Edited on 2/5/2021

Hermione woke up to Polly crying out "Wake up, Little Misses! It bes the first day of classes!" Hermione sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. She looked over to see Daphne already sitting up in her bed, halfway through a magazine. Pansy, on the other hand, was burrowing further under her sheets. Narrowing her eyes, Polly popped out of the room. A moment later, she returned with a wet rag clutched in one hand. The Elf pulled back Pansy's sheets (despite her desperate attempts to keep them where they were) and dropped the wet rag on Pansy's face.

Pansy let out an unladylike yelp and practically leapt out of bed..

"That was cold, Polly!"

"Little Miss needed to get up," said Polly, unperturbed.

After a flurry of activity, the three girls entered the common room looking picture perfect at 7:45. Draco and Theo, who were chatting on a couch with Blaise Zabini, looked up as they entered.

"About bloody time," Draco moaned, "Salazar, I'm hungry!"

"How are you hungry?" gaped Hermione, "I'm still stuffed from last night!"

"I'm a growing boy!" Draco protested.

"Spare us the dramatics. Are you going to introduce us to Zabini?" asked Pansy, rolling her eyes.

"Oh," Draco cleared his throat, "Ladies, this is Blaise Zabini, Heir of House Zabini of Italy."

Blaise Zabini laughed, "Ugh, you sound so formal. You don't need to bother with any of that, y'know? Just call me Blaise."

"Nice to meet you, Blaise," said Hermione, "I'm Hermione Greengrass, this is my sister Daphne, and this is Pansy Parkinson."

"Pleasure to meet you," said Blaise, winking.

Unable to help herself, Hermione peppered Blaise with questions as they strolled to the Great Hall.

"So, Draco said House Zabini is from Italy? Were you born and raised there? 'Cos I've never seen you around before. I mean, you weren't at any of the galas or Ministry Events or anything."

Blaise laughed, "Yeah, I've lived in Italy my whole life, but I certainly would have moved to the United Kingdom sooner if I'd known there were beautiful girls like you here," he winked.

Hermione blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Draco, who was a strange shade of pink, fell back so that he was walking at Hermione's other side.

"Wonder what our schedules are going to be like," he said, his voice determinedly casual.

Normally, Hermione would have looked at him askance for that, but not today. Instead, she perked up at the mention of schedules and started chatting away about what class she wanted to have with which House, and which classes she hoped were on certain days. By the time they arrived in the Great Hall, she'd described her ideal schedule in great detail.

Blaise's glares at the Malfoy heir went unnoticed as Draco watched Hermione fondly.

As they sat down, Hermione glanced at the Hufflepuff table to see that Hannah hadn't yet shown up for breakfast. Hermione did, however, note that there were a plethora of vegetarian breakfast options where Hannah had sat last night. Smiling to herself, Hermione sat between Daphne and Pansy. Pansy was drinking a mug filled to the brim with black coffee, while Daphne was chatting with Theo as he was working on the crossword in the Daily Prophet, the Sudoku already completed.

"How'd you already get the Prophet? The owls haven't even delivered them yet!" Draco asked, as he sat next to Theo and across from Hermione. Blaise took the seat across from Pansy, as Theo looked up.

"I didn't-it's yesterday's Prophet, I didn't get a chance to finish out the Crossword," he glanced back down at his paper, "What's a nine letter word for a plant that helps you breathe underwater?"

"Gillyweed," said Hermione, nonchalantly.

Everyone looked at her, surprised, before Pansy said, "That's OWL material. I know you like to read ahead, Mia, but you don't even like Herbology. How'd you know that?"

Hermione stared back blankly as she realised that she didn't know how she knew that. "I… I don't know," she mumbled.

Daphne, however, came to her rescue. "I'm sure you read it somewhere and forgot where you read it. I mean, Merlin, there's no way you can remember where you learned everything on top of what you learned! That would be so completely unfair. I mean, as it is, you're absolutely brilliant enough."

