"Where are your friends?" Padma asked Hermione in Charms the other day. Although Hermione was included among the Slytherin girls because they didn't want to get in trouble for ignoring her, and because they wanted to create the image of the impenetrable clique, they sometimes left her out. Usually in ways noone noticed but there appeared to be a shrewd observer in the form of Padma.

"Being snooty bitches," said Hermione with just the right amount of oomph that touched on what everybody else thought it was real, but yet not enough to anger her friends. They were out of earshot and Hermione was rapidly seen as part of the Slytherins so quickly she knew it was one of those things where only she could criticise them and no one else could. Perhaps it would impress them. They would agree with her but not voice their agreement.

"Not that. It's just...you're left out quite a lot..." Padma seemed a little sad. Hermione felt her insides shrivel up. Although it was true she had hoped no one had noticed just how much she had been left out. Padma was a brainy Ravenclaw that had been closer to Hermione from some of their classes after Hermione answered some questions correctly. Hermione had sensed perhaps the student wanted a cross-house friendship, but yet did not see enough benefits in it for her. Hermione was still one of the best students there and needed no one else's brains to supplement her own. Slytherin was clearly the most prestigious house, people were too afraid to hang out with them but Hermione could tell it was respected and desired, so she had not become particularly close to Padma.

"Am I?" Hermione tried to say indifferently. She didn't quite know what to say.

"Well, I don't know. Perhaps it's just my imagination, but I do notice you're by yourself more often than I'd expect for someone so smart," Padma said.

Hermione breathed an inward sigh of relief. She was spared from any further questioning and it did seem as if Padma did believe she had perhaps been overthinking things, but a part of her felt raw as she trudged all the way up to the dormitories. She didn't think anyone else would notice so much.

Classh!

Hermione jumped back.

The Slytherin common room was a little empty at this time - she had trudged back to get her hide gloves as she'd forgotten to bring them to her next class, and had accidentally bumped into one of the decorative vases littering the floor. Draco said the Slytherin common room was the best out of all of Hogwarts as his father and others donated to it over the years. It was the largest, with the most ornamental furniture and decorative statues and pieces lying around.

Hermione must've not seen it in the gloom that always hung about the underground Slytherin common room, for now the vase was broken on the floor.

She felt a bit panicked as she got out her wand.

Could this be fixed by magic? Or was she somehow going to pay for it? It looked terribly expensive.

"No need to worry. I'll get it," a tall ugly creature with veins seen through it's skin emerged from the shadows and began examining the shards.

"Who are you?" Hermione jumped back a little.

"Velvet. A house elf," said the creature.

"That's right. Can it be fixed by magic?" Hermione asked.

"No," said the elf, "it has to be put back together by an enchantress for broken magical objects. I can take it to the right store for a price..."

"Er, how much?" asked Hermione.

She was deeply worried about breaking it and just wanted it fixed as soon as possible. Even if it meant paying out of her pocket money. Her parents had given her a small amount which she exchanged into wizarding money to keep on hand in case anything happened. She hoped it would be enough to cover the amount. It was a little risky, she didn't know the store and couldn't visit it herself, but she was so desperate to have it fixed before anyone noticed she didn't quite care. She trusted the elf enough to get it fixed even if she could imagine it asking for an amount a little over the actual price of the fixing in the store.

"10 galleons," said the elf.

Hermione inwardly groaned at that. It was already more than she'd expected, but she could part with such an amount.

"Thank you. Do get it fixed quickly," said Hermione as she went to get the money and her gloves.

"What were you here for?" the elf asked as Hermione handed over the galleons.

"Forgot my gloves," Hermione said, showing the elf the dragon hide gloves.

"Such a big rush for some gloves..." the elf said, "you looked like you were trying to get away from something...or someone?"

Hermione gave a non-committal shrug. House elves it seemed had their own personality and this one was nosey.

"Anyone you hate? Oh I know - the other girls are leaving you out," Velvet looked like he'd discovered a juicy secret of some sort.

"I'll give you another galleon if you promise not to talk of this with anyone else," said Hermione, sensing the house elf loved to gossip with the other house elves. She didn't want to be known for being the left out Slytherin, or have the house elves gossip about it in the kitchens as they prepared meals.

