On the twelfth of September, Hermione had been woken up early by Daphne. She greeted her "good morning", and wiggled a silk pouch in front of Hermione's face. She gave a sleepy, half-lidded smile.

This was their daily routine. The five girls would wake each other up an hour earlier than other first-years and get ready for the day together. After getting up, Hermione took her own silk pouch in her trunk and followed after Daphne. Millie was already in the hallway, knocking on Pansy and Tracey's door.

Hermione's eyes almost bulged upon seeing Millie. She was nearly back to the plump figure that she had spelled away before school. She had somewhat noticed that her friend had gained a little bit of the weight back two days before, but today, it was definitely undeniable. She would need to touch up on those glamour charms this morning if she wanted to maintain the look. Though, to Hermione, there was really nothing wrong with Millie's previous silhouette.

The five young girls headed to the women's lavatory.

"Look at me!" Millie gasped in horror at her figure in the mirror. "I'm fat again!"

"Just charm it away, Millie," said Pansy, waving her wand in front of her face and making corrections to her jawline.

"I tried to yesterday... and the day before that. How come it's not working anymore?" She took a piece of parchment from her silk pouch and read the spell aloud. "It's the correct spell, isn't it?"

They turned to Hermione, who inspected the parchment. "It is." She decided. "Maybe you're doing it wrong. Here, let me-"

"No, I can do it! I just need to know if what I'm doing is wrong. See look," Millie brandished her want along her figure while reciting the spell carefully, but it hardly managed to reduce her belly.

"Nothing's happening, Millie," Tracey said, curling her blonde ringlets with a spell.

"Really? Can't tell! Thanks so much for your input!" Millie bit back sarcastically. Tracey rolled her eyes and focused on her own wandwork.

"Why don't you let me try," said Hermione, lifting her wand to cast the spell.

"I said no!" Millie knocked her hand out of the way. "I can do it. I can." She insisted.

Daphne raised a brow at Hermione knowingly. Hermione backed away with her hands in the air and walked to the other side of the room, standing in front of a mirror. Daphne followed behind her.

"Unbelievable isn't she?" Asked Daphne, lifting her wand and charming her two front teeth to close the gap in between them.

"I know! It's like she's trying to prove a point." Hermione's voice raised in a half-whisper.

Daphne gave Hermione a look.

"What?"

"She is trying to prove a point, dummy." Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Daphne continued. "Remember the train ride? When Millie asked you about that potion in the bottle and you said it was just perfume?" Hermione nodded. "She was embarrassed."

Hermione scoffed. "No way. Millie? Embarrassed? Don't be daft, Daph." Hermione laughed at her own alliteration lamely.

Daphne was not amused. "I'm serious, Hermione. She told Pansy that she wants to prove she's a better witch than you. Especially when it comes to glamour charms. She said she can't bear the thought of a Lestrange looking prettier than her."

Hermione outright laughed. "You tell her," she leaned in to whisper in Daphne's ear. "Good luck with that."

They giggled.

Hermione turned to her reflection and focused on charming her hair into cooperation. The frizzy strands that stood stubbornly on her head were successfully smoothed out to fall back into place. Hermione put her wand down and took a regular hairbrush, running it through her locks. She was pleased with the lack of tangles.

"I like your hair. It's wavy and it's got volume."

Hermione blushed. "Thanks, Daph. I like your hair too. It doesn't need extra charms to make it cooperate."

Daphne pouted. "I don't. It's plain and boring."

"No it's not," said Hermione, turning sideways to face her friend. "Want me to charm it so it has more volume?"

"Yes please."

Hermione took a section of her friend's hair and thought about what spell to use. Daphne wanted more volume, the opposite of what Hermione wanted, so she decided to do her own hair's charm's counterspell. It was clever, but also Hermione had never done it before. She squashed her worries and waved her wand. It worked on the first try.

Daphne was watching Hermione work on her hair from the mirror in awe. She took the finished locks of hair in her palms, fluffing them. After Daphne thanked Hermione when she had finished, Daphne resumed the charms on her own body, slimming her curves the way Millie couldn't. However… Daphne wasn't fat. Hermione didn't understand why she needed to charm her body if she didn't need it.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Narcissa had given her an extensive list of glamour charms at her disposal, but Hermione refused to use them at all. She did the bare minimum, which was charming her hair to become more manageable. She felt uncomfortable with anything more. In her opinion, there was really nothing wrong with the way she looked. This way of thinking didn't stem from some sort of self-praising vanity, either. Hermione preferred to look as she was meant to be.

