Hi,
This is my first story, I'm writing it to prove to myself that I can do it. I think this will end up being 3 chapters, the day Hermione gets her letter, the day she goes to Diagon Alley, and the day she goes to Hogwarts, right up until she meets Harry and Ron, because we all know what happened after that!
Thanks for reading,
Zeb x

Hermione's Beginning
or
Hermione finds out she's a Witch

The letter

It was a Saturday, Saturday 1st July 1991 to be precise. Hermione hated Saturdays, it meant late breakfasts, no school and ballet. She hated ballet even more than Saturdays, all the twirling and leaping and the co-ordination, she just wasn't built for it; but her mother said she needed a non-academic past time to 'keep the balance happy'. How a balance could be happy she wasn't sure but she went week after week without complaint to please her.

This particular Saturday morning found Hermione Jean Granger reading a book on the Egyptians; one of the many she had picked up from the town library the day before so she would already be ahead of her class when the Egyptian Life project was set the next Wednesday. She had just finished a paragraph on the sphinx when her Dad called up the stairs announcing breakfast was ready.
"Finally" she thought "what is it with my family and having such a late Saturday breakfast? The whole point is to have it as soon as you wake up to 'break the fast' of sleep! Not three hours later!" So Hermione hastily strode downstairs, past the numerous photos adorning the wall of past family holidays, weddings and christenings, into the kitchen and was met with the mouth watering smell of bacon and eggs. "Well it may be late but it sure does smell good!" her mind argued against her earlier complaints.

Hermione joined her mother at the Kitchen table and sat in her usual place where her 'Worst Witch' mug sat filled with hot chocolate. "Another thing that's not so bad about Saturdays, hot chocolate with breakfast" she thought.
Hermione still held her childhood belief in magic and could still be found curled up reading her very battered copy of 'The Worst Witch' whenever she was feeling down. However, although she had kept the belief it had changed with her as she grew up. It was no longer a child like wish that the stories she read were true, but a well thought out, logical, almost factually backed up religion to her. She was convinced that the 'happenings' around her when she got so upset and angry with the school bully Lisa Blunt and her cronies WAS magic. It had to be! How else could Lisa be 4 ft 10 one day then 4 ft 6 the next? So Hermione Granger believed in magic because her logic was never wrong, and wished everyday that her very own Mildred Hubble would walk through her door and tell her she was off to Cackle's Academy in September. As it was she was set to go to the local comprehensive, The Catherine Price School. With Lisa.

As Mr Granger served breakfast to 'his two favourite ladies' the post arrived.

"Late again, they really should organise that post office better" he commented as he walked to the front door and scooped up the small pile of letters that had just dropped thought the letter box.

"What do we have today then" he continued once he was back in the kitchen, "bill...advert...bank statement... ooh there's a couple here for my little Ermine!" He smiled gently at Hermione, "looks like one from Catherine Price and the other... well I don't know you'll have to open it and see!"

The two letters were passed to Hermione and her eyes were instantly caught by the long, curly, emerald green writing on the front of the other letter. Although such regal writing was unusual in itself it was the words that confused her the most; she had never seen an address written in such a way.

Miss H. J. Granger
The Long Bedroom with the Most Books
Cherry Cottage
Wield Road
Kingside
Somewhere in Wiltshire

Hermione wondered who would be so silly to think her room was needed in her address. And there was no stamp. Then, she thought, "Who is this from? They must know me, but I don't know the writing, and I know everyone I know's handwriting! She felt a slight tingle at the base of her stomach, she was sure magic was at work here.

She slowly turned the envelope over and found that it was held closed by a wax seal. She tried to make out the pattern on the wax, bringing it close to her eyes, tracing her fingers over it, but all she could make out was that the seal was divided into quarters with a different design in each part. She must have sat staring at the seal for a good thirty seconds as presently she felt a soft nudge on her left shoulder from her mother.

"You'll only find out who it's from if you open it sweetie, that is the usual thing to do!" Hermione's Mum softly encouraged. Hermione shook herself, coming back to her senses.

