Hermione

The first hour of class finally came to a close, and I breathed a sigh of relief as everyone gathered their belongings and made for the door. I don't think they would have reacted all that well to seeing a snake. I was barely handling it, I loved snakes but the passed hour all I was thinking about was what would happen if it bit me. I said a rushed good bye to Theo and carefully pushed myself back on the chair so I could see the snake better. It was beautiful and bright, black scaly skin with orange and yellow diamond patterns. It was about a foot and a half long, probably still a baby.

"Why would you choose me to wrap around when there were so many other bodies around?" I muttered to the snake, who just wrapped around me tighter in answer.

"Miss. Potter." I looked up to see the professor eyeing me curiously. "I would like to see your knowledge on runes so I can prepare what to teach you."

"Of course Professor." He handed me a booklet and walked towards the door.

"I will be back, do try to behave yourself Miss. Potter."

I flushed at his meaning and nodded. "Yes, sir." He left and my head turned back to the sleeping snake. Once again confused why it chose me. Sighing, I shook my head and figured I would never get the answer, I grabbed my bag and dumped all the contents out. Before coming to school, I came across a very useful spell that made my bag bigger then what it should be. I was able to fit my whole life into the bag. Pulling out a blanket I set it on the table and transfigured it into a cage, the holes big enough for the snake to crawl out of.

Next, I grabbed a smaller blanket and put it in the bottom of the cage, then I cast a warming charm. Grinning proudly, I gently grabbed the snake by the head so it wouldn't bite out of fear, I coaxed him into the cage. "There you go little guy, all nice and warm for you." The snake stared at me for several long moments before curling into itself and then laid still. "I guess you like it. I am not sure if you understand what I am saying, but I am not going to keep you locked up, the holes in this cage are big enough if you ever want to get out." I chuckled to myself at the absurdity of the situation, I was talking to a snake for crying out loud. "I'm going to put you in my bag, if you do leave, please don't bite me." The snake didn't answer.

I shoved everything back into my bag and then got to work on the booklet. By the time the Professor returned, the hour was up and I was halfway through the book. He examined the pages I completed and nodded. "You can finish this tomorrow."

"Am I doing it all right, sir?" I asked.

"Yes, yes. Everything seems to be correct. I'll look at it in more detail when you are finished."

"Bye." I waved and headed out the door.

I bumped into Harry on my way out, both of us crashing to the floor. Harry opened his mouth to yell, but closed it again once he saw me. "Hermione, sorry about that." He helped me to my feet.

"No worries." I reassured him, brushing myself off. "What's the hurry?"

Harry shrugged and gave me a sheepish smile, running a hand through his hair. "I'm just hungry."

Harry was such a bad liar, "If you say so. Walk with me to the Great Hall?"

"Sure." We started walking towards the hall. "How are you first day of classes, anything interesting happen?"

I thought about the snake that was now sleeping in my bag, "Nope, nothing at all. I like my classes. People treat me a lot better here."

Harry grimaced. "I can't imagine the Slytherins being nice."

"I really don't understand this feud your house and mine have."

Harry shrugged. "It's a complicated history I guess."

"Maybe the library will have information about it." I mused.

Harry grinned at me. "Always the bookworm. How we are related is beyond me."

I gave an un-lady like snort, "Just because we are twins doesn't mean we are identical in every way."

"And I thank God every day for that." Harry joked. "Although I wouldn't have minded some of your brains."

"From what I hear you are an amazing duelist."

Harry blushed. "Not much I can really do with that."

We arrived at the Great Hall and I waved good bye to Harry before making my way to the Slytherin table, sitting between Draco and Blaise. "Hey."

"Hey Hermione, how was classes?" Draco asked as I filled my plate.

"A lot more interesting than Muggle studies."

Draco laughed. "I suppose that's true."

"Not all muggle contraptions are bad." Theo piped up.

"Like what?" Draco sneered.

Theo blushed as all eyes turned towards him. "Well.. er… the theaters are pretty cool."

"Theater?" Blaise asked.

"It's where muggles go to watch movies." At their blank expressions, I sighed. "It's like moving pictures."

Draco grimaced. "I don't see the appeal." He shook his head, throwing a piece of bread into his mouth. "Your going to like Defense."

"I am?" I asked amused.

"Yes, we learn about all types of dark magic."

"I thought the purpose of the lesson was to learn how to defend yourself against the dark arts."

"Yeah, that is the main purpose." Draco shrugged. "But for us it's like a guide book."

"Guide book?" I was confused, maybe it was true what Harry and Ron told me over the summer.

