Summary: Hermione Granger was a new transfer student at the beginning of their 5th year. Knowing that she was a muggleborn, the students and the teachers were shocked when the Sorting Hat placed her in Slytherin.

Author's Note: I just want to say thank you to everybody that reviewed even though it wasn't a lot. I do appreciate it though. And I'm sorry if you do think the timeline is going a bit fast. It's just that I'm planning to take this story from 5th year to 6th year including the summer also. That's it. Let's continue on with the story.

The month of October went by too slow for the students at Hogwarts. The days are beginning to get longer and the lessons seem to drag on and on. Not to mention, Professor Umbridge is getting more control each and every passing day. She keeps adding more laws to this wall of hers and entrusted Filch to hang up the laws. For some odd reason, Filch seems to enjoy doing it. Just last week, Umbridge added a new law to Hogwarts which forbid them to loiter around the halls between classes. She often wanders the hallways looking for any rule breakers. She was really strict also. She saw a couple snogging near a statue and she gave them detention for 3 weeks. The Trio and many other students including Hermione thought it was a stupid idea. Professor Dumbledore didn't say anything and Umbridge seemed cocky with the Ministry backing her up. However, one good thing about October was that Dumbledore decided to host a masquerade Halloween dance. He announced that during dinner one night saying that due to the excitement and happiness that was present at the Yule Ball last year, he decided to have a Halloween ball for every student. It will take place the Sunday that was coming up which the students will have a chance to buy their dresses or in this case, dress robes from the Hogsmeade trip on Saturday. Professor Dumbledore couldn't have picked a better time to have a Halloween dance since Umbridge have to go to do important Ministry things. She will be gone all weekend, another thing the students were excited about.

Things seem to have gotten more violent between the Trio and Hermione. Their arguments always start off with Hermione walking up to them and insulting all of them together, or just targeting one. Insults fly back and forth usually ending with them pointing their wands at each other waiting to hex each other's face off. She didn't even stop with the Trio. She goes on with Draco's family, mostly his father and Draco gets livid anytime she mentions it. He looked like he wanted to use Crucio on her. She insults Harry by mocking him of how he has no parents and with Ron; she usually insults his whole family. Always saying how poor they were and many times, Ginny stepped in and before anyone can do anything, a professor usually intervenes.

Hermione didn't just act like this around the Trio. She acts like this around anyone. Ron made a joke in class about how Hermione was like a living, girl version of a dementor who just sucks the happiness out of everyone. Hermione shot a hex at him and landed detention for 2 nights. It seems like the only person that tolerated her existence was Dumbledore and Draco just said that he was just old and loony in the head. At that moment, Professor Dumbledore was behind him. Harry and Ron just looked around with innocent faces and when Draco looked behind, Professor Dumbledore just had an amused expression. He was surprised when Dumbledore just chuckled and walk away without giving him a punishment for saying that. If Umbridge heard him bad mouthing her, she would have immediately punished him right on the spot.

To everyone's delight, Sunday night arrived. The dance would start around 6:00 and would end at 10:30 for the 1st through 3rd years, and 12:00 for the rest of the older kids. Harry, Draco, and Ron arrived at the doors of the Great Hall with their dates on their arm. Harry, after a lot of pep talks from Ron and some from Draco finally mustered up enough courage to ask Ginny to be his date. However, he was so nervous that it came out as gibberish and it took Ginny a moment to finally figure out what he asked. Harry thought he messed up his chance turned around quickly intending to go sulk in a corner before Ginny stopped him and said yes with a smile on her face. Harry was stunned and all he did was nodded and let out a sigh of relief with a very noticeable blush on his face. When he told Ron and Draco what happened, they couldn't pass up the chance to make fun of his speaking gibberish. The Boy Who Lived couldn't even ask out a girl to a dance properly.

Ron certainly had better luck than Harry in this case. He walked in the Gryffindor common room from quidditch practice intending to go collapse on his bed to take a long nap forgetting that he had to take a shower since he was dirty. However, before he can walk up the staircase leading up to the boys' dorm, Lavender Brown, another Gryffindor from their year, marched up to Ron and pressed her lips onto his. Ron being the slow guy he is had a dumbfounded expression on his face when Lavender ended the kiss. Lavender practically demanded he go with her to the dance and after a few, dazed moments, he slowly nodded still not comprehending was just happened. She squealed of happiness before giving him a quick hug and running back to the girls' dorm probably to gossip about what just happened a few moments ago.

