A/N Hermione won't be showing completely Slytherin traits just yet, she needs to settle in more and come to a her own conclusion about the house of Slytherin. Thank you to the people and reviewed and added this story to alerts and favourites! This being my first story it really excited me knowing people were actually reading it. I will try to update again friday week Australia time, however between now and then I will be working and then visiting my brother for a few days, but I'll try! And sorry for my betrayal of Snape being nothing more than a greasy git! But he need to be that way for now.
Sleep was the last thing on Hermione's mind that night. After the taunting and chatter of the other girls finally stopped, sleep just refused to come. Not that Hermione really cared; she had things to think about. By tomorrow morning she would not be intimated by her housemates. She wouldn't show them how much their words got to her. In fact she thought that there was nothing like a new start. Tomorrow morning she would be Hermione Granger, proud, confident mudblood. That is only if she couldn't get home.
By the time the sun was beginning to rise Hermione's eyes were heavy, for she had no more than 3 hours of restless sleep, but that had given her plenty of thinking time. She had more than just Plan A and Plan B sorted. She had made enough plans to go through the entire alphabet, and when she ran out of letters she began on the Greek alphabet. But that didn't mean she would forget one or two or maybe ten, she could recall any one of them at any moment.
Nobody had ever called Hermione stupid, and for a good reason – she was far from it. Generally the favourite name to call her was freak, but that was before she was forced into a house full of bigheaded bigots. This little information lead to Plan A.
Plan A: March to the headmaster's office as early as possible and demand a resort.
Yes, marching there was part of the plan, for if you were going to make a scene why not march. However if that failed, there was Plan B.
Plan B: If plan A fails, refuse to move from the office until the headmaster allows for her to be sent home away from this school.
Yes Hermione Granger knew what she wanted, and if denied, all hell would break loose. And surely the headmaster was a reasonably man, she would at least give her a chance to explain.
At first light the bushy haired child quietly crept into the shared bathrooms and readied herself for the day. When she entered the dorm, her confident façade faltered.
"Oi mudblood, you still here?" The sleepy voice came from the nearest bed. Hermione schooled her face into a neutral expression and ignored the continued taunting as she exited the dorm. Then came Plan C
Plan C: If caught by any housemates on the way to the headmaster's office, ignore their taunts and move on. They aren't worth the time.
Exiting the common room, Hermione went over the next plan, and that was to find a helpful older student, preferably a Hufflepuff, and ask them for directions to the headmaster's office. Unluckily it was not a student Hermione found, but a rather a teacher, and he found her.
"Ms. Granger! What are you doing out of bed already?" The recognisable voice of her head of house stopped her.
"Professor Snape, I..I was just exploring the castle. You know what they say, nothing like morning exercise." Hermione forced a smile, but it turned more into a grimace and her voice wavered after staring into those black eyes. She knew he did not believe her.
"Whatever the reason may be, at this time of the morning you should be in your common room, familiarising yourself with your fellow snakes." When cold dread hit Hermione it immobilised her limbs. "The common room is that way." He snapped after waiting for the girl to move.
"Yes, sir." Head and eyes down, Hermione slowly walked back to the common room, knowing the eyes of her Professor were following every step.
Hermione sat in a lonely, dark corner of the common. It was surprisingly large but the low dungeon like ceilings gave Hermione a small claustrophobic feeling. The greenish hue of the room and the numerous skulls just made her feel sick. Every now and then a quiet rush of water could be heard through the thick stone ceiling, giving the impression they were below the lake.
Finally all students had left the common room. She had been unnoticed, being in a slightly shadowed corner. At one stage Hermione thought she had caught out when her dorm mates left; a light skinned girl with wavy blond hair tied in a bun look directly at her, her greens eyes highlighted by the room, but said nothing. Hermione had no idea of her name, but was thankful to be ignored.
When there was all but ten minutes of breakfast remaining, Hermione regretfully left her safe haven corner. Many chattering students could be heard within the hall, and some were leaving, namely the Ravenclaw students and a few of the older Gryffindor students to retrieve their books. As silently as possible she sat on the end of her table closest to the doors. The girl that sat next to her glared at her, but left it at that. A new, shiny Head Badge girl pinned to her robes gave Hermione the slightest hope of protection. All confidence she had when she woke up and already disappeared, and the new, shiny Head Badge girl pinned to her robes gave Hermione the slightest hope of protection.