Everyone laughed, and Hermione forgot her worries. Draco started recalling the story of the one time that he met Molly Weasley. The - no doubt embellished - tale started with her bumping into him in a shop in Diagon Alley a couple of years ago and ended with Draco swearing that she yelled at him so much that he got permanent hearing damage. About halfway through breakfast, when the hall was full of people, the owls started flying in.

Persephone settled on Daphne's shoulder, a letter in her beak and a parcel tied onto her leg. Hermione untied the parcel while Daphne opened the letter.

Dear Hermione and Daphne,

We are so proud to hear that you two were sorted into Slytherin. I don't think it was much of a surprise, though, not even for the elves. Mippie looked at us and told us that of course you were sorted there, you are Greengrasses. There's more film in the parcel, if you haven't opened it already. Pippie wanted to send sweets, but Skippie argued that you should have enough left over from the train ride to last you throughout the day. Although she did say that you would definitely need some more tomorrow morning. We just wanted to send this to you to let you know how proud we are of you both.

Love

Mum and Dad

P.S. Give Hannah, Pansy, Draco, and Theo our love

Dear Mia and Daphne,

This is Astoria writing, obviously, you could probably tell by the handwriting. Mummy and Daddy said you got into Slytherin, so that's really cool. Was the Sorting Hat really gross and old? I don't want to put on a musty old hat that's a thousand years old just because it's tradition. What would happen if someone with lice put it on? No thank you. Anyways, you had better be taking pictures already so you can make copies and send them to me, 'cause I want to be there with you guys but I can't 'cause I'm not eleven yet. Which sucks. I think nine and a half year olds can learn magic just as good as eleven year olds. Anyways, you need to send me back a letter with every single thing that happened, I'm not even kidding. If you leave out a single detail, I'll tell Mum about the time that I caught you two sneaking out onto the roof that one night to watch the stars, so you better include everything.

Stori

Hermione and Daphne exchanged amused glances throughout Astoria's letter. "We should probably write back to her tonight," said Daphne, as she fed Persephone a bit of bacon off of Theo's plate.

Hermione nodded absentmindedly as she flipped through the Daily Prophet, scanning it for anything of worth. A moment later, she put it down, shrugging, "Hey Drake, what's your letter say?"

Draco looked up from his breakfast, and shrugged noncommittally. "Same as what your parents said, I imagine. Mother and Father send their love to you."

"Aw, well tell them we say hi and send our love as well," grinned Hermione, "Our parents send their love to you as well. Same to you, Pans and Theo. By the way, there's nothing worth reading in the Daily Prophet today, so you guys don't have to bother scanning it."

"Speak for yourself," chuckled Theo, who was already working on the new Sudoku, the old Prophet finished and set to the side. At that moment, Carrine walked over to where the group of First Years were sitting and handed each of the girls a timetable.

"Thomas will be down to give you boys your timetables in a moment, but they're the same as any other first year Slytherin's," She gave them all a warm grin.

Hermione looked down at her timetable eagerly, as the boys rushed round the table to peer over the girls' shoulders. Theo was looking over Daphne's shoulder and Blaise and Draco were on either side of Hermione.

"Hey, Blaise, you can look over Pansy's shoulder for the schedule, you know," said Draco.

"Like hell he can!" snorted Pansy, "Nobody is hovering over me to look at the schedule, thank you very much. You two can look at Hermione's."

"We have Double Potions with Professor Snape and the Gryffindors first thing," groaned Draco.

"You like Potions and Professor Snape is your godfather," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but Gryffindors. And a Weasley. And Potter. No thanks."

"Well after that, we've got History of Magic with Ravenclaw. Professor Binns-isn't he a ghost?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," said Theo, "Apparently he's really boring."

"That sucks," Daphne pouted, "History of Magic is a fascinating topic if you've got a good teacher."

Pansy snorted, "You sound like Hermione."

"Well History of Magic and Charms are my favourites so I'm allowed to be swotty about them."

"Hey!"

"We've got a free period after that," Blaise noted, "Then Transfiguration with McGonagall and then Charms with Flitwick-both with Hufflepuff. Isn't that the house your friend Hannah's in?"

