Disclaimer: No. Definitely not mine. I wish.

Hermione Undaunted

Chapter 1

Hermione scanned the Great Hall as she had done every morning since term began. She did not know exactly what she was looking for, only that if something strange did happen she was not planning to miss it. The Head table was fuller than it used to be at breakfast time in the past and she assumed it was because more teachers were trying to keep a watchful eye on all the students during this time of uncertainty, although no one had come right out and said so. Over the summer Hermione spent her free time devising ways to protect her parents when the time came, and researching not only defensive spells and tactics, but also offensive spells, and even potions that might come in handy. She had books on warding, healing, and survival stashed in her trunk along with some of her less controversial texts on war strategy. She planned to be prepared whatever direction the war took, when it finally took hold.

Since the Ministry discovered that Harry was not barking mad and that Voldemort really had returned when they visited the Hall of Prophecies, Voldemort and his cronies had been strangely quiet. Toward the end of the summer, Hermione reluctantly left home to spend the last couple of weeks before sixth year at the Weasley's. She was excited to be back, particularly to see Ron, but she worried about her parents. It was clear why Harry was a target of Voldemort's, but it was unclear when or how he would strike, and it was of course a fear that he might start slowly, through relatives of his friends. She didn't know, but Moody was right. Always be vigilant.

The summer, however, did not end as she had planned. Ron showed no more interest in her than he did a tossed salad, and while they were at Diagon Alley to see his brothers' joke shop he had spent the better part of an hour ogling Lavender Brown who had somehow managed to blossom over the short six weeks since they had seen her last. Hermione would have wagered that Lavender used an engorgement charm on her chest if it wasn't for Ginny transforming in the same way, and she was a year younger. Hermione folded her arms over her own small chest bitterly. Her parents were both thin, her mother very much so, and not very curvy. Hermione was destined to be the same she was afraid. And today, of all days, September nineteenth, was her seventeenth birthday. She was officially an adult in the wizarding world, but looked no more like one than the next fifth year.

Hermione forced herself to concentrate and started her scan of the Great Hall over again. She started with her own table and nearly sighed with disgust. Harry was staring daggers at Dean Thomas while he and Ginny snuggled close and giggled. Ron was talking loudly to anyone who would listen about how much of an asset he was going to be to the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year as a Keeper while shooting glances at Lavender to see if she was listening. She was with rapt attention, her chin in her hand and a dreamy expression on her face. Not for the first time she wondered what it was she ever saw in him. For a moment Hermione wished that she was with some handsome, intelligent, rich wizard and all her friends were as lonely and plain as she felt. Glad to be looking somewhere else, Hermione let her gaze travel to the Head table.

The teachers were all talking amongst themselves as if nothing was amiss. Even Dumbledore with his mysteriously blackened hand seemed to be enjoying breakfast. As far as they were behaving, there was never a threat of war, or wasn't a room full of pubescent teenagers positively sweating pheromones. Snape was the only one who seemed even remotely aware that something was stinking up the place based on his facial expression, and he kept checking the time impatiently. He must have felt Hermione's eyes because he suddenly looked right into them. Hermione felt herself blush as she looked quickly away at the Slytherin table. They were a strange lot, Slytherins. Hermione did not really think it was such a bad thing to be in Slytherin. The stigma, while understandable, was a little uncalled for, and she doubted most of them would be half as bad as they were if they weren't expected to be. Next to her, Ron let out a strange laugh at something Lavender said, and she once again drifted into a short fantasy of how he would react if she had that rich, handsome boyfriend. Somebody he would really hate, like… Malfoy. Hermione was ripped out of her fantasy by Malfoy who was looking directly at her with a smirk on his face. That was strange considering how distracted he seemed to be since the beginning of the year. He also gave Harry a nice treat to the face when he caught him spying on the train. Harry was under the assumption that Malfoy had become a Death Eater in place of his imprisoned father, but Hermione wasn't quite so sure. Trying to appear as if she was looking past him, rather than at him, she slowly slid her gaze over his head and then back to her plate.

Pathetic, she snapped at herself. Thankfully her self-recriminations were interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Along with her Daily Prophet, she received a birthday card and some money from her parents to buy whatever she wished. She had an idea where most of that money would go, savings, but she was tempted to sneak one of Ginny's Witch Weekly magazines to see what kinds of robes or make up they were advertising.

"Oh, right on time!" Harry exclaimed, startling Hermione out of the ridiculous notion that she might get eye shadow or new clothes. Why was she even bothering? "I was worried this wasn't going to make it today."

Harry handed Hermione a package that was clearly books. "Happy Birthday, Hermione."

