Through the Ages

Summary: They have been enemies ever since they first met, and as opposite as black and white. He hates her because she is a Mudblood, she hates him because he makes her life miserable. But can a change of scenery also change their minds?

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Any characters you recognise are not mine...but I own the rest of the characters.

Chapter 1

It was a lovely crisp morning that greeted Hermione Granger, Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. She smiled, looking forward to her first day of classes. Even though this year was going to be the most challenging year of all, Hermione relished the challenge and was determined to keep her position as top of the grade.

She lazily got out of her four poster bed in the Head Girl's room and got dressed. Pulling on her robes she walked over to the bathroom that she shared with Harry Potter, the Head Boy and her best friend.

"Morning Harry." She said brightly, seeing him already there brushing his teeth.

He lifted the hand that wasn't holding his brush in a wave. Then he rinsed and spat.

"Good morning Hermione!" He replied with a smile, "You're up early."

"Yeah, I couldn't wait for classes to start so I decided to get up early and read some more of the textbooks." She answered. Harry looked like he couldn't decide if she was joking or not.

"Err..."

"Don't worry Harry! I was just kidding." She assured him with a grin, "What're you doing up early?"

"Oh, I was just working out some game plans for Quidditch. I wanted to get them done early so that the team could get into practicing straight away." He replied. Harry was the Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor.

"Good on you, Harry." Hermione said amusedly, "We better kick Slytherin's ass again this year."

"Oh don't you worry 'Mione, we definitely will, even if I die trying."

"I'll hold you to that. Now move over, I need to wash my face." said Hermione, shooing Harry out of the bathroom.

"Alright then, I'll wait for you in our common room."

Hermione closed the door and looked in the mirror. Staring back at her was a confident young woman with a sprinkle of freckles across her nose, chocolate coloured eyes with flecks of gold, perfectly straight and normal sized teeth and creamy brown hair that cascaded down her back in soft curls rather than in a bush.

She smiled. Hermione knew that she wasn't that pretty, but at least she wasn't hideous. She didn't mind how she looked, because what she 'lacked' in the looks department she made up with brains and confidence, and that gave her an attractive air of self-assurance that not many girls at Hogwarts had.

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Hermione went down to the Head common room to meet Harry. Then they set off down to the Great Hall to have breakfast with Ron and the rest of Gryffindor.

"Oi you two, over here!" boomed Ron's voice across the din of the students having breakfast. Harry and Hermione joined him at the Gryffindor table and tucked into a delicious breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and pumpkin juice.

"So what do we have today?" asked Ron, shovelling pancakes into his mouth at an alarming rate.

"Well if you would stop pigging out on pancakes like there's no tomorrow, you could take a look at the timetable yourself." Hermione scolded.

"Alright, alright mother. Why are you in a foul mood today eh?" Ron answered with a raised eyebrow.

"I wasn't until I found out that we have Potions with Slytherin again!"

"WHAT?!" Both Harry and Ron exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's right. Another year with Malfoy and his cronies." Hermione sighed.

"I knew we shouldn't have listened to her. N.E.W.T. level Potions with Snape and Malfoy. How much worse can it get?" Ron muttered to Harry, who nodded solemnly.

"Look, you cant get into Auror training without a pass in Potions. Its just bad luck that we're with the Slytherins." Hermione reasoned.

"Oh so Potty and the Weasel want to be Aurors." sneered a voice from behind them. It was Malfoy.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that, Malfoy?" said Hermione with an edge to her voice.

"As a matter of fact, I don't. Because if Potter and Weasley are the standard of the next generation of Aurors...I can tell Father and all his friends not to worry." He smirked.

"Don't you have anything better to do, Malfoy?" Harry ground out between clenched teeth.

"Good point, Potter. I do, actually. So be honoured that I wasted a minute of my precious time on you." He answered silkily. Both Ron and Harry looked ready to kill him, so Hermione spoke up.

"Just go, Malfoy. Nobody wants you here."

"Harsh, Mudblood. See you all in Potions." And with a last smirk he was gone.

"Well I guess nothing's changed this year." Hermione said bitterly.

---

Draco Malfoy was determined to do well this year - he had been studying all holidays. Of course it was highly uncharacteristic for Draco to have spent his holidays studying, but he had a good reason - he was going to beat the Mudblood this year. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she finally slipped to second place in the grade.

"Look, Harry. It won't be so bad this year...maybe Snape has mellowed. Anyway, there's less people in the class so he won't be as crabby."

Draco turned around in his seat to glare at the people coming into the dungeon. It was the Dream Team of course. His best friend Blaise Zabini, who was sitting next to him rolled his eyes. Before Draco could taunt them again, Professor Snape swept into the dungeon, a sour expression on his sallow face.

"Ugh! The incompetent bunch of idiots as usual." He muttered to himself, though the whole class could hear. He sat down and regarded them with narrowed eyes.

"Listen carefully to me. I will not tolerate any fooling around in my class this year. There will be no messing up of potions - you will only get one chance to brew each potion, otherwise you will get zero for it. You will put one hundred and ten percent of effort into every potion or else you will fail NEWT Potions. Is that clear?"

The silenced class nodded.

"The first potion that we will be brewing is relatively simple for N.E.W.T Potions. It is called the Pres Mobilius Potion. Can anyone tell me more about it?" asked Snape. Immediately Hermione's arm shot up into the air. He ignored it.

"Anybody else?"

"Sir, the Pres Mobilius Potion is a potion that transports the drinker to another country close by." answered Draco lazily, smirking at Hermione who put her hand down, fuming.

"Excellent, Draco. Ten points to Slytherin. Now pair up and brew the potion, the instructions are on the blackboard."

Harry was forced to pair up with Pansy Parkinson, much to his disgust while Hermione paired up with Ron. They were almost finished with brewing the potion when disaster struck.

"Alright Ron, you add the murkwood at the end, after I add the belladonna essence okay?" said Hermione, consulting the board. Ron gave her a thumbs up.

"Well if it isn't the Mudblood and Weasley." sneered Malfoy, coming over to annoy them with Blaise Zabini.

"Didn't we tell you to go away already, ferret face?" Ron spat.

"No I don't recall you telling me to go away, Weasley. However I do remember Granger telling me." Malfoy said snidely. Then he continued,

"You think you're so high and mighty, Granger. But let me tell you one thing - you're going down this year. You wont know what hit you by the time I'm through with you." he sneered.

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean Malfoy?!" exclaimed Ron, accidentally dropping the murkwood into the potion at the same time.

Suddenly there was a massive explosion and everyone was thrown back by the sheer force of the explosion. When the smoke cleared, the rest of the class was stunned to find that Ron, Hermione, Draco and Blaise had vanished.

A/N: So...what do you think of my new story guys? REVIEW! Thanks.