Chapter 5
"Well, there are four to each room and no one wanted to come and share with you three and, since there were nine of us so one of us would have to share with you, they all kinda just told me I'd have to. Davis and Bulstrode wanted to share and so did Greengrass and Parkinson so that I get but the boys... Malfoy's mom and my mom are best friends so I expected him to... Davis and Bulstrode are Half-Bloods and yet he didn't... It's because of my mom's reputation. She's had seven husbands and they all died so they think that she killed them and I'm just like her. Malfoy and the others always treated me fine because of my mom's friendship with Malfoy's mom but when forced to choose between making one of the Half-Bloods move or me... Shows their loyalty huh?" Blaise said with another scoff.
"Why are you telling us this?" Harry asked. "Not that I have a problem with it, of course."
"Because he knows," I said and Blaise smirked at me. I smirked back and chuckled after realising that Ron and Harry didn't know what I meant. "He knows who we really are."
"How?" Ron asked in disbelief.
"Those who looked closely at you three during your Sorting would've realised that you all seemed mad at some point but then happy and smug when Sorted into Slytherin. Add in half a brain and you'd know the only reason you'd be mad during the Sorting but happy when Sorted to Slytherin is if the hat suggested Gryffindor given the rivalry between the two Houses. If you wanted to be Slytherins, a House considered to be evil, full of dark magic and where loads of prejudice resides, and not Gryffindor where those who hate the aforementioned are placed, that means you most likely agree with said prejudice. Very rarely is someone who has no prejudice towards those with unclean blood Sorted into Slytherin."
"Seems a bit of a stretch but since you're right, okay," Harry said and Ron nodded.
"So why is the Boy-Who-Lived, a Weasley and a Mudblood okay with prejudice against Muggles and Mudbloods and Half-Breeds and Blood Traitors when they are all of those or their Parents are?" Blaise asked. Harry explained his living situation with the Dursleys causing Ron and I to get mad. Surprisingly, Blaise was too. Then, Ron explained that he hated how his Parents treated him as an afterthought and how his dad cared more about his research into Muggles than him since his dad spent time with every one of his kids before Hogwarts but hardly any time with him so he came to resent Muggles and those who come from or agree with them but had to learn to hide it because of his Parents and siblings. Blaise was the most shocked, however, by my parentage as The Dark Lord's Heir, the child of Lyra Black and the niece of Sirius Black. He laughed after, though.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked.
"Malfoy and the others think you're a Mudblood since you said you're Muggle-Raised and yet you're Purer than they are," Blaise said and we all laughed. We stood up from the seats we'd sat down in at some point during the conversation. Harry and Ron's seats were at a small table and mine and Blaise's seats were at another small table. I pushed the two small tables together with the boys' help and tucked in the chairs. The two tables immediately merged into one table slightly bigger than the two tables combined were. We moved our trunks from the middle of the room to in front of the beds and started to unpack them. I had the one closest to the door with Harry next to me, Ron next to him and Blaise on the other end. I spotted an elegant, black bird perch with a huge, partially filled bookshelf, like those seen in the smaller libraries, next to it. I immediately set to work taking the books off the shelves and taking out the books we had in our trunks, putting them into piles and organising them carefully. I put each of our books in seperate piles while organising them to make sure we knew whose was whose.
"Blaise? Want a game?" Ron asked after placing his set of Wizarding Chess on one of the tables, slumping down on the armchair he'd sat on earlier surrounded by the sweets left from the train ride. Blaise nodded and sat back down in his previous chair, the one opposite Ron and next to the wall. Harry, on the other hand, continued unpacking, while absentmindedly passing books to my outstretched hand. I noticed that he didn't bother with Dudley's old castoffs, but did unpack his school robes along with the three additional ones he had bought and mine, Ron and Blaise's clothes. I looked over and saw that he'd hung our winter cloaks and one of each of our robes while folding and placing the rest of our robes, our shirts, trousers, jeans and t-shirts on the shelf underneath the bars with the hangers and our undergarments in one of the compartments.
"Harry, I can't believe you just put away all our underwear without a second's hesitation," I said and I noticed Blaise and Ron blushing.
"Well, I have to do and put away the laundry at the Dursleys so I don't really register it anymore," Harry said, sheepishly. I looked at the bird perch again and suddenly stood up before quickly leaving to get Hedwig before coming back with her on my arm. Before the three could ask, I said, "It would be beneficial to have an owl around, in case we need to send letters at a moment's notice without detection."
"Makes sense," Ron said, grinning, the three of them returning to what they were doing as Hedwig flew over to the bird perch and rested on it regally. I sighed and sat down.
"Blaise? Ron has a rat and Harry has an owl," I said. "Do you have a pet?"
"No, my mom said I can get one next year though," Blaise said with a frown. "She wanted me to focus on making connections for my first year instead of focusing on an animal. I get it but most have a pet, you know?"
