Hermione couldn't understand where this feeling of loss came from; quite frankly, she didn't like the man. He was a coward. He was content to lead her and her friends to sure death. She would probably kill him herself if that meant her own freedom, a thought she tried not to contemplate a lot. But still, the sight of the Slughorn's body troubled her more than she was willing to admit and she felt the need to mourn him; not the sad man she had met but the man who, in some other life, could have been.

Snape appeared and with a flick of his wand, vanished the body. Hermione wondered briefly where it had gone and if he had any family or friends who would ask for it. Her thoughts were cut short when his killer, Voldemort, spoke again.

"And let that be a lesson to everyone else. The moment you forget your responsibility to these creatures," he gestured vaguely at their table,"the moment where you let them get you to their own level, is the moment where you fail your mission and me."

Where is he talking to?

Then, as Voldemort read her mind (a scary thought) he raised his wand. A pair of crystal spheres appeared out of thin air. They moved silently above their heads, leaving a bright, white glow behind them. Everyone stared at them. Suddenly, Hermione's eyes stared to burn. For a moment, she lost the ability to see and judging from the shocked grasps she wasn't the only one. When her vision cleared again, the spheres were gone; at their places was some kind of portal. It was only an inch or two long but it was growing quickly. In no time at all, the portal was as big as the hall. It floated above them like a cloud and Hermione thought crazily what would happen if she just jumped.

Such thing was impossible, she discovered soon enough. Through the portal, she could see a big crowd, not different from the one who watched her selection. Hermione was shocked. They never broadcast anything but the tournament itself. Judging from the surprise evident in their faces, this was not a usual occurrence.

Voldemort spoke again.

"I am sure you are all wondering why you are watching this. Most importantly, you are wondering why I am here. It's not usual for me to mingle with mudbloods and squibs. I assure you this is not something I want to make a habit out of it." He made a disgusted face like he smelt something bad. "But this is a special occasion."

"Today, it's the 60th anniversary of the defeat of these foul creatures that were known as muggles." A shiver passed through the crowd. "Many of you among us remember their cruelty. Thousands years ago, they hunted us down. They burned us at their stakes. They killed us, tortured us and destroyed our homes. They made go into hiding like wounded animals, just because we are different. Better than them. For many years, we couldn't show our true selves, we had to be pretend just to survive."

They were nodding their heads in agreement. Hermione could see that the Pureblood table has become more agitated. They were captured by Voldemort's speech.

"You could understand, I could not bear the injustice. Sixty years ago, I and a group of brave women and men fought for our right to be free. We revealed ourselves. We suggested a treaty, a chance for everyone to live in harmony and peace."

"Did they feel chagrined for what they have done to us? Of course not. Instead, for once again, they chose to hunt, torture and kill us. But this time, we fought back."

Loud cheers. "It wasn't an easy battle. Although wizards and witches were superior, the muggles still outnumbered us. And they fought dirty. Many good people died, a lot of them I considered friends." Voldemort lower his face, a forlorn look in his face.

He reminded Hermione of a parrot; someone who imitates but doesn't truly understand the meaning behind the action. She doubted if he even had a friend in his whole long life.

"At the end, it didn't matter. We were stronger and we were right. We won."

The cheers grew louder. "Few people, who have suffered as much as we have, would have shown mercy. But we were not monsters. We weren't like them. We chose not to kill them. Instead, we give them a place to live and prosper. And the only thing we asked, as a compensation for our losses, was their sons and daughters, as they have taken ours." He stared at Hermione.

Dread spread through her whole body. She could hear sounds from the other tables and the people from the portal but she couldn't understand what they were saying. Next to her, Dean was shaking. She squeezed his hand and the shaking seemed to get better. The murmurs were getting louder and louder.

"Silence!"

Everyone stopped talking at once.

"Why I am telling you all this? The older already knew and the younger suspected. Because it seems that it's never enough for these creatures. They always manage to spread their evil. Even when they are away, they hurt us. This time for the inside."

"With great sadness, I have to announce they are traitors among us. Wizards and witches who worked with them. People who want to destroy our community. People who don't respect our the sacrifices. Slughorn was one of them."

"As you understand, this behavior is not tolerated. I encourage anyone with information to come forward. We need to eliminate the threat that will destroy our society."

One by one, the people started to clap.

"Thank you for your support. "

Voldemort raised his wand again and the portal closed. The champions (especially the pureblood) looked confused; should they start clapping too? Hermione knew there was no way she could live with herself if she participated in this farce.

Luckily, that wasn't necessary. Voldemort was already walking towards the doors; he looked like he didn't want to spend another minute in the hall.

"Severus, deal with them." And with that, he was gone.

