Hey look, I keep promises sometimes!

Chapter 9: The Slytherin Trio

More than a few kids were nearly bowled over when Hermione Stark, arriving late to breakfast rushed into the Great Hall. Several of the First years had already begun leaving, hoping to avoid getting lost on the way to their first classes, and as the little brunette bullet rushed inside, there was hardly any time to avoid her.

Remarkably enough, no first years were harmed in her mad dash; well, excluding Minnie, who nearly made it to the part of Slytherin table where Harry and Draco were seated, only to slam into the Vampire Bat himself, her head of house.

She groaned softly upon realizing she'd somehow ended up on the floor, only to see the distinctly unamused gaze of Professor Severus Snape staring down at her and groaned much louder.

"Miss Stark, a young lady of such upbringing as yourself should know better than to run in the halls," he said, his scowl betraying an intense dislike.

She stood up, frowning, and he handed her a sheet of parchment.

Her schedule.

"I expect this will be the last time I have to correct you," he said, with an air of finality, before turning on his heel and exiting the hall, his robes billowing behind him dramatically.

Minnie stared after the strange man, wondering how she'd managed to have a teacher who was just as much of a drama queen as Wanda was.

"Are you going to stand there all day looking like some sort of imbecile or are you going to sit?" She heard Draco hiss, and abruptly remembered why she' been sprinting through the hall in the first place.

"Oh my God, you guys are not gonna believe what I did last night!" She squealed as she moved to sit on the bench between Harry and Draco.

She pulled her cellphone out of a pocket in her robe, and pressed the ON button.

She grinned brightly at her two friends as the screen lit, something it wouldn't have done the day previous.

"Isn't it great?!" She squealed as she tapped on the screen. Draco sent a confused look to Harry, who shrugged.

After a moment Minnie noticed the distinct lack of awed gasping or just general exclamations of how awesome she was, which is exactly what she was expecting.

She glanced from Harry to Draco, and felt highly offended when their expressions looked closer to confusion than awe.

"Maybe you should explain what exactly is so impressive about your phone," Harry suggested.

"Is that what that is?" Draco said, looking at the thin device quizzically.

Hermione sighed heavily.

"Electronics don't mix with magic very well. It's usually alright when I'm home, Dad made this specifically so that my magic wouldn't fry the circuitry. But as soon as I got on the train it stopped working, which I guess makes sense; we've never tested the technology in an environment where magical people were so prevalent. But last night I was working on it. I thought maybe if I found the right combination of magic and science I could make it work anyways. And I did! This is excellent progress!" She insisted, but the two boys still lacked enough enthusiasm for her to be satisfied.

"Look, I'll call my Dad right now!" She said, dialing the number into her touch screen.

Immediately the call went to voicemail, the recording of her Father promising to call back "When I can bring myself to give a damn," and the call ended. Even worse, as soon as the connection ended the device sparked and started smoking.

Hermione dropped it with a shriek and the people sitting close to them leapt away from the burning mess.

Within moments Professor McGonagall swept in, banishing the smoking remains of her Stark Phone and sending the sharpest of looks her way.

A well placed pout and her specially weaponized puppy dog eyes stopped her from being sent to Dumbledore's office, but it didn't lessen the absolute embarrassment she felt at having her project fail in front of the entire hall. Her own housemates especially. The upper years smirked at her the whole way when Draco and Harry led her out of the hall.

TSE

Peter watched in silent confusion as his best friend's dad wordlessly took over his room, throwing things into boxes and taking down his photographs from the walls as if he intended to move into the room himself.

It wasn't until Tony started moving his bed that Peter decided he probably deserved an explanation.

"Uhm, Mr. Stark? What are you doing to my room?"

Tony glanced up with a broad grin, but didn't stop rearranging his room.

"Come on Petey, what'd I tell ya? Mr. Stark was my dad," he said cheekily, and Peter wondered why it felt as if he were the oldest person in the room.

"Uh…Tony? What are you doing?"