The other girls were still busy trying to get their proportions right, so Hermione simply watched them. Pansy would always adjust her naturally broad jawline, Tracey would grow her hair lower on her head to achieve a smaller forehead, and Millie and Daphne always worked on their weight. Every morning, Hermione was always the first to finish. She would take two minutes in front of a mirror, and she was done for the day. The others, however, took as long as fifteen to twenty minutes.

She was snapped out of her musings when Daphne randomly said, "D'ya think Malfoy's out of his mind?"

Hermione snorted. "Most certainly." She paused. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard from Tracey, who heard from Millie, who heard from Theo, who heard from Goyle... that Malfoy challenged Harry Potter to a Wizard's duel. Tonight."

Hermione stilled for a second and shook her head disapprovingly. A Wizard's duel?

Right after the girls finished their morning glamour charms, Hermione changed into her school robes and rushed from her dormitory and into the common room. Draco was nowhere to be found. She waited for him for a few minutes, but after impatiently tapping her foot on the floor, she stormed into the boys' shared dormitory. She found him snickering with Crabbe and Goyle on the floor.

She placed her hands on her hips. "Draco Malfoy, you withdraw from that duel at once." Hermione managed to say with clenched teeth.

He looked up at her, his eyes crinkled in mirth. "Absolutely not!" he said, grinning. "I'm about to show that Potter who's boss."

"You could get hurt!" She stomped her foot.

Draco placed his hands on Crabbe's and Goyle's shoulders to steady him as he stood. He wasn't much taller than Hermione, so she was able to frown at him while tilting her chin up. He goaded, "Why do you care if I get hurt?"

Hermione broke eye contact as she darted her eyes everywhere else. "I-I don't." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I only care because you could lose us House points." she congratulated herself silently for thinking on her feet.

"Hm…" He smirked. "Is that right?"

Hermione nodded, meeting his eyes again.

Draco's smirk grew larger. "So you don't care if I get injured?"

She shook her head.

"If I get knocked out?"

"Nope."

"And you still don't care if Potter kills me?"

"Not at all." She said stubbornly.

Draco chuckled and studied her face for a second. Crabbe and Goyle stood. Goyle said, "Jus' tell 'er, Malfoy."

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "Tell me what?"

Crabbe answered her. "We're not going to the duel."

Hermione frowned. "What?" She looked at Draco, not trusting the other two. "What are they talking about?"

He laughed at the discombobulated expression on her face. "We're not going to the duel. We're only tricking them. I told them to be at the trophy room by midnight, and they agreed, the fools. So we tipped Filch off. While they get caught and punished, we'll be snoring in our beds." He explained almost lazily as if she'd been the tenth person he had to explain his plans to.

Hermione was quiet for a moment. She analyzed his statement in her head. Finally, she said, "So you won't be fighting?"

Draco smirked. "No." He paused. "You can stop worrying about me now."

Inwardly, she was relieved. She really was worried about him. She was also worried about how his parents would react to this. Narcissa would faint, probably, and Lucius… well, there was really no telling whether or not Lucius would be proud or appalled.

Outwardly, she rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, storming out of his dormitory while irritatedly muttering, "You're an absolute prat, Malfoy." The three boys snickered behind her.

Hermione panted as she reached the top floor. She leaned against the wall for a minute, hoping to catch her breath. She closed her eyes before pushing herself from the wall and walking towards the rail.

She was alone in the Astronomy Tower tonight. The cold wind whipped her face and painted her cheeks a bright pink. She didn't dare cast a warming charm on herself because it was midnight and she was cautious not to get caught using magic as a first-year. Instead, she pulled her cloak a little closer to her body.

She walked to the telescope and placed her Astronomy book on the ledge beside it. According to her textbook, Saturn will make a bright appearance tonight at one in the morning, and she was eager to see it. She had informed her roommates about it, and they were willing to come along... until they realized that it didn't add any academic merit. Hermione was just going for sheer amusement and curiosity. They had all backed out.

