Despite the fact they'd had the entire summer to come to terms with the fact Hermione had been lying to them for the past four years, Harry and Ron were still struggling with her betrayal when it was time for them to return to school. Arriving on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, the pair couldn't help but look out for their former friend. Initially, neither boy could spot Hermione in the crowds, but suddenly Ron got his eye on the familiar form of Hermione's mother.
"What do you think she's doing here?" Ron asked with a frown.
The Order had no idea what the situation was with the couple who had been posing as Hermione's parents, but since they'd appeared to be genuine muggles, the general consensus was that they'd been under a spell making them think Hermione was their daughter. However, the sight of the same woman who'd always accompanied Hermione to the station indicated that the Order's assumptions were wrong. Clearly, the woman was truly Hermione's mother and she'd been playing the part of a muggle.
"Can you see her?" Harry asked, not ready to use Hermione's name yet.
Ron shook his head as they didn't have a clear view of Hermione's mother so it was hard to see if Hermione was with her. While Molly fussed over Ginny, and made the twins swear they'd behave, Harry and Ron inched along the platform slightly until they had a better view of Hermione's mother. When they got a better view, they found she was standing talking to Narcissa Malfoy and the pair looked to be getting along like a house on fire.
"What are you two looking at?" Ginny asked, coming over to where Harry and Ron were standing. Wordlessly, Harry turned Ginny around and pointed her in the direction of Hermione's mother. "I thought she was an innocent muggle," She remarked when she spotted what the pair were looking at.
"Didn't we all," Harry muttered. "Clearly she was lying to us as well."
"Lying seems to run in that family," Ron sneered.
"Any sign of the bitch yet?" Ginny asked, craning her neck to try and spot Hermione.
"Nope, but she has to be here somewhere," Harry answered.
However, before they could spot Hermione, Molly regained their attention and hurried them onto the train. Hauling their trunks onto the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Ron and Ginny found an empty compartment and stashed their luggage above the seats. They then headed back into the corridor to say a final goodbye to Molly.
"Look," Ginny hissed, elbowing Ron and pointing as she spotted Hermione out on the platform.
At least she thought it was Hermione. Gone were the baggy clothes and bushy hair, and in their place was a glossy mane of slick curls tied up in a high ponytail, and an outfit that clung to curves they never knew Hermione had. She was wearing a figure hugging skirt that stopped above her knee, and a light purple top that accentuated her figure. But more importantly she looked very different from the plain bookworm they'd known for the last four years. Obviously her act had covered more than just pretending to be their friend.
"Do you think she's been using glamour's these last few years?" Ron asked, once he'd picked his jaw up off the floor following his first sighting of his former friend.
"I would say so," Harry said. He was just as stunned as Ron, and slightly disturbed to find he'd experienced a flicker of attraction towards the new look Hermione.
"Don't be stupid," Ginny scolded the pair. She may have been slightly confused upon seeing Hermione, but closer inspection revealed she was very much the same girl they'd always known. "That is just what she looks like when she bothers to make an effort. She's clearly taken the time to sort out her hair, and she's not wearing clothes to hide behind. It was obvious at the Yule Ball last year that she's really attractive when she makes the effort."
"But she always said it took too much time to tame her hair," Ron said.
"I'm sure it will take a bit of time, but considering she's a witch it wouldn't have been any hardship for her to take a few extra minutes on a morning and tidy herself up," Ginny replied with a shrug. "I would say she deliberately kept her hair bushy to stop people from really paying her that much attention."
"She doesn't seem worried about attention now," Harry muttered, watching Hermione as she chatted to Draco Malfoy, who was clearly checking her out. Malfoy's friends were also standing with the pair, and they were also eyeing Hermione up.
"Let's forget about her for now," Ginny suggested as Hermione and the Slytherins boarded the train slightly further down the platform. "We'll be leaving soon, and we still need to say goodbye to Mum."
Following Ginny's lead, the two boys put thoughts of Hermione to one side as they briefly hopped off the train to say goodbye to Molly. They then jumped back on and waved to her from the window as the train started to pull out of the station. Once the train was out of sight of the platform the trio turned around and headed back to the compartment they'd snagged earlier.
