Disclaimer – I own nothing, the Harry Potter world belongs to J.K Rowling, I'm just fiddling with it.

Author note – I recommend you read the first part to this story, 'Understanding your Allegiance', as it won't make much sense without knowing the backstory contained in the prequel!

Hermione sat alone on the Hogwarts train, absently staring at the countryside whiz past, slowly changing as the plants in different areas adapted to their surroundings. She tried humming a tune to stem the silence, but it didn't work and she fell quiet again. She was on the train heading towards London, already being at school at the beginning of term. She wouldn't have bothered coming, but she had to perform her head girl duties on the return journey, just in case the first years were still unable to get off a train properly.

When the landscape became obviously urban, Hermione snapped out of her reverie and put on her school robes. She gave her head girl badge one last polish, and smiled proudly at the Slytherin emblem on the front of her robes. It had been almost laughably simple getting resorted into Slytherin, but everyone didn't know that. As the train pulled into the platform at Kings Cross she checked her reflection in the window glass before emerging from the carriage into the throng of students milling around. She revelled in the shocked gasps that came from her change in uniform, but outwardly paid them no heed. She ignored most people, but helped any first years who seemed to be struggling with their over-sized trunks, this drew a few disbelieving looks, but she carried on regardless. There was no reason why a Slytherin shouldn't help those in need, inter-house stereotypes aside.

She was just finishing helping a small shy Hufflepuff house her cat safely in the overhead storage racks when Pansy popped her head round the door.

"Get out here quick Herms, opportunity to put Ron's nose out of joint."

Hermione followed her quickly out into the corridor, where Draco and Blaise were also both standing waiting for her. Sure enough just a little way up the corridor Ron stood muttering darkly to Neville and Ginny. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Who does he think he is, the leader of the second golden trio?" Hermione scoffed.

"Ssh." Whispered Pansy. Then in a much louder voice. "Hermione! It's great to see you, wasn't New Years such a laugh!"

"It was great Pansy, was a shame I couldn't have stayed longer, but Snape was adamant I had to return to…that unfortunate place."

"We're just going to go find some seats." Said Draco. "Would you care to join us, now you're one of us as it were."

"Certainly." Replied Hermione politely. She linked arms with Pansy and the two of them followed the boys down the train corridor past Ron and the others. As they swept past, Hermione heard Ginny complaining.

"If only Harry was here, he'd..."

"Miss Weasley." Interrupted Hermione. "10 points from Gryffindor."

"What the hell for?" Cried Ginny, clearly incensed.

"For missing the boy wonder too loudly in the corridor." Hermione made a saddened face. "The younger years might hear you, and find themselves inconsolable at remembering how he isn't attending Hogwarts this year. I simply must nip such a situation in the bud, and ensure it won't happen again by taking points."

Ginny was red in the face, opening and shutting her mouth in fury, but was unable to make any kind of comeback. Hermione smirked and whisked past them, heading into the carriage where Draco, Blaise and Pansy were wetting themselves laughing.

The rest of the journey back to Hogwarts was fairly routine. Hermione got many dirty looks, not just from Gryffindors but from Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as well. The Slytherins however welcomed her with open arms, even those who believed the pureblood rubbish after Draco had had a few well chosen words with them, mainly outlining that having Hermione meant two Slytherin heads of year, and that would be a very good thing. Draco's work last term garnering support for her had paid off, her run ins with Harry and the other Gryffindors meant the Slytherins saw her as a kindred spirit, not just an honorary Slytherin. When she entered the Main Hall and took her place at the Slytherin table, there was a muffled cheer that just drowned out the angry whispers from the rest of the hall. Pleases with her acceptance, Hermione grinned at her new circle of friends. Draco was sat opposite her, with Pansy next to him. Blaise was on her left opposite Pansy.

Attention was moved from her to the teacher's table as Professor Dumbledore stood and spread his arms in a gesture of greeting.

"Welcome one and all to a new term at Hogwarts. I hope you are all rested from the holidays and ready to pick up the pace once more in the New Year. Where the outside world is growing dark, Hogwarts will remain a beacon of light and hope for those who send their children here. We will keep you safe as those who threaten to throw our world into chaos remain hidden, working against the principles of equality and freedom from oppression. The prejudices of past generations, especially of your parents time, are ripping our community, our very world, apart. Many of your own families have suffered in the past, and now current, conflict, and must see the need for co-operation. It's the lack of unity between the houses at our fair school that have led to such horrors when students leave here…"

Hermione was only half listening to Dumbledore's now predictable speech about inter-house unity. Instead she was watching people whisper, clearly ignoring him themselves. She saw the looks sent her way, the poorly hidden points in her direction. Suddenly she stood and cleared her throat loudly, breaking Dumbledore off mid-speech. She gave him her best apologetic look and began to speak.

