Promise

Chapter 6

There were no classes the next day. McGonnagal had given them all a day off to get to know their new housemates better. Hermione got up and dressed quickly. She stood and looked at herself in the mirror for a while. It was strange for her, seeing green where she expected red and silver where she expected gold. But what surprised her most was that she wasn't really all that surprised. The clothes didn't seem alien at all. She felt perfectly at home in them, almost like it was normal for her to be in Slytherin. She shook the thoughts away quickly and made her way to the great hall for breakfast. Once there, she didn't even look towards the Gryfindor table. She simply walked towards Slytherin and quickly spotted Ginny's mane of fire in the crowd. She plopped herself down beside her friend and scanned the table for Dean. She saw him sitting down with a few former Hufflepuffs.

"What's he doing?" she asked, pointing at Dean.

"One of them started crying earlier. He went to help out." was Ginny's answer. Hermione nodded and scanned the crowd again. It was easy to see the divides in all the houses. In Hufflepuff and Gryfindor, it wasn't as bad. Some of the new members had started to integrate in but in Ravenclaw and Slytherin, it was easy to see the line between old and new members. Hermione started forcing down her breakfast. She wasn't really hungry but she figured she would need her energy for later. Mid-bite, she had an idea. She quickly finished her breakfast and told Ginny she would meet her in the Slytherin common room later. Ginny nodded and watched as Hermione rushed out of the great hall

X X X

Draco watched Hermione's retreating back. He then returned his gave to his untouched breakfast and sighed wistfully. Next to him, Blaise looked up from his food and gave him a sympathetic look. Even Pansy, who sat across from him, looked concerned. She shot a look to the Gryfindor table before looking back at Draco.

"Theo'll be fine, Drake. The Gryfindors are all good people. He's one of them now and like us, they take care of their own." she assured him. Draco glanced at the original subject of his worry, before Hermione had invaded his thoughts. Theo seemed to be doing alright but Draco still wished he could help out. Theo had been his friend for years, he felt bad leaving him alone in Gryfindor.

"Draco, mate, Theo's fine. He's smart. He'll get them to trust him in due time. We have our own Gryfindors to worry about." Blaise said glancing at the youngest Weasley. The girls hair alone was enough to make her stand out in a crowd. It was like a flaming torch.

"I volunteer Pansy to deal with that one. Her temper's volatile." Draco commented. Pansy snickered and went back to eating her breakfast. Blaise just rolled his eyes. Draco was being serious but decided to keep that part to himself.

X X X

Hermione walked down to the dungeons. She knew Ginny would be waiting for her so she sped her pace up. When she arrived at the entrance to the common room, she said

"Salazar" and entered. Even inside the common room, the divide between the Slytherins was clear. On one side of the room, the original Slytherins were all seated. They looked like they were having some sort of meeting. On the other side of the room, were the new Slytherins. Dean and Ginny were trying to calm down a few of the younger ones. Hermione went over and helped them out. Their wasn't much to do without classes so all the students were either in their common rooms, dorms or at the library.

Hermione, Dean and Ginny managed to calm down the kids. When they were sure the kids wouldn't start crying again, Hermione pulled the other two aside.

"Here." she said while handing them each a galleon.

"they're enchanted." she told them. They had all used enchanted galleons to communicate during the war so they all knew how it worked. Dean and Ginny both pocketed their coins. Then Ginny looked up and her eyes widened in alarm. Hermione looked in the same direction as Ginny and gasped. Malfoy, Zabini and Parkinson were crossing the room to where all the new Slytherins were. Hermione, Dean and Ginny quickly walked to meet them in the middle of the room. Right between the original and the new Slytherins. Parkinson was at the front with Zabini and Malfoy flanking her on either side. Similarly, Hermione stood with Ginny and Dean on either side of her. It was Pansy who spoke first.

"We don't like it." hermione almost snorted in disgust. Of coarse they didn't like other houses invading their bloody dungeon.

"We don't care where you came from. We don't like things as they are. You're all one of us now, stop being scared and acting like you don't belong. It's bloody annoying." Hermione wanted to slap the other girl. How dare she act like it was their fault things were as they were.

"Stop being scared? You want them to stop being scared? How can you say that when you've spent the last six years making them scared?" she started.

"Most of these kids have been afraid of you since they arrived at Hogwarts. Now they're being forced to be your housemates and you dare tell them not to be scared? When most of you are probably thinking of ways to make life here terrible for them." she ranted. As she was talking, the room had gotten a lot quieter. Everyone was listening in on the exchange. Pansy took a step closer to the other girl and as she did, the tension in the room rose.

"That's right. We scared all of them. We made their lives hell. But you know what? We were just doing what we had to do to survive. Most of us didn't choose which side to fight on. We were forced. So, yes, we were cruel but what we did to you lot was nothing compared to what we went through. We've seen real evil, Granger. So don't you dare judge us." she spat.

Hermione took in the information. There was a ring of truth to the other girls words so hermione knew none of it was a lie. By now everyone in the room was openly listening. Hermione knew that her decision then would affect how she and the other new Slytherins would be treated. She didn't want to make things any harder for them so she held her hand out to Pansy.

"Truce."

Pansy took her hand firmly.

"Truce."