#bathsheda babbling

There had been houses at Y/N’s previous school, just like Hogwarts. The method for being placed into a house, however, was much different there. Back at his old school, it was simply a random placement, though it could be changed with enough pleading to the upper crust of staff.

All of this meant when Y/N discovered he would be put into a house chosen by a magical talking hat he was moderately confused, but even more intrigued. Even after spending some time within the school for the Triwizard Tournament, he had never heard of the hat. How the hat worked was a mystery to him, ‘Maybe it just picks one at random,’ was his initial thought, however, that theory was quickly dismissed upon watching how it seemed to debate with itself over a person's characteristics. ‘Maybe the professors feed it information from the student's past.

This theory was also quickly dismissed. While he had not heard of this hat he had heard of many students being surprised by their letter of invitation to the school, which meant they probably didn’t have to send in an application which would leave very little for the hat to be told.

“L/N Y/N.” His thought process was interrupted by the professor reading out names, McGonagall was her name if his memory served him right. Realizing she was calling his name because it was his turn to be sorted he quickly moved forward to sit on the stool planted in front of the professor, with the hat falling upon his head quickly after.

“Hmm, what’s this?” The hat spoke though Y/N could not tell if it was simply in his head or actually talking at this point. “A 5th year, you’re not part of my usual group.” Its words were dragged out, almost slurred as if it had drunk one too many butterbeers. “Well, there is certainly a mind filled with that knowledge.” The compliment to his intellect brought a small smirk to his face, though it fell shortly after hearing its next comments, “Not a brave bone in the body, and certainly less kind than smart.” While the hat was likely correct about both of those things it certainly wasn’t something that he wanted to be said straight to his face. “Hmm, but there’s more than intellect, there’s drive. Yes, I see, heaps of it.”

“That’s the 5th year who transferred isn’t it?” Ron whispered to his friends.

“Well, I don’t exactly see any other 5th years standing up there waiting to be sorted” Came Hermione’s response.

Since the train to Hogwart’s, there had been rumours of a 5th year transferring from another school to theirs. It was an easy rumour to dismiss initially, why would someone transfer so late into their learning? The rumour became harder to deny once they saw the student towering over the 1st years.

“SLYTHERIN!” Boomed the hat's final decision.

“That's gotta sting,” Ron once again whispered to his friends, who mostly gave him a look in response. He clarified, “Transferring schools just to end up being put in Slytherin, I know I wouldn’t want to be in that situation.

In actuality, Y/N felt none of the meaning that comes with being put into Slytherin, other than the fact he will now be wearing green robes. The infamy of the house was lost to the 5th year, back at his old school the houses meant nothing in reality due to their randomness, there were no stereotypes about them because there was nothing different between them.

Little did he know how much of a difference the house he had been forced into would make.

Luckily it did not take long at all for the upsides and downsides of which house he was placed in to show themselves. He quickly discovered that Slytherin was the most hated house, by all the others at least. It seemed as if all other Slytherins loved the house so much it didn’t even matter that everyone else hated them.

The benefits of this were that he could simply sit at a populated table in the library and it would immediately clear out. The detriments came during classes which required him to pair up with another student. During said classes, it usually ended the same if he was able to pick a partner and if he was not, in both cases no one was happy to be paired with him.

Overall he still had yet to make a decision on if he was happy to be in the house or not. What he had decided by this point however was that he did not like Draco Malfoy. Before joining Hogwarts He knew nothing about the Malfoy family, after one week it felt as if he knew more about Malfoys than his own family. Draco spoke of his family plenty of times, almost always going into how he was a pure-blood, an idea that Y/N had only half grasped by now.

The other students he had met so far seemed much more tolerable, but by his standards that wasn’t too much better. There were those in his own house like Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Pansy Parkinson, all of which were barely more tolerable than Draco simply because they let him do much more talking. It seemed in the end that Slytherin simply contained the most irritating people. There were certainly people in other houses that annoyed him but none to the degree of his own housemates.

It didn’t take much time for him to learn about the Golden trio, as they were mockingly called by Draco. Harry Potter, the boy who somehow made Voldemort disappear before he could even walk. Ronald Weasley, a redhead from a very large family, mostly seemed to have the personality trait of being Harry’s friend, at least from how everyone described him. Then there was Hermione Granger, a mudblood as Draco called her. She was the one who interested Y/N the most out of the three contrary to popular opinion of Harry being the poster boy. Something about her simply seemed different to the others, maybe it was her tenacity to become a witch even after all the prejudice due to her heritage.

One character Y/N had yet to properly meet before today was the easily mockable Neville Longbottom. The mockery was easy due to both his name and apparently his previous reputation for being awful at all magic, though he had yet to see that. Currently, all Y/N could see about Neville was that he had no idea how to look for a book in a library. He watched the Gryffindor search over the potions shelf three times, not once trying to look somewhere else or even simply ask the librarian where the book was.

Eventually, even Y/N, who could usually manage to ignore others' plights, was starting to feel some amount of pity for him. Which eventually led to him walking up to him as he started to search the shelf for the fourth time.

“Are you actually looking for a book or are you trying to look busy? Because either way, you are doing a poor job.” He spooked the boy with his words apparently because Neville quickly spun around with a face of shock at the sudden voice. Neville seemed to be conflicted after the initial surprise, he wanted to brush you off immediately because he was expecting your next comment to become much more mocking of him no matter his response.

“I’m looking for a potions book.” He replied after some thought, though not enough thought he realized as he added, “Dr Mardovia’s healing tonics and treatments, specifically.”

“Did you think to ask the librarian if that book was even on these shelves?” Y/N questioned rhetorically as he quickly continued, “If you did you would realize that the only copy this school has, for some reason, has been taken out already.” Neville’s face fell at this news, which caused Y/N to feel some pity for the boy, “Luckily for you, it was taken out by me, and I happen to almost be finished reading it. You can borrow it after I finish reading to copy whatever it is you seem to be desperate to know, I will need it back to make more notes after.” Neville's face lit up at this fact.

“Really? Thanks.” He said as he realized you weren’t pulling his leg, contrary to what he was expecting of a Slytherin. He then asked another question, he didn’t expect to ask someone from Y/N’s house, “If we’re both making notes we could work on them together?” His tone was very apprehensive, however, as he realized who he was asking right as he started talking. Y/N looked quite surprised by the offer, and Neville watched as he seemed to ponder it for a second before shaking his head quite strongly.

“No, I work much better alone.” He spoke curtly, before continuing, “Thank you for the offer but, no. I will bring the book to your painting tomorrow.” After that, he quickly walked away and out of the library altogether. Neville was mostly confused by the interaction's sudden end, so much so that it took him all the walk back to Gryffindor’s common room to realize

“How does he know about the painting?!”

The Fat lady just looked at him confused.

Y/N usually woke up early most days but today he woke up earlier than usual. After his run-in with Neville the previous day he realized that he had not specified any time at which he was going to show up at. While he could have simply just waited somewhere else such as the great hall, he did not like the idea that he could potentially miss him.

In the end, his best idea was to wait outside of the doorway to the Gryffindor common room until Neville or someone who would pass the book along to him exited. It was not the best plan, not only because the time window that someone could leave was over an hour, but because he would have to get there before the curfew was truly over. Luckily he was very confident in his own ability to get around the castle without being found, and also the fact he could easily claim he forgot about the curfew.

After a few minutes of walking, he found the specific painting he was looking for, the fat lady as she was so affectionately called. By that point curfew had ended so she luckily had no reason to be concerned with his presence, he could simply just be admiring the view for all anyone knew. That didn’t stop the fat lady from questioning him, however.

“Any reason you are just standing and staring at me?” She sounded calm, but she was ever so slightly concerned. The last time something like this happened she was slashed several times with a knife, the security trolls gave her some reassurance but since Y/N was a student and already happened to be right in front of her they likely wouldn't end up doing much.

“Heard some students talk about a ‘Fat Lady’ painting in this tower, thought I’d come to take a look.” He lied. Only partially, he had heard of this painting from other students, considering the fact their common room entrances were meant to be at least somewhat secretive it was a bit of a concern that so many students had let it slip so far. The fat lady eyed him suspiciously at this comment, so he made an extra one to try and get a bit of good favour, “I guess I should keep looking ‘cause I don’t see one around here.”

