At the end of the first week back at school, the Slytherins gathered in the boys' dorms. Hermione had organised the meeting so that she and her friends could discuss strategy concerning Harry and Ron. For a week they'd done nothing, but Hermione had plans and she'd asked everyone to bring something to the meeting.
Daphne was the last one into the room, and once she'd shut the door behind her, Draco silenced the room so no-one could overhear their plans. Even though they doubted any of the other Slytherins could go tattling if they overheard what they were planning, it was a risk Hermione didn't want to take. Her father had trusted her and her friends to give Harry and Ron some payback, and she didn't want to mess it up by having their plans overheard by anyone.
"Thanks for coming," Hermione said, smiling at her friends. "I'm sure you've all got some ideas on how to deal with Harry and Ron. But as I said on the train, whatever we do has to happen without any comeback on us."
"Is that why you had me get some Polyjuice Potion from Severus?" Draco asked, removing a large vial of the potion from his pocket and sitting it on his bedside table.
"And these hairs from Longbottom," Blaise added, producing his own vial containing several hairs.
"And Thomas," Theo said, producing his own vial.
Vince then produced a vial of hairs from Seamus, while Daphne had a vial of hairs from Ginny. Greg was the only one without hairs, but his contribution to the meeting was a copy of Harry and Ron's timetable.
"How does all this go together?" Blaise asked as everything was placed together on Draco's bedside table.
"We now have Harry and Ron's movements five days a week," Hermione explained, tapping the timetable. It was easy to pinpoint where the duo were during the lessons they shared with the Slytherins, but as for the other times, it was impossible to know what lesson they were in while they were elsewhere in the castle. "And with Polyjuice Potion and hairs from those around them, we have access to them without anyone realising it's us."
"So basically whatever we do, we do it posing as Gryffindors," Theo concluded.
"Exactly," Hermione replied with a smirk. "And if we're lucky, it'll cause problems between the Gryffindors."
"So what are we going to do?" Draco asked as Hermione picked up the copy of Harry and Ron's timetable.
"How about a trip down the stairs?" Blaise suggested with a devious grin. "If we get close enough to them, we can push them down a few stairs. And of course the only people they will remember seeing are a couple of their friends."
"Why are they taking Potions?" Hermione interrupted with a frown. Since the first had fallen in the middle of the week, they'd only attended a couple of days' worth of classes and none of those classes had been Potions. "I thought Professor Snape was pretty strict about people taking his N.E.W.T lessons. I know there's no way Harry and Ron are good enough to carry on with Potions."
"Especially with you not around helping them," Daphne remarked.
"I don't know why they're taking Potions," Draco answered. "We could ask Severus."
"We will," Hermione said. "Although if this is right and they're taking Potions, it could work well for us. I'm sure an accident could be arranged, maybe a one to show how incompetent they are."
"I'm sure Severus would love that," Draco laughed.
"Okay, so we have a Potions accident and a trip down some stairs. What's next?" Hermione asked.
For the next hour the Slytherins discussed ways to ways to mess with Harry and Ron. Of course with the Polyjuice Potion and the hairs, they could get even more creative and find ways to create problems between Harry, Ron and their friends. By the time they were done with the pair, not only would they have had the term from hell, but there would be serious issues between the Gryffindors. Hermione knew Harry and Ron well, and she knew for a fact that they would accuse their friends of things before their brains kicked in and they realised that they were being rash.
With plenty of ideas on how to deal with the two Gryffindors, the Slytherins eventually ended their meeting. Before they decided which plan to activate first, Hermione wanted to speak to Severus, so while the others made plans for the weekend, she and Draco headed along to the Potions Professors office.
"Enter," Severus called after they'd knocked on the door.
Heading into the office, Hermione and Draco found Severus sitting behind his desk, a stack of paperwork on his desk. A fire was burning in the corner of the room and Severus had discarded his robes over the back of his chair, leaving him in his trousers and a black shirt.
"Draco, Hermione, what can I do for you?" Severus asked as the young couple sat down in front of his desk. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," Hermione replied. "We just have a few questions."
"About?"
"Potter and Weasley," Draco answered. "We're interested in why they're taking Potions. I wouldn't have thought their grades were good enough."
"They're not," Severus replied in annoyance. "But Dumbledore insisted that they be allowed into the class."
"Can he do that?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"He's the headmaster, he can pretty much do what he wants," Severus snorted. "He insisted that I allow them both into my classes. I think he's harbouring dreams of them both becoming Aurors."
"Not in this lifetime," Hermione snarled. "After what they did to me, I won't stand back and let them join the Ministry to uphold the law."
"I seriously doubt that will be an issue," Severus replied with a smirk. "Your father is hoping to have full control of the Ministry sooner rather than later, so if Potter and Weasley do survive the coming months, they won't be finding any job opportunities at the Ministry."
"Personally, I'm hoping that they don't survive," Draco said. "Don't get me wrong, messing with them is going to be fun, but they deserve to suffer for what they did to Hermione."
"I'm sure they will," Severus said with a nod of his head. "So I take it you've got plans for the pair, possibly utilising the Polyjuice Potion I supplied you with."
"Let's just say that the pair are going to be accident prone this term," Hermione chuckled. "And we were hoping that one of those accidents could happen in Potions."
"What sort of accident were you thinking of?" Severus questioned warily.
