A/N: I'm Beater 2 for the Wimbourne Wasps and I am to write a light character demonstrating PRIDE behavior or a dark character demonstrating HUMILITY. I've chose to write a light character demonstrating PRIDE behavior. My prompts are listed below.
Prompts:
#5: (word) curfew
#13: (word) therapy
I Am Always Right
Hermione was utterly annoyed by her classmates. She had raised her hand to all of the questions asked by her professor, but she was skipped over every single time. They knew she had studied and knew all the answers. How could they not know? She had professed knowing everything there was to know about everything regarding magic. She'd even stated that she knew everything about anything, period. There were no ifs; there were no buts, and there was certainly no ounce of doubt within her.
After she was skipped yet again, she huffed and slumped in her chair. She was too proud to pout, but she decided a stern look in her peer's direction would suffice. The girl next to her, whose name Hermione had not been interested enough to learn, spoke to her meekly.
"I wonder why they haven't called on you yet.
"I'm not sure either." Hermione sighed.
"You seem to know most of the material," the girl said, pushing her thick blonde hair behind her ears.
"I know all of it," said Hermione, taking her quill and writing down the notes that appeared on the chalkboard at the front of the room.
"You know everything?" she asked.
"Everything," said Hermione sternly, finishing her notes.
This stunned the girl for a moment. Hermione had barely given her any of her attention because whoever this girl was, she never took notes. The only thing that she had done was drawn on her parchment. She had drawn well, but she still wasn't paying attention. Hermione didn't like it when people didn't pay attention in class. Granted, it freed up space for Hermione to look like a star student, but she believed that everyone should try and learn the subjects that she knew so well.
"I find that strange," the girl stated in a whisper.
"What?" Hermione questioned, a little agitated.
"That you say you know everything,"
"Well, I do," said Hermione.
"I believe I must argue with you. You don't know everything."
Hermione went to argue with her, but the girl just fixed her blue eyes on Hermione.
"Do you know what's going to happen tomorrow?"
"Well, no but I-"
"Then you don't know everything," the girl said, packing up her things now that the lesson had ended for the day.
Whoever she was left Hermione sitting there with her mouth wide open, her things sprawled all over the desk, and a major headache thrumming in her skull. Hermione had never considered what she actually meant when she claimed to know everything. She did believe that she knew everything there was to know about her studies and knowledge itself too, but she'd never intended to claim that she knew everything else. She hadn't thought herself omniscient.
"Hey, wait, excuse me?" Hermione called out after she packed her things quickly and practically ran out the door.
"Yes?" the blonde girl turned around, a small smile on her lips.
"I never claimed I knew everything," Hermione tried to argue.
"I believe you did. Why would you say you knew everything when it's pretty clear that you don't?"
"I think you misunderstood me-"
"There was nothing to misunderstand, Hermione. You said what you said and that's okay,"
She started to turn but Hermione poked her on the shoulder pretty sternly. The young girl was starting to become agitated with Hermione, but she tried her best not to let it show.
"You can't just go around and assuming things of people!" Hermione shouted.
"I didn't assume. You clearly said you knew everything and I was informing you that you didn't, that's all."
"I didn't mean that I knew everything about everyone or that I know the future," Hermione defended.
"Well, that's pretty obvious. I mean, you can't even tell me what my name is," the girl said with a smirk, turning on her heels and hurrying off before Hermione had a chance to continue arguing.
Hermione didn't know how to react in a case like this. She had never been called out on her flaws and she wasn't about to start letting people trample all over her good name.
-XOX-
"Can you believe the nerve of her?" Hermione huffed, slamming her books onto a desk in the common room.
Ginny had been sitting there reading a book and listening to Hermione complain about this blonde girl with a "really pointy nose" for about an hour now. Ginny knew exactly who Hermione was complaining about, but found it really funny that she had no idea what her name was.
"So, let me get this straight. You're whining about some girl calling you out on your know-it-all behavior?" Ginny questioned, smiling slyly.
"No, no. I'm not a know-it-all!" Hermione countered.
"Hermione, listen, you can give off that vibe sometimes," Ginny said.
"How so?"
"Well, for example, when someone is out past curfew you're waiting in the common room for them and then spout off consequences of their actions even though you don't know them personally," Ginny answered, starting on her list while closing her book.
"I feel like people should know all the rules!"
"I don't know that I can help you," Ginny laughed.
"I don't need help!" Hermione shouted in frustration.
"I think you could use some therapy," Ginny said quietly.
"What was that?"
"Hermione, you don't know everything and you can't claim that you do. You're letting your pride become too much of a factor in your life. You need to admit that you don't know everything in order for your pride to not become bigger than you," Ginny told Hermione, patting her on the arm.
Hermione didn't say anything. She just stared at the books that she had been studying over and over again in order to be prepared. She knew that she didn't know everything, but she wanted other people to believe that she did.
"By the way, the girl in your class is named Marla," Ginny said with a smile, walking away from Hermione as quickly as possible.
Hermione just rolled her eyes and opened her book.
-XOX-
Hermione had done quite a bit of thinking and it caused her to not pay as much attention as she should to the book she was supposed to be studying all night. In fact, she had been stuck on the same page the entire evening. She nearly forgot her bag with her quill and parchment and was almost late to her first class in the morning. When she arrived to Transfiguration, sitting in her usual seat, she noticed that Marla was fully prepared for class and ready to begin the lessons of the day.
Hermione had never felt more unprepared in her life. Her quill needed to be sharpened, her ink pot was running low, she only had three pieces of parchment left and she noticed that she had a drool spot that seeped through several of her book pages. To make matters worse, she wasn't paying attention to anything the professor said.
"Miss Granger, what is the answer to number fourteen?" the professor called out.
Hermione's head snapped up from her daydream spot on the desk and she realized that all eyes were on her in that moment. She realized that she hadn't raised her hand and she had zoned out for fourteen questions. She didn't even know what page they were on in the textbook.
"Well, um…" she stammered.
The professor stared at her and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for an answer.
"I believe I can help her out, professor," Marla chimed in, nudging Hermione gently.
"Please do so that we can move on,"
Hermione listened as Marla answered the question correctly and received diligent praise from the professor as well as five points for Gryffindor. It surprised Hermione that she was so happy to see that Marla was able to help Hermione out since she wasn't prepared for class. She hadn't done the reading and she didn't finish the questions like she was supposed to.
"Thank you," Hermione whispered to Marla who just smiled back at her.
"No problem," she answered.
"I guess you were right," Hermione started.
"About what?"
"About the fact that I don't know everything," Hermione said with a smile.
The two sat in silence for the rest of the class and all the classes after that. They had a mutual understanding that not everyone knows everything, especially them.