"I am appalled by your actions!"

My head turned in the direction of the yelling, and I couldn't help but smile as my chin rested on my propped-up hands.

"To think that my own Gryffindors would pull such a mean-spirited prank on another, even if they are a member of Slytherin House!" Professor McGonagall stated before abruptly putting her hand up to her mouth to block it.

"Hm. Guess she didn't mean to say that."I muttered, to which Blaise and Tracey laughed. Daphne had a calm smile on her face, and Theo… well, Theo was Theo.

The reason for this amusing event: I got another kid to take the fall for me. Another successful prank on Draco, who was currently scowling at everyone around him, even his 'friends' Crabbe, Goyle, and even little Pansy Parkinson.

On his face were dozens upon dozens of boils, but if my plan was executed to the letter, and they always are, these boils would've spread all across his body by now. I'm sure he'll be heading over to Madam Pomfrey soon after dinner.

Still, I guess I should be thankful to my group of associates and underlings. It was only two weeks ago that I had gotten caught by Professor Snape, and since then, I've done an excellent job of expanding my own circle of supporters. What I've learned is that there will always be people who are willing to do what you need them to do as long as you offer power, protection, and money.

The scapegoat this time - a older Gryffindor named Kenneth. It was easy to persuade him to join, all I had to do was get the Weasley twins to lay off him. Surprisingly, it wasn't a Slytherin who harassed him.

I felt a strange tinkling at my mind, and I quickly turned over to look at my head of house, Professor Snape. I presumed he was the only one of the professors who had suspected me of being the mastermind of this operation. Of course, he'd be right, but he'd never get me to admit it.

"Hey, Corvus, I've got an excellent prank I want to run by you!" Blaise said, tugging gently on the sleeve of my uniform.

"Blaise, I already told you, we won't speak of this in the Great Hall. All it takes is someone to know how to read lips, and they'd know everything about our plan, with your big mouth."

He frowned, but then I slid him a chocolate frog that I had been holding on to since some girl in another house gave it to me.

"Relax, friend. There will always be time for more. Of course, that'll have to wait until after Winter Break."

Tracey gasped, and then asked "After break? We won't be pranking until-"

I held up my finger to cut her off, stating "First off, no saying the 'P-Word'. For now, simply refer to it as 'it'. Second of all, yes. Daphne and I agreed that we've been expanding too fast."

Daphne nodded in agreement before stating "Word is spreading across the school. We've been expanding too fast, and the others our age are too foolish to understand when to keep their mouths shut. We need to lie low until we can remind them of how much we need silence."

Theodore nodded as if he had deduced that was why we had made the decision in the first place. Then again, Theo was there at the meeting between Daphne and I. These three, I trusted them more than anyone else. Frankly speaking, Blaise is only in it for the thrill. If he gets caught, he'll sell us out immediately, and Tracey is a little bit of a ditz. No offense, but it wouldn't be too difficult to trick her into giving us up.

"So, what will do until then?"

"Our homework." I answered.

Blaise laughed, and then slapped his face as if he suddenly realized something. "I see, now! You're worried that muggle girl will outsmart you! Last week, she almost answered more questions than you in class!"

I scowled, stating "This has nothing to do with Hermione Granger!"

"Or maybe you're realizing that you have a crush on her!" he incessantly continued.

*THUNK!*

Daphne aggressively hit the table before looking at Theo. A second later, the tall boy was smacking the back of Blaise's head.

"That's enough out of you, Blaise!"

He quickly began rubbing the back of his head as he weakly muttered "Ow!" Blaise quickly directed his head towards Daphne as he asked "I know Corvus is your boyfriend in all, but was that really-"

"Ow!"

Theodore didn't even need to be signaled for that one.

Blaise seemed to give up, as he didn't ask any more questions, but it seemed that Tracey had something on her mind. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked down at her plate, and picked at her food.

"Something wrong, Tracey?" I asked, to which she shot her head up. Her cheeks had begun to grow a pink tint as she responded.

"No! No! I'm just… worried about midterms!"

"Midterms? This early? You belong in the loony bin, Tracey." Blaise said, aggressively tearing open the wrapper of his chocolate frog.

I looked at the girl, and then smiled.

"Don't worry. You don't have to tell me a thing. I understand."