Velvet giggled, "witches and wizards. They think they're perfect just because they're magical."

He took the galleon happily from her, "If you want to know where they're up to. They disappear through a secret tunnel behind a bookshelf."

Then the elf disappeared with a crack before Hermione could ask it anymore questions.

She quickly went to herbology. She wasn't sure if she believed the house elf. It could be something he'd made up just to get her to look behind every bookshelf and Hermione wasn't going to let him have the satisfaction of watching her do so, perhaps invisible, however as the months grew on, she still felt like the other Slytherin girls had some sort of an insider's club without her, and a part of her couldn't help wondering if she'd feel more in if she found out where they were going, or at least investigated the claims...

The Slytherin girls had complicated friendships. Friends with certain people one day, mean to them another day, having drastically different friendships with each other in person than it seemed...

It felt ever changing and it was hard to pinpoint who was in the secret club, but Hermione felt like everyone knew a secret she didn't.

Everything else at Hogwarts had gone smoothly. She settled into classes and was easily one of the best. Hogwarts students seemed to believe there was no way to move up in the wizarding world and didn't take studying very seriously. The more she understood the wizarding world the more flawed it seemed to be. The ministry was half-corrupt, with many politicians or ministers being bribed to make laws and regulations in certain parties favour. A lot of jobs were given based on family connections and who you knew rather than what you knew. Gringotts didn't make loans, it only took deposits and guarded it fiercely, so most people who wanted to make loans for businesses had to get it through people they knew personally.

This meant smooching with the wealthiest people were very important and a lot of students tried very hard to impress Malfoy, Pansy, and most of the Slytherins, but Malfoy and Pansy the most. It felt like one's success depended on if Malfoy, Pansy or the others liked you personally or not. This meant Hermione had to be very attuned to their personalities, changing herself in order to fit them. Although she had not done so yet because she wasn't sure if she planned on getting to the top of the wizarding world through businesses that needed loans, she had noticed that she would have to practically wrap herself around their finger if she wanted anything done.

It seemed cruel just how unfair it all was. The power imbalance. Made her dream about being born as a Malfoy or Parkinson sometimes.

But it was just the flavour of the wizarding world.

Every evening in the common room felt like a one-upping contest where Slytherins tried to work their way up the social ladder, gaining the liking of those at the top the most.

Malfoy hated Harry Potter which made Hermione wonder if his parents were deatheaters. She'd read about Lord Voldemort and his deatheaters in some books about Harry Potter, but knew these were impossible questions to ask. It was impossible to tell from the way Malfoy spoke or acted. If his family were deatheaters, he didn't breathe a word of it or accidentally reveal it.

Those were perhaps the only things she'd learnt throughout the year that surprised her. Everything else was as expected.

One day however...Hermione was in the common room for a studying session. The Slytherins girls were once again absent. It was quite crowded and no one was paying Hermione much attention, but Hermione had noticed there was a tiny crack in the wall, between some bricks and a bookshelf. It seemed almost as if she could reach out and turn the bookshelf...to her surprise it did turn a little, and if Hermione peered through the gloom she could make out darkness that was deeper than just the cracks between brick walls, but rather the darkness of a tunnel...

Taking a took around and making sure no one saw her, Hermione opened it just wide enough and slipped through it before closing the bookshelf.

It was too dark to see anything. The air felt stale and the ceiling low. When Hermione reached up to touch it her fingers brushed against cobwebs. She drew her hand back, shaking them of, and found herself wondering down it before any spiders could clamber over her. Her footsteps echoed noisily against the tunnel floor. It was quite a distance before the tunnel split up into three forks.

Hermione walked through all of them and found out the tunnel was in a rough diamond shape, with all of the forks eventually leading to a small door where...

Hermione pushed it open and she saw a beautiful room that looked like a greenhouse. The ceiling and three walls were all glass. It appeared to be built into the bottom of the lake and there were reeds, lily pads and other plants swishing in the water outside the glass. Fish dived and darted. The water was thick, dark green and gloomy, but one could see the faint dapples of light coming from the surface. The room wasn't visible from the surface but it wasn't too deep under the lake Hermione guessed.

In the middle were some tables and chairs, made of ivory, black and green marble. Cushions, magazines, lay scattered around. There was some old-fashioned makeup. And sitting in chairs around the large main table - was Pansy and Daphne, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle.

