Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters, just this plot.

AN: Dudes… it's fanfiction.

It starts during the Goblet of Fire and it stays pretty true to the book for fourth year, so some of it is from the book. Again. This is fanfiction. I do not know Harry Potter. But some parts I did take from the book because it's fanfiction from the book. After Voldermort is resurrected that's when things will get fun. Please bear with some technical difficulties in the formatting since FF changes mine.

This is a Hermione Granger/Severus Snape fic. But for fourth year, she is with Viktor Krum.

Summary: Ever wonder why Hermione stayed friends with Harry even after all the trouble that followed him? What if Hermione never had a choice? Hermione has a life-debt to pay to Harry Potter and will do whatever she can to pay it back. Harry has no idea. She'll go through the fires of hell to repay him, and he won't even notice. It helps when a spy notices. An unlikely partnership is forged to fulfill their debts.

Subtle Support

The Tri-Wizard tournament had been a great distraction for most of the students, especially with all the visitors in the castle. For some more than others, however it was still buzzing with excitement, after the first task. Hermione though was not exactly pleased, even though it... was interesting and she was allowed the opportunity to meet and talk to new people who came from different schools that specialized in different areas of magic. It was incredibly fascinating. However when it came to people liking her (and her liking them for that matter), and her people skills, she was once again left virtually alone. The fascination wore off quickly after the rudeness shown by the Beauxbaton students, especially from their champion Fleur.

Well that wasn't exactly true, she made friends with Viktor Krum, who took the time to work up the courage to talk to her. A lot of people didn't mind talking to her or talking down to her, so it was nice for a change that someone had to gather their courage to talk to her because they liked her. After all the horrible things that people said about her appearance, it was quite a nice change of pace.

When she thought about it, it was a mix of cute and creepy, but she decided to stick to how cute it was that he would stalk the library just for her. She did find it disconcerting at first since he would always be one table away from her, and she could feel him looking at her constantly. She had sadly originally thought the worst of him. She had let Malfoy get to her when he made it quite clear the Durmstrang only accepted purebloods and they didn't like mudbloods like her. So she wasn't sure if should be leery of him or not for her own safety.

"Hey, Krum? I've noticed you've been watching me for a few days. If you have something mean to say, just say it already." She said, glaring at him, despite the ruckus she could hear coming from his fangirls for her rudeness.

"I haff no mean things to say. Vould you like me to move?" He replied softly, his black eyes glimmered.

"No, but if you're going to sit watching me, please sit closer and actually talk to me. I'll start, I'm Hermione Granger." She held out her small hand to the hulky thin boy.

Viktor took her small hand and shook it with his larger one. His cheeks grew pink at her daintiness even though he could tell she packed a powerful punch.

"I 'm Viktor Kum, it is pleasure to meet you."

Her responding bright smile made the corner of his lip twitch up.

The petite witch sat down at her usual seat, and patted the space in front of her to show him where she wanted him to sit. Viktor wasn't as graceful on land as he was in the air, but she didn't care, so he walked duck-footed towards her and took the offered seat. She sent him another smile before she began to set up to do her homework.

It didn't bother her as much as it used to, and now she at least still had Harry and the rest of the Weasleys and Neville were still talking to her. Although it did anger her every time she saw Ronald or heard his voice, his stupidity was beyond her! To blatantly ignore your so called "best-mate" because you think he lied, even though he's told nothing but the truth? To get upset and jealous over something your "best-mate" has no control over? It wasn't like Harry was going to lie to him to give him an answer he didn't have, that was preposterous!

She took a deep breath to calm herself. He wasn't worth losing her head for, especially when she had to finish her homework. Granted it wasn't due until next week, but she needed the extra time to devote to her own personal studies. Before she came to Hogwarts, the only books she'd technically been allowed were her assigned year's school books, and a gifted book Hogwarts, A History. Her parents had eventually saved up enough money to convert into wizarding money to buy her other books. They had started a personal library for her and she was grateful for all of their support.

They had been to Diagon Alley before meeting the Weasleys but had played it off since they went wearing their normal muggle clothes.

