Hermione found it remarkably easy settling into the Slytherin dungeons. After the welcoming feast she'd headed to her new residence with Draco and the other Slytherins. When they first entered the common room she was surprised by how large it was. It was at least twice the size of the Gryffindor common room. However, as she thought about it she realised it made sense that the Slytherin common room was bigger. There was certainly a lot more room down in the dungeons than what there was in a tower.
The bedrooms were also bigger than the Gryffindor ones, and they didn't seem at all cramped with all the female students in their year sharing a room. Hermione also discovered there was no barrier preventing the male students from entering the female dorms. As Hermione suspected, the charm had been implemented by McGonagall, rather than been a feature of all four house dorms. Besides, it never made any sense that the boys couldn't enter the girls' bedrooms, but yet the girls could enter the boys. It certainly wasn't any sort of deterrent for the more amorous couples.
Hermione's first night in the dungeons passes without major incident. The majority of the other Slytherins were all welcoming towards her, and the few that didn't seem happy to have her amongst their numbers at least had the sense to keep quiet. After all, you'd have to be either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish to take on the daughter of The Dark Lord.
At breakfast the following morning, Hermione joined her new friends as they settled down in the Great Hall. They hadn't been sitting down long before Snape handed them their timetables. Comparing timetables with Draco and Daphne, she was pleased to find they were identical. They all took the same optional classes, meaning she'd have the two people she'd bonded with the best with her at all times.
"I wonder what the new Defence Professor is like," Theo remarked. "Does anyone know anything about him?"
"Haven't you heard?" Pansy asked with a smug smirk.
"Heard what, Pansy?" Draco questioned, giving his old friend a warning glare to let her know he wasn't in the mood for her games.
"Shackelbolt's an Auror," Pansy announced with glee.
"An ex-Auror?" Draco queried.
Pansy shook her head, a smirk playing around her lips. "Nope, until last week he was still working at the Ministry. I heard a couple of Hufflepuffs gossiping as we entered the Great Hall. Apparently he's here because of Hermione. He'll be at school as long as she's here."
"Why?" Theo asked with a frown.
"Because Dumbledore doesn't trust her," Pansy answered with a snort.
"More like he's running scared," Draco chuckled. "He has to be to bring in a professional Auror just because of a fifteen year old girl."
"Yeah, but Hermione isn't any fifteen year old girl," Blaise argued. "She's The Dark Lord's daughter. In Dumbledore's position, I'd be bloody worried about her as well."
"Still, an Auror is a bit of an overreaction," Hermione mused thoughtfully. She didn't like the idea of a specially trained wizard being brought into the school just because of her. It certainly meant that Shackelbolt wouldn't like her, and she'd likely have a hard time in his class.
"Typical Dumbledore really," Draco said with a shrug. "Just look at last year. When we were hosting the Triwizard Tournament, he brought in an ex-Auror. Or at least who he thought was an ex-Auror."
"Bringing in an ex-Auror, and someone who is currently doing the job is very different," Hermione argued. "I don't like it."
"It's not like he's going to do anything to you," Draco reassured his new friend. "He wouldn't dare."
"I guess not," Hermione conceded with a sigh.
"You could take it as a compliment," Daphne said. "Look at it this way, Dumbledore is so threatened by you he's brought in reinforcements. He clearly thinks the staff he has won't be good enough to deal with you if you do anything truly evil."
"No-one will be able to deal with me if I decide to do anything truly evil," Hermione stated with a wicked smirk. She deliberately made sure Pansy took in her words and her smirk widened when she spotted the other girl looking nervous. It was good to remind Pansy just who she was dealing with, in case she had any stupid ideas about trying to go up against her.
For the rest of breakfast the group discussed the rest of their timetable. As usual the Slytherins and Gryffindors shared the majority of their classes. With everything that had happened, Hermione had expected Dumbledore would have changed the schedules a bit so that Harry and Ron wouldn't have to deal with her. However, the headmaster clearly had other ideas and the schedules were the same as they'd always been.