Draco had way better luck than Ron and Harry. He was known for being a looker and many girls from every house, even Slytherin asked him to the dance. He was quite arrogant about it too, rubbing it in their faces. However, he didn't want to go with any of them. He didn't even want to go at all but Ron and Harry, after much bribing and persuading him, he reluctantly decided to go. He agreed to go with a girl named Parvati Patil. She was in their year and also in Gryffindor. Draco thought she was pretty and he didn't mind going with her.

Once Molly heard about the Halloween dance, she immediately sent over a pair of dress robes for Ron and a mask. The dress robes looked familiar to the dress robes he had on last year but it was more mature. Still, Draco made fun of him and Harry just laughed. The mask was a simple black one, similar to Harry's. Harry had on a simple black robe and Ginny blushed when she saw him. Draco also had on a simple black robe but it looked way more expensive and it looked fancier also. He is a Malfoy after all. Instead of a black mask, he had on a white one.

Their dates look stunning. Ginny begged her mom to let her buy a dress at Hogsmeade. Lavender and Parvati also went with her. When Harry caught sight of Ginny, he thought his heart would stop because she looked amazing with a white dress that clung to her upper body and the rest of the dress was loose and had a little trail. Her hair was curled and she had on a white mask. Ron couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Lavender walk down the stairs to the common room. She had on a dark, blue dress that had a sweetheart neckline and it was like a party dress; it hugged her curves and flared out to her knees after it reached her waist. She had on an ivory colored mask that had a single feather on the side. Her hair was in waves. Draco was surprised when he saw Parvati. She ditched her traditional Indian robes and had on a dress similar to Lavender only it was purple and she had a white shawl loosely wrapped around her arms. Her mask was like Ginny's but it had on a lace detail to match her shawl. Her hair was braided in an intricate pattern.

The guys led the girls into the Great Hall and they were all stunned. Draco looked like he couldn't care less but inside, he was a bit impressed. There was a small layer of mist surrounding the floor making it look mysterious, perfect for Halloween. The long house tables have been transformed into many round tables with a black table setting with and red big plates with white mini plates on it. They saw many people were already seated and Ron pointed out a table with 6 seats. They quickly made their way over there. Draco pulled out Parvati's chair and seeing that, Ron and Harry did it too so they won't be upstaged. The girls giggled and sat down. The guys sat down themselves and they all chatted waiting for the dance to start. Shortly, Dumbledore walked in with McGonagall on his arms and led her to the podium and motioned her to sit down where the rest of the Professors normally sit. Draco inspected his surroundings. There were bats flying at the top of the ceiling but they were probably tamed to do just that. There were pumpkins with faces carved into them placed randomly around the room. With magic, the expressions on the pumpkins were changing every 5 minutes. There was a big space that would be later use for dancing and a stage for a performance. The Hall was dim with only two candles floating at each tables and a couple at the dance floor. There were more decorations but he snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Ron called out his name.

By that time, it looks like everyone had showed up. Dumbledore cleared his throat and as his eyes roamed around, he smiled. When his eyes caught Harry's eyes, he winked and kept looking around. Somehow he knew that it was Harry even with the mask on. The room was silenced and everyone was paying attention to their Headmaster. Dumbledore started speaking.

"Good Evening fellow Professors and students. You guys certainly transformed yourself tonight with the guys look certainly look handsome and the girls look beautiful. Now, we're going to have a feast before you guys get to dance. We have a surprise for you guys tonight; we know you young kids love your music so I get the Weird Sisters to play. Now, let the feast commence and if you are feeling hungry throughout the night, there is also going to be an additional snack table at the right corner of the room."

All of a sudden, all different types of food showed up on the table and they dug in. While Draco was eating the mash potatoes, his thoughts wavered into the form of Granger. Was she here right now? He inspected the people that was currently eating and didn't see anyone with her honey colored hair. When he realized he was thinking about her, he snapped out of his thoughts and smirked at something Parvati said to assure her that she was paying attention.