"Well most of the dark wizards in history came from Slytherin."

"I don't see your point." I argued. "Anyone can become a dark wizard or witch. It has nothing to do with what house they were in, just the choices they make in life."

"Technically that's true Hermione, but most of them came from Slytherin."

"So just cause I am in Slytherin, everyone believes I will become a dark witch?"

"Pretty much."

"How disgusting." I muttered.

Draco grinned. "You are only going to be here for another year after this one Hermione. You won't be able to change hundreds of years of proof in that time."

I looked up at Draco stunned. "How did you know that was what I was thinking?"

"You may have been sorted into Slytherin, but your a Gryffindor through and through." Draco answered laughing.

I rolled my eyes. "Ready to go to Defense?"

"Sure." Draco pushed his plate away and got up from the table. "Guys coming with?"

"You two go ahead." Daphne answered.

We said good bye and I followed Draco the Defense classroom. I've never been completely alone with Draco before and it made me nervous. All the information I received over the summer about him has me on edge no matter how wrong some of their assumptions are. Harry commented that Draco looked a little off yesterday, that he looked terrified about something. I couldn't tell the difference, Draco always seemed to have the same cold looking facade he always had.

"Draco, what's your family like?" I asked.

"My family?" He shrugged. "The Malfoy's are a very proud and arrogant bunch. My mum is actually Sirius Black's cousin, so she is not as heartless."

"And your dad?"

"He is never happy." Draco muttered.

"I never knew my parents." I replied.

"Sometimes I wonder if I would have been better off without them."

"Don't think like that, I am sure your parents love you."

"I am not so sure of that. I mean, maybe my mum does but my dad puts up with me cause I am the heir."

"Heir to what?"

"To the Malfoy name. Once my father dies, I inherit the houses, vaults, business."

"That sounds like a lot of pressure to put onto one kid."

"Well, as soon as I graduate I will be forced into an arranged marriage of my father's choosing."

My mouth fell open in shock. "You mean you don't even get to choose who you marry?"

"Of course not. All pureblood families are like that. They want to keep the heritage pure. Most purebloods marry relatives just to keep it pure."

"That is not pure at all." I scrunched my face up in disgust. "How do they expect to keep producing offspring with all this inbreeding?"

Draco shrugged. "Just the way it works Hermione."

"It's wrong. People should marry for love, not to strengthen their pockets."

"Nothing can be done about it." We stopped in front of a door. "Here we are."

"Great." I muttered, suddenly not as excited as I was.

"Thanks Hermione." Draco muttered as we walked in, I was about to ask him for what but he scurried off to his seat before I could open my mouth. I wasn't feeling the double Defense class today. On the positive side, Snape was teaching it today, saying the Professor wasn't here yet.

"Today we are going to be learning about the Unforgivables." The class groaned. "Yes, I know you learned this is fourth year, but it is always good to refresh."

"What else is there to learn Professor?" A girl asked.

Snape glared at the girl, "many things can be learned about one subject if one takes the time to research." He cleared his throat and returned glaring at the rest of the class. "As of right now, there really is no iron clad way to defend against these curses. It might even takes years to remedy the fact, but it all starts with trial and error."

A male raised his hand suddenly. "Are you saying that we are to research these curses and see if we can come up with a counter curse?"

"That is precisely what I am saying. I would like you to pair up in groups of four and five, pick a curse, and get to work. If you choose the killing curse, the best thing to try and come up with is some kind of shield, since we can't exactly test your theories on living things."

The students were actually excited and they all jumped up and formed their groups. I stood there, slightly dazed. Imagine someone actually coming up with a way to counter these horrible curses. My gaze traveled to Neville involuntarily, his parents who suffered from the crucio curse and were not pretty much living vegetables. To be able to stop that from happening to someone else, must be something he has wanted to do for years.

"Hermione?" I turned toward the voice to see Theo.

"Hey Theo."

"Apparently Snape is not very good at counting, we are the only two without a group."

I smiled at him. "Of course. You are one of the smartest people in school, you count as like three people yourself." He blushed. "We can partner up if you'd like. I would prefer a smaller group anyway." I leaned in and whispered. "I am kind of new to human interaction."

He smiled as he sat down beside me. "I am more antisocial. So which curse would you like to tackle?"

"I am not sure. I was leaning towards the killing curse, but crucio seems to be challenging one as well."

"Snape did say we would have until the rest of the year to work on it. Maybe we can do both."

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "We could do both, I suppose. That's a lot of work, you sure you're up for it?"

He grinned at me, showing his perfect white teeth. "I think we can do it."

