Hi! I know I have two other stories going, but when I get tired of writing a particular one I like to bounce between them. So here is Hermione Potter, Slytherin AU, however I do think canon Hermione would be a Slytherin if not a Gryffindor anyways. Here's the first chapter - Tiger xx
Hermione Potter was an elegant witch. She went to all the etiquette lessons her mother took her to. She spoke and held herself like a proper lady. And the girl was only 11. Though if you asked her, she was 11 . But with all this, she still didn't feel she was as much of a Potter as her father Fleamont or her older brother Jamey. See, Hermione Potter was adopted into the family at a month old, and even though she avidly tried to be a proper Potter, it never truly worked. Her puzzle piece was always a bit askew. Which is why she related to her mother, Euphemia, who was a Slytherin Black in a legacy of Gyffindors.
"Hermione darling, our Jamey will be home soon. Come downstairs!" her mother called up to her daughter's bedroom, and instead of the boisterous run her brother displayed when called, Hermione gracefully sauntered into the living room.
"Here, hold these cookies for him while I go and send an owl quickly. Your father will be home with them soon, love" Euphemia patted her daughter affectionately and left the room, leaving her daughter to question her last statement.
Them? Last time she checked, Hermione didn't have a second sibling. She was the second one! But after weighing up the various meanings, the girl decided to just wait by the door with the house elves for her beloved brother's return. The pair were quite a duo, always together, thick as thieves. But that year James had been at Hogwarts, and Hermione was most envious to go. At home, being a pureblood daughter, Hermione never really got a chance to research everything she wanted to research because it wasn't something ladies should know. And while Euphemia and Fleamont were flexible, she wanted more. The undivided freedoms of a boarding school.
But soon Hermione was pulled from her thoughts as the front door opened. Her father appeared first, with his salt and pepper unruly hair and amber eyes, grinning at her. Then he stepped aside, and revealed her brother, not more different from when she last saw him at Easter, and another boy. This boy was ebony haired too, but his locks fell shaggily to his shoulders, rather than sticking up at the back like the Potter men.
"Hello Jamey! Would you like.." but Hermione was cut off.
"Thanks Miones, gotta go!" James and the boy snatched a cookie off the plate, before bolting up the stairs and past a chuckling Euphemia clucking her tongue.
Hermione was positively shocked. Firstly, there was an intruder in her house, or by the familiarity from everyone else, a guest she hadn't known of. Secondly, her Jamey ignored her and her mother and father condoned his rudeness by not even addressing the house elves. She looked between the Lord and Lady Potter, her chocolate eyes demanding an explanation.
Her father laughed at his furious daughter's expression. "That was Sirius Black. He's staying with us for the summer, Mia. Treat him like family, although he technically is."
Thinking about it, the girl decided at Hogwarts she would need as many allies as she could. It would be useful, and if the situation called, she might need help. From bullies or understanding concepts. So Hermione nodded firmly, and set off up the stairs determined.
She knocked on the door, and Sirius answered it with a raised brow. "You're Hermione Potter?"
"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You look nothing like the Potters. More like the Longbottoms, or the Carrows…"
James stood from making his friend's makeshift bed, and walked to door frame. His sister thought he was going to defend her right to the family, but instead he just said "Nah she's a Potter. Adopted though. What did you want, Miones?"
"To get to know the person that is staying in my house. Must we talk in the doorway? It's incredibly rude"
Sirius rolled his eyes and started to unpack. "Mother would like you. She's all about manners, crazy old bint"
"Are you insinuating that caring about being polite makes you crazy? Because I must say…"
"Miones maybe we can continue this later? We've got stuff to do" James shut the door on his sister's face, and she stood staring at the oak and the sign that read James Fleamont Potter.
Just when she was about to leave, she faintly heard "your sister's nothing like you said she was. She's a bossy one!"
"I know Sirius, trust me I've lived with her for 10 years."
That was what made the tears spill. Hermione ran to the library, and climbed up to her nook on the third floor between the alchemy and mythology shelves. That was where she allowed the tears to turn to sobs.
The summer went pretty much the same. Hermione would try to engage with the boys, but she'd receive a cold shoulder or vague answers that said they didn't want to talk to her more than silence. So seeing that her father had his Wizengamot meetings and Unspeakable duty and her mother was busy planning whatever project she was planning, Hermione was left to her own devices for the first time in her life.
After the first few days of only just starting to get used to the pain of being ignored, Hermione spent all her time in the library. She read what she thought would be useful for school, and once she surpassed the basics of 1st year, the girl moved on to more advanced books that she was sure her mother wouldn't appreciate her reading.
One morning, after breakfast, the Potter matriarch entered the library and found her daughter where she always found her when she was feeling studious. The girl frequented the nook so often that it had pillows and blankets and an assortment of posters and photographs on the walls of the space. But Mrs Potter noted that the photo of Hermione and James a few Christmasses ago was taken down.
"Are you alright, dear? You've been unusually withdrawn this summer and it's almost time for Hogwarts. We won't see you for a few months."