Two creatures with black cloaks appeared at the doors. Hermione remembered them from the day the woman had given her the wand (was it really yesterday? It felt so long ago) Severus – Snape - addressed them ."Escort the squibs and mudbloods to the dormitories." Hermione tried to stand up but it was impossible. She couldn't feel her legs. Numbness was spreading through her whole body. She remembered her sister again. With the help of Dean and the others, she managed to walk. For a while at least. She had only taken three steps when she collapsed.

When she woke up again, she found herself lying on a strange bed. Three identical beds were next to hers. The room had definitely seen better days. The walls looked ready to collapse and red sheets looked more like rags. Dean, Martha and Colin were above her, looking concerned. Well, Martha and Colin looked concerned, Dean looked mostly impatient.

"Ugh, finally. I though you will never wake up."

"I am touched by your concern." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and opened them again. "What happened?"

"You mean after you fainted?"

"Obviously."

Dean was ready to say something when Martha cut him. "The dementors were ready to grab you, when Snape pull out his wand and and cast a spell. It looked like an animal. It stood in front of you; they stepped aside. He said "she is no use to us dead. Look after the others." Afterwards, he said to follow him. And that's pretty much."

"He sounds lovely; remind me to send him a thank you note." She tried to stand up but she still felt weak. After a few tries, she gave up. "And ew, did he touch me?"

Colin laughed. "He used a floating spell."

"You looked pretty ridiculous."

"Thank you, Dean, I appreciate your kind words."

Colin spoke quickly. "What are hell they were trying to do?"

"They wanted to suck your soul," Martha said.

"No way!"

"That's ridiculous!"

"You are just trying to scare us!"

Martha looked terribly sad, far sadder than a girl her age should have ever looked. "No, it's true. They pull out their cloak and kiss you and then they stole your soul. They have done it to my broth…Someone I knew." She stopped talking suddenly and looked away.

No one talked for a while. Martha tried discreetly to wipe her tears while everyone else pretended they hadn't notice.

"Do you believe anything he said?" Colin was the first to break the silence.

"That he was all "let's all be friends and braids each other's hair" and the Muggles refused? No. Anything else? Maybe."

"Do you think they are people who wanted to help us?"

"Who knows?" Dean said casually, but when Colin looked away, he looked at her and raised his eyebrow. Hermione ignored him and became extra fascinated with the poster on the wall.

Martha, who haven't talked for quite a while, said timidly: "If what he said it's true, about the Muggles….that means…our families…" She didn't continue.

No one wanted to open that particular can of worms, especially Hermione. "I am hungry." It wasn't a lie, she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten anything.

"The bastards are eating downstairs. I guess we aren't good enough."

"Big surprise."

Colin clapped his hands. "Wait here." He was gone before they understand what exactly happened. They didn't have to wait for long. When he came back, he was holding a wooden basket.

There was enough food inside to feed an army. Hermione hadn't seen so many dishes, not even the days she spend in the strange labyrinth place. Someone was really looking for them.

"Where did you find that, Colin?" Dean asked, amazed.

"Downstairs, next to the fireplace."

No one wanted to look a horse in the mouth, so they sat down and starting to eat. Dean informed her that tomorrow the second stage of their training will begin so it was the best to be as strong as they can be. Hermione was eating a strange yellow soup, which besides its questionable color; it tasted amazingly, when Dean pulled out a bottle.

"Butterbeer!"

"Buterbeer!"

"Buterbeer?" Hermione asked.

They all looked shocked at her ignorance. "You have never drink butterbeer?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Shoot me."

Dean opened a bottle and put it in her hands. "Come on, drink." He seemed to change his mind. "No, wait. Let's make a toast first."

"To victory!"

"To survival!"

"To Butterbeer!"

Martha, very quietly, said: "To Slughorn."

They all nodded and raised their glasses for the man who could have been.

"Pureblood last," Snape said, with the tone someone uses when they announce that the water is wet. (Although there are spells you could change that.)

They were outside of the castle. Besides older than time, Hogwarts was really huge. It even has a lake. Although for the life of her, Hermione really couldn't figure why they were all wearing bathing suits in the middle of the winter, ready to jump in.

"New and exciting ways to kill us," Dean had whispered to her and she couldn't really disagree.

"The Blood Tournament is not only the place where your magic is tested. It's the place to show your inner strength."

"What's inner strength had to do with cold, icy water?" Colin asked. Except, since his teeth was chattering so much , it came out more "aaaugh."

"Squibs first."

Hermione looked at the four girls. They all have the same brown eyes. Their similarities didn't stop there. The same long nose. The same thin lips. She quickly realize they were sisters. The younger looked barely eleven and the older couldn't be older than sixteen. The other two were twins.

Squibs were quite uncommon but four siblings with no trace of magical blood were crazy. And twins? And they were all picked the same year?

"We volunteered." The oldest startled her. "Irene," she pointed at the youngest, "was picked and we said what the hell, if she goes, we go, too." She smiled.