“Oh, my aren’t you a charmer.” The Fat lady replied, her suspicions mostly wiped away with the compliment. Her sudden change in mood was just as quickly changed again when she began to swing backwards, having been opened from the other side. From within the corridor stepped Neville to Y/N’s relief.

“Didn’t expect you to be this early.” He spoke shortly after getting fully out of the painting, the fat lady swinging closed after him, a slight frown on her face from the realization that the Slytherin boy’s compliment was likely hollow.

“Wasn’t expecting it from you either, I realized after our meeting yesterday that we did not specify any time so I decided to come here as soon as it would be possible to avoid missing you,” Y/N replied in one quick breath, the confidence he once had to compliment a painting fizzling out as he started talking to another person. “I’ve got the book here.” He added after, holding out the potion book for Neville to take, which he quickly did.

“You have no idea how thankful I am for this.” He spoke excitedly, quickly opening the book to browse through. Y/N had turned to step away before Neville spoke up again, “Um, I only need it for one potion, I can do it real quick if you want to just wait here and I can give it back straight away.” He paused, “So you can finish your notes and all that.” He finished with a nervous smile. Y/N studied his face for a moment before silently nodding, moving away down the stairs so that Neville could get back into the common room without spilling the password.

He would have declined and just asked for the book later but he did quite need those notes. There was also the issue of how to get the book back if he did leave now, he didn’t remember if he shared any classes with Neville. Internal conflict over, he decided to just wait as Neville said he’d only be a short while, he could stand for a few minutes at least.

Unfortunately for him, standing outside of Gryffindor’s common room meant his path just so happened to cross with the golden trio today.

“What are you standing around here for Slytherin?” Ronald asked, the venom in his voice when he said Slytherin was palpable. While Y/N was aware of the general distaste towards his house by most students the way that the redhead spoke made it sound personal.

“Waiting for someone so I can get my book back,” Y/N replied simply, not particularly in the mood to be arguing with people.

“You’re the one that gave Neville that book?” Harry then asked, once Y/N nodded he added another question, “What’re you playing at?” His tone wasn’t as venomous as Ron but it still clearly had some anger and something personal behind it. Hermione seemed to also be judging him from the way she squinted, however, she kept her distaste inside for now.

Y/N stopped leaning against the wall before responding, “I’m not ‘playing’ at anything,” he used air quotes when speaking. His own distaste could be heard in his voice, though it was much less pointed towards the three in front of him and much more for the particular conversation they were having. “He needed the book and I had it, I’m waiting here to get it back.”

“Yeah right!” Spat Ron, “You probably put a hex on it to make him piss himself or something. Now you’re just waiting to see it all go down.” His anger was flowing now, at this point Harry seemed to get the idea that Ron may have been going too far, but that didn’t stop him from continuing, “How’d you figure out where our common room is anyway, you threaten him into showing you?”

After that comment Y/N had enough and pushed Ron back, making him trip over himself onto his back. “I don’t know what your fuckin’ problem with Slytherin is, but keep me out of it.” He spoke with clear anger in his voice, and all three of the Gryffindors were surprised by the outburst. The situation was usually flipped, with them getting the earful from a Slytherin before one of them snapped. “The reason I know about your common room entrance is because of loose-lipped dumbasses like yourself.”

The three just stared after his outburst, not knowing what to do at this point. Ron almost looked ashamed as Harry and Hermione looked down at him along with Y/N. He tried to speak, “Sorry I d-”

“Save it.” Y/N cut him off still angry, he turned to the others, who once again returned their attention to him before he continued, “Tell Neville I’ll come to get my book back later.” He stormed off quickly after finishing.

“Nice job Ron,” Hermione said a moment after Y/N was gone, glaring down at him on the floor as Harry helped him up.

“I didn’t hear you stepping in to stop me,” He growled back at her.

“She also didn’t accuse someone of hexing a book in their first conversation.” Harry pointed out, only to also be scolded by Hermione.

“Don’t you get high and mighty after you accused him in the first place, honestly you two sometimes” She grumbled as she also turned and walked away, she knew what it was like to be discriminated against for something you didn’t control. While she still held some inner disdain herself from all the abuse she has taken from Slytherin over the years, she’d never accuse one of something like that without even meeting them first.

Ron and Harry simply stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, thinking about the whole situation, before there were some footsteps behind them.

“You guys didn’t happen to see a Slytherin out here did you?” Neville asked slightly nervous. The other two boys simply looked at each other awkwardly.

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Chapter Text

It took a while for Y/N to calm down after his run-in with the golden trio, after thinking about it more he could see why there was disdain towards his house. Draco Malfoy made it clear that he enjoyed the misery of seemingly everyone else, and considering the number of negative things he has to say about the three Gryffindors it was clear that they were a common target.

That didn’t mean he liked what they had said, he was still annoyed about it. The fact that they seemed to hate him just for the colour of his robes and scarf. Maybe they would hate him anyway even if they got to know him, but at least then there would be a chance and he could have some input, but no, they just had to assume he’d be like Malfoy.

“Heard what you did to weasel boy,” Speak of the devil. Malfoy stared down at Y/N, who lay on one of the seats in the Slytherin common room, with a smug look on his face. Y/N simply looked back with a blank expression. “Though maybe next time you should teach the rest of them a lesson too.”

“What lesson would that be? That Slytherins are all exactly what they assume us to be?” Y/N questioned with a sneer, he wasn’t in the mood for Malfoy’s praising insults.

“No. That Slytherins aren’t to be trifled with.” He responded, a sour look taking over his face.

“It’s that attitude that has the rest of the school itching to find any reason to hate us.” Came Y/N’s reply as he stood from the seat he was on. “What reason do you have to hate those three anyway? They insult your precious pure blood or something?” He spat, to which Malfoy’s face seemed to quickly fill with annoyance.

“Ha! What is there not to hate about them?” He quickly retorted, continuing with a rant, “You’ve got Potter, the precious little saviour of the wizarding world with his stupid little scar. Then there’s Weasley, a disgrace to the words pure blood with his poor little muggle integrating family.” He paused, with his face seemingly changing from annoyance to pure disgust as he described the final person, “And finally there’s Granger, the mudblood who seems to think she deserves her place here with the real wizards and witches because she can cast a few spells.”

Y/N’s fists balled up as Malfoy described the trio. He could see why someone would maybe have some distaste for Harry, that always came with someone who was famous for something they hadn’t even had a say in. Ron and Hermione, however, had stupid reasons to hate them, the same type of reasons that they had to hate Y/N. Prejudice.

“I was wondering why everyone seemed to hate Slytherin.” He turned to walk away as Malfoy seemed offended that someone would dare walk away from him, however, Y/N just added, “Thanks for showing me.” Before he started walking away, leaving Malfoy teeming with rage at his comments.

After his little outburst at Malfoy, Y/N was almost feeling better until he got into runes class, late. Due to his less-than-punctual arrival, he was left with only one available seat, one next to Hermione Granger. His opinion of her was still sour from yesterday, even after learning she had a pretty good reason to dislike Slytherin, it didn’t excuse her behaviour towards him.

As he sat down neither of them spoke. He just brought out his book and began taking notes on what professor Babbling was writing on the blackboard. Unfortunately for both of them, this class happened to be one which would require them to partner up. As professor Babbling explained that the school had run into some issues with creating enough items with the runes engraved for them to have one each, so they would be working In pairs, and their scores would be shared.

While at first both of them seemed to be able to act diplomatically, it quickly fell apart after Y/N had corrected one of Hermione’s translations. This seemed to start a battle of passive-aggressive remarks about each other’s work. This argument was only stopped when Babbling reminded them that their marks would be shared, which managed to get them to stop and go back to working in silence.

As the assignment came to a finish all the students were asked to hand in all of the words on the item they could translate so it could be compared to the complete translation sheet Babbling had. Most students seemed to pass, some doing better than others but generally, most seemed to have almost the same score. The only pair which was different was Y/N and Hermione.

They were both asked to wait outside after class, which led to the assumption that they had failed. The looks that each of them got from their classmates as they left the classroom told a whole story of how this would immediately be passed around as a rumour. The two top students in a class had failed due to their inability to work together.

“I told you we were looking too much into that specific carving,” Hermione said after some moments of standing in silence. “They were clearly looking for us to decipher the words, not the letters.” She spoke almost condescendingly, with her arms crossed as she looked away from Y/N.