"Yeah," Hermione nodded, "And after that we've got Ravenclaw again, this time for Astronomy with Professor Sinistra."

"That's a pretty full day, I think," Daphne said.

"What classes do we not have?" asked Pansy.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts with Gryffindor and that Quirrell fellow, and Herbology with Professor Sprout and Ravenclaw."

"I wish we had it with Hufflepuff or Gryffindor," Hermione sighed, "I mean, everyone knows Neville Longbottom is a whiz at plants and as for Hufflepuff, it's got Hannah in it."

"Speaking of, let's go say hello to Hannah before breakfast is over," Theo said.

When they got to the Hufflepuff table, Hannah looked up at them and grinned. Susan Bones, who was sitting next to her, also looked up and gave a small smile. "Hey guys!" Hannah exclaimed "Did you see your schedules yet? Hufflepuff and Slytherin have Charms and Transfiguration together!"

Pansy smirked at Hannah's exuberant attitude, "'Course we did. We've got Potions with the Gryffindors, and Astronomy and History of Magic with the 'Claws. Daphne's pissed because History of Magic's taught by some boring old ghost, but honestly I'm looking forward to having a period where I can do my work for all my other classes."

"Pansy!" Hannah and Hermione shouted at the same time.

"Oh!" exclaimed Hannah, "There were some vegetarian options for breakfast this morning, thank Merlin! Last night was a wreck in terms of what I could eat."

"We talked to our Prefect about it," said Daphne, "She's a vegetarian too, so she just told the House Elves to give you some things you could eat."

"You looked pretty miserable last night," said Theo.

"I was!" Hannah cried, "There wasn't a single dish I could eat!"

"Except for the potatoes," Draco smirked.

"You know I hate potatoes," Hannah stuck her tongue out at him, "Anyway, Susan and I should probably get going. I don't want to be late to DADA and I have no idea where it is," she laughed as she got up to leave.

"I think I'm going to say hi to Neville Longbottom and that Lavender Brown girl in Gryffindor," said Hermione.

"Why?" Pansy asked, perplexed.

"Well I want to cultivate a friendly acquaintance with the both of them at the very least, so I need to establish to them that I'm approachable. Establishing connections, you know."

"Whatever," Pansy rolled her eyes "I'm getting my third cup of coffee, thank you very much."

"I'll go with you," offered Draco.

"Thanks, Drake."

"Can I tag along too?" asked Blaise.

"Sure," said Hermione, at the same time Draco said "Absolutely not."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "It's no big deal, Draco, come on." She made her way over to the Gryffindor table and slid into the seat across from Neville. "Hey, Neville," she smiled.

"Hi, Hermione," said Neville, albeit a bit nervously.

"Merlin Neville, it's just me, no need to be nervous!" giggled Hermione, "I know I'm a Slytherin and you're a Gryffindor and all that but I'm still the same person you've known for ages. Oh! How's the Umbrella Flower that you were working on growing?"

Neville visibly relaxed, "Oh, it's growing really well! My gran is taking care of it while I'm at Hogwarts, she's really good with plants, you know."

"So how's Gryffindor life treating you?" Draco asked.

"Good so far, I guess," said Neville, "You know, I thought I was going to be a Hufflepuff for sure. I mean, I was all right with that, but… I wanted to be in Gryffindor like my Mum and Dad." Neville spoke the last part quietly, his eyes on the ground. Alice and Frank Longbottom were long-term patients inSaint Mungo's due to being tortured to insanity by Bellatrix Black Lestrange and her husband Rodolphus Lestrange Barty Crouch Jr. and Rabastan Lestrange.

Draco cringed at the reminder of what his aunt and uncle had done, "I'm really sorry that they weren't able to-"

Neville waved him off, "It's not your fault."

"But still…"

"Draco, I don't blame you. You didn't have anything to do with it."

Hermione spotted Lavender Brown sitting a few seats down, next to one of the Patil twins. Leaving the boys to argue over whether or not Draco should feel guilty over what happened to Neville's parents, she slid over and extended her hand for Lavender and the Patil girl to shake. "Hi, I'm Hermione Greengrass. You're Lavender Brown, right? And you're... Parvati Patil?" Hermione hoped desperately she had the right twin, and was relieved when both of them gave her a small smile and shook her hand.