"You found us!" Pansy sounded a little happy for once, her eyes widening. Like the wizarding world was boring to her, no one met her expectations, and Hermione finding them was perhaps something Pansy expected but didn't really think it would happen.

"About time I suppose," Hermione tried to sound casual as she joined them at the table. There were what looked like sceptres and canes on the table. Like toys from a play that momentarily came to life at these events. Some of the others had those items in their hands, twirling them or playing around with them, but there was still a pile of them in the centre. They were all different, giving of the impression all of the Slytherins were perhaps kings and queens of their own kingdom rather than all from the same one.

"Good. As I was saying," said Pansy. All other eyes returned to her and Hermione listened as Pansy droned on about how much Hogwarts utterly sucked, how unfair it was Harry Potter was getting all the fame and glory in the wizarding world (teachers did seem to give him some sort of berth or treat him special due to his status) when he didn't even do anything to deserve it, and how every year the muggle-born students were simply not getting the idea that you had to suck up to the Slytherins to get anywhere. Insulting them for missing the point of the wizarding world entirely.

"Then they have the gall to say the wizarding world sucks and it's impossible to get rich or powerful anywhere. When they could've simply sucked up to us at school," Pansy continued saying.

Hermione was somehow exempt from the 'muggle-born' students (sometimes called mudblood) for she hadn't mentioned very much of that when she was in the presence of the other Slytherin girls and understood enough about power and society to appreciate what they said. Hermione was trying to piece together what these meetings were all about as she sat there.

She gathered this was probably one of the many secret passages in Hogwarts, but situated near the Slytherin common room. The other Slytherins found it and used it as a regular meeting spot. It seemed their imaginations truly ran wild here for they all pretended they were kings and queens of some magical kingdoms where witches and wizards didn't have to hide themselves from muggles. They could cast magic in broad daylight, and also regularly tormented or killed the muggles with magic, as if gloating to them that they were more powerful. The muggles would all want to marry a witch or wizard to become magical in this world, and perhaps a witch or wizard that wanted a muggle to suck up to them for the entirety of the marriage would agree to it, but most witches and wizards would prefer to marry their own in this world, with those coming from the longest lines of witches and wizards - the purebloods - becoming the most sacred and respected.

They would be in untouchable circles - not all dissimilar to how things currently were. The Slytherins pretended to have more power than they currently did, being rulers of their own kingdoms, and would constantly bicker or argue over matters, but in an aristocratic way. They acted like they controlled society. It was all make believe and fun and games, but they took it so seriously.

Draco didn't seem that interested in it, like he was pulled along by the girls. Crabbe and Goyle seemed like they were pulled along by Draco. In fact, all the three did were mostly make up stories about killing muggles or muggle-borns and 'report' them at the meetings. It was Pansy and Daphne that would gush over how they'd run society differently if they were queens and princesses and pretend they were having tea parties and balls all the time.

Not that they didn't have them. From the few mentionings of balls they had at home Hermione knew the Sacred 28 pureblood families had these events on and off. However it seemed the younger generation disagreed with some views their parents had, mainly of the future of the wizarding world having more of a government and of having the 'right purebloods' bribing the government to do what they wanted. Pansy, Daphne, Draco too from the looks of it, seemed to support a monarchy systems over the government, as they believed the government was going to be bribed and that with the monarchy at least you could see who actually held the power, and that the old pureblood families ought to be the kings and queens of magical Britain.

The wizarding world from what Hermione had known, never had a monarchy. Around the time they became separate from the muggle world was perhaps 1500-1600, where the muggle world did have a monarchy. However even muggle monarchies were so tightly weaved and resistant to outsiders marrying in, that it was impossible for a witch or wizard to smooch their way up so much that they married and no witches or wizards had come from the muggle monarchy. However some witches and wizards had succeeded in smooching their way up to being a noble, which gave them many advantages. After the ministry made the statue of secrecy and it was fashionable to separate themselves from muggles, the witches and wizards that were nobles stuck to the wizarding world, but had a lust for monarchy and becoming the new kings and queens of it that was amazing how strong it was.