“OH I’m sorry,” Y/N quickly retorted sarcastically. “I would have expected little miss perfect to understand doing more than expected and thinking it would go well.” He continued bitterly.

“What is that supposed to mean?!” She asked angrily.

“I heard about your stunt in 3rd year, taking every single elective class.” He responded bluntly.

“Where did you hear that from?” The anger seemed to leave her voice, almost sounding scared now. If he knew about the extra classes did that mean he knew about the time turner, that would be really bad.

Y/N just huffed, amused, before turning to look away. “Malfoy’s mentioned it in almost all of his rants about how you. I was slightly impressed someone could manage that much” The last part came out quieter. This both calmed down Hermione, and also slightly flattered her ego. It also set her off again though. At least no one knew about the time turner, but Malfoy was still mouthing her off to people. She went to speak but was interrupted as the classroom door opened, professor Babbling calling them both back in.

They both stood at the front of the classroom as Babbling sat at her desk, looking at the sheets of parchment in front of herself. “Now then, which one of you decided to try and decipher these as letters instead of words? When we have barely gone through the first half of this alphabet?” Her tone was difficult to figure out, she sounded annoyed but almost impressed. Both Y/N and Hermione didn’t speak initially, nervous about what the consequence of doing so would be.

“It was me pr-”

“We both decid-”

Both of them spoke at once, interrupting each other. They also then both turned to face each other, a look of surprise on their faces. Y/N had intended on taking the blame for the mistake himself. Hermione had intended on sharing the mistake between the both of them equally. Professor Babbling simply looked at both of them with the same expression, expectant.

“I thought I saw one of the words was carved differently so I decided to try translating it by letters instead of words. It was my fault professor.” Y/N quickly spoke up, before Hermione could.

“Is that true Miss Granger?” Babbling asked after nodding at Y/N.

Hermione hesitated for a moment before speaking, “Yes professor,” she paused for another second, “but it wasn’t all him professor. I also thought it was strange so I agreed to try and decipher the letters instead of words. It was both of our faults not just Y/N’s.” This might have been the first time he had heard her say his name out loud. He stared at her confused, he was trying to take the blame but she seemed determined to share it for some reason.

“Is that so?” The professor’s expression had switched from questioning to almost smug now, as she turned back to Y/N. “Trying to take all the fame yourself are you?” These words confused both Y/N and Hermione. “10 points to Slytherin and Gryffindor.” She said proudly after, both students looking even more perplexed than before, taking a glance at each other before looking back to the professor for an explanation. “The runes on your item were inscribed poorly, which meant one of the words was incorrect. Your decision to look into the letters instead of the words meant you got a different answer to everyone else but an answer correct for your specific item and using the knowledge you have not even been taught yet. Very impressive.”

Y/N and Hermione were both still dumbfounded by the information as they continued to look at the professor. She simply laughed and told them to enjoy the dinner feast, ushering them out of the classroom

It took a moment for both of them to realize they had to start moving, still in shock from the fact they hadn’t failed their assignment but had passed it so well that they got house points for it. Neither said anything for a moment.

Y/N didn’t know what to think, they had just had an argument where he was starting to expect Hermione was right and he messed it up for them, but now that had been spun around. Was he meant to start mocking her because he was right all along? Surely he couldn’t do that after she was trying to share the blame while they both thought they were in trouble. Unless she somehow knew they were actually getting praise not punishment, but surely then she would have taken all the credit?

Hermione’s inner conflict shared a similar sentiment to Y/N, if not in reverse. She was debating thanking Slytherin for his contribution as it had paid off but now she was wondering if that was his plan all along, to make her feel stupid and take all the credit. The way that he spoke to the professor however made it seem much more like he was trying to take the blame like she was.

“Thanks fo-”

“Thank yo-”

Once again they both tried to speak at the same time, interrupting each other. This time however it was Hermione who spoke again first. “Thank you for convincing me to use letter translations instead of trying to use words,” Her tone was sincere with a tinge of reluctance, she was thanking a Slytherin for their help after all.

“Well thank you for trying to share the blame when it looked like we screwed it up,” he replied, just assuming that was in fact what she was doing. The slight look of surprise on her face nearly confirmed it for him. After the thanks, neither of them spoke again for a moment, before Y/N added, “We should get going if we want to make it to dinner.” With that he began to walk towards the great hall, Hermione following shortly after.

They walked side by side for a short while in silence, the halls were mostly empty by now, which meant they were probably already missing the feast, but neither of them sped up yet. The silence by this point was starting to feel awkward to Y/N so he attempted to start some form of conversation.

“You think anyone else’s runes were also broken?”

“Hm, I doubt it. Everyone else seemed to pass mostly fine, if they had an entire word missing they would have probably lost a lot more points.” She replied after some pondering.

“Maybe they also used letters instead of words to translate” Y/N fired back with a small grin. “I’m sure there’s at least one other person who has been looking ahead in the runes books.”

“Well, I’m sure that no one else was asked to stay behind with us.” She reminded him smugly.

“Touché” He responded with an amused huff as they continued towards the great hall. Both of them seeming to forget their vendettas against each other for the time being.

They were both still talking even as they walked into the great hall. Hermione had eventually taken the lead which meant Y/N was taken straight to the Gryffindor table, somewhere he suddenly realized was probably not the best place to be. The sudden realization came when he looked around and saw plenty of Gryffindor, and a few Slytherin staring at him as he stood.

Hermione also seemed to suddenly realize what they had done as her friends looked at her with surprise and a smidgen of annoyance at her bringing a Slytherin to their table. Before either of them could come up with a reason why Y/N was at their table Neville, who was luckily sitting close by, spoke up.

“Oh Y/N! I was hopin’ I’d run into you at some point, here,” He turned to his right and quickly offered the book he had borrowed earlier back to him. Y/N took a moment to realize what was happening before quickly taking the book and checking it to make sure it was the right one. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Neville, it was more that he didn’t trust the two other boys who were staring into the side of his head.

“Thanks, Neville.” He said somewhat quietly, realizing that Ron and Harry were looking at him. Luckily their stare-down was interrupted by Hermione who gasped.

“You’ve got that book?!” She exclaimed, quickly realizing she probably said it much louder than intended and had caught even more people’s attention as she and Y/N realized they were both still standing. Hermione quickly sat down at the table to avoid the stares, but Y/N stayed standing. He knew that sitting at other houses’ tables was allowed, but he also knew it would probably be a bad idea. Unfortunately, that didn’t usually stop him.

“Why does it seem like everyone needs this exact book?” He asked as he sat next to Hermione and Neville. The former’s surprise was much more shown than the latter, who looked surprised but didn’t seem too bothered by it. The tension was quickly brought back to the conversation as Ron spoke up.

“Some of us actually have to try in potions. Not all of us get special treatment.” He grumbled the last part. While Y/N found that annoyingly rude he couldn’t exactly counter that argument, Snape certainly did have a preference for his own house’s students and he did not make any attempt to hide it.

Y/N just ignored Ron and turned to Hermione, who seemed to be somewhat scowling at the said redhead. “Did you want to borrow it too?” he asked, which once again seemed to surprise the witch. She stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was playing some sort of game, similar to how Neville was when he offered. “I mean, I can’t give it to you now, I need to finish the notes I was planning on making yesterday.” He added after she stayed silent for a moment. “But once I’ve finished I can let you know?” He wasn’t sure what was possessing him to offer this but seeing her face light up made him feel something in his chest.

“That’d be great,” She whisper shouted, learning her lesson about being too loud quite quickly. The small moment of joy was quickly snuffed out as a certain white-haired boy seemed to appear at their table.

“I didn’t expect much from you after your outburst today but I must say this is low even for you L/N,” His words were directed at Y/N but the way he looked at everyone surrounding him made it feel like much more of an insult to them.

“What’s that meant to mean Draco?” He responded, getting to his feet once again and glaring at said Slytherin.

“It means I’m surprised you’re sitting with the mudblood after all the things you said about her this morning.” His words seemed to shock everyone at the table, including Y/N. Sure he’d grumbled about the Gryffindors while walking into the Slytherin common room he’d said nothing more than a few indirect insults. And Malfoy had been nowhere near enough to actually hear any of that.

