Persephone Rising

"My Hermione"

It sent a shiver down her spine every time she thought about it. She had written back to that one, properly this time, not just out to bait him. He had shown her power that she never thought she would have and it was utterly intoxicating. The books he gave her seemed to call to her. She read the biographies of the ancient Warlocks and found commonalities that made her even more certain she was called to this. Tom was increasingly pleased with her progress, she hadn't tried many spells yet but all that she had were successful.

Dark Magic wasn't all that she had been taught, in one volume 'Wicked Witches-reality not fiction' she read how in 1387 the council of Oaksmere had ruled Dark Magic to be 'any spell or charm which if misused will cause grievous damage to persons or property' That definition had stuck, it had been added to and qualified over the centuries with various degrees of severity being identified and categorised but essentially that was still the definition. The book was written as a critique of this definition and its points about the potential misuse of any magic meaning all magic could potentially be banned proved a powerful argument. Especially when she thought back over some of Neville's more comical accidents.

Destiny was also a large factor in determining how proficient you could become in the Dark Arts. The widespread introduction of Muggle-borns into the wizarding community around the 1800s corresponded almost exactly with a sharp increase in the number of spells being labelled Dark Arts. Muggles didn't generally have the purity of magic or aptitude to cope with the strongest magic so they were packed away and forbidden to everyone, pureblood and muggle-born alike.

Most purebloods could handle a large amount of Dark Magic if instructed properly but even they could not control primal energies unless they were destined for it. People who could wield the Raw Magics of nature and emotion were rare and gifted indeed. They were also dangerous; if the control was not complete then devastation could be wreaked over whole continents. To avoid those un-called to this destiny from attempting to master it everything that could be done was done to make people fear these magics. But then some were called; some could maintain that perfect control over pure magic.

She remembered back to her conversation with the sorting hat, the only other thing to have mentioned the potential Tom had said she had. It had meant it as well; she had probably been the only student to be told she could go anywhere. It had given her only a few moments to choose.

"Not Ravenclaw, I'll get teased for being in the boffin house."

"What about Hufflepuff?" Prompted the hat.

"No," she had gasped in utter horror, "I wouldn't ever fit in there. I like my fun too much..."

"Well in that case it's between Gryffindor and Slytherin. You are a girl of opposites Miss Granger. You have a lot more power than I have seen in many years and yet a courage to do what others cannot."

"I think I'd like..."

"GRYFFINDOR" finished the hat.

So a Gryffindor she became. She hated the Slytherins just like the rest of her friends. It was expected of her. She always took time to respect the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs; after all she had almost been one. But ever since one Tom Riddle had burst into her life a few months ago she was beginning to regret her choice. If she had been in Slytherin then maybe...

She had decided that once she returned to school she would make an effort to be nicer to the Slytherins. They weren't all like Draco Malfoy or Crabbe and Goyle. In fact she had never really taken the time to speak to some of the people in her own year just because of a house assignment. Pausing from her deep reflection Hermione looked up into the large mirror on her dressing table.

She was still the same on the outside. There was no point giving away her profound inner transformation by changing the way she looked, at least not until it became necessary. If one looked closer they might detect a steely aura about her that, although it had always been there, was now much closer to the surface. Hermione was leaving her academic soul behind and embracing a new hunger and zeal for knowledge that would give her the power she was born to have.

Right now she needed a spell. It would be in one of the many tomes and crumbling volumes Tom had entrusted her with. He had devoted many secret hours to her tutelage since she had taken those first uncertain, shaky steps in the first nights of the holiday. He had constantly emphasised secrecy.

'If secrecy is not maintained then you will not be able to accomplish your goals. People fear you because they cannot do what you can, you must hide until you can overcome their fear'

One of the first things he had taught her was how to conceal things cleverly and well.

'Hide things where people don't normally think to look, be creative.'

At a glance her dressing table was perfectly normal, and her mirror behaved as all mirrors do. It reflected the makeup, the toiletries, combs and books that were heaped upon its surface. Though if one looked longer than a glance then one might realise that some of the objects in the reflection did not appear in the objects on the dresser. The mirror reflected things that weren't there.

Reaching toward the mirror she pressed gently of the apparently solid surface. The smooth skin of glass rippled and twisted as she reached her arm through it, feeling blindly around the magically created cavity on the other side. Her fingers brushed over leather and coarse paper. She held it up and one of the books reflected in the mirror rose up apparently unaided. Gripping the book tightly in her hand she pulled her arm out the mirror and began to read.