All of his things had been pushed to one side of the room, leaving two of the walls bare and a good third of the floor space empty. Tony was scanning the newly created space with a critical eye, and Peter didn't like that look any more when Tony made it, considering that whenever he saw it on Hermione it definitely meant trouble for him.

"Merry Christmas kid, you're getting a lab for your birthday," Tony said as if that was supposed to explain everything. Nevermind that it was September and he was pretty sure that every time Tony had offered to build a lab for Peter previously, Aunt May had forbidden it. So why Tony was here now and even how he'd gotten into the house was a mystery.

As excited as those words made him, he was honestly left even more confused.

"Uh. Mr.- Tony…where, exactly?"

Tony continued to scan the room, then turned to face Peter, and shrugged.

"I dunno. How do you feel about having a basement?" He asked, turning back to Peter's blank walls.

If he could see the Pre-teen's face he'd know the Parker boy was seriously considering if the Billionaire might be insane.

"…Tony?"

"Yeah kid?"

"Does Aunt May even know you're here?"

The look the grown man gave him said it all.

TSE

Lessons with Wanda didn't hold a candle to actual classes in an actual magic school. Sure, they were mostly teaching them silly things like turning matches into needles (because really, when would she need that skill in a fight?), but she was surrounded by people who were just as magic as she was, her same age too, and she quickly found out the best thing she had missed out on by leaving regular school.

It was absolute chaos.

Keeping any number of children in a room together, and tasking them with learning could only lead to trouble, and that went double for Hogwarts, a magic school. It started with Potions, taught by their own head of house.

She could tell from a glance that Professor Snape was not a person she wanted to be on the bad side of. Unfortunately, it seemed a bit too late for that, if that morning was any indication. Of course, that was before he swept into the Evil Lair called the Potions classroom and immediately glared at…at Harry?

Her new friend looked like the picture of innocent interest, but there was something in his eyes that made Minnie sit up at attention.

Snape immediately turned a stream of questions on Harry, all of which she knew for a fact were found at the very last chapters of their First Year books. No normal student would've read that far ahead.

Harry tilted his head with a considering look on his face, his eyebrows furrowed as if he were legitimately trying to produce an answer, and shrugged.

"I don't know, Sir," he said.

Hermione frowned. A sour personality was one thing, but Snape was practically bullying Harry, even more so than everyone else.

She raised her own hand, pouting fiercely when the bat-like Potions Master glanced at her and promptly ignored her.

Sneering at her new friend Professor Snape made a scathing remark about abusing his fame, which she knew for certain wasn't true, if only for the fact that Harry had hadn't once mentioned his own apparent fame, others always did for him.

"For your information Mr. Potter, Asphodel and Wormwood would combine to create-" a true Slytherin would never show shock on his face, and as such, the Gryffindors would never see the utter surprise the Slytherins could see in Snape's eyes as the answer refused to leave his mouth.

Harry remained the epitome of innocence, a wide-eyed confusion on his face when the belligerent Professor found himself tongue-tied, but Hermione had seen his lips move, saying something under his breath that couldn't possibly be heard.

"Sir? What does Asphodel and Wormwood create? Did you forget?"

Snickers broke out from both sides of the room as Snape's expression darkened into one that was decidedly less than polite.

Hermione and Draco shared a wide-eyed look.

The professor opened his mouth once more to spit out a reply but once again his mouth refused to form words. His mouth snapped shut with a click and with an angry flourish pulled out his wand and began casting some sort of spell on himself.

Hermione might have been impressed by the wordless magic, which by her understanding was not something the common wizard could perform, but mostly she just itched with the temptation to comment on the "foolish wandwaving" he'd just finished badmouthing.

After a minute or two, having failed to regain his speech, Professor Snape sent Harry a rather murderous glance and stormed back out of the room.

The other Slytherins looked at little Harry Potter suspiciously, while a cheer went up among the Gryffindors. Harry simply shrugged and opened his potions book studiously.

After a few minutes the first years decided that their Professor apparently did not plan on returning, and they weren't going to lose the opportunity to skip the so called scariest class.

