Tradition

3/10/96
Waking up in the griffindor dorm had never felt so awkward and for the first time in six years the red and golden room didn’t feel like home. News of Hermione’s fall from grace had spread like wildfire and not one of the girls in the dorm even deigned to speak to her; the closer to interaction she experienced was Lavender smirking at her when Ron was brought up in conversation between her and Parvati. How had she spent six years with these girls and never realised how two faced and fake they were?
It was with that thought that she began to make her way down to the great hall for breakfast, taking up her new seat at the slytherin table. The others hadn’t arrived yet but that didn’t bother her since the calm of the slytherin table now felt more welcoming that the chaos and noise of the griffindor table ever did. It wasn’t long before everyone else arrived but it was more than long enough for the whispered taunts and declarations of betrayal at Hermione’s new seat to reach her ears. This really was a life sentence. She’d never recover from this, not because those people jeering wouldn’t forgive her. No, she would never forgive them.
“You good? You look like you’re ready to set the Griffindor table alight” Astoria started
“Ooh when we doing that? Sounds right up my street,” Millicent continued
And like that Hermione’s anger dissipated, she wasn’t alone and she wouldn’t be as long as she had them, “I’m thinking tomorrow maybe”
Laughter ensued from the girls and much to Hermione’s surprise even Pansy seemed to be hiding a smirk. Wait, when did Pansy start sitting with the group again? She’d seemed to refuse to when Hermione had sat there before but it wasn’t as if she could ask, that’d be rude and it would be bad to lose the only friends she’s got over a stupid rivalry with Parkinson.

Hermione had never hated the timetable as much as she did now, she only had four lessons with slytherin house; something in the past she had celebrated but now it made her want to cry. Herbology with the hufflepuffs should’ve been fine, if the hufflepuffs weren’t insanely loyal towards ‘light magic’ and thus towards the boy who lived and definitely not the traitor who now sits with the slytherins. Never again could she think of them as the ‘kind’ house, when they’d whispered as many obscenities towards her as her housemates; when one of them sent a small but very noticeable jinx her way. It was becoming very obvious to Hermione that for a lot of students at Hogwarts the trait that put them into their house was often their best trait but could also, in the right circumstance, be their worst as well.
Charms with the ravenclaws was only marginally better since they just ignored her entirely. She could hear some of them whispering about it and making predictions but the general consensus seemed to be that the smartest thing to do would be to not get themselves involved. Suddenly it made sense to Hermione why she wasn’t a ravenclaw- something she’d often wondered and often been asked- she couldn’t just step back and let someone suffer because it was the smartest thing to do. This chivalry was both a gift and a curse but Hermione could only really see the curse side being shown on the side of her housemates; though the chivalry was most definitely not aimed at her.
Throughout the day, Ron and Harry. No scratch that, Weasel and Potter had been coddled by her housemates who were obviously ‘sorry for their loss’ and simultaneously supported in their shunning of Hermione who had quickly found herself to be the least popular person in the whole house.
Finally, potions rolled around, the first lesson she’d have with the slytherins. It was of no surprise to anyone when Hermione upped and moved from her assigned seat to sit with her new friends; what was a surprise was that Snape let her do so. He’d been harsh towards in the past to say the least but now it seemed he was turning over a new leaf- she’d later think on it and realise that he just liked to see the pain and confusion it put onto Potters face that she was now also receiving special treatment and he still wasn’t.
The lesson itself was the best she’d had in a while, she sat by Milly and discovered that she and the girl had more in common than it would seem. They both like cats (a shudder went through Hermione at the thought) but more importantly they were willing to fight the world itself for those they loved. By the end of the lesson Hermione was grinning ear to ear, she was already friendsish with Astoria but now she also had Milly definitely on her side.
The rest of the day was a blur, with good slytherins and bad hufflepuffs occupying Hermione’s head. She sat with Jodie in Hostpry of magic and learned that Jodie only started celebrating the old traditions when she started dating Milly- something Hermione was surprised she hadn’t picked up on- and that was why she forgot about Mabon.
“Why didn’t you follow tradition before if all your friends did?”
“They always tried to get me to but didn’t push too much in case it offended me. I didn’t want to because I thought no one there would want me to be there since I’m muggleborn and all,”
“And do they? Care I mean”
“Nah not really, the only people who really care are some of the parents- like Draco’s. I don’t even think he cares all that much about blood purity so he just does enough to ensure his parents don’t give him shit for having his own opinions.”
“Oh.”
“Plus I think Milly would separate his head from his spine if he said anything about it.”
“yeah that probably is quite helpful. You’re lucky you know to have someone who cares about you that much.”
“I know but the girls and I would band together to defend you too you know, you don’t need a super strong girlfriend to be defended, just friends.”
This filled Hermione up with feelings of joy and security, she had people now that actually cared about what she wanted. Instead of her friendship with the boys, which quite frankly looking back on it now mostly consisted of them using her for her knowledge. It was rare that they’d ask her how she was doing and they always just assumed that any problems she had were minor and they’d never offer to help. That, she realised, wasn’t friendship. It never was.