"Yeah. How do you know who I am?" Lavender asked.

"Well, I've seen you a couple of times at Ministry events-doesn't your Dad work in the Department of Magical Transportation?"

"Yeah," Lavender flushed, "I don't go to those events a lot though, they're dreadfully boring." She looked up quickly at Hermione, worried she had offended her.

Hermione laughed, "Circe, tell me about it! Honestly, you're lucky your parents let you get out of going. My parents don't even work for the Ministry and I can't miss a single one."

Lavender slowly started to smile, "You know, one time, I got so bored I counted the floor tiles in ladies' loo by the Ballroom."

"How many tiles were there?" asked Parvati.

"Four hundred and sixteen," Lavender said solemnly, "Unfortunately that only took up half of the time during one of the stupid events, so I sat in the corner for the rest of the night drinking punch."

"You know, next time, you should talk to me and some of my friends during the Ministry events."

"Really?"

"Why not?" Hermione shrugged, "You seem pretty cool."

"I'm not in Slytherin though," she said.

"Well, I'm talking to you at the Gryffindor table, aren't I? I think I could guess that for myself," Hermione laughed, "And anyways so is Neville, and we talk to him at events all the time."

"I'm a Half-blood though."

"None of us really care about that," said Hermione, gently.

"But all of your friends are Pureblood. Sacred 28 and all that!"

"Well," said Hermione thoughtfully, "Hannah Abbott's a Half-blood too, but I guess the rest of them are Purebloods. But that's probably because we all grew up together, as did our parents, and their parents, and on and on. It's kind of a cycle, but we aren't, like, exclusive or anything. You too, Patil. Come find us if you ever unfortunately find yourself at a Ministry event and want to not have to listen to adults prattling on about nothing anyone cares about."

Parvati Patil smiled, "You can call me Parvati or Pav if you want. My family just moved from India as Magical Ambassadors to the British Ministry of Magic, so I guess I'm going to have to go to those events. Are they really as awful as you're implying?"

"Yes," deadpanned Lavender and Hermione at the same time. They turned to each other and laughed.

"You can call me Lavender, by the way," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"And you guys can call me Hermione," Hermione beamed.

At that moment, Ronald Weasley looked over from his breakfast to see three Slytherins at the Gryffindor table.

"What the hell are you slimy snakes doing here?" he said, mouth full of food.

Hermione cringed back visibly at the display of foul manners, but then remembered what Hannah had said about giving the Weasleys a chance. "Oh, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot here. Hi, you're Ronald Weasley, right? I'm Hermione Greengrass. Pleasure to meet you."

The boy snorted, "I don't care who you are. You're a Slytherin. You shouldn't be here!"

"There's no rule against it," Hermione shrugged.

Ron Weasley's face went red, and he started stalking over to where Hermione was. In a flash, Draco and Blaise were by her side. Ron went even redder, and Hermione thought he was pretty close to having steam come out of his ears. The image caught her off guard and she had to quickly cover her mount and disguise her laugh as a cough. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough.

"What's so funny?" Ron snapped

Draco's eyes narrowed and his voice became distinctly cold, "The fact that your face is about the same color of your hair," he drawled. Harry Potter, who finally seemed to be paying attention, stood up abruptly.

"Go away, Malfoy."

"I actually think I quite like it here, Potter.".

"Evil gits like you can't be at the Gryffindor table!" Ron Weasley exploded.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "And what makes us evil? I was having a lovely conversation with Lavender and Parvati over here before you so rudely interrupted."

"Well," the red-headed boy said, "You're in Slytherin. Honestly, for all the money the Greengrasses and Malfoys have, they can't buy their way into Gryffindor house. You have to be a good person."

Blaise spoke up for the first time, "I wouldn't talk about money if I were you, Weasley."

The boy went bright red again, "And who are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Blaise smirked.