Her eyes and mouth seemed to quiver at my response as she asked "Y-You do?"

I finally nodded, and closed my eyes as I crossed my arms confidently. This… this is what I had planned for. As soon as we started school, I had been planning for this moment.

"Absolutely." I peeked my eye open, and I saw she had begun to tightly grip the table cloth that was on her lap only a moment ago. "I was preparing for this very moment: Midterms!"

Tracey immediately faltered, and put her napkin back on her lap.

"Don't worry, Tracey. I've come up with a possible plan for review in preparation for the midterms. Finished it three weeks ago; it has everything we could possibly ever need to know before the midterms. After that, I'll start on the End-of-Year Exams!"

Daphne quickly let her fork hit her plate. As she patted at her mouth, she muttered "For someone who's so smart, you really are dumb."

My eyebrows rose in confusion, but they quickly lowered as Blaise got my attention, and directed me towards the door.

Kenneth was walking out the large doors of the Great Hall, presumably to Professor McGonagall's Office.

"That sucks for Kenneth. He's really nice." Tracey said, sighing. "I wish we could've gotten someone else to take the fall."

"He wanted this, Tracey."I said. "Besides, it's not like he's getting nothing for it. I've given him a galleon, as is normal, and even offered him my protection."

"Still, I feel like it's unfair."

"You are too nice for your own good." Daphne said, to which Tracey frowned slightly. "Don't worry, Tracey. I'm sure Corvus and I can stomp out that kindness of yours."

Tracey gave a weak smile at that, but I couldn't help but feel concerned. She wouldn't give us up, that's for sure. Everything about her mind screams 'loyal', but this whole war on Draco may be taking its toll on her. I would hate to make her do something she doesn't wish to do.

'I'll have to keep my mind on her.' I thought, making a note in my head.

Today is Hallowe-en Feast. Fitting, given the date, but I can't help but feel odd about today. Something about it has shivers shooting down my spine.

Then again, that may just be because that girl with the squirrel teeth, Hermione, finally pulled one on me.

'This just confirms it - I've been spending too much time devising plans and pranks to pull on Draco. At least now, I can focus back on school.'

We were learning a spell Avifors, which supposedly is supposed to transform objects into birds. Rather than getting it as fast as I usually do, I took so long that Hermione actually got it first, along with the praise and admiration of Professor McGongall.

"Take that, Gaunt! I knew I could beat you! All I had to do was read more books."

Hermione blocked the way of the hallways as she held her books in one hand, and put her other hand on her hip.

"And now that I've done it once, I can do it again! Before you know it, I'll be the one who has the spot of number one first year!" she confidently stated.

I took a deep sigh as I stared at the girl's shiny shoes. Frankly, she was lucky that I didn't have the others with me, or I would've had no choice but to tear her apart. They went back to the dorms to quickly change out their books for next class, so it was just me, and Hermione. Strangely, it was only me and Hermione. It seemed everyone else was gone.

"Congratulations, Granger, but one small victory in battle is hardly enough to win a war." I said, walking over to the stone wall, and leaning back on it. "If you want to beat me for good, you'll have to beat me so bad that I'll have no choice but to give up."

"On the contrary, I don't want to beat you. Not yet, at least." she said, taking a few steps closer. "You're the only one of the First Years who is actually my intellectual equal, and to be honest, I've enjoyed the competition. I just came here to let you know that this is only the beginning."

I smiled. "I see. Is it really that, or are you just lonely because the other Gryffindors ignore you because they think you're annoying?"

"…"

She didn't respond.

"Don't think I haven't noticed. It's hardly a secret, even to the other houses. They don't value your intelligence, as most people with more brawns than brain do. It is for that reason that I have to ask you a question: why did you join the Gryffindors? I can understand why you wouldn't join Hufflepuff or Slytherin, as one is a House of loyal, but overall useless dogs, and one is filled with blood supremacists, but Ravenclaw values intelligence and wit above all else."

"…"

I stared at her for a while longer before pulling my books back up, and walking past her, barely brushing her own arm with my own.

"I almost was." she finally admitted.

I stopped in my tracks, but didn't stop to turn around.

