Hermione

I was awoken the next morning by Daphne, saying we started the day early here because perfection took time. I wasn't really sure what that meant, but I was sure she was going to tell me. Over the summer I got used to many people around. Of course, it wasn't as much as there as here; but that is to be expected in a school full of children. Daphne dragged me to the bathroom, shoving me into the shower, mumbling something about spells. I shrugged and too a quick shower, dreading the curls that were to come forth after my hair dried. I really miss my blow dryer.

"Come on Hermione. I'll help you out." Daphne smiled.

I eyed her wand warily. "Your not going to make me look like a clown are you?"

She scoffed, obviously offended. "That would ruin the rep we have here."

"Which would be what?" I asked curiously.

"We are women of perfection." She gave me a sly grin.

"I thought Slythrin was known for its deviousness."

"Is that even a word?" Daphne asked but shrugged before I could answer. "No matter, we are sly and devious, Hermione. That doesn't mean we can't be perfect too." She pointed to a chair near the mirror.

"Now sit."

I swallowed nervously, but did as I was told. "I've never worn make up before."

"Not even lip gloss?" I shook my head. "That's horrible. Once I am done with you, you will love it."

"Okay."

"First we must do something about that hair." She tsked as she ran her hands through my curls. "Why does your hair get so frizzy?" I shrugged. "Well this spell will help enhance your curls, without it becoming frizzy." She muttered something under her breath and I watch in amazement as my curls became tighter and the frizz disappeared. "Better right?"

"It looks amazing. What happens if the frizz comes back during the day?"

She grinned at me. "The beauty of magic, it won't wear off until you shower again. Or your hair gets wet. Don't worry, I will teach you the spell."

"Thanks."

"Of course, what are friends for?"

"F-friends?" I stuttered. "We're friends?"

Daphne laughed her soft voice musical. "Of course sweetie. We may be in Slytherin but we are not as cold blooded as people think."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"Enough already. Now let's move on to your face." She studied my face for a few moments. "You have such a natural beauty, Hermione. I think we should stick to that." I nodded, and she muttered a few more spells. Nothing drastic really happened. Some light brown colors shaded my eyes, making my eyes pop out a little and she put a nude lip gloss on my lips. "Done." She announced proudly.

"Wow. It looks amazing." I uttered in awe.

"Well, I am a professional." She grinned, "Now go get ready for the rest of day. Remember to wear your Slytherin robes."

I nodded and went back to my bed, pulling out my clothes for today. After getting dressed, I sat on my bed waiting for Daphne to get ready. She didn't take as long as I did, so about fifteen minutes later she was ready to head to the Great Hall for breakfast. We made our way down to the common room where several Slytherin boys were waiting. I recognized Draco and Blaise, giving them a small wave, I followed Daphne out of the room.

"You clean up real nice Hermione," Blaise whispered.

"Thanks." I looked over at Daphne who smirked and rolled her eyes.

"What class do you have first Hermione?" She asked.

"Um, I don't know."

"Well, you'll find out after breakfast." She supplied.

"We'll probably have the same classes, depending on the electives you've chosen," Blaise replied.

"Oh, well that's good. I'd hate to be the only Slytherin in a class."

"I'm pretty sure that would only happen if you picked Divination." Daphne laughed, "Only the idiots pick that class 'cause it's an easy grade." She stared knowingly at Pansy and I had to stifle a laugh.

"Well, I didn't pick that one. According to Professor Snape, she's a fraud."

"That is completely true," Draco answered. "I took a class in the third year and every class she would tell Potter he was going to die."

"Why only him?" I asked.

Draco shrugged. "Who knows? Father told me that true seers are very rare. I heard there was one a few years ago, but she died while experimenting on some potions."

"That's awful," I muttered.

"Her daughter goes to school here," Blaise told me. "Everybody calls her Loony Lovegood."

The Slytherin's all laughed. "That's horrible," I argued.

"Her own house made up the nickname, and it just kind of stuck." Blaise held his hands up seeing my glare.

"That's still awful. Poor girl. Does she have any friends?"

"Not that I've seen. She hangs to herself mostly." Daphne answered.

"I see." I knew what it was like to be bullied for being different. I vowed to myself I was going to befriend this girl, even if it meant I lost the ones I already found. "What house is she in?"

"Ravenclaw."

We finally arrived at the Great Hall and my eyes immediately scanned the room for Harry. I spotted him at his house table and I said goodbye to the Slytherins and made my way over to Harry. "Morning Harry."

Harry turned at the sound of my voice and grinned at me. "Hey, Hermione. How was your first night?"

"It was fine. I think I made some friends."

"That's great. The Slytherin's are not all that bad, they just got a bad rep because of who has been in their house."

"If I didn't know any better mate, it would sound like you actually like the Slytherins." Ron grunted with a mouth full of food.

Harry gave his friend a disgusted glare and shrugged. "I was trying to make Hermione feel better Ron."

