Author's Note:

My first daily update. I hope the writing quality doesn't decrease from the pace and that I can keep it up. Writing really gets me excited! I hope you have fun reading and like always, I am delighted over every review!

Hermione didn't go to any of their classes that day. Directly after breakfast she barricaded herself in the first empty room she could find, whipped out a book and started learning the first curse she could find. She didn't know any magic that would help her in a duel, but she knew if she was able to learn one spell that would immobilise Malfoy, she would have a chance through the element of surprise.

It was a huge risk she had taken, but it had been calculated. If she managed to win the duel, Draco would be bound to follow their terms. The question she had asked him before the challenge was one she already knew the answer to. She had only asked to remind the Malfoy heir of his priorities. Yes, most Slytherins valued blood purity, but power was something they valued even more. Winning a public honour duel without the use of a wand had the second payoff of showing her power to the whole school, and the Slytherins would have no other choice than to respect her for it. At least that was what she hoped was going to happen.

If she lost the duel, she was planning on just living with Sirius and Remus and getting her education from them. It wasn't ideal, but at least she would not have to return completely to the muggle world.

The day went by incredibly fast, and Hermione trained well into the night. She knew she could have asked Harry for help, but for some reason, this was something she wanted to face on her own. So, when the next day came, Hermione reinforced her Occlumency shields as best as she could, before striding into the great hall ten minutes before their duel was scheduled.

Everyone's eyes were on her as she entered the great hall. Her gaze flickered over the entire school population to the head table, and what she saw there made her blood boil. Pity shined in the eyes of the professors – awfully condescending pity.

In front of the head table, Draco Malfoy stood waiting, grinning like a loon. As she headed towards him, Flitwick stood up from the head table making his way down to them.

"Today the honour duel between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger will take place. I will act as the witness. Standard duel rules Class C apply. Furthermore, the combatants have agreed upon Mrs. Granger being denied the use of a wand."

They took their positions, Draco holding his wand loosely at his side, Hermione already starting to gather her magic inside her hands. As tradition, they bowed, before waiting for Flitwick to give the signal.

"Start the duel on my signal. 3…2…1…Duel!"

Hermione didn't waste one second, raising her right hand and shouting:

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

Draco hadn't even raised his wand yet, and his grin morphed into shock as the spell left Hermione's hand and slammed into his chest. The expression was frozen onto his face, as his body stiffened, and he collapsed backwards onto the floor.

A deafening silence fell over the hall. It seemed like the whole population of Hogwarts had just gone into a shock state. Seconds went by, in which Hermione slowly let her hand back down, working hard on keeping her face expressionless.

"Winner: Hermione Granger," Flitwick managed to utter quietly, but it was heard through the entire hall.

Hermione turned her head to the Slytherin table, fixing them with an icy glare. "I hope you all now realise I am more than worthy of my magic, despite my blood."

She then turned around and stalked out of the great hall, leaving behind a still complete silence.

-o-o-

Harry had left the hall shortly after Hermione's victory, trying in vain to locate her. He wasn't sure if he should be extremely impressed or furious about her actions, something he would decide after talking to her. He was very angry at her for acting without talking to him first, and he was even angrier at her for leaving taking such a huge risk. It was an awfully Gryffindor-ish action, as Snape would have said. He wasn't able to dwell further on his feeling however, as his first potions class was about to begin in a few minutes. Thus, Harry hurried to the dungeons, seating himself in the front row, and ignoring the excited chatter about Hermione's duel. Quite a few different theories on how Hermione had won were thrown back and forth between the students. He overheard someone claiming she had cheated, others were saying she must have been descended from a squib, as no muggleborn would be able to perform wandless magic at the age of eleven. Draco was uncharacteristically silent, which gave Harry hope that maybe the blonde would take this event as a positive nudge, and not as something he would swear vengeance for. Harry had noted that Hermione had been very careful to be both civil to Draco, and to act exactly as wizarding tradition would demand. Challenging someone to an honour duel for the treatment Draco had showed at the Ravenclaw table was nothing extraordinary, but a quite normal reaction coming from an ancient house. However, it wasn't something expected from a muggleborn, as they were blissfully ignorant of what tradition would dictate. Harry didn't bother to correct anyone's assumptions, and ignored any questions heading his way. Instead, he just waited for Snape to make his dramatic first-year entrance. It didn't take long for the potions master to come sweeping into the room and start giving them his most likely well-rehearsed speech.

Just as in his past life, Snape made a short pause after reading his name off the list, and after he had finished checking their attendance, he immediately started firing questions at Harry.

"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"That would be the draught of living death, sir," Harry answered evenly.

Snape rose an eyebrow, before continuing with the next question.

"Where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar?"

"That would be inside the stomach of a goat, sir," Harry made sure to laze his voice with as much respect as he could. The questions Snape was asking were all inside the first chapter of his potions textbook. He was testing Harry, and the last time Harry had failed that first critical assessment. This time, however, he wouldn't.

"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"They are the same plant, sir."

Snape regarded Harry for another moment, before he gave him a short nod. "Correct, Mr. Potter. It seems like you did bother to open a textbook before attending."

Harry just nodded back, hoping that this time, his relationship with Snape might actually be somewhat civil.

-o-o-

During lunch, for once Harry was not the centre of stares and whispers. This time, Hermione had the pleasure of the entire student population taking turns staring at her, pointing fingers, and hushed whispers. However, from the outside it looked like that didn't face her, and she contently kept eating her potatoes, as if oblivious to the people around her.