"I can't exactly tell you why." Hermione said. "Maybe it was because I wanted to be in Gryffindor so bad, or maybe it was because the hat saw something in me nobody else saw, but I was put into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw."

I waited for a bit before nodding. "Maybe you've got some of that 'Gryffindor Courage' I've heard so much about. Even so, don't change yourself for anyone else. You don't have to. Eventually, you'll find others who value not just your intelligence, but you. After that, you can beat me into the ground for good."

I finally began walking into the courtyard, and finally into the castle when she called out behind me again.

"Wait!" I turned around with my hand on the handle to the castle. "I know something about you, too! I know you don't care for blood purity, and I know you've been trying to remove it from Slytherin."

My eyebrow furrowed in interest.

"You've been trying to bully it out of Draco, right? After all, as long as he's here, the Slytherins won't change. And- And you're actually really nice! I've seen you help other people when your friends aren't around. Helping them in class, or giving them galleons."

'She must think I'm giving them galleons because I'm 'nice'. She has no idea just how far I'm going.'

I smiled, and then walked up to her before gently bonking her on the head with my balled up fist.

"Look at that, you are as smart as I think you are. Problem is, you're a little wrong. You've got the foundation, but you've messed up on the plaster, and that's making the whole building crumble. Try again later. I'll see you after this evening's feast."

And then I walked away. As I walked through the halls of Hogwarts, I warmed up my hands by blowing in into them, but continued my line of thought as I carried on.

'You're actually really nice!'

"'Nice', she said. How interesting. She's smart, but she's too lonely. Looking in between the lines that aren't there."

I quickly knocked into a smaller first year, almost knocking him down, but just before he fell to the floor, I grabbed onto his arm, and pulled him back up to his feet, and moved on.

"Now, how am I going to get alone time with Tracey?"

"Are you guys ready for the feast? It's going to be so good!"

Blaise's face was practically drooling as the thought of food drifted throughout his mind. Theo nodded in agreement, Tracey just looked excited as she thought about the candy she was going to get, and even Daphne was smiling at the thought of Halloween.

Halloween - The only time of the year when we can be the monsters we've always wanted to be.

"Hey! Isn't that Granger?"

Blaise called out, pointing. Sure enough, it was Hermione, but it looked as though she was covering her face, and … sobbing?

"Why is she crying?" Daphne asked.

"Who cares? She had it coming if you ask me. She must've embarrassed me in class three times by now!" Blaise stated whilst putting his hands behind his back, and marching away.

"Someone really must have hurt her feelings." Tracey said. As if subconsciously, she grabbed onto the sleeve of my robe, and began to tug on it. "Don't you think we should help her?"

"Tracey, dear, you really must learn that we cannot afford to make ourselves look weak at the expense of others. It's sad, but we have to let Granger sort things out herself." Daphne said, moving on.

I stopped in my tracks, and muttered "Oh, shoot! I forgot something back in the dorms! Just go on to the feast. I'll be right there."

And then I ran in the other direction towards Hermione. Unfortunately, it seems the only one of the five people I trusted most caught on - Tracey.

"Psst! Corvus! Wait for me!"

I quickly grabbed her robe, and pulled her around a corner.

"What are you doing here, Tracey? I'll be right back!"

"You're going to help Hermione, aren't you? She's really nice. If we can cheer her up, then maybe we can become friends with her, don't you think?"

I couldn't help but face palm. "You really are too kind for your own good."

"You're nicer than you think you are, too, Corvus. Or else, you wouldn't be here." she giggled as she looked up my face.

"Fine." I relented. "You can come with me, but did any of the others notice you came this way?"

"I told Daphne that I was going with you to get your thingie."

I ruffled her shoulder-length hair as I quickly grabbed her hand, and began chasing after Hermione.

"Good girl."

I heard another giggle from behind me.

Unfortunately, crying girls are faster than they look - Hermione already seemed to be in the girl's bathroom.

"Damn. I can't go in there." I cursed.

"I can. Do you want me to go in there to check on her?"

"If you wouldn't mind. I'll stay out here until the two of you come out. Then we can head down to the Great Hall together."

Tracey nodded, and then marched in with the most confident look on her face that I've ever seen before.

They were in there for minutes at first… and then ten…

"Good, God, how long does it take for girls to talk?"