Everyone was now looking at Y/N, waiting for some kind of response, but he just continued to stare at Malfoy, face no longer confused but annoyed. Ron and Harry looked the angriest, they knew Hermione bringing a Slytherin to their table was a bad idea. Neville looked mostly shocked, he’d thought Y/N had been quite nice if a bit cold while talking to him. Hermione was mostly confused, she felt angry but also sad. She had truly thought you were a different Slytherin but it seemed as if that was just an act.

Upon seeing the fact that no one was saying anything Malfoy took it upon himself to continue, “Oh my, it looks like you’ve all been made fools.” He laughed, his lackeys Crabbe and Goyle laughing along with him. “You should have heard him in the common room. ‘I can’t believe I was insulted by a filthy mudblood’ He was ruthless.” Malfoy continued, still laughing.

The three Gryffindor boys at the table all now looked at Y/N with pure anger. If it had been an insult about something else they’d likely care less, but they all knew how much Hermione’s heritage became a point of sensitivity over the years. The only one who did not seem to be angry was Hermione herself, and that was only because she was now confused. She hadn’t insulted him, or said anything for that matter, during their first meeting.

What made all of them become just as confused as Hermione was when Y/N laughed himself. “Thanks for disproving your own story Draco.” He said very smugly, to Malfoy’s confusion.

“What?” was all he could ask after that, he was completely lost.

“If I called her a mudblood that’d be quite hypocritical wouldn’t it?” Y/N said even more smug than before. The Grin on his face went from cheek to cheek by this point. It took everyone a second to realize what he said before they all looked at him shocked.

“You’re…?” Hermione was the only one who spoke, looking up at him curiously. He didn’t bother clarifying however, he just laughed again and stepped out of the seat he was still standing above.

“Thanks for my book back, Neville.” Was all he said before he walked off, out of the hall. Leaving everyone to their shock. Truth be told he didn’t know if walking out was allowed, and he also didn’t know if it was a good idea considering the hunger he felt later that night, but it was worth it for the dramatic exit.

Malfoy eventually stormed off grumbling to himself and his lackeys, leaving the Gryffindors to their confusion. Neville was the only one who spoke up, “I thought he seemed a bit nice for Slytherin, no wonder.”

They all seemed to share similar sentiments. Hermione was the one who felt mostly relieved however, she would have felt very stupid if after all that he turned out to be a blood purist like Malfoy. She felt quite happy at the fact that there was another muggle-born she knew, though the fact he was in Slytherin did somewhat concern her.

“Guess that explains why he was so annoyed at us for talking bad about him for being in Slytherin,” Harry spoke somewhat glum. Not only had they been accusing someone they didn’t know just for their house, but they were also accusing someone who was likely not even welcomed by his house for his blood. Talk about a bad combo.

——————————————————————————————————

In hindsight, telling Malfoy that he was a muggle-born to win an argument may have not been Y/N’s best idea. Even before the end of the day, it seemed like the news had managed to travel throughout the whole school by the time he settled into his bed. It took barely 5 seconds after entering the common room for the first insults to start getting thrown his way. The hate came from seemingly everyone, no one seemed to oppose it at least.

He didn’t stay in the common room for long after that, quickly moving away to the library. It ended up being a good choice as he managed to survive the rest of the time before breakfast without anything else being said. The brief period of peace did not last when he entered the great hall, however, immediately having some snide comments from Pansy Parkinson. There were some looks from the other houses too, though those were at least not directly giving him any trouble.

A particular group of Gryffindors looked at him particularly closely as he picked up some toast and quickly left the great hall again.

“I hope that blows over for him quickly,” Neville said, looking back down to his food as Y/N left.

“With Malfoy? I doubt it,” Harry voiced his doubt. The rest of the group seemed to share his sentiment as they went back to their food. Hermione was still thinking about what had happened yesterday. Malfoy claimed that Y/N insulted them behind their backs, particularly her by calling her a mudblood, but if he was also a mudblood surely he had no reason to use that as an insult.

She stood up suddenly, surprising the rest of her friends. When she stepped over the bench and turned to walk away without saying anything Ron spoke up.

“Where are you goin’?” His tone wasn’t particularly aggressive but it certainly wasn’t happy either.

“I still need that potions book off him.” She said, with less conviction than she thought she had. Thinking about it, she didn’t exactly have to go get it now and could easily just get it during potions later, which they both shared. “And I want to see if he’s okay,” She said that part more as a mutter, but the others still heard. Ron particularly seemed displeased with this.

“Really? You’re gonna go check on him even after the shit he said?” he seemed genuinely surprised at the concept. Harry nodded as Ron spoke, clearly sharing some sentiments.

“I thought you two of all people would understand what it’s like to be picked on, especially by Malfoy,” She responded with an annoyed huff as she stormed off. How could they just treat Y/N like he deserved to be bullied for his heritage? Sure he had been somewhat unpleasant during their first talk but he seemed to be the opposite of what a Slytherin usually was like the rest of the time, what with helping Neville, and the conversation they managed to have after runes class yesterday.

Finding where he had gone wasn’t too hard for Hermione, he had left a literal breadcrumb trail with the toast he was eating. Eventually, she ended up in the library, which seemed pretty obvious now that she thought about it. There weren’t exactly a lot of other places available that this time. She saw him sitting at one of the desks on his own after searching the library for a moment, deciding to just walk up to him casually she pulled one of the chairs at his table out and sat down, surprising him.

“Oh, uh, hi?” he awkwardly whispered, looking around himself quickly.

“Hello,” was all Hermione could think to respond with, completely forgetting why she came here in the first place. They both just stared at each other for a few seconds before she suddenly remembered she had to say something else. “Um, I was wondering if you were done using Dr Mardovia’s healing tonics and treatments?” Choosing to leave out the fact she was also checking if he was okay after all the abuse he seemed to get in the great hall.

“Right, yeah. I finished my notes earlier today. The books back in my dorm though.” He stated, checking the watch in his hand he quickly added. “But if I go fast I could probably get it before classes start.” Standing up quickly pushing his chair back in and grabbing the book he was reading. Hermione also quickly stood before realizing she probably shouldn’t follow him to his common room, he probably wouldn’t want to get in trouble for showing her its entrance, even though she already knew.

“We have potions together later today so I guess you could give it to me then?” she seemed unsure.

“I mean, you could just come with me now.” He replied, starting to walk out of the library as Madam Prince started to usher them out of the library for talking.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to get in trouble for showing me where it is,” She said back worriedly, but Y/N just laughed.

“What are they gonna do? Take away house points?” he just smirked at Hermione who was starting to get flustered with the whole conversation. “Trust me, I’m over Slytherin by this point.” He began walking again, Hermione hesitating before jogging to catch up and follow him.

It didn’t take them much time to reach the Slytherin common room entrance. Then Y/N surprised Hermione by saying the password straight away, right in front of her. She didn’t exactly know if it was against the rules to do this but she was certainly shocked to see his complete disregard for secrecy. He walked straight in, before turning back to her and seeing her stand at the entrance unmoving.

“You can come in if you want. There’s no one else here.” He watched her for a moment before shrugging and turning back to walk towards the boy’s dorm entrance. She debated it in her head before quickly following again. If this had turned out to be a trap she’d have fallen for it hook line and sinker, luckily it wasn’t, but she was starting to berate herself for being so careless. “I’ll be back in a second.” He disappeared out of view and she was left alone in the common room.

Now that she really thought about it, if anyone else showed up this would look particularly bad. She was just glad professors didn’t go into common rooms without a specific reason, if she was caught here by Snape she’d probably have a heart attack. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and Y/N quickly returned with a thick book in hand.

“So I just checked and this actually is due to be back in the library today, and considering we have like 5 minutes before classes are meant to start I don’t think we’re going to manage to get it swapped over in time.” He told her, disappointment starting to show on her face before he quickly added. “I’ll still give it to you though, just maybe during lunch. We could meet up in the library.” He spoke a bit quieter looking away from Hermione as he did so.

“That works for me, I can still get some reading done before potions today.” She smiled, which he returned once he turned back to look at her. That was when the door to the common room opened again and the person both of them least wanted to see walked in. Malfoy spotted them immediately and his face was sent straight into a sneer as he walked in with his goons following closely behind.