"Yeah. I don't have one either. I looked in the Magical Menagerie and Eeylops Owl Emporium but I didn't find a pet I wanted."
"Well, we have shocked everyone by becoming the Boy-Who-Lived, a Weasley and a Muggle-Raised Witch who were sorted into Slytherin. Now what?" Ron asked.
"Well, now we concentrate on being the toppers in academics and being hailed as geniuses," I instructed.
"How're we gonna do that? Attach an extra brain? Study every living breathing minute, not having any time for ourselves?" Ron snapped.
"By studying and practising magic every single free moment we have in first and second year, not just first year material, but the entire Hogwarts syllabus. Then, all we'll need to do is review what we know and do the homework, which will be tons easier. We won't even need to heavily study for the exams for at least three years that way and only brush up on what we already know."
"I mean, all we'll need to do is sacrifice two years of our lives and then we have more free time in the upcoming years," Harry calmly stated, interrupting the potential argument.
"Sounds fair, I guess," Ron grumbled.
"What next then?" Blaise asked me.
"Well, from third year onwards we fully indulge in any extra talents we have and master it. Like Quidditch, chess, singing, dancing, etc and become popular, we should also begin to think about career choices, and all the while, being pleasant and helpful towards people who need us, find more like-minded individuals, and trying to stay off Dumbledore's radar as much as possible," I explained.
"That sounds good, anything else you've planned?" Ron asked.
"Inheritance and Heritage Tests for each of us at Gringotts. Personally, I really want to know if the rumours of the Potters being descended from Godric Gryffindor are true and I know my Father is a Slytherin descendant. It'll give us Seats in the Wizengamot and ensure Dumbledore, since he has the Hogwarts House Seats under his control as Headmaster since there are no claimed Heirs, has less power in law-making decisions."
"Fine, fine, I get the point," Ron petulantly said, scowling.
"Right, so, are any of you feeling sleepy yet?" Harry asked. When they shook their heads, he clapped his hands together and grinned.
"So, how 'bout we get started on our textbooks and if we finish with them, we can move on to these extra ones?" Harry asked.
"Sounds good," Ron and Blaise simultaneously shrugged.
"Sure," I said.
"Great," Harry smirked. I know that our plans were big, far-fetched and grand but I also know we can accomplish them if we work hard enough. I know it. We kept studying and practising magic till two thirty in the morning, which was about 5 and a half hours, till sleep overtook first Ron, then Blaise and then me. Harry was still awake when I fell asleep. While Blaise and I did our best to understand the theory and its appliance in the practical usage of magic, Harry and Ron clearly enjoyed the practical part a lot more. Finally, it was morning and the first day of classes. When I woke up, only Blaise was still asleep.
"Uh-huh. We could do so many things. The whole world would be at our disposal," Harry sighed, a glazed look in his enchanting emerald eyes.
"What are you two talking about?" I inquired.
"Oh, hey, Hermione," the two simultaneously greeted.
"Hello to you too, now would you mind telling me what you're up to?" I demanded, tapping my foot impatiently.
"Well..." Harry dragged out, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes and then, he disappeared once more though he reappeared in just a few seconds," he grinned mischievously when I let out a gasp of shock.
"Harry! That was amazing!" I exclaimed breathlessly, my bright green eyes glimmering with awe.
"Thanks! The process is not that hard. You just have to concentrate on hiding in plain sight and voila. The problem is that it takes a lot of energy out of you."
"Ooh, let me try," I excitedly said before I closed my eyes and after a while, I vanished. After around half an hour, during which Blaise woke up and Harry and Ron told him what we were doing, I burst into existence once more, slightly tired but with a manic glint in my eyes and a smile on my face. "Your turn, Blaise." Within a minute, Blaise disappeared. Five minutes later, he reappeared, clearly exhausted but satisfied.
"You try it now, Ron. Come on, try it," Blaise egged on, bouncing eagerly.
"Alright," Ron took a deep breath in and flickered between visible and invisible for about a minute, before truly vanishing. It appeared as though Ron made up for his previous inability to vanish with the duration to which he could hold the transformation without getting tired, for it was after a good half an hour before he reappeared in front of them, and he still looked less tired than both Blaise and Harry had after holding their invisibility for five minutes but more tired than I had at half an hour.
"There's still about three hours before lessons start, we should keep practising," I stated, causing the boys to sigh but nod.
Today's timetable consisted of:
10:30 to 11:30 - History of Magic (with Ravenclaw)
11:40 to 12:40 - Charms (with Ravenclaw)
1:10 to 2:10 - Herbology (with Ravenclaw)
2:20 to 3:20 - Potions (with Gryffindor)
"No classes with Hufflepuff," I said and Ron told us about what the hat said about Neville and his family. "Well, that's... Interesting."