Gryffindor or Slytherin?
It was the night before Hogwarts and Hermione couldn't sleep. Usually she slept soundly for she was an early bird who loved being an early bird, but for tonight it was just the mysterious night sky, faint buzz of electricity and her thoughts keeping her company.
Gryffindor seemed like the obvious choice. It was brave to want to be the best as a muggle-born in the wizarding world, and Hermione had never exactly sworn to the cunning and the devious throughout her life. She had a burning desire to be more, but had mostly just spent her life suffering for not reaching it so far, and had never done anything cunning or devious...the very thing Slytherin was made of.
Therefore Gryffindor seemed the obvious choice. She could rise to the heights of the wizarding world and feel brave for doing so. Dreaming of the day everyone could see her power and her glory could shine...
But yet...
According to her history books the majority of the Sacred 28 were in Slytherin. It was famous for having the Chamber of Secrets and most dark witches and wizards in history. Dark typically meant powerful and capable. It seemed like if you wanted to get anywhere in the wizarding world, you had to know a Slytherin or a Sacred 28 person. History books even said the Sacred 28 always enjoyed everyone else trying to move up sucking up to them since before they could even talk.
Who are you to turn down the easier path?
Hermione had not been particularly cunning, sly nor devious because she didn't see a way to move up being such that at her elementary school. But yet it seemed like there was an opportunity, a pathway...at Hogwarts. To truly make her mark through Slytherin.
If it's easier to rise up by sucking up and being cunning, biding my time until I reveal I did not fully agree with Slytherin's thoughts for I am a muggle-born and the very essence of Slytherin is to be very anti-muggle born...
A part of her faltered. She had not exactly liked reading some of the misdeeds previous Slytherins got up to. Somehow Hermione had always imagined her wanting to rise to the top, and then it happening through some hard work and effort, but she hadn't exactly pictured what she would actually be doing...
The idea of possibly becoming the best in the wizarding world and having all the glory and pretty pictures to show her family due to...backstabbing someone, or taking advantage of someone, or something so bad and wicked...
Who are you to turn down the easier path?
Did you want to rise to the top at all costs or...?
Or maybe I can be the good Slytherin. Slytherins aren't all bad.
Don't be silly Hermione. Slytherins have a greater chance of becoming bad and the majority of them are a seedy bunch, despite their power and glory. You know where you'll go if you end up in Slytherin. Like fresh snow rolled by the wind until it becomes an unstoppable snowball in the wrong direction...
Who are you to turn down the easier path? Did you ever swear to rise up by right? As long as you don't get too twisted...
After cozy goodbyes with her family Hermione headed to platform 9 and 3/4s dressed in her new school uniform and with her luggage in tow. As expected most people seemed to already know each other. Magic tended to run in families and so for many students platform 9 and 3/4s was about saying hi to distant relatives and catching up on the interesting tidbits of each other's lives. Many also seemed to have family friends of a sort, or perhaps had hung out or went to school together before Hogwarts, so an air of familiarity hung around a great deal of the Hogwarts students as larger cliques gossiped in groups, and smaller groups of twos and threes hung around chatting. Hogwarts and magical Britain had always struck Hermione as a very small town society, but with an exquisitely wealthy upper class at the top.
There were a few students standing around alone, but Hermione could tell they were magical by their relatives and that they could afford not to make friends immediately for they would be accepted by the others quite easily once they got to Hogwarts, and she was sure the feast in the Great Hall would be full of people sharing their family backgrounds. That sort of thing was always expected at the beginning of everything. There were a few students who Hermione could tell would probably be picked on, even if some of them came from magical backgrounds as well, but they were alone by choice, as if they did not care for hierarchies or wanted to live a simple life without them, and probably did not mind being teased or overlooked by others, thus simply being themselves.
But Hermione was not satisfied being such a person like that. It killed her inside whenever others mocked or sneered at her.
Quickly, following her already formed plan to quickly make a clique or a friend before she would be marked by the others as a target, she gravitated towards the first open person she saw without hesitation.
Friends, large numbers, was obviously preferable to maintain image and reputation, but failing to make that, an individual ally was invaluable. Hermione had read as much books about the wizarding world (she later ordered a few more by post from Diagon Alley she didn't purchase the first time around) as she could get her hands on, and analysed the wizarding world hungrily but she couldn't gleam exactly what the students would be like or how they would judge each other until she saw them in person.