As soon as the others had left , Harry put his book away and moved to leave as well, but Minnie grabbed his arm and dragged him back.

"Oh no you don't mister," she admonished, smirking when Draco nodded in agreement from his seat.

"You did something, and we wanna know how," she said.

If she hadn't just seen the look used on Snape, Minnie would've never guessed his innocent face was fake.

Draco snorted.

"You're good Potter, I'll give you that, but we're not stupid."

"Of course you're not stupid Draco," Harry said in a surprisingly patronizing tone that caused the blonde to roll his eyes.

Minnie turned his attention back to her by placing her hands on her hips and coughing.

"I'm serious Harry, stop stalling. What did you do to Snape?"

But the Boy-Who-Lived wouldn't crack.

"I'm afraid I really have no idea what you guys are talking about. I think it was karma personally, he was being a right git for no apparent reason," he said, his innocent smile slipping into something just a little too devious.

Minnie's face scrunched up in frustration, and after a moment she threw up her hands.

"Fine! I'll give you this one, but you did something Harry Potter, and if we're going to be friends, I want in on it," she said with finality, and smirk.

Their pureblooded friend rolled his eyes, and began to gather his things.

"Whatever you two. Let's get out of here before Professor Snape decides to come back."

Harry laughed, and Hermione smiled, but her eyes were determined to unravel the mystery of her new friend.

Draco led them back to the common room.

TSE

Later in the school year

"Oh shut up you stupid bint, nobody likes a Know-It-All, right Harry?"

The way Harry Potter chuckled in response might have might have offended her, but Hermione felt no betrayal at his amusement.

Ron Weasley, though pleasant enough on the train, had become a near constant presence in the last few weeks, and the "Slytherin Trio" were swiftly losing patience for it. He always sat as near to them as possible in class, practically stalked them through the halls, and and appearing in the most odd places such as outside the Slytherin Common Room.

Draco warned Harry that the redhead's motives were clear- he hoped to ingratiate himself with the Boy-Who-Lived. But Ron's antics were amusing and stupid enough that Harry let him be.

There was just one problem, however.

Ron Weasley absolutely hated Hermione Stark. It was odd, considering that the Blood Feud between the Weasleys and Malfoys should've made the blond his obvious enemy, but the ginger wizard could hardly stand the sight of the American witch, and he let her know at every opportunity.

Sadly for him, Minnie Stark was no slouch. She was every bit of a know-it-all as Weasley claimed, and had a mean streak a mile wide to back it up.

Minnie had finally lost her patience, and Harry, caught in the middle as he was, was more than content to simply watch the show.

"Ronald," she said with entirely false sweetness, "I don't understand. Am I a "stupid bint", or a "know-it-all"? Surely I can't be both?"

Snickers erupted in the class as they settled in, waiting for McGonagall to arrive.

"You know what I think Ronald? I think you're the stupid one, because you see, I'm not just any know-it-all, I'm the know-it-all. I am certified as one of the smartest ten people currently inhabiting this planet. When I turn 25 I will inherit a company that is so large and influential, I will essentially own more wealth than the entirety of Wizarding England combined. My father is the leading manufacturer of weapons technologies in the world, and I suppose I could threaten you with how well I know how to use them, but I'd rather bring this to your attention- he deals with technology, and believe me when I say technology and magic do not mix. Do you know what my father did to remedy this Weasley? He hired the Scarlet Witch. And she's been my tutor since I was six years old."

There was a gaping silence as the classroom processed that information, and she grinned. It was Draco that had revealed to her the interesting fact that Wanda Maximoff was a well known and rather intimidating figure in the magic community- something she'd definitely be interrogating her about later. But for now it came in handy.

She laughed. "Of course, that's not even mentioning the power the good old fashioned money gives. My father could hire every lawyer in the Wizarding world if he felt so inclined. Would you like to guess what that means?"

She asked, pausing in her quite terrifying rant to stare him in his reddening face.