Snape came walking around to our table. "Ah, I figured it would be you two together." He sneered. "What have you decided to research?"

"Killing curse and crucio, sir." Theo answered.

"Why have you chosen two? I could see it if you were in a larger group but not just the two of you."

Theo shrugged. "We couldn't decide on one so we are doing both."

"I see." Was all he said and he was gone on to the next table.

"Do you know who are Defense professor is?" I asked Theo.

"I have no clue. I don't understand why he's late. It's only the first day of school."

I shrugged. "Maybe he decided to start on Monday."

"Possible."

"Now I am fairly new to these curses, I have been told about them, but nothing specific. So we should gather as much information as we possibly can before we try experimenting with spells."

"Good idea. I think there are some books back there." Theo pointed to an old looking book case. "I'll go check."

For the next hour, Theo and I poured through book after book, writing down anything resembling the curses. After the class was over Snape announced we would have to research this mostly on our own time, as there were other topics to go over for N.E.W.T.S, many of the students groaned while they left the class.

"Miss. Potter, I am not sure what your professor wants you to do for this next hour, so until he comes we will just practice your dueling skills."

"Yes sir." I packed all my books away, careful not to disturb the snake who was still sleeping. After I was done, Snape pushed the tables to the sides of the room.

"What are the first steps to a duel?"

"Um, first we bow." We bowed. "Then we take ten steps in the opposite direction." We did so. As soon as I turned around, Snape was already firing curses at me. I shrieked and flung to the right, throwing curses on my way down.

"You must remember that no one ever plays fair in a duel Hermione." Snape lectured. "In a real fight no one is going to stop fighting you just because you are a child."

"I know sir." I was panting now.

"You must always be on your guard, you must always know any curse so you know the counter curse." He started firing hexes my way, lecturing me when I couldn't answer a question and correcting me when I did something wrong. By the time the hour was over I was drenched in sweat and panting hard. "Good, so far. Keep memorizing spells Miss. Potter and maybe you will be as good as your brother."

"Is Harry really that good at fighting sir?"

Snape nodded, although it looked like it pained him to admit it. "He has to be for what's coming to him."

"Which would be what?"

"Has no one told you yet?"

"About what professor?" I asked, confused.

"Voldemort." At the name a shiver ran down my spine and my blood ran cold.

"Who is he?"

"Ask your brother." With that, Snape stormed out of the room and I made my way to my last class, stunned.

At dinner I made my way over to Harry, curious about who this Voldemort person was and furious that no one has told me about me. "Harry, can we talk?" He nodded. "In private?"

"Sure." He got up and followed me out of the hall. I pushed him into an empty classroom. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

"Who is Voldemort?" I asked and I watched as Harry's face visibly turned three shades whiter.

"Where did you hear that name?"

"Does it matter?" I asked angrily. "I want to know."

Harry sighed. "He is the one who killed our parents Hermione." I gasped. "You see, he heard part of a prophecy about a boy born at the end of July who would be his downfall."

"Neville's birthday is at the end of July."

"Yes. Voldemort wasn't sure which one of us it was and for some reason he chose me."

"You?" I asked incredulously. "We are twins, how could he choose only one?"

"I am not sure about the whole story, but Sirius told me that you were kept a secret. It is very rare for a family to have twins, especially twins who both possess magic."

"So the population all thought you were the only Potter child alive." Harry nodded. "Where was I?"

Harry shrugged. "Sirius wouldn't tell me. Anyway, since year one I have been battling against Voldemort. Finally in fourth year, he finally came back and he has started gathering his army."

"Why doesn't Dumbledore stop him?"

"I recently learned that Voldemort created this thing called a horcrux. According to Dumbledore he believes he made seven of them. To create a horcrux one must commit murder, then his soul splits and he can then put that soul into an object or living thing. He did it seven times Hermione. In order to defeat Voldemort once and for all is to destroy every horcrux first."

"And how are you planning on doing that?" I asked.

"Dumbledore and I are going through Voldemort's memories to see if we can find them all. It's a slow process but we are getting somewhere."

"I see." I grabbed my head, a headache was forming. "I think I am going to bed, thank you for telling me."

"Hermione, wait." Harry called, but I didn't listen, I just kept running. Every time I see Harry fighting this Voldemort guy, all I see is death. And that terrified me more than anything.

No matter what I would protect my brother from this monster, even if that meant I had to die in his place.

A/N: Here is chapter ten. Sorry It took so long to update. I will try to update faster. As always review I would love to hear your thoughts. Until next time..

xoxstorii-gurrlxox