Her parents jumped aboard the Hogwarts Express so to say to stay in Hermione's life. They wanted to blend in without giving it away that they were indeed muggles. So one of their first trips, after making an account with Gringotts and converting their money, they went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. They bought a whole wardrobe for her and half of one for themselves. Her mother absolutely loved how all the robes were fitted and seemed as though she was used to having it done all of her life; a smirk was on her face, directed at her husband the whole time. They quickly made their way to Ollivander's for Hermione's wand. They heard the rules and knew she wasn't to practice magic outside of school, unless she was homeschooled. She had a whole year until she left for Hogwarts. They would make great use of that time.

However she knew that wasn't enough to understand kids her age, she didn't know what they grew up with, what was normal to them. So she devoted her time to studying. Studying a world she would be a part of forever, studying all that she had missed growing up in a muggle home that would help her better understand herself and her culture, even though understanding other people was the same in the magical world as it was with the muggle world.

It helped that she was learning things on her own that other students just didn't bother with. It helped more that she was learning how to make her own spells instead of just learning what other people made.

She didn't parrot back textbooks ask Professor Snape liked to claim, it was just how she understood it. She didn't show initiative and creativeness in potions because she didn't have the ingredients to experiment with ahead of time or in her free time. It was hard enough to get the ingredients for the Polyjuice potion the first time and now she was under a sturdy eye whenever she got ingredients because she was a known thief.

Which wouldn't have happened if cat hair wasn't so similar to human hair. She still had slightly large canines from the accident. They weren't able to be fixed the way her front teeth were fixed from Malfoy's stupid hex, which was a silent miracle that she didn't have to go through with braces like her parents were hoping for. She did use a glamour on her teeth twice a day so people didn't think she was a vampire. It became part of her normal routine (that her parents teasingly reminded her in every letter).

She also retained a few other cat like traits that she benefited from, mostly enhanced senses that took her some time to get used to, which is what took such a long time during her weeks' long recovery. It took 1 week to brew the antidote, 1 week of constant doses, and the rest of the time was desensitizing. Luckily for her, her pupils went back to being round, even though some of the gold (and surprisingly green) coloring still flecked her irises.

One feature she did not benefit from though was her relationship with certain magical creatures. They all seemed to sense something not human in her, and depending on their intelligence whether to deem her a threat or not. It didn't help that some of them were already skittish when it came to magical folk. So she had to be extra careful around them. Although cats and kneazles seemed to like her more than ever now, which is how she ended up with Crookshanks.

He was known as a menace, but to her he was loving, devoted, and extremely trustworthy companion. Whom allowed her to baby talk him when they figured no one was nearby and let her talk about her worries and frustrations when no one else would. It was hard being a girl and having two strictly male friends who got uncomfortable when having to face anything that was strictly female.

Ron was a stereotypical guy if she ever met one, straight out of a cartoon, which baffled her considering his brothers and his father. He cared little for his classes and grades, had almost no academic ambition, was over the top in love with quidditch, and ate like he was bottomless pit (although that one she pinned back towards his ever loving house-witch mother Mrs. Weasley).

Harry was not a stereotypical guy, let alone wizard, but he was showing to be able to have the typical teenager brooding stage. She was not looking forward to it, but she would stick by him through it and could hopefully laugh about it later. He was kinder (usually) and more sensitive when it came to certain things, however he was also obtuse about most things. Sadly he was also more emotional, which she expected was from his poor upbringing at not really being allowed to be himself at home. The young witch figured it was because of his new freedom to actually be allowed to do things without harsh corporal punishment. She often wished that her parents could give his family all root canals.

She also had a sneaking suspicion that Harry didn't tell them everything about his home life and that it was worse than he was saying. She would bet her first book that he was beat by that oaf of an uncle of his. She of course didn't say anything with the mindful tact that Harry wouldn't appreciate it in the least. He was set up with an image and pick and chose which of them he liked best. If he wanted to portray that he was fine and his home life was poor but decent, let him. Most of the magical community didn't care about him, Harry, but rather "The Boy Who Lived". The mirage versus the reality, Hermione may live in a world where magic did exist, but she could do without smokes and screens. She always preferred the real thing, even if reality was gritty, it wasn't going to change just because you decided to remain ignorant. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck. There were ways to be sure, but there was no going around reality, even with magic.