"We ought to get going," Draco sniffed, "I don't want the blood-traitor rubbing off on me."

Ron and Harry both drew their wands. Hermione just threw her head back and laughed.

"Ooh! I'm terrified! I'm willing to bet galleons that neither of you know any spells. Bet your parents didn't even teach you rudimentary defense, Weasley. Do you even know what rudimentary means? Either of you?" When they looked at her blankly, she shook her head, "Salazar, you two are stupid. Pulling a wand on three Heirs to Noble and Ancient Houses? I bet you that Uncle Lucius and Daddy could sue you both for all your money's worth and then put you in Azkaban for that. But we need to get going for Potions with Professor Snape. Parvati, Lavender, do you want to walk with us?"

The two girls looked up at Hermione uncertainty and tentatively nodded. When they got up, Hermione turned on her heel and walked straight out of the Great Hall. When she was halfway to the dungeons, her pace finally slowed, and the two Gryffindor girls as well as Draco and Blaise were able to catch up to her.

"Sorry for being such a bitch back there," When the girls blanched at her curse, she flushed and bit her lip. "And for the cursing. I'm a bit het up right now."

"Why do you guys dislike Weasley and Potter so much?" Parvati asked, nervously.

"You don't know?" Lavender asked, as Draco sighed, "It's a long story." They looked at each other.

"Well," said Lavender slowly, "I can't speak about why they don't like Harry Potter, but as for Ron Weasley, well, it's kind of a family thing. Part of it's a blood feud between the Malfoys and Weasleys and the other parts… well, a long story, like Malfoy said."

"Can you summarise it?" asked Parvati.

"Um…" said Lavender, "Maybe tonight in the dorm. It's got a lot of stuff connected to it and there's some stigma around it all, but-"

"I promise I won't judge," said Parvati.

Lavender nodded cautiously, "Ok, I'll explain it tonight then."

"As for Potter," Draco said, "we think the credit should go to Lily Potter, not some one year old who didn't really do anything."

Hermione turned to Blaise, "I didn't know you even knew about the Weasleys. That was an impressive insult to come up with on the spur of the moment, considering."

"Well, part of insulting Weasley was based on context clues. Like his robes, I mean, they look like hand-me-downs. Which, there's nothing wrong with, really, but it would be something he would care about if he was bringing up how much money the Malfoys and Greengrasses had."

"That's really clever," Hermione giggled.

"It's a talent," laughed Blaise.

"You should sit next to me in Potions, Mia," Draco cut in, "I mean since we're the best at potions out of our group."

"Sure!" said Hermione, "But we should probably scarper if we want to make sure we can grab two seats together towards the front of the class."

Potions started with Professor Snape taking roll. When he got to Harry Potter's name, he paused. Ah, yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new — celebrity." Draco sniggered, and Hermione elbowed him in the ribs, mouthing for him to 'Shut up'.

According to Emmeline, Professor Snape started every year with some epic speech, and Hermione wasn't disappointed. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." He paused for what Hermione imagined was dramatic effect. "Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry looked rather stumped and said, "I don't know sir."

Hermione and Draco exchanged looks. The ingredients to Draught of the Living Death were in the first chapter of the textbook. More to the point, they were something any wizard or witch worth their salt should know.

Snape sneered, "Tut, tut — fame clearly isn't everything. Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

The boy looked equally as confused and Hermione rolled her eyes. It was obviously found in a goat's stomach. She looked over to see Draco silently shaking with laughter, as was Pansy, who was sitting two seats across from them.

"I don't know, sir."

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter? What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Hermione and Draco turned to each other and mouthed, "Same thing."

"I don't know," Potter said, "I'm sure you could find someone who does know instead of asking me obscure questions."

"5 points from Gryffindor for cheek," Snape said smoothly, "Five points to whomever can tell me the answers to each of these so called obscure questions, and an extra two if you can name the first year textbook that each of these questions are answered in the first chapter?"

