It was a pleasant Sunday morning, sunlight poured in from the enchanted ceiling. The butter on Hermione's bread was melting nicely, it seemed like a scene straight out of a fairy tale.. Later, she planned on enjoying the sun while reading The Picture Of Dorian Gray on one of the many benches in the courtyard, after her breakfast . Until Athena, her barn owl, swooped in and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet on her lap.

Hermione, the ever diligent reader, immediately opened her favorite, read only, newspaper in all of wizarding Britain (she received the New York Times and the Guardian courtesy of her parents). After scanning through the front page, she eloquently screamed "WHAT!" for all the other seven early-risers in the hall to hear. Over the fold, the headline read

Muggleborns Pay To Get Internships At The Ministry?

Today, shocking news has struck the Wizarding World, muggleborns will have to pay in order to apply for the coveted internships at the Ministry of Magic, which are only handed to one person of each graduating class from the top 30 Wizarding Schools. This decision, though not brought about by one of the tightest of margins from the wizengamot, came to a vote of 32-28. The Muggleborn Payment Act is not a new idea, it has been circling around since Orick Parkinson of the Tradisionalist National Party (TNC) introduced it in 1983. This bill has been gaining momentum among the wizengamot, hence bringing us this decision today. This is considered to be a landslide victory for Lord Lucius Malfoy, leader of the TNC, who had this bill as one of his key voting issues. When asked for comment he said "Today is a day to celebrate, and finally free the Ministry from the shackles that unaccomplished muggle borns have placed on them."

The reasoning behind this bill is that muggleborns are "less accomplished" and "more susceptible to failure than their halfblood and pureblood peers". Therefore, muggle borns must pay the high tuition of 1000G with their application fee with another 500G if accepted into the position in order to justify letting a muggleborn into the Ministries esteemed program. According to research conducted by Alistor Burke's research facility, 9/10 times do purebloods outpace muggleborns in both physical and intellectual tasks. Hopefully, this law will bring long needed reforms to the prestigious internship system.

By Ineth Visophi
Head Wizengamot Correspondent

After reading the article, Hermione felt like she wanted to, wanted to, well, she didn't know what she wanted. (wasn't that a surprise?) She was aghast, she needed that internship, if she wanted to climb up the ranks in the wizarding world and eventually become minister of magic.

Truthfully, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to be the minister, but all the other other jobs she knew (auror, mediwitch, shopkeeper, teacher, etc) didn't feel right. Being minister, the supposed highest position of power, well, she figured it was something to strive for. She was the 'brightest witch her age' after all. Hence, she answered as such whenever someone asked her and worked toward it. However, she needed that internship.

The problem was how she would afford the 1500G? 1500G was an astronomical amount of money, around 75,000 british pounds. While her parents were successful in their own right, she didn't want to tell them that she had to pay for a job. "One should earn money from a job" they would say, "not the other way around." Definitely not. Besides, that would lead to another few months's worth of arguing about how 'unfair' the wizarding world was and how she should just leave. Hermione internally shivered. Besides, even if she were to ask her parents for money, they wouldn't be able to afford it either. They did not have a gold mine for savings. This meant that she had to get a job. But what job?

Unfortunately, there weren't many jobs available in the wizarding world, especially if you weren't related to anyone of note (pureblood). Also, she didn't have any prior work experience, unless you counted babysitting for the Wendlers down the street. She highly doubted that, considering it was 'mundane' both in the magical sense and how boring it was, catering to the whims of a child. It was quite similar to this situation, she mused, only at the whims of politicians. This further dampened her chances of finding employment

With this dilemma, she made her way to the library, in true Hermione fashion. Whenever something distressed or upsetted her, she would head to her sanctuary. She knew that the books wouldn't judge her, providing silent support and a comforting presence all whilst being an informed and wise companion. This led to her avid passion for reading and thirst for knowledge, bringing her to the library on her very first morning in Hogwarts.

Oh the library, her sanctuary! Her joy! She spent so much time there, that even Madame Prince was fond of the bushy-haired girl from the long term exposure to her 'charms'. This could be blamed on Hermoine's lack of friends leading to copious amounts of free time.

She did try to make new friends but she quickly realized that her fellow Gryffindors were daft, excluding Potter. He was surprisingly well-informed and mannered, considering his less than stellar family relations and the sheer amount of time he spent on quidditch. It was a surprise how he got Outstandings and challenged her standing as the highest ranking student academically in the year.

She did reconsider her decision to join Gryffindor, wondering if she should have listened to the Hat's decision to sort her into Slytherin the very first night, however, she decided against it, considering the stigma against Slytherin and her status as a muggle-born.

.

