Hermione

Chapter Six - Hold On

Hermione sat waiting for her new friends. She smiled. She didn't care when they called her "mudblood" anymore. She liked it, actually; it gave her a warm feeling of acceptance. Unlike with her old Gryffindor friends, who only called her Hermione and 'Mione.

She heard footsteps coming towards her. She knew they weren't for a long ways away, the corridor was completely empty, except for the few small hallway tables that were lined up against the wall, one of which she was sitting on. She looked towards the footsteps, and inwardly groaned when she saw a head of red hair.

He stopped just a few feet away from her, looking surprised to see her. Hermione glared at him and rolled her eyes. What now?

"Hermione I - " he began, but Hermione cut him off.

"What do you want, Weasley?" she asked, emphasizing his name. "I'm kind of busy right now, so if you could just - "

"Busy doing what?" he shouted. "Hermione, you're acting - "

"No, Ron, you're acting. Now please, just go away and - "

"But Hermione! I came to tell you - "

"An apology won't be accepted. Now, will you please, just go away - "

"It wasn't about me! It's Harry! Why must you also ignore him? He didn't - "

"Call me that rude, and so-like-you-and-Harry statement? I know he didn't defend me. He just sat there and - "

"And listened to me complain about you, I know. He does that with you as well! He'll just sit and listen to you complain about me, and he won't do anything. He - "

"Ronald Weasley! Would you please, leave me alone?" She was now standing, looking up at him, glaring at him, fighting the urge to just slap him. "Who's side do you think Harry is on? He's scared of me, so that leaves - "

"Well, at least I didn't call you a mudblood!"

Hermione gasped. No one had made that name hurt her this much. What was he getting at?

"Why? Who called me a - "

"Someone who is scared of - "

"Harry?" Hermione shrieked. "I know Harry, and I know that he would never - "

"Call you a mudblood? I think he will. Well, your new friends are calling you mudblood, and you don't - "

"Leave me alone! Just because they do doesn't mean - "

"Why can't we call you mudblood? Huh? MUDBLOOD!" Ron yelled. Hermione staggered backwards and Ron turned around and ran away, not looking back or slowing down.

Hermione didn't know what to do. When the Slytherins call her mudblood, she feels like part of their family. When Ron said it, she felt like her world was crashing down on her. Why was he so impossible? If it wasn't for him insulting her, for the ten millionth time, she wouldn't have gotten annoyed with him, and she wouldn't have gotten an interest doing a permanent hex on him, and she wouldn't have agreed to doing to it Harry as well.

She shook her head as she felt tears coming to her eyes. **Stop it, Hermione! Slytherins don't cry! You're one of them now! You can't cry! It shows vulnerability! **

**I'm still new at this! Leave me alone! If I don't cry right now, I think I'll go mad! **

**It's standing here, in an empty hallway, arguing with yourself that's going to make you mad! **

She sighed, and knew she was right. She walked backwards until she hit her back against the wall, and she slid down, rubbing her elbows at the accidental too much force she used with her elbows. She shook her head, and, covering her face in her hands, she sobbed.

Pansy and Millicent walked down the hall, going for Hermione, when they heard a strange sound. A sound they knew only first years and Hufflepuffs made. They looked around, and saw the familiar bushy haired girl that they were looking for, only she wasn't not crying as they had expected her, she was crying.

They ran to her, but stopped right in front of her. Slytherins don't cry! If she continued crying, she would ruin the good Slytherin name as the first girl to cry...the first Slytherin to cry!

Pansy kneeled down beside her. "Mudblood? What's the matter with you?" she asked.

Hermione looked up at her. She was relieved to have a Slytherin call her mudblood. She smiled, but that smile quickly faded.

"I didn't know having a Gryffindor rivalry was so difficult!" Hermione said through her sobs.

Millicent nodded her agreement, and sat down next to her. "Now, first lesson of being a Slytherin: Gryffindor rivalries are tough...NO CRYING!"

"Second rule of being a Slytherin: NO CRYING!" Pansy added.

Hermione wiped away her tears. "I know! But I couldn't help it! Ro-Weasley came up to me and - "

"We'll deal with him later," Millicent said, giving Pansy a quick nod before going back to Hermione. "Your training to become a good Slytherin is almost complete. All you have to do hex either Weasley, Potter, or both. You can't quit now, you can't fail."

"What do you think I should do?" Hermione asked, her eyes pleading.

Millicent smiled. "What you've got to do is finish your Slytherin training. I don't know just how, but it's not over 'till you've won."

Pansy grabbed Hermione's hands and helped her stand up. She smiled, and made hand motions, signaling for Hermione to look outside. There were storm clouds beyond the forest.

"When you see a storm is comin', see lighting part the skies," Pansy sang in a low voice. "There's no place to run, there's terror in your eyes." She grabbed Hermione and looked into her eyes. "What you do then is remember this old thing you heard me say: It's this storm not you that's bound to blow away."

She let go of Hermione, and twirled. "Hold on! Another storm will start to form. Oi, hold on! Don't even ask I don't know why."

Hermione nodded, considering what Pansy said was probably true.

"Girl, hold on to what you know is true. Hold on until you get through. Mud, oh, Mudblood! Hold on..."

Millicent wrapped her arm around Hermione's shoulders, and began leading her towards the library. "When you feel your heart is pounding..." she stopped and pointed at the library doors. "...Fear a devil's at your door. There's time to hide, you're frozen to the floor." She smiled. "What you do then is you force yourself to WAKE UP..." she flashed her hands in front of Hermione's face, causing Hermione to flinch. "...And you say: It's this dream not me, that's bound to go away."

She twirled Hermione so she was now facing away from the library. "Hold on! Another night will start to form. Oi, hold on! Until there's nothing left to try." She made flying motions with her arms. "Girl hold on, there's angels on their way. Hold on and hear them say, 'mud oh mudblood'..."

Pansy grabbed Hermione's arm, and started leading her down to where the Slytherin dungeons were. "And it doesn't even matter, if the danger and the doom..."

Millicent grabbed her other arm. "...Come from up above the garden of love..."

"...Who just come flying at you from across the moon!" Pansy sang.

They both grinned at Hermione and sang, "When you see a man is ragin' and he's jealous and he feels, that you've walked through walls, he's hit the high for years. What you do then is you tell yourself to wait it out and say..."

"It's this day not you, that's bound to go away," Millicent said, bring "me" up to the highest as she could take it, which wasn't very high.

"Girl oh hold on," Pansy sang.

They both hugged Hermione, who was now not crying anymore, and was smiling.

They broke apart and all sang. "It's this day not me that's bound go..." deep breath "...away!" They held "away" for a long time after that, not stopping until they arrived at the door to the Slytherin common room.