Chapter Image by me: PhoenixFlames @ TDA
Rule Breaker
Chapter 4- Slytherins
Hermione wandered back towards the Heads’ Dorms deep in thought. On the third floor she ran into Theo and they walked back to their dormitory together in silence.
“So, did you find anyone?” Theo asked as they approached Sam’s portrait.
“Yeah,” Hermione muttered, “I did.”
“Blue Moon,” Theo said to the portrait and led the way into the common room. “
Who?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Draco Malfoy,” Hermione replied, still shaken.
Theo’s eyes widened then abruptly narrowed. Hermione began to pace in front of the fire as Theo took a seat on the couch.
“Do you know if he was the one that broke that vase?”
“I have no idea, but I didn’t give him detention,” Hermione confessed. “He sort of threatened me if I did.”
“He
threatened you?” Theo asked, eyes widening once more.
“Yeah, he did. He said that I wouldn’t put him in detention unless I wanted something bad to happen…”
“That little scum,” Theo growled. “I’m going to haunt his footsteps until I catch him for something and get him expelled for it.”
“That’s not a good idea, Theo,” Hermione warned. “He’s a Death Eater...he's dangerous.”
Theo laughed harshly then paused, looking thoughtful.
“Hermione,” he began reluctantly, “do you know who my parents are?”
Hermione shook her head.
“They’re Death Eaters,” the Head Boy informed bluntly. Hermione’s eyes grew wide and she took a step back from him, her thoughts whirling.
“What?” she asked, shocked at his sudden admission, her voice unsteady as her eyes darted around for an escape route.
“My father is, at least,” Theo corrected himself. “Point is: I’ve learned things; I know how to take care of myself.”
“You’re a Death Eater?” Hermione whispered. "Why would Professor McGonagall make a Death Eater the Head Boy?"
“Don’t be ridiculous. I'm not a Death Eater. I’m seventeen years old. No one but Malfoy has ever been let in that young.”
Hermione was still backing away slowly, her hand gripping the wand in her robe pocket.
“You’re going to become a Death Eater though…you just about said so.”
“Well…that’s the plan," Theo said honestly, shrugging. "Father wants me to follow in his footsteps and all. Though I’m not so sure. I’ve never really agreed with most of what the Death Eaters believe in and I don’t really like absolute authority…” Theo pondered matter-of-factly. He looked thoughtful, obviously oblivious to Hermione’s distress.
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked quietly, finally halting in her retreat to stare at him.
“Why not?” he responded, shrugging his shoulders. “You know that Malfoy’s a Death Eater, why shouldn’t you know what my prospective future is?”
“I could go to Professor McGonagall,” Hermione threatened, swallowing hard. “I could tell her who your dad is.”
“You wouldn’t do that, Hermione. I know you wouldn’t. Any way you look at it, you’re too afraid to take a stand against this new world we live in. I’m not trying to be mean, I’m just saying…”
Hermione glared for a long time at the boy in front of her as he lounged on the couch. Finally, she spoke:
“Fine. I won’t tell. It’s not because I’m scared though; it’s because I think I still have a chance to change your mind about your future,” she responded, advancing towards him and taking a seat on the floor, looking up into his cool blue-gray eyes.
“Whatever you say, Granger,” Theo joked, meeting her gaze without hesitation. Hermione glared at him again, but there was a playful glint in her eyes.
“I thought I told you not to use my surname, Theodore.”
“You did, Granger, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t use it to tease you.”
Hermione grinned. The tense moment was shattered and the two Heads sat laughing for a while. Finally, Hermione stood and stretched.
“Bed time,” she announced, heading towards her room.
“See you in the morning, Hermione,” Theo called from the couch, not standing to turn-in.
“You too,” Hermione replied, closing her bedroom door behind her.
He has a Death Eater for a father… Hermione thought as she undressed.
I can change his mind though. He isn’t a bad person…I can save him.
She crawled under the covers of her four-poster and lay back against the pillows. In a moment, she was asleep.
“Wake up, Hermione!” Theo called from the common room the next morning. “Garrett wants to meet you before breakfast!”
Hermione rolled out of bed.
“Your best friend, Garrett?” she called back as she headed for the door to the bathroom she shared with Theo.
“One and the same!”
“I’ll be out soon!” Hermione called back before she got into the shower.
Fifteen minutes later, Hermione ran into the common room in full uniform and ready for her first day of lessons. She was tying back her hair when Theo spoke again.