"Potter," Draco's soft voice reached his ear, and only then did he realise that the blonde was sitting directly next to him, "Did you know Granger was this magically gifted?"

"I don't surround myself with people not worth my time. Someone in your position should know how important good…friendships are," Harry whispered back.

Draco didn't answer, and Harry hoped he hadn't offended the boy. After finishing his meal, Harry walked past the Ravenclaw table, stopping next to Hermione, leaning over and quietly whispered into her ear.

"After classes, you know where."

Harry had told her about the come-and-go room in the seventh floor of the castle, and he was quite sure she would figure out he meant that room as their meeting spot. Without waiting for an answer, he headed towards his next class, not really feeling up to talking with her normally before they hadn't discussed the events of yesterday and this morning.

-o-o-

Harry didn't wait long in the come-and-go room, before the door swung open and Hermione entered. She hadn't even taken two steps towards him, before her mask, and with it her Occlumency shields, fell. Tears started pouring out of her eyes, as the held back emotions of the last forty-eight hours flooded her mind.

Harry didn't think twice before rushing from the couch where he had been seated and swept her into his arms.

"I'm s-o sorry, Ha-arry," she sobbed, "Yo-ou must be so angry. You trusted me, and I messed up on the fi-irst day, an-"

Harry gently stroked her hair, as she buried her head into his chest. He let her cry, not knowing what to say, and so he just stood there until her sobbing slowly receded, and then finally stopped. He gently let her towards the couch, sitting down next to her and looking at her red eyes and tear-streaked face.

"Hermione, please explain your reasoning for what you did," he said slowly, patiently waiting as she gathered herself.

"I knew if I wanted the Slytherins to accept our friendship, I had to impress them. I also had to do it from the very start, or it would have been seen as weakness, or as something someone else told me. I had read about honour duels in the book you gave me, and knew it was the appropriate reaction for Malfoy's insults. So…I just went with that."

"You know, while the Professors won't ask you directly, as that's a serious breach of conduct, they will wonder how you got both the knowledge and the skill for what you did?" Harry asked,

Hermione slowly nodded. "I know, but as they won't be able to ask, I hoped that they will just think I've read about honour duels in a book I bought in Diagon Alley."

Harry pondered that for a moment. It was quite likely they would come to that conclusion. It was the explanation making the most sense, as Harry himself should have nearly no knowledge about those things, and he hadn't given the Professors any indication otherwise.

"I…understand your reasoning. Maybe this is is actually for our benefit, but Hermione, please, next time, when something like this crosses your mind, at least try to talk to me about it beforehand. There was so much that could have gone wrong…" Harry said, looking at hear with pleading eyes.

"I know! I was just so stressed, and it seems like a good idea, a-"

"Its okay," Harry just said, taking her into his arms once more, "I'm just happy it all went well, at least for now."

"You're not angry?" she whispered into his shoulder.

"I was, but not anymore. Hell, I'm supposed to be the one doing rash and not well thought out actions, not you, big brain," he laughed, and Hermione couldn't stop herself from laughing with him.

-o-o-

The next day, the whispers and stares didn't decrease even one bit, and Hermione worked hard on keeping her emotions tightly locked behind her Occlumency shields. She ignored the questions from her housemates, and performed every task given to her in class on her first try, and after that quietly read books on more advanced material. They had decided to play on her genius as much as possible, now that it was out in the open anyway.

In defence against the dark arts, Hermione put extra attention on her Occlumency shields, and always kept her gaze above Quirrell's shoulder, being very careful to never cross his eyes. Having Voldemort's servant try to invade her already stressed Occlumency barriers wasn't something she was keen on living through right now.

After classes, she and Harry had decided to pay Hagrid a visit. Maybe he would be able to tell them a bit on what the Professors were thinking in regards of Hermione. They knocked on the hut's door, and after a loud "Back, Fang!", Hagrid opened the door and ushered them in.

"Harry! Good to see yeh. And Hermione! Harry has told me a lot about yeh, but yeh made yerself quite the name already, did yeh? Come in, come in, I will jus' make yeh a cup o' tea!"

Harry and Hermione sat down, thanking Hagrid as he gave them both a cup.

"Hagrid, we were wondering how the Professors have taken the duel? I hope they don't suspect any outside interference?" Harry asked, taking a sip from the tea, before quickly putting it back down as it was still far too hot.

"They were bloody surprised, o' course. Wandless magic at tha' age, an' then also a second-year spell. Minerva was really worried about yeh, yeh know? She was tryin' to get Dumbledore to call off the duel, but he said there was nothin' he could do about it," Hagrid answered, looking at Hermione at the last bit of his statement, "They all say yeh're a genius. Harry has said tha' to me before, but seein' it with my own eyes…yeh really are a brilliant witch, Hermione."

Hermione blushed under Hagrid's praise and Harry was happy to see her get the recognition she deserved – something that had been denied her in his past life.

"That's good, Hagrid. I thought maybe next week I could start teaching you, if you want. We can start with a recap of the first three years, as quite a long time has passed since you last properly used your wand." Harry suggestion, smiling at Hagrid's beaming expression.

"O' course, Harry! I was really lookin' forward to tha'. I'm jus' sad I can't tell Dumbledore, I think he would be really proud tha' yeh would do tha' fer me," Hagrid said with a solemn expression.

"I know Hagrid," Harry answered, "But there will come a time where you can surprise him with everything you learned, and I am sure he will be more than glad to see you get the education that you should have gotten all along."

Hagrid looked thoughtful for a moment, as if picturing that day. "Yeh know Harry, I will do everythin' I can to make tha' day happen."