"We gave the Ministry of Magic a chance. 300 years? But it's not working," said Draco, "The problem is there's no banks because we only have one - Gringotts. And for all father's lobbying at the ministry of magic, saying we need another bank so that businesses could make loans, the Ministry of Magic seems to think there's no real issue. That people who want another bank are just greedy for money, and so everyone that wants to run a business has to borrow from those they personally know. Everything's built on connections but that's not tenable."

Even Draco it seemed, knew the flaws in the wizarding world.

"If people had a fight. A falling out. That means a business could suddenly fall. Because loans are based entirely on sucking up to one another and something as fallible as friendship," said Pansy. Everyone laughed and Hermione found herself giggling as well to fit in. "The wizarding world is so volatile, and I don't really enjoy the feeling that all my favourite shops are held up by mere friendship..."

"The ministry of magic can't run a new bank themselves because they suck at organising and they won't authorise my father to start a new bank. The ministry of magic is corrupt. They are all of people who want to hold the wizarding world back by it's reigns. They wouldn't even know how to handle anything if we were truly to make society better for everyone, well, for us perhaps. Having a bank would stop all these people sucking up to our family so much. They're everywhere..." Draco seemed a little annoyed. His family probably dealt with more people constantly wanting to borrow money for ideas they had behind the scenes that he never had all the time in the world to mention.

"I say. Get a king and queen. A monarchy. Because the ministry of magic doesn't work. It's not even a real government," Draco continued.

"I don't like how mudbloods are coming in," said Pansy, wrinkling her nose, "I hate newcomers. There should be something for being born a pureblood. We should be permanently above them or something."

"But you're just purebloods because you were born as such? It's nothing you did on your own..." Hermione tried to reason a little.

"Yeah, but don't you believe some things aren't just by fate?" Pansy looked at Hermione, "what if we were born into our positions because someone else decided we should? Because we earnt it in a past life or something? Do you really believe it's all by fate?"

Hermione didn't know what to say. She'd always thought it was randomness who was born where, but it seemed the Slytherins thought they were all born into their positions for reasons from a past life, or reasons they didn't know, but that they did deserve it. No wonder why they were so arrogant about it.

"I don't know..." said Hermione. The others laughed in a 'I changed her mind way.'

"You shall be...a noble," decided Pansy at last. She knighted Hermione with a make-belief sceptre and after that Hermione had her own place at the table. A part of her was seething at why she wasn't a queen but she didn't think she could argue her way into being a queen yet. They would simply say she didn't have the birthright as she wasn't a pureblood Sacred 28 family like them.

Hermione attended these meetings sometimes. She kept it a secret because it felt like a club that was open only to those who found it. The other Slytherins didn't talk about it outside of the club either. The meetings weren't all enjoyable, they were a mix of ups and downs, but they gave depth to the Slytherins disdain for everybody else, so she felt like it was important to go to stay up to date.

Hermione was a little bit sorrowful however. If anything the meetings highlighted the flaws in the wizarding world and how precarious it all was, especially as Hermione was now among those who could potentially change the wizarding world. Some part of her wished to be back in the muggle world sometimes. When things were so simple and they didn't need to consider these things. But the wizarding world wasn't as developed as the muggle world, and there were a lot of of concerns, some would say it was almost bursting at the seams.

If anything, Hermione now saw how dull most of her classmates in the year were. They wouldn't be able to get anywhere because if they wanted to do anything they'd need a loan eventually, but there was no bank, and many of them didn't seem to fully understand it so they threw away their chances of sucking up to the only ones with money at Hogwarts. They were all so happy about studying the subjects, but it was the same every year. They wouldn't be able to make changes or get anywhere, they'd return to the muggle world...the wizarding world would largely be unchanged and society lagging behind in a lot of development. The rich families would have to deal with lots of people with bad ideas wanting their money, something that if there had been a bank they wouldn't have to deal with directly, and all the hassles it bought...

Now that she had seen the Slytherins' views, Hermione found it hard to enjoy the simple naivety of her Hogwarts classmates. They seemed dull, trapped in a system that worked against them, and she felt the entire point of Hogwarts was a little futile.

She felt restless. Restless for change. For anything.

And those were her days of Hogwarts.

Author's Note: Thanks for the review! I love that my story's read so widely :) (I think the person who reviewed doesn't use english as a first language? But enough to enjoy this story!)