Hermione lazily raised her hand. When she was acknowledged with a nod, she began, "Well first, powdered asphodel root and an infusion of wormwood will create the Draught of the Living Death. That's in the introduction to Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger, page four if I remember correctly. A bezoar is found in a goat's stomach, that's one of the first fifty terms in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore, and monkshood and wolfsbane are commonly referred to as the same thing, although wolfsbane is a more broader definition of monkshood-which is a variety of blue or white hood shaped flowers of the genus aconitum, whereas wolfsbane is any number of perennial herbs of the genus aconitum. That's found in both Magical Drafts and Potions and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi."

"Seven points to Slytherin for an excellent answer and an extra three for preparedness. What are you waiting for?" snapped Snape, "Write that down!"

Hermione heard Weasley utter "Swot."

Hermione turned to him and said "I suppose that you're so idiotic that a troll would be a swot compared to you."

"Three points from Gryffindor, Weasley for insulting Miss Greengrass," Snape seemingly slid out of nowhere, "And Miss Greengrass, that was an excellent description of Monkshood and Wolfsbane. Have you had to answer that question before?"

"No sir," said Hermione, "Neville Longbottom and I had a debate at the July 14th Ministry Gala over whether wolfsbane and monkshood should be used synonymously or not."

"Interesting," said the professor, before turning to the boy, who was sitting at a table on the other side of Hermione's, "Longbottom!"

The boy trembled, "Yes sir?"

"Tell me, have you had any experience in brewing potions before?"

"Yes sir, b-but I'm not any good at it," Neville looked like he wanted to hide somewhere.

"Well, it seems you are well versed in Herbology, which goes hand in hand with potions. After I am able to assess your skill levels during this class, you will stay behind so we can talk."

Neville nodded shakily. Hermione felt almost bad that Neville looked so nervous, but if she were to wager a guess, Professor Snape would find a way for Neville to become an adequate potioneer, or set him up with a brilliant potioneer in their year so that Neville could take care of the ingredients and ingredient preparation-the Herbology side of potions - while his partner did the brewing.

"Today, we will be brewing a Potion to cure boils. You will be working with whomever you are sitting next to. Everything you need to know is in your textbooks and on the board."

Hermione and Draco stirring in the final ingredients into their potion when Hermione heard a hissing sound. She swiveled to see Seamus Finnigan and Neville's cauldron bubbling over and starting to melt the cauldron. Fortunately, they were sitting at the table on Hermione's side. Hermione grabbed Neville and threw up a shield as quickly as she could, less than half a second before the potion boiled over. Neville, Hermione and Draco had luckily been shielded from the explosion, but Finnigan unfortunately hadn't. Red boils started to pop up all over his face and arms. Hermione winced in sympathy.

The poor boy, who was moaning in agony, was rounded upon by Professor Snape. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire, Mr. Finnigan?" he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Luckily, you will not have to take a trip to the infirmary, as Mr. Malfoy and Miss Greengrass seem to have completed a perfect potion that should be able to cure your boils." He rounded on Weasley and Potter who were staring slack jawed at the table behind Finnigan. "You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another three points you've lost for Gryffindor." He plucked a vial from his desk and filled it with Hermione and Draco's potion and gave it to Finnigan. Hermione watched in slight satisfaction as the boils disappeared, and Finnigan sighed in relief.

About an hour later, Hermione caught Finnigan before he left the dungeons. "Hey, just wanted to say that I'm sorry that I couldn't grab you too as well as Neville. I didn't think I would be able to make it in time."

The Irish boy shrugged, "Not your cock-up, not your fault. Besides, a trip to the infirmary on the first day would've been embarrassing, wouldn't it, so I oughta be thanking you for your potion," he shifted uncomfortably, "I know that Gryffindors and Slytherins aren't supposed to get along, but you seem pretty alright for a snake, I think."

Hermione smirked as the boy practically ran off. She stuck around for a couple more minutes before Neville came out of the classroom looking pale.

"You okay?" asked Hermione.

"Snape just said he'd set up some tutoring for me with an older Slytherin so I can learn how to brew properly. Said that I've got the foundations to be adequate 'cause I know a bit about Herbology."