It was now twelve-thirty, and Hermione realized that she still had a lot of time before seeing what she came here for. She sighed and leaned on the railing, gazing at the small white holes in the otherwise black sky.

The Andromeda constellation was easy to spot as its stars shone brightly against the dark. At that moment, Hermione remembered Narcissa. Andromeda was Narcissa's sister… although sister was a very loose term for what the woman was because she had allegedly been banished from the Black family tree. Narcissa had told Hermione that all her family was named after stars, constellations, or galaxies. Draco himself was named after a constellation.

Thinking of the Black family made her wonder about her own, particularly her parents, Margaux Avery and Rabastan Lestrange. Hermione didn't know much about them outside of what people told her. Did they love each other? Were they married? Did Rabastan know he had a daughter before he died? Did he fight to stay alive for them? Did her mother grieve for him, or had she been too busy being dead? Hermione wanted answers. She always wanted answers, and she asked for them now. She looked at the night sky and silently talked to her parents. She asked why they'd abandoned her. She didn't understand why she had to be this way—an orphan. If Narcissa hadn't taken her in when she was younger, Hermione didn't know where she'd be. Her house-elf would have had to raise her single-handedly.

Come to think of it, Hermione had actually already forgotten her house-elf's name. She could memorize complicated procedures for potions and sophisticated spells in different languages easily enough, but could not, for the life of her, remember the name of the house-elf responsible for keeping her alive in her first five years of life. Hermione found this odd. She would never forget such valuable information such as this. She closed her eyes and bowed her head to think, but… nothing. She could not remember.

Narcissa would, however. Hermione was sure of it. She'll have to ask her the next time she wrote to her. In fact, she would ask her the very next day.

The metal body of the telescope felt cold as Hermione brought it to her eye. She double-checked the supposed position that Saturn would be in tonight… but alas, nothing was there yet. She checked her watch. '12:39', it read. She sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Just then, Hermione heard the sound of shuffling feet behind her.

She panicked, looking for a potential hiding spot. However, the Astronomy Tower was designed for a three hundred and sixty-degree view of the sky, so there were no alcoves or furniture that she could hide behind. Hermione's face turned bone-white. In that instant, she knew exactly what it felt like to be caught in the act of a crime. She braced herself for whoever it would be. Filch, quite possibly, or perhaps Professor McGonagall. She couldn't admit being here for nothing. She couldn't do that to Slytherin's House points. Instead, she would pretend that she was sleepwalking and didn't know where she was going.

Were they going to believe her? She supposed not.

Suddenly, a small figure appeared from the shadows. She was about Hermione's height and she had hair the color of snow and bright blue eyes. From the look of her, she was a student as well. She sighed in relief.

The unfazed girl continued walking. Hermione was used to people avoiding her and steering clear whenever they would see any of her friends, so she was startled as the other girl barely even glanced at her as she walked towards the ledge, where Hermione was.

"Have you seen a pair of shoes?" She asked in a feathery, almost wistful voice.

Hermione raised a brow. She looked familiar. Tracey and Millie might have talked about her once in passing… but if she was to be completely honest, they talked about everybody behind their backs all the time that it was difficult to keep track.

The girl smiled at her, and she looked almost dazed. Hermione stepped back. "Sorry, but I haven't." She said.

The blonde's expression did not change. "Oh. That's too bad." She said. "I can't find my shoes, you see." She gestured to her feet and Hermione's eyes followed. She was, in fact, barefoot. "I suspect the nargles are behind it."

Loony Lovegood, that was her name. Hermione remembered now. Tracey was talking about how Loony Lovegood was entirely bonkers on a good day, and awfully deranged on a bad one. The girl was completely lost and in her own world. Hermione saw it now as Loony gazed at Hermione in a dream-like state.

Loony said, "My... you've got a load of zootles following you around. I'd watch out for Japanese coins if I were you."

Hermione found herself distraught by the lack of recognition from this girl. Didn't she know that Hermione was a Lestrange and possibly even more psychotic than she was? She fought the urge to ask her what exactly zootles were and why she should watch out for foreign currency but stopped herself. The faster the conversation was over, the better.

"Right," Hermione simply said.

Loony turned from her and started walking away. Soon, her footsteps descended down the stairwell and Hermione was alone again.

