Hermione stared at Rupert LeStrange in mild disbelief as the force of his spell threw Parkinson back nearly three feet.

There was a moment of shocked silence as the rest of the dinner party processed the unprecedented act of one supposed Slytherin blood-purist disarming another and then Lucius Malfoy elegantly turned in his seat. "Perhaps the fire whiskey was a bit too strong?"

Hermione had expected an uproar; the Gryffindors shouting insults while her Slytherin guests pulled on their cold masks of societal contempt but instead Severus calmly directed two of her house elves to escort Morven Parkinson to the Ministry. "If you'll excuse me for one moment," he stated, rising from the table, "I need to pen a letter to the Minister informing him of tonight's…mishap." He bowed briefly to Hermione and swept from the room.

Hermione blinked owlishly after him as Neville gestured for Elly to pour more wine for her. She looked around the table as LeStrange received a clap on the back from Blaise and several nods of approval from Ernie MacMillan and Oliver Wood.

She must have looked as confused as she felt because she heard a familiar snort of amusement from beside her. "Granger, really? How uncivilized do you think we are?" She turned and looked past Lucius to see Draco Malfoy's familiar silver eyes laughing at her. Hermione narrowed her eyes, memories of those laughing eyes and his childhood taunts rising to the forefront. Draco must have sensed the challenge in her gaze, his shoulder tensing even while his face relaxed into a smug grin. Keeping eye contact with Draco, Hermione casually raised her left arm, carefully angled so the raised pink scars could be seen and gestured for Gilly to remove her plate setting.

Draco regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth, but his pride wouldn't allow an apology to slip past his lips. He merely sat there as memories of Hermione's assault in his house played out for the thousandth time behind his eyes. He didn't realize he was trembling until a gentle hand was placed on his forearm, lowering the hand holding his fire whiskey to the table. He shot a guilty glace at his father, expecting to find condemnation but only saw a slight regret in Lucius's silver gaze before his expression smoothed and he withdrew. "Excellent form, Rupert," his father complimented, masking his movement as reaching for his own glass. "Though I shouldn't be surprised, Bellatrix was quite the duelist."

Lucius tensed a millisecond before Hermione and Fred Weasley and Draco could practically hear the muttered oath his father uttered at the faux pas. There was a moment of awkward silence and Draco noticed a spark of indigo magic shot off from the tips of Granger's fingers. He started, not realizing she was one of the few who had that much passive magic. The only other person he had seen whose magic leaked with strong emotions was Dumbledore…

He felt several other shifts in the table and noticed Nott and Amon Shafiq also staring at the witch's hands, surprise momentarily lighting their eyes before they hid their emotions away. He glanced back to see Granger's face soften and a small sigh escape her pink lips before she seemed to square her shoulders. "I understand there was a dueling club at Hogwarts during your time there, Lord Malfoy? Was…Bellatrix a member?"

Hermione gulped her white wine to wash the taste of that woman's name from her mouth, but she was glad she had made the effort when she noticed both LeStrange's and the Malfoy's shoulders relax infinitesimally. She was starting to be able to read these Pureblood men.

"You're quite right, my lady. The dueling club was banned a year after I left school I believe," Lucius explained. "It was part of the administration's and the Board of Governor's…cleansing of the curriculum."

Hermione frowned. "I'm not sure I understand, Lord Malfoy." She wished Severus would come back so he could refute any of Malfoy's lies before she delved too deep into this story.

Malfoy took a sip of his fresh glass of fire whiskey, relishing the distrust he saw in the young girl's eyes. There was no need for him to twist or distort the facts of this story – it would be good for the young people at the table to know the true history behind their mentor's rise to the Headmaster's chair. "Yes, unfortunately there had been some problems with students from the older families using family magic on other students – "

"Purebloods were torturing muggleborns you mean," Oliver Wood cut in.

Lucius shrugged. "Not me or any of my cohorts but some of the…rowdier students." He'd found the whole thing distasteful, there was no need to flaunt their power over the mudbloods, it just brought trouble down on everyone. "The then-Professor Dumbledore," he flashed a smile at the starts of surprise, "started a campaign to remove the older magical teachings from the school in order to 'protect' students. The dueling club, which many of the older families supported, was among the first to go." He remembered his father's rants as they read the new curriculum offerings, so watered down it would be a wonder if the new students learned anything at Hogwarts.

"My apologies for my absence." Severus swept back to his place beside Hermione, gratefully accepting a glass of fire whiskey from an elf and wondering what had put that pensive look in his charge's eyes.

"We were just discussing the change in curriculum during your tenure at Hogwarts, Severus," Lucius cheerfully informed him. "You would have been in your second or third year by then?"

Ah, that's what had Hermione so upset. She loved learning, felt knowledge should be accessible to everyone, and if Dumbledore had stripped the curriculum, under whatever guise…

She turned to him, clearly looking for a denial of Lucius's charge. "It was my third year," he replied, taking a large swallow of the amber liquid. As Lucius rattled on about how many subjects had been cut and the instituting of the forbidden portion of the library, both Severus and Theo Nott watched the wheels turning in Hermione's head.

"What would you have done instead, Lord Malfoy?"