Soon enough, they finished eating and by the looks of it, other people were too. All of a sudden, smoke was coming from the stage. Everyone looked curiously to see what was going on and all of a sudden, the Weird Sisters popped out of nowhere and started playing their music. It blasted through the Great Hall and Draco bet that even Snape can hear it in his dungeons since he was not here right now. People immediately rushed to the dance floor and started dancing and singing along. Draco let Parvati dragged him onto the dance floor and he saw that the same thing happened with Ron and Draco. They all looked at each other and shrugged. They were here to enjoy themselves and that they will.

They danced through the night with their dates and they were having a splendid time. Occasionally, they stopped to take a rest of get something to eat. Everyone was definitely enjoying themselves. Well, not everyone.

Hermione Granger was in the Slytherin common room sitting on the couch just staring at the fire. They said fire provided warmth but in this case it wasn't true. The dungeons were always cold and Hermione felt even colder now that she was alone. Normally, she was always alone but now that everyone was enjoying themselves and she was here by herself, she even felt lonelier. It didn't even matter anyways because no one ever talks to her. They were too afraid of getting diseases from her supposedly "dirty blood." She looked at the clock that placed on the wall in front of her and saw that it was only 9:47. She decided to head to the Great Hall to see what was going on. She glanced at the wretched thing on her arm and got her school cloak. She wrapped it around herself and walked out of the common room. It took her a while to get to the Great Hall since she was walking at a slow pace. When she reached the doors of the Great Hall, she peeked in hoping no one would see her. It was unlikely because everyone was dancing and having too much fun to even glance at her way. Her eyes wandered around and saw the Trio laughing with their dates. Before she can do anything else, she felt a hand rest on her shoulders. She straightened her back and turned around with her wand ready for anything. She held her wand ready to attack but when she turned around, she saw it was her old, loony, Headmaster staring down at her with kind eyes. She slowly lowered her wand hand and cleared her throat, looking anywhere but his eyes.

"Now Ms. Granger, why aren't you in there enjoying yourself? From what I can see, you're merely an audience of the fun." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

It took Hermione a while to respond. Finally, she said "Why would I go to this stupid shindig you call a dance?" Her gaze lowered to the ground and like many other times, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her cloak and looked away avoiding his gaze. She knew Dumbledore didn't believe her excuse. Truthfully, she didn't have a dress to go since she was not permitted to go to Hogsmeade. And if she did go, they probably didn't have long sleeve dresses that can cover the thing on her arm. She also didn't want to be the only one without a date. No boy would ever ask her since everyone hates her. She frankly didn't care anymore.

She scoffed at Dumbledore and walked away, intending to go back to the common room. However, before she can get far, she heard Dumbledore's voice. "Remember Ms. Granger, help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." Hermione pondered on those words and after what it felt like hours but in reality was only seconds, she continued walking away. She didn't see the solemn expression on his face.

She finally reached her common room door and went to her dorm. She looked at the time and saw it was 10:05. For some odd reason, she felt tired even though she always stays up later that that even on school nights. Taking off her cloak and carelessly dropping it on the floor, she plopped down onto her bed and before her head can even hit the pillow, she fell asleep. That night, like every night, nightmares came and haunt her. That night, like every night, she took the Dreamless Sleep Potion. That night, like every night, it didn't work until it was almost time for her to wake up.

Like every morning, she wakes up to dark circles and bags around her eyes.

Like every morning, she casts a disillusionment charm for it so no one would notice it.

And like every morning, she mentally curses her body for not staying asleep… forever.

She did her everyday morning routine and went down noticing the common room was full of people talking about how much they had fun last night at the dance. Some guys were even bragging about how some of them got to get shag in the closest with their date. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone's eyes snapped onto her figure and once they did so, they starting spewing out insults and glaring her.

She insulted some of them back and even set a 6th year's robes to set on her fire without even doing anything with her wand. They were surprised that she can do wandless magic. With a fierce glare, she left them and made her way to get some breakfast. When she arrived, the Great Hall looked like there wasn't even a party here last night. She glanced at Umbridge and she didn't even look like she had the slightest clue of what happened last night.