She took her textbook and stepped away from the telescope, hiding beside the entrance so she wouldn't be in the direct line of vision of whoever would come upstairs next. With her back to the wall, Hermione slid down and crossed her legs. She began to read her Astronomy book.

A few minutes too soon, Hermione felt like there were weights sitting on her eyelids. Her mind and body had been very active and energy-filled the whole day, and they were now begging for sleep. The words on the pages she was reading constantly blurred in and out of focus. She closed her eyes to rest them for ten seconds.

One, two…

Three …

Four…

Hermione lost count after four and she did not feel herself drifting to sleep.

Hermione was woken by someone else's laughter.

Her head snapped up so quickly, it hit the stone wall behind her. She reached behind her to soothe the ache. There was a figure in front of her, laughing at her expense. She rubbed the sore some more. As she looked up, she caught a glimpse of another blond... however it wasn't Loony. This time, this person's hair was slicked-back and cropped shorter.

Relief flooded her like a bursting dam.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same question." She rubbed her eyes and stood, taking her book with her.

He walked slowly towards her with his hands behind his back. Hermione could tell that he was hiding something in them. "Well, I asked first."

"Well, I'm not telling you." She mocked.

"Oh in that case, neither am I."

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'm here because according to 'Astronomy for First Years', Saturn would be fully visible tonight, and I wanted to see it—and before you ask, no, it's not a requirement." Hermione got defensive at his smirk. "I just want to see another planet, okay? Stop making fun of me." She turned to the sky and braced herself for whatever insult he would throw at her.

"I'm not making fun of you," said Draco. He placed something in front of her next to her textbook, revealing what had been hidden behind his back. It was his own copy of the Astronomy textbook. "I'm here for that, too."

"Oh." She blushed. She didn't know that his pursuit of knowledge was extended beyond classrooms and test papers.

Draco sauntered to the telescope near the ledge and looked around the sky for the planet's position. He pointed it to the same spot Hermione had a few minutes before and said, "It's nearly here. Ten minutes, give or take."

Hermione stood next to him and gazed at the sky again, taking note of the Andromeda. She looked around and tried spotting other constellations. She found Leo the lion, and within that, the star named Regulus. She craned her neck to look for…

There, she found it. Bellatrix. It wasn't a constellation, but a star in the Orion.

Truth be told, Hermione did not want to meet Bellatrix Lestrange. She knew that as soon as she was released from Azkaban, Hermione would legally be under her care, as this was her agreement with Narcissa. She did not look forward to it. Bellatrix was notorious for merciless torture.

For the second time that night, she wished she had parents—a mother and a father who wouldn't die before she learned their faces. If she did, she wouldn't have to worry about being passed around to be taken care of like a lost puppy. She loved Narcissa, she really did, but the woman wasn't her mother. She never will be. Narcissa had only taken her in as per Bellatrix's request. The second she was released from Azkaban, Hermione was to be shipped off again to a different owner.

"You're looking sad. What are you thinking of?" Draco snapped her out of her daydreams.

"Nothing, it's just…" She sighed. "My parents."

Draco nodded, understanding immediately. Hermione never talked about her parents. When he had tried to ask her about them a few years back, she got defensive and claimed to know nothing so he should stop asking. After that, he decided that it was a sore subject for her, and he never asked. Until tonight.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

She frowned. Draco looked at her from the corner of his eye, trying to be subtle. "There's not much to talk about though, is there? I mean… they're dead. That's it. That's the whole story." She said, fidgeting with her own fingers.

He stayed silent. This conversation made Draco feel like he was walking on eggshells. He let her speak, knowing that there was something about the night or the empty Astronomy Tower that made her feel like it was safer to divulge her worries. "One day I think I want to visit them, my parents. See where they're buried… maybe I'll even go back to France. When I'm old enough I might go back home and manage my mother's estate."

Draco did not know why but the thought of her leaving made him feel very unhappy.

"Why don't you…" Draco said tentatively. "Try to visit first before deciding to stay?"

Hermione laughed bitterly, darkly, although there was nothing funny about Draco's suggestion. "I already asked your mother if I could," she said, gazing at the stars. After a while, she shook her head. "She said no. Apparently, my parents have loads of angry enemies. She told me I shouldn't risk going, else someone recognizes me. Said it's still too dangerous."

