Chapter 4
"So, Hermione, Draco's been telling us about a theory you came up with," the cute girl I talked to before the Sorting, Pansy Parkinson, said. "Can you tell us more about that?" Harry, Ron, Draco, Theo, a few upper years who heard Pansy and those who were interested in my earlier declaration, as well as Pansy, which were Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode, all started paying attention to the conversation.
"Oh, yeah, sure," I said. "Okay, so currently those with Pure Blood are considered at the top with those who are from Muggle parents are at the bottom. However, personally, I don't think it's right. It's not even because my parents are Muggles, either. I personally believe those who are magically powerful should be at the top and those who aren't should be at the bottom. I mean, think about it. Those who are more powerful are capable of doing more in the Wizarding World than those who aren't. The more powerful you are, the higher O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. grades you get, therefore, the better jobs you can get. Besides, not all those who are powerful are Pureblood, Dumbledore's Half-Blood and even those who don't like him have to admit he's powerful and Harry's The Boy-Who-Lived and he's a Half-Blood... Although, on that case, I don't think it should count."
"Why not?" Theo asked.
"Do you really think if Dumbledore couldn't defeat You-Know-Who that Harry, a barely one-year-old baby who couldn't even talk, could? My guess is his Mother did something to protect him. Probably some sort of Olde Magick. A mother's love for her child is a very powerful thing. And even then, Lily was a Muggleborn," I responded. "Sure, going by power, most at the top would be Pureblood with a few Half-Bloods and Muggleborns and those at the bottom would be mainly Mudbloods and Half-Breeds with a few Blood Traitors but still. It's a much more productive way of life." Draco told the others about how I categorise Normbloods, Purebloods, Blood Traitors, Half-Bloods, Half-Breeds, Muggleborns and Mudbloods and that he'd decided to give the Muggleborn/Mudblood part a try until he sees how my theory pans out.
"That's... Interesting," Daphne Greengrass said. The upper years who were listening in on the conversation quickly started whispering to those who weren't and, within a few minutes, everyone on the Sytherin table had heard about my theory.
"I've been trying to work on a way of proving my theory but, beyond actually being magically powerful myself and having a few others that don't have Pure Blood being magically powerful, I'm not really getting anywhere. I was thinking a Spell, Potion or some combination of the two... Once more people believe in my theory, though, I can get some outside input and it'll help."
"You're trying to come up with your own Spell, Potion or both!?" An upper year snorted in disbelief. "It's clear why you were Sorted into Slytherin despite being a Mud- Muggleborn. You're clearly very ambitious. Seventh years have trouble with creating their own variations of Potions, let alone a whole Potion of their own making, that's why it's not a class, of course there are some exceptions. Professor Snape is said to have came up with many improved versions of Potions in his time at Hogwarts and he created three Spells of his own during his time here... Though no one knows what they are... I'm Lucian Bole, fourth year, Slytherin Beater, by the way."
"Hi. I'm Hermione Granger. What you just said also futhers my theory as Professor Snape is a Half-Blood," I said.
"Is Professor Snape the one next to Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked as he winced in pain while facing two teachers. One had on a purple turban and the other was in black robes, listening to the guy in the turban and staring at Harry.
"Yes," Lucian said before telling us who all the teachers are and what they teach.
"What's a Beater?" Harry asked Lucian.
"Beater is one of four positions in a Quidditch Team." Seeing the look of confusion on Harry's face, Lucian explained further. "Quidditch is the largest sport in the Wizarding World. There are four positions and three types of ball. It's played in the air on brooms. There are three hoops on either side. There are three Chasers and their job is to score points by getting the Quaffle through one of the hoops. If the Quaffle goes through a hoop, the Chaser scores ten points for their Team. A Keeper's job is to protect the hoops and stop the Chasers from scoring. A Bludger is a ball that tries to attack players to ingure them or knock them off of their brooms. There are two Bludgers in the game and two Beaters with Beater bats trying to hit the Bludgers away from their Team members and towards the members of the opposite Team. The last ball is the Golden Snitch. It's a small, golden ball with wings that moved super fast and is almost impossible to see. The Seeker's job is to catch the Snitch before the Seeker on the other Team does. The game won't end until the Snitch is caught. The Seeker who catches the Snitch wins 150 points for their Team. Of course, if the other Team is over 150 points up, the Seeker will catch the Snitch, end the game and earn 150 points, but their Team won't win as the Team with the highest number of points at the end of the game wins. The longest ever recorded Quidditch game was 3 months long. The Teams had to keep substituting in players so the players could rest."
"Three months!?" Harry exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah," Lucian said. "Unfortunately for us, our other Beater and last Captain, Dinah Johnson, graduated over the summer so now we have to replace her. Luckily, though, Charlie Weasley also graduated as he was Captain and Seeker of the Gryffindor Team. He caught the Snitch in 70% of our games and was the reason we lost a few games against Gryffindor. Their new Captain, Oliver Wood, is a great Keeper so Marcus is a little worried but, if we can get a good player to replace Dinah, there'll be no reason to panic. Dinah's younger sister, Angelina, is actually a 3rd year Chaser on the Gryffindor Team."