"Fellow students." She said clearly, her voice carrying easily throughout the packed hall. "As a victim myself of a relentless bullying campaign led by a single house, many of you may see my support for inter-house unity as unexpected. Why would I, a Slytherin hated by her ex-Gryffindor friends, advocate friendly relations between the houses? Simple. Inter-house unity will make my life a whole hell of a lot easier. So you will all cease your disrespectful mutterings towards me, I am head girl after all, and you will pay full attention to the Headmaster."

She smirked at the astounded faces of those around her, and bowed in Dumbledore's direction. "Over to you Big D." She said sincerely, and sat back down.

The hall remained silent, unsure how to react to her interruption to the headmaster's speech, many Slytherins gamely fighting back smiles at her calling Dumbledore 'big D'. Hermione glanced up at Severus and saw he was smirking, a glint in his usually unreadable eyes. Dumbledore attempted to regain control, and continued to speak.

"Yes thank you Miss Granger. As I was saying, the lack of unity between houses here translates itself to the wide world in adulthood, we must join together here in harmony now to negate any animosity in the future. The fight against prejudice will begin here…"

"Big D?" Whispered Pansy incredulously. "What the hell was that about Herms?"

Hermione grinned and whispered back. "I thought I'd be a more unorthodox head girl this term."

Draco chuckled and shook his head. "Oh Merlin."

Hermione smirked and looked up at the teacher's table again. Severus wasn't smiling anymore, but the light in his eyes was still there as he watched Dumbledore speak. He must have felt her watching, because he turned to look at her. Hermione felt the familiar roll of desire as their eyes locked together, and his eyes darkened, as they were wont to do. But something was off. As soon as the connection was made he turned his head, the light in his eyes extinguished. His face was hard, the sharp lines of his eyes rigid. Hermione knew he couldn't show any form of affection outwardly in public, but she had become accustomed to his face softening slightly when he looked at her. She lowered her gaze and rested her head in one hand, staring lazily up at Dumbledore who was still speaking.

She tuned him out and mused over her relationship with Severus. He had told her he wasn't prepared to break the non-fraternisation rules between students and teachers, and had made her leave his rooms after their visit to Riddle when it became too heated, and he realised he couldn't continue without compromising his morals further. She frowned in frustration. She knew he wanted her, and she wanted him. To her mind there were no issues. She was of age even by muggles standards, and she was more of a match for him intellectually, they challenged each other. She had never been able to talk to any of her friends at the same level as she could with him, Draco and the other Slytherins were better than her old friends, but what they shared was different.

"Ok, what's wrong with you?" Asked Draco. "You're sitting there clearly brooding over something when this is a moment of triumph for you."

Hermione weighed up her options as he continued to speak. "You're not regretting sitting on this side of the hall are you? You can't be missing the Gryffindors."

"No that's certainly not it!" She put in quickly. She decided that Draco knew her and Severus were closer than was usual, and he wouldn't use the information against her anyway. "It's Severus. We were getting on really well last night, I'd decided to join our mutual organisation." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully and he nodded that he understood, breaking out in a wide grin.

"Well we were just, you know…when he freaked out on me. He's known the rules about students and teachers before, had it pointed out to him by your dad even, but he never reacted like that before. I mean he had his doubts, but I seemed to allay them before when he voiced them. Now…I don't know. Its like he's shutting back down again. He caught my eye just now, and wouldn't hold it."

"That is typical of Slytherin males." Hermione looked past Draco at Pansy.

"Hey!"

"Its true. If you get even the slightest whiff of real emotion you back off and shut down."

Hermione nodded, amused. "Go on."

"Its simple really, and quite sad. Slytherin men are too used to having to hide their emotions, be they negative or positive ones, hatred or love. That's historical fact that goes with our other characteristic of being downright sneaky and manipulative. But the last few generations in particular have had a more extreme case of it. First there was the war with Grindlewald, that's our Grandfathers, then Voldemort, that's Professor Snape's generation. They've learned to suppress everything, and have passed that down. Our generation is the third to react this way. We Slytherin women have had to learn ways to get past it."