And then twenty. And then, I heard it - footsteps. They weren't footsteps that belonged to a human, either. They were loud… Too loud.

Without a moment's hesitation, I pulled the door open, and ran inside.

The two girls quickly squealed, but I hushed them up by pressing my finger to my lips. Something was coming, and whatever it was, I had a feeling it wasn't friendly.

Which means… now I have a choice to make.

1. I could stay here with the girls, and wait it out in the bathroom. Hell, there would be worse places to hide, but as long as we keep our feet on the toilets, we should be relatively safe.

2. Run out of the bathroom, and go down the halls. If I can find a professor, even Quirrell, we should be safe from it, whatever it is.

But still, there risks with either option. If we hide out in the bathroom, we'll have little to no room to maneuver if it finds us, or smells us out. It would be ridiculously easy to get us then.

And for the second one, we'd have to outrun it if we make a noise whilst in the halls, and I'm not confident we could outrun something much larger than us, especially if it's quadrupedal.

"Ladies, I don't want to freak you out, but there's something coming, and it's large." I said, finally.

Hermione still seemed to be wiping away her tears, and it seemed like Tracey was just confused about the whole situation.

"That means we need to go now." I said, abruptly. I quickly rushed over to both girls, and took them both by the hand before running back to the door, and pulling it open after I let go of Tracey's hand.

After taking back Tracey's hand, I rushed to the opposite corridor, looking for anywhere to hide.

*Thunk…Thunk…Thunk…"

'Good. It's still a little bit away. If we're quick, we can-'

*THUNKTHUNKTHUNK*

'Aw, shit. It must smell us, or something. It's definitely picking up the pace.'

I quickly pulled the girls along as I wordlessly mouthed "Quiet" to them. If they give us away, we may lose all chance of getting away unscathed.

Luckily, the corner wasn't too far away. Just as I pushed the girls around the corner, I could see the silhouette of a grey individual with monstrous feet. Lumpy feet… consistent grunting… small, almost comically-sized head. I was certain of what this beast was.

"It's a troll."

"A troll?!" Hermione asked, incredulously. She tried getting a better look, but then the troll suddenly looked in our direction, and I pushed her back down.

As it pushed open the doors to the bathroom, I took a sigh of relief.

"I know what I saw, Hermione. It's not worth getting killed over something so you can satisfy your curiosity."

"I know that!" she refuted.

"Then act your age! We won't have very long. Trolls are drawn by revolting smells, but it won't be long until it gets bored. We have to-"

"What's that smell? It smells revolting."

I immediately felt life face-palming.

That voice, it couldn't belong to anyone other than Potter, and Weasley. The Prepubescent Heroes.

My head turned as I looked towards Tracey, and I quickly pulled her and Hermione up onto their feet as I commanded "Take her to the Slytherin Common Room! She'll be safe there until I get back."

Tracey nodded, and began nudging Hermione along as she asked "Where's he going?"

I let out another deep sigh as I summoned up my remaining willpower, and watched Tracey walk away.

'This… This is the bravest I've seen Tracey so far. She's already very different from the girl I met on the bus. I hope I get to see her mature more.'

I slapped myself to cut my depressing thoughts off. I have more than just me to be concerned about right now.

I snapped out just on time too, as a mop of orange and black hair appeared in my view.

"Potter, Weasley! Stay away from the door!" I yelled in the quietest manner possible. "The troll is in the bathroom!"

"Hermione's in there with that thing?" Ron asked, to which I shook my head.

"No. She's going to the Slytherin Common Room with one of my friends. I only stayed back to warn you of the absolute shit storm you're walking towards."

"How do we know you're telling the truth-"

And then, the door abruptly opened, and I was staring face-to-face with the ugliest creature God could have ever devised.

"Because I'm staring right at it."

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

Both of the boys ran away, and I immediately felt disgust for the delusions of 'Gryffindor Bravery'. All it took was one look at danger, and they immediately dashed, leaving me to face the threat alone.

"Very well, you disgusting monster. If it's your death you want, I'll be sure to send you to your maker."

I drew my wand, and pointed it at the troll before yelling "Corpus Fractura"

The blast of red launched towards the beast before effortlessly being absorbed by the monster.

It reeled back as if it was in pain for a moment before it finally yelled out in anger.