Unfortunately many of the more pureblooded wizarding families seemed wealthier than Hermione had hoped. They gave the wealthiest kids at her elementary school a run for their money, and seemed to embody this effortless charm of how much they casually flaunted their wealth or splashed it about. They also seemed to have better manners, more polite and posh, more diplomatic, cunning, with shields and masks on, even at a glance, so Hermione did not feel as if she had control over that clique. Wizarding Britain was smaller than muggle England, so she was actually meeting the people at the very top of society here, whereas in muggle England you didn't just accidentally bump into the queen or go schooling with her, but at Hogwarts, you could very well go through seven years of schooling with the equivalent of wizarding royalty in this society.
The individual or smaller cliques looked unfriendly to Hermione. Too engrossed in conversation with each other already, some of them had plenty of magical pets, accessories or things floating, flying, quacking, sparkling, all around them and Hermione felt the danger of rejection for being so unfamiliar with it all if she were to approach them. It was impossible to really get used to all the magic going on around you until you'd lived among it for sometime. Hermione knew she would adjust, but at this moment, on the platform, it was not her time to shine.
It was a bit instinctual, she hadn't really meant to pick him, but through ruling him out as being snobby about wealth (he did not give of that air), or being particularly interested in magical items and objects, she found herself with a small lost looking boy once he'd said goodbye to his grandmother, and the two sort of followed each other on the train.
The parents of many other wizarding families were all on the platform, so Hermione felt a stab of curiosity about the boy's lack of parents, but did not push it. Asking for information when people may not want to give it may not necessarily lead anywhere well.
"I'm Hermione Granger, and you are...?" she said boldly.
"Neville Longbottom, first year...?" he said in a voice that showed no particular ambition or intensity, but a very easygoing sort of decency. Someone unlikely to complain much was her impression of him.
"By a few weeks. If I were any older I'd be in the grade above, excited about magic?" she said. The absent-minded wandering of the two of them down the train corridor had lead them to roughly the middle where there were a few empty carriages. Taller and more confident students seemed to sit near the back, perhaps the newcomers were nervous and simply retreated into the first few carriages they saw were empty which tended to be near the beginning and middle, the very beginning had a few closed of compartments with purple curtains instead of the train's usual red, and different gold furnishings on the doors, but otherwise, the two of them were beginning to reach the corridors where first years seldom sat.
As if both sensing this, they motioned each other into an empty carriage and Hermione felt a bit of relief as the door slid shut - but the red curtains were left drawn on default and the glass window would welcome other first years into their carriage eventually once they saw them (it was either that or sit with older students in carriages whom they didn't know, it was foolish to think they wouldn't have visitors soon...).
"Not really. I'm not too good at that but my parents loved this school so I shall do them well to try in everything. Are you looking forward to it more than I am?" he said in a plain and simple voice with a small uptick at the end.
Hermione pegged him as someone who was probably neutral when it came to Lord Voldemort and his deatheaters, it was only the really ambitious, dissatisfied, and wicked that seemed to view Lord Voldemort or his deatheaters positively in the wizarding world, and he didn't have the same burn in him for Hermione to think he secretly harboured desires to join the forces later on. Although he seemed to be relatively well of judging from his grandmother's clothes he did not have a burn for wealth in him (yet, she thought. For people changed and sometimes the desire for wealth was hidden when people were young, for some people...), so that was another reason why she had not thought he was a deatheater in the making. However he didn't seem overly interested in justice or anything to think he would be a crusader against Lord Voldemort and his deatheaters, not at a glance anyway.
So neutrality was probably his bet. If most people weren't for or against, they were neutral about him and preferred not to talk about that particular part of wizarding politics in recent years. That was what the books on wizarding history had said, that most people in wizarding society preferred to not talk about him. As for the deeply ambitious or dissatisfied...Lord Voldemort and his deatheaters were the only movement that ever promised change in recent years so there was a certain draw to him.