"That would explain his behaviour, how do I get past it?"

Draco held up his hand. "Hold up, you never mentioned any of this to me."

"And you can't just accuse us of being emotionally retarded like that!" Butted in Blaise.

Pansy rolled her eyes and ignored them both. "You have to get them to react. You're already under his skin and affecting him, and that's why he's making the effort to shut you out. All this business about you being a student is just a convenient excuse. If you weren't his student it would be something else. You just have to stop him freezing you out. Make it impossible for him to ignore you."

"Is that what you did to me Pansy?" Asked Draco.

"Yes." She replied succinctly.

"Well how can I do that, make it impossible for him to ignore me. Follow him around hanging off his cloak?"

"Of course not. And it's different for everyone obviously. What do you think he'd react best to?"

Hermione thought about it as she ate. "I'm not entirely sure. Aggravating him would probably push him to acknowledge me, but do I really want to anger him?"

"Yes!" Cried Pansy. "That's perfect. You'll have to do it right though, get him angry in a certain way, not so that he comes to hate you or anything!"

"Maybe just irritate him loads, pranks like the Weasley twins." Hermione was warming now to the idea. "Will you guys help me? It'll be fun."

They all nodded in agreement. "We'll meet in the Slytherin Common Room later." Said Draco. "There's bound to be devices to listen in on us in our private common room now we're both Slytherin."

They stopped their quiet discussion as Dumbledore finished speaking. He announced the feast begun and the tables groaned under the sudden weight of piles of dishes filled with food, and the students tucked in. Hermione helped herself to some roast beef and happily poured gravy over her potatoes. She now had a plan, no longer was she floundering around through an emotional battlefield. Suddenly some of the teachers at the high table gave cries of surprise, McGonagall stood and hurried from the room. Dumbledore was sat staring at the dishes and tureens that the food came in looking confused, fiddling with his beard. Severus had a hand over his mouth, hiding his smile from his colleagues.

Hermione clapped her hands together in glee.

"What's going on?" Asked Blaise.

"It's the house elves. A sizeable number of them are rebelling today. I'd completely forgotten about it."

"House elves rebelling? Whatever for?" Asked a Slytherin girl Hermione didn't recognise. She looked to be in her third year.

"It's a rebellion led by the house elf Dobby..." Draco looked up sharply at that and Hermione grinned. "He's fighting for equal rights for all house elves, fighting for pay, holidays, that sort of thing. It's a slow movement to be established because if they grant elves equal rights with humans, other so called 'sub-species' will have the precedent to demand the same for themselves."

Draco rolled his eyes and Pansy hit his arm. "Its an admirable cause Draco."

"Sorry, just goes against everything I've ever known."

Hermione rounded on him, whilst still watching the commotion at the teacher's table. "Its down to your family that this rebellion is happening at all actually. It was your mistreatment of Dobby that started the ball rolling so to speak."

Draco looked a bit put out, but then shrugged. "Well if I started it I'm going to support it, down with discrimination indeed. "

Pansy rolled her eyes and kissed him tenderly. Hermione ignored them and watched McGonagall drag a proud looking Dobby into the room by the ears. She took him to Dumbledore who looked like he was having some choice words with the diminutive elf. Dobby was giving as good as he got however, and he suddenly broke away from Dumbledore and raised his arm. A dart of light came from his hand and hovered in a bright cloud above the heads of the students, many ducked or cowered. The cloud swirled and formed itself into words. Hermione laughed when she saw them.

"Potential members," Squeaked Dobby above the noise of the hall, "cans address letterses to Mr Dobby, Hogwarts Kitchens." With a pop he disappeared, probably to the kitchens.

There was a flash of light as Colin Creevey took a picture of the words floating near the ceiling, and Hermione made a mental note to get a copy off of him. The words were simple, Society Against Discrimination, or S.A.D. Hermione was impressed, and Dobby had chosen words that could cover anyone suffering from discrimination. The acronym was also a lot better than her own terrible attempt with S.P.E.W when she'd been younger. S.A.D showed how discrimination made them feel at least.

Blaise turned and smiled at her. "Congratulations Hermione, isn't this what you wanted when you started spew?"

