To Love Your Enemy

Chapter 1: Into the School

It was her first day at Hogwarts, and she was soooo excited. She couldn't wait to get her hands on all the books she knew would be waiting for her there, she was greatly anticipating learning all there was about magic. When she had received her letter she had originally waved it off as a hoax, but soon after it had started to make more and more sense. As a young child she had often made things happen if she wished really hard, even now she had things happen every so often. Maybe this school wasn't just some scam after all, maybe it would be just the place where she could learn all the answers to her many questions, maybe this was the place where she would fit in, and just maybe this was the place she would finally be welcomed. So with those thoughts in mind it didn't take her long to pack and soon she was was ready to go. It hadn't taken her long to convince her parents, they had always known there was something special about her and they wished her the best as they watched the train leave the station.

This was going to be a new beginning, she was sure of it. Suddenly she felt a shiver run down her spine and she could have sworn she had felt someone watching her. It was probably nothing but now she was left with a sense of foreboding. Something was going to happen this year, she could just feel it. Out of all these feeling though, she knew one thing was for certain, Hogwarts was definitely going to change her, she just hoped it was for the better.

Time skip to halfway through their first year:

She is heading towards her next class which was Denfense against the dark arts when right before she entered the doorway she was suddenly assaulted by mud and worms raining down on her. She wiped what she could from her face so she could see and just like she suspected she watched two Slytherins head in the classroom while laughing. How'd she get in this mess you ask, well the answers simple really, it all started on the first day of classes.

She fondly remembered it's her fourth period class so she had pretty well figured out where to sit and all that. It had seemed only a little strange when everyone but the Slytherins would sit mixed with each other but the snakes refused to make any sort of contact with everyone. As she had been thinking about the odd behavior of the Slytherins the teacher had decided to take that moment to show up and quickly made his way to the front of the classroom. "He-hello everyone, I am P-professor Q-Quirrell. N-Now I would like to start out with a few q-questions to see how much you already k-know." He looks down and she swears she sees a worried expression briefly cross his face before going back to its usual timid appearance. "D-Do any of you k-know what a B-Bowtruckle is?"

Hermione's hand immediately shot up into the air like lightning, this one was easy. The professor looked around the classroom for a minute to see if anyone else knew but wasn't surprised to see a bunch of confused or blank faces staring back at him.

Finally he sighed and looked down at his sheet that had the names of everyone in the class. "A-ah miss G-Granger is it? Do you p-perhaps know what a B-Bowtruckle is?"

She decides to respond with a smile as she eagerly says the answer, "Yes sir, a Bowtruckle is immensely difficult to spot, being a hand-sized, insect eating, tree dweller with long sharp fingers (two on each hand), brown eyes, and a general appearance of a flat-faced little stickman made of bark and twigs, which serves well as camouflage in its natural habitat. (A/N: Harry Potter Wikipedia)

By the time she was finished everyone was looking at her with wide eyes including the teacher.

Suddenly the professor hunched over with his hands clutching his head, he stayed like that only for a moment though before whispering something that sounded suspiciously like "This girl?" Before he nodded and rose with a huge smile on his face. "V-Very good m-miss Granger, ten points to G-Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindors all cheered and high-fived each other while the Hufflepuffs just smiled, the Ravenclaws glared briefly or ignored her, and the Slytherins well they just looked ticked. They didn't like that she was an annoying smart muggleborn that seemed to be one upping them and had all decided to bully her whenever they could. This has continued all the way until even now. She sighed as she walked into the classroom dripping with mud and worms.

She didn't know any cleaning spells at this point, she hadn't really thought she'd need to just yet but apparently after everything they've done it would seem she really needed to learn. She didn't want to sit down and she was to humiliated to stay in there any longer, finally she decided to skip, this was incredibly unlike her but right now she just felt like she needed to get away. She passed the professor as she ran and since she was so upset. Since she went by so fast she hadn't caught the troubled expression on his face as he had quickly taken in her current state. He knew he needed to let her go though, it wouldn't end well for him if he stopped her from meeting HIM. No he would mark her present and continue on as if she was still there, HE would most likely be furious though, he could already feel the pain that accompanied HIS anger.

Those students are lucky he couldn't be discovered, though he may not be able to harm them to badly without raising suspicion he couldn't just let a crime against HER go unpunished. He feared that if he didn't do anything then his master definitely would, for now though he needed to get to class, he was sure his lord would figure out who was responsible quickly enough and have him act accordingly.

Back with Hermione:

She was running and running, she wasn't sure where she was going but it didn't really matter, all she cared about was getting away. Before long she had made it to the seventh floor without realizing it (those tricky staircases). She finally broke down and stated to cry as she was able to think about things a bit more. She ended up pacing back and forth as she thought about those Slytherins jerks, the whole lot of them were prats especially that Draco. Oh yes Draco Malfoy, her number one enemy, he was horrid and cruel, the boy didn't know the meaning of the word stop. He would just keep coming at her from different angles, always finding new ways to hurt or humiliate her. She hated him so much! She felt so trapped here, it was supposed to be her home not her prison! She needed to get away! She needed a safe place where she could be happy, far away from Draco and those nasty Slytherins. As she was thinking she didn't notice the door that had mysteriously revealed itself until she was on the verge of tears again. As she was about to let loose and cry again she heard footsteps approaching, she wasn't sure who it was but she knew she couldn't be caught out of class like this. She quickly pushed the doors open and ran in.