"GRAGHH!"

And then I booked it. The stomps that soon followed me only encouraged me to pick up my speed.

Adrenaline was running through my system. Beat after beat, my feet touched the ground, and lifted me to the next tile of the Hogwarts flooring, but that was hardly that last I saw of the beast.

"GRAK!"

"Is grunting the only thing you know how to do?" I yelled back, but that only sought to make the troll more aggressive. It finally hit the ground of the floor, and smashed up dozens upon dozens of shattered tiles into the air, which nearly knocked me off of my feet.

"Ah!" I gasped just before finally touching ground again.

The troll's barrage didn't end there. It began smashing faster and faster. Each hit was as powerful as the last, and I knew for a fact that if one of those hit me, there was a good chance I'd die instantly.

I looked around for something I could use - anything I could use, but there was nothing. Pillar… pillar… glass… pillar… glass, it was all the same. There was nothing there… except…

I took a cautious glance at the roaring beast behind me. I had succeeded in pissing it off, and it was taking that rage out on the ground. There were cracks forming on the wooden end of its crude club.

'If I can somehow snatch that club away from the troll, maybe I can use it against him somehow.'

But then, it hit me. Literally.

Before I could even put my plan into action, I was knocked against the wall. Every bit of my breath left my body as the troll stared at me in the eyes.

I looked weakly around for my wand, but it had rolled over to my left - a distance too far away for me to get whilst knocked against the wall with no breath.

'So… this is how it ends…' I thought before my eyes closed.

"…"

'No.' My eyes shot open once more, and I looked at the club before feeling it as if it was in the palm of my hand. I couldn't lift it myself, but with magic, nothing is out of reach.

As the troll looked at both me, and his club in estranged wonder, I clenched my hand tightly, and the club splintered into thousands of pieces of varying sizes.

What was most important, however, was that the shaft remained, and it's end was looking very point.

I waved my hand towards the troll, and all of the pieces of wood shot towards him, as if they were bullets, and each shard of wood embedded itself deep into his body.

The largest piece, however, ended up entering through the front of the troll's throat, and went through the back.

The last thing I can remember before passing out was the pool of blood that started to form underneath him as he crashed onto the ground.

With what little breath I had, I muttered "Take that, you filthy creature."

And then it was just black.

…

…

…

*Gasp!*

I quickly shot up, and looked around for my wand. It should be right… wait… this is… the infirmary?

My wand, it was to the right of me, along with a large number of flowers and chocolates, and other assorted candies.

"I figured since you had missed out on Hallowe-en Feast, I would gift you some of the candy I received for the holiday, but it seems you never needed it in the first place. You friends had already taken care of it." a warm, but aged voice stated.

The voice… it was Dumbledore. The Headmaster himself had come to see me.

"Where are my friends?" I asked. "Tracey? Hermione? Where are they?"

Dumbledore seemed to smile as he looked at me. "They are perfectly safe. As are you, now. The troll has been… eliminated."

"I killed it." I said.

I had actually killed something. It didn't feel right, if I'm being honest. Actually, it didn't feel like I had killed anything at all. The thing was a beast, and it had to be put down like a beast.

"Yes, you did. It was dead before we found you, but the troll was only second compared to you. Compared to your safety."

"So nobody else got hurt."

Dumbledore nodded, stating "It was due to your quick actions, and your cool head that nobody, yourself excluded, got hurt. Ms. Greengrass, Ms. Davis, and Ms. Granger seemed especially worried about your safety."

"What about the two other Gryffindors?"

"They were… less than forthcoming about the events that transpired. Mr. Weasley even stated he warned you not to go in the bathroom."

I felt a scowl grow on my face, but Dumbledore quickly raised his wrinkled hand to stop me.

"You musn't blame them. No child should have to go through such an event. This is merely his attempt to remove the guilt he's grown from abandoning you."

"He's stroking his own ego!" I refuted. My hands had grown stiff from clenching my blanket so hard.

"And what about Potter?" I asked. "What has he said about troll encounter? Let me guess, he approached it for single-combat, and had an honorable duel with it? A duel to the death?"

"Harry is… he is regretful. He told me so, himself."

"He was prepared to rush in there for Hermione, but when it comes to someone from another house, he can't be bothered?"