"It means that I win. In Combat, in Magic, in Wealth, and certainly in Intelligence, and if you ever deign to speak to me in such an unacceptable way again I will curse you most violently, and then sue you and your entire family so completely the Weasleys will be known as personal vassals to the Stark family until the end of time. So I suggest you shut up, you stupid bint, nobody likes an imbecile."

A surprised chuckle turned the attention from the terribly embarrassed look on Weasley's face to Professor McGonagall, who stood in the doorway that connected her office to the classroom with a hand over her heart.

"Miss Stark, ten points to Slytherin for finding an effective way to deal with bullies, although I would suggest you leave the Weasley family out of your revenge, I assure you they are quite nice people.

Mr. Weasley-"

Ron looked up with watery eyes, and Hermione snickered, as the boy appeared ready to cry at the prospect of further punishment.

"I will not deduct points, but only because I'm afraid Ms. Stark's little rebuttal is quite enough punishment."

With a bowed head Ron moved his things to the furthest corner of the room and remained silent.

"Now then, if that's settled, open your textbooks to page 96."

Draco was staring at her sort of warily.

"Can-can you really do all that?" He whispered

Minnie chuckled.

"Of course not, but if Weasley's stupid enough to think I'm some sort of God he'll leave me alone won't he?"

Harry snorted loudly.

Hermione's little speech had one unexpected side-effect.

"Lady Stark!"

"My Liege!"

"Goddess of Tricks!"

"Mistress of My Heart!"

Draco had long dissolved into a very inelegant giggling fit, and Harry was struggling not to crack, but Minnie simply scowled as the Weasley Twins proceeded their loyalty and undying love to her.

"Stop it! You're being ridiculous!" She hissed, cheeks reddening slightly, and those around them at Slytherin table laughed. Undeterred, Fred and George launched into a rather ridiculous song about the "fair Queen Hermione" slaying dragons and rescuing the "damselled" Harry Potter. That ended Harry's laughter quite abruptly, but he was still grinning entirely too much.

At Harry's encouragement the Twins, though Third years, often found time to cause chaos among the Slytherins first years, and as much as Minnie refused to admit it, they weren't completely unwelcome.

TSE

Dear Dad,

For the love of explosions please please get me out of here, I can't possibly do this. The entire Wizarding World is trapped in the middle ages and I swear there isn't a fully functioning brain between them. As soon as I was settled on the train I discovered my phone wouldn't work. In fact, nothing works. I hope you get this. Owl post is ridiculously slow, and frankly it'll be a miracle of the poor thing even makes it across an ocean, but Draco insists magical owls can handle it.

Please Save Me,

Minnie

Dear Daddy,

Did you not get my last letter? Maybe I haven't waited long enough. Draco says I should stop worrying so much.

Speaking of which I've come back into contact with Draco Malfoy, although I suppose it's safe to assume you knew I would. That's the secret right? The Malfoys are magic? I can't imagine why you wouldn't tell me, I was beginning to think they were part of the Mafia or something, and frankly that would've been far more interesting.

We've been sorted into the same House, Slytherin (the cunning and ambitious one, you remember), so we see a lot of each other. He's just as uppity as ever, but at least he's clever, which puts him miles ahead of some of these other children.

Apparently there's a bit of prejudice against muggleborn kids, and that's a damn shame because the kids in Slytherin in particular have a sort of hierarchy about it. Draco's at the top, because he's Pureblooded, and I would be at the bottom, but I make sure to remind them how much richer I am than them, since they don't really care how smart I am. There's also the fact that I'm Draco's friend, but really, my other friend is even more important.

His name is Harry Potter, and he's very famous here.

Somehow, when he was a baby, he killed a Dark Lord, which is a very powerful wizard who uses Dark Magic. He's kind of like a superhero, with an origin story and everything.

He's much friendlier than Draco, but people know not to cross him because Harry loves pranks.

He won't let me join in yet, but when he does I'll let you know.

Classes are fine, sort of easy, but I suppose that's what I get for studying so far ahead.