"Marcus?" I asked.
"Marcus Flint, Captain and Chaser of the Slytherin Quidditch Team," he responded.
"Can first years tryout for the Slytherin Team?" Harry asked.
"First years can tryout but, as you're not allowed your own brooms, you'll have to tryout on the school ones. But there hasn't been a first year on a Quidditch Team at Hogwarts for over a century."
"Harry, neither of us have even flown before!" I pointed out to him. "I will admit it, though... It does sound like fun. Let's see how our first Flying lesson goes and then talk about the Slytherin Team, okay?"
"Good idea," Lucian said. "The tryouts are the morning after your first lesson at 11 A.M. on the Quidditch Pitch. If you're even a minute late, Marcus won't let you tryout." Just as Harry was about to say something, a bunch of ghosts appeared.
...
Harry, Ron and I followed Gemma Farley and Marcus, the Slytherin 5th year Prefects, as the other Slytherin first years followed behind us with the Slytherin 6th year Prefects, Adrian Pucey (Chaser) and Miles Bletchley (Keeper), on the sides and the 7th year Slytherin Prefects, Terence Higgs (Seeker) and Teddy Taylor, at the back. Apparently, some of the older years in the other Houses like to Hex and curse the Slytherin first years after the feast so all the Slytherin Prefects are needed to protect us.
"It's not a new thing, Pet," Bella said. "They had that tradition when Andy, Cissy and I were all in our first years too. It became a tradition for the Slytherin first years to plan an attack of revenge as well but that stopped after Regulus' first year as he went a little too far."
"What did he do?" I asked Bella.
"He dyed all of the Gryffindors' robes a really bright pink, the Hufflepuffs' robes all had dungbombs go off in their pockets, the Ravenclaws' skin was dyed a bright orange and, to not raise suspicion that it was a Slytherin's prank, while not embarrassing the Slytherins too much, all of the Slytherins' hair were dyed blonde."
"Holy shit, that's awesome! I'm totally bringing that tradition back... Do you think Draco knows about it?"
"Oh, definitely! Cissy was really proud of her pranks. She used her Legilimency during the attack to find out who was doing them and some of their secrets and immediately spread their most embarrassing ones around the school! Andy's one was kind of tame as she wasn't as cruel as Cissy and I were as first years. She persuaded the House Elves to leave dirty socks hidden in the Common Rooms of the other Houses to smell them out. Mine was... I sent Howlers to everyone responsible for the attacks at breakfast over the following few weeks using a Voice-Changing Spell to sound like their parents saying the most embarrassing things for them to yell at them in front of the whole school."
"Bella."
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"Aw! Thanks, Pet. I love you too."
As expected, once we hit the last few stairs before the dungeons, we were attacked. The 6th and 7th year Prefects fought back as the 5th year Prefects used Shield Charms to protect us while yelling for us to run down the corridor until the attackers couldn't see us anymore. As the other first years ran, Harry, Ron and I stayed back. Ron used his Aura Sense on the attackers while I used Legilimency to find out who they were Harry kept an eye out for any stray Spells coming our way and pulled us out of the way when one might hit us. I saw the other Slytherin first years peeking just around the corner to try to figure out what we were doing. "I've got everyone. Ron?"
"Yeah, let's go," he said. The three of us quickly ran over to the other Slytherin first years and the Prefects slowly walked backwards over to us as they continued to fire Spells at the attackers and Shield themselves. Once all six of them had safely made it around the corner, they showed us the rest of the way to the Common Room. The password had to be said at a blank wall only two corridors down from the Potions classroom and Professor Snape's office. Once everyone was in the Common Room and the entrance shut again, the Prefects turned on me, Harry and Ron.
"What were you three doing!?" Teddy yelled at us. She and the others seemed really mad.
"You could've gotten hurt," Miles said as she sounded a little out of breath.
"Harry wouldn't've let that happen," I confidently said. "He's got great instincts and spotted the Spells coming before anyone else did and managed to figure out their trajectory fast enough to move us out of the way. Besides, I wanted to know who was attacking us so I can make them pay," I said as my voice took on a dangerous edge to it and I know a small fire is blazing in my eyes right now as that always happens when I get angry. "We may not've been able to see them but I have a very high sensitivity to magic. I can tell when I encounter someone's magic when I encounter it again. Now, whenever I come across their magic again, I'll know it's them. Also, I'm a Natural Legilimens. I heard their thoughts. I know who they are. Ron has Aura Sense so he'll be able to tell when we come across them again too."
"Wait, what?" Marcus asked.
"That's not possible," Miles said.