Of course breakfast hadn't been an easy or enjoyable meal. The older boy opposite her wouldn't allow her to grab any food telling her that 'Mudblood's don't deserve to eat at the Slytherin table,' while the head girl did nothing to stop it. A half eaten pancake coated in syrup narrowly missed her head, but flicks of syrup landed on her new uniform.
Hermione tried chanted the sorting hat's song over and over, specifically the part pertaining Slytherin. At last when Snape silently handed out her timetable the only line she was thinking about was "Perhaps in Slytherin, You'll make your real friends." 'Yeah right.'
Allowing her peers to leave, Hermione walked some distance behind the Slytherins to their first class; transfiguration with the Gryffindors. Students jostled and bumped the small girl so that somehow she ended up walking near the group of Gryffindors.
"Hey Snake, watch where you're going!" A rather tall, red headed first year told Hermione after she accidently bumped into him.
"Ron, I think that was the one every they were all talking about. " He tried to whisper the next part, but even through his Irish accent Hermione still heard, "you know, the muggle born sorted into Slytherin.
Even through her slight rage as she stormed passed, Hermione heard the boy reply, "doesn't matter what blood you have, any Slytherin is as bad as the next. All dark wizards they are."
The school passed in an emotional blur for Hermione. Transfiguration was so far the most enjoyable subject, but that was because her teacher, Professor McGonagall allowed no talking during class unless they were practicing spells, which they weren't. This meant no more teasing. Due to nobody in Slytherin wanting to sit next to her, Hermione ended up next to a round faced, blond haired boy from Gryffindor. He was shy, and expecting hatred even from this boy due to the earlier comments, Hermione ignored any attempts at conversation he made. At the end of class he offered a small smile, greatly confusing the girl.
Class itself was intriguing to Hermione. She had of course read the required text books and then some, but it always gave her the satisfaction of correctly answering a question in class. Thoughts of finding the headmaster and asking for at least a resort still danced around her brain, but they were almost completely squashed by the thrill of learning. Of course they resurfaced completely when she heard the word 'mudblood' and admittedly it was many times.
Unknown to Hermione, she had many pairs of eyes watching her during dinner, and not just from her peers but from teachers too. Minerva had already spoken to Severus about her treatment, but he quickly dismissed it as the need for the student to adjust to Slytherin life, angering the older woman even more. Slytherin or not, no student deserved that kind of treatment.
Throughout dinner Hermione had numerous potatoes and slices of roast beef covered in gravy thrown at her. Try as she might to ignore it, their abuse did get to her. Only ten minutes into dinner and Hermione couldn't take it. She tried to be proud of who she was, but the need to clean the gravy out of her hair outweighed the need. Being the first to leave created a scene, but what attracted more of the student body's attention was the group of four Slytherin first years following her.
"Hey mudblood!" Called out the one she knew immediately as Malfoy as she neared the common room entrance. "Mind if you open the common room for us? Password's pureblood. In case you haven't got the hint, we don't accept your sort of filth in our house."
Anger rising to an all knew level, her grip tightened on her want to the point her knuckles turned white. Turning around to face the group to see their smug looks, the anger seemed to explode in her. A sharp flash of red escaped her wand, knocking over Malfoy in the process. The stunned look from Hermione was mimicked by Parkinson, similarly Crabbe and Goyle tried to look stunned, but it was hard to tell if that was their usual expression or not.
As her footsteps echoed around the dungeon corridor, a hysterical female voice was heard yelling.
"Don't just stand there, get help!"
It was almost 24 hours after Hermione's last emotion-powered run through the school, yet it was no different from the previous night. Her body ached and her breathing was heavy when she collapsed into an unlocked classroom. It had been some time since the incident with Malfoy, and she was waiting for the teachers to find her to punish her.
'Stuff this. Stuff all of them. They can have their pure-blooded supremacy without me messing up their lives!' Hermione thought as her body shook with exhaustion. 'I don't want to learn magic if it means being in a world control by racists!'
"E…excuse me, are you okay?" A timid voice startled Hermione. Jumping from her place by the teacher's desk, Hermione looked up to see the familiar face of that Gryffindor boy from transfiguration. What was his name again?