She took her time to get to the table and along the way; she spotted the Trio and enchanted a piece of parchment to fly over to their direction. It landed in front of Ron and Harry and Draco peered over his shoulders to read what it said. When they saw it said Gryffindorks, they looked up to see the culprit. When they looked up, they saw Granger just standing there giving them a very cruel smirk. Ron was about to stand up and give her a piece of his mind, but Draco pulled him down while giving his own glare to Granger. Hermione stared at them, wondering what took so long for their reaction but then, she saw Harry mutter something to Draco and Ron. She narrowed her eyes to see his mouth movements and she thinks he said that they shouldn't stoop to her level. She scoffed at them and continued walking to her table. She sat down and took a sip of her pumpkin juice and grabbed a piece of toast and a few pieces of bacon and put it on her plate. She also ate some scrambled eggs. And like every meal, she sat there alone just eating.

When it was time for her first class, she got up and head to Defense against the Dark Arts. The class piled in and she sat down in her seat at the back. Umbridge walked in with her normally, creepy smile and everybody got silent. She told everybody to open their textbooks. Many of them dared not to groan and complain but they did it inwardly in their head fearing detention with her. For the past two months, she did not let them use their wands during the class. Draco sneered at the thought and Ron and Harry complained landing all three of them in detention.

"P-professor?" Everybody snapped their eyes to the girl who filled the silent void of which they call a lesson. Even Hermione curiously looked up. It was a Gryffindor girl. Hermione scoffed inwardly, should have knowing it would have been one of those bloody Gryffindors.

"Spit out your question already child."
"Well, uh, why can't we use our wands in this class?"
Harry's voice cut in and Hermione rolled her eyes. "She's right! We need to learn how to protect and defend ourselves!" Umbridge seemed to be getting more annoyed by the second. Ron and Draco were ready to cut in anytime soon but Umbridge cut them off.
"Mr. Potter, it is not necessary to learn these spells because there won't be anything for you to protect and defend against."
"Yes there is! You Know Wh-"Harry was interrupted by Hermione.
"So Professor, are you saying we shouldn't learn how to protect ourselves when Voldemort comes back?" Hermione grimaced due to how hypocritical she sounds.
The class was stunned on how she can say his name so easily. Umbridge furrowed her eyebrows in aggravation.
"That is enough from you and Mr. Potter! For the final time, Mr. Potter is false claiming. You Know Who won't be coming back. And you two will have detention with me tonight! Now go back to reading your textbooks." She huffed and the class turned back to their textbooks. Harry and Draco shared a glance knowing that they will have to talk about this later.

Hermione huffed and started doodling random things in her textbook. She already knew this stuff due to all the studying she did during Hogsmeade trips and other times she was free and had nothing to do. Her eyes started to waver and she yawned. Before she can even try to go to sleep, it was time for her next class. She had divination next with Trelawney. She inwardly groaned. She absolutely hated that class. She already knew what her future was going to be like so she didn't need a crazy lady telling her. It seems that these days, every class she has been in is with Gryffindor and she took every chance to torment the Trio. She entered the room at sat down at an empty table and starting playing around with the crystal ball. She made them do Tessomancy which is the art of reading tea leaves to predict events that will happen in the future. Hermione was frustrated. All she can see was rubbish at the bottom of the cup. She shrugged her shoulders and started to move the cup back and forth, not really caring about the pile of shite.

Trelawney broke the class's concentration by asking to see Draco Malfoy's cup. She spoke out loud for the class to hear. "I see a Falcon which means a deadly enemy but I also see the sun which also means great happiness. I also distinguish the Skunk which means danger in your path, very interesting my boy." Draco raised his perfectly shaped eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. Behind him, he heard a scoff and saw it was Granger that did that. He glared at her and when she saw it was him that was boring holes into her forehead, she glared back with equal force. He stopped his glaring to see what Trelawney had to say about Harry and Ron. Apparently, he had the same thing like Draco except without the Falcon. Draco was confused. He thought that Voldemort was the deadly enemy. Does this mean he will have another enemy? And finally, it was Harry's turn.