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione said, genuinely happy as she ripped off the brown paper. Inside were three books, one on warding that she already had, but didn't say so, another that was a nice leather bound homework planner which was really nice, and finally the last one, the latest edition of Hogwarts a History, updated through Harry's defeat of Voldemort when he was only a year old. "This is really nice."

Ron looked at her frowning slightly.

"Your present was really great, too," Hermione replied with false cheer. He had given her loads of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Quills, Fizzing Whizzbees, and a myriad of other sweets that she knew he would be asking after before long. "You'll have to help me with it, though. I won't possibly be able to eat it all."

Ron beamed at her then and Hermione wished that he weren't so simple sometimes. It made her feel like she was simple for not being able to stop liking him. Lavender sent her a nasty look and then said something behind her hand to Parvati Patil. Hermione rolled her eyes and excused herself from the table to put her gifts away and to hide in the library before potions and then double defense against the dark arts, her breakfast untouched.

Snape was pleased as punch to be teaching DADA this year. There was no doubt about it. It was his favorite subject and he believed that being involved with the good side and the bad side for so many years earned him more credibility than any other member of the staff. Perhaps even more so than Dumbledore, although Snape knew in his heart of hearts that Dumbledore had some skeletons in his closet even if the wizened old codger refused to talk of his past. If only this whole year wasn't going to be tarnished by his extra duties. Voldemort was pressing him constantly for information he really didn't have, same with the Order, and now he had an Unbreakable vow to honor with Narcissa Malfoy over Draco. The older that boy got, the more he needed a damned babysitter. It really did break Snape's heart that Voldemort would destroy the Malfoy's that weren't currently on an island holiday if dear old Draco didn't fulfill his duties, but not enough to be glad to have sworn to do it in his place. Damn Bellatrix and her flare for dramatics.

To top it off, Dumbledore had to go and curse himself over the summer and now he was stuck in another vow with the old man himself. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't, and his only reward for participating was to kill the one man in his life who ever truly seemed to give a hoot. His only comfort was that maybe Dumbledore would slip on a banana peel and crack his head and he would be absolved on all counts, and vows. As much as he resented every second that slipped away from him, he didn't want to die just because he wasn't particularly in the mood to off his best friend. Snape would be lucky to escape Voldemort once his usefulness wore off anyway, but it didn't stop him from fantasizing about what he would do with his remaining years if he somehow did.

Snape was still trying to work out what in Circe's underwear drawer Dumbledore was doing with a ring so thoroughly cursed he was lucky to have survived at all. Dumbledore was as tight as a Gringott's Vault when it came to that information. He did allude to the fact that they had to be watchful for similar curses on other seemingly arbitrary items thanks to Draco's little mission, but Snape knew better than to assume that curse came courtesy of Draco. He did not want help killing Dumbledore and even his aunt Bellatrix wasn't that talented. The curse was old, and powerful, and it reeked of Voldemort, or something older. The ring was broken and curse free now, but there was a symbol on it Snape wanted to figure out. If Dumbledore thought he was going to just accept his vague explanations to things and half answers to Snape's questions, then he had another think coming because Snape would puzzle it out on his own if he had to. There was another matter of his 'private' lessons with Potter. He had something to do with it all and Snape was going to find out what.

The staff was doing a fantastic a job of acting as if nothing unusual, like oh a war perhaps, was on its way. Hagrid had spent the first few weeks of term moping that nobody wanted to take his Care of Magical Creatures class. It was a shame too because Snape maintained that although his teaching methods left a lot to be desired, the creatures he chose for them to study were a hell of a lot more useful and interesting than knarls and bowtruckles. Even his dabbling escapades in breeding could have taught the students something useful if he didn't create such disgusting creatures as blast ended skrewts. But did he use the opportunity as a teaching point? No, he made the students look after the nasty lot instead. In the end, it was the Golden Gryffindor Trio that Hagrid was really pouting about. No one ever imagined that Harry Potter would not sign up for one of Hagrid's classes. Even Snape was surprised to find that out.

Slughorn had already slipped right back into his old ways. If Snape wasn't so glad to have the old potions master back, he might have pressed Dumbledore further on why he was there too. Snape knew that he would likely be teaching only one year since the DADA position was supposedly cursed and he would either have to die, quit, get sacked, teach another class by the time the next year rolled around, but the one year was enough to keep him from grumbling about Slughorn's presence. Naturally Potter made it into fat old man's teacher's pet club, and the way he raved about Potter's talent in the potions classroom made Snape sick to his stomach. Rumor had it that Ginny Weasly made it in just because she could throw a good hex, and Granger too because of her vast amounts of knowledge. Naturally he had some other students with legitimate connections to important people in the Wizarding world, but Snape doubted any of the students themselves were bright enough to find their way out of a toilet stall in the dark. Except for Granger, as annoying as she was, she understood a little more than the others. And there was something about her this year, something watchful that he appreciated.