"Maybe she's right. Maybe you should just... stay."

Hermione was silent, trying not to think too much about what he suggested.

On the other hand, Draco was internally cringing at himself for asking her to stay. He mentally slapped himself. Hermione might have taken it the wrong way, and her silence did nothing to squash his panic. He studied his hands on the ledge instead. Down below, he caught a figure of a man walking along the grounds, and a smaller figure trailing behind him. Filch and Mrs. Norris. He focused on them instead of the girl next to him.

Suddenly, she wasn't next to him anymore. He subtly glanced to the side and found her behind the telescope with her hand cupped around her eye and the metal eyepiece. He checked the time. It was exactly one in the morning.

"See anything?"

"I'm trying to navig-" She broke off. "There! I see it!"

"You do? Let me try!"

"It's right there, and it's massive, too! Woah, it's got rings and everything!" She exclaimed, giving him space to see for himself.

That was the first night Draco and Hermione stayed up late in the Astronomy Tower. Many years later, they will remember this night as the night that their little tradition began. The Astronomy Tower will become their haven, where the two of them will learn to be exposed and trust one another without being judged. This will be their safe space.

Little did they know, this is also the very spot where horrible, hurtful things will happen.

February 22, 1992

They had taken their final exam for History of Magic the week before. Today, Professor Binns was giving them back. He was the type of teacher to announce the top marks in a test before giving the rest away.

"In third with ninety-six percent…" He squinted his eyes to read the name at the top of the paper. "Scadfell, Scarlett." Everyone clapped sparingly around the room, except Hermione and her roommates. They applauded and cheered for her enthusiastically. The girls had expected Scarlett to ace the exam, especially because she had been studying it day and night. Scarlett's face turned scarlet as she received her test paper.

"In second with ninety-eight percent… Malfoy, Draco." Gasps were heard around the room, and Hermione guessed why. Draco was the most aggressively academic student in Slytherin. Everyone expected him to take first place… except for their group of friends, who knew exactly who had gotten the first place spot. Draco took his test paper from Binns with a shrug, and he sank back to his seat, looking bored.

"And in first, with a whopping one hundred percent —I couldn't believe my eyes either, I had to triple check—is Lestrange, Hermione!"

The room was in an uproar as other Slytherins failed to accept this. Confused and suspicious looks were aimed at Hermione from every corner of the classroom. Her cheeks turned hot as she stood from her seat and accepted her paper from Professor Binns. Above her name, there was an encircled '100' next to a star in red ink.

"...unbelievable…"

"...Lestrange? Slap me, Sally, I must be dreaming..."

"...is Binns the type to joke…?"

"...but all she does is do glamour charms in the loo…"

"...must've cheated off of Malfoy…"

Narcissa was right. The students did underestimate Hermione. All except her friends. Theo gave her a rather harsh pat on the back as he told her he was proud. He claimed her achievement as his own as he bragged to everybody that he was tutoring her all along. Nobody believed him, of course, but they laughed along anyway. Goyle and Daphne cheered the loudest, which Hermione found a little odd because she and Goyle were never really close. Even Draco reached out from a table behind her to ruffle her hair. Hermione reckoned that he wouldn't have been too happy to be placed in second if the first placer was anyone other than Hermione. He was used to this. It had been this way since they were five.

Hermione looked around the classroom with a mischievous smirk. It felt great to astonish a large number of people, including her professor. The whole term, she had refrained from raising her hand and answering questions, unless nobody else did. She could count the number of times she actually recited on one hand. Hell, Millie spoke more than she did… even if her answers were erroneous more often than not.

She knew that come next year, people would see through the dumb-girl façade she put up for herself. They would be more cautious to brush her away and think of her as brainless… and she was okay with that. What was important to her was that now, they would think twice before disparaging her and her friends. Next year, she will no longer hold herself back from answering teachers' questions, now that she accomplished her goal of showing everyone what exactly would happen when they underestimated her.

