September 1, 1991
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."
Hermoine Granger didn't think much of the boys in the cabin. All she wants is to find the missing toad for the poor boy- Nevile, who lost it. Her mother always did say that helping people is one of the fastest ways to make friends. And Hermoine Granger was if nothing, determinded to make a friend. One of the boys with red hair and freckles shook his head at her question. He had sleeping gray rat on his lap and his wand out.
"We've already told him we haven't seen it," the red haired boy said, but Hermoine wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. The boy looked taken aback.
"Er- all right."
He cleared his throat.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow."
He waved his wand, but nothing happened. The rat stayed gray and fast asleep.
"Are you susre that's a real spell?" Hermoine said. "Well it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard. I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermoine Granger by the way, who are you?"
She all said this very fast, feeling oddly nervous yet confident at the same time. The whole being a witch thing is very exciting for her, and sometimes she still can't quite believe that everything is real. She tends to babble when excited though. She hopes the boys don't find it too much.
The other boy, the one witht the messy hair and round glasses, looked at the red haired boy and looked relived to see the stunned look on the other's face.
"I'm Ron Weasley." The red haired boy- Ron muttered.
"Granger, Hermoine!" Professor McGonagall called.
Hermoine felt her heart leap up her throat. She's been on nerves since the Sorting had started, and hope it doesn't show too much. She walks briskly to the stool and may have jammed the hat a little bit too eagerly on her head.
"My, eager are we?" she hears the Hat chuckle in her ear. "Hmm… Plenty of courage, and a brilliant mind. Very bright. Ravenclaw will be sure to help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that."
Hermoine feels a bit disappointed at the Sorting Hat's decision. She hopes to be placed in Gryffindor. It sounds by far the best; She hears that their Headmaster, Dumbledor himself was in Gryffindor, but she supposes Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad.
"Gryffindor, eh?" said the Hat, it's voice laced with amusement. "Hmm… Well, yes, a brilliant mind like yours ought to help balance the lion's brave albeit often stupid recklessness no?"
Hermoine perks up at the mention of Gryffindor and the Hat chuckles again.
"Well if you're sure, better be GRYFFINDOR!"
Hermoine silently thanked the Hat, jumped off the stool and hurried towards her new Housemates.
Hogwarts is lovely. The classes are interesting, the uniform is very nice (complete with robes and pointy hats) and castle in itself is probably the most interesting place she has ever been since Diagon Alley. Honestly, she'll never understand the other students complaining over classes and homework. Obviously they've never had to undergo muggle homework. Now those were boring, compared to magical classes she attends nowadays anyway.
Of course, some of her housemates were rather- what was that term the Sorting Hat used again? - stupidly reckless. Like Harry Potter and that infuriating Ron Weasley for instance. One would think as the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry would be a more proper or at least well-behaved young man. Not mounting on brooms when Madame Hooch clearly told them not to, or sneak out past curfew to participate in a wizard's duel which led to a series of events concirning Peeves, Filch and the forbidden corridor on the third floor.
And then there was that Charms class during Halloween where Professor Flitwick had announced that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something she and her classmates had been dying to try since they had seen the Professor making Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. It was all wonderful until the Professor paired them off and she had to work with the awful Ron Weasley. Ron didn't seem very happy about the arrangement either. Honestly, she'd much rather be paired with Neville. At least he seemed to care about the rules.
"Swish and flick!" Squeaked Professor Flitwick, and everyone began chanting and waving their wands around with no luck. On the table beside hers, Harry and his partner seem to have set their feather on fire. She rolled her eyes as Harry tried putting out the fire with his hat.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermoine winced as Ron shouted beside her, waving his long arms like a windmill.
"You're saying it wrong," she snapped. "It's Winggardium Levi-O-sa, not Levio-Sa."
"You do it then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.
Hermoine rolled up the sleeves of her robe, flicked her wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
She smiled smugly as their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet about their heads.
"Oh well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"
A wave of pride washed over Hermoine when Professor Flitwick praised her.
When classes ended, she gathered her things without so much sparing a second glance at Ron and exited the room. The corridor was rather crowded, but a familiar voice rang above all others, clear as day, and Hermoine felt her heart sink when she heard it.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," she heard Ron say. "She's a nightmare, honestly. No wonder she hasn't got any friends."
Tears blurring her vision, she hurried past the boys, accidentally knocking into someone. She would apologize, but apparently no one can stand her, so what's the point? She knows she probably shouldn't be skipping classes but there's no way she wants to be in a place where she's not wanted. Horrible thoughts raced through her ind. What if she's not fit for Hogwarts? She's probably better at home attending muggle school… but it's not like she has made any friends there as well. Merlin, was she truly that terrible?
