Through the Looking Glass ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 17 ~ Changing Houses

Albus, Severus and Minerva sat in the Headmaster’s office. Minerva’s face was tight, pinched and disapproving as Snape looked soberly at the Headmaster.

”I don’t agree, Albus. Sending Miss Granger to Slytherin house is like sending a lamb to the wolves. I don’t care what the students ‘agreed’ on. Miss Granger would be an instant target in that house! I am totally against this,” the witch stated firmly, narrowing her eyes at Snape, who was completely unaffected.

Albus looked from Minerva to Snape and back again.

”Headmaster, you must also take into consideration the necessity to recreate the situation under which Miss Granger arrived here. She must be in her proper house for the conditions to be favorable. As a Slytherin in Gryffindor house, she is not where she should be. The exchange won’t be able to be made,” the Potions master purred.

”You don’t know that for fact!” Minerva exclaimed.

Snape looked at her coolly.

”No, I don’t, Minerva, but the fact is she has not seen her counterpart in the mirror of Erised even once, although it can be deduced that our Miss Granger had to be in her room at night. The time frames are the same as far as we know. Perhaps she will have better luck in Slytherin house, provided our Hermione has been placed in Gryffindor on the other side. It is worth a try in any case.”

”But, she’ll be targeted in your house, Severus,” Minerva said again, her eyes pleading as they turned on Albus.

Snape frowned at her.

”Minerva, you are acting as if this is the Miss Granger you are familiar with. I assure you, this Hermione Granger is no lamb and no victim. She has expressed to me on several occasions her desire to be switched to my house. She is miserable in Gryffindor.”

”How could she be? Everyone treats her nicely,” Minerva responded. “Much nicer than she’d be treated in Slytherin. She’d be ostracized.”

Snape looked at Albus.

”Headmaster, the final decision is up to you, but I hope you’ll take what I’ve said into consideration. Keeping her in Gryffindor will most likely keep her in this universe, and I have a feeling that our Miss Granger is faring far worse in her universe than this one is in ours. There might not be anything left of our Miss Granger to retrieve,” the dark wizard said soberly.

Albus sighed.

”All right, Severus. I’ll consider it. But for now, Miss Granger will stay in Gryffindor house. There haven’t been any incidents between her and the other students, so apparently she is making out there. Yet, you do bring up an interesting point about recreating the conditions. You might be right. I’ll have to consider this. I’ll let you know my decision in a few days.”

Minerva looked at Snape smugly.

”Very well, Headmaster. Thank you for your time,” the wizard said, rising and departing the office.

Gryffindors always stuck together, and Albus was a Gryffindor. Well, there was more than one way to skin a lion.

Snape held Hermione after class that afternoon and told her what the Headmaster had to say.

”What? Oh, gods damn it!” the witch cursed.

Snape studied her for a moment.

”Albus stated that there have been no ‘incidents’ in Gryffindor between you and the other students . . . “

Hermione looked back at him, and slowly gave a rather nasty smile.

”I’ll see you later, Professor,” she said, hoisting her backpack on her shoulder and quickly leaving the class room.

Snape smirked after her.

He had no doubt she would.

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One thing that could be said for this Hermione Granger . . . when she did something, she did it big.

At supper in the Great Hall, all her housemates were gathered around her, trying to make small talk, offering her the tastiest foods and generally smothering her. She sat there stiffly as they crowded about. Her hexing Blaise was the reason for all the adoration. Her brown eyes shifted to Snape, who was sitting at the dais.

Minerva was watching the melee, smiling and pointing her students out to Albus proudly.

”Does that look like an unhappy, unappreciated witch to you? Her housemates adore her,” the witch gushed. “She certainly does not belong in Slytherin.”

Suddenly, a huge blast came from the Gryffindor table, turning it and the benches over, dumping all the students with the exception of Hermione on the floor.

”Leave me alone, you sniveling idiots! I fucking hate this house!” she screeched at the startled students scrambling to their feet. “I’d rather be locked in the dungeons than spend another second with you do-gooders. Now, back off or someone’s going to the infirmary!”

Hermione stepped over the bench and stormed out of the Great Hall amid total silence. Snape resumed eating his meal.

If that little stunt didn’t get her out of Gryffindor house, nothing would.

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”You’ll be singing another tune once you’re in Slytherin house,” an irate Minerva McGonagall said to Hermione as she packed up a few of Hermione’s things.

”Yeah,” she said under her breath, “probably ‘Happy Days are Here Again.’”

”None of your cheek, young lady. Really, attacking your housemates in that manner. I hope the hundred points you lost makes you think,” Minerva snapped at her.

Oh, it made Hermione think all right. It made her think that Minerva was a bloody idiot. She was so enraged by Hermione’s conduct, that she deducted the points before she moved to Slytherin house. Well, once she counted the gems, she’d realize her mistake and have to set about restoring points to Gryffindor. Hermione smirked as she hoisted her bag on her shoulder.

