Wrath of the Lich Queen

Hogwarts Intermission

Hermione Granger had been feeling depressed since that awful night when that... that... Demon showed up and killed Mrs. Weasley, then proceeded to taunt them over the matter of Alice Potter. Hermione shouldn't have been so surprised to hear that her Slytherin friend had become unhinged. By obeying Professor Dumbledore, she had betrayed her best friend's trust.

Now, life at Hogwarts was utterly Hell for her since Alice wasn't here to keep the Slytherins in line. They had all feared the raven-haired girl, and never did anything that would draw her ire. Hermione knew that Alice was quick to anger, and she had displayed that anger plenty of times in the past, and now, she had unwittingly drew that ire upon herself.

Her life at Hogwarts was made exceptionally worse when all of Dumbledore's lies and manipulations came to light in the Daily Prophet, and she was listed as one of the reasons why Alice had gone insane. Alice had always been an ambitious girl, seeking to disprove that all Slytherins were evil, but in the end, because of Dumbledore's machinations, her ambition died a slow and painful death, and now her new ambition was to burn the world around her.

Merlin, she wished she could go back and change the way she had acted. Hermione knew that Dumbledore had been right about Voldemort intercepting any mail to and from #4 Privet Drive, but Hermione had grown up in the Muggle world, for Merlin's sake! She should have at least called on the telephone! She doubted that the Pure-blood fanatics would touch Muggle technology with a ten foot pole! She owed Alice that much, yet, she had been so stupid to remember that Pure-bloods wouldn't think to use a telephone! So much for being the brightest witch of her age!

Professor McGonagall had tried to assure her that it wasn't her fault, that the blame laid squarely on Dumbledore's shoulders, but Hermione could help but to blame herself for her best friend's current condition. Oh, she knew that Dumbledore was the reason behind it all, and she hated him with a passion for it! But at the same time, she also blamed herself. Everything she had learned was just too much to take in!

She was brought out of her depressing thoughts when she heard Draco Malfoy chuckling behind her. "Well, well. If it isn't the Mudblood."

Hermione turned to face the blonde-haired ferret and his two bookends and Pansy Parkinson. Draco had his Prefect badge just above the Slytherin insignia on his robes. "What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione asked warily as she pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"How's it feel, being one of the most hated people in school? Not nearly as bad as Weasel, mind you, but you're still an outcast. Don't have Potter here to protect you from your betters anymore, do ya? After all, who'd want a traitor like you hanging around?" Malfoy asked with a smug grin which was shared with Pansy. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled at their leader. Their amusement came to an end, however, when a feminine voice came from behind them.

"Oh really, Malfoy?" They all turned to see Daphne Greengrass with her arms folded behind her back. Her face set in her "Ice Queen" persona. "I think Alice would forgive Granger if she asked. After all, Granger's been one of the few people who've truly stood by her, even during the Chamber of Secrets incident and the Triwizard Tournament fiasco. And you're talking about traitors being unwanted, then your family must be really unwanted considering your name is literally "Bad Faith". Rightfully so, I might add as the Malfoys started off as a French family that was just entering the political arena. They were infamous for their backdoor dealings and ratting out their business partners to save their own hides from public execution.

"You may think your family is the most influential family in Magical England, but the truth is, Malfoy Sr's been allowed to get as far as he has because he likes to bribe Fudge. The truly influential family has always been the Potters, however. At least they can keep their allies, even in times of trouble. Just look at their alliance with the Longbottoms and my own family. We've had a powerful alliance going on since the Ministry's inception. When the Blacks entered the alliance, the Potters had a power block that was unrivaled. They became a force to be reckoned with in the political field.