"Yes, I loved elementary school before I came here," said Hermione, and she could feel the conversation dying down gently. According to her books the classier witches and wizards were taught by governesses before they attended Hogwarts, although some of them had lavish outings with magical children of similar class as well as balls or other social engagements so they were well familiar with each other before Hogwarts. Some witches and wizards were homeschooled before Hogwarts. Some witches and wizards also went to muggle schools. Most magical families taught their children the basics of reading, writing, history and geography before they began at Hogwarts. If there was no adult with free time around some magical parents put their kids in muggle schools so they could learn the basics and simply told them to hide their magic.
Hermione wanted to forge a reputation that was above just being a muggle-born, so she intended to not draw any attention to that, but she could mention she went to a school before Hogwarts.
The wizarding world was very small. A lot of jobs that existed in the muggle world didn't exist in the wizarding world, most families got by because they could use magic to lower their living costs in small ways (besides the really obvious ones like being unable to magic up money or food) and through generational wealth, even if it wasn't much for some. There was few major business deals or any money flowing into the wizarding economy. The wealthier witches and wizards usually gained their wealth through inheritance. Most witches and wizards preferred to marry for money as it was the most sure way to get rich if they really wanted to get rich.
A lot looked down on that and married for love. Both sides looked down on each other to some degree. Marriage was typically the way to move up social classes. A lot of really ambitious witches and wizards tried to marry into the Sacred 28 purebloods or into more established families. If one was really cunning they would spend all the years of Hogwarts smooching, kissing up, and snaking their way into the hearts of somebody whose everything they loved. There was no shortage of such magical folk (typically witches although a few wizards also tried the same tactic) every year snaking around anybody worth anything, and if you wanted to move up...you had to do that.
If someone was easygoing and happy, they would simply enjoy Hogwarts, marry someone they loved, and so the cycle would repeat. If someone was ambitious they would socialise with the best people at Hogwarts and try to build enough of an emotional connection to marry up. Moving up by merit was also an idea, but not as easy as it would seem, and many witches and wizards simply were not bothered enough to try with it and scoffed at those who did and wished them luck.
Since Neville didn't appear to have any interest in kissing up, Hermione guessed he was content to remain as he was (for now - people could change).
He was not an asshole, and they had alright conversation, but he was only ever...better than nothing, if Hermione had to be honest with herself. She knew other people may hate her for her opinion of him but it was what it was and she could not help seeing the world through green-tinted glasses.
"Have you seen my toad?" Neville asked all of a sudden, his eyes darting around as he patted his empty pockets.
Hermione wished she had an owl, they seemed the most useful pet to have when she went to the pet shop at Diagon Alley, however she couldn't think of a way to explain it to her parents so she simply purchased a subscription to the owl delivery service at Diagon Alley. It was for people who wanted to send mail occasionally but didn't have their own owl, and they were given what looked like an ordinary stamp that was charmed so if you stamped it on mail, an owl would fly to your location and deliver it for you. It was moderately expensive, but Hermione's parents gave her a small bit of allowance each year, they were wealthy enough for that, so she could still afford it.
Although she didn't have a toad she felt an inkling of something for people who had pets and the concern over them so she felt a little for the boy.
"No, how about you stay here in case your toad's looking for you and I'll go around and ask if anybody has. There is a slight chance someone may have seen, what does your toad look like?" asked Hermione.
"Good idea. Green with brown spots, called Trevor," Neville said.
Hermione nodded and then walked up and down the corridors of the Hogwarts' express. The younger years tended to leave the curtains untouched so it was easier to peer into the carriages and see if there was a toad or not. There were a few students who seemed late to their carriages or seemed to sometimes move between them so it was worthwhile to ask them if they had seen the toad in case they did at a location they weren't currently in. Hermione asked a few of the more mobile looking students and received mostly negative replies. She supposed a lost toad was hard to find among the Hogwarts Express, they were small and it was not always easy to tell if it was lost or not.
According to Hogwarts: A History, toads were once killed and dissected in potions class firsthand for their various ingredients. Students would bring live toads as pets however as time went on that practice was outlawed but the school still allowed toads as pets. Now, toads were just pets, but the least useful pet in comparison to cats or owls. There were magical breeds of those animals with magical properties that could sometimes help students at Hogwarts.