“Well, I’m out,” the witch said, walking past a scowling Minerva and out the door.

She passed through the sullen group of Gryffindors in the Common Room without a word.

Harry started after her, then stopped. She didn’t want to be there, and to be honest, she wasn’t the Hermione he knew. It was best to let her go, although she was going to have a hard time in Slytherin house.

Hermione stepped through the exit and was met by Snape, whose black eyes glittered down at her.

”Ready for relocation, Miss Granger?” he purred at her.

”Since my first day here,” she responded, falling in step with the wizard.

They walked in silence until they made it down to the dungeon corridor and stopped in front of the wall that hid the entrance to Slytherin house.

”I expect you in my office after you settle in,” Snape said to her in a low voice, ready to collect his pound of flesh.

Hermione laughed.

”You have to be kidding me. I have to establish myself in the pecking order first. That’s going to take at least one night, Professor. You’re going to have to wait,” she told him.

Snape scowled at her. The little calculating bitch.

”I met my end of the bargain,” he hissed at her. “You owe me.”

Hermione shrugged.

”I’m going to follow through on my end, but this is far more important than letting you dip your wand. After I deal with my housemates and reach an understanding with them, I’ll deal with you. That’s how it is, Professor. Take it or leave it,” she replied, giving him a very annoying little smile.

Snape’s eyes narrowed.

”It’s not wise to goad me, Miss Granger,” he said to her darkly.

Hermione snorted.

”Oh, I hope you’re not talking sexual payback, Professor. Really, I’ve been around. You don’t scare me. I can handle whatever you throw at me,” she said, running a finger up his chest, then poking it.

Snape didn’t respond, but said the password to let her in. He started to follow, but the witch turned, pressing her hand against his chest, stopping him cold.

”I’d rather enter Slytherin on my own. Alone. That way, anyone who has a problem with me is more likely to let it out. With you present, they’ll hold back. I want to see who I have to face down. I know that idiot Blaise, but I’m sure there are others. I’ll see you tomorrow, Professor. If all goes well, you’ll be plugging away by nightfall.”

Snape watched as the witch walked into the long, damp corridor, then into the Common Room.

He stared as the door closed, then turned away, heading for his office in a terrible mood. He had wanted her tonight.

No matter. Tomorrow would be soon enough. He’d see just how much he ‘threw at her’ she could catch, the cheeky little wench.

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Many of the Slytherins were in the common room, Draco sitting on a couch with Pansy perched next to him fiddling with his tie, Blaise surrounded by sympathetic Slytherins, still raging about “that Mudblood.” Goyle and Crabbe were watching Millicent Bulstrode and Tracey Davis play a game of wizarding chess, and a few of the younger students were seated at tables, studying and playing cards.

Hermione walked in, glanced around and headed for the female dorm, without saying a word to anyone. All sound stopped cold as the curly-haired witch walked through as if she always belonged there.

Technically, she did.

”It’s her!” Blaise said, standing up. Draco stiffened as well, Pansy scowling at him as he looked after Hermione.

”She’s got some nerve just walking through here like that,” Pansy breathed, then looked over at Millicent. “Come on, Millicent. Let’s make her feel . . . welcome.”

”I’ll come with you,” Blaise said.

Slytherin house didn’t have any traps or tricks to keep wizards and witches separated. They could enter each other’s dorms and rooms at will, and did so quite openly.

Millicent stood up. She was no pixie. Black-haired and strong-jawed, she was a big witch. Her face was rather masculine, and a few hairs sprouted from her chin. Her shape was squared rather than curvaceous, her shoulders quite broad.

”Let’s go,” she said in her husky voice, walking past Pansy and down the corridor that led to the rooms, followed by Pansy, Blaise and several other Slytherins. Draco brought up the rear, so he could be the first to get the hell out of there.

Hermione’s room was the last one. She had the door open and was hanging up her robes.

”You can’t just walk in here like you own the place, you Mudblood,” Pansy snarled, pushing Millicent forward.

Hermione continued hanging up her clothing, not responding as her housemates gathered outside. Her wand was lying on her bed a little distance away. Blaise saw this and immediately pulled his wand, shouldering to a position in front of the door, moving Millicent’s bulk aside. His face twisted nastily.

“Crucio!” the black wizard cried, firing the illegal hex at the witch, really intending to make her pay.

Suddenly, he screamed, as did Millicent, Pansy and the others clustered around the door as the hex rebounded and covered them, Blaise so wracked with pain he was unable to break it as they writhed. Finally, Draco ran forward, reached in and snatched the seizuring wizard’s wand out of his hand, ending the horrible curse.

