of her favorite books on a bookcase near her bed and then put on her pajamas. A half-hour later they all went to bed. Although she was quite confused, Hermione felt happy with the direction her life was going in.
A/N: Thanks for reading, all. Read and Review. If you're wondering about Sarah Moon, check Thanx!
Alianne