Hermione had the feeling Neville didn't really want a toad, Hogwarts: A History, mentioned that the most wanted pets were typically owls or cats. And from the snatches of conversation she glimpsed, most of the boys were more interested in animals like dragons, sharks, eagles, and it was not really a popular pet to have. Briefly, Hermione wondered if it was a present from somebody and Neville felt obligated to take good care of it. That seemed all the more likely, a toad seemed the sort of pet you gave someone if you wanted them to have a pet but neither of you particularly loved animals. Neville seemed generally forgetful but not like he was purposefully not taking good care of it.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said to the occupants of a new carriage.
"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said one of the few ginger-haired boys on the train that looked to be in her year.
That meant Neville had not listened to Hermione's idea of him staying in the carriage afterall and perhaps he had also wondered around, directly asking if anyone had seen his toad, but Hermione didn't care about that anymore. (Now that she knew Neville hadn't stayed in the carriage, a part of her was now wondering if he'd perhaps lost his toad on purpose because it was a present that became an obligation...toads could very well survive in the wilderness the train was now speeding past and she could see Neville thinking it would do the toad no harm to escape, and it would be in his preference as well...Neville was not bad against other people, but not totally dull in pursuing his own interests either...possibly...)
The ginger-haired boy was holding up a wand, obviously about to start a spell. Hermione had mostly seen adults cast magic so far, even on the platform most of the students didn't have their wands out nor were they casting spells, and since everything was so new to her, she suddenly wanted to see someone else her own age try with a spell, see how it worked for them. She didn't cast any spells at home despite having her wand because she knew it was illegal due to the trace.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then," she quickly changed the topic to her interests.
She sat down because she sensed this could be long depending on the spell and how many attempts it took. The boy looked a bit taken aback but did not seem to have any firm reason against doing magic in her presence.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow. Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow," he said. He gave a wave of his wand but the fat grey rat on his lap remained asleep.
Suddenly Hermione had very bad feelings. For one, rats weren't allowed at Hogwarts which meant this was a very very unusual pet, and one in which he may have been counting on the other kids to think so lightly of it they would overlook it and not report it. Hermione wondered if perhaps this was an obligation or a present as well of some sort. Although she saw him interacting with his large family so they must know it was not allowed at Hogwarts. This meant his family were likely alright with him breaking such a rule. Secondly, wands that had recently selected their owners were often just as excited about magic as they were, for the wands had seldom been used, and often they gave small sparks, bubbles, bangs, anything, if they sensed the owner was really excited about a spell. Even a bad spell.
Only wands that really lacked a connection with the owner, or really unmagical spells didn't have any response at all. Hermione felt an itching and clawing feeling inside her for some reason.
The spell the boy gave seemed exactly the sort of spell one would make up if they were unfamiliar with magic. There really ought to have been some excitable childish response from the wand but there was just stone silence. Hermione peered at the rat. Suddenly ideas of the rat being dark magic, some kind of block of magic, or just...something unusual came to mind but she quickly pushed it out.
You will see a lot of things that make you feel unpleasant in the wizarding world. Don't get caught up on ones that may not be important.
"Is that a secondhand wand? Usually they give of a tiny bit of magic when you first use them for spells, even if they don't exist. Perhaps it's lacking a connection to you," said Hermione.
"It's one of my older brother's. He graduated from Hogwarts already, and one of my other brother's gave me the spell. Yeah that's right, I thought the spell was stupid sounding when he said it, but it might be the wand," said Ron.
Hermione quickly realised his family were magical, but poor. She could understand how they may struggle for school supplies. He also did not seem particularly ambitious so she could see why he had not practiced magic with his wand all that much. If he'd practiced a little bit more with magic Hermione was sure something would've happened.
"Why doesn't one of your brothers sell their wand and buy a second or third hand wand that they could use? Learning magic is easier with a wand that chooses you, and experienced witches and wizards are more able to use someone else's wand. It's actually better of if your brother simply has a second, third or fourth hand wand for now, and you have a brand new wand. Particularly as you don't seem to have a lot of practice with magic," she said.
There was a quote she loved in one of her books which said despite having magic witches and wizards lacked common sense. Hermione was feeling more and more like this was true with every passing moment.
"Yeah that's right. He got a new wand after he gave me his old one. It wasn't like he couldn't have bought me a new wand. He has a job and money now, definitely enough to get me a new wand if he really wanted to. And my parents likely had enough to get me a new wand if I really needed one. I would also like a wand that has chosen me too you know, so I'm not behind everyone else. But since my brother suggested that, I just went along with it and didn't really think about asking for a new wand," said the ginger-haired boy.
