September the First
Dear Mum and Dad,
I know that it's only my first night here, but I already have so much to tell you and couldn't possibly wait! Hogwarts is absolutely amazing! Pictures move on the walls! Staircases change direction! Ghosts wander the dining hall! Oh, the dining hall…you wouldn't believe your eyes! Great big tables, candles everywhere, the ceiling enchanted to look like the sky outside, food appears and disappears after each course…Hogwarts is truly a sight to behold!
My dormitory is quite amazing as well. I was sorted into Gryffindor House, "where dwell the brave at heart". I never fancied myself brave, and the Sorting Hat (that's what decides which of the four Houses we belong in) considered putting me in Ravenclaw (the "smart" House), but in the end it thought otherwise. So here I am, writing by firelight in the red and gold common room of Gryffindor Tower!
My roommates are Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Parvati has a twin in Ravenclaw, and to be honest, I would probably enjoy rooming with her much more. Lavender and Parvati are nice but dreadfully silly. They were chattering about clothes and boys and the like when I decided to come down here, I couldn't take it another moment. I hope they don't continue every night!
Speaking of silly people, I found a few boys in my year on the Hogwarts Express. One of them, Neville Longbottom, had lost his toad when we met in the corridor. He seemed kind, but awfully clumsy. Nobody has any idea how he got into Gryffindor as well.
The other boys I met were named Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter. Do you remember what I told you about Harry Potter? The boy who defeated a Dark wizard known as You-Know-Who when he was only a year old? Well, he isn't much like I imagined. He was very quiet when I spoke to him and didn't seem to have a clue about anything I was saying, even though it was all very basic magical knowledge. But his friend, Ron Weasley, was even dimmer than he! When I first found them, Ronald was trying to perform a spell that didn't exist. It was utterly ridiculous. Not to mention that the second time, they had just come out of a scrape with some Slytherin boys, before we even arrived at school! Childish, absolutely childish.
Oh, one of the prefects just came down and told me to go to bed. His name is Percy, I believe…he's Ron's older brother, and is far more intelligent.
I promise to write more soon!
Love,
Hermione
P.S. Did I mention that Harry and Ron are in Gryffindor as well? I fear this may be a very long year.
September the Thirteenth
Dear Mum and Dad,
I'm sorry I didn't write back quickly, I've been very busy with all my schoolwork! My favorite class is by far is Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall, the headmistress and head of my House, teaches it beautifully; I'm learning things I never even dreamed about!
You asked me about making friends here: I have a few acquaintances, but nobody really special. Unfortunately, I keep running into Harry, Ron and Neville. Just yesterday, the four of us got locked out of Gryffindor Tower and were nearly caught out of bed by the caretaker! I didn't want to leave the common room, of course—I was trying to stop Harry and Ron from going to duel one of the boys from Slytherin, and when I followed them outside, we found Neville sleeping and the Fat Lady left to visit one of her friends. We got back inside safely, though, after not finding Malfoy in the trophy room and hiding in the forbidden corridor to avoid Mr. Filch.
Oh, and Harry made the Gryffindor Quidditch team by breaking the rules and flying when it wasn't allowed during our first flying lesson. Ronald was quite rude to me when I brought the fact up at breakfast this morning, right after Harry received his new broomstick.
Am I making any sense? I'm so tired from staying up late. Everything is going well otherwise! I'm sorry to be so brief, I'll try to write more next time!
Love,
Hermione
P.S. Would you mind telling me when you received this in your next letter? I'd like to know how long the owl's flight is between here and our house.
October the Ninth
Dear Mum and Dad,
Thank you for the new toothbrush! Yes, I am remembering to brush every day. How is the practice getting on? Tell Felicity and Dr. Stanford that I say hello, and please remind Mr. Anders to feed the fish regularly. I don't think you need another Timothy Hardwick/"sleeping" Finny incident on your hands.
School is going well so far. I can hardly believe it's been more than a month since I got here! All of my classes are still fascinating, even Potions, despite the attitude of the teacher, Professor Snape. He seems to hate every Gryffindor that walks into his classroom and favors the Slytherins, which is unfortunate, because that's the House we share Potions lessons with. He especially favors a boy named Malfoy, one of the three boys that Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley argued with on the Hogwarts Express. Although I still do not approve of fighting in any way, I must admit that Malfoy is the kind of person you want to teach a lesson to. He is positively vile.