"We were thinking something that would make them look incompetent," Hermione explained. "You could even use it to persuade Dumbledore that he was wrong to allow them to take Potions."
"Give me some time to think about it," Severus said with a thoughtful nod. "I'll let you know what lesson will be the best one for you to intervene. I'm sure in the next couple of weeks we can make a potion that will go off with a bang if the wrong ingredient is accidentally mixed into it."
"Thank you Professor," Hermione said with a smile.
Just a year ago, she wouldn't have trusted the Potions Professor with anything, but now he was one of the people in Hogwarts that she trusted the most. After all, he had saved her life and she would be forever grateful to him. He'd proven that he was well and truly on the dark side and now he had Hermione's trust and her unwavering loyalty.
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For most of the summer holidays, Harry and Ron had been hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with Hermione again. But then Dumbledore had given them the news that she was on the student list for the start of the new year. However, even knowing she was returning to Hogwarts hadn't prepared the pair for seeing her in the flesh, looking as though nothing had happened. Much to the pair's annoyance, she even acted as though nothing had happened. She was still playing up to her new title as the Slytherin Princess and holding court with the other Slytherins.
Although, interestingly enough Pansy Parkinson was no longer part of her inner circle. Initially Harry and Ron hadn't taken much notice of the animosity between the Slytherins, but a rift like that didn't go unnoticed around the school and by the end of the first week at school, the rumours had begun to circulate. Not only had Pansy been ostracised by her friends, all of Slytherin had turned their backs on her. She was a pariah among the snakes, and word soon leaked out as to why she was unwelcome among the Slytherins.
The discovery that Pansy had been behind the cursed bracelet sent to Hermione had sent shock waves around the school. Harry and Ron were both shocked by the revelation, as even though Pansy had been the architect behind the poisoning incident, they'd never thought she would have the guts to try and take Hermione out on her own. They were also curious about how she'd survived once Voldemort had discovered she was behind his daughter's recent trauma, because they were sure that he would know since now everyone at Hogwarts knew the truth.
The pair had been slightly worried that Pansy had told what she knew about the poisoning incident, but since nothing had happened, they had to assume that she'd kept quiet. Maybe she'd kept her mouth shut because the chances of Voldemort letting her get away with trying to kill his daughter twice was remote. It was hard enough to believe that he'd let her get away with sending the bracelet. Although on second thoughts, maybe she hadn't exactly gotten away scot free as she was now a pariah, not just among the Slytherins, but with the entire school. There wasn't a soul at Hogwarts who had any time for Pansy, and already she was little more than a ghost hovering on the edges of society. By the end of the year she would be in such a terrible state that Harry and Ron doubted she would be finishing her education at Hogwarts.
As well as digesting what was happening with the Slytherins, Harry and Ron were also on edge waiting for word of what was happening outside of Hogwarts. With the escape from Azkaban, and a few minor incidents, the entire Order were on high alert and when they'd returned to school, the Order had been bracing themselves for a big attack. The common consensus was that once Hermione was safely back at Hogwarts then Voldemort would up his game and try and gain yet more control and influence in the wizarding world.
Having heard nothing since their return to school, Harry and Ron wrote a letter to Sirius, as he was the one most likely to tell them things. Late on Saturday evening the pair headed up to the owlery to send the letter using Harry's distinctive snowy owl, Hedwig. Just as Hedwig was soaring off into the sky the door to the owlery opened and Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan entered the room.
Exchanging greetings with the pair, Harry and Ron turned to leave the owlery. The owlery was situated at the top of a short, winding stone stairway and as the light was fading it wasn't too bright as the pair exited the room. Just as Harry was stepping down the first step, Ron was shoved in the back and before he could stop himself he went stumbling into Harry. Together the pair went crashing down the stone stairs and as they lay in a dazed heap, two figures leapt over them and sprinted away from the owlery.
"Ow," Ron muttered as he gingerly rolled off Harry.
"You can say that again," Harry grumbled. "What happened? Did you slip?"
"No, I was pushed," Ron said with a frown as he carefully sat up and rubbed at his aching body.
"Pushed?" Harry questioned as he also checked himself out for serious injury. "Are you sure?"
"I felt a hand on my back. I was pushed," Ron insisted.
"But there was only Dean and Seamus in the owlery," Harry said as he carefully got to his feet. His right arm was hurting and he thought he might have damaged his shoulder.
"I know what I felt Harry," Ron snapped as he also got to his feet, wincing slightly as his left ankle threatened to give way under his weight.
"We'll talk to them later, but I think I want to go and check my shoulder out," Harry told Ron. "It's killing me."
"So is my ankle," Ron admitted.
As the pair hobbled off towards the hospital wing, a pair of brown eyes watched them leave. Hermione had been hidden in an alcove opposite the owlery from earlier that afternoon after Theo had overheard the pair talking about the letter they were going to send to Harry's godfather. Once the boys were up in the owlery, she'd alerted Draco and Blaise and the two boys had played their parts of Dean and Seamus. Hermione had been thrilled when she'd seen Harry and Ron tumble down the stairs, and before they could even register what had happened to them, Draco and Blaise had taken off so they couldn't be caught. Hermione had then listened as the boys discussed what had happened, and then headed off to the hospital wing. As she'd predicated, the supposed presence of Dean and Seamus had muddied the waters, and no doubt before the end of the day her old friends would be apportioning blame where it didn't belong and alienating their friends.