“What do we have here? Looks like the mudbloods are already bonding over their dirty blood. Did you break in Granger? Or did L/N smuggle you In?” he smirked as he spoke, Crabbe and Goyle both snickering as they waited for the other Slytherin to respond. Y/N didn’t say anything though, he just looked at Malfoy. “Cat got your tongue? Are you going to say anything? Maybe if you apologize I won’t report you to Snape, I’m sure you’ll ge-”

“You talk too much Draco.” Was all Y/N said, interrupting Malfoy who recoiled in a mix of shock and disgust as Y/N grabbed Hermione’s arm and pulled her out of the common room? Leaving Malfoy red and seething as he stared at the entrance.

Once outside the common room Y/N let go of Hermione’s arm and turned back to the entrance as it closed. “Thanks,” she said quietly as they both started walking away, expecting Malfoy to quickly follow and wanting to avoid his presence for now.

“Don’t mention it. I’m sure Draco will do that enough himself.” He sounded slightly bitter. “Sorry to get you involved like that might have been better if you waited outside. At least then he wouldn’t have something to tell Snape about.” His tone quickly became apologetic.

“If I was outside then he probably would have accused me of something anyway, and I wouldn’t have someone to shut him up for me.” She said smugly back to him, a hint of genuine appreciation to boot.

“Trust me, annoying Draco is my pleasure,” he said with a smirk as he stopped next to the outdoor exit, Hermione stopping and turning to him too. “I guess I’ll catch you at lunch?”

“Yep, library?”

“Yep,” they both smiled at each other for a moment, before going their separate ways to class.

Y/N’s first class seemed to drag now that he had something he was looking forward to. Did he say looking forward to it? Well, when you’ve been dealing with the snivelling bullies of Slytherin for long enough any interaction with someone else is something to look forward to.

Hermione seemed to be feeling the same, though she tried to justify it by claiming she was just excited to finally read the potion book she’d been looking for. Luckily she didn’t have to deal with Ron or Harry in Arithmancy so she could go a few more hours without explaining why she seemed to be a bit happier than usual.

Eventually, lunch did roll around and Y/N quickly made his way to the library to wait for Hermione, truth be told he didn’t know if she was just going to show up for the book or if they were going to be studying together. Either way, he’d likely be spending this whole lunch in the library, maybe he’d go to the great hall in the last few minutes to see if any food was left to grab.

Getting to the library first, Hermione looked around to see if she could spot Y/N before deciding to just grab a seat and wait for him to show. Though once again she was somewhat questioning the legitimacy of this meeting, perhaps she was still being a bit too careless with this. Luckily that thought was quickly squished when she saw him walk through the doors, spotting her quickly and making his way over.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he said quietly, to which she just smiled slightly. Pulling out the book Y/N hesitated before handing it to her. Hermione took it excitedly and almost immediately began swiping through it before catching herself and looking back to Y/N, intending to thank him but seeing him on the brink of talking again she held herself back. “I was wondering, maybe, since I’ve already read it, I could maybe help you with it? If you’d like that, I’m not sure if you’re a solo reader, I kno-”

“I’d like that,” She just said coolly, stopping his rant. He stayed quiet for a second before nodding, a ghost of a smile gracing his face.

“Okay cool,” he whispered and realizing the awkward angle they were sitting at he quickly moved his seat around to be sat on the same side of the book as her.

They managed to get a few pages in before Hermione spoke about something other than the book itself. “How are you handling the ‘Mudblood’ hate?” she used air quotes when saying mudblood to apparently show how she thought of the word.

“It’s not that bad, the insults at least. The worse part is now I’m getting dirty looks from even the Slytherins. At least before they’d just ignore me.” He seemed very calm about it while Hermione was almost outraged. She’d been dealing with hate for her heritage for her whole school life so she knew how bad it could be, but considering the fact, there were also people hating Y/N for being in Slytherin it seemed much worse for him.

“Well, you’re fine in my books. You are a prime example of a good Slytherin student.” She spoke with a voice she hoped was reassuring. Y/N went slightly red from the compliment, muttering a simple thanks in return, as they both got back to the book.

Hermione ended up being very grateful for Y/N’s assistance as it turned out Dr Mardovia was quite passionate about his work. Which meant he’d usually have a few words of useful information and then a few paragraphs of useless drivel about whatever he was describing. Y/N, having read the book already, knew where these parts were and they could easily skip them and get back to the useful information.

By the time the end of lunch bell rang both of the students were surprised, it felt as if the lunch had passed by in seconds. Y/N took back the book gingerly and looked apologetic as he spoke, “Sorry, guess I got distracted. If you still want to we can try getting here before curfew and swap it over to you then?” he asked hesitantly.

“It’s okay I was just as distracted, is a very interesting book, ignoring all the pointless stuff.” She replied with a smile on her face, as they both walked out of the library she spoke again, “We have double potions now don’t we?” when Y/N nodded at her she continued, “well then, we can just sit together and I can use the book that way.”

“That works for me. But do you think the rest of your friends will mind?” He asked. From how their interactions seemed to have gone so far this felt like a slightly bad idea and he didn’t want to end up causing more issues for Hermione.

“Well, then they will have to deal with it.” She said simply, Y/N smiled slightly at this. Even if he had only known her properly for a day or two she already had been nicer to him than anyone else in the school during his whole stay.

As they arrived at potions class Ron and Harry both looked surprised to see Hermione with Y/N. They were even more surprised to see the pair both smiling and Hermione laughing at a joke the Slytherin had said. Neville looked quite pleased to see Y/N again and even joined their conversation as Snape began to usher them into the classroom.

The joy that was once being felt by Y/N and Hermione was quickly sapped away as Snape asked to speak to them privately. Bringing them away from the rest of the class. Malfoy could be seen watching the scene play out with an ugly grin on his face.

“Would either of you two care to explain why a Gryffindor was inside the Slytherin common room?” he asked with his trademark sneer towards both students.

“I brought her there professor, I was getting a book from my dorm for her to borrow and didn’t realize other houses couldn’t enter our common room.” Y/N quickly explained before Hermione could even get a word in.

“You may not have known, having only joined this year, but Miss Granger has been here five years. Plenty of time to learn the rules.” He spoke with what felt like pure malice. “10 points from Gryffindor, if I hear of this again it will be detention for you both,” He quickly left the pair after he said that, returning to the rest of the class who had started to become rowdy while waiting.

“Fuck, Hermione I am so sorry I didn’t think he’d single you out like that,” Y/N said turning to Hermione who surprisingly just had a smug grin on her face as she stared back.

“Oh please, 10 points is hardly anything to cry about.” She laughed out, confusing Y/N. She decided against elaborating and simply walked back to the class, Y/N following shortly after. They ended up at a table with Neville but managed to avoid Malfoy, Ron and Harry, much to the latter two’s confusion.

Malfoy ended up staring at the two for most of the class, which didn’t seem to bother them, particularly as they just worked on their own potion. Y/N brought out the potion book soon into the lesson, which Neville also ended up sharing in order to get his potions completely correct.

“I can’t believe you admitted fully to being at fault and he still only went for Hermione,” Neville said at some point during class, they had told him about what happened when he asked.

“Yeah, it’s fuckin’ stupid,” Even after Hermione said it was fine Y/N couldn’t help being annoyed at the professor.

“Especially since I’m pretty sure he made up that rule,” Neville added which made Y/N look at him in shock before Hermione clarified.

“It’s up to each house’s head what the policy of other students in their common rooms is. Clearly, Snape decided he wanted to be just as discriminatory as his students want to be.” This just annoyed Y/N even more, Snape had made a rule specifically just to screw with other houses and didn’t even think to tell anyone about it. Luckily Neville said something which seemed to cheer him up straight away.

“Guess that means you’ll just have to come to our common room in the future mate.” He said it so casually but to Y/N it was the most shocking thing he’d heard all day. Is someone offering to do something outside of class or studying?

“I mean won’t that be super awkward?” he said, nodding towards the table with Ron and Harry on it.

“Didn’t I already tell you about that?” Hermione said, once again smug as she began to quote herself, “Well, then they will have to deal with it.” All three of the students were smiling by this point, which was quickly interrupted by Snape coming over and insulting Neville and Hermione’s potions.

Which was even more insulting because Hermione and Y/N had switched seats and that was his potion that Snape said looked like it wouldn’t be something an ogre would drink.