"Yes sorry, I'm not being logical, I'll open the letter" she replied to her mother in her usual curt manor she adopted when she was unnerved. Opening the letter found two pieces of parchment full of more of the strange, regal, green handwriting, and the content was even stranger. Hermione read, her tingling feeling growing with each sentence.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZADRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Granger
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1st September. As you will have many questions along with your parents a colleague will be arriving at your home at 4 o'clock this afternoon to answer your queries and receive your reply. They look forward to meeting you.
Yours Sincerely

Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress

And suddenly the tingling reached Hermione's fingertips and the letter shot from her hand and begun to glow with a warm red colour. Magic! The whole Granger household sat stuck to their seats eyes following unblinking, the letter that was now hanging directly above Mrs Granger's head. Hermione's mother spoke in a voice of very forced calm

"Hermione dear, do you think you could get the letter down so your father and I could have a look" Hermione felt the tingling sensation leave her fingers and the letter lost its glow and floated gently down to the centre of the kitchen table. The three Grangers continued to stare at the parchment until Mrs Granger put out a tentative hand and plucked it away from the mugs. A collective sigh could be heard as the letter stayed inanimate and Mrs Granger began to read the letter.

Hermione sat stunned staring at her fingers waiting for the silence to be broken. Her mother finished reading the letter and passed it over to her husband without a sound, and he too begun to read the letter. Finally after what seemed like eternity Mr Granger finished reading. He placed the letter on the table in front of him and spoke.

"Well that would explain a lot of things" he said.

Hermione's head turned so quickly to face her father than she would have shamed a professional ballerina.

"Explain exactly what things"

"Well sweetie, things haven't really always obeyed the laws of physics when you're about" replied her mother slowly, "your laugh would turn on all the lights in a room when you were a baby, and you must have noticed something wasn't right when that girl Lisa shrunk overnight after I got a call from school saying she had been picking on you..."

"I didn't mean to! She was just so horrible I couldn't get her out of my head all night, I just wanted her to feel like I did, I didn't mean to!" Hermione was almost crying, worried that her Mum and Dad thought her magic was dangerous and wouldn't let her go to this 'Hogwarts'.

Mr and Mrs Granger shared a quick look that told each other exactly what they wanted to know. Both of them agreed that Hermione would be much happier at a magic school than The Catherine Price School and that she would never use her magic for bad. If this place Hogwarts really did exist she would be going, but they didn't want to bring her hopes up in case of the letter being a horrible prank, children could be really horrible these days. So, Mr Granger replied as carefully as he could,

"Hermione, we know you wouldn't ever hurt anyone, in any way, magical or physical. The letter said someone would be coming at 4 o'clock to talk to us about this, so I suggest until then we go about our day as normal, I'll take you to ballet and we'll talk no more on the matter until after that..."

"But Dad! I need to get ready for this person coming; they'll want to see I work hard and that I'm prepared for such a big change! I need to go find all my books and read! Not ballet!" Hermione pleaded.

"No. Go to ballet, have a normal day, it could be that this is all a horrible prank and you'll miss ballet for no reason, you don't want that do you?" responded her Dad.

"But Dad! I know it's real, I just know it!" Hermione shouted

"Hermione, listen to your Father, go get ready for ballet we need to be leaving in half an hour." Mrs Granger's words were final, so Hermione reluctantly finished her last mouthful of hot chocolate and slipped away to her room to get ready for ballet.

Hermione sat dejected in the back of her dad's Volvo looking out the window at the world passing by. She understood her parent's down-playing of her letter, her logic wouldn't let her ignore the fact that the odds of her letter being real were infinitesimally small at best, but something about it just seemed... right.

She couldn't help herself but get excited over the idea of this 'Hogwarts', somewhere that would explain the happenings around her and teach her how to control those powers. That was the thing that exited her the most, there would be a whole new world for her to discover, theories so detached from the world she lived in now that everything would just seem bland in her parent's world. Hermione loved to learn, and the more left to learn about a subject the more excited she was. The idea of Magic having it's own hidden world that she knew nothing about? Well, that left a lot to learn.