As if his thoughts of her could somehow catch her attention they locked eyes for a moment. He kept his face expressionless, but he could see her cheeks turn a little pink as she turned her face towards the Gryffindor table. Her look was assessing and calculative at first, but then her eye slid slightly out of focus until Draco laughed at her and then she turned away embarrassed again. Seeing Draco smirk was new. He hadn't made one attempt to do anything but scowl since he got back from school. Laughing at Granger was nothing new at all. All the other Gryffindors, and the rest of the houses for that matter, were all staring at each other dopey eyed or sharing their mail, or otherwise going about their business. Even the Chosen One didn't seem to think there was anything more important than the Weasley girl and his sausages. Granger alone seemed to be the only one looking for something in the faces around her. It was clear she was looking for something. Probably the same something he was looking for, anything that might spell trouble later. It must be her birthday, Snape thought. She was getting gifts of some sort from her friends. She didn't look older than last year by much, but she seemed it. He still could barely stand the sight of her though. He turned his eyes away. He would get enough of her in DADA that day. Thursdays were a double with Gryffindors.

Snape looked at his watch to see if he had sat in the Great Hall long enough to satisfy Dumbledore. The Headmaster was insistent that he appear at as many meals as possible so that the ones he missed doing Death Eater duties weren't seen as too extraordinary considering that all the teachers missed a meal in the Great Hall every now and then. Dumbledore anticipated many long absences of his own and it would be too noticeable if Snape was somehow missing for prolonged periods of time as well. Deciding he had stayed long enough, he slipped out of the Great Hall to relax in his office for the last few minutes before his first class.

Hermione was seething by the end of potions. She very carefully followed each instruction in her potions book to the letter and still her potions were barely acceptable compared to the ones Harry made using the Half-Blood Prince's notes. She didn't know what he was playing at still using the book not having a clue who the Half-Blood Prince was. It was as if he learned absolutely nothing from Tom Riddle's diary in second year. One of those directions could be a dangerous trick and a lot of people could get hurt. Hermione spent so much rolling her eyes every time Slughorn clapped Harry on the back for being such a natural talent at potions that she could have drawn a detailed map of the inside of her skull. Ron insisted she was just jealous that she wasn't the top of the class anymore, and yes she was a little bit, but what bothered her the most was knowing that the instructions in their book were clearly substandard and if someone had known better, why wasn't their book improved upon? If the Half-Blood Prince wasn't dangerous, they were certainly brilliant and she would like to know who it is. They thankfully ruled out Voldemort since the book wasn't old enough. That didn't mean much though.

By the time the trio arrived in the Dungeons for DADA Hermione was barely speaking to either of her friends. This seemed to suit them just fine, however, and they turned their talk to Quidditch trials coming on Saturday. Soon Snape joined them and nobody was talking at all. He seemed to be in his typical foul mood, but Hermione was glad when he split them up to practice nonverbal spells again. Neither Ron nor Harry had been able to do a nonverbal spell successfully, but she was already quite good at them. What she really wanted to do was practice some of her own side work. They were supposed to be hexing and then blocking, but Hermione didn't like doing that because it meant letting down her shield long enough to send a hex and then putting it back up. She'd been practicing a warding shield that allowed her to shoot through it without harming its integrity. So far, Hermione had only been able to practice setting it up and shooting through it. She didn't know yet if it was strong enough to deflect a spell, particularly when she set it up nonverbally. The major advantage to the spell was that it would cover her completely, including her back so a sneak attack would be deflected without her having to even turn around. If it was successful she would teach Harry and Ron, and any other member of Dumbledore's Army that cared to learn such a valuable defensive tool. It was extremely hard though, and she always felt a little drained after practicing. She was aware she needed to build up her stamina.

As Snape wandered around the room taking points away from anyone who said a spell out loud, Hermione managed to disarm both Harry and Ron before she even bothered to put up her shield.

"Show off," Ron muttered as Hermione handed his wand back to him.

Snape heard him and wandered over to their group. "Perhaps you would all benefit from different partners today. I would hate to think you are going soft on each other."