After spending that first day together, Y/N and Hermione quickly became accustomed to each other. They weren't joined at the hip like Ron and Harry but they were certainly closer than previously. They now paired up often during runes class, complimented each other's potions during potions class and Y/N even occasionally sat at the Gryffindor table during feasts. Though that was often only when Ron wasn't at the table yet or had already left, he warmed up to Y/N the least out of the golden trio.

Neville and Y/N also had quite a budding friendship. While not as intense as Neville, Y/N enjoyed botany so they had many conversations about it, to the disdain of anyone else around them.

Hate still came from most Slytherin but it died down somewhat due to Y/N's usual lack of a response. The only ones who still seemed to be going full force were Malfoy and his goons. Y/N had taken to never sitting at the Slytherin table anymore, either stealing a bit of food and retreating somewhere else or sitting with the few people who didn't move away as soon as he got close.

Things would take a turn after another potion class in which Hermione, Y/N and Neville all sat together.

The agonizing two hours of potions class eventually came to a close as Snape decided to give them all an essay which had to be 20 inches long to the dismay of most who heard. Ron and Harry came over to Hermine, Neville and Y/N at the end of class as they all began moving towards the great hall. The conversation was mainly held between the golden three but Hermione would include him whenever she asked a question.

Even Harry included Y/N but much less as he was still somewhat untrusting of the Slytherin. Ron was quite quiet and didn't include Y/N in conversation at all, but at this point, it was less to make a point and simply from forgetting he was even there. Neville had left to talk to Dean and Seamus at some point.

As they got closer to the great hall Hermione seemed to end the conversation with Harry and Ron as they moved into the great hall, Hermione and Y/N staying behind as she seemed to want to talk to him before they ate, however, she got interrupted before even getting a word out.

“Going somewhere mudbloods?” Malfoy’s voice interrupted them as they turned to leave. Turning back to him they watched as he sneered with his two lackeys backing him up as always. “Hope you didn’t lose us too many points L/N.” So it had been him that told Snape about them both being in the common room, which made sense, he was that kind of coward. They turned to leave as they did before but then Malfoy brought something out from his robes and spoke again. “Maybe you won’t run away like a coward when you see I have this.”

He held a red book in his hand, it had a blank cover but was clearly worn with use. Y/N’s eyes widened at the sight of it, Hermione was mainly confused but upon seeing his reaction she turned back to Malfoy, clearly, it was important.

“Where did you get that?” Y/N snapped, he sounded angry but even more, he sounded scared.

“Found it,” came Malfoy’s voice as he relished in Y/N’s panic. “I think I’ll read some of it to everyone here, very interesting diary you have.” This really set Y/N off as he pulled out his wand but Malfoy quickly pulled out his own and he pointed it to the book instead of Y/N “Ah ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Immediately that stopped Y/N who dropped his wand. “Good, now as I was saying,” Malfoy opened the book to a random page and began reading.

The particular entry he read was quite disturbing, it spoke of kidnappings, experiments and other things which made everyone turn to Y/N in disgust and fear. Even Hermione backed up a step. The mood changed, however, when Malfoy got to the end and read a particular line.

“Little Y/N will be going into his 4th year of school this year. Soon I will be able to tell him all about our operation, I’m sure he will be overjoyed.” Even Malfoy who once held full conviction slightly faltered as he read that line. His distasteful tone came back in full force as he started talking again, however. “Looks like your blood isn’t just dirty, it’s also completely insane.” Some Slytherin students laughed at this but most of the audience stayed silent at this point. Y/N was mortified but managed to plead with Malfoy.

“Okay, you’ve had your fun now give it back.” He tried to be forceful but his voice betrayed him as it quivered. Malfoy looked at him with disgust before a wide grin came to his face and he closed the book.

“Of course,” It was foolish to believe he was actually going to give it back but even knowing that Y/N went to catch the book as Malfoy threw it towards him. “Incendio!” The book instantly turned to ash as the spell hit it. Everyone seemed stunned before many of the Slytherin still watching began to laugh. Y/N just looked on in horror at the pile of ash in front of him.

“What on earth are you all-”

Professor McGonagall came out from the great hall, after watching the students at the doors stand still for minutes. She stopped herself talking when she saw the falling ash and Y/N on his knees in front of it, tears beginning to flow from his eyes. Hermione had gone to do something to Malfoy after the spell was cast but he quickly retreated into the crowd and was impossible to find. She then quickly crouched next to Y/N and hesitated before putting her hand on his shoulder, making him turn to her. His face just looked broken.

McGonagall ordered all the other students into the hall or back to their rooms and quickly approached the two students remaining, looking with pity at the boy. “Was he hurt?” she asked Hermione, who was clearly much more stable currently.

“Malfoy burned a book of his, I think it might have been a family member’s diary.” She added, not answering McGonagall’s question directly but she was able to understand the situation with that information.

“You have my permission to take him to Gryffindor’s common room if you wish for privacy. I will attend to Mr Malfoy shortly.” She said with a nasty tone, clearly the boy’s name left a bad taste in her mouth.

Hermione helped Y/N to his feet and began leading him to the common room. McGonagall looked down at the pile of ash and quickly cleaned it up before returning to the great hall.

It took a while to reach the common room, as Y/N was somewhat struggling to walk at his usual pace. He had managed to stop crying but his eyes were still bloodshot and puffy, tears still threatening to fall at any point. The fat lady let them in straight away not even batting an eye at the Slytherin being brought in. They quickly found a spot at the edge of the room and sat down. Hermione rubbed his back as he breathed in and out shakily, wiping his eyes a few times before they were actually dry.

They sat in silence for a while before Y/N spoke, “It was my brother’s diary.” Hermione nodded as he continued, “He’s gone now, it was the only thing I had left from him.” His voice was shaky and it felt as if he was about to break at any point. Hermione didn’t say anything, she couldn’t think of anything to say. She just waited for Y/N to keep talking, while still rubbing circles on his back. “He was a bad person, but I didn’t know that for a long time. I always thought he was a good person, he was always a good brother. Until the day he told me what he was doing.”

Y/N stopped speaking, looking up at Hermione, who just looked back at him with her soft brown eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before Y/N managed to find his voice again, looking away.

“He was part of a group, they did bad things, like what you heard in the diary. When I started my fourth year he planned on telling me about it. It was a few months into the year when he found me at night and brought me into a room their group had. He started explaining what they did, and why they did it. I was terrified, my world flipped upside down.” He pauses for a second before continuing, “I ran out of the room back into the corridors, and he followed. He started yelling that I had to understand, I had to. He grabbed my arm and began dragging me back and, and-” He stopped as he sucked in a deep breath, sobs threatening to break through his voice but he managed to control himself before finishing the story, “I pulled out my wand and I just said the first spell I could think of to get him off me, it was diffindo.” Hermione gasped softly making Y/N look up at her. Her face showed her absolute horror.

“And it?” she asked after a moment to compose herself, Y/N nodded.

“It got him in the neck, he fell down right away clutching his throat.” Tears were falling from his face again and Hermione moved to wrap her arm around him now. “The reason I cared so much about the book is that I thought it would hold answers, I thought it could tell me why he was so evil. But I read it so many times and never found any answers, he must have just ended up that way.” He broke down and the crying came back in full force.

“Y/N I’m so sorry.” Hermione choked out, she felt awful for him as she pulled him into a full hug, wrapping her arms full around him as he began to cry on her shoulder, wrapping his own arms around her.

“Thanks, Hermione,” he managed to say after a moment of composing himself before the tears began to fall again. They sat like that for a while, just holding each other. Eventually, Y/N managed to staunch the flow of tears again but they stayed within the embrace, the only sound in the room coming from the fireplace and their gentle breathing.

——————————————————————————————————

Eventually, more Gryffindors began to flow into the common room. Most of them seemed to pass Y/N and Hermione without even looking, though those who did look were confused, annoyed or repulsed. Luckily it seemed as if most students wanted to go straight into their dormitories so not many stayed in the common room.

Two people who certainly seemed as if they would stay in the common room were Harry and Ron. When they had first arrived and seen the other duo sitting together Ron had made his way over with an expression showing his clear distaste for what was happening, however, after getting closer he seemed to lose steam and simply sat down. Y/N was confused by this, mainly because by the time he turned back to Hermione her face had returned to being neutral.

Harry didn’t seem annoyed with Y/N but his tone was certainly confused as he asked, “What’re you two doing here? We didn’t see you at dinner so we thought you might be in the library or something” The last part was directed towards Hermione.

