Nightmare. No friends.

Those words echoed in her mind. The worst part was they were true. She had no friends. No matter how much she tried no one at Hogwarts liked her. Even the professors barely tolerated her except for Professor Flitwick. He was the only one that seemed to like her. Hermione knew why and it had nothing to do with her. She reminded him of Lily Potter, his favorite student.

Hermione Granger wiped away the tears. She had been so excited when she got her Hogwarts letter. Finally, she had somewhere where she belonged. By the end of the first day she realized she was wrong. No one liked her. They either thought she was an insufferable know-it-all or the Mudblood. She had no idea what a Mudblood was but considering it was the Slytherins saying it she assumed it wasn't good.

Shaky hands reached for the faucet. She watched as the cold water flowed into the sink. She splashed some water onto her face. She had hoped the water would help wash away those thoughts. She should have known better. All it did was make her cold.

Hermione frowned she saw the faucet vibrate. "Strange," she muttered. That's when she heard it. The footsteps. It wasn't a person though. It was something else. Something far bigger than a person and it was coming toward the bathroom.

Hermione pulled her wand from her robes and aimed it at the door. She didn't know many spells. All the spells she knew were useless against other people, or things. She would need to start studying curses to protect herself in the future.

She gasped and backed away from the door when she saw a large figure moving toward her. It was a mountain troll based on what she had read. It was easily twelve feet tall and hideous. Its small head was the only weakness that Hermione knew of. But she was too scared to do anything.

Her wand was limp in her hand. She was frozen in fear. Her eyes squeezed shut. The foul-smelling troll swung its club at Hermione. She waited for the blow, for the inevitable pain, but it never came. She opened her eyes a little, enough to see what had stopped its attack.

To her utter surprise there was a woman standing in front of her. She opened her eyes all the way as they widened at the sight in front of her. Wild black hair blocked most of her view. Where had this woman come from? Hermione had no idea. It was like she appeared out of nowhere.

"Sectumsempra," the woman bellowed aiming her wand at the troll's throat. Hermione watched in a mixture of shock and horror as the troll's head was severed from its body. This woman must be pretty powerful to decapitate a troll.

Once the troll hit the ground the woman turned around to face Hermione. Her violet eyes locked on Hermione's brown ones. "Our little secret," the woman said with a wink.

"Thank you," Hermione whispered. The woman cocked her head to the side. Hermione listened closely; she could hear footsteps coming closer. "Who are you?"

It was too late. The woman disappeared leaving Hermione alone with a decapitated troll.

Seconds later, Professors McGonagall, Dumbledore and Snape burst into the bathroom. "Ms. Granger," Professor McGonagall exclaimed. "What in Merlin's name happened here?"

Severus Snape studied the dead troll. The spell used was all to familiar to him. It was no wonder the spell cut off the troll's head. It was an extremely dark spell that he had created as a student. Only select few knew about the spell, and Ms. Granger certainly wasn't one of them. Even if she did manage to learn about the spell there was no way she had the power or ability to cast it. It did make him wonder who had done it and why.

Severus glanced at his colleagues. Minerva stunned by what she saw. Severus had no doubt that Minerva suspected accidental magic was involved. Albus, on the other hand, was suspicious. He recognized the spell but couldn't place it.

"No doubt accidental magic," Severus said smoothly. He didn't want Albus to put the pieces together, not yet at least.

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked at Severus. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Professor Snape was protecting her. He may not have realized it but she did.

Professor Dumbledore didn't look convinced. Unfortunately, for him, he had no other explanation. "Professor Snape, will you escort Ms. Granger to the Hospital Wing? Professor McGonagall, we will need to address the Gryffindors. They are no doubt worried about the housemate."

Hermione snorted. The three professors stared at Hermione. "Sorry," she said blushing. "It's just… I doubt they noticed I was gone."

Professor McGonagall frowned. That didn't sound like her lions. She would follow up during her meeting with her house. If it was proven true then she would put a stop to it.

"Come Ms. Granger," Professor Snape commanded.

"Yes Professor," Hermione said following him out of the bathroom.

Professor Snape didn't mention the spell. He wasn't sure why. No, he knew why. A Death Eater was in the castle and used one of his spells to save a Muggleborn girl. He was determined to figure out who, and why, but it was best to figure that out on his own. If news got out about a Death Eater in the castle people would panic. It didn't matter that the Death Eater saved a Muggleborn girl. The best plan was for him to sit back and wait. He wanted to know why a Death Eater saved Hermione almost as much as he wanted to know who and how a Death Eater got into the castle.

Hermione received a clean bill of health from Madam Pomfrey. Seeing as the troll never touched her it wasn't surprising. Professor Snape escorted her back to Gryffindor tower. Many of the Gryffindors tried to approach her about the troll. It was the first time most of them had ever tried to talk to her.

Hermione hated it. She hated the sudden attention from the Gryffindors. She hated that they pretended to act like they cared about her. She knew better. They didn't like her. They liked the attention. In that moment Hermione hated them. All of the Gryffindors. She hated them and wanted nothing more than to watch them suffer.

She shook away those thoughts. She had never been a vindictive person before. She buried those thoughts deep down.

News about the troll travelled fast. Some of the Gryffindors were telling stories about Hermione killing the troll. Some of the Hufflepuffs believed it and would ask Hermione about it. The Ravenclaws know better and the Slytherins couldn't believe a Mudblood would have enough power for that.

There was one person that was treating her differently.

Draco Malfoy.

He mostly ignored her since they came to Hogwarts. The few times they did interact he was not particularly nice.

It was different now. He was, dare she think it, nice. When a fifth year Gryffindor knocked her books out of her arms and helped her pick them up. He even smiled at her. Not a mean smile but a genuine smile. Despite how nice Draco was being Hermione didn't trust it.

Her plan was to ignore Draco as best she could. She would be polite to him and was still grateful when he helped her.

Unfortunately, that plan did not work out.