"I see the Falcon which represents a deadly enemy, the Club which means an attack, the Skull meaning there is danger in your path, and oh Merlin, the Grim. Do you know what this means Mr. Potter? The Grim is an omen for death." Harry was wide eyed. Should he believe this? It is rarely that Trelawney's predictions came true. A very lord snort and continuous laughter broke his thoughts. The whole class including Trelawney looked towards the direction of the laugh. It was Hermione Granger.

"Now THAT I believe. Who knows Professor Trelawney? Your predictions might actually come true for once." Harry was about ready to hex her into next year but Trelawney stopped him. She slowly walked towards the back and motioned for Hermione to give her the cup. Hermione just raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. After seconds, Trelawney gave up and picked up Hermione's cup on her own. The class was listening with great attention to see what she would say.

"I see many things in your cup Ms. Granger. First of all, I see the Falcon meaning a deadly enemy, the Skull which means danger in your path, the Club which represents an attack, and the Cross which means trials and suffering. This is strange Ms. Granger; normally, in everyone's cup, there is always a distinct figure of the Sun which means great happiness. However, in your cup, I don't see a single figure that could be the Sun at all. Apparently, you will have to face all these troubles yet in the end, happiness will not find you and you will not find it." Hermione's expression faltered but it instantly went back to the way it was before, amused. She let out a laugh proving to Trelawney that she didn't believe any of this nonsense. Trelawney's patience snapped. She has had it with the girl.

"Ms. Granger, you obviously lack the requirements to be a part of Divination."
Hermione's temper flared up. She immediately glared at the Professor once she finished saying that. Without a word, she grabbed her bag, stood up, and with great force, knocked the crystal ball off the table so hard that it crashed into hundreds of pieces on the floor. She scoffed at Trelawney and walked out the door. Draco's eyes followed her as she stormed out of the classroom with a sneer on her face.

Hermione was furious. How dare that pathetic excuse of a teacher teaching a useless course tell her that she lacked the requirements? No one even believed her. She didn't care anyways. She's glad that she dropped this class, so she can focus more on Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. However, somewhere in the back of her mind, she was still furious.

Hermione roamed the barren hallways until it was time for lunch. She slowly made her way down. By the time she reached the Great Hall, everyone already started eating. For no entire reason, she suddenly felt full. She turned around and made her way back to the common room. Hermione didn't care if she missed a meal, if she ever got hungry, she can just sneak her way into the kitchen. At the corner of Draco's eye, he saw her leaving and didn't give it another thought. He was brought back into the conversation when he heard Ron talking about DADA.

"Harry, how are we supposed to defend ourselves against Voldemort and his Death Eaters if we're just reading from a textbook? Not even that, the textbook doesn't even have spells in it…" Draco nodded.

"I agree with Weasley, Potter. We need a new DADA teacher because the only good teacher we had was Lupin was the Ministry sacked him when they found out he was a werewolf."

"I don't know about this, guys. What happens if someone caught us? Umbridge would have our heads and she will finally have a reason to expel us. Merlin knows that she has been on my back ever since the moment she stepped into Hogwarts." Harry bit his lip and looked down onto the table, not staring at anything particular but he just had a distant look.

"That's the thing mate, we won't let her know. We'll just find a place and we'll practice in there."

"Merlin, Weasley. Did someone slip in an intelligent potion in your pumpkin juice or something? You actually sound like you have a brain now." Draco had an amused smirk on his face. He lived to taunt Potter and Weasley. No other thing brings satisfaction that making their lives hell. Just because they were close friends, it doesn't exclude them from his insults.

Ron glared at Malfoy.
"Sod off Malfoy. I don't see you coming up with anything better." Harry interrupted their daily spat.
"But the main problem is that who is going to teach us? Dumbledore can't afford to teach us because if Umbridge finds out some way, she is going to accuse him and he will definitely get fired. And everybody in this school knows that she is dying to get his job so she has no limitations to making rules and shite like that." Harry scowled at Umbridge for emphasis.

"Potter, we thought the solution to this problem was obvious, even Weasley knows it." Harry and Ron looked confuse. Draco was tempted to palm his face. He was friends with a couple of dunderheads.
"Potter, you're the teacher. It's obvious because you had a lot of experience with the Dark Arts being the Boy Who Lived." Ron finally figured it out and he eagerly nodded his head. Harry seems hesitant.