"I'm fine. James and his friend have made it perfectly clear I'm not invited to whatever they do. I'm perfectly happy to sit here and read. Books are lovely for the escapism" Hermione turned the page rather more dramatically than she had meant, but it added to the effect all the same.
"I'm sure that's not true. Come, you can play Quidditch with them." Euphemia went to stand, but Hermione didn't move an inch.
"No. I despise Quidditch. As you know. I'm fine Mother, truly"
The older woman sighed in resignation, and left the library, giving her daughter the peace she wanted. Euphemia marched downstairs, to the quidditch pitch, and called her son to the ground.
"Why are you upsetting your sister James?" she asked with a stern face.
"I am not!" came the shocked reply. He'd never do anything to upset his Hermione.
"Well perhaps not intentionally. But she's feeling lonely. And you are excluding her."
"But Mother. I'm with Sirius. Mione knows I love her. I just want to spend time with him" the boy shrugged.
Euphemia waivered. She knew of Sirius's life with her family, the Blacks weren't exactly warm. "Fine. But you must make an effort with our Mia when you two go to Hogwarts. I mean it James Fleamont."
"Yes ma'am" her son saluted her, and mounted his broom once again.
It was time for Hermione Potter to start at Hogwarts, and the girl was bubbling with excitement. Her parents attention was solely on her, which had been a rarity that summer, and it felt marvellous. When it was finally time to say goodbye at the platform, the Potters felt the prickly sensation across their noses that indicated the arrival of tears, but the tears didn't fall like they did at James's departure. Perhaps they did after the girl left, perhaps they did not. But Hermione was too busy marvelling at the scarlet train to notice.
By the time the final whistle whistled, Hermione had parted with her parents and she was dragging her expensive trunk down the train to find her dear brother. Reaching his compartment, she elegantly slid open the doors to see four boys lounging around, two of whom she did not recognise.
"Alright Mione? This is Remus Lupin" he gestured to a sandy brown haired boy who had a deep scar running down from his hairline and stopping in the middle of his left eyebrow. "And this is Peter Pettigrew" the second boy was unfortunate looking, with watery eyes and dirty blonde hair that didn't look right but there couldn't be a way to fix it. "You already know Sirius." Hermione's eyes narrowed slightly at Sirius, and neither said anything in greeting.
"My sister Hermione, boys!" James grinned, and the others in the compartment nodded to her.
"Nice to meet you" the girl smiled shyly.
"Are you going to stand in the doorway? A witch told me it was rude" Sirius smirked as Hermione's eyes narrowed and James laughed, encouraging the other boys to do so.
"No, I will not. I'll find my own compartment. Perhaps the company I'll have won't resort to mockery when they don't have anything intelligent to say"
The witch flounced away, and headed back to the front of the train, where she found a compartment with a single boy in it.
"Hello. May I sit with you?" Hermione's voice came out slightly shyer than she meant, but the boy just nodded and she sat opposite him.
"Nice to meet you Regulus Black. I do hope you're nicer than your brother is"
The boy looked up then, and he watched her with his stormy grey eyes in interest. "How do you know my brother and I?" He tilted his head softly.
"Your trunk has the initials RB, you have the same eyes and similar features to my mother Euphemia neè Black and Sirius came to stay at my house over the summer, a great inconvenience" Hermione waved her hand and settled her trunk on the rack
"Then I assume you are Hermione Potter? And that you wish to be a Gryffindor when we arrive?"
The girl thought for a moment. "Not necessarily. I would like Ravenclaw too. But Gryffindor mostly yes, to be with my brother"
"Same, though swap Ravenclaw for Slytherin. Bella, Meda and Cissa are there, but Sirius is in Gryffindor"
"Why you'd want to be in the same house as Sirius Black I do not know."
Regulus crossed his arms indignantly. "What's so wrong with my brother?"
"Everything. Though I can see you aren't as similar. When we're in Gryffindor together we can be the new Potter/Black duo. Deal?" Hermione extended her hand and Regulus shook it suspiciously. But the trolley witch came, and the promise of sweets shook him from his questioning thoughts.
Hermione stood in the line, waiting to be sorted, and she almost wished the Abbots or the Averys had adopted her, then she would know already. Regulus had been sorted already, and when the Hat screeched SLYTHERIN Sirius had a resigned look of sadness, whereas their cousins cheered heartily.
When Hermione's time finally came, she approached the Hat and smiled at James for support.
The Sorting Hat started to whisper into her ear.
"Well Miss Potter, where to put you? You have the loyalty of a badger, that is true. And the thirst for knowledge like an eagle. Your courage and chivalry of a lion had me tempted to put you in Gryffindor, but only a true Slytherin has the power to combine all four of the house traits. It's got to be SLYTHERIN"
Hermione looked at her brother's horrified face as the hall filled with a loud silence, just as Sirius's sorting had resorted in last year. The girl gulped and walked down to the Slytherin table (which just had to be at the end) with as much grace as she could muster. James refused to look at her, and it broke her heart as she sat down next to Regulus.
Seeing this, the boy weakly said "at least we can be friends in Slytherin? Allies are important you know"
Hermione nodded along sadly, and pulled at her chestnut curls in despair.