Hermione felt a bit of pity for him for the first time. He had been hard-done by due to the lack of common sense of others around him.
There was also a tiny question Hermione had about his brother. If his brother had a firsthand wand which likely chose him before he started Hogwarts, then why was he so eager to give it up? Although it was possible for witches and wizards to have many wands, the standard wand you could buy at Ollivander's was typically still one of the best suited to you. It was highly practical and often a bit of a sentimental object for many. It was unusual for witches and wizards to part with their first wand. The most typical reasons were actually dark witches and wizards who had moved onto even darker wands capable of doing even darker magic than the standard wand that switched it up.
Hermione was already disliking some of the magical faces she'd met that day. It seemed everyone could possibly run by their own agenda, do their own thing, and act all happy and jolly about it on the surface, as if they were simple rule-abiding citizens that could be easily missed by someone who didn't question things. Although Hermione knew she would never have the answers to all her questions about everybody.
"Well right to see if something can be worked out so you're learning magic with a wand that's chosen you. I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?" she said because she felt like she had spoken too much to leave without introducing herself. It would be too rude otherwise.
"I'm Ron Weasley," the ginger haired boy muttered. He seemed a bit miffled at Hermione's comments to him and not exactly over the moon at them.
"Harry Potter," said the only other occupant of the compartment, a small dark haired boy with glasses.
"Are you really?" said Hermione. Harry Potter was probably the most famous and significant person in her entire year this year, with Draco Malfoy, Theo Nott, Pansy Parkinson, and Daphne Greengrass being other notable people.
Keep neutral around a boy like Harry Potter. Do not get sucked into playing for someone else's side, for or against. Trouble will be drawn to the one who lived. You could rise higher in your life if you worked on yourself, on your own, without getting tangled up in the affairs of others, including those like him.
A warning voice flashed sharply from within her.
She wished she hadn't given such an automatically sharp response at the start but it was too late to take it back now.
"Am I?" Harry said in a dazed voice.
Despite his supposed achievement of banishing Lord Voldemort as a baby, he seemed equally as unambitious to move up or make something of himself as the others.
"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it were me," said Hermione, not wanting to seem too indifferent to his fame just in case that marked her out unnecessarily.
She then made a few comments on how she had to go and look for Neville's toad and they'd be there soon before leaving. The two boys had not said very much else under her presence and Hermione did not feel herself wanting to be friends in particular with them. Let Ron Weasley soak up all the troubles of being Harry Potter's friend and all that will find the Boy who Lived and his friends...
"Where were you? I came back briefly to find you but you were gone," said Hermione even though she hadn't at all. She knew Neville had left for sometime according to what Ron and Harry said, but Neville didn't know she knew. Hermione wondered if he would admit he hadn't listened to her and left, or whether he would insist he was there all along.
"I thought I saw Trevor so I ran out to see him. But he took one look at me and jumped out a window. I think he's happier there," said Neville but Hermione knew it was a lie.
He hadn't seen Trevor at all. He had left to ask about his toad but now that he thinks Trevor's missing for good, he's made up a story to excuse the pet gone forever.
"Yes, the surroundings are a toad's natural habitat. I'm sure it will do well there," Hermione said. So she knew Neville did lie sometimes to get his way, but he did not seem to be a bully to others. She did not see any immediate benefit to exposing this too soon however. Neville would be momentarily upset Hermione caught onto this about him, but that would just lead him to avoid her or possibly be nasty towards her. She couldn't see how it would lead him to do what she wanted, besides, he wasn't someone who could give Hermione what she wanted, which was mostly to be accepted among a more power hungry crowd. So there was little real benefit to her for trying to get anything out of him at the moment. She could use this advantage she had about Neville to benefit her more in the future - by knowing more about himself than what he thought she knew about him for the time being. So she kept silent about it.
