The rest of the feast was being held in the common rooms, and when Hermione returned to the depths of the castle, there was a moment of silence as her classmates took in her appearance – covered in water and porcelain dust as she was. Hermione walked defiantly, regardless of the white powder clinging to her hair and the state of her robes. She'd just fought a troll and won. She could look a mess if she wanted to.

She stalked towards her dormitory, whispers following her as she left.

As she changed, Tracey and Millie wandered in, one of them carrying a plate. They sat on Hermione's bed, watching as she pulled on fresh robes.

"What happened?" Tracey said finally. Hermione cast her a look.

"A troll wandered into the bathroom I was in," Hermione said. "That's what happened."

Millie and Tracey's eyes went huge, and Hermione found herself telling them exactly what had happened. Tracey had brought a plate of food for Hermione, and Hermione used some of the sweets to show them the exact layout of the bathroom.

"You say Harry and Neville tried to rescue you?" Tracey said. She exchanged a look with Millie. "That's pretty daring."

"It was pretty stupid of them," Hermione corrected. "Still, I'm glad they did it." She paused. "Though, I'm not sure if they were motivated so much out of heroism and friendship as much as guilt for what Ron said."

Tracey and Millie's faces darkened immediately.

"He is our enemy, now," Millie pronounced, something dangerous in her tone.

"Who's our enemy, now?" Pansy said as she entered the room, tossing her hair. Daphne wasn't far behind her.

"Ronald Weasley," Tracey said. "For his offenses against Hermione and our house."

Daphne turned to look at them, before moving over and joining them on Hermione's bed. She looked at Pansy expectantly, who huffed but joined them as well.

"Well?" Daphne prompted.

Hesitating at first, but gaining strength as she went, Hermione told the story of the bathroom and the troll again. The other girls gasped as she described the way it crushed the sink next to her, and there were genuine expressions of terror and shock as she described climbing out of the way and the boys' fight with the beast. When she told them how she lit it on fire and knocked it out with its own club, their expressions turned to admiration and wary respect.

"And you were in there because of Ron Weasley?" Pansy said, raising an eyebrow.

Hermione bit her lip, before nodding.

"He said 'It's no wonder no one can stand me,'" Hermione recited. "That 'I'm a nightmare' and 'no wonder the Slytherins don't want to be my friend'."

The other girls exchanged a look.

"When the professors caught us in the bathroom, I admitted that I'd been hiding and upset from Ron's bullying," Hermione said. "It kept the two boys out of trouble, and redirected McGonagall's rage away from us to Ron." She paused. "Snape took points from Gryffindor for his bullying, too. So that's a plus."

There was a silence, and Hermione felt uncomfortable. The other girls seemed to be looking at each other, an entire conversation encompassed within their glances. None of them looked at her. Tracey looked excited, Millie wary, and Pansy exasperated.

Daphne looked pensive for a long moment, before she looked up at Hermione.

"House Slytherin is gathered to unite against a common enemy," she said, her eyes hard. "We unite our hearts, our minds, and our magic to bring down our foe and keep Slytherin strong."

Her words had the ring of magic to them, and Hermione watched as she continued.

"Ronald Weasley is foe to House Slytherin," Daphne murmured, placing her hand on the bed in the center between the girls. "He has injured me and mine, he has made us his enemy, and we shall stand together to bring him down."

The other girls all looked to each other with wide eyes. Even Hermione could sense something formal was happening, and she tried to look like she understood.

"Ronald Weasley is foe to House Slytherin," Tracey repeated, moving suddenly to put her hand on top of Daphne's. "He has injured me and mine. He has made us his enemy, and we shall stand together to bring him down."

Hermione gasped as strings of green light came from under Daphne's hand, floating in the air next to Tracey's.

"Ronald Weasley is foe to House Slytherin," Millie declared, clapping her hand on top of the pile. "He has injured me and mine, he has made us his enemy, and we shall stand together to bring him down."

The glowing strings lengthened, and Hermione's eyes widened even more.

Everyone looked to Pansy, who was pouting, before she rolled her eyes and huffed.

"All right," she said snidely. "But this is only because I don't like Weasley, you know."

She moved closer, laying her hand on top of Millie's, and when Pansy spoke, there was a sudden weight to her words.

"Ronald Weasley is foe to House Slytherin," she intoned. "He has injured me and mine, he has made us his enemy, and we shall stand together to bring him down."

They all looked to her, and after a torn moment, Hermione put her hand down on the top.

"Ronald Weasley is foe to House Slytherin," she said quietly. "He has injured me and mine. He has made us his enemy… and we shall stand together to bring him down."

The floating strings of energy began moving quickly, tying knots between everyone's hands and wrists, leaving almost after-images of bright neon green light hanging in the air.

"This we so swear," Daphne said. "We swear in our hearts to recognize him as our enemy. We swear in our minds to plot his demise. And we swear by our magic to protect each other and bring him down. We swear this by House Slytherin, united against our foe. This we so swear."

There was a tense moment as the green light slashed around all their hands, before all their hands began to pulse and glow.

"This we so swear!"

Hermione hadn't realized she had spoken with the others – it just happened, the words forcing themselves from her lips – but there was a jolt of energy that shot through and up her arm, before the rest of the green energy broke apart into little green flakes, slowly dissipating into the air.

The other girls were looking at their hands in shock, before looking at Hermione in surprise. Daphne's face was a mixture of pride and determination.

"That hurt," Tracey said, stretching her arm. "Damn."

"I've never done a ritual like that before," Pansy admitted. "I mean, not a real one."

"We've never had real enemies before," Daphne said. "Not really."

The girls all nodded softly, exchanging looks, before quietly going about their evening routines without a word.

Hermione couldn't stop her mind from racing. She felt as if something had shifted inside of her, something she couldn't come back from. She'd declared Ron her enemy. She'd sworn to act against him – to actively bring him down.

But hadn't Ron started that in the first place? He'd called her names and been cruel since the start of the year, he'd abandoned her to Filch, and today he'd said such horrid things… if anyone had declared the other an enemy, Ron had done it first.

And the girls… it'd let her bond with the other Slytherin girls…

Hermione fell asleep that night with an anxious feeling in her stomach, but with a small smile on her face.