Hermione smiled and couldn't help admire her. It was different for her, no matter how her slim her chances were, she still had her magic. Squibs were usually the first to go.

"No talking!"

"Oh don't do that." She was still smiling that but it was different. Colder. "Don't think because we are squibs we are an easy target. Touch one hair of their heads and I will rip your throat with my bare hands."

"I didn't mean…"Hermione stammered.

"My name's Sofia, by the way. The twins are Agapi and Elpida," she winked at her. Snape gave the order and they all jumped into the cold water.

"What was that?" Dean asked.

"Making new friends."

"I knew you had it in you!" Dean patted her back.

"No touching!" Snape barked.

Apparently, wizards have a thing about green mazes. That's the only thing she could thought when Snape show them the labyrinth.

"Your goal is to reach first the portkey. If you don't know what a portkey is, I am not going to explain it to you."

"You can use your wands. There are traps inside the maze, but they are not lethal," his eyes stopped at Hermione. "Unfortunately." He smirked. Hermione wondered if death was an acceptable price for the satisfaction of punching him between his eyes. Probably not.

"Pureblood first."

Hermione was running as fast as she could. She couldn't breathe; her lungs were ready to burst from the pressure. Her whole body was slick from sweat and her knees were ready to abandon her for the second time in two days. The only thing that kept her from collapsing was pure adrenaline.

She thought she was afraid before; but this fear was completely different. She realized that was first taste of what she was going to feel in the arena.

Her legs gave out. With horror, Hermione realized that the vines which she though till this moment harmless were alive. They were wrapping around her arms and legs. She tried to reach her wand and cast a spell, a curse or if anything else failed, at least stab the damn thing but it was too late. She couldn't move her arms.

A creature which had way too many eyes appeared. It looked like a gigantic fly had mated with a snake. He crawling towards her and his millions eyes never left her from his sight.

I am going to die. Maybe it was better here, alone, in her own terms.

She remembered Snape's voice. The traps are not lethal. The traps are not lethal.

You are trusting Snape?

What other choice do I have?

It was right above her now. It was looking at her. Hermione took a deep breath and stared back.

She was losing her mind because she could swear it was fucking smirking at her. He lowered his head like he was taking a bow, like some kind of acrobat after an incredibly risky performance. She felt the vines starting to get loose around. Instinctively, she went for her wand.

The creature made a tsk sound (I am really going crazy) and turned its back. It was going the same way it had come from when it was hit by a spell. Hermione looked at her wand. Did she do without realizing? Was the wand so powerful it would sense when she was in danger?

The giant creature turned slowly and stared at something behind her. And Hermione realized she wasn't the one who was in danger.

It wasn't crawling anymore; instead, it was running. Fast. Hermione could see spikes, sharp enough to cut through human flesh. It was ready to strike. Hermione raised her wand and cast the first spell that came to her mind.

"Diffindo!"

The creature made an inhumane voice. One of its eyes was severed and had fallen on the ground. Hermione tried to not look at it; it made her nauseous. The man or boy (he didn't look older than her and Dean after all) was quick on the uptake and repeated the spell. One by one, all of his eyes were destroyed and with a sudden bang the creature collapsed.

The boy was definitely a pureblood, Hermione was sure of that. Although he had made the situation worse with his actions, he had tried to help her. Was his intention to provoke the creature into attacking her? She couldn't be sure. And he heard her using magic, magic she had no reason to know.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Would he curse her if she said he was fine?

"Yes."

He didn't look like he was going to curse her. "You are lucky I was coming this way."

What?

"Excuse me?"

"You don't have to thank me," he reassured her.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal, really."

She wanted to roll her eyes but she resisted. "No, I mean, why than….I mean I saved y…I was doing ok on my own." Better to hold her tongue.

"That thing was ready to eat you alive."

"It was going away."

"And it would have come back."

And it was like fight a losing battle; there was no chance he was going to admit she had saved him. She wondered if it was because she was a mudblood or a girl. Probably both. Still, she couldn't let it completely go.

"Snap…Sir told us the traps were not lethal."

"And you were trusting Snape?'

He passed a nervous hand through his red hair. "My name's Ron Weasley, by the way. Does your kind have names? I was never really around them."

Hermione didn't want to admit it but the comment stringed her a lot more than she was expecting. She gritted her teeth. "Hermione. We don't have last names."

"Weird."

Fuck you.

"We should take different ways," Hermione gestured at the path. She couldn't see the time where she would be away from him.

"Sure." He didn't move from his spot. For some reason, he seemed to be extremely interested in her face.

A loud scream stopped in their tracks. Someone was in pain and needed help. Hermione couldn't let them alone. What if it was Dean or Colin or Martha? She ran towards the noise. Ron followed her, loudly cursing.

The sight made her blood go cold.