The Slytherin Queen (Year One)

Prologue

"I'm here Professor! I'm here!" She yelled, breathing heavily.

Professor McGonagall glared at her. "Well, Miss- what is your name?"

"Granger," Granger panted.

"Well, Miss Granger, I'll have you know that I do not tolerate lateness in this class. Especially when you're so late that you've nearly missed the entire class period! Now since this is the first day, I find myself a bit more lenient than usual but this kind of behavior is still not acceptable!" Scolded McGonagall.

Granger looked down, humiliated. "I'm sorry Professor, but I had to stay in the dungeons and scrape out my cauldron. Professor Snape forced me to clean it out before I got to this class."

McGonagall frowned, not buying it. "Well you see, in my classroom we do not tolerate liars. Professor Snape cleans out all cauldrons using magic. I highly doubt he would make you clean yours out by hand. Now class, you are about to see what happens when a student does not tell the truth in my classroom. Miss Patil, will you go and fetch Professor Snape? And quickly please too."

Parvati Patil practically ran out the door, and reappeared a minute later with Professor Snape behind her.

"You needed me, Minerva?" said Snape, eyeing the class.

"Yes, Severus. This girl," McGonagall pointed to Granger, "Claims that she was forty five minutes late to class because you had made her scrape out her cauldron before she could head to class. Is this true?"

Snape sneered. "Only partly. If she told you I forced her to do that, she is lying. I gave her the option of cleaning it in detention, but she chose this option instead. The reason I had her scrape out her cauldron was one, as a punishment for her outburst in my class, despite several warnings. And two, because that was possibly the worst crafted potion I'd seen all day. It was cemented into her cauldron and I doubt that even a nice scourgify could have thoroughly cleansed it. In fact it took her over half an hour to clean it completely, then she ran out of my room screaming like a lunatic."

Us Slytherins burst out laughing at Snape's remark. Granger however, appeared to be at her breaking point. Her bottom lip was trembling and an ocean of tears were welled up in her eyes.

"Thank you Severus," said Professor McGonagall. Snape nodded and stalked out of the room, glaring at Granger on his way out. "Granger, you have lost your house 30 points. 10 for your inexcusable tardiness, and 20 for lying to a teacher! You may go take that seat there, in front of Mr Malfoy and Miss Gaunt."

"Oh, Professor!" I said, holding up my needle. "I did it."

"Nicely done, Miss Gaunt. 5 points to Slytherin." Said McGonagall.

"P-professor?" Said Granger tentatively.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Miss Granger." Said McGonagall coldly.

Granger blushed and raised her hand. "Yes, Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall spat, looking over her spectacles.

"What are we doing?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Speak up Miss Granger, we can't hear you if you're going to speak like a mouse," said the Professor.

Granger winced. "S-sorry, what are we doing?" She said louder.

McGonagall sighed. "The rest of the class is working on transfiguring matches into needles. But before you even begin, you must copy down this page of notes."

Granger gulped and looked at the board. She reached into her bag for parchment, and then gasped. "Oh no! P-professor I-I've left my notes in the dungeon."

This appeared to be more than Professor McGonagall could take. "MISS GRANGER! ARE YOU INCAPABLE OF DOING ANYTHING RIGHT TODAY? JUST BORROW PARCHMENT FROM SOMEONE!"

Granger wilted and turned around tentatively. "Atria? Could I borrow some parchment?"

I smirked and pulled out a bit of special parchment from my bag, handing it to her with a fake smile plastered across my face. "Of course, here's some."

Draco nudged me and shot me a 'What the bloody hell was that all about?' look. "I'll tell you later," I whispered.

Granger copied down her notes with super speed and began to try and change her match for the last few minutes of class. All of a sudden an excited shout drew all attention to her. "Professor! My match is pointy now."

Professor McGonagall held back a snort. "Congratulations Miss Granger, you've made your match, pointy."