Ginny stuck around for an hour as they discussed what things were going to be like without Hermione. When Ginny left to go and chat to a few girls in her year, Harry and Ron decided it was time to go wandering and see if they could find Hermione. Of course if anyone asked they would say they were looking for Neville, Dean and Seamus, but they both knew they wanted to get a proper look at the new Hermione. Not to mention they wanted to see what she was like now she'd stopped pretending to be something she wasn't.
As luck would have it the pair didn't have to venture very far before they spotted Hermione. They spotted her entering one of the girls' bathrooms, so they hung around in the corridor until she emerged. The second Hermione emerged from the girls' bathroom, Draco seemingly appeared from nowhere and was at her side.
"What do you two want?" Draco asked, frowning when he spotted the Gryffindor pair in their way.
"We're looking for our friends," Harry answered.
"There's no friends of yours, here," Hermione replied with a sweet smile. "I'm afraid that's all in the past. I've moved on."
"Yeah, to snakes," Ron spat, looking at Draco in disgust.
"You're forgetting Ron, she's a snake herself now," Harry said. "A deceitful, lying, snake."
"You didn't need to add the lying," Hermione told Harry with an amused laugh. "Deceitful covers lying."
"Well, you lied so much I felt I needed to highlight it," Harry argued.
"You're right, I am deceitful," Hermione said with a shrug. "But I was only protecting myself. I couldn't risk coming to school as myself, not while Father wasn't around."
"And you think you're safe now?" Ron sneered as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at Hermione. "Your precious father isn't around to save you now."
"Maybe not, but I am," Draco said, producing his own wand and stepping in front of Hermione.
"It's okay, Draco." Hermione stepped out from behind Draco, and putting a hand on his arm she gently moved him behind her. "I can handle Harry and Ron. They don't scare me."
"Then you're more foolish then I thought," Harry remarked as he also pulled his wand out, training it on Hermione.
By this point, Hermione was the only one without her wand out, but she was seemingly unworried about the situation. "What are you going to do, hex me?" She taunted with a smirk.
Instead of replying, Harry and Ron exchanged a quick nod before they both shot different hexes at Hermione. Harry set off a stinging jinx, while Ron went for a hex to give Hermione boils. However, much to their surprise, Hermione merely shuddered when the spells hit her. Neither of them had done anything to her, or it certainly appeared that way.
"Oh dear," Hermione tutted. "Now Father will know someone has tried to hex me."
"What do you mean, he'll know?" Ron asked nervously.
"I've got several protective spells on me, which is why your curses didn't work. One of the spells also alerts Father when I've been attacked," Hermione explained. "But don't worry, I'll give you a free pass this time. I'll get in contact with Father and let him know everything's been taken care of, but try and hurt me again and I'll let him retaliate."
"He can't hurt us, we'll be up at school soon," Harry protested. "Dumbledore will protect us."
"You're not always in Hogwarts, though are you, Potter?" Draco smirked. "I'm sure The Dark Lord could get to you in Hogsmeade."
"And don't forget the rest of your family, Ron," Hermione added. "It would be so very easy for my father to get to them. Do you really want them to suffer for your reckless behaviour?"
"You're a monster," Ron hissed.
"If I was a monster, I wouldn't be giving you this chance," Hermione replied in a hard voice. Taking one small step forward she gave Harry and Ron a piercing glare. "Take my advice, and leave me alone. You'll only regret messing with me."
While Harry and Ron were reeling from the cold look in Hermione's eyes, she pushed past them and strode off. Giving Harry and Ron a smug smirk, Draco followed after Hermione. Still rather shaken by what had happened, Harry and Ron watched as the pair disappeared into a compartment and firmly shut the door behind them.
"I think it's safe to say Hermione has embraced her inner Slytherin," Ron muttered.
"Yeah," Harry said, nodding in agreement. "We have to warn Dumbledore about the protective spells she'd got on her. We're also going to have to be careful not to anger her. I wouldn't put it past her and Malfoy to fake an attack on her just so they can blame us."
Ron gulped nervously at the suggestion, but he wholeheartedly agreed with Harry. The Hermione they thought they knew was gone, and in her place was a cold, ruthless witch, who wouldn't think twice about hurting them just because she could. From their one run-in with her, both boys had come to the conclusion that Hermione was every bit as dangerous as her father and that they would have to be careful how they dealt with her. They were confident they could defeat her and Voldemort, but for the time being they decided the best course of action was to steer clear of their former friend.