"That's great, Neville!" The boy nodded shakily before walking off a bit dazed. Hermione started walking out of the dungeons, before she saw Draco, leaning against a wall. "You didn't have to wait for me, Drake."

He shrugged, "Yeah, but I figured, why not. Let's go see how bad Binns is."

Daphne was sitting in History of Magic, her leg bouncing in excitement, her quill out. Sure, everyone said Binns was bad and boring, but she was not about to let other people's opinions ruin her favourite subject. Hermione walked in a few minutes before the bell with Draco, and Daphne waved her over to sit in the seat she had saved for her.

"Do you think we'll learn about the Founders? Or maybe the French Goblin Rebellions? Or the war with Grindelwald and how that affected what Muggles see as World War II?" Daphne's mind raced with possibilities. Sure, Hermione loved every subject, but History of Magic was hers. Hermione was good at it, of course, but it was Daphne who had a passion for it. While her sister would prance through a bookshop, reading everything and anything, Daphne would always clear out the History section. She would play this game with Hermione, where her sister would name an event and Daphne would list the dates and explain what happened.

Some people found the entire subject a complete bore, but it fascinated Daphne. She had a list of historical sites that she wanted to visit. Father took her and Hermione to as many as he could, but her list just kept getting longer.

Part of the reason her father indulged her so with her History of Magic obsession was because his late mother had a similar passion for the same subject. She had passed away when Daphne was seven, but the witch had had a profound effect on her. Daphne fondly remembered afternoons in which she and her grandmother, whom she called Grandmere, would take their family tapestry and map it out as extensively as they could-every single person who was even remotely related to the Greengrasses, whether through marriage or blood, back to the 14th century, and all the Heads and Heirs back to the 9th. She and Grandmere had put as much information on each and every person they could find. They would go into Old Tomes shops to purchase as many as they could, sometimes buying out the whole shop, just to try and find a mention of a relative somewhere in the tree. They had pages and pages and pages of documentation, enough to fill the medium-sized library on the eastern side of Greengrass Manor.

When Grandmere had gotten sick, she and Daphne would pore through all of their documentation, book by book, committing each to memory. When Grandmere had passed away, that was the first experience Daphne had had with death. Her Greengrass grandfather had died when Daphne was maybe two or three, so she didn't really remember him. Her mother's parents were 'Travel Bugs', as Selene affectionately called them. They were rarely in the same country for more than a couple of weeks at a time. They visited, but Daphne didn't really know them very well. But Grandmere had lived with them for as long as Daphne could remember.

When she died, Daphne hadn't known how to deal with the grief. Grandmere was hers. But she was gone. Daphne spent a lot of time in the side library the following months. By the time Daphne was done grieving, she had memorised each and every book. She knew each and every detail her Grandmere had found about each family member, both with Daphne, and before Daphne was born. It had been her life's passion. But although the information was extensive, it wasn't complete. Not to say that it would ever be complete-there was always hidden details about ancestors you thought you had known everything you could possibly know about, and there were several family members where Daphne only knew their birth date, death date, who they married and when. But Daphne endeavored to fill in as much as she possibly could.

When Professor Binns arrived, he floated through the wall. He took role call in a monotone voice. Daphne was nervous. Did he always talk like this? He announced that today he was going to talk about the Goblin War of 1673. Daphne brightened. This was one of her favourite Goblin Wars. In fact, she knew two of her ancestors-Eric Greengrass and Armando Higgs-who was the cousin of her tenth great grandmother- had been heavily involved in the war.

Binns's blackboard flipped over and a chalk started writing what he said. Daphne kept waiting for his voice to vary in pitch or for him to throw in an especially interesting fact or even the circumstances of the times. But every time the next sentence was something about the number of goblins on one side, or the casualties in one battle or however much weaponry was possessed by each side. She could feel her heart sinking with every word. By the end of class she was so upset she was on the verge of tears. Binns had murdered her favourite subject right in front of her-made it boring enough she wanted to fall asleep.

In their free period before lunch, Daphne sat in a courtyard, staring stonily at the ground.

Theo came up beside her. "Hey."

