Classes had started that morning. Hermione didn't have any homework yet, but she had a few books on her list to check out from the library so that she could stay well ahead of her work. Harry and Ron thought that she was nuts, but they had done that for three years and it hadn't changed anything.

Herbology had been about as boring as she thought that it would be. They hadn't done much, just go over the safety rules for the new greenhouse. And both Hermione and Neville were very disappointed that they hadn't had time for anything more than that.

Care of magical creatures had certainly been more interesting. Hagrid had decided to throw them into a lesson on Blast-Ended Skrewts. Whatever they were, and no one was sure, they were rather volatile. Everyone, save Hagrid, was a little wary of the creatures.

Hermione had made a list of things she thought the Skrewts could be bred from. And as uncertain as she was on them, she was very interested to see what Hagrid had come up with.

She split from the boys after lunch. They had divination, a class she had dropped. She was headed off to arithmancy, and was excited to see Professor Vectra. She had spent the summer doing some extra arithmancy work, and was hoping to talk to Professor Vectra about it.

But before she knew it, her classes were done for the day. She had gotten the books from the library, and an extra on the history of house elves. She wanted to know exactly why Winky had been so distraught when fired, and why she had not even wanted wages.

She hadn't found much. What the book seemed to focus on was the creation of house elves. And while it was extraordinarily interesting, it didn't have much on why they didn't want wages or what Hermione thought of as freedom.

She'd read through it until dinner, and brought the book down with her. She was distracted through dinner, until Malfoy threw a copy of the Daily Prophet on the table.

"Looks like your family doesn't need any help getting into trouble," he sneered.

Hermione and Harry held Ron back. The red head looked like he was going to strangle Malfoy if given the chance.

"Don't do it Ron," Hermione told him. "He's not worth it."

Malfoy scoffed. "Like a mudblood would know who was worth anything."

Hermione took a deep breath to keep from punching Malfoy herself. She and Harry pulled Ron out of the great hall and into the courtyard. There he punched a tree, before cursing and nursing his hand.

"Why does he have to do that?"

"He's Malfoy," Harry shrugged. "He's just a jerk."

"If you think that anyone growing up with Lucius Malfoy was going to be different, you would be wrong," Hermione said. "Besides, you know he does it to get a rise out of you."

"Maybe. But he's still a git."

Malfoy swept into the courtyard, Crabbe and Goyle following him. "Running away were we?"

Hermione counted to ten in her head. She had punched Malfoy in the face at the end of third year, and it had felt amazing to be able to do that. But she really didn't want to get in trouble. There was always the chance of running into one of the teachers out in the courtyard.

"Cut it out Malfoy," Harry said. "Mummy wouldn't like it if you did something. But then, I guess she has to deal with your father too."

Harry turned around and Malfoy pulled out his wand to retaliate, but before he could do anything, he had lost a lot of height and gained a lot of fur.

Moody bounced the ferret Malfoy along. "You need to learn some manners. You don't attack someone behind their back."

"Alastor," McGonagall said. "What are you doing?"

"Teaching."

She looked from him to the two Slytherins. "Teaching? Is that a student?"

"It might be."

"Alastor! We do not use transfiguration as a punishment." She turned Malfoy back into his human form. "We issue detention or talk to their head of house. Mr. Malfoy here is under Severus' house. Surely Dumbledore mentioned that to you."

"He might have said something," Moody mumbled.

Hermione was having a hard time keeping herself from laughing at the whole situation. While she did try to not do anything rash, it was very hard to be civil around Malfoy. And he had been a bouncing ferret.

Harry and Ron had lost it and were in heaps laughing on the ground. Hermione covered her smile with one hand and gathered her books to go back upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked.

"The dormitory. I've got some work I want to get done."

She didn't have any homework. But she did have some reading that she wanted to get done. And she knew that Harry and Ron were going to talk about Professor Moody for hours, not letting her get anything done.

She closed the curtains around her bed, allowing for some privacy. Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patail weren't bad, but they sometimes tried to rope her into conversations that she didn't particularly want to be a part of.

She tried reading the book on house elves. Her mind wandered so much that making progress wasn't exactly possible. And she was having trouble thinking of anything but what had just happened in the courtyard.

Without knowing it, she had doodled a ferret on her left arm.

What's with the animal? I didn't know you drew?

Hermione looked at her arm. Sure enough, there was a fairly realistic likeness of the Malfoy ferret.

Sorry. I was just doodling. I try not to, at least when it comes to notes. I'm just distracted today.

Does it have something to do with the strange creature that you were drawing?

Something like that. One of my teachers transfigured a student into that animal, she didn't know how to say ferret in Bulgarian, and I can't help but think that it was a little unfair. Even if he is the biggest bully in our year.

That's an unusual treatment.

You're telling me. But it was funny.

Anything else happen today? I did get your letter, but I'll be responding to it the same way you wrote me. There's so much to say, and arms don't have the most space.

Hermione had to agree with that. She cast a cleaning spell on her arm. And Viktor must have cast one on his end because the words faded before her eyes.

I have been doing some studying, she wrote. Nothing major. Just some stuff I want to learn, since we haven't gotten any homework yet. And I started reading a book on house elves. Do you know anything about them?

Not as much as I should. I know mother has one at home. And I know that they have magic that can surpass some of the things we do as wizards. But not much more than that.

Hermione looked at her arm. She had learnt a few things. And she wasn't sure what to think of any of them.

The first was that Viktor's family had a house elf. She wasn't even sure how to process that. On one hand, a discarded elf saw itself as a failure. And taking one in could prevent catastrophes. But on the other, she felt that they should be compensated for their efforts.

The second was that while Viktor admitted that they had value, he didn't know their stories. At least he was honest about that. But she had come to realize in her reading that most purebloods didn't think twice about house elves since they had been around for so long.

Are you still there? Viktor wrote.

Sorry. Just thinking.

You are always thinking. When I see you again, I will have to distract you from thinking. Maybe take you dancing.

Dancing? Why dancing?

I think it would be fun. And I can dance fairly well, if I do say so myself.

It could be fun," Hermione admitted. She hadn't ever danced before. But it could be fun.

Good night Hermione. I look forward to seeing you again.

Good night Viktor.

A/N: So there isn't going to be S.P.E.W. thought I will make sure that Hermione cares about the house elves. That's just part of who she is.

And I'm hoping to break away from the book more in the following chapters. I will include Moody's class, but after that we're jumping to a bit more fluff when Viktor and the other Durmstrang students get to Hogwarts.