Love,

Minnie.

P.S. This is Harry's owl, Hedwig, please give her some bacon for her trouble.

P.S.S My things still aren't working. My theory is that places with high populations of wizards are saturated in magic, so the magical interference is much stronger, and I was hoping I could make some alterations to my things, but so far, every experiment has ended in explosions and I'm out of electronic devices, so I'm counting on you to help me Daddy.

Tony felt infinitely relieved as he read his girl's words, and he did reward the owl with bacon, courtesy of J.A.R.V.I.S

He'd been seriously considering retrieving his daughter after the first letter, but Pepper wouldn't let him, forcing him to wait it out a bit. As expected, she was right, and Minnie was apparently doing much better Hermione was at it yet again, he could tell, causing trouble and plotting to take over the school.

He couldn't be prouder. Better yet, he'd finally found out why she wasn't answering her phone, and perhaps best of all, he'd been given a project to work on. In the meantime, he figured he had a perfect, if temporary solution.

Digging a package out of a box labeled "For Minnie" in Wanda's curly hand-writing, he handed it off to the owl.

"Think you can manage this the whole trip?" He asked, considering the snowy white owl.

With a hoot and what appeared to be rolling eyes, Hedwig took off through the window.

Muttering around magical animals Tony wandered downstairs to his lab to begin.

~TSE~

"Troll! In the Dungeon! Thought You ought to know…"

There was a terrible silence, but she could see the students slowly easing out of their shock into what was definitely rising panic.

"Stop! Please remain calm," Dumbledore said as he stood.

"Prefects, please take your students to their dorms-"

"A-hem!" Draco coughed loudly, a highly offended look on his face.

Dumbledore glanced at him in surprise as if he'd completely forgotten about the Slytherin table and sighed.

"Ah yes, of course. Slytherins please follow your prefects to the Library instead.

And with that they were dismissed.

They filed out of the Great Hall, following their respective Prefects, when Hermione suddenly stopped. Was that-?

Her friends paused, glancing back at her with confusion.

"Ah, Minnie? What's wrong?" Harry asked.

She sprinted back to the hallway they just past, and sure enough, two students were rounding the corner, going, based on their Gryffindor robes, in the exact opposite direction they were supposed to.

"What the hell is Weasel doing?!" Draco hissed, having seen the red hair of one.

Hermione and Harry smirked at each other.

"Well let's find out," she said checking the hallway for anyone that might spot them and dashing after the Gryffindors.

Draco and Harry soon followed, but not without the blonde rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Honestly I thought you'd be the one acting like a stupid Gryffindor, Potter," he said before sprinting after their friend.

She was surprised to find that the other Gryff was none other than Parvati Patil, who she'd always figured had a better head on her shoulders than Ronald, even if that assumption was based solely on the fact that her sister was a Ravenclaw. She found them huddled behind a suit of armor, arguing furiously enough that they hadn't noticed her arrival.

"Well? Go on then! You're the one that dragged me out here!"

"Because you're a bloody ponce! This is your fault Weasley!"

"Are you bloody joking, I don't want to die!"

"Hmpf! If the troll doesn't kill you, I will!"

Draco and Harry caught up to her and watched the two Gryffs in silence for a moment, before Draco could no longer help himself.

"I know Gryffindors are supposed to be positively brainless but this is ridiculous. I'd expect this from Weasley maybe, he's probably just trying to find the troll so he can have someone to talk to who understands him, but Patil? Really? I thought you had brains," he drawled.

Parvati scowled.

"Don't lump me in with him, Malfoy. Weasley here insulted my sister, called her a know-it-all, and she went to crying in the bathroom, and now she doesn't know there's a troll loose, so Weasley here is going to retrieve her, and then I'm going to bash his face in for being such a prat."

"I'm going to-!"

"Ronald Weasley you're a greater idiot than I ever could've imagined." Hermione cut in, and she would've set in on another rant about his failings as a wizard and human being, when a loud crash interrupted them.