They soon reached the dance studios where the ballet classes were held and Hermione reluctantly said goodbye to her father and walked through the front doors, round to the right and through the door to the ladies changing rooms. Around half of the class had already arrived and were talking animatedly about things Hermione really didn't care about,

"Oh really Jess please tell me, who do you fancy?"

"Did you see Grange Hill last night?"

"I really think Ollie likes you!"

Hermione took her usual spot at the back to the left and began to remove her outer clothes to uncover her burgundy ballet leotard and cardigan, (she refused to wear pink). As she begun to tie up her ballet shoes most of the class had arrived and the noise level had increased ten-fold with all the girls catching up as though they hadn't seen each other for years. 11 o'clock came around and it was time for ballet to start, as the girls started to leave for the main hall a whirlwind arrived in the shape of Hermione's friend Grace; late as usual. Grace said a quick hello to Hermione and rushed to get changed. She managed it in a minute flat; she was a pro at quick changes.

Class started with warm up and stretches. Ms Monnington the ballet instructor looked down her nose at Hermione as she struggled to reach her toes in the pike stretch, Grace, next to her was flat to her calves; the perfect example. Hermione and Grace seemed at first an odd couple to be friends, on the face of it Hermione seemed completely incompetent and Grace the epitome of skill and flair. An outsider would have expected Grace to be friends with the other beautiful skilled girls. However looking carefully into the intricacies of their friendship would find that Grace was not aware of her talent and did not care much for it and Hermione acted as her translator, watching the moves Miss Monnigton taught and breaking then into manageable chunks for Grace to pick up. They were a team in a very independent sport.

They were practising for the end of term show so Ms Monnington was working them harder than usual, Hermione was quickly falling behind , so found herself being shouted at more than usual,

"Miss Granger point those toes"

"Miss Granger! It's ballet not the elephants march!"

"Miss Granger, it's a turn to the right with a gesture to the left, not a turn to the left with the gesture to the right!"

Hermione was getting more and more flustered, especially watching Grace in front of her, (for Hermione was placed at the back of course,) turning and leaping in perfect time. Perhaps it was that morning's activities that made her more unstable than usual, but today she felt that tingling in her stomach growing stronger with every rebuke from Ms Monnington and she couldn't control it. With one last "Miss Granger, really please pay attention", the tingling flowed through Hermione's legs to her feet and propelled her upwards in such a way that it caused her to start spinning, with what little ballet technique she had, she was able to move her head as to make sure she did not end up dizzy, after three complete turns the tingling subsided and Hermione fell to the floor.

And landed with a thump in a heap on the floor.

The ballet hall was silent, all eyes were on her, Hermione didn't dare look up from the floor. After what seemed an age Ms Monnington spoke,

"My dear, although that was quite a spectacular, if somewhat surprising, show of ballet, it is not part of the show dance so could you please all take your places once more and we will start from the beginning"

The shuffle of all the girls moving back into position was heard and Hermione tried to get up; and failed. As soon as she put any weight on her left ankle a sharp pain shot up her calf. She slowly managed to stand and hobbled over to Ms Monnington.

"Miss, I think I've twisted my ankle, is it alright if I sit out for now?" She asked,

"Well that's what you get for showing off Miss Granger, I think perhaps we should phone your parents and get them to come pick you up." The ballet instructor turned to the rest of the girls, "I'm just going to use the pay phone in the hall way to phone Hermione's parents, no more showing off while I'm gone. Any of you." With that, Ms Monnington turned and walked out the hall.

While Hermione waited for her Dad to come pick her up she couldn't help but think, "this Hogwarts better be real, and there better be a teacher coming this afternoon, so they can explain WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON!"

A/N
I will try my best to get the other two chapters written quickly I know how annoying it can be waiting, but I have to worn you, I'm not a natural writer it takes a lot of time and effort just to get one paragraph together so a whole chapter will take me some time. But please stick by me, I need people shouting in my ear to get it done, I would be so happy with myself if I finish this soon! x