Lucius coughed, surprised. He sat up and reached for his napkin, buying time. "I beg your pardon, Lady Granger?"

Hermione's face was thoughtful, clearly concerned at this revelation of her former school, but she also wanted to know how the Pureblood's would have solved the problem (if they even saw it as one). Maybe she would gain a bit more insight into their closed knit society? "Well," she began, choosing her words carefully. "The teachers clearly couldn't continue to have students using magic on one another, especially older family magic that might not have a counter-spell." She saw several nods from her suitors, including several Slytherins, and felt emboldened. "I assume they would have disciplined the students individually, written to their families?" She waited for Lucius to confirm before continuing, "But it was clearly not enough. You obviously don't agree with the course of action that was taken," she paused before saying the traitorous

thought, "neither do I honestly."

That was clearly not what she was expected to say. Lucius Malfoy's mask of patronizing sneer dropped for a moment and his son stared at her agog. She felt Severus's approval as he placed several macaroons on her plate from the tray Emmy was carrying around the table. "So…what would have been your solution, my Lord?"

Lucius Malfoy stared at the woman in front of him, a strange mixture of offense and appreciation blazing through him. The liberals often forgot, it had not been pure hatred and bigotry that started the Wars. It was the trampling of rights and mockery of the traditions that had built his family and many others like it. His father had written to the school and spoken out at Wizengamot meetings when the curriculum specifically banned the use of House knowledge and magic, but he had been shut down. Now, here was this woman, this muggle-born witch, who wished to have an honest discussion on how it all could have been prevented. "I would have gone to the families directly, told them if they couldn't control their children they would be expelled."

"Clearly this was done, my Lord," Hermione pointed out. "In the letters home, and I'm sure they did expel one or two students?"

Lucius grudgingly agreed they had; Bartholomew Parkinson and his young cousin had been dismissed from school for the entire year.

"And children," Hermione stressed the word, "were still being hurt. In a place that is supposed to be safe."

"Perhaps it was where the message was coming from?" Rupert LeStrange added softly.

"Really it was Dumbledore's approach to the while thing," Lucius admitted. "He issued ultimatums and resorted to manipulation and tricks."

"Sounds like a Slytherin," Ernie MacMillan joked. The Gryffindor men at the table glared at him but he ignored them. He'd no idea any of this happened either and he wasn't as fanatically loyal to the old Headmaster as many of his peers. The man clearly played favorites.

"What would you do, Lady Granger?" Theo asked. He'd known of the changes made at Hogwarts; his father had been sure to give him all the old books on magic that were no longer taught so he would have a complete education.

"I'm not sure," Hermione replied, nibbling on a macaroon and unknowingly distracting several of the men from her answer. "The idea of knowledge being hidden away or only given to a select few is abhorrent to me. I think I would have gone to the families and asked them to make their knowledge public. Wouldn't it be better for everyone to have access than no one?" She unintentionally turned to Lucius Malfoy as she asked the question, but she supposed he would be the best to answer. She had thought her solution a good compromise, but his disgusted frown told her otherwise. "And why should the noble families be forced to give up family secrets to just any riff-raff? Because its fair?" Hermione hesitated. Clearly yes would not be a suitable answer. Assistance came from a surprising corner.

"Knowledge is just as valuable as gold in our circle, Lady Granger," Fred Weasley explained. "In the Middle ages, Spell Casters, those who had the power to invent new spells were revered in society and they didn't just give out knowledge of their spells."

"If you're good at something, never do it for free," Severus murmured.

"Just so," Fred nodded at his old potions' professor. "It took Mother months to give Fleur the spell that got dirt out of Bill's shirts. Just because she wanted Bill to come back and ask her to do it."

"But how much better would our world be if we shared knowledge instead of hoarded secrets?" She insisted. "If Hogwarts had offered magic protocol classes and taught wizarding politics I wonder if I would have offended half so many people with my ignorance." She glanced at Draco. "The first time I was called 'mudblood' I didn't even know what it meant…" The silver haired young man glanced away, another memory he didn't wish to revisit tonight.

"It's difficult for an old society that has survived by keeping secrets to be open, even with one another, I think," Amon Shafiq commented.

There were nods and murmurs of agreement and Hermione supposed she could have let that be the final word in the discussion.

But…

She shook her head and stood, dropping her napkin onto her empty plate. She was tired, tired of the secrets, and the lies, and manipulation, and the one up-manship, and the thought that blood and family name mattered more than kindness and honesty. Even Dumbledore, a man she had not viewed with the rose-colored lenses of youth for some time, had contributed to this concealment of knowledge. The men rose with her, sensing an end to the evening. Hermione stared around the table, her eyes growing sadder as she saw the power and wealth and influence around her table and how it had all been wasted…

"You are all the heirs to your House, you are the dreams of your ancestors, you are supposed to be the pillars of strength in our society. You are supposed to help make us better and instead you have clung to this-this fear that by making others strong you make yourselves weak." She shook her head again before raising it and looking Lord Lucius Malfoy in the eye. "I thank you, Lord Malfoy, I learned something new tonight and I consider that knowledge priceless."

She curtsied and left, knowing Severus would show everyone out properly. She rubbed her scarred arm and not for the first time wondered if things could ever be different.