"Are you nervous about lessons?" Draco asked Hermione as the group got up to leave for the first lesson of the day which happened to be Transfiguration.
"A bit," Hermione admitted. "I'm not sure how the Professors will treat me, especially McGonagall."
"I'm sure the old goat won't do anything too bad," Draco replied. "At the most, she'll likely ignore you."
"Well that's something to look forward to," Hermione said with a laugh.
When they entered the classroom, Hermione settled down with the Slytherins at the back of the classroom. It felt strange not sitting at the front, but she would rather be surrounded by her new friends than be sitting all alone at the front of the room. Hermione and her friends were in the classroom before the Gryffindors, and when they arrived both Harry and Ron shot her a dirty look before taking their seat. However, Neville was with them and he gave Hermione a tentative smile before settling down with the other Gryffindors.
"See, not everyone's a judgemental arsehole," Daphne whispered from beside Hermione.
"I guess not," Hermione answered, smiling slightly. Her smile soon dropped and she became more focused when McGonagall entered the room.
McGonagall didn't acknowledge any change in circumstances, she just launched into a ten minute lecture about the importance of the coming year and the O.W.L exams they'd be taking in their final term. Finally she turned her focus to the actual lesson, and began explaining what they would be doing in the coming year.
It was nearly halfway through the lesson when McGonagall asked a question. As usual, Hermione knew the answer and her hand shot into the air. After spending time with the Slytherins she suspected quite a few of them knew the answer, but none of them raised their hand. Hermione thought they could be holding back to see how McGonagall would react when her hand was the only one in the air. Normally the Transfiguration Professor didn't hesitate to call on Hermione to answer the question, but this time she scoured the entire room for another option before reluctantly turning to Hermione.
"Miss Granger. It is still Miss Granger, isn't it?"
"It is," Hermione confirmed, before answering the question McGonagall had asked earlier.
When she'd finished answering the question, McGonagall merely nodded and moved along. There was no praise, and more importantly there were no house points offered to Hermione. During the remainder of the class, Hermione answered a few more questions and McGonagall never once praised her or awarded her house points like she used to do.
"Wow, I've never realised just how biased McGonagall is," Hermione remarked as the Slytherins exited Transfiguration and headed towards charms, which they thankfully didn't have with the Gryffindors.
"All four heads favour their own house," Blaise replied with a shrug. "I know people tend to think it's just Snape with us Slytherins, but the others are just as bad."
"At least Flitwick and Sprout occasionally give us credit though," Daphne said. "I can count on one hand the amount of times McGonagall has awarded me house points."
"I don't need to count, she's never awarded me house points," Draco said. "Although, I have lost count of how many points she's deducted from me."
Wondering if the other head of houses really were as biased, Hermione settled herself down in Charms. While Transfiguration hadn't been too enjoyable, Hermione had no such problems in Charms. When Professor Flitwick asked a question and her hand was up, he asked her without hesitation. He also praised her when she answered correctly, although he didn't give house points, but Hermione knew that wasn't personal as Flitwick never awarded house points merely for answering a question in class.
"Now that wasn't too bad," Hermione said as they exited Charms.
"Little Flitwick's pretty cool," Theo said. "He might favour his Ravenclaws, but he doesn't discriminate against us Slytherins."
Hermione found things ran pretty much the same as Charms in her next few lessons. None of the Professors reacted to her change of house, and apart from McGonagall none of them had treated her any differently. However, all that changed when they entered the last class of the day, Defence against the Dark Arts, which of course they shared with the Gryffindors again.
Like McGonagall, Professor Shackelbolt began his lesson with a lecture about what an important year it was for the fifth years. He then switched tactics and spoke at length about what dangerous times they lived in, and the threat to the wizarding world. As he spoke he constantly flicked his gaze over to Hermione, and she could feel the hatred radiating from his penetrating eyes. As she predicted, the new Professor hated her guts. Although at this point in time the feeling was entirely mutual.
