Serpensortia
Chapter Two: Spitting Cobra
Hermione nibbled her food quietly while trying to read a bulky book she was hiding under the table in the Great Hall to avoid spilling food onto it. It was a historical biography of Slytherin's most famous wizard, Merlin, who used his magical prowess to thwart several attempts on the life of King Arthur of Camelot while he also used his cunning to conceal his wizarding nature to avoid the growing persecution of wizards and witches at the time. It was hard for Hermione to find time to read books recreationally like this. She usually spent her time learning the contents of all her textbooks for class ahead of schedule, so her schedule called for her to bring books with her everywhere she went if she wanted to cram in any leisure reading. She always passively listened to the ongoing conversation at the table and made the occasional comment though, so her friends wouldn't feel neglected by her reading habits.
"You hear that slimy git Malfoy is in the hospital after getting poisoned by his own rotten potion?" Ron guffawed while chewing his food. "Oh, it hurts! My father will hear about this! Dad! Mum!" he mocked, pretending to grab his stomach and die dramatically while impersonating Malfoy's drawl. To his right, Seamus laughed so heartily that he knocked his goblet onto the table trying to keep himself upright.
"Had you not consumed your ingredients, you might've made a potion too," Hermione icily grumbled under her breath, a little peeved that all the points she'd earned in class were decimated by one single Weasley mishap. Fifty points were hard to come by in that class with Snape only giving her point credits in the single digits. Ron tossed a bread roll at her in retribution, and it bounced off her sweater and into the crevice of her book. "Honestly, Ronald!" She sputtered, set the roll on the table, and proceeded to angrily shake out her book. Giving him a glare, she announced she'd be in the library. Harry and Ginny called goodbyes to her retreating back. As she exited the great hall through the large double doors, she happened to cross paths with Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass who were talking together as they headed into the hall.
Normally, a bored, unfriendly look was all the fanfare Hermione received from the Slytherins when encountering them. Their house rivalry was more centered on Harry and Ron, and they seldom deemed her significant enough to bestow anything more than a disgruntled look her way. Their indifference to her had confused her at first when they obviously found such provocation from Harry and Ron's mere existence. Now, she could assuredly say their disregard was due to their perceived superiority to her muggleborn blood status, and she snubbed them in return for dismissing her so pettily. Her blood status was a fact that Malfoy quickly found excuses to call attention to at any and every tactless opportunity that arose in spite of his usual showmanship of exemplary polite, gracious, and so called "pureblood" etiquette towards other students. While he held himself to be just as superior to her as his other Slytherins did, he was the exception to the other Slytherins dismissals. Unlike his casually unfriendly peers, Malfoy found every opening to condemn and antagonize the Gryffindor trio of friends endlessly, paying particularly malicious attention to her. She found herself secretly feeling relived that the other Slytherins didn't similarly challenge her at every turn because she had a very busy schedule to attend to. Just dodging his vile presence or being baited into verbally sparring took up valuable time in her day that could be better utilized studying, and with a thought, she shuttered at what a whole confrontational group of his vapid followers would do to eat into her timetable. She clenched her book tighter to her at that nightmare, and inwardly thought of Malfoy's and his father's smug reactions at Malfoy finally beating her to top of the class. In his wildest dreams, she thought resolutely.
Pansy stopped abruptly as she passed Hermione and reached out a hand to shove into Hermione's shoulder. The motion knocked the book from her hands. Pansy picked it up and read the title. "Reading up on famous Slytherins, huh? Can't help but think that's fitting given your recent tastes." Pansy taunted, as she tossed the book down the corridor outside the Great Hall entrance. A few Hufflepuff first years were passing by and quickly sidestepped being hit by the heavy tome which hit the stone ground with a loud snap. Daphne Greengrass who let out a feminine giggle and lightly pulled on Pansy's arm.
"Oh, come on, Pansy. She's not worth wasting your time speaking to. Mudbloods never are," Daphne tutted. The pair gave her parting glares before going into the Great Hall as Hermione watched them in perplexed shock.
Snapping out of it, she hurried to retrieve her book down the hallway, and frowned at the beaten up binding. Sorry, Merlin. I've never seen a book so mistreated in my life! Madam Pince is going to have an absolute fit. I borrowed it in excellent condition. I'll be shelving books for weeks for this. She groaned to herself, and opened the cover of the book to the standard warning Pince puts on the inside covers of all her precious books. It cautioned: 'A warning: If you rip, tear, shred, bend, fold, deface, disfigure, smear, smudge, throw, drop, or in any other manner damage, mistreat, or show lack of respect towards this book, the consequences will be as awful as it is within my power to make them.' Perhaps, she hoped as she hid in the book in her bag, she could research how to magically repair the damage in the library without attracting Madam Pince's notice.