“We came up here after what Malfoy did outside the great hall,” Hermione replied before Y/N could even begin to think of anything. Harry and Ron looked shocked before Hermione added, “McGonagall gave us permission.”

“We heard Malfoy incendio’d a book,” Ron said, it was a statement but the tone came out more like a question.

“It was Y/N’s brother’s journal,” Hermione replied again before Y/N could say anything, he appreciated it. He didn’t want to have to go through telling the story again. Fortunately, upon seeing the other two boy’s confused expressions she turned back to Y/N to ask, “Would you like to tell them?” Her voice immediately became much softer.

“Could you? My throat feels awful.” He responded with a small sad smile, and so Hermione began to recount what Y/N had just told her, keeping her voice down so that the rest of the common room couldn’t hear.

“Bloody hell.” That was all Ron said in response, Y/N expected more, maybe an insult but the redhead almost looked sympathetic.

Before Harry could also respond however another Gryffindor came up to the quartet. Neville went to speak but quickly stopped before he could get out a word after seeing the expressions of the four in front of him. He regained his composure after a second and spoke, “Uh, McGonagall wanted to see you two. She said to go to her classroom,” It was directed at Y/N and Hermione who looked mildly surprised. “And I heard what Malfoy did, he’s rotten. Sorry bout your book mate.”

“Thanks, Neville,” Y/N said back softly, he appreciated the sentiment. He and Hermione both stood after Neville walked away and made their way over to the entrance after saying goodbye to Ron and Harry.

The walk to the transfiguration class was quick, mostly due to not wanting to be past curfew but also because the empty hallways of Hogwarts always became eerie after dark. Upon reaching the classroom they knocked on the door and were quickly brought in by the professor and instructed to sit on the opposite side of her desk.

“Now then, would you two tell me what happened?” McGonagall asked, and after looking at each other for a second both Y/N and Hermione began to recount what had happened outside the great hall. Describing how Malfoy had taken a book from Y/N’s trunk in his dormitory, how Malfoy had read from it before casting incendio and then how he had slunk away into the crowd. “Well your story is certainly different to Mr Malfoys’s,” she spoke after a moment of silence following their recount of the story. The duo looked slightly shocked at the professor after.

“Do you not believe us, professor?” Y/N asked with some amount of desperation in his voice.

McGonagall let out a small chuckle at this, a smirk on her face as she spoke again, “I only said his story was different, not that I thought it was more believable.” The duo brightened at this and put their full attention on her as she pulled something out from under her desk, a red book. Their eyes immediately widened at this and McGonagall just said, “It really isn’t a difficult spell, I’m surprised you didn’t cast it immediately.” Y/N simply looked relieved but Hermione held a small bit of embarrassment, she had managed to forget about that spell somehow. “I suppose it is a good thing you didn’t, as the pile of ash served as evidence against Mr Malfoy’s claims.”

“Is he going to get in trouble professor?” Y/N asked, his voice was much timider than either of the two in the room expected. Hermione expected him to be overjoyed at the idea of Malfoy getting in trouble, but the look on his face confused her greatly.

“Indeed he will Mr L/N, what he did was dangerous and entirely against school rules. I would have expected you to be happy about that fact.” McGonagall said, she also seemed confused but much less than Hermione. Y/N’s face seemed to change to one of dread as he looked down. “Is there something wrong Mr L/N?” Her tone wasn’t harsh but it held a certain authority which made Y/N shrink into his seat as his face became conflicted.

He eventually let out a tiny whisper, but neither McGonagall nor Hermione seemed to hear as the professor asked him to repeat it. “I’ve been getting threats,” it seemed to pain him to say this.

“WHAT?” Hermione shrieked at this, her face was pure shock, and a smidgen of anger. He looked up at her with a bit of shame and regret as he then turned to McGonagall who shared a shocked expression but seemed to be able to keep it retained to her face and not her voice.

“I believe Miss Granger has the right question Mr L/N, what threats are you speaking of?” She managed to regain her composure quickly and her tone turned back to the authoritative one she used before.

Y/N was apprehensive, he looked back at Hermione who had managed to calm down but still looked quite angry, though it didn’t seem to be directed at him as when she saw he turned around it shifted to concern.

“I’ve been getting letters since I revealed I was a muggle-born. They are mostly insults and empty words, but some of them are threatening to do things to me.” He didn’t go into specifics but the look on his face seemed to say enough as McGonagall didn’t even ask what they said but instead who they were from. “They never have a name, but some of them are signed… ‘From the real Slytherin’ or something like that,” he paused before saying who sent them, clearly afraid of what it would cause.

Hermione just seemed to start fuming more and more as the conversation went on.

“And why did you not come to us about these letters?” Her tone was now getting into the territory of discipline.

“I thought they might have just been a normal thing, like a hazing. I didn’t take them seriously until now I guess,” he muttered the last part, clearly embarrassed.

“Well, I can assure you that they are no normal thing and will be treated very seriously. Have you kept the letters?” He nodded at her question so she continued, “Well then, I do not believe it safe for you to return to your dormitory. As much as I am confident no one would try anything I still do not think it would be wise. I will not force you but I will offer you the Gryffindor common room as a place to sleep until this situation is handled.” Now her tone was back to authoritative but now with some amount of softness.

“I’m not sure if the Gryffindors would appreciate that,” He began but upon seeing Hermione’s expression he changed his tune, “But I guess they’ll have to deal with it.” This made the brunette grin as she turned back to the professor, who had a small smile on her lips now.

“Well then, I do believe you two should be back to there then. I trust you will be able to take him back there Miss Granger?” she just nodded at the professor as the two of them began to leave. “Oh before you leave,” McGonagall stopped them, twisting her wand as a pillow and blanket appeared in Y/N’s hands. He just looked up at her in thanks and nodded before the two of them began walking up to the common room.

When the two of them arrived back at the common room it was past curfew even for them, the fat lady eyed them suspiciously but still allowed them entry when Hermione gave the password. There didn’t appear to be anyone else in the common room anymore, the rest of the Gryffindors appeared to have retreated to their dormitories. This included Ron and Harry, who Hermione was half expecting to still be here.

“Got quiet quick,” Y/N said after a moment of them just standing in silence. He walked over to the largest couch and placed the pillow and blanket down before sitting down on it himself.

“Yeah.” Was all Hermione said in response, sitting down on the same couch as him.

They both looked at each other for a second before turning towards the fireplace. It was relaxing to just stare into the flames, he could see himself falling asleep in front of this easily. It was just the waking up that frightened him, what if another Gryffindor came down and questioned why he was there, what if one came down and didn’t question why he was there but just jinxed him without even waking him up first? His spiral into paranoia was interrupted by Hermione.

“So, are you going to sleep?” Her face almost seemed hopeful as Y/N turned to face her.

“Eh, as relaxing as this place is I think it’ll take me a while to get adjusted.” He smiled at her, he was about to add how she can go up to her dorm and get sleep but she interrupted that thought as she spoke first.

“Good,” she didn’t say anything else initially and walked over to where her bag had been placed earlier when they initially arrived in the common room after class. Returning with a book, opening it and continuing, “I have been waiting for someone else to read this with. I’ve heard it is very good.” She showed him a book called Lord of the Rings.

They read for about an hour before Hermione seemed to get a bit too tired to continue. The system they came up with was that they would each read a page out loud and then alternate. At this point, however, Hermione was beginning to slur her words together and almost dropped the book a few times.

“Hermione, you gotta go to bed, I don’t want you to pass out and fall into the fire,” Y/N said with a small chuckle as she swayed dangerously close to the edge of the couch before turning to him and pouting a small bit.

“I don’t want to leave you on your own for your first night.” She held the pout but her voice seemed genuine. It may have just been the heat from the fire but Y/N could swear he saw a slight blush on her face as she said that. He debated in his own head for a moment looking at her, truth be told he didn’t want to be alone either, but there was only one long couch so only one of them was getting a good position.

“Well if you insist on staying down here then you can take the couch.” He said standing up as Hermione began to disagree. “I’m the one intruding and making your stay down here, at least take that so I don’t feel bad.” He smiled at her and she relented but then insisted he at least get the blanket, which he didn’t disagree with.