"Hey."

"This about Binns and History?"

"Yeah. He was rubbish. Not even rubbish, he was worse. He made one of the most interesting Goblin Wars boring. There was a quintuple Goblin spy in that war! How do you not mention a quintuple spy? Or anything remotely interesting about the war? And that's not to mention that he completely oversimplified the reason that the Goblins waged war on Wizards in the first place." She kicked a rock. "What do I do?"

Theo thought for a moment, "You can read History books in the class."

"That's not the same as being taught something though. It's not as fun."

"Isn't Mr. Malfoy on the Board of Governors?"

"Yeah? What's that have to do with anything?"

"Maybe you can try and get him to try and replace Binns. And if he can't, or at least in the meantime, maybe we could study History together?"

Daphne looked up at Theo, her eyes shining. She flung her arms around him and kissed him quickly on the cheek. They both blushed. "Thank you, Theo," she said softly.

In Transfiguration, Hermione sat next to Hannah. They were supposed to turn needles into matchsticks, and curiously enough the bit of Hermione in the back of her head that had told her the answer for Theo's crossword puzzle popped up again. Almost instinctively, she jabbed her wand, murmuring an incantation, and her matchstick turned into a needle. Professor McGonagall, who had been walking by, stopped in shock.

"Miss Greengrass, have you done this before?"

Hermione shook her head, confused. "No, Professor."

"How did-I mean, that is to say, how-were you able to do that? My most advanced first year students don't get this until the beginning of our class on Wednesday, and most don't complete it until the end!"

Hermione chewed her lip. "I don't know ma'am."

"Can you walk me through how you did it?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Well," said Hermione, "It just felt right, like I knew what to do? It was instinctive."

Professor McGonagall's eyebrows raised further. "Well, Miss Greengrass, that was a very impressive display of magic for someone your age. Ten points to Slytherin. Try to help your other classmates with transfiguring their matchsticks into needles," she said as she walked away briskly.

Hannah, who was jabbing her wand at her matchstick was having some-albeit very little-success, "How in Merlin's name did you just do that, Mia?" Hermione shrugged self-consciously. "No, I mean it's absolutely brilliant! Don't feel weird about it!"

Hermione blushed at Hannah's praise, "I know, it's just I don't know how or why I, you know, just did it. It's weird."

Hannah lowered her voice into a whisper, "Maybe it's Lady Magic. Don't feel weird or bad about it, Hermione. It's something to celebrate. Promise me you won't tear yourself up about not knowing how you know. Sometimes, it's okay to just know."

Hermione smiled at Hannah appreciatively. "Thanks Han. I don't mean to get the way I do about trying to understand everything. I mean, I don't know why Lady Magic would want to help me, but if it's what She wants, I'm not going to worry about it."

"That's easier said than done with you, Hermione."

"Hey!"

"Oh come on! You know you brood far too long if you don't have everything a hundred percent figured out. Now come on. Help me figure out how to make this stupid stick a needle."

An hour later, in Charms, Hermione was able to get the charm that they were learning-Aberto-on the first try, much to Professor Flitwick's shock, but unlike McGonagall, he didn't question her. Instead, he simply awarded her another ten points for Slytherin.

When she regaled the others with her feelings of confusion at dinner, everyone reassured her that there was nothing to worry about. Despite that, she still decided to visit Professor Snape.

When she explained her worries, he looked at her. "Miss Greengrass, have you ever heard the expression 'don't look the gift Hippogriff in the beak?' I suggest you do just that. It could be from Lady Magic, it could be a long-forgotten family trait you inherited, it could be that you have a strong magical core. None of these things are anything to be concerned about."

The fears in Hermione's brain quieted. If Professor Snape said there was nothing to worry about, then there was nothing to worry about. And she was not going to-as he said-look a gift Hippogriff in the beak. When she told Daphne that night that she wasn't going to look into it as it wasn't anything bad, as Professor Snape had said, Daphne rolled her eyes.

"So when Hannah or I tell you that it can be ignored, but when a Professor tells you the same exact thing, you finally listen?" she laughed.

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