Hermione was almost finished her breakfast when her father joined her at the kitchen table. It was the morning Hermione was due to return to school and even though it was still early, she was itching to head to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It was going to be good to return to Hogwarts and get life back to normal. At least until her father made his big move and the dark took full control of the wizarding world.
"Is there something wrong?" Hermione asked, becoming aware that her father was sitting watching her.
"No," Voldemort replied with a shake of his head. "I was just thinking that now we've dealt with Pansy, we should turn our attentions to your former friends."
"You mean the accusations Pansy made?" Hermione questioned with a slight frown.
Her father had informed her of the accusations Pansy had made when confronted about the bracelet, and even though she and Draco had used those accusations to their advantage when talking to her, neither of them had been entirely convinced by what she was claiming. Of course they'd both suspected Harry and Ron had been involved in the first attack against her, but the similarities with the second were striking, and it was hard to believe that Pansy wasn't involved in the first attempt.
"You don't believe her?" Voldemort questioned in surprise.
"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "As you know, Draco and I had our suspicions about Harry and Ron at the time. But as Draco pointed out to Pansy, it was really too subtle for them to be the architects of the plan. Not to mention the two attacks are both so similar."
"So you believe Pansy was behind both attacks?"
"I think her involvement in the first attack is pretty likely," Hermione said. "As for whether Harry and Ron are part of it, I just don't know."
"I do," Voldemort said quietly. "Do you honestly think I would just calmly sit back and not probe her memories when she was admitting to trying to kill my daughter? When she accused Potter and Weasley, she was telling the truth. They were involved."
"Involved, but not the instigators," Hermione predicted, knowing there was more her father wasn't saying.
"Pansy orchestrated the plan," Voldemort confessed. "I could easily see through her deception. She thought that by throwing Potter and Weasley under the bus, she could save herself. But I've always known how much she's done to you."
"And yet you still let me punish her as I saw fit," Hermione muttered, rather impressed with her father's self-control. "I'm surprised you didn't kill her there and then."
"I was rather tempted," Voldemort admitted with a dark chuckle. "And who knows, one day my good nature might just fade, and in Pansy I have someone just waiting to feel my wrath."
"That might be fun one day, but for now I want to see her suffer," Hermione said. "And she will suffer this coming year."
"Of that I have no doubt," Voldemort chuckled. "But what about Potter and Weasley? How do you feel about turning your attention to them? After all, those two little worms need to suffer before they feel the mercy of death. I thought you and your friends might want to teach them a lesson or two."
"That would be amazing," Hermione gushed excitedly as she felt her devious nature spring into action as her mind started to think of ways she could torture her former friends.
"Until Christmas, you have free reign to do as you want to Potter and Weasley. Just don't be caught Hermione, and don't allow any of your friends to take the fall for you."
"Surely you know me better than that," Hermione snorted. "I would never let my friends take the fall for me. Whatever we do decide to do to Harry and Ron, it won't be traced back to us."
"Have fun, and remember you've only got until Christmas," Voldemort reiterated.
"Why? What's happening at Christmas?"
"If all goes to plan, the end of Albus Dumbledore."
"Are you going to tell me the plan?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"All in good time, but for now, I think you need to get ready. You don't want to be late on your first day back," Voldemort replied with a smirk.
"Spoilsport." Sticking her tongue out at her father, Hermione left the kitchen and headed to her room to make sure she had everything.
An hour later, Hermione said goodbye to her father and left with her mother to head to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. On the platform she quickly spotted Draco and as their mothers chatted, the pair shared a passionate greeting. Slowly the other Slytherins joined them and before long they were all present and ready to go.
"Have a good year, Hermione," Leah said, hugging her daughter. "And keep your eyes open."
"Don't worry, nothing will happen to me this year," Hermione assured her mother.
"I wouldn't let it," Draco said, sliding his arm around Hermione's waist.
As they shared a final goodbye with their mothers, the Slytherins became aware that Pansy and her mother had arrived at the station. Purposefully all the adults averted their gazes away from Mrs Parkinson, while the Slytherins made a big show of turning their backs on Pansy and stalking onto The Hogwarts Express without her.
Hermione was sure that people would have noticed their snub, but she didn't have time to wonder how long it would take for word to spread about Pansy's isolation, as no sooner had she gotten onto the train than she spotted Harry and Ron further down the corridor. The pair froze when they laid eyes on her, and even though Hermione's instincts were to whip out her wand and hex the pair of them, she merely plastered a smug smirk on her face.
"Did you miss me?" she purred at the obviously stunned pair.
"Like a hole in the head," Harry retorted, finding his voice quicker than Ron, even though he couldn't help raking his eyes over Hermione's curves.
"Ah Harry, you always say the nicest things," Hermione cackled. "Now since we've established that I'm back, you can run along and spread the word. And you should remind people that I'm not one to be messed with."
"Yeah, because you're so scary," Ron snorted.
"I can prove it if you want," Hermione said, taking a step towards Ron, who instantly backed away. "Come near me again, and you'll regret it Weaselbee."
Giving her former friends her most menacing glare, Hermione turned on her heel and with the Slytherins at her back, she stalked off to find a compartment. Finding an empty one down near the end of the train, Hermione led the way into the compartment and collapsed into the chair nearest the window.
"I really wanted to hex their puny balls off," she confided to Draco as he slid onto the seat beside her.