Harry whipped out his wand without preamble and cast disillusionment on the lot of them, and despite the circumstances Hermione grinned with pride that he'd learned the spell.

They watched, silent, as the Troll appeared down the hall, and lumbered into the bathroom in question.

Parvati's eyes widened, and Hermione slapped a hand over her mouth before she could manage to scream.

"Alright we need a plan," Harry whispered, and Draco dragged an agitated hand through his hair.

"Trolls are nearly impervious to magic, the only magic known to harm them is of class 8 difficulty and above which is taught only in texts of Family magic and through curriculums of Mastery. The only known wizard able to kill a troll with less was Gerald the Great who killed a troll by overpowering a cutting charm so severely it decapitated the troll, however the magical backlash left him a squib. More on Gerald the Great on page 432. The troll is the only known magical creature who-"

"Minnie! Stop! You can stop!"

Hermione bit her tongue and looked at her friends apologetically.

"Sorry, I'm nervous, sorry."

"I know, ok. How about subduing it can we knock it out maybe-"

A terrified scream echoed down the hall.

"Nevermind! Come on!" Harry said, sprinting down the hall.

~TSE~

"What in Merlin's name happened here?!" Professor McGonagall asked, her eyes furious as she took in the scene.

The girl's bathroom was utterly demolished, the Patil twins were huddled in the far corner, crying. Draco Malfoy was unconscious, being tended to a bruised Hermione Stark and a bleeding Harry Potter. And in the center a Mountain Troll lay dead, a massive needle, of all things, stabbed grotesquely into one of it's eyes. Only Ronald Weasley seemed completely unscathed, so the Head of Gryffindor turned to him.

"Well? Mr. Weasley? What happened?"

The redhead stuttered unintelligibly for a moment, before blurting "It was all Their fault!" Pointing to the Slytherin Trio huddled on the floor and bursting into tears.

Hermione glanced up, obviously put out by Weasley's choice of words and stood.

"Ma'am if you want to be really specific, it's Ron's fault we're here. He's an absolute bully, and after classes he teased Padma here so badly that she ran to the bathroom to cry. By the time we were aware of the troll, Padma hadn't left the bathroom, and had no knowledge of the danger, so like any good sister, Parvati went to find her, and took Ron along to convince him to apologize." At this she glared the Gryffindor boy and crossed her arms.

"The only reason we're here is because we caught them, and were planning on bringing them to their Prefects to keep them out of trouble, but before we could, the troll entered the bathroom. We felt we had no choice but to attempt to rescue our classmate, and thank Merlin, we did it without anyone being seriously hurt. We would however, like to take our friends to see the nurse."

Flabbergasted, Minerva nodded in agreement, and let the children file out, levitating Draco to move him herself. But just before Minnie left the Professor touched her shoulder.

"Right now I imagine, is not time for the entire story, but a needle, Miss Stark?"

The Slytherin girl smiled brilliantly.

"Transfiguration is a highly useful skill professor."

Minerva shook her head. It was damn shame the girl wasn't a Gryffindor.

So I almost named this chapter something different. But then most of ya'll missed entirely the hint I dropped last chapter, so I decided to go a bit subtle-r with it, since it's apparently a mystery now.

Either way Harry's already a very different Harry, and Minnie just loves to bring out the troublemaker in him.

Draco's just kind of, dragged along for the ride.

And of course, this isn't how First year ends, but the rest will be a flashback in next chapter.

And in case you guys were wondering, this story's definitely going to be undergoing some editing soon. I've been re-reading and there's a couple cringe-worthy errors.

Oh! And if you like Ron, don't worry, he'll be redeemed later on. If you don't like Ron, this one's for you!

And finally there was another reference in here, and if you've seen the show it's not at all subtle. XD

And for real's now finally, because I didn't make this clear and don't feel like fixing it, the first letter is sent by a school owl, the second is by Hedwig, as for why they both arrived around the same time…ah idk. But the second letter is written maybe two weeks after the first one. Woo. Plot hole closed. XD