When it came down to actually teaching, Hermione had to admit that Shackelbolt knew his stuff. Unlike a few of their previous Defence Professors, he'd had experience with dark arts and dark wizards and it showed as he spoke and demonstrated his skills.
The first time he asked a question, Hermione's hand was straight in the air. Switching to Slytherin didn't change who she was, and that was still someone who cared about her education and knew all the answers. Unlike McGonagall, who'd looked for someone else to answer the question before settling on Hermione, or Flitwick, who'd just asked Hermione without hesitation, Shackelbolt give her one disgusted look before turning and asking Harry for the answer.
"Bastard," Draco hissed, his hand clenching into a fist on the table top. "Potter's hand wasn't even up. Plus, he doesn't know the answer," he added as Harry stumbled over trying to answer the question.
Hermione said nothing, but when Shackelbolt asked the next question her hand was once again the first in the air. Like the time before, the Defence Professor glanced in her direction before calling on a student whose hand wasn't up. When it happened for the third time, Hermione yanked her hand down and sat glaring at the newest Professor. At her side, Draco was less than happy with events and when Shackelbolt ignored Hermione and instead asked Dean Thomas to answer his question, he couldn't keep quiet.
"Are you blind?" Draco asked loudly, interrupting Dean as he tried to find the answer to the question Hermione knew without having to look at her books.
"Excuse me?" Shackelbolt turned to glare at the blond Slytherin. "Are you talking to me?"
"Sorry, did I not make that clear?" Draco sneered. "Perhaps I should rephrase my question. Are you blind, Sir?" Draco practically spat the word sir, and everyone could hear the disdain in his voice.
"No, Mr Malfoy I am not blind."
"Then you need to get your eyes tested," Draco retorted. "You've asked three questions, and three times Hermione has known the answer. Yet, you've ignored her and asked the Gryffindors, who clearly don't have a clue."
"Firstly, it's my prerogative who I choose to answer my questions," Shackelbolt replied as he casually strolled over to Draco's desk. "If I don't want to hear the answers from the likes of her, that's my choice." Shackelbolt briefly paused to shoot Hermione another disgusted look, before refocusing on Draco. "Secondly, I don't tolerate people speaking out of turn in my class. You can have detention with me on Friday evening, and I'll dock Slytherin fifty house points."
"Git," Draco hissed under his breath as Shackelbolt walked away with a smug smirk on his face.
"Make that sixty house points," Shackelbolt called back to Draco. "And an extra detention on Saturday evening for insulting a Professor."
"Don't," Hermione whispered, placing a calming hand on Draco's arm when it looked as though he was going to respond yet again. "He's not worth it, Draco."
"The bloke's awful," Draco muttered.
"Yes, he is," Hermione agreed. "But it's better if we just ignore him. Don't react, that's what he wants. One day he'll get his comeuppance, mark my words."
Draco gave Hermione a slight grin as they sat back and watched the rest of the class pass by. It was very clear Hermione wouldn't get anywhere by raising her hand, so she sat in silence as Shackelbolt continued to ask questions she knew the answer to. It looked like all she could do in his class was do the written work, although she suspected she wouldn't quite get the grades she deserved.
Finally it was the end of the lesson and the Slytherins headed back to the dungeons to change and relax before dinner. Her first full day as a Slytherin had certainly been eventful, and it gave Hermione a good idea how the rest of her year was going to pan out. McGonagall and Shackelbolt were clearly against her, and she suspected Hagrid would be the same when it was time for Care of Magical Creatures. However, she could handle a few Professors who didn't like her. Just like she could handle the students that didn't like her. She was The Dark Lord's daughter, and she didn't care what anyone thought of her. She had more than enough support so that other people's opinions just didn't concern her.