She was finally feeling less anxious as she settled into her claimed corner of the library with several advanced books on magical archive preservation spells set out in front of her giving her perfect instructions on how to correct the book's binding. Within minutes, the book looked good as new, and Hermione was beaming in triumph at the the result. It occurred to her then, with Madam Pince's possible retribution now behind her, that Pansy's attack had been so strange. What had she been talking about? My recent tastes? Famous Slytherins? What is she insinuating? She had been lost in futile thought about the situation with Pansy when soft footsteps in her quiet section of the library roused her from her thoughts. Theodore Nott slipped quietly into his customary seat at the next table over and carefully put out books and parchments on his table. This had been his routine daily since the beginning of the year, much to Hermione's curiosity, since she'd come to expect all Slytherins to treat her with a radius of personal space as if her blood status was a contagious disease. He cracked open his Transfiguration textbook and began reading with sharp, intelligent eyes roaming behind his glasses. They'd never spoken despite sitting nearby each other each day while studying, and Hermione had certainly never openly stared at him before either. Today, shaping up to be truly strange, Hermione unabashedly studied Theodore Nott while he read and thought for the first time about the prospect of speaking to him. As he read, he had a look of concentration on his regal face that made his passive expression seem rather frustrated, and he'd rake his hands through his soft, messy, deep brown hair every few minutes adding to that effect.
"Must you stare so?" he demanded suddenly, not looking away from his book. "It's annoying."
"I'm curious," Hermione returned. "Why are you sitting there?"
"Why should I not?" he muttered. "Did you curse my chair or something?"
"No!" she started, affronted.
"It's a library. Whisper, will you? I don't want that ghoul Pince breathing down my neck." he grumbled again, finally turning his eyes from his book to return her scrutiny. He propped his chin on his fist, seeming to consider her, and then he gestured her closer with an impatient swipe of fingers. "What do you want to know?"
"Nothing, I just noticed you sitting there—," Hermione explained hesitantly, seating herself in the seat in front of him at his table.
"Don't lie to me so obviously," he interrupted sternly, showing his disapproval with a slight frown and unwavering eyes. "We both know I've sat here in peace for months. Suddenly, you can't contain yourself. Pretenses aside, I will answer whatever urgent question you have. In return for indulging you, I ask that you show me the answer to this Transfiguration question." He pushed his book towards her, gesturing to the problem. "I can't make basilisk heads or tails of it."
Hermione couldn't help the titter of amusement that escaped her at his figure of speech, and she felt emboldened to speak her mind about her day since he'd invited her to.
"Today, Parkinson took issue with me reading about Merlin because it is indicative, she thinks, of my 'fitting taste in famous Slytherins'. I have no idea what she's referring to." Hermione began. "It's hard for me not to know. My mind can't let things go unanswered. I wondered if it had anything to do with us sitting next to each other now, as you're the only Slytherin I've even willingly interacted with besides classes."
"It's flattering that you think I'm famous, though the way you said it sounded more like infamy. Not all of us Sacred 28 Slytherins are villains, I'll have you know. I doubt this has to do with me." he replied. "Pansy and I don't talk much, but there's a way I can find out. If it puzzles you enough to do my homework for this week, that is." Theodore ended his words with a mischievous grin.
Hermione huffed and stuck her hand out to Theodore Nott to confirm their deal. She really did want the closure of knowing the cause of Pansy's baffling behavior. Pulling his text towards her, she pointed to the question he asked about, and gave him the answer then noted pages he should review for better understanding. She ended up coaching him through his homework for the next two hours, and they parted ways cordially with her wondering if she had just made her first Slytherin House friend since she'd been enrolled in Hogwarts. Only took 6 years, she laughed to herself as she headed to Gryffindor Tower.
A/N: Thanks for reading another chapter! Let me know what you think (in English or Parseltongue). Now, I swear proper Dramione is coming up, no worries. I wanted to time my time to build a Dramione story that includes all my favorite Slytherins with all of their interesting quirks being extremely difficult like they do best. Theo is my second favorite crush for Hermione if I wasn't so adamant about Hermione and Draco. I'll try to make the next few chapters longer. Feel free to message me about any situations you'd like to see crop up in the story between Hermione and the Slytherins. Point out any errors to me if you wish to do so. Hiss hiss until next time, Sneks!