I actually haven't spoken to Harry or Ron since the morning after we were almost caught out of bed. Neither of them seem to think that what they did was wrong, and although Harry doesn't seem sorry at all, Ronald's behavior is absolutely unbearable. He actually struts about the castle like he owns it, as if he is better than everybody because he didn't get caught out of the dormitory after hours, and like he is the youngest Seeker Hogwarts had within the last century. I don't regret anything by not talking to him! Honestly, he is almost as bad as Malfoy sometimes!
I have a lot of homework to do, so I'll say goodbye for now. Write back soon!
Love,
Hermione
October the Twentieth
Dear Mum,
I purposely sent this owl out so it would arrive at the house before Dad got home from work. Please don't show him this letter…I don't want him to worry about me.
Mum, I have no friends here at Hogwarts, and I'm beginning to get scared. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! You always told me to "be myself" and people will grow to love the "real me", but that isn't working! The real me doesn't get along with anybody, it seems! Not any of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws in my classes, not Lavender and Parvati, not Neville Longbottom, and especially not Harry and Ron.
Well…I suppose I get along okay with Neville, but he's so clumsy and forgetful and only really talks to me when he has a question about homework. I speak with Percy Weasley, occasionally, and he's nice enough, but he has his own friends and classes and prefect duties to keep him busy and I can't really count him as a friend. I talk to almost nobody else besides the two of them, ever.
Please, Mum, I need advice. Hogwarts is getting so lonely, I've actually taken to talking to the birds here in the Owlery just to know that another living creature can and will listen to me!
Write back as soon as you can, please, and don't tell Dad! I'll write to the both of you next time, and by then I hope to have some friends to speak of…
October the Thirty-First
Dear Mum and Dad,
Never, in my entire life, have I ever been so terrified and yet so happy as I am right now! I'm still shaking, so forgive me if my writing is a little hard to read, but I'm so excited to tell you what happened today!
Dad, if Mum hasn't already told you, I wrote to her around ten days ago about how I didn't have any friends at Hogwarts and was beginning to feel like I didn't belong. I didn't want her to tell you because I thought you might try to pull me out of school before I got the chance to try something different. Whether she told you and you didn't act on it or she didn't tell you at all, I couldn't be more pleased with what happened, so thank you to both of you!
Here, let me start from the beginning:
Today in Charms, we were split into pairs to try and make a feather fly. I was paired with Ronald Weasley, whom (as you know) I have never gotten along with before. He was trying to levitate our feather while emphasizing the spell Wingardium Leviosa incorrectly, and it was really getting on my nerves. I couldn't help but snap at him, and by the end of the class we were both in terribly bad moods.
As we were walking out of the classroom, Ron said something very mean to me…I can't remember what it was, now, but it was—what's that phrase you taught me, Dad, "the hay that broke the camel's back"? Something like that. Anyways, it was the last straw, and everything I had been worried about over the last couple weeks kind of came rushing back to me all at once and I, unfortunately, broke down. I hid in the bathroom and didn't go to the rest of my classes, nor did I go to lunch or the Halloween feast.
I had been in there for what felt like hours when I heard the door open. Somebody grunted and made this weird shuffling noise as they came inside. A couple seconds later I heard a slam! and then a click—someone had locked the door! I was confused, so I stepped out of the stall to see who was there…
And you can imagine my terror when I found myself face-to-knee with a fully grown mountain troll. I was so frightened that I couldn't do anything but scream and run as far away as I could! It came after me, knocking sinks off the wall with its club. I thought I was going to die!
Imagine my surprise when Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley came bursting into the bathroom a few seconds later and started throwing things at the troll to distract it from me! Harry tried to get me to run, but I couldn't move, I was so afraid. The troll ran after Ron so Harry jumped onto its back, sticking his wand up its nose, and while it was properly distracted Ron performed Wingardium Leviosa so the troll's club flew out of its hand and knocked it out cold!
When Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell arrived, Professor McGonagall was not pleased at all. She thought they had gone looking for the troll, and seemed to be only seconds away from expelling the both of them. Well, I couldn't let that happen: they had just saved my life! So I told her that I was the one who searched for the troll and they were just trying to protect me. She believed me and took five points from Gryffindor, but then awarded Harry and Ron each five points for their bravery!
I lost points for Gryffindor and nearly was killed today, so you might be wondering why I'm so happy. Well, sometimes certain things happen, and you can't go through them with another person without ending up friends, and taking on a mountain troll is definitely one of those things! My best friend is Harry Potter, thanks to everything that happened today, and I couldn't be more pleased!
This is the best school year ever!
Love,
Hermione
P.S. I'm still not sure about that Ronald Weasley.