"That would have been fun," Draco said with a chuckle as their friends all took their seats and Theo slid the door shut to give them some privacy.
"You'll want to do more than hex them when I tell you the latest news," Hermione said. "Now, what I'm about to say can't leave this compartment," she added, looking around at the group of friend's she'd gathered around her over the last year. "I trust everyone here, and I think you deserve the truth."
"The truth about what?" Blaise asked in confusion.
"Is it about Pansy?" Theo asked. "Should we have done more than ignore her?"
"Things with Pansy are fine," Hermione assured her friends. "By the time we reach Hogwarts all the students will be aware that we're not talking to her. And I trust, it then won't take long for word to spread about why she's been cold-shouldered."
"The rest of the dungeons will know the full story by tonight," Daphne promised. "And in a few days there won't be a person in that castle that doesn't know that she was behind the cursed necklace."
"Good," Hermione replied with a smirk. "Now onto my other news. Father confirmed this morning that the accusations Pansy made about Harry and Ron are true."
"Those two idiots really were behind the poisoning?" Draco questioned with a slight frown. Even though he'd been convinced of their involvement from the very beginning, he had never believed they had masterminded the plan.
"No, they were merely the idiots Pansy set up to take the blame. As we thought Draco, she was behind it all," Hermione said.
"Evil bitch," Draco snarled.
"Does this mean there's more punishment to come for her?" Theo asked.
"At the moment, father is happy to leave my plan in place, but he's certainly not ruling out advancing her punishment in the future," Hermione answered.
"And what about Potter and Weasley, please say something is going to be done about them," Blaise begged.
"Father has plans," Hermione admitted. "But he's given us permission to play with them until Christmas. All we have to do is make sure we're not caught."
"What do you mean by play with them?" Draco questioned. "Can we hurt the buggers?"
"The more painful, the better," Hermione answered with a smirk.
Hermione's answer lit a fire under the Slytherins and within seconds ideas of how to make Harry and Ron suffer were being thrown around the compartment. Even Daphne, who was the most placid of all the Slytherins, had her say and she was just as eager as the others to get some form of vengeance.
For most of the journey talk was about the two Gryffindors and how they could be made to pay for trying to kill Hermione, but by the time they reached Hogwarts, they'd exhausted their plans for revenge and were just enjoying getting back into the swing of things. Clambering into the same carriage, they were among the first to arrive at Hogwarts and take their seats in the Great Hall.
As the students began to file in, several of the Slytherins inquired about Pansy and her obvious absence from the group. Hermione and the others were more than happy to share the reason they were no longer speaking to Pansy, and by the time the witch in question entered the Great Hall, almost all of the Slytherins knew what she'd done.
"Traitor!" the Slytherins hissed at her as she walked down the Great Hall and took a seat at the far end of the table.
The students nearest to Pansy made a big show of shuffling up the benches, leaving a gap between themselves and the ostracised witch. From her position further up the table, safely nestled between Draco and Daphne, Hermione watched as Pansy lowered her head and stared at her lap.
"And the fun begins," she whispered to Draco, who was also watching his old friend.
"And those two?" Draco asked, gesturing to where Harry and Ron were just taking their seats after being one of the last groups to arrive at the castle.
"Are going to rue the day they tried to help Pansy kill me," Hermione returned in a low voice. "Something tells me this is going to be a fun year."
"Yeah, I think so too," Draco replied, giving his girlfriend a wide smile.
Not that the start of term feast was anything to write home about. After the sorting the feast fell into its usual pattern of students scoffing their faces and catching up with their friends. Aside from word about Pansy's new status as an outcast passing around the Great Hall, nothing much happened. Hermione didn't even pay much attention to Harry and Ron as she knew over the course of the term they were going to find themselves in a whole host of trouble, and hopefully a fair bit of pain.
Once the feast was finished, Hermione and the other Slytherins made their way to the dungeons, and grabbed the best seats beside the fire. While a lot of the other students headed off to unpack and get settled into their dorms, the sixth years sat around the fire laughing and joking together as they celebrated their return.
Finally, it was time to call it a night and after sharing a steamy goodnight with her boyfriend, Hermione headed off to her dorms with Daphne. Tracey and Millicent had retired earlier in the night, and when they entered the dorms they found the two girls giggling together on Tracey's bed. Pansy was curled up on her bed, but it was obvious to Hermione that she'd been ignored all evening.
"Isn't it great to be back?" Hermione asked as she magically unpacked her trunk.
"It's great to be surrounded by friends," Daphne agreed with a malicious smirk.
"Millie's got some fire-whisky she pinched from her father, come and join us for a drink," Tracey offered.
Hermione and Daphne joined the two giggling girls on Tracey's bed and summoning their water glasses from the bedside tables, they got their share of the illicit booze. Clinking glasses, the foursome loudly toasted their friendship, pointedly ignoring the other witch in the room.
If she hadn't already gotten the message, her first night back at Hogwarts left Pansy in no doubt that as far as the Slytherins were concerned she didn't exist. Stifling her tears, she yanked the emerald green curtains around her bed to hide herself from the other girls. Once the curtains around Pansy's bed were drawn, Hermione turned to smirk in the direction of the other girl's bed. Less than twenty four hours in, and she could already see the cracks appearing in Pansy's armour and she wondered how long the raven haired witch would last before cracking and finding life at Hogwarts too hard to cope with.