"Honestly Ronald, didn't you learn any manners?" I asked, disgusted by his barbarian eating habits. "I just came over to ask where Luna was."

"Luna Lovegood?" I nodded. "Why do you want to know where she is?"

"I wanted to meet her."

"Why would you want to meet Loony Lovegood?"

"Do not call her that Ronald."

"She sits at the Ravenclaw table," Harry answered before I could hex Ron. Over the summer I became a natural at hexes, most of them were aimed at Ron. He pointed to a blonde haired girl sitting at the next table over, she was sitting as far away as she could without falling off the bench from her housemates. "She's right there. Do you want me to come with you?"

"Sure, if you want to." We made our way over to the blonde haired witch, I could feel the whole student body's eyes watching us from their seats. Was it that big of a deal to want to say hello to someone they have deemed Loony? "Hello, are you Luna Lovegood?"

Luna turned towards my voice, a dreamy expression on her face and her silvery eyes felt like they were penetrating into my soul. She smiled up at us. "Hello, Harry. Yes, I am Luna."

Harry grinned at the blonde. "Luna, it's great to see you again. How was your summer?"

"It was rather fun." She answered.

"Luna, this is my s-cousin Hermione." Harry introduced.

"No need to lie Harry." She smiled and leaned closer towards us, whispering. "Anyone can see you guys are twins."

I gaped at the blonde, it wasn't completely obvious that we were twins unless you already knew that we were. We have few similarities between us. "Well, we want everybody to think we are cousins Luna."

"Of course." She stared at my robe. "I can see why Hermione would not want her relation to you public."

I gave a tight smile. "Thanks. Not everyone in Slytherin likes my brother too much."

"Do you know why?" Luna questioned and I shook my head. "Probably for the best."

"Anyway, I wanted to come over and see if you wanted to be friends."

"Friends?" She glanced at Harry quickly and then back to me. "Friends sounds wonderful, but you must realize that you may lose the ones you already have."

I nodded. "I know, but if I lose them, then they weren't really my friends, to begin with."

Luna smiled, her eyes twinkling happily. "I will see you around then Hermione."

"You too Luna." We said our goodbyes and Harry and I both went back to our respective tables. Once back at mine, I got bombarded with questions.

"What was the point in that?" Daphne asked curiously.

I shrugged. "Is there something wrong with having friends in different houses?"

"Not at all," Draco answered quickly, shooting Daphne a glare. "Just no one really wants to be friends with Slytherins."

"Why were you with Potter?" Pansy's nasally voice drifted to my ears and I cringed.

"He is my cousin, I am not going to stop talking to him just because I am in Slytherin now. I mean we do live together when we are not here."

"You realize Potter and Draco are like sworn enemies right?" Pansy continued. "I doubt he will want to be your friend for long once he realizes how much you and Potter have in common."

"Pansy, shut up." Draco snapped. "I am sitting right here, and I don't remember making you my spokesperson." Pansy pouted and went back to her cereal. "Don't worry about her, Pansy is just mad my parents rejected her proposal."

"You mean like a marriage proposal?" I asked, shocked and Draco nodded. "Your parents still arrange your marriages?" Again he nodded. "How barbaric. What about marrying for love?"

Draco shrugged. "Usually these arrangements are more for political reasons, rather than love."

"So if your parents decided, who would they choose?"

"I think Daphne." I turned to the older girl who turned bright red. "Or her little sister."

"Only muggles would marry for something as ridiculous as love." Pansy snorted.

"Obviously you have never been in love Pansy." I glared at the pug like girl.

"Have you?" Draco asked and I blushed.

"No, but I have read many books about it."

"Are you talking about those romance novels that older women read?" Theo bluntly asked and my face heated up even more. "You must be, they don't exactly make books on love."

"Some of them are well written." I defended.

"And some are just pure smut." Theo shot back.

"How would you know mate?" Draco asked, looking at Theo.

He flushed bright red. "Mum used to read them."

"Wasn't satisfied enough by your dad?" An older Slytherin asked, making the whole table laugh and Theo's face to get as red as a beet.

"Here are your class schedules." Snape interrupted the conversation, a deep scowl on his face. "In the future, please refrain from talking about satisfaction at the breakfast table." He handed me my schedule and gave me a pointed look.

"Sorry Professor." Snape walked away, still scowling.

"What class do you have first Hermione?" Daphne asked.

I looked down at the paper and almost smiled. "Double potions."

"How many classes are you taking this year?" Draco asked, peeking at my paper. "Blimey Hermione, only four classes?"

I nodded. "No electives for me." I smiled at the bummed expression of Draco, "I made a deal with the Headmaster, instead of electives I get to take four of the main classes.'

"But they are all double, and they are the same every day." Draco pointed out.

"Yes. It will help me catch up faster."

"Well I have potions as well, so I can walk with you." Draco offered.

"Sure. I think the potions classroom is the only one I actually know how to find." I laughed nervously.

"Don't worry, someone will have to have at least one class with you at all times," Draco reassured and I smiled at him.