"I don't know guys. I always seem to attract more trouble. You guys especially know this because you're the one that accompanied me during my liaisons. And besides, what's the point in doing this if it's just going to be us three." Draco groaned. Potter had to make everything difficult.

"Potter, you're making everything difficult. The thing is you're over thinking everything. It's not going to be just us three. Other people are going to join too. It's not just you that believes Voldemort is back."

"Yea Harry, we can invite people from our house and Ravenclaw or even Hufflepuff. I definitely think that Slytherin shouldn't join. I don't trust those foul snakes, especially that Granger. She's the first muggleborn that got sorted into that evil house and turns out, she's just as nasty and vile as the other Slytherins, maybe even more." Ron continued stuffing his face. Draco grimaced. Even though Lucius didn't care that he hanged out with Weasley, he would still be appalled by his eating manners. Draco was surprised when Lucius let him have Weasley as a friend but that quickly disappeared when Lucius said that it will make the Malfoy name look good.

Harry still seemed hesitant. He didn't want anyone hurt because of him. He already had a lot of people that sacrificed their lives for him and he didn't need any more on his conscience. Harry looked at Draco and Ron and after much thinking, he blurted out the answer.

"Yes." Ron and Draco looked confuse.
"Yes, we should teach other kids how to protect themselves and yes, I will be the one that will be teaching them." Draco smirked and nodded his head and Ron gave a wide grin. Harry looked at Dumbledore. When Dumbledore caught his eye, he winked at Harry with the usual twinkle in his eyes. For some reason, Harry thinks that Dumbledore knows what they're up too. Harry smiled, what can possibly go wrong? In the back of Harry's head, he knows that with him, everything goes wrong.

"Guys, I know the perfect place to have our meetings." Draco nodded his head signaling for Harry to go on.

"Have you ever heard about the Room of Requirement?" Draco and Ron looked utterly confused with Ron having this confused look on his face and Draco raising his eyebrow. Harry continued on and explained the room to them.

"It's a secret room on the seventh floor. You will not see it because the door is hidden. You have to walk past the door 3 times thinking of what you need. Soon enough, the door will appear. Dobby told me about it when he first heard about it from the other elves."

Ron looked astounded and Draco looked interested. Draco said, "Alright than, we'll use the Room of Requirement as our place. Don't let just anyone hear about our plans. If Umbridge caught wind of this, she'll have our butts in no time." Ron laughed when Draco said butt and Draco promptly smacked him in the back of his head. Harry smiled when it turn out to be a full on spat with them insulting one another.

Harry went back to eating his meal and for the rest of the time, they spent their time eating and talking about their plan.

Somewhere else, a dark and sinister voice spoke out to Bellatrix Lestrange. She had wild, unruly dark hair. Her time in Azkaban left her with a gaunt face. Her eyes were filled with a crazed look and her thin lips were shut while listening to her master. She was a tall woman but you couldn't tell because she was bowing down, showing a sign of respect.

"Bellatrix, I need the prophecy and I desire it now. There might be more information that could be useful to finally ridding the world of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, once and for all. But to do that, I actually need to get ahold of it."

Red eyes stared down at Bellatrix. He was a human, but he looked far from it. His skin was an unnatural shade as it was as pale as snow. For his nose, it was two slits that resembled a snake's for his nostrils. He was void of hair and his long, thin arms were accompanied with long fingers. His nails were a shade of light blue. He was dressed in a formal, black dress robe. After a moment of silence, Voldemort spoke.

"I have a plan, just round up Nott, Goyle, Crabbe, Dolohov, and some others. Be ready to feel the mark. Oh, make sure the girl will be there too. Don't fail this Bellatrix or else punishments will be upon you."

With that being said, he left the room leaving the crazed woman alone.

Hey guys, I hope you like this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW. I really get motivated to update faster when more people review. And I need to know if you guys like it. Tell your friends about this story too! So please? TBC. Shout out to my chapter 1 reviewers; tabbialice, IvoryDarkWolf, and Hermione Voldemort Riddle.