“Took you long enough,” he laughed, standing from the couch. “This is Garrett.”
He indicated a tall boy that Hermione hadn’t noticed by the bookcase. Rather than shake his hand or introduce herself, Hermione gawked. She had never seen anyone as
gorgeous as this boy in her life. He was taller even than Theo and had green eyes offset by his wavy blonde hair.
How could she have never noticed him before?
Theo hid a smirk.
“Garrett, this is Hermione Granger.”
Finally, Hermione snapped out of her daze enough to smile and wave from across the room.
“Walk to breakfast with us?” Theo asked.
Hermione nodded shyly and fell in step with him as they left the Heads’ Dorms. The three walked in silence for the journey to the staircase, but then Garrett finally spoke.
“So, Hermione…Theo tells me you had a run-in with Malfoy last night…”
Hermione turned to him and nodded, shrugging.
“It was nothing serious…he just thinks he owns the school,” she explained, blushing a bit and trying to sound nonchalant.
Theo shook his head.
“If you ever want to help teach him a lesson, I’m up for it, Garrett,” he told his best friend. "He's been asking for it since first year."
Now it was Hermione’s turn to shake her head.
“That’s not a good idea, guys. I told you that last night, Theo.”
Garrett waggled his eyebrows at the Head Boy who snorted and shoved him.
“Not like
that, man,” he groaned. “I just met her!”
Hermione caught on to what they were joking about and blushed scarlet. Theo and Garrett continued their banter until they reached the entrance to the Great Hall where the three companions stopped.
“Until later,” Garrett said, giving a mock salute and grinning before heading for the Slytherin table.
“See you,” Theo said, clapping Hermione on the back and following his friend.
Hermione headed to the Gryffindor table alone, her mind still on Garrett’s gleaming smile.
“Hey there!” Harry greeted as Hermione joined her housemates.
Hermione smiled at him and helped herself to some bacon, looking around for Ron and Ginny.
“Where are the others?” she asked after a few minutes of fruitless searching.
“Well…Ron’s having a lie-in, isn’t he?” Harry explained, rolling his eyes. “And Ginny’s at the Ravenclaw table saying hello to Luna…”
Hermione glanced to where he pointed and spotted Ginny’s infamous red hair at last.
“You really shouldn’t let Ron sleep in,” she scolded Harry after a moment. “He’ll get into bad habits.”
Harry laughed.
“You aren’t there to wake us up anymore, Hermione, sorry.”
Hermione smiled sadly.
“So how's the new dormitory?” Harry asked after a moment.
“It’s really nice!” Hermione said. “And Theo is turning out to be really great too.”
“Ooh laa laa!” Ginny exclaimed from behind her.
Hermione turned, smiling, to greet her friend.
“Good morning, Gin.”
“Good morning to you too,” Ginny said happily, sitting on the bench beside Harry who pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. “So who’s Theodore’s cute friend? I've seen him around, but I can't say I remember his name.”
Hermione blushed.
“That’s Garrett Crush,” she muttered, staring at her food with a slight smile on her face.
“I sense a
crush coming on,” Ginny sang. “No pun intended, of course.”
Hermione rolled her eyes.
“I just met him this morning!”
“Well, if I didn’t have boy-wonder here, I’d go after him,” Ginny joked, leaning her head onto Harry's shoulder.
“Cruel nickname…” he muttered, rolling his eyes but smiling slightly all-the-same.
“Oh, look who stumbled out of bed,” Hermione noticed, pointing to Ron who was headed their way, his tie hanging loosely around his neck.
“Morning, guys,” the redhead grumbled, throwing himself into a seat beside Hermione.
“You’re out here quite late, Ron,” Hermione lectured.
“Save it,” Ron groaned. “I’m too tired to listen right now.”
Hermione just sighed. Professor McGonagall had reached their end of the table and passed out their timetables briskly.
“Good luck this year,” she nodded before returning to the staff table.
Hermione glanced down at her schedule, smiling slightly.
“I’m off to Ancient Runes, everyone,” she said happily, shouldering her bag. “I’ll see you later.”
NEWT level Ancient Runes with everyone including the gorgeous Slytherins… she thought as she headed to the classroom.
I’ve never had this class with them before…
She took a seat at one of the tables in the front.