The fact that she properly takes care of the books unlike some, in Professor Snape's words, dunderheads also gave her some brownie points from Madame Prince. Giving her the rarely seen privilege of being able to converse and ask the stern librarian questions.

"Excuse me, Madame Prince, does the Hogwarts library have a section for jobs in the wizarding world?" Hermione whispered

"Down the second row, make a left around the charms section, and it'll be on your right"

With those instructions, Hermione made her way down the empty halls, and found what she was looking for: different books detailing the different jobs there were in the Wizarding World. She wanted to know what jobs she could take to fund her internship, preferably of the fast and high-paying type.

Hours later, with messy hair that crackled with frustration, Hermione was near her wits end. So far she went through How To Find Fulfilling Work, Designing Your Life, and 35 other books that held meaningless promises in the titles. So far, nothing! It was all filled with similar advice like 'do what you love, and you'll succeed' or 'don't think, do!'

Frustrated, she was about to leave, when her gaze landed on a slightly more dusty shelf, just below eye-level. She caught sight of a slim book, buried in a corner, with yellowed pages from age and disuse, the creased spine, however, told another story. Intrigued, she pulled it out of the shelf, and felt some sort of connection. She idly wondered if she was under some compulsion spell, but inwardly shrugged it off. It was titled:

How To Get Away With Murder- An Assisain's Duty by Quis Zolydck.

It would have been easy to walk away from the book if Hermione was like any other person. It would have been easy to ignore the slim book lying on the shelf, and forget it's existence. Heck, she could take it to Professor McGonagall, her head of house, because it obviously wasn't suited for children, especially considering it's not in the restricted section. However, Hermione wasn't like any other random person, she was of a peculiar brand, the kind who scared adults, before masking the more twisted parts of their brain that made them special.

She remembers seven year old Roland Blackwell pushing her, all those years ago, causing her to fall in the mud puddle. She remembers planning, with a cunning no other six year old should have, to get revenge. It took years, years filled with schemes, to get him expelled and get sent to juvenile detention, all while acting uninvolved and innocent. Acting in the shadows. It started with small crimes, a little stolen cash here, and little trinket there. Seeing the teachers doubt Roland's claims made joy shine in her eyes. Of course, she ensured that nobody, not a single soul noticed.

Then when she was seven, a year later, came the discovery of something more, something extraordinary. Of course, Hermione alway knew she was different, but being able to manipulate the world around her, that changed things. She knew what she needed to do in order to succeed in her nefarious plans. It only escalated from there, until finally she achieved her goal of total annihilation.

Yes, she remembers her first kill, in broad daylight as well. The teachers tended to turn a blind eye during recess, and Hermione knew that this would be her chance to get revenge. At 11:45 Hermione Granger, Linda Carpenter, and Roland Blackwell went to the alley around the playground. At 12:15 Hermione Granger came back screaming, accusing Roland of murder.

At the scene, police found bruises on Linda's neck, and Roland's fingerprints specifically. No one noticed the glazed eyes of the 10 year old, or the subtle knowing smile Hermione wore. Poor Linda Carpenter, the townspeople bemoaned, how unfortunate that she was killed, brutally murdered by her own schoolmate, Roland Blackwell, and poor Hermione Granger, who had to witness her very best friend be strangled by an insane preteen. How traumatised would she be?

Hermione was happy, satisfied even, she had finished what she set up to do. It was an emotion she didn't feel very often. After much research, she knew that you could be sent to juvenile detention at the minimum age of 10. Did you know that? She was at the trial. For 'moral support' she said, for the pitiful Carpenter family and to support them in the tragic killing of their eight year old girl. And to seek justice in place of her incapacitated 'friend'.

The planning was all worth it in the end, when she had the final triumph. Brutal punishment? Yes. Excessively so? Definitely. Especially, considering the push while forceful, was probably unintentional, unlike the big bully facade Hermoine constructed for him. But Hermione's mind was a totalitarian regime and no one could escape her clutches.

To her it didn't matter whether it was a politician like Lucius Malfoy or a 10 year old bully like Roland Blackwell, she would win. She always won, and not a single soul could stop the brightest witch of her age when she put her twisted heart on a project.

8 years from now, Lucius Malfoy would look back at his burning manor and wonder where it all went wrong. Well, it started with an unjust law and a black book with an enticing title. It finished with a new job, murder, and romance (in that order). But, that is a story for another time.

The teenager analysed the cover of the book, forgotten in the library, contemplating if she should forge a new path, or travel down the same one that any other muggle borns have taken.

The choice couldn't have been any clearer. Hermoine Granger was never any other person. She wasn't going to start then. She always won, even if she had to use some unconventional means. No matter who her opponent was.

She opened the book, and smiled.