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By the time The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade station, Pansy was in a foul mood. All through the journey her annoyance with Hermione had been growing. Hermione had managed to nab Pansy's normal seat next to Draco on the train, and what was worse, Draco spent almost the entire journey with his arm slung around Hermione's shoulder. As if grabbing all of Draco's attention wasn't bad enough, the other boys also couldn't get enough of Hermione. Pansy spotted Blaise and Theo's lingering gazes on Hermione's legs numerous times, and even Vince and Greg were smitten with the former Gryffindor.
Things didn't improve for Pansy when they disembarked from the train and went to get the carriages that ran up to Hogwarts. The carriages were too small for all the group to travel in one, so they had to split into two groups, and Pansy ended up sharing a carriage with Vince, Greg, Millicent and Tracey Davis, who'd joined them on the train after spending the entire summer in New Zealand visiting her grandparents. Once again, Hermione was with Draco while she was left out in the cold.
Somehow the coach Pansy was travelling in reached Hogwarts nearly five minutes behind the other one, so when the second part of the group entered the Great Hall, their friends were already seated. Pansy's mood only darkened when she spotted Hermione sitting nestled in between Draco and Daphne. Blaise and Theo were sitting beside Draco, and Vince and Greg quickly snapped up the two seats opposite Hermione and Draco. Pansy had to settle with sitting next to Vince, opposite Daphne and further away from Draco then she would have liked.
Finally, Pansy's attention was dragged away from Hermione when Dumbledore got up to speak. However, he'd barely started his speech when he mentioned Hermione switching houses and all attention turned to the newest Slytherin. When Pansy turned back to Hermione, her eyes almost popped out of her head when she spotted Draco holding onto Hermione's hand. It was very clear he was just reassuring her as she was nervous about switching houses, but Pansy could never remember Draco holding her hand like that. And even if he had ever held her hand she would bet he would have removed it as quickly as possible, whereas he held Hermione's hand throughout all of Dumbledore's initial speech, the sorting of the first years, and Dumbledore's second, longer speech. The pair only broke apart when dinner appeared on the table and the feast got underway.
"So what's it like sitting over here?" Draco asked Hermione as they grabbed their plates.
"It feels right, strange, but right," Hermione replied.
"And how are you liking your new uniform?" Blaise questioned, leaning forward so he could see past Draco. As always, they'd changed on the train and Hermione was wearing her Slytherin uniform for the first time. "I think you look rather good in silver and green."
"To be honest, I haven't really noticed the difference," Hermione answered with a shrug. "Except, it's a bit more fitted than what I used to wear."
"Yeah, what's with that?" Pansy asked, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. "Have you lost weight or something?"
"No, I just used to wear a slightly bigger uniform before," Hermione replied.
"Why?" Pansy frowned. She wouldn't dream of wearing a uniform that was too big for her, in fact it had even been suggested that parts of her uniform were too small and tight, but she wasn't having that.
"It kept attention off me," Hermione explained. "I knew my time in Gryffindor was temporary, well I was hoping it was, and I didn't want to deal with a lot of attention. Wearing clothes that hid my figure, not to mention gaining a reputation as a studious bookworm, kept people at a distance."
"There's no chance of that now," Daphne said with a laugh. "I think practically every boy in the school has noticed you. I think you're going to be getting a lot of attention from boys this year, Hermione."
"That might be fun," Hermione smiled, glancing at Draco before returning her attention to her meal.
Across the table, Pansy didn't miss the look Hermione shot Draco, nor did she miss the small smile he gave her in return. Turning her own attention back to her food, she angrily stabbed at a sausage as she tried to decide how best to proceed with Hermione. Because of whose daughter she was she had to be careful, but that wasn't to say she was going to just sit back and let her get everything she wanted. Pansy was going to get rid of her, she just had to be smart in how she went about it. After all, she didn't want to get in trouble with Voldemort for doing anything to his precious daughter. Although maybe if she played it right, she could get rid of Hermione and someone else could take the fall. It wasn't as if Hermione didn't have enemies following her deception for the last four years, maybe some of the Gryffindors could help take her down, and when it came to Voldemort's retribution, it would be them in the firing line, not Pansy.