It wasn't that the people in Hogwarts were mean either. Earlier, her housemate Parvati Patil had heard her crying and asked if she was alright. But right now, she just wanted to be left alone. She stayed in the girl's bathroom crying up until… well, she doesn't know what time it is really. Probably dinnertime, by the way her stomach was growling. Hermoine was arguing with herself about the pros and cons of showing up in the Great Hall for dinner after her outburst this afternoon when the terrible stench of old socks and dirty public toilets filled the air, followed by low grunting sounds, the shuffling foot-falls of gigantic feet and the door slamming shut.
Thinking that it was the boys playing a terrible prank on her, Hermoine angrily slammed the cubicle door open only to find herself face to face with a twelve-foot tall mountain troll. Hermoine did what any sensible young lady would do in her situation. She screamed.
She didn't even fell herself walk, but before she knew it, she was shrinking against the wall, feeling faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.
"Confuse it!" she heard someone say, and then heard something being thrown against the wall. The troll stopped a few feet from her and lumbered around to see what had made the noise. Hermoine chanced a look behind it as well and saw Harry Potter.
"Oy, pea brain!" a familiar voice she instantly knew to be Ron's yelled from the other side of the bathroom. A metal pipe hitting the troll's shoulder followed suit and the troll turned its ugly head towards Ron, giving Harry a chance to roun around it and towards her.
"Come on, run! Run!" Harry yelled at her, trying to pull her towards the door, but she can't quite feel her legs. The troll seemed to be going berserk, roaring and started towards Ron who was nearest to it and had no way to escape.
Everything felt like a blur from there. Harry, jumping at the troll, managing to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind and accidentally stabbing his wand up the troll's nostrils as he did. The troll only got angrier after that, twisting and flailing its club in an attempt to hit Harry. Hermoine sunk to the floor, her legs giving out as she heard Ron shouting "Wingardium Leviosa!" The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high up into the air, turned slwoly over and dropped with a sickening crack onto it's owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.
"Is it… dead?" Hermoine whispered, finding her voice.
"I don't think so," Harry said. "I think it's just been knocked out."
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made her look up. Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape and Quirrell.
"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. "You're luck you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
"Please, Professor McGonagall. They were looking for me," Hermoine said in a small voice. Harry and Ron had come for her! The thought had just sunk in, and surely it wouldn't be fair if they tried saving her and got in trouble with the professors for that. Besides, if she hadn't skipped class, then they probably wouldn't have been here in the first place. It must be the universe's way of punishing her for skipping.
"Miss Granger!"
"I went looking for the troll because I…" her voice faltered and she took a deep breath to gather the necessary courage to lie to a teacher. "I thought I could deal with it on my own, you know, because I've read all about them. If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to go and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."
Hermoine looked Professor McGonagall straight in the eyes, hoping the professor wouldn't call her out for lying. It seemed pretty believable. She can only hope it doesn't get her expelled.
"Well in that case…" said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"
Hermoine hung her head, hoping for the best and expecting the worst.
"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."
Hermoine left promptly, thanking whatever deity is out there that the Professor didn't think to expel her. When she got the common room of Gryffindor Tower, it was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up, but she decided to wait for Harry and Ron by the door. When the boys entered the room, there was a very embarrassed pause, then, none of them looking at each other all said, "thanks" and hurried off to get their plates.
But from that moment on, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley became her friends. There are somethings you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
September 1, 2001
Hermoine Granger smiled fondly as she peered inside at the two men in the cabin. They weren't on the Hogwarts Express this time, but rather on a muggle train as undercover Aurors on a case. Hermoine has gotten far since graduating from Hogwarts. Starting from the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare to working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement working as a one of the most brilliant Cursebreakers in the history of the Wizarding World, not only for the English Ministry but also for several Asian and European ones, as well as for the Americans and Africans. Her job required her to travel all over, hence she has not been home in many months.
Her partner Neville Longbottom was also with her, grinning widely at the surprised expressions on both Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's faces as they opened the door. Smiling fondly at both men, and trying to put on her best bossy-eleven-year-old voice that Ron had often teased her about, she said,
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ e n d ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
A/N: I'm not quite sure what possessed me to write this at two in the morning but I guess I'm a bit glad I did. Mostly canon compliant until that last part where Hermoine's a super Cursebreaker. I made that up. Obviously.
Faves and comments are very much appreciated, please and thank you! And I shall send you each hugs and (regrettably virtual) cookies!
Anyway, DISCLAIMER: I own not one bit of hair on Hermoine's pretty head nor do I own any of the characters in this short prose nor the world in which they exist in. They all belong to the most wonderful Queen J.K. Rowling and her publishers who are much too many (including international ones) to be mentioned.