On the same day, there was a Quidditch game between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Hermione opted to sit it out because she cared very little for the sport, and even much less when her House was not involved. She was in the library, studying for her second year of school. An hour ago, she had received her report card—outstanding marks in every subject. She was very pleased with herself, and her friends were unsurprised. She decided to get a head-start on her second-year lessons because they still had a few days of the school year left, and there was nothing better to do. Some quality time in the library beat screaming on the Quidditch stands any day.

Her nose had been buried deep in a Transfiguration book when in rushed Daphne and Theo, both of which were short of breath and frazzled.

"Hermione! Hermione, you have to come," said Daphne.

"What's going on?" She said, beginning to feel worried. She closed her book and stood from her seat, hurriedly packing up.

"It's Malfoy," said Theo.

That was all the explanation Hermione needed. She bolted out of her seat, taking her book bag with her, but not bothering to place the borrowed books back on the shelves.

Hermione followed Daphne and Theo down to the first floor and out towards the Quidditch stands. The game was long over, so most of the people had already gone. The only students left were a clutter of Slytherin students huddled around Draco's lying body.

Hermione ran.

"What's happened?" She shoved her way to the front of the crowd. There was an angry purple bruise on Draco's left eye.

"Weasel-bee punched him, the git!" Exclaimed Pansy. "Crabbe and Goyle took Longbottom down pretty easy, but Malfoy was too stupid and forgot to block his face."

"Someone get Madam Pomfrey!" Said Hermione to no one in particular. She studied Draco's face and pulled out her wand.

"Zabini already went." She didn't catch whoever said the comment, as she was too busy assessing the damage. It wasn't horrible. She reckoned she could heal his black eye easily with one or two charms that Narcissa had provided her with.

She positioned her wand over his face, but it was knocked out of her grip by an older Slytherin. "What are you doing? You can't heal him, you're only a first-year!"

"Yes, I can, I've healed bruises before!" She exploded back. Other people backed Hermione up.

Theo said, "This is Hermione Lestrange we're talking about. If anyone can heal him it's her!"

"We should just wait for Madam Pomfrey," said the older boy.

"Yeah? Where is she? I sure don't see her!"

"She'll be here in a while, just wait for her!"

Goyle said, "Why don't you wait for her over there and get out of Lestrange's way!"

In the hubbub of shouting people, one sound stood out. A soft groan from below her. She looked down and saw that Draco was gaining consciousness. "'Mione…" he groaned.

"Shh, it's going to be okay, Draco—don't do that, don't open your eye or it'll swell."

Someone handed Hermione her wand. She ignored the other kids' protests and focused on her wandwork. With quick precision and expertise, she vanished his bruise with a flick of her wrist. Soon, Draco's coloring looked back to normal. He opened his eyes fully and looked up at everyone.

"You okay, mate?" Asked Theo.

Draco merely nodded and moved to touch the previously blackened eye. Hermione slapped his hand and said, "No touching. Allow it to heal." Draco smirked at her bossiness.

He muttered so lowly that nobody else but Hermione could hear, "You do care about me."

"Shut up." She said equally as lowly.

As soon as Draco sat up, the other Slytherins slowly dispersed and went their own ways. Soon, there were only fifteen people left.

Blaise and Madam Pomfrey arrived ten minutes after Hermione healed Draco. Despite his protests, Madam Pomfrey did not allow him to go freely, but she claimed she still had to further examine him in the Hospital Wing. He was completely back to normal an hour later.

The school year came to a close in June, and it ended on a high note. Slytherin had won the Quidditch cup along with the House cup for the seventh year in a row. It was the first time Hermione had seen her Housemates in such a delightful mood, for they were a sullen and apathetic lot most of the time.

As students in green cheered, Hermione's little friend group gave high fives, hugs, and fist bumps to each other. Goyle had shaken Hermione's hand a little bit too long, and she had to awkwardly pry his fingers off of hers before he blushed.

Draco's elated eyes found Hermione's at the end of the table and they ran, coming together in a tight hug, swaying side to side. They laughed as they pulled apart. They would be spending the summer holidays together, as they lived on the same grounds.

Days later, they traveled to King's Cross to be picked up by their respective families. The ten friends parted happily with promises of letters and picnic parties. Hermione reminded everyone to study ahead so as not to fall back on the school lessons, and likewise, Theo reminded everyone not to take Hermione too seriously. She hit his shoulder but was too amused to be cross with him.

That was the end of the first year.