Soon they had arrived at the Great Hall, and were going through the Sorting. Whatever house Neville, Ron or Harry were in, Hermione had a strong feeling it wouldn't be Slytherin so she didn't think it would be easy to stay friends with them for long. Majority of Hogwarts students seemed to be friends with their housemates because they dormed together, and judging from the idenetical crests on their uniform that Hermione saw in some of the older years. Whilst she didn't want to be friends with Harry Potter or his friends, she didn't think she would end up being Neville's friend through Hogwarts. Although she was thankful for his company on the platform and carriage so that she did not feel liked she had been marked out as a target, or as much as she could have been.
The moment she was sorted though...she had to get in a clique fast.
Gryffindor or Slytherin...
Truthfully Ravenclaw had never quite appealed to her. She was knowledgeable and studious because knowledge meant power and ability to understand as much about magic as possible in a new world that was quite unfamiliar to her and for whom she had ambitions to move up, but lately all the strains, stresses and yearnings of her life had not centred around wanting to know more, but rather, to attain more. Higher status, recognition, position in society, revenge for how utterly tragic her elementary school life had been...
It was an obvious choice however and if the Sorting Hat was thick-headed it may put her in Ravenclaw, Hermione could see it, but she either felt brave enough for Gryffindor, or...yearning, wanting, enough for Slytherin. She wasn't quite sure how to put those feelings into words yet.
Soon she was called up. The world seemed to almost freeze and time go in slow motion as she felt the weight of the hat upon her head.
Very interesting...you have all the makings for a very significant figure in the wizarding world, but with no element of being forced to do so. You wish to achieve on your own. That sort of energy is instrumental...
Let's see...no, not Ravenclaw. Anyone who knows you well knows this isn't the real decision you are torn between as far as we can be sure of at this stage of your life...
I see potential in Gryffindor, Slytherin...
You would do great in Gryffindor you know. Even if you don't think you fit the mold. But Slytherin...is a house where I think you will maximise the most of yourself...
"SIMPLY, SLYTHERIN," said the hat.
The hall gasped.
Hermione kept her chin up, eyes held high as Professor Mcgonagall took the hat of her head. Never let anyone think you don't deserve to be in Slytherin, or that you are a lesser Slytherin, not unless you agree to it yourself.
She stalked across the hall, not trying to tone down the echoing of her footsteps which she thought made a nice effect.
Everyone's going to be so jealous now. All the Sacred 28 purebloods are envious I now have the chance to move up among their social circles, if any were hoping to be relaxed and just coast by on their previous success and family name. With more halfbloods in Slytherin house it is easier to coast by, but if I'm there sucking up to everybody they would feel like they had to be better than me at being a Slytherin to feel complete. And that will be a thorn on their side. They now have to prove themselves up to a muggle-born and not a halfblood.
I do not wish to draw attention to the fact that I am a muggle-born but they will be aware of it if they really wanted to be, I'm sure.
Slytherin.
Hermione couldn't help but feel an inner burst of pride or happiness at it.
Do it for yourself and what you have to gain from being in this house. How it helps you. Not for anyone else. Because the other Slytherins will not help you. Especially the Sacred 28s. Only you will help yourself gain the gold and the glory from this house. You will feel complete inside, by your own plans and misdeeds.
Slytherin. I'm in it for myself. Not because I belong with the Sacred 28s. But I will make them belong in my world and what I want for my future and the future of the wizarding world.
Hermione felt a strong surge of slytherinness that she savoured, kept, bottled up, this moment when she first got sorted, and for which she knew she would look back upon in her darkest and least-Slytherin feeling hours. Because it was just that good. This connection she had with being a Slytherin...
Author's Note: I know the events on the train were a bit different from the books but I've planned for this fanfiction to have small alternate versions of events from the books that suits this story better, as well as bigger differences. Some of the dialogue from scenes in the books will also be written in a slight alternate version to suit this story better. Though there's more similar scenes near the beginning of the fanfiction but as the AU grows further and further apart the story will really become it's own (hopefully).
This fanfiction isn't going to have that much focus on the adventures of Harry, Ron or Hermione from the books because I like to take them out when focusing on Slytherin/Sacred 28 pureblood heavy stories. I just hope to write it out in a believable way. There will hopefully be story ideas and plots that are equally as interesting as the ones from the original books here, but just in a Sacred 28 Slytherin way.
Also, I'm interpreting the characters slightly differently to make them suit the tone of this fanfiction a bit more. Anyways please review, I love reading them.