Disclaimer! I don't own anything! Disclaimer!
Hermione was lost. Again. Her first week at Hogwarts had been hell. Nothing stayed in the same place! There were hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts; wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led some-where different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending.
The other elder students weren't much help either, unless it was one of your own house, they were more than likely going to send you in the wrong direction. Hermione hadn't even dared to ask a Slytherin directions for sheer fear of what they would do to her. Neville had been kind enough to tell her that Slytherin's didn't like muggleborns and to steer well clear of them no matter what.
Hermione had already witnessed her fellow Gryffindor, Seamus Finnigan, hexed so badly he was sent to the hospital wing. He was only a Halfblood, she had heard him telling people at the start of term feast. Professor McGongall was right, the magical world defiantly had its hardships. Living here wasn't going to be easy.
Thankfully the classes were a lot easier to cope with. There was so much more to magic than she could ever have imagined. It wasn't just waving a wand and saying a few strange words. She needed to study the night sky and learn the names of the different stars and planets. Three times a week they had to go to the greenhouse and learn how to take care of strange plants and found out what they were used for. It wasn't her favourite class, Hermione wasn't much of a green thumb.
History of Magic was one of the subjects Hermione was most looking forward to. But her teacher, Professor Binns wasn't the best for animating the subject, he more often sent the class to sleep than anything. Luna had been right when she said first year simply focused on the basics. Although Professor McGongall pushed them a little harder than the other teachers. Hermione had been the first student in the class to transfigure her match into a needle, she'd even managed to get a smile from McGongall.
Today though was her first ever lesson of Potions. Hermione had taken a wrong turn in the dungeons and now she wasn't too sure where she was. Everything was colder down here and was creepily like a maze. Everything looked the same. She tried to retrace her steps and found herself more lost than ever.
"Hey! What are you doing down here!" a gruff boys voice echoed in the damp hallway.
"I-i-i'm lost" Hermione gasped, her relief quickly turning to fear as she saw two brutish looking Slytherin first years head her way. "I'm on my way to potions" she tried to explain.
"Goyle what do we have here?" the larger and fatter of the two chuckled.
"Don't know Crabbe, looks like a lost little Gryffindor" he smirked evilly.
"Please, I'm just trying to find potions" Hermione almost begged, backing into the dead end behind her. The wall was so wet she could feel the cold seeping into her clothes.
"Crabbe! Goyle!" another boys voice echoed loudly in the hallway. Hermione felt a little hope rise in her chest.
"Over here Malfoy" the boy called Crabbe yelled back. Steadily she heard strong footsteps approach, the two thugs hadn't moved an inch since they'd heard the other voice. They just watched her. Staring, eying her up as prey.
Hermione closed her eyes awaiting what was to come next. "Whats going on?" the third voice said upon arrival.
"Gryffindor lurking" Goyle explained, she could still feel his eyes burning into her head.
"I hear she's a mudblood" Hermione didn't know what Crabbe meant but it didn't sound nice. "And she's friends with Potter" he sneered the last name.
"What shall we do with her Draco?" Goyle asked, Hermione opened her eyes at the name. It was him. The boy who caught her.
"Can't do much, Potions starts in five minutes"- Draco stared at her. His face unreadable, his features pointed in a cold expression. Although his eyes, his grey eyes burned. They looked so alive. It was his only tell-"Goyle. Do what you do best...but be quick" he added as an after thought.
Goyle raised his wand to her face and whispered some discernible word. Suddenly Hermione's entire body went rigid. Like she was frozen. Goyle waved his wand in a flurry of motion.
"Hermione!" Luna's scream came from somewhere close in the maze of dungeon, halting Goyle's wand.
"Quick! Run!" Malfoy yelled at the two thugs. Who obeyed orders and ran out of sight into the darkness. Another spell hit Hermione square in the chest and she could feel her limbs immediately start to unfreeze. She leapt up and ran to where she thought she heard Luna's voice.
"Its okay Hermione they can't hurt you now" Luna said as they walked into the Potions classroom. Hermione had quickly found her best friend a few corridors away and had told her what had happened.
"It had all happened so quickly, I was so scared" she whimpered quietly.
"Just keep your head down and you'll be okay" Luna reasoned.
"Why?
"We have Double Potions with Slytherin" Hermione's heart dropped into her stomach. Fear enveloping her. What if they tried to get her again during class? Luna speedily directed them to a table already seating Neville, Seamus, Ron and Harry Potter. In hopes of strength in numbers. Hermione didn't dare look up from her table. Not even when Professor Snape entered did she take her gaze away from the battered wooden table top.
Once Snape finished calling the names in register Hermione finally had the courage to look up. The Slytherin's couldn't do anything to her when a teacher was here. She quickly glanced around the room. The three boys, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were sitting on the opposite side of the class, sniggering about something. Draco caught her eye and his smile stayed firmly printed on his face.
Hermione became overcome with rage. She hated him. She hated all of them. At that moment she would have gladly hexed them where they sat. She vowed to herself she'd never again let anyone make her feel how they did. She'd get her revenge.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making" Snape began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but she caught every word. After he finished his little speech Snape set about putting them into pairs and set them about mixing a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around the room in his black coat looking something like an overgrown bat.
Hermione was paired thankfully with Luna who was quite a whizz with potion making as it seemed. Neville and Seamus weren't quite so lucky, Neville had somehow managed to melt his cauldron into a twisted blob and before the class was over had allowed their potion to seep across the floor burning holes in peoples shoes. "Idiot Boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
The only person in class, that lesson, who had managed to avoid reprimanding was Draco Malfoy who seemed to Professor Snape's favourite. This really hammered in the screws for Hermione. More then anything she wanted to get her own back.