"Harry believed that you could get away. He was confident that you could find a teacher to handle the issue."

"No, I handled it myself!"

"…"

The aged man looked as though he was about to take me by the shoulder and teach me a life lesson, but he relented at the last moment.

"I apologize for any damage you have incurred during the actions of yesterday. I hope the rest of your recovery goes well."

He gave me a small bow with his head before wandering off.

'Weasley and Potter, how pathetic.' I thought, letting my hate take control. 'The Boy-Who-Lived is a coward, and that Weasley is a fraud. He's the worst of the bunch, without a doubt. At least Fred and George know respect.'

I sat there, stewing in my own hatred for maybe another half hour. Halfway through, Madam Pomfrey came it to give me a potion called 'Skele-Grow', and warned me about the a pains I'd go through. Apparently, my wounds were far too much for simple mending, but when the clock hit 12, I finally saw the people I had been waiting for: my friends.

"Corvus!"

All four of them rushed in here - each one holding either a bouquet of flowers, or a small pile of candy in there arms.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to make it out alive once Tracey told us what you were doing, but to actually kill a troll! You're going to be drowning in girls, Gaunt!"

I weakly held up my hand, and gave Blaise a fist-bump.

"I think it was dumb… and foolish. What did you… I'm-I'm glad you're all right."

Daphne sat down on the chair next to me, and held onto my hand.

"I-I did what you wanted me to do, but are you okay?" Tracey asked. Theo nodded along with her question, as if wanting to know himself.

"I'm perfect." I lied. "I killed a troll! How many First Years can say that?"

"None but you." Blaise reassured before piling more candy on the table next to me. "I always knew the Heir of Gaunt would be special. I guess now, it's written in stone. I can't wait to tell my mother."

"Um, I'm glad you're all right, Corvus."

I noticed the mousy hair of another girl pop into view from beside a curtain, and Hermione approached me with her hands behind her back.

"I'm really thankful that you saved me. Both you and Tracey, but why?"

I couldn't help but blow out air. I looked around at my friends, and asked "Mind if I have a few moment alone with Hermione?"

They all nodded, and left the hospital wing, and I was left alone with the girl who cautiously took the seat next to me.

"I'm not sure, if I'm being honest. I had heard that you were crying, and I went to see what was up. Why were you crying, anyways?"

"It was… nothing. Ron just said something mean about me."

"Weasley?"

She nodded her head, and I gripped my sheets for a moment longer before relenting.

"Well, now you're with the people you belong with - my friends. They may be reluctant at first, but like I said, you have to find people who respect you for who you are, and you won't ever find that in the Gryffindors."

Hermione's eyes watered up a bit before she finally kneeled down, and kissed me on my cheek.

"I meant what I said: you really are kind."

"No, I meant 'Get out of here, you mousy-haired freak'!"

Instead of getting insulted, Hermione only giggled, and then stood up, and brushed away at her skirt.

"I'll come by later to see how you're doing. I suspect the others will, too."

"Just remember," I said, "You're always welcome with us. Potter and Weasley may dislike you, but we'll make sure you feel as though you belong."

And then she gave me a curt smile, and then left.

When my friends rejoined me, they made me regale them with the story of the troll, and how I killed it - and it reminded me of just how much I was thankful to be in Slytherin. After all, Gryffindor has nothing but cowards. Cowards and cheats.

CStrain, Again! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's a little late, but I think it measures up to my previous ones. Just so you guys know, this is one of the last events in the first book (if not, second to last) that I plan to cover. Everything else will be unique. I know a lot of you don't like copying, and pasting the same events from the original book by J.K., but this is honestly the best way to make sure Hermione becomes a part of Corvus's group, rather than Harry's. At least, for now.

One more note before I sign off, I'm always looking to improve my work. Criticism (outside of grammar) is always wanted, but I would also like to hear what you guys would like to see/read in TLSG, so send me your thoughts. If I like them, I'll put them in! Original characters you want to insert as a cameo? Tell me a little about them! You can bet your ass I'll put them in! This story is ultimately for your reading pleasure, and so anything that I read and want to include in my DM's will be credited towards you in the chapter I include them in.

Love you guys (and gals), I'll see you next time.

-CStrain