The Slytherins lay on the floor in a shuddering pile, stinking of urine and feces since their bodies lost all control under the pain. Hermione finished putting her shoes in the bottom of the wardrobe, turned and did her best to look surprised as her housemates struggled to get up from the floor, their faces pale and cheeks wet with tears.

”Oh, did you all want to see me? You should have knocked. I have a repelling spell on my door. But . . . I guess you figured that out, didn’t you?” she said sweetly.

Hermione approached the door, frowned, then waved her hand under her nose as the scent of their loosened bowels hit her. She looked at Draco for a moment, who stood there unsullied, holding Blaise’s wand in his hand. He hadn’t been part of this. Smart wizard. She gave him a slight smile before turning her brown eyes on the pile of students trying to get up. Draco shook his head slightly, not able to believe her nerve.

”Phew!” Hermione exclaimed. “I knew this house was full of stinkers . . . I just didn’t have any idea how much you’d all stink. So, if you don’t mind . . .”

Hermione slammed the door in their faces, walked across the room and broke out in hysterical laughter, falling on her bed and rolling around worse than the Crucio’d Slytherins had. Oh, this was rich, and oh so easy. These Slytherins were far less intelligent than those in her own world.

For their sakes, she hoped they’d learn quickly. No one would be able to say anything to her. Blaise had thrown the curse, and anyway, the Cruciatus Curse was very illegal here. If anything was said, more than likely the wizard would be arrested.

As the Slytherins pulled themselves together, taking out their wands and shakily Scourgifying themselves, they could hear the witch in the room cracking up and sullenly made their way back down the corridor, shamed.

She had bested them without lifting her wand. And now, she had the incident as ammo. She could make them the laughingstocks of Hogwarts if she told anyone about it, and Blaise could be picked up by the Aurors. Professor Snape could only protect them so much, and even he couldn’t do anything if an Unforgivable was used. Lying wouldn’t help either. In the case of Unforgivables, Veritaserum was used during interrogation. Enough students were affected that Blaise would surely be found out.

She had all the blackmail material she needed. Blaise would be forced to back off now, and her housemates knew she knew how to protect herself. What kind of spell blocked a Cruciatus Curse though? Nothing they knew of. Defensive spells were much stronger in this Hermione’s world. The Imperius Curse could be blocked as well, although the Killing Curse was still unstoppable.

The aching students limped back to the Common Room, those who didn’t follow looking at them quizzically. The stench still lingered and those affected headed for their rooms to shower, not discussing what happened at all.

Draco watched all of them go, especially Pansy, stood there in indecision for a moment, then walked back down the corridor to the witch’s room. He stood there a moment, then knocked.

Hermione sat up in the bed, picked up her wand and approached the door. She opened it, and cocked her head when she saw Draco standing there.

”You want something?” she asked him, her brown eyes drifting over the blonde wizard.

”Yes,” Draco said, clearing his throat a little. “I just wanted to welcome you to Slytherin house.”

Hermione studied him, then let out a little laugh.

”I noticed you weren’t crowding my door with the rest of them,” she said to the wizard.

”I knew better. I learn fast,” he responded.

Hermione gave him another measuring look.

”You do, do you, Draco? That’s interesting. Very interesting.”

They looked at each other silently for a few moments, then Hermione started to close the door.

”I’ve still got some settling in to do,” she said to him.

”No! No, wait. Um . . . I just wanted to say that . . . that if you need anything . . . you can just ask me,” Draco said quickly.

”I can, Draco? Anything?” Hermione purred, teasing him. It was easy to tell he had wood for her.

”Yes, anything,” he replied, swallowing a bit at the look in her eyes.

”Too bad you’re a Pureblood. You really are beneath me,” she told him.

Draco thought he wouldn’t mind being beneath her if he couldn’t get on top of her.

”But, we’ll see if I decide I need you for anything. Now, good night,” Hermione said, closing the door in his face.

Draco stood there for a moment, then slowly walked back to the Common Room, hoping she would decide she needed him for something. Anything.

He wanted to fuck her, even more now that he saw just what a bad girl she was. She wasn’t at all like the original Granger, who he was attracted to, but knew he’d never get his hands on. But this one, she was bad enough to give him a shag if she chose to.

He just had to make sure she chose to. The hell with Pansy Parkinson.

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A/N: lolol. Go Hermione. What an entrance. I didn’t want her to duel them when she arrived, but I wanted her to get them in a smart way. Placing a repelling spell on her open doorway was perfect. Draco, you little suckup. Lol. Maybe I’ll work him in, some way. Of course, there’d have to be a face-off between Hermione and Pansy first. Snape’s nice and pissed. Ought to be some interesting lemons between these two. And what about our “good” Hermione? She’s facing the other Snape. Will she go through with it, or back out at the last minute? She’s no Slytherin, and guilt only goes so far. We’ll just have to see, won’t we? Thanks for reading. ***