Snape paired Harry up with Neville, which honestly served him right. Neville was having just as hard a time as Harry mastering nonverbal spells and would certainly be no help to Harry. Hermione thought it was simply mean of Snape to hamper Harry's progress even further, but not surprising. He sent Ron off to work with a Slytherin Hermione didn't know very well, and put her with Malfoy. It was usually Harry he sent off with Malfoy so she was more than a little surprised. She wasn't going to take any chances though and cast the warding shield around herself before she even turned around. Malfoy looked at Snape with annoyed expression and sent the disarming hex her way before she was even fully facing him. Instinctively she swiveled around and disarmed him, but at the same time she could feel the ping of his spell as it bounced off her shield. She couldn't help but smile at her own handiwork as she watched Malfoy pick up his dropped wand.

"Luck," he whispered through gritted teeth.

"You wish," Hermione whispered back. Her shield held up against two more attempts against it. On the second one she thought she felt something hit the shield from behind near her left calf, glancing behind her she shook it off as somebody else's spell gone astray and considered herself lucky it didn't hit because that is when the shield broke and Malfoy hit her full on with Locomotor Mortis. She hit the ground hard and was grateful she didn't have the muscle control to cry out in pain. She expected Malfoy to just leave her there, but he surprised her by doing the counter curse right away.

"Why did you look behind you?" he demanded

"I," she faltered. "I don't know. It was a stupid mistake."

Draco snorted some sort of agreement and made to start again when Snape came around and told everyone to take their seats. Hermione looked at Malfoy again out of the corner of her eye, but he was staring at the wall not even bothering to pretend he was listening to Professor Snape lecture. Hermione thought maybe Malfoy had some sort of problem with Professor Snape, but she was probably just imagining it. Something had to be on Malfoy's mind pretty heavily though if he wasn't going to bother to do some sort of harm to Hermione especially after Snape just handed her to him. She still didn't think Harry's theory of Draco becoming a Death Eater added up, but there was definitely something there that might be worth investigating. All in all, though, Hermione was quite satisfied that her shield worked, she just needed more practice at keeping it up.

"I don't have time for anymore bloody homework with Quidditch trials only two days away," Ron grumbled as they made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Snape had ordered everyone who still couldn't do a nonverbal disarming spell to write a fourteen inch essay on the benefits of being able to do one. "I wanted to punch Malfoy for hexing you like that Hermione," he added.

"Yeah," Harry added. "It was stupid of Snape to pair you up like that. Malfoy could have done anything to you and I bet Snape wouldn't have stopped it."

Hermione sniffed. "I can defend myself, you know. Besides, I got better practice out of working with Malfoy than I usually do, but thanks for the chivalry."

"So what we aren't good enough is it?" Ron asked haughtily. "So, I suppose you're all chummy with Malfoy now?"

"Stop it, Ron," Hermione said even though she was pleased a little that he seemed to think her having any kind of relationship with Malfoy made him angry. She wondered if he would be equally angry if it was a Gryffindor boy he liked, like Seamus for example. She quickly squashed that thought and went to her seat. There wasn't enough time to think about boys anyway, with her homework, and the extra things she was teaching herself, and the impending war. Ron went back to not talking to her and she ate lunch quickly and left before Lavender could show up and start making googly eyes at him again.

During DADA Snape paired Granger off with Malfoy hoping he would be a better match for her than Potter and Weasley. Whatever it was that she was up to this year, he decided to make it a little easier for her and put her directly in the path of one of the people he assumed would be top on her list of suspects for disorder. Certainly Malfoy of all people would be someone she would watch with suspicion. He was after all the Gryffindor Trio's enemy number one. Shockingly she seemed pleased to be paired up with him and deflected his disarming hex before she was even fully turned around. They matched each other hex for hex for the next minute or so and then old temptations kicked in. Snape sent a particularly strong stinging hex for her calf right above those stupid knee socks the girls wore so she would really feel it. There was no way she would know it didn't come from another student. But right at the moment it should have hit he could sense it hitting a shield. She turned around to look behind her really quickly, but that glance was all it took for Malfoy to hit her. It was curious though. She didn't get hit. Somehow, she had managed to nonverbally protect herself from behind. And he thought she only had room in her head for memorizing what was assigned to her. Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

A/N: Okay, so this fic is really just a spin on years six and seven of my own devising. If you read on, you can expect it to be a little out of character, a little anachronistic, haphazardly according to canon in parts, and definitely not meant to be anything but. My characters are always OOC, and it has been some time since I read the books so there are a lot of details I might use that actually happened at some other point in time, hence its anachronistic qualities. I wish I could promise regular updates, but I have been somewhat unreliable. Hope you can forgive me; work and school etc. have to come first. If enough people complain I won't post until I have the next bunch of chapters done. For those of you reading my other WIP Stealing from Thieves, I am putting that one ahead of this one because it did come first! I just had to get this out of my head before some of the ideas got mixed into it. I do not have a beta, and I am pretty consistent with not finding a lot of my own mistakes, but at least I am honest, right?