"Great, well we better get going." I stood up.

"You barely ate anything," Daphne replied, looking down at my untouched food.

"I'm too excited to eat." I grabbed Draco's hand. "Let's go."

"Hey, I was still eating!" He complained.

"I'm sure you ate enough. Was that the third or fourth plate?" I asked, laughing.

"Fine, but you better let me eat more at lunch. We have defense together afterward."

"Deal." I chuckled as his expression perked up.

When we arrived for potions, I was shocked to see not many students in the class. Draco explained they had an exam called the O.W.L.S and Snape only accepted people who got an A or above. Not many people did apparently. The first hour of potions we brewed a simple draught, to make sure we didn't forget everything over the summer. After the hour was up, everybody left and I was alone with Snape. He explained no one else in the school has double potions so every day after the first hour was over it was going to be one on one. The thought made me giddy, I had missed making potions with him over summer and now I got to do it again.

Once again I was astounded by the lack of emotion on Snape's face. It always seemed to have a sneer in place, even when he was praising someone- not that he praised people often, it seemed. "What are we making today Professor?"

Snape looked up from the paperwork on his desk, eyebrows rose in what I assume was surprise. Did he forget I was here already? He cleared his throat and rummaged through the papers on his desk. "I have permission to teach N.E.W.T level potions Miss. Potter. You will need them for next year, assuming you will want to continue potions."

I nodded eagerly, throwing my hair into a quick ponytail. "Ready when you are Professor."

Snape stared at me for a moment before clearing his throat once again. "Er.. right." He picked up a piece of paper and held it out. I grabbed it, a little confused by how he was acting. "Before you can become a master at potions, you must learn to prepare ingredients the proper way."

I stared down at the paper, disappointed. I wasn't going to be starting on potions anytime soon it would seem. "Yes, sir." The list was unusually long, probably would take months to master all of it.

"Well get started." He demanded when I just stood there.

I nodded and grabbed the first few ingredients on the list- Aconite, African Red Pepper and Angel's Trumpet. I started with the pepper, I had to prepare it three different ways. I sighed as I began to slice the pepper into four parts. Removing the seeds I then began slicing the pepper in tiny lines, each one the same width and length. When the hour was up I was just about to start Angel's Trumpet when Snape came over and inspected the ingredients.

"Not bad," He said. "Although you will have to redo the Aconite, half of it is uneven. The pepper, however, is perfect. You can scratch it off you list." He flicked his wand and the ingredients disappeared from the table. "If you would like you can also practice outside of class. I am sure your godfather-"Snape sneered on the word. "-would buy you the right materials."

I nodded. "Thank you, Sir." I gathered up my stuff and left the room.

"Hermione!" I turned around to see Theo running up to me. He stopped beside me, panting lightly. "Thought I would walk with you to Runes. Malfoy said you didn't really know here the classes were."

I grinned at him, linking my arm through his. "How sweet, thanks, Theo."

Theo flushed but smiled at me. "No problem. I was just coming out of the dorms. I don't really have a class."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I was planning on taking Divination, but father said I would not need that swil once I graduate so now I have a free period."

I scrunched my nose. "I tend to agree with your father. That professor I hear is complete rubbish. Why Dumbledore would want to hire her is beyond me."

Theo shrugged. "Who knows what that git is thinking." He chuckled at my shocked look. "This may come as a surprise, but not everyone hero worships Dumbledore as much as the Gryffindors do."

"I have noticed that Harry tends to talk about him a lot. Over the summer he wouldn't stop talking about him. I've met him a couple times, but he doesn't seem all that great to me."

"That is probably why the hat put you in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor." Theo laughed loudly, his laugh echoing down the empty hallway.

"The hat wasn't really sure what house to put me in, to be honest. It said I would be great in all the houses, I even asked to be Gryffindor, but he chose Slytherin."

"Maybe he saw your sneaky nature." Theo wagged his eyebrows suggestively making me laugh.

"I doubt that. I don't know what that hat was thinking. I'm just glad I wasn't completely shunned because of my last name."

"Speaking of which, I noticed you and Potter look alike." I tensed at his words, oh Merlin. Did he figure it out? "I didn't know cousins could resemble each other so much."

I shrugged stiffly. "I am not sure how the whole gene thing works Theo."

We stopped in front of the door. "Here we are." I sagged in relief as I pushed my way through the large doors. We were late, Theo used me as an excuse and the professor seemed to buy it. I sat next to him and I listened to the Professor with rapt attention. This year was going to be awesome. I jumped when I felt something touch my leg, I looked down to see a tiny little snake curling around my leg. I stifled the urge to scream, mentally yelling at the snake to leave. Of course, it just stayed where it was, I looked back up at the professor and tried to forget about the snake. I'll remove it once class was over, I just really hope it wasn't poisonous. This was going to be a long two hours.

A/N: Sorry for the little cutoff. Just didn't want this chapter to go on and on. I will continue it in the next chapter. As always please review, I would love to hear from you. Until next time…

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