It had been a long time since Hermione had spent a Saturday morning without Tom. But it had also been a long time since they had faced each other as enemies. What Tom had done in the last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson was not so easy to forgive. And so she deliberately turned down his invitation to go for a walk. He didn't bat an eye, but his gaze had turned hard and cold before he had wordlessly turned round and disappeared.

Now she was sitting next to Abraxas on the sofa in the common room, enjoying the tea that Peter Nott had the house elves bring her. Lestrange was also present, but he was sitting in an armchair on the other side of the table, avoiding her gaze. He had left her alone since Tom's punishment. Not just her, Rufus had fallen silent to most of the other students. It gave Hermione great pleasure that this man had to walk through the castle knowing that some of his most respected classmates knew he had committed an unforgivable crime.

"I trust you have recovered well from yesterday's incident?" Nott's melodious voice snapped Hermione out of her silent contemplations.

She straightened up a little, arched her back and put her cup back on the side table. Like Lestrange before, Nott was still a mystery to Hermione. She had to be careful when she spoke to him. "Thank you for your concern, Mr Nott. I can indeed still feel Tom's attack in my bones, but I can't be brought down that easily."

Abraxas next to her turned his gaze on her. "I'm always amazed at how equal you are to Tom."

Hermione bit her tongue, trying not to let on how much comments like that bothered her. In her own time at Hogwarts, everyone had taken her academic achievements for granted, so she never got the praise she craved. Here, on the other hand, she was always measured against Tom and everyone was surprised that she even came close.

She folded her hands carefully in her lap and looked Abraxas straight in the eye as she replied, "It's a shame that it still surprises you after all these months."

Instantly, he raised both hands as if to defend against her statement. "No, Hermione, that's not what I meant! I wanted to pay you a compliment."

Unimpressed, she raised an eyebrow. "So it's a compliment to be compared to Tom and always come off worse?"

A soft laugh sounded from the other side. Indignant, Hermione turned her head to Nott. "Let me guess, you think I'm arrogant for uttering such words?"

"On the contrary," the mysterious student contradicted, "quite the opposite, Miss Dumbledore. It is statements like these that I would like to hear much more often. From all witches and wizards."

A snort from Lestrange made her freeze. Everything in her screamed to simply ignore him, but she couldn't. As much as she loathed this boy by now, ignoring him wouldn't work in the long run. "You have something to add to our conversation, Lestrange?"

She didn't even bother to sound polite. Her cold words had the desired effect: the person addressed flinched and looked to her with wide eyes. Hermione crossed her arms in front of her chest, unwilling to let him off the hook so easily.

"Excuse me, Miss Dumbledore," Lestrange said with difficulty. "I didn't mean to interfere. I would never dare..."

"But you dared," Hermione interrupted him gruffly. "You obviously take offence with what I said. Or what Mr Nott said. So, say what you think. Let everyone here share in your very important thoughts."

Silence fell over the four students sitting together, while Hermione looked at Lestrange with ice-cold eyes. He should feel that she was no longer favourably disposed towards him. While she at least had respect for his intelligence before, now he was just scum in her eyes, just like Avery. Both men were not above resorting to the basest of means to follow their misguided ideology.

Not that she liked Peter Nott that much more. After all, he had been part of the plot. But she could hardly blame him; after all, she herself had helped to rape an innocent girl in the past. It had been part of a strategic chess game that Hermione had lost back then - and Nott seemed to have realised that he had lost too.

"Fine," Rufus hissed heatedly, breaking the silence. "You want to know what I think? I think Peter here is a stone-cold liar. As if he ever cared what witches say. As if he cares what you say. He's a bootlicker and the fact that you believe a word he says betrays your oh-so-highly praised intelligence."

"Enough!" The enraged voice of Abraxas cut through the charged air like a freshly forged sword. Three pairs of stunned eyes turned to the blond man. "How dare you, Rufus? Have you lost all decency in the last few weeks? How dare you sit here and mock Hermione? Are you not man enough to realise that you have lost and should keep quiet? Will House Lestrange fall into disgrace once you become the head of the family?"

Surprised, Hermione put a hand over her mouth. She didn't expect such an outburst from Abraxas. She knew this Malfoy well enough to know that he was highly emotional, but he always endeavoured to keep his temper in check. These heated words were more than uncharacteristic of him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Rufus blanched, but he seemed unwilling to let the point drop. "You, of all people, saying those words to me? What, have you lost your manhood? Everyone here can see you panting after a witch who's promised to someone else. Isn't that a disgrace? You're always ready to defend her honour! And for what?" Gasping for air, Lestrange jumped up and pointed a finger at Hermione. "For receiving a fake smile here and there? By Merlin, Abraxas, have you no honour left? Do you want the House of Malfoy to die in your generation?"

Before she or Abraxas could react, Nott also rose from his chair and placed a hand on Rufus' shoulder. "My friend, I think it would be wiser if you said no more. Why don't you take a walk to cool your head?"

"Oh, save your words, Nott," Lestrange snapped angrily at the other Slytherin. "As if you mean a single word sincerely! Have you ever spoken a true word in your life? It was you who thought my plan was a good one. You deliberately let me walk into an open knife and kept a low profile so that no one could accuse you of anything."

"You misunderstand, Rufus," Peter calmly interrupted his hate-filled attack. "I was behind you and your plan without knowing the details. I saw Tom's reaction, heard his words, noticed Miss Dumbledore's demeanour, and drew the only logical conclusion: I was wrong. Changing your mind later, with more information, doesn't mean you lied originally."