The tables were arranged in sets of two and each table seated two people. The Ancient Runes classroom was laid out in a way that multiple students would be able to converse during the class and compare results of translations. Professor Babbling also said that she couldn’t stand rows, which is why she had groups instead.
Hermione bounced excitedly in her seat, hoping that people would start arriving soon.
Ten minutes later, the professor arrived with a small group of students who dispersed themselves around the room. Hermione was left sitting alone.
She felt slightly disheartened and was preparing to move to a table with three other girls when the door opened again.
Theo’s clear laugh echoed in the hallway, but was a bit muffled by the time he actually entered the room with Garrett and a Slytherin girl that Hermione didn’t recognize.
“Over there,” Theo said, pointing to Hermione who blushed and looked away. The three Slytherins sat down around her and Hermione smiled when Garrett took the seat beside her.
“Hermione, this is Samantha Wright,” Theo said, indicating the girl across from Hermione.
They shook hands and smiled at one another.
“Nice to meet you,” Samantha said politely in a soft voice.
“You too,” Hermione replied.
Professor Babbling was standing at the front of the class now and they fell silent to listen to her speak.
“Well,” she began, smiling slightly, “welcome back to Ancient Runes! And welcome to your final year at Hogwarts!”
“Here, here!” someone said from the back of the room.
The professor smiled.
“I’m glad to see that so many of you have returned. Today we’ll be reviewing the things that we’ve learned in past years. I would like you all to turn to page twelve in your textbooks and decode the paragraph in hieroglyphics, please. Talk about your summers; I know that’s what you’ll do anyway,” she smiled. “You have half an hour.”
Hermione opened her textbook and began to translate the paragraph, listening to the Slytherins talk around her.
“And you’re sure it was him?” Theo asked tensely.
“I’m positive,” Samantha replied. “No one in the school has hair as blonde as that git’s.”
Hermione gave an involuntary shudder.
Malfoy… she thought.
They’re talking about Malfoy…
“Are you okay, Hermione?” Garrett asked suddenly, laying his hand on her arm briefly. Hermione smiled at him.
“Draco is one of the few people who bother me, to be honest,” she replied quietly.
Theo snorted.
“If you can call him a person.”
Samantha laughed quietly.
“Agreed,” she smirked.
Hermione just smiled and looked back at her book. Garrett seemed to think it was a good idea to start on the assignment because he finally opened his own textbook and began to read.
“So what was he doing out on the grounds before breakfast had even started?” Theo asked Samantha.
Hermione tried to ignore their conversation, but curiosity got the better of her.
“He was coming away from the greenhouses…maybe he was just taking a stroll?” There was doubt in her voice.
“Samantha…did you see if he was acting more strangely than usual?” Hermione asked as she joined the conversation, curious about Draco's actions as well.
Garrett’s quill paused on his paper as he listened.
“Please, Hermione, call me Sam or Sammie. I can’t stand my full name. And I didn’t see if he was acting differently…I left before he spotted me.”
Hermione looked thoughtful.
What’s Malfoy up to now
? she pondered.
“The slimy git…” Garrett growled under his breath.
Hermione grinned at him.
By the time Ancient Runes ended, Hermione and the Slytherins had become quite good friends.
Harry and Ron will never believe this… she thought as she waved goodbye to them.
Time for Transfiguration…
“Hey, guys,” Hermione greeted as she took the seat between Harry and Ron in McGonagall’s classroom. “Finally awake, Ron?”
Ron shrugged.
“Only if I have to be,” he responded, grinning.
“So how was NEWT Runes? And all the...Slytherins?” Harry asked, also grinning, but looking skeptical at the same time.
“You’ll never believe this…but some of them aren’t so bad at all,” Hermione explained.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances.
“They’re Slytherins,” Ron generalized.
“Well, yes…but Garrett, Sam, and Theo are great,” Hermione reasoned. “You’ll have to meet them. They’re amazing.”
Harry rolled his eyes.
“Tell us when you decide to switch Houses,” he joked.
Hermione glared.
“Ha ha. Very funny,” she said. “You’ll change your mind about them too when you meet them.”
“When pigs fly,” Ron replied, falling silent as Professor McGonagall entered the room.
Author's Note: So here's chapter four! :D How was it? Do you like the OCs? Let me know in a quick review!
Also: If you have additional questions that you would like answered, please feel free to go to my "Meet the Author" page on the forums. There's a link on my author's page!
(edited as of 5-13-12)
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