Hermione blinked in surprise. She hadn't known word of S.P.E.W had got as far as this house. "Uh, its more than I'd hoped for really. Dobby seems to have taken my message and expanded it to all discriminated against non-human races."

"You must be so proud."

Hermione felt a sense of foreboding creep over her. The way Blaise was being so attentive, how he'd treated her at the Ball on New Years. With a mental sigh she realised Blaise probably had a bit of a crush on her, she had been putting a lot more effort into her appearance recently, and as she'd now joined his friendship group he was probably grateful not to be the single guy hanging around with the couple, Draco and Pansy. Plus, it would make a nice symmetry if they went out,

Merlin, she thought, he's probably planning double dates or something.

"Yes." She replied. "I am very proud." She turned her full concentration on her dinner.

As the feast drew to a close Dumbledore dismissed the school. As the Hall emptied Hermione stood, feeling for the first time out of her depth. She tugged on Pansy's robe sleeve.

"Where is the Slytherin common room?" She whispered urgently. "I've no desire to look unsure in front of the school."

"Just link arms with me." Whispered Pansy. "And stride."

Hermione did so and they went forth from the hall together, cutting a commanding presence through the crowd. People moved out of their way to let them pass, Hermione even spotted Ginny scuttling round a corner to avoid them. As the descended further into the bowels of the castle, entering the dungeons Hermione memorised the route, finding that the dungeons were far more labyrinthine than she'd expected. Pansy came to a stop in front of a bare stone wall.

"Arsenic." She said, and the wall moved to reveal a door.

It opened and they went through. Hermione looked around eagerly. The room was just how Harry and Ron had described it in their second year when they'd gone in as Crabbe and Goyle. It was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceilings. There were green lamps hanging from the ceiling on chains, and there were a few bolted onto the walls. The quality of light was therefore slightly eerie, but strangely comfortable too. There was a large fireplace with an elaborately carved mantelpiece with several matching carved chairs arranged around it, silhouetted against the firelight.

Pansy led her over to the chairs and they sat down. Draco and Blaise joined them a short while later.

"So." Said Draco. "A prank. Any ideas?"

"It needs to annoy him, but not anger him per se." Said Hermione.

"So something ridiculous, something funny. But that will irritate him and get his attention." Said Pansy.

"Exactly."

"Something weasleyesque?" Put in Blaise with distaste.

"'Fraid so." Laughed Hermione.

"Well what sort of thing did they get up to? There are those sweets to get out of class…"

"But skipping Potions is not something I want to do."

"The swamp was quite impressive." Added Pansy.

"For Gryffindors." Muttered Blaise.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Much of what they did was very impressive. I always felt they must be very intelligent, but they wasted their talents on mischief. The canary creams for example…"

"Hold that thought." Said Draco suddenly. "You wanted ridiculous, you wanted funny."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "You want me to take a canary cream in class?"

"No that's too simple. Far too Gryffindor. Here's what I think you should do…"

An hour or so later Hermione and Draco made their goodbyes and made their way back to their rooms. Hermione went to her room and hung her Slytherin robes on the back of the door. She sat on her bed and stared back at them, a great sense of satisfaction within her. Her first day where she truly belonged had been wonderful, a true Slytherin now she could finally say what she wanted to say, act how she wanted to act.

With a happy sigh she rolled off the bed onto the floor and looked underneath it for Crookshanks, who sometimes sat under there in the warm dark. Sure enough he was huddled up against the wall at the head end of her bed.

"Here Crooks, come on out."

She reached a hand under to coax him out but as she brushed against his fur she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her wrist. Drawing her hand back out she looked at it and saw to her horror puncture marks.

"You bit me."

Hermione couldn't believe it. She had rescued the cat when no one else had wanted him. He had never bitten, never scratched her. She sat back and watched as Crookshanks crept out from under the bed, hackled raised, eyes squinting at her. Crookshanks hissed and leapt around her onto the windowsill, as far as he could get from her and the bed. She stood and began to move towards him, but he hissed again and spat in her direction. Giving up she returned to her bed. Thinking about it, Crookshanks had very much been on her side when she'd been with the order. She may have changed, but Crookshanks hadn't. She knew he had a mind of his own, knowing that Scabbers was Pettigrew when no one else did, trusting Sirius when no one else knew what the dog was.

She changed for bed and crawled under the covers. The pain of losing her friends hadn't been all that bad, but as a witch losing the support of ones familiar, that was hard.