Rufus' eyes widened and simply stared at the other student for a few blinks. Then he let out a harsh curse, wiped Peter's hand off his shoulder, and stomped out of the common room with long strides. With a deep sigh, Nott turned back to Hermione and Abraxas before sitting back down in his chair.

For a few moments, Hermione stared at where Rufus had just been standing, then she shook her head and turned to Nott. "Are your words sincere?"

"Which ones? That I was supporting Rufus?"

Hermione made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "No, I knew that. What you said afterwards. Is it true that you think you were wrong?"

"Hermione," Abraxas interjected, but Hermione immediately raised a hand to silence him.

"Please," she said with an apologetic look at her friend, "let me hear those words."

Sighing, Abraxas folded his arms in front of his chest and let himself sink back into the sofa. Hermione turned her gaze back to Peter Nott, who was scrutinising her intensely.

"We're all snakes, Miss Dumbledore," he finally began as he spread his arms out. "You will never be able to know whether I am lying or not. What are you trying to do with that question?"

Hermione continued to look at him, unimpressed. Of course she knew that anyone here could be a liar. But that wasn't what mattered right now. "Answer me."

Nott returned her gaze wordlessly, staring at her as emotionlessly as she was looking at him. Then, finally, he lowered his arms and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Fine, you've won, Miss Dumbledore. Now, if you want the truth. I would follow Tom Riddle to the end of the world. He has razor-sharp insight into what is wrong with our society and he has a vision of a better world that I share."

"And yet you took part in a plot against him," Hermione challenged him. Her eyes were still resting on his face, eager to recognise his every movement, to read his facial expressions and body language to see if he was lying.

"It was a plot against you, Miss Dumbledore," Nott corrected her without shame. "I shared Lestrange's opinion: you are keeping Tom from his goals. And that's the point I'm making today: I was wrong."

"That's it?"

He expelled air through his nose in amusement. "You're not letting up, are you? Fine. To go into more detail. It was Tom's words when he punished Rufus. There's only one rule in this world that determines a person's worth - and that's power. How magically gifted is a wizard? How magically gifted is a witch? Nothing else matters. Those were his exact words."

Hermione faltered. Had Tom, Tom Riddle of all people, actually managed to inspire at least one of his followers to think progressively? The irony of this made her laugh inwardly, but she forced herself to remain unimpressed on the outside. Poisonous coldness dripped from her words as she replied, "So you needed Tom to realise such a simple truth?"

She saw Nott press his lips together briefly, as if he had to swallow an impulsive answer. So he felt attacked by her. Good. A heartbeat later, the arrogant smile she'd seen so often returned to his lips. "I observe people rather than talk to them. My observations have never shown me that any witch would ever be a match for a wizard. Muggles don't call women the weaker sex for nothing. But as I said. I can admit when I was wrong. And I was wrong. Maybe I never looked properly. Maybe I haven't observed enough witches. Whatever the case may be, I've never seen a witch like you."

"You don't have to butter me up, Mr Nott," Hermione interrupted him, even though she could barely suppress a grin at the moment.

He smiled wryly, but didn't let her put him off. "Even though I meant it as a compliment, that's not really the point I wanted to make. The real point is that Tom sees you as a real partner. It seems like you are actually helping him to realise his vision. You're not just a witch who has him wrapped around her finger." Peter raised his finger and swirled it around. "And, to get back to the starting point of this whole discussion, that was the reason I laughed at your statement to begin with. I wasn't laughing at you, I was amused by the way you put Abraxas in his place. Your confidence and your assessment of your own strength, the whole way you never hide that you know what you can do, makes you different from other witches. I find that refreshing. And I find it even more refreshing that a prudish conservative like Malfoy is being put in his place by you for once."

Hermione swallowed. At no point did Peter Nott give the impression that he was lying. His words had been surprisingly frank for a snake, even if he included the usual flattering statements. The fact that he, with whom she had had so little to do so far, saw her like this when even Abraxas was still struggling with the fact that she was a witch to be taken seriously, triggered ambivalent feelings in her.

"Thank you for your candour, Mr Nott," she said. That was in no way an appropriate response to his detailed descriptions, but Hermione didn't know what to say.

She felt seen by him, and that made her uncomfortable. How much did Peter Nott know about the people around him? He always sat silently in the common room, but he was obviously always present with all his senses. Did Tom know how closely this potential Death Eater was watching him?

"I'm neither prudish nor conservative, by the way," Abraxas interjected. His tone showed that he was offended that Nott thought of him like that.

Grinning, Hermione put a hand on his upper arm. "Don't worry, Abraxas. I know that."

When she saw him widen his eyes and stare at her with his mouth open, she immediately realised her mistake. Heat rose in her cheeks as another hearty laugh came from Peter.

"Miss Dumbledore," he said, still grinning broadly, "you really should be better at saying things like that by now. How many times are you going to come across as a stereotypical American?"

Hermione exhaled with relief. Nott obviously didn't think for a second that Hermione actually knew that Abraxas was nowhere near as prudish as others thought he was. A quick sideways glance at the blond Slytherin confirmed to her that he also regained his composure. Inwardly, she shook her head at herself once more.

It would be her downfall if Tom even suspected that there was anything more serious between her and Abraxas than his one-sided affection.