Stuffing her trunk into the back of the car Hermione slid into the back seat and stared as her home faded into the distance. In her trunk was Tom's mirror and in her pocket was a bag of marbles, the centres of which looked amusingly like books. She could hear Harry and Ron now. ' That's just so like you Herm! What next? Book pattern folder binders?' No one suspected a thing. She intended to keep it like that.

The train ride back was mercifully uneventful. There were very few older students and even fewer Slytherin students, they were mostly wizard born and their parents were jumpy in light of Voldemort's recent return. Eventually Hermione located Verity Greengrass sitting alone in the Prefects compartment.

"Greengrass." She said uncertainly at the sullen girl who sat slumped in the corner.

"What do you want Granger? Go bother someone else."

"I'm staying here whether you want me to or not. I have a right to be here, you don't, so I suggest you keep quiet, that is unless you want reporting." She added silkily.

She cursed herself inwardly as the Slytherin looked at her in disbelief. So much for new relations something inside her commented wryly. However to her utter surprise Verity smiled.

"Pull up a pew Gryffindor, it's going to be a long ride."

"Thanks Slytherin."

Verity snorted quietly and settled back to staring out the window. She looked a lot less sullen now though. It hadn't come off as badly as she'd thought it might, she'd have to share her revelation of how to make Slytherins behave with the rest of her house.

Hagrid met the returning students at the station. Shepherding the crowd towards the waiting carriages, he separated the older students sending a few to each car so they could keep an eye on some of the more excitable youngsters. Two of Hermione's charges were second year Hufflepuffs. They began nudging each other and whispering as soon as she sat down. She looked their way curiously only to find they went bright red and looked at the floor. This routine carried on for another five minutes before he patience finally waned.

"What?" She snapped, sounding a little harsher than she had intended too.

The braver of the two girls managed to explain through the stammered apologies and giggles that they really liked Harry. To her great annoyance they also thought she was his girlfriend. She set them straight quickly enough. People made the same mistake so often that she had the denial pre-prepared. It was getting more and more unlikely that she and Harry would ever get together though. Getting to know Tom was her first real experience of what a true friendship could be. He gave her every chance to be herself. He didn't act like a child or tease her about reading. Harry did, he could be a real git sometimes.

Speak of the devil...she thought as she was descended on by two bat like creatures in black Hogwarts robes one caught her up in a fierce hug as if trying to attach himself to her forever.

"Come on, it hasn't been that long!" She laughed as she untangled herself.

"I dunno Herm, I just get nervous these days, what with You Know Who and all that's going on."

"Aww Ron, you do make me blush, anyway how were the rest of the holidays?"

"Oh so-so, the Ferret gave me and Harry some trouble when he found us wandering in the depths of the dungeons, we were looking for Fabian Hawksight's cat, it got lost down there... we had permission from McGonagall," he added hastily, seeing a well known look in Hermione's eyes.

"But he wouldn't let it drop," chipped in Harry, "he got Snape out of bed to report us."

"Who then look five points off Slytherin for bothering him over nothing when we showed him the note. You should have seen Malfoy's face."

The two of them erupted into mutual sniggering just as they entered the Great Hall and sat down. She had filed the incident away and was right in the middle of singing the school song when a thought suddenly popped into her head. Why had Malfoy been in the deep dungeons anyway? There was no need for students to be in that part of the castle during the holidays, not even Slytherins. Malfoy's father was a Death Eater; she knew that without having to ask Tom. Perhaps his son hadn't been looking for trouble; perhaps he'd been trying to avoid more trouble by distracting Harry and Ron from something else.

After the feast and away from the hubbub of the Gryffindor common room she made sure the extra-curricular books she had brought with her would be safe. Now that she had time to think she also began to puzzle over how she was going to solve the riddle of Malfoy wandering around the dungeon. If she put her theory forward to Harry and Ron that would get her the cloak and a way to follow him but it would also mean getting Harry and Ron involved and that would mean Malfoy would be caught. She could try taking the cloak but she had no way to sneak into Harry's dorm and steal it at midnight without disturbing someone, added to this was the difficulty of returning the cloak afterwards.

There was only one other option; the dark magics were alive with a wealth of inventive spells rejected for one reason or another. There had to be an invisibility spell of some form or another within the brown, ink stained volumes that would allow her to move about unseen without the use of a demi-guise cloak. Pausing for a moment she mentally scanned her timetable. The girl's dorm would be free every Wednesday and Friday afternoons when the others were at Divination. It would be the perfect time to pull off some illicit studying. That was it then, things were planned out, time to socialise. In a week or so she would settle her curiosity once and for all.