He ended up making a makeshift mattress on the floor next to the couch, at first he was doing it closer to the fire but after almost setting his robes on fire in his drowsiness he decided going closer to the couch would be a good idea. Hermione just seemed to watch as she lay down now, the lack of sleep clearly getting to her as she fought to keep her eyes open.

Eventually, when he finished making his bed for the night and laying in it Y/N spoke quietly to Hermione who seemed to be looking down at him. “Thank’s for today. And I guess for every other day too. I know I wasn’t exactly nice at first but you-” His talk was interrupted as a finger glossed over his mouth and Hermione shushed him from above. He almost looked insulted as she giggled before speaking quietly.

“No more talky today, sleep time.” And with that, she closed her eyes and seemed to almost immediately fall asleep. Y/N felt a bit embarrassed, both at the fact he was accidentally keeping her up and the fact she had essentially rubbed her hand over his face.

He didn’t manage to fall asleep straight away, his mind was still wandering between everything that happened today. He also kept stealing glances at Hermione, she had turned the other way in her sleep and now all that he could see was her bushy hair hanging off the couch. It was one of these times he looked at her, however, that he was startled to see her staring at him.

“Hi,” he just said quietly, not even sure she was awake.

“Hi,” she responded also quietly. “Why are you awake?” she added after almost a minute of silent staring.

“Just thinkin’ about stuff, today was quite eventful.” He said with a smile, her eyes seemed to crinkle as she returned the smile. “Why are you awake?”

“Just checking you’re still here.” She said this even more quietly and she almost looked slightly embarrassed.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna run off randomly in the night.” He could see that his words didn’t particularly soothe her worries so he got a bit bolder with his actions, “Gimme your hand,” she quickly dropped her arm off the couch for him, quicker than he expected. Slowly he intertwined their fingers so that they were holding hands. His face quickly grew red, and so did Hermione’s but he couldn’t see that, but neither of them pulled away as Hermione then started swinging her arm a small bit. “Just so you know I’m still here.” He whispered barely audible, and he didn’t know if he was justifying it to Hermione or Himself.

Either way, she had no issue with it as she quickly fell back asleep, a smile on her face that he couldn’t see. He slowly managed to relax and eventually closed his own eyes as sleep quickly overtook him.

Both Y/N and Hermione were early risers, which was very good as that meant both of them managed to wake up before anyone else had even gotten into the common room. This didn’t stop them from being embarrassed by themselves, however.

Y/N woke up first and was initially confused why he was staring at the Gryffindor ceiling but after one attempt to move his hands later, he remembered everything that had happened. Quickly his face went red at the fact he grabbed Hermione’s hand in his sleepy state. He initially considered trying to pull his hand out of hers but after seeing her start to stir he froze and just lay still while she woke up.

Hermione went through the same confusion as she woke up looking around before her eyes found Y/N’s. She also froze for a moment before they both looked at their hands, and neither pulled apart as they both sat up. Neither of them looked at the other.

“Did you, um, sleep well?” Y/N asked awkwardly after a moment with a hesitant smile on his face.

“Y-yeah, did you?” She replied a small smile on her face too as she turned to him.

“Mhm,” he nodded. Looking back at their joined hands they finally separated them letting out a small laugh each. “Sorry about that I just sorta did it without thinking.” He said with a crimson face.

“No it’s okay, you were just reassuring me.” She smiled her face scarlet.

“Oh, so you remember that talk? Thought you might have just been sleep-talking, heh.” Y/N laughed. Both of them fell into silence after that, a slightly awkward one. “Thanks for staying down here with me.” He finally said.

“Of course, what are friends for.” She smiled shyly at him. It was the first time they had affirmed their friendship, and already Y/N was wondering if that was all he wanted by this point.

Unfortunately, their moment together was interrupted by a redhead coming downstairs.

“Why’s your boyfriend sleeping on all our seat cushions?” Ginny asked, her previously confused face twisting to one of smugness as Hermione quickly grew even redder.

“Ginny!” she wailed, though she quickly adjusted her volume after realizing it was still quite early.

“I don’t hear you denying it,” Ginny smirked even wider before quickly dodging the pillow that was thrown at her. Quickly after that Hermione stormed off upstairs, but not before taking a glance back at Y/N who was still sitting on the floor. They smiled at each other before she retreated to her dorms, he assumed to get freshened up.

Now that it was only him and Ginny in the common room she quickly walked over to where he was now standing up. She glared at him, sizing him up before smirking and nodding to herself, grabbing one of the cushions and moving to sit down in one of the seats.

Y/N stood for a moment before walking over to where she sat, now reading a book she must have brought down with her. Sticking his hand out for her he spoke, “Y/N L/N,”

She looked at him before taking his hand and saying, “Trust me, I am aware. Ginny Weasley.” Smiling at him as he showed his shock openly.

“I’ve known your brother for almost two months now and I’m pretty sure he’d not touch me with a stick still.” Her smile grew at this.

“That sounds quite Ron-like,” this time his smile grew as he moved to put the cushions back to their seats, beginning to talk to Ginny about Ron until Hermione returned to the common room, much less red and much more casual.

This was how the next few days seemed to proceed. After Harry and Ron had come downstairs and had been filled in on what Hermione’s and Y/N’s meeting with McGonagall was about Harry immediately offered Y/N to use their bathroom and he quickly took the offer. The group then moved to go down to the great hall before being interrupted by McGonagall herself.

She informed the group after Y/N confirmed it was fine for the rest of them to know, that their investigation into the letters was ongoing and if Y/N wished he could keep sleeping in the Gryffindor common room until it was deemed safe to return to his dorm. He took that offer immediately.

The day continued normally after that. They managed to avoid Malfoy and all was going well until the night as the rest of the group went to their dorms, Y/N and Hermione were left as the only two in the common room again. Y/N once again tried and failed to convince her to go back to her dorm and once again they resigned to sleep in the common room together, this time however Hermione forced Y/N onto the couch as she took the floor.

“You made this look a lot more comfortable than it is,” he laughed and offered the couch again but she denied still. Like the time before Y/N hesitantly took Hermione’s hand into his own, and she once again didn’t pull away.

Things went on like this for quite a while, the investigation into the letters was seemingly bringing up nothing as the handwriting continued to not be a match to any known Slytherin. Not that Y/N was complaining. He went from having no friends, to having one friend to have more than he could count on one hand.

It was during one of the nights Hermione was destined to sleep on the floor that she said, “I thought it would get more comfortable after a while,” Y/N watched her for a second before talking without thinking.

“We could just share the couch,” He had said it so casually but quickly afterwards realized what he said, and looked up to see Hermione wide-eyed. He immediately regretted his words and tried to excuse himself as he became a stuttering mess before Hermione interrupted him.

“Okay,” He again snapped his eyes to her face to see her looking with a smug grin, though he could also definitely see her face was completely red. A smile came over his features as he pushed himself up against the back of the couch as much as he could. She laid down and tried to keep some distance between them but quickly found that to be a fruitless endeavour as she began to fall before Y/N grabbed her and pulled her back.

“You know, most people would find it weird for a boy and girl to sleep so close when they’re just friends,” his face was smug but also lit ablaze as so much blood rushed to his cheeks at Hermione’s proximity.

“Well,” She started but immediately stopped, muttering something.

“Well?” Y/N asked.

“Well maybe we shouldn’t be just friends,” Hermione muttered slightly louder this time, looking away from him. Y/N’s smug mood dropped slightly at that but quickly came back as he spoke again without thinking properly.

“Oh I see you’re finally sick of me,” Hermione looked at him quickly after he said that, shocked and about to correct him before seeing the smug grin on his face, and her face set into a scowl. “Ohhhh you meant something else?” When Hermione just continued to glare at him his smile dropped as he suddenly was afraid that she hadn’t meant something else. The way her face immediately became concerned reassured him though.

“No of course I’m not,” her tone was soft but also shy, the same as her eyes as she struggled to keep them on him.

“So does that mean you’re asking what I think you’re asking?” Some of his smugness came back but it was much more reserved as he asked.

“Well, that depends on if you’d say yes or not.” She replied finally breaking eye contact again and looking to the side.

He almost went to make another joke but seeing how fragile she looked while asking this stopped him and he took a hold of her hand, “Are you asking if I want to be your boyfriend?” she just nodded, turning back to look at his eyes. “Then yes, yes I will.” Upon saying this her face broke out into the biggest smile he’d ever seen on her as his face started to rival it.